Los Angeles City Council

BURBANK — Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, who is running for Los Angeles City Council, plans to speak Thursday about his midterm decision to seek another office. Krekorian, whose district includes Glendale, Burbank and some Los Angeles city communities, filed candidacy forms Monday for the post. The former Burbank resident, who recently moved with his family into an apartment in Valley Glen, is hoping to replace former Los Angeles Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who represented Council District 2 until she took over as controller on July 1. The election is slated to take place on Sept.

Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian publicly announced his candidacy for Los Angeles City Council at a midday news conference Friday. The announcement comes two years before his second term in state office is set to expire. Krekorian, whose Assembly district includes Glendale, Burbank and parts of Los Angeles, filed candidacy forms Monday for the 2nd District seat left vacant by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who took over as city controller July 1. Flanked by community leaders and supporters at a news conference Friday in Van Nuys, Krekorian cited his past experience on the Burbank Unified Board of Education and legislative track record in Sacramento as key in helping “the valley once again achieve greatness.

Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian is expected to publicly announce his candidacy for Los Angeles City Council at a midday news conference today.  The annoucement comes two years before his second term in state office is set to expire. Krekorian, whose Assembly district includes Glendale, Burbank and some Los Angeles city communities, filed candidacy forms Monday for the 2nd District seat left vacant by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who took over as city controller July 1. At the news conference today in Van Nuys, Krekorian is expected to lay out the reasons for his City Council run. He has yet to comment publicly on the move, although sources say it was influenced by his desire to end his weekly jaunts to Sacramento and spend more time with his family.

CITY HALL — The Burbank City Attorney's office has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, challenging its City Council's decision to accept an environmental assessment of a sewer alignment that would run though parts of Burbank. The petition alleges that negative impacts on Burbank of the Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer alignment were not properly analyzed in an environmental impact report, City Atty. Dennis Barlow confirmed. "As aligned, the adopted [alignment]

The Burbank Democratic Club will host a backyard meeting Thursday to discuss a possible endorsement for Assemblyman Paul Krekorian in his campaign for Los Angeles City Council. Krekorian is one more than a dozen candidates to declare their candidacy for the L.A. City Council District No. 2, which includes portions of his current legislative district. The club’s bylaws require a two-thirds majority among its voting members for any endorsement in a primary campaign. The club is also scheduled to discuss national health-care reform, which has become bogged down along partisan lines.

BURBANK — A Los Angeles City Council committee on Tuesday recommended full council approval of the proposed Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer alignment, failing to respond to the concerns of Burbank residents that were submitted in a letter from Burbank's special legal counsel, officials said. In October, the Burbank City Council hired the law firm Gatzke Dillon & Balance to issue an opinion about whether the city of Los Angeles adhered to the California Environmental Quality Act in its environmental analysis of potential routes for the proposed sewer line.

SEWER LITIGATION The council approved a budget appropriation of $250,000 to acquire legal services in opposing the Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer project, which would tunnel beneath neighborhoods in Burbank. The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved the project in spite of strong resistance from Burbank residents and officials. WHAT IT MEANS Now that the project has advanced through both the Los Angeles Public Works Board and the Los Angeles City Council, Burbank city officials are pursuing possible options to halt the alignment through litigation.

When Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian announced his candidacy for Los Angeles City Council midway through his second term in Sacramento, we expected his detractors to have a field day, and they did. Almost immediately, they responded with calls for his resignation, claiming he’d be a deadbeat representative for the Assembly’s 43rd District while pursuing Los Angeles’ District 2 seat. Jane Barnett, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, argued in her July 9 letter calling for Krekorian’s resignation that his announcement was likely nothing more than Paul taking care of Paul, a pursuit of “higher salary, less commute, bigger office and the ability to walk away from our state chaos he helped create.

Leaving office in time of crisis! With respect to Paul Krekorian’s recent decision to run for Los Angeles City Council (“Krekorian set to run for L.A. council,” July 8), I would like to start by thanking Krekorian for his short stay in Burbank. How long has it been? About six years I think, and wow, within those six years he did a great job of jumping seat to seat. Once again, Krekorian is on the move. In order to pursue yet another political office, he rented an apartment in Valley Glen a month ago, just in time to file his candidacy for Los Angeles City Council.

