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THE TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR
Writers’ strike hits local economy
1Burbank and Glendale, two cities whose businesses are reliant to a large extent on the film industry, were shaken early this year by a costly, 100-day work stoppage at the hands of the Writers Guild of America.
The strike, which ended Feb. 27 and featured numerous demonstrations at area production companies, resulted in increased residual payments for new media projects and established a new system for the union to calculate how much writers will receive from recurring new media projects.
But as officials worked to hammer out a deal, the local economy and its studio production workforce took a hit as local job and aid centers in Burbank and Glendale reported increased demand from out-of-work writers and production crew members.
Economists said writers lost more than $256 million in wages, while below-the-line workers — those not in the union but involved in media production — lost more than $444 million.
The strike cost Los Angeles County more than $2.5 billion.
During the strike, out-of-work writers flocked to NBC, Warner Bros. and other production companies, holding regular demonstrations with some help from high-profile celebrities and politicians.
Then-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards flashed his union credentials during a visit to NBC in November, when actress Sarah Silverman joined the fray chanting slogans and waving signs.
Meanwhile, out-of-work production personnel demonstrated outside union headquarters in Burbank in January, pleading with writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to strike a deal.
Some found work in ancillary businesses, while others tapped into personal savings to get them through the rough patch without a regular income.
Business in each city appeared to return to normal after a deal was reached in February, with restaurants, media permits and hotel bookings all at pre-strike levels, officials said.
“All the signs are positive and everybody’s raring to go,” said Gary Olson, president of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce.
Airport curfew begins to take shape
2The Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority, after years of debate and studies, announced in March it had completed its first iteration of a mandatory curfew that would halt all late-night and early-morning flights at the airport.
The plan would impose a curfew on all flights from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. in and out of the airport, but faces steep challenges from the Federal Aviation Administration and surrounding residents. Officials said the federal government might be loath to allow local airports to determine how they will operate while other cities complained that the flight ban would impose a burden on their homeowners.
Residents have called for the curfew since the airport authority was established in 1978, citing the impingement of flights overhead late at nights. The authority asked airlines to adhere to a voluntary curfew at night, and while about 97% of flights do not break the 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. period of time, residents have still been peeved by business carriers that routinely fly late at night.
The authority started working on the Part 161 study in 2000. Since then, the voluminous project has been amended, vetted and refined through nearly a decade’s worth of edits at a cost to the airport of about $6 million.
If passed, the curfew would affect an average of 36 flights every night and would force their aeronautical operations to shift to surrounding airports during the curfew: Van Nuys Airport could receive 16 flights, Ontario International Airport 13 flights, and Los Angeles International Airport three flights if the curfew is passed.
Bob Hope Airport officials and residents praised the study as the dawn of a new, quieter era in Burbank. But its approval could be delayed by at least a year and a half because of an FAA recommendation for further study and cross-town objections.
Alvord announces retirement
3Burbank City Manager Mary Alvord, a fixture in city politics for more than two decades, announced she would retire this year as executive head of the city.
Alvord, 58, stepped into the city manager’s role in 2003 after Bud Ovrom stepped down to lead the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. She served as Burbank’s Parks and Recreation director in 1990, after just a year as the assistant to the park’s head. She started working with Burbank’s Parks and Recreation Department in 1970 as a part-time junior recreation leader when she was in college.
Through five years of leadership, Alvord left an indelible imprint on the city through the establishment of numerous parks and an improved business district in Downtown and Magnolia Park while working with multiple lineups of City Council members.
City officials and business leaders took advantage of Alvord’s announcement this year by feting her at multiple galas, including an April 9 affair hosted by the Burbank Chamber of Commerce for the city manager, known affectionately as the “Queen of Burbank.”
In her place, Asst. City Manager Mike Flad will lead Burbank’s executive team, which includes 10 departments and 1,500 city employees. The City Council unanimously appointed Flad as Alvord’s successor during its May 6 session.
Sustainability takes hold of city
4A newly organized City Council in May outlined sustainability as Burbank’s highest priority, citing the need for increased water conservation, waste reduction and green construction as the most pressing matters throughout the region.
