On March 27th, the City Council passed the Glendale Bicycle Safety Plan. This affects our canyon in that as part of the street resurfacing project [see: Glenoaks Blvd. Rehabilitation Meeting Notes] the city will be painting bike lanes and sharrows markers in the canyon upon completion of resurfacing. Below is a summary of what this means for our canyon.

Here is what the plan proposes:

From Chevy Chase to Mt. Carmel

Current
46′ wide
2 lanes with on-street parking

Proposed
46′ wide
2 lanes with on-street parking
6′ bike lanes
7′ wide parking lanes
10′ wide travel lanes

From Mt. Carmel to Scholl Dr.

Current
46′ wide
2 lanes with on-street parking
9.5′ center turn lane
8′ parking lanes
10′ 3″ travel lanes

Proposed
46′ wide
2 lanes with on-street parking
Remove center turn lane
7′ parking lanes
6′ bike lanes
10′ travel lanes

From Scholl Dr. to Scholl Canyon Park Entrance

Current
40′ wide
2 lanes with on-street parking
4′ center painted median
7′ parking lanes
11′ driving lanes

Proposed
40′ wide
2 lanes with on-street parking
Remove center painted median
7′ parking lanes
13′ travel lanes with sharrows (see below for an explanation of what a “sharrow” is)

From Scholl Canyon Park Entrance to Tennis Courts

Current
40′ wide
2 lanes with parking only from 6am to 10:30pm
6′ wide painted lines, no bike lane markings

Proposed
40′ wide
2 lanes with parking only from 6am to 10:30pm
Stencil and sign existing stripes to create bike lane

A “sharrow” is a shared bike lane. Signified by the symbol:

The stated purposes of the shared-lane markings used in California are to:

• Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist’s impacting the open door of a parked vehicle;
• Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in lanes that are too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same traffic lane;
• Alert motorists of the lateral location bicyclists are likely to occupy within the traveled way;
• Encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists; and
• Reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.

You can download the full copy of the bicycle master plan here: http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/public_works/GlendaleBicycleMasterPlan.asp

The City Council will host a “study session” at 3:00 pm on Tuesday March 27th (prior to the regular Council Meeting) to gain input from staff and other sources regarding the proposed addition of Bike Lanes in the City of Glendale. The session should last about 2 hours.

All concerned citizens are encouraged to attend the session and voice their opinions – both pro and con.  Council will use the input for further study the program. There is nothing scheduled yet as to when the Council will bring up the program for a vote.

We urge all Canyon residents to participate in the study session and verbally present their ideas regarding adding bike lanes to Glenoaks Boulevard to our Council. if you can’t make it to the meeting, please email your thoughts about bike lanes in Glendale to citycouncil@ci.glendale.ca.us.

[UPDATE] Please note that this meeting will be held Tuesday night at 6:00pm. Not Monday as was previously mentioned.

Please see article on GHCC News-page   (http://glendalehome.org)

The City Council will hold a GWP Water Rate Hearing on Monday March 20 at 6:00 PM in the council chambers. Please plan to attend to hear more about it and to voice your opinions.

Click map to enlarge

Last Monday night, at the Glenoaks Elementary auditorium, a meeting was held to discuss the rehabilitation project to resurface Glenoaks Blvd. and many of the surrounding streets in our canyon. Below are the notes from that meeting.

Councilman Dave Weaver first spoke. He mentioned that on March 27th the city will have a study session on the Glendale Master Bike Plan. He urged all of us to attend this council meeting to voice our opinions and hear what is being discussed regarding bike paths in the canyon and throughout Glendale. Currently, the meeting is scheduled for   3pm but he’s trying to get it changed to 6pm. If we get a better idea of when the meeting will be held, we will post the time on the website. The City Council will also be discussing the rehab project at their meeting on Tuesday 3/13. Bike lanes are being proposed but as of now are not part of the plan but the Council will be getting bids just in case.

The City Works Dept. gave a presentation outlining what types of resurfacing and repair will be done on what sections of the canyon. You can view the presentation here (please note this is a relatively large file).