Head of Building and Safety named Former Burbank City Manager Robert ?Bud? Ovrom, deputy mayor for economic development in Los Angeles, will take the helm at the Department of Building and Safety, officials said Tuesday. The appointment is part of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?s reshuffling of top Cabinet advisors and must be confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council. Ovrom replaces Andrew Adelman, a former Crescenta Valley town councilman who stepped down as general manager in September amid allegations that he raped a woman at his apartment.

A long-planned coalition of San Fernando government agencies on Tuesday took the last major important step to becoming a reality. Burbank and Glendale voted unanimously last year to join the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments, a regional planning group for tackling cross-jurisdictional issues and coordinating public infrastructure projects. Los Angeles, Santa Clarita and San Fernando have also endorsed their respective memberships. And on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to join the group — the last vote needed before the group can begin meeting.

F or nearly all of state Sen. Carol Liu's term in office, she has had to deliver bad news to officials in Glendale and Burbank. Trouble began shortly after Liu's election in 2008, when the national economy went south. California state officials worked last year to close a combined deficit totaling $60 billion, and some of the lawmakers' solutions directly affected cities. Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) met with city officials from her district, which includes Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena, San Gabriel, Temple City and parts of Los Angeles.

A few weeks ago, you published an editorial (“City attorney fouled up,” Feb. 13) chastising City Atty. Dennis Barlow for notifying everyone on the City Council, except David Gordon, about Gordon’s exoneration on conflict of interest allegations made against him in the Vision Care employee benefits argument. You said in your editorial that Barlow and the council members who were notified damaged their reputation for withholding the state attorney general’s decision for so long, and that they had some clearing up to do. So far, Barlow’s lame reasons for not notifying Gordon leave an empty feeling in my gut. I feel the reputation of these council members and Barlow were already damaged and this just compounded an already bad situation.

As California lawmakers begin forming a plan to address an estimated $21-billion budget shortfall by mid-2011, city and school officials in Burbank and Glendale have less of a voice. The cities, which lie largely within the 43rd Assembly District, are without Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles), who stepped down from his post and took his oath of office at the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday. That leaves the district’s Assembly seat vacant for at least four months, according to the California secretary of state’s office.

As California lawmakers begin forming a plan to address an estimated $21-billion budget shortfall by mid-2011, city and school officials in Glendale and Burbank will have less of a voice. The cities, which lie largely within the 43rd Assembly District, will be without Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles), who is set to step down from his post and take his oath of office at the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday. That will leave the district’s Assembly seat vacant for at least four months, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.

At least three candidates have publicly stated their intents to replace Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles), with a fourth weighing a decision to jump into the race. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to call a special election to fill the seat, but the date could be set for as early as April. It could also be tied in with a statewide election June 8. Krekorian, who won an election for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, will vacate his Assembly post Monday and will be sworn in at L.A. City Hall on Tuesday.

Head of Building and Safety named Former Burbank City Manager Robert ?Bud? Ovrom, deputy mayor for economic development in Los Angeles, will take the helm at the Department of Building and Safety, officials said Tuesday. The appointment is part of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?s reshuffling of top Cabinet advisors and must be confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council. Ovrom replaces Andrew Adelman, a former Crescenta Valley town councilman who stepped down as general manager in September amid allegations that he raped a woman at his apartment.

Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles) is on his way to the Los Angeles City Council after being elected by a double-digit margin Tuesday, a shift that has set the stage for what is expected to be a contentious special election to fill his Sacramento seat. Krekorian earned 57% of the 19,170 votes cast, defeating former Paramount Pictures executive Christine Essel, who won more than 43% of the vote. His win came despite record-setting spending in support of Essel, who was backed by more than $1.8 million, compared with the $746,653 spent on Krekorian’s behalf, according to the most recent financial disclosures from the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

CITY HALL — City officials from Burbank and Glendale this week voted to join a new coalition of San Fernando Valley government agencies whose members plan to tackle regional issues and coordinate public infrastructure projects. The San Fernando Council of Governments, which has been in the pipeline for years, will bring together elected representatives from Burbank, Glendale, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and Calabasas, among other cities. “It’s going to be a good thing.