Council Hopefuls Call for Financial Stability

Most of the 13 candidates for Glendale City Council share a popular view: They want a financially stable city with more parks and less hillside development.

Many describe Glendale as being at a crossroads--a once-small town bursting at the seams, whose decisions in the next few years will be critical in guiding its future.

“If there are wrong decisions in the upcoming years, we are really going to pay for it,� said candidate Frank Quintero, 55, a vocational counselor and past president of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce.

On Tuesday, voters will go to the polls to choose three of the city’s five council members.

Mayor Dave Weaver is the only incumbent seeking reelection. Council members Ginger Bremberg and Sheldon Baker are not running for another term.

Glendale-area voters also will elect three Glendale Board of Education members and three members of the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees.

In each race, the top three vote-getters will be sworn into office April 9 for four-year terms.

City Clerk Doris Twedt and City Treasurer Ronald T. Borucki are unopposed.

Twedt expects about 15% of the city’s 90,669 voters to cast ballots in Tuesday’s citywide election. The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Most council candidates focused on ways to eliminate a projected $10-million deficit in the city budget and supported the acquisition of land for parks and open space. Some promised to lead the city’s 200,000-plus residents by trying to balance business and homeowner interests and ease geographic and ethnic differences.

“I want the city to become owner friendly--whether it’s homeowner or business owner,� said Mary Boger, 55, a civic volunteer.

Boger headed the city’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Parks and said she entered the race to ensure its proposals are implemented. “I felt that I cared so passionately about the issues,� she said.

Most of the candidates support placing a bond issue for parks on the ballot, but they are split on how much they will ask homeowners to pay. Pam Ellis and Boger suggested finding out how much residents are willing to pay for parks in additional property tax, and basing a bond issue on those findings.

Bob Yousefian, 44, proposes a $100-million bond issue for parks and a separate $50-million bond issue for libraries. “If they want all the goodies, they are going to have to sit down and decide whether they want to pay for it,� said Yousefian, who has been in the home remodeling business since 1980.

Flower shop owner Larry Miller, 52, said he opposes a bond issue for parks at this time. “There are no park spaces,� he said, advocating a plan to use schoolyards as parks on weekends and in the evenings. “We just turf them,� he said.

Only one candidate, Allen E. Brandstater, 53, a political consultant for conservative candidates, publicly favors the controversial Oakmont V development, which would add 572 houses in the Verdugo Mountains. He estimates the new homes would generate $2 million to $3 million in new property taxes. “It would be a great boon to Glendale,� he said.

Quintero is one of the candidates urging city-sponsored revitalization in south Glendale. “I want to be the Rudy Giuliani of south Glendale,� he said, referring to the New York mayor’s aggressive code enforcement.

Ellis said the choice for City Council is especially critical now, with the high turnover among members. “There is going to be a lack of experience on the council,� said Ellis, 50, a Glendale school board member for six years.

If reelected, Weaver, who was selected by his peers to serve one year as mayor, will become the council’s senior member. Council members Gus Gomez and Rafi Manoukian were elected in 1999.

Weaver, 61, was elected in 1997 in a contest that swung the city’s political pendulum to homeowner groups that opposed hillside development. This year, he is stressing long-range financial planning. “Everything everyone wants all comes back to money,� he said.

As the only incumbent, Weaver is running on the council’s record. In the past four years, the city voted to maintain control over its power generators, a decision that protected customers from significant rate hikes and blackouts. It also penned a major redevelopment deal with the Walt Disney Co.

Tony Tartaglia, 36, a public affairs manager for Southern California Gas Co., and Hamo Rostamian, 48, who is in the commercial real estate business, also focused on the city’s long-term financial plan.

Tartaglia said the city needs a greater mix of retailers that are recession-proof. He proposes bringing a retailer, such as Wal-Mart or Costco, to San Fernando Road.

Rostamian, a past president of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, said he has a balanced view of the business community and residents. “In the last few years, the general direction has turned and it is not really business friendly anymore,� he said.

Stephen L. Ropfogel, 48, has owned a company that sells promotional products for 10 years. He said he is unhappy with the city’s failure to better serve its youth, in particular the council’s decision to renege building a skateboard park.

Ropfogel also said council members ought to be role models. “I’m dissatisfied with the tone the council has set as a body for at least four years or more,� he said.

Rostamian led all candidates with $48,824 in campaign contributions as of March 17, the last reporting period.

He was followed by Quintero, with $39,311; Weaver, $34,560; Ropfogel, $25,905; Yousefian, $25,606; and Boger, $21,948. Tartaglia raised $15,874; Ellis, $9,876; Brandstater, $9,539; Miller, $5,425; and Dave Wallis, $1,600.

Wallis, who declined to state his age, also ran for state Senate and Assembly. He is a retired JPL engineer who operates a cable channel devoted to Armenian programming.

A self-described “ingenious problem-solver,� Wallis touted his educational background and job experience. “I am the best educated of the candidates and the most articulate,� he said.

Some of the other campaigns are very low-key. Two candidates didn’t even buy a ballot statement.

Joe Scopacasa, 73, a retired bank employee, and John Robert Christopher, 49, a Burbank movie theater host, are financing their campaigns out of their own pockets. They didn’t want to spend the $1,112 it costs to have a statement printed in the sample ballot.

To reach voters, both men say they are knocking on doors.

But Scopacasa said he now wishes he had paid for a ballot statement. How much has he spent? “It cost me $25 to become a candidate,� Scopacasa said, “and $5 for a map.�

In the race for Glendale Board of Education, the 10 candidates are incumbents Chuck Sambar, Louise Foote and Jeanne K. Bentley; educators Wanda Dorn and Kathleen Burke-Kelly; business owners Greg Krikorian and Bill Bodell; Realtors Catherine Yesayan and Joe Mandoky; and community volunteer Jan Bills.

The five candidates for the Glendale Community College board are incumbents Victor King and Mary Hamilton; educators Remy Lani Altar and Armine G. Hacopian; and attorney Phillip Kazanjian.