The project is anticipated to being around June 4th and will take approximately 3 months to complete. All work in front of the school will be done during the summer break.

For much of the work where a slurry seal or complete resurfacing will take place, you will not be able to get access to your property from 7am to 5pm the day that they are laying the asphalt. That means if you do not leave your house on that day you will have to stay home until 5pm that evening, or if you leave (before 7am) you will not be allowed to return until after 5pm. This includes walking as well as driving. Of course if there is a life threatening emergency, all bets are off. This will be done in sections and several notices will go out to the residences affected for each section giving plenty of notice before the street is closed.

When they are doing Glenoaks Blvd. they will be doing half of the roadway at a time so there will always be a means to get in and out of the canyon.

Once the paving phase is complete, the roads will be striped and painted. The center divider that is no on Glenoaks Blvd. Will be removed and there will be a center line only. There is a proposal to continue a bike lane from Verdugo Blvd. Along Glenoaks Blvd up to Scholl Rd. (where the road is wider) and then have sharrow markers the rest of the way up the canyon. This is a proposal only and has not yet been voted on.

Three trees will have to be removed for this project. Two of them are already dead. Once complete, the city will be planting 55 new trees along the roadways within the canyon.

Important meeting Monday night 6pm at the Glenoaks Elementary School Auditorium to discuss the rehabilitation of Glenoaks Blvd.

This meeting will discuss the plans and impact of the rehabilitation of Glenoaks Blvd. from Harvey up to the entrance of Scholl Canyon Park.

At the meeting there will also be discussion of bike lanes on Glenoaks Blvd. that have been proposed in the Glendale Bicycle Master Plan and will be voted on at an upcoming City Council meeting.

If you are at all interested in seeing how the resurfacing and potential restriping of Glenoaks Blvd. will affect us as residents of the canyon, you should definitely plan on attending.

At the Glendale City Council this Tuesday, Sept. 20th at 6:00 PM,  an agenda items to be discussed will be Route 13 into Glenoaks Canyon.

One city recommendation to be presented is the use of taxi vouchers at a round trip cost of $7.50 from Glendale Adventist Hospital to Glenoaks Park.  This would replace the current $.50 charge for the Beeline and seems to be an unreasonably high solution for those who use public transportation to get in and out of the canyon. They may also discuss the return of a limited service of Metro Line 201 (no cost to the City of Glendale).  This is the best recommendation.

Your presence and voice are very important to maintain public transportation in our canyon and to support those neighbors who need this service. Please attend the meeting if possible and/or call the city clerk at (818) 548-2090 to leave an email message with your recommendation for the city council.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

If you are interested in helping Save Line 13 (the Beeline Shuttle into Glenoaks Canyon),  you can reach all our City Council members by making one phone call. If you call the City Clerk’s Office at  (818) 548-2090 or the City Council Office at (818) 548-4844,   Michelle, the Administrative Clerk, will  forward your message on to the City Council members.  The City Council meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) night, so if you wish to make a call to let our City Council know your feelings about the necessity for public transportation in our canyon, please do so tomorrow.

Thanks so much for your support of this important issue.

Coming up at this Tuesday’s City Council meeting (Aug. 30th) is a recommendation from the Transportation Department to permanently eliminate, Line 13, the Bee Shuttle  into Glenoaks Canyon because of low ridership. This is of concern to us because there are approximately 1,000 people per month who ride this line. Removal of this service would leave only  Dial-a- Ride as a transportation option.  Dial-a-Ride requires a making a reservation a week in advance a with no guarantee of a ride as they may be booked up. The cost for Dial-a-Ride is $18.05 whereas the Beeline is only $2.67.  Not only is Dial-a-Ride less reliable, it is a lot more expensive.

Please attend this important meeting so that your voice may be heard on this important issue. Contact GOCHA Board member, Angela Vukos at (818) 247-2781 for more information. The meeting will be held at the Glendale City Hall ,  613 E. Broadway, 2nd Floor at 6:00 PM on Tuesday August 30th.