The effect has been palpable at nearly every council meeting and new building discussions, as well as at events across the city where the environment took on more of a pivotal role.
The city instituted a voluntary program, asking residents to reduce water consumption by 20 gallons per person per day, and the council recently called for tougher — though not mandatory — water restrictions should water levels drop precipitously in the future, something that will be determined by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
At the May meeting, Councilwoman Marsha Ramos’ conservation plan included converting lawns to gardens, planting more trees to increase the city’s sustainable-living efforts and installing permeable asphalt and concrete in certain neighborhoods, though she did not specify which areas the council would focus its efforts on.
The city’s Department of Water and Power delivered more than 5,000 low-flow faucet aerators and 700 low-flow shower heads to local homes and businesses this year, while renovations at Bob Hope Airport included hands-free faucets and recycled paper in restrooms.
“You have to be able to function in an environment where sustainability is becoming a priority more and more each year,” airport spokesman Victor Gill said in August. “Especially now that we are dealing with factors such as high oil prices, energy efficiency is in high demand.”
Environmental improvements at Bob Hope preceded a December unveiling at the airport of Hangar 25, a 60,000-square-foot building powered by 1,530 solar panels. Officials called it the highest-rated sustainable aviation facility in the world.
In addition, the city is actively researching a possible ban on plastic bags and Styrofoam in Burbank and is looking to reduce or eliminate all waste in Burbank by 2040, part of the council’s Zero Waste Program that was adopted in June.
That helped lend momentum to December’s Day Without a Bag, when Burbank Recycling Center employees fanned out across the city to spread the word on the environmental degradation caused by plastic bags.
Alvarez convicted after long trial
5Prosecutors said it was a scheme meant to demand his wife’s attention. Defense attorneys argued that their client, Juan Alvarez, underwent severe emotional and physical trauma that explained why the 29-year-old parked his sport utility vehicle on a set of Metrolink tracks in Glendale, setting off one of the worst accidents in the rail line’s history.
In the end, jurors deliberated for less than four hours, sending Alvarez to prison for the rest of his life for his role in the 2005 incident that left 11 dead and more than 180 passengers and crew injured.
The two-month trial in Downtown Los Angeles highlighted a pattern of abuse that Alvarez allegedly underwent as a child growing up in Mexico. Defense attorneys trotted out family members who testified of frequent beatings and a pattern of neglect Alvarez experienced at the hand of his father that led to suicide attempts on more than one occasion.
An ensuing cycle of drug use and a rocky relationship with his wife — combined with hallucinations that played to his worst fears — eventually sent him over the edge, they said. Shortly before 6 a.m. Jan. 26, 2005, Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee perpendicular to the train tracks that cut through Glendale and Los Angeles.
Metrolink train No. 100, filled with early morning commuters, collided with the SUV, derailed and hit a parked Union Pacific freight train on an adjacent track. The locomotive then smashed into Metrolink train No. 901, setting off a fiery melee in which nearby businesses set up triage centers and local hospitals were pressed into service.
Prosecutors had claimed Alvarez was in his right mind and sought the attention of his estranged wife in the most spectacular way possible. They said he never intended to commit suicide, something defense attorneys opposed.
After the jury reached its verdict July 16, choosing to forgo a death sentence that prosecutors had called for, Ty Romero reflected on the conflicted feelings felt by many relatives of the dead and injured.
“I am relieved he is never going to breathe fresh air again,” he said. “But it’s never going to bring my uncle back.”
Metrolink crash claims local lives
6The Metrolink train derailment in 2005 may have been Glendale’s worst rail disaster, but it was the Sept. 12 head-on collision with a Union Pacific freighter in Chatsworth that claimed the lives of five men who either lived or worked in Glendale and Burbank.
They included Roosevelt Middle School counselor Ron Grace and La Crescenta resident Robert Sanchez, the engineer for the Metrolink 111 train that slammed into the Union Pacific train, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others.
Burbank Public Works mechanic Alan Buckley and Bob Hope Airport traffic control manager Walter Fuller also died in the crash, as did Dean Brower, an employee at Burbank’s water reclamation plant.
