Mailbag: V.O.I.C.E. for preservation

Thank you for covering the closing of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course. The closing of the golf course will definitely be a huge loss to the community.

I want to bring to the readers’ attention something that was not included in the article: The Los Angeles City Council, on June 25, 2013, voted unanimously to designate an acre of oak trees on the golf course site to be given Historical Cultural Monument status for the Tuna Canyon Detention Station. This became Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #1039. The council in the same action established a working group to begin the process of memorializing the TCDS. While this group has now become the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition, it has created a traveling museum exhibit telling the story of this detention station. It is currently on display in the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park and will open on Dec. 10 at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. It will be on display there until April 9.

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As a member of the Glendale-Crescenta V.O.I.C.E. Board, I stand with Volunteers Organized in Conserving the Environment and the rest of the community in continuing to oppose the proposed huge residential development on this site and hope that some agreement can be reached to purchase the site and develop it as a regional park that includes the golf course and a significant memorial to the TCDS. If the owner will agree to an appraisal, V.O.I.C.E. stands ready to facilitate the appraisal (even to paying half the cost) and will work to secure funding for this regional park.

Claudia Culling
Secretary and Board Member
Glendale-Crescenta V.O.I.C.E.

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Celebrating shredding day

Life is full of changes and so is the location of the annual shredding day event, sponsored by Northwest Glendale Homeowners Assn. It will be held Saturday, Dec. 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This year it will take place in the parking lot behind Grandview Presbyterian Church, 1130 Ruberta Ave., just off Glenoaks Boulevard. A shredding truck will be waiting.

All Glendale residents who want to securely get rid of personal and confidential papers while watching them being decimated are invited.

NWGHA paid-up members (and those joining that day) get three boxes worth of documents shredded free. After that it is $3 per box. Nonmembers pay $4 per box. Maximum box size is 12 inches by 15 inches.

Carol Brusha
Board member, NWGHA
Glendale

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Tower targets well-used spot

North Glendale’s Dunsmore Park is again in jeopardy. Turned down by the Planning Commission in June, AT&T is appealing its unanimous decision that locating a cell tower outside the corner of the left-field fence was incompatible with the community.

The June staff report to the Planning Commission states that “other locations would interfere with park activities ...” This implies that no one uses this section of the park. Tell that to the joggers and strollers, who need that area for continuous access to loop around the fenced ballpark. Tell that to the picnickers, who spread their blankets overlooking the south end of the park, under the protected western sycamore trees. Tell that to the children, who for generations have played on that hillside and slid down the slope on cardboard toboggans. The combined footprint of the proposed cell tower and surrounding wall will completely block that area and “... would interfere with park activities ...”

Whatever one might think about cell towers in general, they are a modern necessity. The city of Glendale has allowed their erection in other parks, such as Scholl Canyon and Fremont Park. However, these telecommunications facilities have been sited well away from public areas.

Ironically, by AT&T’s own admission and a look at their coverage map, locating a cell tower within Dunsmore Park would not adequately address the coverage gap said facility would purportedly alleviate. The Crescenta Valley Water District, the Glendale Unified School District, Pinnacle Village Church, St. James Catholic Church, and Center for Spiritual Living have already said “no.” That owners of more appropriate locations within the coverage gap have turned down Eukon does not mean that Glendale should remove from public enjoyment part of the most accessible of the three city parks in the La Crescenta annex.

The appeal comes before the Glendale City Council at their 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Now is the time for the public to state their concerns by emailing council members and/or by voicing them directly at the meeting.

Ken Goldman
La Crescenta

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Opening nature to the people

Kudos to Rep. Adam Schiff for continuing to make the Rim of the Valley a priority for the 28th District and the greater Los Angeles area. This proposed expansion of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, a model for cooperation between federal and local land management agencies and broadly supported by local residents, would benefit our communities by protecting more open spaces, wildlife and historic sites and expanding outdoor recreational opportunities. National parks, nature and enjoying the outdoors unite people of all backgrounds, and have the potential to gain widespread and bipartisan support, especially with the leadership of the region’s Congressional delegation spanning from Santa Clarita to downtown L.A. The National Parks Conservation Assn. and the Rim of the Valley Coalition will continue to work with our delegation to make the expansion a reality and to bring the national park experience closer to the region’s 17 million residents.

Dennis G. Arguelles, M.A.
Los Angeles Program Manager
National Parks Conservation Assn.
Los Angeles