Background information on City Council’s decision:
Funding for the City’s transportation programs primarily comes from a small portion of sales tax dedicated to transportation. With the recent recession, sales tax receipts have been significantly reduced and the current operating commitments in the City’s Transportation Fund are exceeding the annual operating revenues. Based on previous City Council budget discussions, it is recommended that Beeline increase its base cash fare on regular local routes from $0.25 to $0.75 beginning October 1, 2011, to be increased to $1.00 beginning July 1, 2012, and to $1.25 beginning July 1, 2013. The cash fare for the express routes will increase from $1.00 to $2.00. The remaining Beeline fare media would be adjusted to be consistent with the cash fares. Staff also recommends changing the senior age definition from 60 to 62 years of age to be consistent with Metro fare policy. It is recommended that Dial-A-Ride increase its cash fare from $1.00 to $1.25 beginning October 1, 2011, and to $1.50 beginning July 1, 2013. Staff also recommends increasing the
minimum age for new Dial-A-Ride participants from 60 to 65 years of age.

Finally, it is recommended that Beeline Route 13 serving Glenoaks Canyon be cancelled due to low ridership; that the frequency of service on Beeline Route 3 between Glendale Community College and Jet Propulsion Laboratory be reduced due to lack of ridership demand; and, that the fare subsidy program for the purchase of Metro senior passes be discontinued.

In response to the outpouring of emails, petitions signatures, and letters, the Glendale City Council has decided to keep the Chevy Chase Library open, and to not transfer it to the Dept. of Community Services and Parks!!! This is GREAT news and a powerful testament to what can be accomplished when we make our voices heard.

Many of the Library advocates are now shifting modes and instead of asking the City Council to “SAVE OUR LIBRARY” plan to express their thanks – both in letters and in person. The City Council often only hears protests, and we want them to hear the positive side of their decisions.

If you’d like, feel free to write to the Mayor and the City Council and thank them for preserving our library. At issue still, is Chevy Chase Library’s dearth of books and library-sponsored programs. The Mayor and Council are working hard to find ways to fund this. Please thank them for their efforts and express your deep hope that this can happen!!

Mayor Laura Friedman  lfriedman@ci.glendale.ca.us
Council Member Frank Quintero  fquintero@ci.glendale.ca.us
Council Member Dave Weaver  dweaver@ci.glendale.ca.us
Council Member Rafi Manoukian  rmanoukian@ci.glendale.ca.us
Council Member Ara Najarian  anajarian@ci.glendale.ca.us

If you had already planned to attend the City Council mtg on Tues, June 8th at 6:00pm, and would now like to express your thanks instead, you can join a handful of families who plan to present the kids’ letters, and express their thanks and what the library means to them.
If you have any questions or plan to go with a child, please let Pamela Tom know at Ptomfilm@yahoo.com. She would like to let the Mayor know how many kids plan to be there, so that they may make special accommodations.

Congratulations and thank you to all who signed a petition, wrote a letter, supported this effort, and made your voices heard.

The Chevy Chase Community Library may soon cease to exist.  Despite promises to make improvements to our library and update its collection, a proposal to transfer it to the Community Services and Parks department and provide “minimal library services” is now being considered by the City Council.  This will spell the end of our community library.

PLEASE ACT NOW.

You can make a difference by:

SIGNING the E-PETITION at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/chevychaselib/

SENDING an EMAIL TO OUR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS expressing why you feel it’s important to maintain a library in the canyon:

Laura Friedman

Frank Quintero

Rafi Manoukian

Ara Najarian

Dave Weaver

SENDING “LETTERS to the EDITOR” of 250 words or less to jason.wells@latimes.com

ATTENDING the June 7th City Council Meeting with your kids and LETTING YOUR VOICE BE HEARD

Below is a video that includes information about the proposal before City Council and what the city has already done to this vital and important community resource.

And here is a video of canyon resident Pamela Tom addressing City Council in opposition of the proposal.