The crash, which railway officials said was the worst state train catastrophe in modern history, eclipsed the 2005 Glendale derailment that killed 11 people and injured hundreds more.
It also sparked a massive legislative response to shore up potential safety deficiencies on the Southland’s railroad network — an effort that continues to unfold.
A safety review panel set up by Metrolink’s Board of Directors recommended the agency implement myriad top-down improvements in how staffing subcontractors are monitored and how control measures are enforced throughout.
Federal legislation pushed through by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer already required rail authorities to install the so-called positive train control systems that crash inspectors said would have prevented the Chatsworth collision.
The technology acts as a fail-safe stopping mechanism for wayward locomotives that fail to heed red-light stop signals on tracks shared by passenger and freight trains.
Despite the steep price tag that experts said was sure to come with implementing the additional safety measures, Metrolink board members said cost would not be an issue as they sought to improve the agency’s safety record.
Faced with yet another round of wrongful death and injury lawsuits that could dwarf the millions claimed as a result of the Glendale derailment, Metrolink in October filed a lawsuit in federal court against its staffing subcontractor, Connex Railroad LLC — a move that starts the judicial review process of who will ultimately bear responsibility for the crash.
A spokeswoman for Paris-based Veolia Transportation, which owns Connex Railroad, said the company was acting in full compliance of its Metrolink contract and would continue to do so.
Investigators have been focused on why Sanchez failed to stop the Metrolink train to allow the Union Pacific freighter to divert onto a parallel track.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report in October that alleged the engineer was sending and receiving cellphone text messages seconds before crash.
And a county coroner’s report, released Dec. 2, determined Sanchez was not under the influence of any drugs, alcohol or medication at the time.
Winter shelter reopens
7A year after offering an emergency relocation to Glendale’s winter shelter, Burbank reopened the service, even after opposition from homeowners.
Burbank offered its National Guard Armory for the shelter, for which it took responsibility after Glendale officials decided not to host the service for a second straight year.
The Glendale armory had offered the shelter to homeless for more than 10 years, but in 2007 underwent renovations and could not provide proper accommodations for visitors.
Glendale officials notified their counterparts in Burbank only weeks before the service was set to start, forcing Burbank representatives into a scramble before settling on the armory for the relocation.
Glendale business owners opposed reopening the shelter in 2008, fearing that an increased presence of homelessness would discourage consumers from frequenting the city’s shopping destinations, like the new Americana at Brand.
The City Council weighed the issue and eventually voted, 4 to 1, to approve opening the shelter at the armory.
Homeowners argued that the shelter should be relocated further from homes, schools and parks, but after having no major problems in 2007, officials were confident the shelter would operate without incident.
The shelter, which is being run by the Los Angeles Union Rescue Mission, opened Dec. 1 and will offer a secure refuge from the cold through March 15, with periodic relocations because of military training exercises scheduled at the armory.
Hillside resident slain near home
8The quiet Hillside community near Brace Canyon Park was rocked in late February by the gruesome slaying of Glen Giles, who was found dead on his neighbor’s doorstep across the street on the 3000 block of Joaquin Drive.
Burbank police quickly focused their investigation on a 41-year-old San Gabriel man who authorities said may have been motivated by a woman torn between the two.
The stabbing was not a “random act,” Sgt. Travis Irving said in February before police arrested Jorge Ernesto Villalobos, who was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty days after the incident.
Giles was stabbed several times in his home late on Feb. 25. Apparently in search of help, the Burbank resident stumbled across the street to his neighbor’s house — a former Burbank Police lieutenant — who found the naked body the next morning.
Police closed in, closing the street while police helicopters hovered above.
Villalobos was arraigned Feb. 29 at Pasadena Superior Court and faced one count of murder, while bail was recommended at $1.02 million.
Residents who had grown accustomed to the placid street of high-priced homes perched above downtown Burbank feared that their pocket of the city would take a turn for the dangerous.
“Before, things were very comfortable, very safe,” Joaquin Drive resident Amy Chalabian said at the time. “Now, there is no safe place.”
Others were shocked that Giles, who was about 6 foot 4 inches tall and weighed about 340 pounds, could be overtaken by Villalobos, about 4 inches shorter and slimmer than Giles.
