NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“The bottom line is that a 20% vacancy rate in any office market is an unhealthy sign, and there’s really no way to tell where we’re headed because there are too many uncertainties in the market right now.”

— Robert Bridges, associate professor of real estate finance at the USC Marshall School of Business, referring to Glendale’s high volume of empty office space.

?

“We’re not going to be on cruise control. We can’t do it anymore because that’s the reason for our structural deficit.”

— Glendale Unified Supt. Michael Escalante, who encouraged the Board of Education to terminate teacher contracts in a move that had little meaning, because contracts had already expired, but was meant to spur more urgency in negotiations.

?

“We’ll survive the next two or three years, but at the end of that third year we’re going to have $20 million that we’re going to have to come up with somewhere. That’s a meat cleaver kind of cut.”

— Glendale Unified School District Board of Education member Christine Walters, assessing the district’s financial challenges.

?

“It comes down a little bit to the question of whether serving in public office should also mean that you are willing to take a big financial hit.”

— Councilwoman Laura Friedman on the possibility of amending city codes to be in accordance with state law, which allows elected officials to use some fundraiser dollars to pay for governmental or civic activities.

?

“Good communication through these most trying times of dealing with the flu will be absolutely critical.”

— Supt. Michael Escalante on the Glendale Unified School District’s plans for the H1N1 flu virus.