Affordable housing and mass transit drive Zareh Sinanyan to seek second term on Glendale City Council
On April 4, incumbent Zareh Sinanyan wants to extend his first term on Glendale City Council and continue his ongoing work to deal with a lack of affordable housing as well as sustain his vision for a local modern transit system.
At 14 years old, Sinanyan emigrated with his parents and older sister to Burbank from Soviet-aligned Armenia as political refugees in 1988. Despite pleas to his father to attend middle school with the large Armenian population in Glendale, Sinanyan was forced to stay in Burbank as a way to more quickly assimilate into the United States.
It worked, he said, and he would later move to Glendale after graduating from USC Law School. Sinanyan has been practicing law in Glendale since 2001.
Join the conversation on Facebook »
An active member in the community, Sinanyan would later serve for several years on three separate city agencies before his first election to City Council four years ago. Despite this, Sinanyan said he never saw himself pursuing any political office, but was compelled by his peers’ call to action.
“I thought that I could do a good job representing the people of Glendale. I always had the passion,” Sinanyan said. “The mere fact that I got involved so much was from a passion of being interested in what we do and trying to have a say in it.”
His successful run was not without controversy, however, as Sinanyan fielded criticism and an attempt to remove him from his council seat after it was discovered that he had previously written sexist and racist comments under a YouTube account. He would admit to making the remarks and apologized after he was elected. Sinanyan had no comment on the matter when reached Friday.
As part of his first term, Sinanyan introduced several programs to council such as the Glendale Tech Initiative, which focuses on making the city a place where tech companies want to do business. He is also behind the “City Council in Your Neighborhood” program, an effort to hold meetings in the community outside of City Hall.
Sinanyan also served one term as Mayor in 2014.
As current chair of the Housing Authority, Sinanyan has worked to squeeze affordable housing into some of the planned mixed-use downtown developments. He’s also helped veterans find housing and had a hand in the upcoming artist’s colony, known as ACE 121.
“I predict in the next few years more funding will be allocated toward creation of more affordable housing because in the absence of that the city is looking at potential rent control ballot measures,” Sinanyan said. “All this is brewing unless there’s a counterweight toward allocating more affordable housing funds.”
Sinanyan is also responsible for Measure J on the April 4 ballot that asks residents to vote on placing term limits for City Council members.
As vice chair of the Eco-rapid Transit Authority — a 13-member group advocating for the creation of an energy efficient transit system along a nearby 40-mile corridor — he’s involved in plans that hope to rectify the lack of projects in Glendale by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“If you look at the MTA’s map, Glendale is the big black hole there,” Sinanyan said.
With a little help from overseas companies and Measure R funds, the transit authority is now in a better position to start feasibility studies on several long term projects that includes blending the Antelope Valley line and proposed improvements to the California High Speed Rail Line.
Twitter: @JeffLanda
