Kenneth Village ponders change
Karen S. Kim
NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- Whether Kenneth Village could use a change is a
question the merchants association will be pondering over the next month
as it chooses its officers for 2002.
The upcoming election could determine whether Kenneth Village will
stick with tradition or move toward a new era.
The two candidates chosen to vie for the presidency of the association
have starkly contrasting visions for its future.
Susan Stanton, whose store has been in business for 24 years, has been
with the association since she created it in 1991. Stanton has served as
president for nine of the group’s 11 years.
Her vision for Kenneth Village is to maintain its small-town appeal.
“We all moved here because of the quaintness of it,” she said. “I
don’t want it to be so busy that people don’t stop because there’s no
parking. We’ve got residents around us, so we really can’t expand
anymore.”
Challenger Michele Ray-Mooney, who has been with the association for
four years, has a different future in mind.
“I would love for someone to eventually say, ‘Oh, my God, it’s so busy
here, I had to hire more employees,”’ Ray-Mooney said. “You can still
have a small-town atmosphere, but on the days it’s so quiet up here you
can shoot a cannon through it, we want those days to be over.”
Members of the association’s nominating panel, who were charged with
coming up with a ballot of candidates to be passed out to the merchants
before April’s meeting, said they tried to devise a list that would
represent both “old blood and new blood.”
“We need a board that reflects the changes that are going on in this
neighborhood,” said panel member Chrissy Lingua.
The demographics of residents surrounding the shopping district, which
spans about a block on Kenneth Road from Sonora Avenue to just past
Grandview Avenue, have changed over the years from older residents to
younger families, Lingua said.
Merchants will vote and present the election winners, who will serve
two-year terms, on April 9.