818 Roundup: Bike ban on Burbank bridge and a new bike lane in Glendale
Equestrians have been seeking to block bicycles from the Mariposa Bridge for months, arguing bikes and horses don’t mix.
Good morning, 818. Today is Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. Temperatures for today are forecasted to reach a high of 82 and a low of 53, according to the National Weather Service.
Here are your local headlines:
Crime and Public Safety
Two probationers arrested
Two men on probation for crimes committed in Glendale were arrested Thursday after police reportedly recovered two handguns, heroin, marijuana and 15 fraudulent credit cards in their Sun Valley motel room, police said. Former Glendale residents Hovek Arzooian and Gabriyel Kechechyan were arrested by members of Glendale’s AB 109 Task Force, created to address the local impact of the state’s criminal realignment law. Glendale News-Press
Police seek suspect in package theft
Police on Friday released surveillance footage showing a suspected mail thief stealing a package from a La Crescenta porch last week, police said. Glendale News-Press
Fear from above
Three Los Angeles juveniles who tried to break in to a Burbank home Thursday morning got spooked by a police helicopter that responded to the scene after an alert neighbor called police. Burbank Leader
A “Safest Cities” ranking
Cañada Flintridge has been named among California’s “Safest Cities,” ranking 18th for low incidence of violence and property crimes in a 2016 report issued by public records database company BackgroundChecks.org. “Living here is a safe choice as well, with a violent crime rate of 58.3 and the chance of being affected by property crime in the city just 1.5%,” reads the city’s entry on the company’s report. La Cañada Valley Sun
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Civic News and Politics
Bridge bike ban nearly sealed
After hearing from close to 40 people calling for a total ban on bikes at the Mariposa Street bridge, several repeating testimony given two weeks ago, Burbank City Council members said this week they’ve got the message from the city’s equestrians in the Rancho and elsewhere. The item is slated to go before the council again on Feb. 23 for a second reading, before it is adopted. Burbank Leader
Consulting the code
Throughout the debate about restricting bicycle use on the Mariposa Street Bridge, equestrians have claimed that, for cyclists, the span is a “bridge to nowhere.” Bicycles, they have said, are banned altogether on the Los Angeles side of the bridge. Here’s a look at the Los Angeles Municipal Code sections related to the trails near the bridge and cited on signage there. Burbank Leader
New bike lane coming to Glendale
A new bike lane — the first of its kind in Glendale to be painted light green — will soon span a 1.3-mile stretch of Sonora Avenue, following a unanimous vote Tuesday by the City Council. The new lane, one component of a $131,000 street improvements project the council approved, will span Sonora between Glenoaks Boulevard and Garden Street. Glendale News-Press
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Education
Student cap raised
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy may now teach up to 425 students, after the La Cañada Flintridge Planning Commission voted Monday to amend a 1994 permit that capped the all-girl private school’s enrollment at 385 students. School representatives and neighbors packed City Hall for the special meeting, held over from a regular Jan. 12 commission meeting at the school’s request. La Cañada Valley Sun
Grant for free tutoring
About 1,100 Glendale students who are either homeless or living in a household with multiple families will have access to free academic tutoring under a grant that Glendale Unified recently received from the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The students who sign up for the free tutoring will receive one-on-one attention. The $3,000 grant, approved by the school board last month, will reimburse Glendale Unified for sending educators between now and late June to libraries, homes or homeless shelters to assist the students. Glendale News-Press
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Business
A reign comes to an end
After operating for 30 years in La Crescenta, Burger King’s last day of business at 3517 Foothill Blvd., was Friday, according to a letter that staff addressed to customers and posted on the restaurant’s drive-through window. “It’s with deep sadness that we inform you of our closing at this location,” the note stated. “We were unable to extend our lease.” Glendale News-Press
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Ryan Fonseca, ryan.fonseca@latimes.com
Twitter: @RyFons