“He was a big guy,” said Rita Stanley, who worked with Giles in the publishing industry for more than 30 years. “That somebody was able to kill him, I don’t believe.”
Superintendent Bowman to retire
9Burbank Unified School District Supt. Gregory Bowman in December announced his plans to retire at the end of the school year in June.
Bowman’s departure will prompt a search for a replacement during a time of financial uncertainty for California schools as the state continues to struggle with solving a record budget deficit.
Bowman, 66, has been superintendent since 2002 and, before that, worked in the district for eight years as an assistant and then deputy superintendent.
During his tenure, he helped establish $6 million in reserves to protect against budget cuts, officials said.
The district’s average standardized test scores have also climbed under Bowman’s watch, with marks on the Academic Performance Index jumping eight points over the last year to 796, just four points below the state’s target. By comparison, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s average score was 683 in 2008 and the state average was 742. Scores in the Glendale Unified School District rose 11 points this year to 818.
The superintendent plans to be involved in aiding the transition process for his successor.
The Board of Education voted at a recent meeting to approve a proposal by a consulting firm to aid in the search for a new superintendent and is expecting more than 100 applicants for the position.
City, schools partner for parks
10The City Council and Burbank Unified School District formed a partnership in 2008 to develop and share space for recreation and athletics, as land for new projects becomes scarce.
The 50-year agreement will allow for joint-use facilities to be developed at schools, some of which have fields and tracks that are degrading.
The city has so far pledged to contribute more than $14 million for developments on school property, while the district has given $4.1 million, for projects that are expected to total about $18.4 million.
Community groups have attempted to close the gap in funding for the developments.
The Celebrate Gratitude Committee, spearheaded by former Mayor Michael Hastings to raise money for the projects, has raised more than $1 million so far, with large contributions from the Cusumano family, the Walt Disney Co. and the Burbank Health Care Foundation.
Chief among the planned projects are the renovations of fields and tracks at both Burbank and John Burroughs high schools, which will include artificial turf fields and all-weather track surfaces.
Stadium renovations at John Burroughs High, including new bleachers, concession stands and better access for visitors with disabilities, will account for the largest chunk of funding — nearly $12 million.
1Burbank and Glendale, two cities whose businesses are reliant to a large extent on the film industry, were shaken early this year by a costly, 100-day work stoppage at the hands of the Writers Guild of America.
The strike, which ended Feb. 27 and featured numerous demonstrations at area production companies, resulted in increased residual payments for new media projects and established a new system for the union to calculate how much writers will receive from recurring new media projects.
But as officials worked to hammer out a deal, the local economy and its studio production workforce took a hit as local job and aid centers in Burbank and Glendale reported increased demand from out-of-work writers and production crew members.
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The strike cost Los Angeles County more than $2.5 billion.
During the strike, out-of-work writers flocked to NBC, Warner Bros. and other production companies, holding regular demonstrations with some help from high-profile celebrities and politicians.
Then-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards flashed his union credentials during a visit to NBC in November, when actress Sarah Silverman joined the fray chanting slogans and waving signs.
Meanwhile, out-of-work production personnel demonstrated outside union headquarters in Burbank in January, pleading with writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to strike a deal.
Some found work in ancillary businesses, while others tapped into personal savings to get them through the rough patch without a regular income.
Business in each city appeared to return to normal after a deal was reached in February, with restaurants, media permits and hotel bookings all at pre-strike levels, officials said.
“All the signs are positive and everybody’s raring to go,” said Gary Olson, president of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce.
Airport curfew begins to take shape
2The Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority, after years of debate and studies, announced in March it had completed its first iteration of a mandatory curfew that would halt all late-night and early-morning flights at the airport.
The plan would impose a curfew on all flights from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. in and out of the airport, but faces steep challenges from the Federal Aviation Administration and surrounding residents. Officials said the federal government might be loath to allow local airports to determine how they will operate while other cities complained that the flight ban would impose a burden on their homeowners.
Residents have called for the curfew since the airport authority was established in 1978, citing the impingement of flights overhead late at nights. The authority asked airlines to adhere to a voluntary curfew at night, and while about 97% of flights do not break the 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. period of time, residents have still been peeved by business carriers that routinely fly late at night.
