Monday, May 23, 2005
Glendale's Tammany Hall, Part II
Before the special election which allowed for the creation of the costly Americana at Brand project in Glendale and then prior to the city election, I blogged about how machine politics were ruining Glendale while political cronies of those in power were rewareded. Today's Glendale News-Press and the Los Angeles Daily News features stories backing my conclusion.
The idiots who backed the Americana mall fiasco currently under construction in Glendale are led by councilman Bob Yousefian. Under his incompetent leadership, the city paid $5,000,000 for property owned by the Armenian Society of Los Angeles without having it appraised. The city is now faced with plans for the society's new headquarters and the fincial headaches it will impose on the city (not the society directly, but its development of property).
Meanwhile, the city is faced with the fact that more than 1,000 apartment units are in the planning stages to be added to the already overwhelmed infrastructure of the city. The city manager argues that "the housing in downtown is an absolutely critical component to our maintaining the vitality fo the downtown area." Oh, really? I thought the Americana mall in and of itself was enough... or were the Hall Bosses just feeding us a line? Additional housing simply means additional problems ranging from crime, to traffic, to sanitation issues and more.
While the quality of life has been trashed by the new power brokers in the last twenty years, the voices of reason have also been squashed. I guess you can't go home again... but who would want to if it has been subdivided and overbuilt like this?
The idiots who backed the Americana mall fiasco currently under construction in Glendale are led by councilman Bob Yousefian. Under his incompetent leadership, the city paid $5,000,000 for property owned by the Armenian Society of Los Angeles without having it appraised. The city is now faced with plans for the society's new headquarters and the fincial headaches it will impose on the city (not the society directly, but its development of property).
Meanwhile, the city is faced with the fact that more than 1,000 apartment units are in the planning stages to be added to the already overwhelmed infrastructure of the city. The city manager argues that "the housing in downtown is an absolutely critical component to our maintaining the vitality fo the downtown area." Oh, really? I thought the Americana mall in and of itself was enough... or were the Hall Bosses just feeding us a line? Additional housing simply means additional problems ranging from crime, to traffic, to sanitation issues and more.
While the quality of life has been trashed by the new power brokers in the last twenty years, the voices of reason have also been squashed. I guess you can't go home again... but who would want to if it has been subdivided and overbuilt like this?
