Glendale Voters Ensure Council Changes

Virginia “Ginger” Bremberg and Dave Weaver predict some uncharacteristic wrangling for the new Glendale City Council.

Bremberg and Weaver, who defeated two City Council incumbents in Tuesday’s election and received more votes than reelected Mayor Sheldon S. Baker, said Wednesday that they doubt their campaign criticisms of the council will stop just because they’re now part of it.

They plan to continue, they said, until more serious changes are made in how the city is run.

“People are just plain disgusted with the actions of the present council,” said Bremberg, a 71-year-old former councilwoman and mayor who came out of retirement to run again. “There’ll be a lot of head knocking and I have a thick skull.”

Both council members-elect cited concerns surrounding a roughly $5-million budget deficit, hillside development, rundown schools and overall care for the city’s infrastructure, particularly outside the main Brand Boulevard area.

Other key issues before the city include the ongoing dispute over the proposed expansion of the Burbank Airport passenger terminal.

Bremberg, who was on the council from 1981 to 1993--and was mayor for three one-year terms in that period--led all council candidates with 6,677 votes after all 51 precincts were tallied. She said she appealed to residents who felt neglected by many city officials. That support should help her make the council more responsive, regardless of disagreements, she said.

Weaver, who won a council seat in his third attempt with 5,723 votes, said he also hopes the council is productive, but that he has no plans to become so “chummy” that city business fails to be debated thoroughly.

“My constituency did not elect me to sit there like a bump on a log,” said Weaver, 57, a civil engineer. “I do disagree with the things [council members have] done so it’s not going to be business as usual.”

With the campaign slogan “Leave It to Weaver,” the councilman-elect knows voters are counting on him for change.

“At times the community said, ‘C’mon, I just don’t believe what these people are telling me,’ ” he said, referring to the council. “It was a whole combination of things.”

Baker, who received 5,215 votes to narrowly take the third open seat from Michael Joseph Smith’s 5,077 votes, said he was grateful for the victory.

The sometimes bitter campaign, he said, included criticism of the council he thought was unfair, wrong or pertained to previous councils, but that it is time to move on now.

“I want to work with the two of them. They’re going to be my colleagues,” Baker, 60, said of Bremberg and Weaver. “We’re not going to agree on all things. We agree on one very critical thing. We all like Glendale and we want to improve this city.

“I try to put it in perspective,” said Baker, a lawyer. “I feel bad for my two colleagues who were not reelected.”

Besides Smith, the council candidates who fell short were incumbents Mary Ann Plumley, 4,654 votes, and Richard “Rick” Reyes, 3,895 votes; and challengers Gus Gomez, 3,789 votes; Dave Wallis, 2,137 votes; John K. Beach, 1,660 votes, and Kat Bayati, 1,049 votes.

The winners, who will be sworn in April 14 to serve four-year terms, will join council members Eileen Givens and Larry Zarian, whose terms expire in 1999.

In the school board race, which featured five candidates competing for three available seats, incumbent Jeanne K. Bentley, the board president, was reelected with 9,302 votes. Also elected were candidates Chuck Sambar, 7,957 votes, and Louise Foote, 6,904 votes.

Losing school board candidates were Dennis Rihn, 6,572 votes, and Henry “Hank” Scheetz, 6,320 votes.

A key issue for the district is a $186-million school bond issue requiring approval by two-thirds of the voters in a June 3 election.

“These are very exciting times,” said Sambar, 57, who is retiring as vice principal at Crescenta Valley High School. “We have a major job to do.”

Running unopposed in Tuesday’s election were City Clerk Aileen B. Boyle, who received 10,992 votes, and City Treasurer Elizabeth W. “Betty” Evans, who received 10,904 votes.

Elected to the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees were incumbents Mary Hamilton, with 9,562 votes, Kenneth N. Sweetnam, 5,926 votes, and challenger Victor King, 6,297 votes.

The board candidates who were not elected were Valerie Byer, 5,437 votes; Al Clemens, 5,186 votes, and Ed Cameron, 4,104 votes. “I’m extremely flattered to be elected with two well-respected incumbents,” said King, 32, a lawyer and teacher. “I hope to bring legal expertise and to be fiscally prudent while I’m in office.”