The authority started working on the Part 161 study in 2000. Since then, the voluminous project has been amended, vetted and refined through nearly a decade’s worth of edits at a cost to the airport of about $6 million.
If passed, the curfew would affect an average of 36 flights every night and would force their aeronautical operations to shift to surrounding airports during the curfew: Van Nuys Airport could receive 16 flights, Ontario International Airport 13 flights, and Los Angeles International Airport three flights if the curfew is passed.
Bob Hope Airport officials and residents praised the study as the dawn of a new, quieter era in Burbank. But its approval could be delayed by at least a year and a half because of an FAA recommendation for further study and cross-town objections.
Alvord announces retirement
3Burbank City Manager Mary Alvord, a fixture in city politics for more than two decades, announced she would retire this year as executive head of the city.
Alvord, 58, stepped into the city manager’s role in 2003 after Bud Ovrom stepped down to lead the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. She served as Burbank’s Parks and Recreation director in 1990, after just a year as the assistant to the park’s head. She started working with Burbank’s Parks and Recreation Department in 1970 as a part-time junior recreation leader when she was in college.
Through five years of leadership, Alvord left an indelible imprint on the city through the establishment of numerous parks and an improved business district in Downtown and Magnolia Park while working with multiple lineups of City Council members.
City officials and business leaders took advantage of Alvord’s announcement this year by feting her at multiple galas, including an April 9 affair hosted by the Burbank Chamber of Commerce for the city manager, known affectionately as the “Queen of Burbank.”
In her place, Asst. City Manager Mike Flad will lead Burbank’s executive team, which includes 10 departments and 1,500 city employees. The City Council unanimously appointed Flad as Alvord’s successor during its May 6 session.
Sustainability takes hold of city
4A newly organized City Council in May outlined sustainability as Burbank’s highest priority, citing the need for increased water conservation, waste reduction and green construction as the most pressing matters throughout the region.
The effect has been palpable at nearly every council meeting and new building discussions, as well as at events across the city where the environment took on more of a pivotal role.
The city instituted a voluntary program, asking residents to reduce water consumption by 20 gallons per person per day, and the council recently called for tougher — though not mandatory — water restrictions should water levels drop precipitously in the future, something that will be determined by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
At the May meeting, Councilwoman Marsha Ramos’ conservation plan included converting lawns to gardens, planting more trees to increase the city’s sustainable-living efforts and installing permeable asphalt and concrete in certain neighborhoods, though she did not specify which areas the council would focus its efforts on.
The city’s Department of Water and Power delivered more than 5,000 low-flow faucet aerators and 700 low-flow shower heads to local homes and businesses this year, while renovations at Bob Hope Airport included hands-free faucets and recycled paper in restrooms.
“You have to be able to function in an environment where sustainability is becoming a priority more and more each year,” airport spokesman Victor Gill said in August. “Especially now that we are dealing with factors such as high oil prices, energy efficiency is in high demand.”
Environmental improvements at Bob Hope preceded a December unveiling at the airport of Hangar 25, a 60,000-square-foot building powered by 1,530 solar panels. Officials called it the highest-rated sustainable aviation facility in the world.
In addition, the city is actively researching a possible ban on plastic bags and Styrofoam in Burbank and is looking to reduce or eliminate all waste in Burbank by 2040, part of the council’s Zero Waste Program that was adopted in June.
That helped lend momentum to December’s Day Without a Bag, when Burbank Recycling Center employees fanned out across the city to spread the word on the environmental degradation caused by plastic bags.
Alvarez convicted after long trial
5Prosecutors said it was a scheme meant to demand his wife’s attention. Defense attorneys argued that their client, Juan Alvarez, underwent severe emotional and physical trauma that explained why the 29-year-old parked his sport utility vehicle on a set of Metrolink tracks in Glendale, setting off one of the worst accidents in the rail line’s history.
In the end, jurors deliberated for less than four hours, sending Alvarez to prison for the rest of his life for his role in the 2005 incident that left 11 dead and more than 180 passengers and crew injured.
