Students Find Civic Pride Abounds in Glendale

Eleven Latino law students from across the nation spent a week this summer studying Glendale and discovered what residents knew all along--that the city is politically conservative, fiscally sound and clings to a Midwestern-style hometown attitude.

“The people in your city are very attached to the area and feel a great sense of pride and satisfaction with the way the city has grown yet maintained its unique small-town atmosphere,” wrote the students in a report presented to the city Friday.

But they also said that teen-agers are bored because few activities are available to them, that high housing costs force the native young population of the community to move away and that most residents are renters but have little political clout contrasted with homeowners.

The report was presented to the city at a graduation ceremony at the historic Casa Adobe de San Rafael in Glendale. The students, who plan careers in public administration, were all participants in a 10-week leadership program sponsored by the Coro Foundation of Los Angeles, a private, nonprofit institution that aims to develop leadership.

‘Logic’ of Glendale

The task given students was to discover “the logic” of Glendale.

The city was selected at random as a classroom for the study program, according to Robin Crane, Coro executive director, who said a different city is selected each year.

“Each city in Southern California is an island with its own particular flavor,” Crane said. “It is a learning experience for students to discover the myriad and complex aspects that make a community unique.”

After extensive interviews with city officials and residents, visits to schools, neighborhoods, a City Council meeting and the library, the student team in its report praised the city as “pleasant, attractive and well planned” and attributed widespread citizen involvement in civic affairs for creating a “clean, safe and solvent community.”

They learned that, unlike many other large cities--Glendale has the third largest population in the county--city officials and staff members are unusually receptive to the needs of residents, creating a “higher quality of life,” according to the report.

Surprised at Soundness

They also said they were surprised to find a city as fiscally sound as Glendale, which has no general bond indebtedness. For years, the city has invested funds for capital improvements in interest-bearing accounts until enough money is accumulated to pay for projects at hand.

Glendale “doesn’t have money problems,” said Nacrina Alvarez from Ohio State University, a 24-year-old member of the law student team. “That’s pretty unusual for a big city today.”

In their study of neighborhoods, the law students concluded that “there are two Glendales within one community, one predominantly white and one predominantly nonwhite.”

They contrasted the economical and sociological differences of the more expensive residential area in the northern part of the city with the growing minority population of southern Glendale. But they found even economically disadvantaged areas of the city to be “very nice looking.”

Alvarez, who said she was visiting the West Coast for the first time, expressed surprise at the apparent unanimity of community pride expressed by all residents of Glendale, including the young and old, whites and minorities. “The people of Glendale have a lot of backbone,” she said. “They all want one thing--the betterment of Glendale.”

‘Clear Direction’

Luis C. Fernandez, a 31-year-old law student at Rutgers University in Camden, N. J., summed up his observations about Glendale by saying, “It is a city with a clear direction.

“The people have thought through what they would like and have set forth the instruments to make it happen. They want to keep their small-town flavor and I think that’s really nice.”

Glendale Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg, who presented graduation certificates at the ceremony Friday, praised the students for their “intellectual curiosity” in digesting the diverse aspects of the city. She urged students to set aside “preconceived notions” in their future careers in public service and said, “It is only fitting that the people of Glendale helped launch these people on their odyssey.”