Week in review

CITY HALL

Winning genocide memorial design revealed

The Armenian Genocide Monument Council revealed the winning design

for a monument commemorating the Armenian Genocide. The winning

design belonged to local designer Sevak Petrosian and features a long

strip of cracked concrete, from which 24 obelisk columns rise,

representing the date of the anniversary -- April 24. The monument

will be placed at Glendale Civic Auditorium, but no date has been

set.

* The City Council approved transferring a surplus $150,000 from

the Libraries Division to its book fund. The money will be used to

purchase books in foreign languages, material for English language

learners and homework help services that will benefit at-risk

students.

* Councilman Bob Yousefian and others traveled to Washington,

D.C., to lobby legislators for $4 million for an emergency

communications system that can connect cities across the Southland.

City representatives visited lawmakers to ask for funds to complete

the Interagency Communications Interoperability system, a regional

radio network that allows seamless communication between cities.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Man arrested for 2004 strip mall fire

A Glendale man found severely burned outside a blazing strip mall

last year has been accused of setting the fire to collect on

insurance, police said Monday.

Tony Yarijanian, 37, faces charges of arson to structures, arson

to a car and making fraudulent insurance claims, Glendale Det. Miguel

E. Porras said. A warrant was issued for Yarijanian’s arrest April

15, and Los Angeles police arrested him Friday at Los Angeles

International Airport as he was returning to the country, Porras

said.

On Feb. 15, Yarijanian allegedly started a fire at Safari Tan, the

tanning salon he owned in a Pennsylvania Avenue strip mall. The blaze

ultimately torched five other businesses, and caused upwards of $2

million in damage, Porras said. Yarijanian was seeking to claim a

$250,000 loss, he said.

Yarijanian is scheduled to be arraigned June 6 at Glendale

Superior Court. He is free on $155,000 bail.

* The widow of a sheriff’s deputy killed in January’s commuter

train derailment filed a lawsuit Monday against Metrolink, claiming

her husband might still be alive if the locomotive hadn’t been

pushing the train from behind.

The lawsuit, the first since the derailment, was filed in Los

Angeles Superior Court by Rita May Tutino, wife of Deputy James

Tutino.

* Glendale police officers who competed in an annual Mojave Desert

footrace that pits law enforcement agencies against one another

placed better this year than ever before.

The team ranked third in its category and 29th overall in the

Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup, a 120-mile endurance relay race against

214 other agencies held over the weekend, team captain Sgt. Tim

Feeley said. The team finished in 15 hours and 42 minutes -- 10

minutes better than its goal.

EDUCATION

Parents take protest to governor’s door

Local parents and school officials rallied in front of Glendale

Unified School District’s headquarters Wednesday and denounced the

governor’s proposed reforms for education. The rally Wednesday was

the starting point for 41 delegates representing Glendale and La

Crescenta traveling to Sacramento, where they met with other local

PTA groups on the steps of the state Capitol. Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger last year borrowed $2 billion from education and

promised to return funds, but the state PTA, school officials and

teachers are angry that he did not include those funds with this

year’s proposed state budget. The borrowed $2 billion is owed to

education under Proposition 98’s minimum-funding guarantee.

* Plaza Comunitarias, an education center for Spanish-speaking

adults seeking to complete Mexican diplomas, opened at the Pacific

Branch Library Tuesday.

The center was made possible through a partnership including the

Glendale Unified School District, the Los Angeles County Office of

Education and the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. The Pacific

Branch Library Plaza Comunitarias was one of three centers opened

throughout the county Tuesday.

* Glendale Community College’s Foundation has raised nearly $1

million this fiscal year, bringing its total endowment fund to $6.5

million, the highest it’s been since the foundation was established

in 1983.

BUSINESS

Healthcare providers, educators back initiative

A $90-million plan to recruit more nurses statewide met with

approval Monday from local healthcare providers and educators, who

were briefed on the initiative by the state’s labor secretary at

Verdugo Hills Hospital. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Nurse Education

Initiative was detailed at the hospital by members of the governor’s

staff.

The initiative was launched April 13 and is designed to add

thousands of nurses to the state’s healthcare facilities by providing

funding for education. The visit the hospital was part of a statewide

outreach effort.

FOOTHILLS

Changes recommended to zoning codes

In an attempt to achieve a unified look in neighborhoods and to

stem “mansionization,” La Canada Flintridge planning commissioners

recommended some major changes to the city’s residential zoning

codes.

Recommended changes included mandating a review of second-story

additions and flat roofs with towering home entrances, and limiting

shrubbery height on fences, Planning Director Robert Stanley said.

Proposed changes would also require second-story additions larger

than 2,000 square feet to undergo a major review process, Stanley

said. A second story smaller than 600 square feet would require no

review, additions that are 600 to 1,200 square feet would undergo a

review by planning department staff members, and a second-story

addition that is 1,201 to 2,000 square feet would require a homeowner

to meet with a planning commissioner. Anything larger than that would

require a review by all members of the planning commission.