GLENDALE CITY COUNCIL MEETING WRAP-UP

RIVERWALK GRANT FUNDS

The City Council on Tuesday authorized parks officials to submit an application for $173,000 to a regional grant program that would help fund the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk project.

Phase I of the parkway project will follow the Los Angeles River basin from Glendale through connections to other jurisdictions and include a half-mile of landscaped recreational trail for hikers and bicyclists.

WHAT IT MEANS

The project is funded mostly through a $1.1 million state grant that was awarded in June 2007, but that amount was $122,408 less than needed. If the $173,000 grant application to the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District is approved, it would close the gap and provide additional funds.

VOTE: 5-0

RESOURCES REAPPROPRIATED

A list of capital improvement projects at various park facilities will benefit from persistent city staff vacancies after the City Council agreed to redirect salary savings to pay for the projects.

The Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department logged $282,000 in savings and, with the council’s approval on Tuesday, administrators will now redirect that money for improvements at city parks and trails.

The improvements will include 35 new concrete benches at Verdugo Park to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

WHAT IT MEANS

The move does not represent an additional cost to the city since the funds, originally budgeted for vacant staff positions, went unused this year.

Councilman Ara Najarian abstained due to the close proximity of his home to the Casa Adobe property.

VOTE: 5-0

PARK EQUIPMENT UPGRADES

The City Council approved $373,500 for new playground equipment at six city parks.

New equipment at Carr, Dunsmore, Fremont, Glenoaks, Milford Mini and Wilson Mini parks will replace structures that a 2005 city survey determined had posed potential hazards to children. Structures that could not be temporarily retrofitted to be safer at the time were immediately replaced, with the others put on hold until more funding became available.

WHAT IT MEANS

Council’s approval of the construction contract now sets the replacement process in motion, which is expected to begin sometime this summer, parks officials said.

VOTE: 4-0