Bremberg Vows to Restrict Dumping at Scholl Landfill in Second Term as Mayor

For the second time in her six years on the Glendale City Council, Ginger Bremberg has been selected by her colleagues to be mayor. She will hold the largely ceremonial post for one year.

Bremberg, 61, a 4-foot, 10-inch community activist who once called herself a “professional gadfly,” has worked full time in the City Council post since she was elected in 1981. Known for her feisty, outspoken manner, she also served as mayor from 1983 to 1984 and was the leading vote-getter in a field of six candidates in her first bid for reelection in 1985.

The mayor’s title is rotated among council members and carries with it a host of ceremonial and organizational duties. The mayor is paid $800 a month, the same as the other four council members, but occupies a spacious suite on a second-floor wing at City Hall, apart from the council office.

Bremberg succeeds Larry Zarian, 50, who stepped down during a special election ceremony on Monday. Zarian was Glendale’s first mayor of Armenian heritage.

Councilman Carl Raggio, 58, who was elected two years ago and is the council’s newest member and the only one who has not yet served as mayor, was elected Tuesday as chairman of the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, which comprises the five council members.

Bremberg, a member of the California Waste Management Board, said one of her priorities as mayor is to work to restrict the amount of trash from other cities that is being dumped in the city’s Scholl Canyon Landfill. Bremberg proposed last year that the City of Los Angeles be prohibited from dumping trash at Scholl Canyon to force that city to open new landfills of its own. No action was taken on the proposal, which is still under consideration.

Bremberg, president of the Los Angeles County division of the League of California Cities, also said she plans to fight all proposed state legislation limiting the “home rule” power of cities. One such measure would nullify a Glendale ordinance that bans the sale of alcohol at gas stations after May 27. The state legislation would require local government to review on a case-by-case basis applications to operate businesses that sell both gasoline and alcoholic beverages.