Mailbag: Rendering is misleading
The designer’s rendering accompanying the Jan. 25 article, “Proposed La Crescenta mixed-use development heads to L.A. County planners,” creates a false impression of the density surrounding YST’s proposed development. The residential area north of Foothill Boulevard is not nearly as built up as Sean Mo’s rendering portrays. It is filled with mostly single family residences and a few apartment or condominium complexes smaller than YST’s proposal. Based on this misleading rendering someone unfamiliar with the area could easily be deceived into thinking that the project’s scope and scale would fit the surrounding area well.
A careful reading of the Crescenta Valley Town Council’s decision to recommend approval of the project reveals the “oh, it could have been so much worse,” reality that constrains our local representatives. The real problem is the difficulty of fighting zoning decisions made by the county government miles away and decades ago, the impact of which has been delayed by lack of development. Meanwhile hundreds of families have purchased homes in what were then quiet, residential neighborhoods, unaware of the threat posed by developers ready and willing to take advantage of those long forgotten zoning rules.
The Glendale News-Press’ Forum page should be advocating for an independently prepared environmental impact report and traffic study, not confusing the issue by printing a misleading rendering of the proposed development.
Mary-Lynne Fisher
La Crescenta
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Let us pray for the president
On the morning after the election, I started praying for Donald Trump and have done so every day since. This isn’t because I voted for Donald Trump. I didn’t. As a matter of fact, I didn’t vote at all.
But as an observer of the times and a student of prophecy, I have an interest in America’s prophetic role.
Why should I pray daily for President Donald Trump?
First, because we’re called to. We’re promised that if we pray for all who are in authority we’ll live quiet and peaceable lives (First Timothy 2:2). Shouldn’t we want that?
I live in Glendale and my church, Glendale Filipino Adventist, is involved in 10 days of praying. I have brought before those who faithfully join in every night, the urgency of praying for Donald Trump.
Many years ago, our prayer coordinator for this regional conference, Janet Lui, called us to prayer for Bill Clinton when he was undergoing his own presidential crisis. One question Janet asked was “Where were President Clinton’s intercessors?” The question was a sharp arrow in my conscience. Since then, I have prayed for our presidents.
How about recognizing that God put Trump in office? This isn’t heretical or incorrect conjecture. Romans 13:1 specifically states this fact. If you can’t check it out at home, let me quote it here: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” Does that sound radical? Check it out then.
Are you negatively exercised about this presidency? Try interceding for Donald Trump. You may be transformed in your peace quotient.
Ray Puen
Glendale
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Applause for a letter writer
Re: “Obama scared GOP voters,” Mailbag, Jan. 19. After reading the letter by Ray Shelton in the mailbag section of the Glendale News-Press, all I have to say is bravo, Mr. Shelton, bravo. I could not have said it better.
Richard Jenkins
Glendale
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Trump’s gain is America’s loss
Ray Richmond’s column “On fear and the future” (Jan. 12) certainly brought the xenophobes and racists out of the woodwork, as well as those who want to return to the 1950s and to that narrow view of what they think America should be. They believe that Donald Trump is the man to take them there. But that isn’t going to happen. That train has left the station. Globalization won’t go away. Clean energy will overtake climate-destroying dirty coal and oil. And the diverse society that makes some of these people phobic is here to stay.
Trump won, at least for now, even though he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. If that were a city, it would be the third-largest city in the United States behind only New York and Los Angeles. Had Trump won the popular vote but lost the election he would not have accepted the outcome graciously as Secretary Clinton did. He even claimed that the election was rigged after he won!
So, to the haters who disagree with the 65,844,954 people who voted for Clinton, here’s the deal. Trump won’t build a wall. He won’t bring steel or other factory jobs back. He won’t rejuvenate the coal industry. He won’t “drain the swamp”; on the contrary, he promptly nominated cabinet members who rule the swamp. He not only won’t make America great again (it was already great before Obama was elected and is even greater because of his presidency — ask the 20 million people who now have health insurance and those in the auto and other industries whose jobs were saved), he will run it into the ground for his own personal gain. When his true relationship with Putin and Russia is revealed, he will be seen as the traitor he is, and, of course, the pathological liar that he has already shown himself to be. Unfortunately, it will take decades to reverse the damage he will do to the country and to the world.
Hank Schlinger, Ph.D.
Glendale
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Richmond is not alone
Regarding Ray Richmond’s column “On Fear and the Future” of Jan. 12: I completely agree with all that he said. And no, I am not a “whiny, poor loser”; instead, I am an American who is horrified that a man who is a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, Putin-loving liar (as seen on Saturday, as he spoke in front of the Memorial Wall of Agency Heroes at CIA headquarters) is now sitting in the Oval Office. Mr. Richmond is petrified, and I am terrified.
Lindsay Soderlund
Glendale
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Lights bring safety to park
I want to thank the city department that has illuminated Brand Park at night. It is lovely.
More important, the lights leading up to Brand Library from Grandview are a good safety factor for people walking along that route at night. I live near the park and usually walk to it. Every so often, when going to the library or the auditorium at night without my husband, I always had a small feeling of trepidation — not about any wildlife but about the human factor that could be lurking around the area. It used to be a bit nerve-wracking but now it is not.
Carol Brusha
Glendale
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Kudos to Commissioner Landregan
During Planning Commission’s Jan. 18 meeting, Commissioner Stephanie Landregan stood out as a person caring for the general populace, instead of falling for the inaccurate reports and statements of Rodney Khan and Jano Baghdanian, who represented Jon’s Marketplace, defending its self-serving interests.
Although the Commission’s 3 to 1 vote can only make a recommendation to the Council for a final decision on this zone change request, it was baffling to witness the three approving commissioners’ (Astorian, Lee, Manoukian) superficial and pretentious posture, disregarding the facts that once Jon’s daily 2,462 patrons’ vehicles — according to Baghdanian’s report — and the 18-wheel delivery trucks are directed to exit its parking lot and turn right onto the narrow, residential Elk Avenue, they will endanger not only themselves but also other motorists on Glendale Avenue, especially when they try to turn south on already overloaded Glendale Avenue.
In addition — also per Baghdanian’s report — “on a weekday, between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. a total of 664 vehicles enter said parking lot.” Can anyone imagine the consequences of dumping additional 664 unto Glendale Avenue at a time which is exactly the same period when that stretch struggles with chocking traffic congestion? As it is, anyone attempting to turn south on Glendale Avenue during those hours has to say a prayer before heading towards the intersection. Add the marked pedestrian crosswalk at the same intersection in southerly direction, and the obstructed vision of motorists heading south on Glendale Avenue after crossing Colorado Street, you’ll have a recipe for tragedies to happen.
It is hoped that the City Council will value the citizens’ safety when it discusses this case.
Chahe Keuroghelian
Glendale