Week In Review

CITY HALL

Mayor John Drayman, after first committing to stay out of the April election circuit, has said he will actively campaign in support of preserving a telephone user tax that brought $8.7 million to the city last fiscal year.

The City Council voted unanimously Dec. 2 to place a measure on the April ballot that would update outdated tax codes to include recent technological advances — Voice Over Internet Protocol and multimedia cellular packages — as a way to preserve the general fund revenue stream.

More cities have been adopting similar measures in response to telecommunications companies challenging tax language they claim doesn’t apply to new technology.

The ballot measure would cut the telecommunications portion of the larger utility user tax from 7% to 6.5%, but taxpayers would likely not notice a difference because the new code language would capture more phone uses, according to the tax proposal.

 State transportation officials Monday said the latest appeal from the politically restive Pelanconi Estates neighborhood to erect a temporary sound wall to shield against heavy construction noises on the Fairmont Avenue bridge was for the city to decide, not them.

In a letter last week to the Los Angeles district office for the California Department of Transportation, the Pelanconi Estates Homeowners Assn. appealed for a 22-foot-high sound wall to be constructed temporarily as crews begin building the support structures for a $44-million bridge that will extend the Fairmont Avenue exit off the Ventura (134) Freeway overhead to rest at the revamped Flower Street intersection.

Roughly two dozen of the most immediately affected residents were given $10,000 to pay for in-house soundproofing and other mitigation measures, but the homeowners association has argued that a temporary sound wall alongside the project area is the only effective way to make life during construction more bearable.

City officials, despite a noise impact study that produced results to the contrary, have said the wall would have no noticeable effect.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Five boys were arrested Saturday after they shone a hand-held green laser beam at a police helicopter that was patrolling the downtown area of the city, officials said Tuesday.

The Burbank police pilot and Glendale police flight officer had been conducting a routine patrol at 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the helicopter, which both police departments use, in the area of San Fernando Road and Palm Avenue when a laser beam illuminated the cockpit, Burbank Police Sgt. Travis Irving said.

The beam remained fixed at the helicopter’s cockpit, so the pilot and the flight officer began trailing the light to see where it was coming from, he said.

Each teen flashed the light at the helicopter, taking turns, he said.

As the pilot and flight officer followed the beam, they sent patrol cars to the origin of the laser, Irving said.

Police found the teens, whose ages were 13, 14, 15 and 16, and arrested them in connection with shining a laser at the helicopter, which is a felony, he said.

 A 25-year-old man and 28-year-old woman rejected a plea deal Tuesday, opting to move forward with a preliminary hearing for allegedly conning Glendale residents out of money through an apartment-leasing scam on Craigslist.

Andrew Femino and Caley McClary face four counts of second-degree commercial burglary, one count of identity theft, one count of first-degree burglary with a person present and one count of grand theft of personal property, according to a criminal complaint.

McClary had considered accepting the plea Tuesday at Burbank Superior Court. Attorneys would not disclose the terms.

But Femino declined the offer and wanted to have a preliminary hearing, said his attorney, Dick Tom.

The Glendale couple, who are being held on $200,000 bail each, are co-defendants in the case and face the same charges, so they have to be tried together.

EDUCATION

Two challengers have entered the race for the three seats up for election on the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education, forcing a contest that had previously been uncertain.

The new candidates — former district teacher, counselor and Assistant Principal Eric Sahakian and Hoover High School PTSA President Christine Walters — have submitted candidate intention statements to the city clerk’s office and have set the stage for a start to the campaign season.

Incumbents Chuck Sambar, Joylene Wagner and Greg Krikorian submitted their intention statements Dec. 1, when they stressed their support for one another during what they expect to be a challenging financial term.

They also noted that not having an election would save the district at least $81,000 in administrative fees to be paid to the city during a year when the district expects midyear budget cuts of up to $8.8 million. The district will now incur those costs.

With an earnest race now sure to unfold, campaigning will likely begin in January, Krikorian said, something that he had been preparing for regardless of whether others decided to run.

BUSINESS

Vickie McConnell, owner of FastFrame in Glendale, announced this week she would close her downtown shop by the end of December after a continued drop in sales proved too costly.

McConnell, 52, took over the location in June 2005 after the chain had been operating at 112 N. Brand Blvd. for more than 11 years, hoping to capitalize on a vibrant section of the city where new construction would debut in the coming years.

Hope flourished after the Residences at the Americana opened that a new, wealthier clientele would take advantage of FastFrame — blocks from the mall’s residential units — and its high-priced set of custom-built frames.

She planted herself on civic boards, such as the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, and held monthly art gallery shows, where local artists exhibited their work, to try to puff up her business.

Business had been growing slowly but steadily, she said, adding that the inherent challenges of culling walk-in customers from the street soon became evident.

She plowed more than $100,000 of her personal income to prop up the store by repainting the interior, sending out advertisements to residents and pressing her business at chamber events.

The recession hit FastFrame and by September, McConnell said, she needed a “miracle” to stay in business.