The two-month trial in Downtown Los Angeles highlighted a pattern of abuse that Alvarez allegedly underwent as a child growing up in Mexico. Defense attorneys trotted out family members who testified of frequent beatings and a pattern of neglect Alvarez experienced at the hand of his father that led to suicide attempts on more than one occasion.
An ensuing cycle of drug use and a rocky relationship with his wife — combined with hallucinations that played to his worst fears — eventually sent him over the edge, they said. Shortly before 6 a.m. Jan. 26, 2005, Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee perpendicular to the train tracks that cut through Glendale and Los Angeles.
Metrolink train No. 100, filled with early morning commuters, collided with the SUV, derailed and hit a parked Union Pacific freight train on an adjacent track. The locomotive then smashed into Metrolink train No. 901, setting off a fiery melee in which nearby businesses set up triage centers and local hospitals were pressed into service.
Prosecutors had claimed Alvarez was in his right mind and sought the attention of his estranged wife in the most spectacular way possible. They said he never intended to commit suicide, something defense attorneys opposed.
After the jury reached its verdict July 16, choosing to forgo a death sentence that prosecutors had called for, Ty Romero reflected on the conflicted feelings felt by many relatives of the dead and injured.
“I am relieved he is never going to breathe fresh air again,” he said. “But it’s never going to bring my uncle back.”
Metrolink crash claims local lives
6The Metrolink train derailment in 2005 may have been Glendale’s worst rail disaster, but it was the Sept. 12 head-on collision with a Union Pacific freighter in Chatsworth that claimed the lives of five men who either lived or worked in Glendale and Burbank.
They included Roosevelt Middle School counselor Ron Grace and La Crescenta resident Robert Sanchez, the engineer for the Metrolink 111 train that slammed into the Union Pacific train, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others.
Burbank Public Works mechanic Alan Buckley and Bob Hope Airport traffic control manager Walter Fuller also died in the crash, as did Dean Brower, an employee at Burbank’s water reclamation plant.
The crash, which railway officials said was the worst state train catastrophe in modern history, eclipsed the 2005 Glendale derailment that killed 11 people and injured hundreds more.
It also sparked a massive legislative response to shore up potential safety deficiencies on the Southland’s railroad network — an effort that continues to unfold.
A safety review panel set up by Metrolink’s Board of Directors recommended the agency implement myriad top-down improvements in how staffing subcontractors are monitored and how control measures are enforced throughout.
Federal legislation pushed through by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer already required rail authorities to install the so-called positive train control systems that crash inspectors said would have prevented the Chatsworth collision.
The technology acts as a fail-safe stopping mechanism for wayward locomotives that fail to heed red-light stop signals on tracks shared by passenger and freight trains.
Despite the steep price tag that experts said was sure to come with implementing the additional safety measures, Metrolink board members said cost would not be an issue as they sought to improve the agency’s safety record.
Faced with yet another round of wrongful death and injury lawsuits that could dwarf the millions claimed as a result of the Glendale derailment, Metrolink in October filed a lawsuit in federal court against its staffing subcontractor, Connex Railroad LLC — a move that starts the judicial review process of who will ultimately bear responsibility for the crash.
A spokeswoman for Paris-based Veolia Transportation, which owns Connex Railroad, said the company was acting in full compliance of its Metrolink contract and would continue to do so.
Investigators have been focused on why Sanchez failed to stop the Metrolink train to allow the Union Pacific freighter to divert onto a parallel track.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report in October that alleged the engineer was sending and receiving cellphone text messages seconds before crash.
And a county coroner’s report, released Dec. 2, determined Sanchez was not under the influence of any drugs, alcohol or medication at the time.
Winter shelter reopens
7A year after offering an emergency relocation to Glendale’s winter shelter, Burbank reopened the service, even after opposition from homeowners.
Burbank offered its National Guard Armory for the shelter, for which it took responsibility after Glendale officials decided not to host the service for a second straight year.
The Glendale armory had offered the shelter to homeless for more than 10 years, but in 2007 underwent renovations and could not provide proper accommodations for visitors.
Glendale officials notified their counterparts in Burbank only weeks before the service was set to start, forcing Burbank representatives into a scramble before settling on the armory for the relocation.
