Incumbent Ara Najarian wants to halt downtown development and expand mass transit
Whether serving as Glendale Mayor, a City Council member or on the Metro Transportation Authority, incumbent Ara Najarian has played a major role in shaping Glendale for the past 12 years.
On April 4, Glendale residents will decide if they want Najarian to continue his influence on the city they see today.
Born in Ohio to immigrant parents, Najarian first came to Glendale in 1980 and eventually received a law degree from USC. He said there was “no question” he’d return to Glendale to practice law, with goals set on community involvement.
“It was really instilled in me as a young boy — perhaps due to my parents being immigrants — they said, ‘no matter what you do, you have to give back to your community,’” Najarian said. “It’s just something that’s with me today. It’s a duty. It’s something that I have to do, and I will be doing.”
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Before his first term on City Council in 2005, Najarian was a member Glendale Community College board of trustees and the Glendale Transportation and Parking Commission. He has twice been elected to City Council and is a three-time mayor of Glendale.
Last year, Najarian ran to succeed Michael D. Antonovich as Los Angeles County supervisor, but lost to opponent Kathryn Barger.
Najarian’s most immediate campaign promise is a proposed 45-day moratorium on approval of dense apartment buildings in downtown, which many opponents claim he’s adversely contributed to during his time on council despite previous attempts by Najarian in 2013 and 2014 to impose a similar freeze on development.
Najarian admits that during 2011 and 2012 the city’s vision for downtown development was coming “too fast,” and the area was not ready for the sudden impact to traffic and density. Those impacts have since caused Najarian to seek a moratorium.
The Glendale News-Press could verify that in 2011, Najarian approved the Legendary Towers, Verdugo Gardens, Laemmle Lofts and Lex on Orange projects. In 2012, he approved the Brand Apartments, but said “no” to the Camden Glendale Apartments, then known as the Glendale Triangle Project.
Najarian’s downtown development voting record in 2013 and beyond better reflects his attempts at stalling development. That year, he voted against the Harrison, Next on Lex and Altana apartments. He also voted against Modera Glendale, Onyx Glendale, the Campus apartments and a mixed-use project located at 515 West Broadway in 2014.
Recently, however, he approved the Aloft hotel, despite community backlash.
“There comes a point where we just have to say that there is no more housing. We’ve done our share,” Najarian said. “We’ve put in currently around 4,000 units that are being built or entitled. It’s a huge jump in a very short period of time … We just have to say that Glendale will be growing at a much slower pace in the coming years.”
Since joining the Metro board in 2006, Najarian’s broader and more long-term goal for Glendale has been connecting the city to the Metro rail through a Bus Rapid Transit System. Najarian is also part of plans to create a streetcar route connecting the Glendale Transportation Center in the southern part of the city to the Hollywood Burbank Airport.
In January, Najarian was reelected to represent the North County/San Fernando Valley sector on the Metro board and became the second vice-chair of Metrolink. i Those positions — and Glendale’s continued presence on the Metro board — are contingent on Najarian retaining his council seat.
“I think [being on the Metro board] is invaluable, and Glendale has seen great benefits from it, including tens of millions of dollars yearly,” Najarian said.
Twitter: @JeffLanda