Her saving grace never came as she racked up debt, struggling to pay her $4,000 monthly rent as customers continued to cool on the idea of spending hundreds of dollars for custom-built picture frames.

By November, she began canceling her art shows as her search for investors never came to fruition.

Earlier this month, she decided to close down the store for good.

The store will close by Tuesday, but the shop has already taken on a transient state, with frames that had been on the wall now resting on the floor as stock molding for frame borders sells for up to half off.

 In local business circles, 2008 may very well be remembered as the year of the layoff.

Five companies shed a combined 797 workers this past year, the largest figure in at least eight years and more than double the previous two years combined, according to state records.

The bulk of the pink slips were handed out by Nestle USA Inc., at 800 N. Brand Blvd., where 344 workers during 11 different rounds were laid off in 2008.

Glendale Memorial Hospital was forced to fire 176 of its workers in its Behavioral Health Services and outpatient women’s clinic unit Oct. 10, and Mobile Mini, Inc./Mobile Storage Group discarded 128 workers when it moved from Glendale this year.

Citigroup Inc. let go 116 members of its Glendale workforce in June, and Mervyn’s LLC fired 98 employees when it closed down in December. Scan Health Plan, an HMO at 500 N. Central Ave., laid off 33 workers in January, and the News-Press was forced to sack one of its employees during the Tribune Co.’s ongoing fiscal tumult.

The figures were culled from the state Employment Development Department, where large companies of 75 or more workers must file Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications to provide advance notice for workers to seek other means of employment.

In 2007, Glendale companies laid off 387 workers and two years ago, 231 employees were handed pink slips.

While Glendale’s figure looms large when compared to past layoffs in the city, it pales in comparison to the city of Los Angeles, where an array of industries were hit hard by a weak economic climate.

More than 4,200 workers were laid off in Los Angeles this past year from airline companies, hospitals and food service companies, state records indicate.

A bleak retail environment and overall hiring freeze helped push California’s unemployment rate to 8.4% — its highest point since the summer of 1994.

Business leaders in Glendale maintained the city’s reputation is intact, pointing to Glendale’s recognition by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. earlier this year as one of the most business-friendly cities in the county.

SPORTS

The Glendale News-Press unveiled its annual players of the year in boys’ water polo, girls’ tennis and girls’ golf.

 Crescenta Valley High’s Tristan Winterhalter was named the All-Area Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year after helping the Falcons win the Pacific League and the program’s first California Interscholastic Federation Division VI championship. Among those also named to the all-area team included Gor Asryan and Vahe Karimian of Glendale, Hakop Kaplanyan and Zoree Karibyan of Hoover and Crescenta Valley’s Chris Veselich, Nelson White, Rane Colvin and Alan Dearman. Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju was named the All-Area Coach of the Year.

 Burroughs High’s Emily Tubert was selected as the All-Area Girls’ Golfer of the Year. Among those also picked to the all-area team included Michelle Cho and Katie Park of Crescenta Valley, Tammy Panich of Glendale an Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s Angie So.

 Erin LeVoir of Crescenta Valley High and Glendale’s Sevana Zargarian and Samantha Sismundo received All-Area Girls’ Tennis Team accolades. LeVoir was named the area’s top singles player of the year, while Zargarian and Sismundo were named the area’s top doubles team of the year.

Sarah Ali of Crescenta Valley and Flintridge Prep’ Kira Lee were also all-area singles picks. Anaeis Gevorkian and Adrine Babakhanyan of Glendale, Talia Moradkhanian and Courtney Pietsch and Ani Ebrahamian and Kay Lee of Crescenta Valley earned spots on the all-area doubles team. Crescenta Valley was named the All-Area Coach of the Year.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“It’s hard when you see families, families, families, and then it’s like ’Oh, it’s just me and him.’”

— Ani, who is receiving assistance through the YWCA’s domestic violence program, on the hardships of leaving an abusive husband to start over with her 10-year-old son.

“If the mayor wants to ride the positive side of it, that’s fine.”

— Councilman Bob Yousefian in response to Mayor John Drayman’s decision to actively campaign for a city ballot measure that would update antiquated tax code language to keep up with changing phone technology. Yousefian has said he will not take a public position on the measure.

“It’s kind of like having a steam engine that’s going to blow. You need to release the steam. I think that’s what the openings do.”

— Attorney Paul Ayers, who represents families who are suing Grand View Memorial Park owner Moshe Goldsman, of the court-ordered cemetery openings.

 “It is an incredibly irresponsible and dangerous thing to do because you can distract the pilot.”

— Ian Gregor, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, of five boys who were arrested in connection with shining a light at a police helicopter.

 “It’s like rowing a boat. It’s important that we row in the same direction. It’s easy to capsize if you bring in the wrong person.”

— Greg Krikorian, a member of the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education, commenting on the importance of electing candidates to the board who will work well together.

“I have so much appreciation.”

— Glendale resident Taemi Lopez, on the doctors and well wishers who helped her recover from third-degree burns to the face two years ago.