Glendale business owners opposed reopening the shelter in 2008, fearing that an increased presence of homelessness would discourage consumers from frequenting the city’s shopping destinations, like the new Americana at Brand.
The City Council weighed the issue and eventually voted, 4 to 1, to approve opening the shelter at the armory.
Homeowners argued that the shelter should be relocated further from homes, schools and parks, but after having no major problems in 2007, officials were confident the shelter would operate without incident.
The shelter, which is being run by the Los Angeles Union Rescue Mission, opened Dec. 1 and will offer a secure refuge from the cold through March 15, with periodic relocations because of military training exercises scheduled at the armory.
Hillside resident slain near home
8The quiet Hillside community near Brace Canyon Park was rocked in late February by the gruesome slaying of Glen Giles, who was found dead on his neighbor’s doorstep across the street on the 3000 block of Joaquin Drive.
Burbank police quickly focused their investigation on a 41-year-old San Gabriel man who authorities said may have been motivated by a woman torn between the two.
The stabbing was not a “random act,” Sgt. Travis Irving said in February before police arrested Jorge Ernesto Villalobos, who was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty days after the incident.
Giles was stabbed several times in his home late on Feb. 25. Apparently in search of help, the Burbank resident stumbled across the street to his neighbor’s house — a former Burbank Police lieutenant — who found the naked body the next morning.
Police closed in, closing the street while police helicopters hovered above.
Villalobos was arraigned Feb. 29 at Pasadena Superior Court and faced one count of murder, while bail was recommended at $1.02 million.
Residents who had grown accustomed to the placid street of high-priced homes perched above downtown Burbank feared that their pocket of the city would take a turn for the dangerous.
“Before, things were very comfortable, very safe,” Joaquin Drive resident Amy Chalabian said at the time. “Now, there is no safe place.”
Others were shocked that Giles, who was about 6 foot 4 inches tall and weighed about 340 pounds, could be overtaken by Villalobos, about 4 inches shorter and slimmer than Giles.
“He was a big guy,” said Rita Stanley, who worked with Giles in the publishing industry for more than 30 years. “That somebody was able to kill him, I don’t believe.”
Superintendent Bowman to retire
9Burbank Unified School District Supt. Gregory Bowman in December announced his plans to retire at the end of the school year in June.
Bowman’s departure will prompt a search for a replacement during a time of financial uncertainty for California schools as the state continues to struggle with solving a record budget deficit.
Bowman, 66, has been superintendent since 2002 and, before that, worked in the district for eight years as an assistant and then deputy superintendent.
During his tenure, he helped establish $6 million in reserves to protect against budget cuts, officials said.
The district’s average standardized test scores have also climbed under Bowman’s watch, with marks on the Academic Performance Index jumping eight points over the last year to 796, just four points below the state’s target. By comparison, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s average score was 683 in 2008 and the state average was 742. Scores in the Glendale Unified School District rose 11 points this year to 818.
The superintendent plans to be involved in aiding the transition process for his successor.
The Board of Education voted at a recent meeting to approve a proposal by a consulting firm to aid in the search for a new superintendent and is expecting more than 100 applicants for the position.
City, schools partner for parks
10The City Council and Burbank Unified School District formed a partnership in 2008 to develop and share space for recreation and athletics, as land for new projects becomes scarce.
The 50-year agreement will allow for joint-use facilities to be developed at schools, some of which have fields and tracks that are degrading.
The city has so far pledged to contribute more than $14 million for developments on school property, while the district has given $4.1 million, for projects that are expected to total about $18.4 million.
Community groups have attempted to close the gap in funding for the developments.
The Celebrate Gratitude Committee, spearheaded by former Mayor Michael Hastings to raise money for the projects, has raised more than $1 million so far, with large contributions from the Cusumano family, the Walt Disney Co. and the Burbank Health Care Foundation.
Chief among the planned projects are the renovations of fields and tracks at both Burbank and John Burroughs high schools, which will include artificial turf fields and all-weather track surfaces.
Stadium renovations at John Burroughs High, including new bleachers, concession stands and better access for visitors with disabilities, will account for the largest chunk of funding — nearly $12 million.
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