Najarian Leads Crusade Against Picnic. Gharpetian Remains Confused. Balekian Shows Up Again.
- concerned citizen
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Ara Najarian continued to grandstand over $5000 for the glendaleOUT 4th Annual Community Picnic last week. Vartan Gharpetian remained, as always, confused. Confused about Vision Zero plans to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries. Confused about the picnic. Confused about Grayson repowering costing more due to Trump Tariffs on EU-made equipment. Losing Candidate for Congress Alex Balekian showed up to talk and play a campaign ad. Let's get into another week of lowlights.
First up, Vartan.
For those new to Glendale politics, acting confused or unsure about "procedures" or "policies" is Gharpetian's go-to safe space in order to avoid voting on things he's not sure will potentially reduce his very small base of support. Gharpetian only won by a few hundred votes in a crowded field with low voter turnout in 2024. He doesn't have a lot of voter support, but that's never stopped him from peacocking from the dais.
Here is Vartan confused about the lengthy report on how to reduce/prevent cyclist and pedestrian injury and death.
Sir, you literally are sitting through the expert's report on exactly how to do this. YOUR CITY HAS AN ENTIRE WEBPAGE WITH RESOURCES AND REPORTS YOU CAN READ AT ANY TIME.
To conclude, Vartan appears to express that he is okay with doing nothing to improve road safety because:
The math "may be correct" but he doesn't "like the way it's presented" because it shows Glendale dead last out of 60 cities for pedestrian safety.
"Only 2-3 incidents" on average happen per day (with children around schools being affected) so that's acceptable.
We don't know "who was at fault" so we should not take steps to reduce the likelihood of a car hitting a person.
"We can't control what drivers outside of Glendale coming in do." (Not sure what the logic is here. The only way to control what any drivers do anywhere is to post signs, reduce lane capacity, adjust speed limits, and improve pedestrian infrastructure, which is the entire point of Vision Zero strategies and this fucking agenda item.
We remain convinced that the only time Vartan encounters a Council Meeting Report is when he shows up to the dais at 6pm on Tuesdays.
The entire clip is so mind-numbingly stupid that it should be seen to be believed.
He voted against the Vision Zero plan at the end of this painful discussion, by the way.
Alex Balekian showed up in his Medical Professional Scrubs™ to tell Council to abandon the almost 10 year long Grayson repowering now that MAGA tariffs have caused its EU-made components to skyrocket in cost.
We're not bothering to clip it because it's boring. It does look like Balekian's ongoing dalliance with fascism has taken a toll, though.
Finally, Mayor of Glendale™ Ara Najarian went into TV Lawyer Mode™ over week 2 of the picnic funding saga. Here he cited some legal code in order to further delay the picnic funding. He just needs more time to make sure it's allowed. Legally.
You can watch him blather below if that's your jam.
Honorable mention to some person named Beth Brooks. She made several public comments opposed to any spending on anything, ever that is not affordable housing. In classic boomer fashion, spending on community is bad, but spending on her most important issue is key.
Ma'am, have you ever considered that if rich corporations paid more taxes, there would be enough revenue to do all those things and you wouldn't have to spend your Tuesday evenings ranting about $5000 picnics or looking like an absolutely jerk explaining why scholarships for kids from historically marginalized communities is bad?
At one of her many public comments throughout the night, she told council she was "hearing about" "suspicious" city scholarships for "Blacks" and wanted to know if there were any for "Asians, or Hispanics or Whites."
Glendale is just full of the coolest people who want to create a warm, welcoming community for all.
