PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
SPRING 2010

The City of Glendale is spending $150,000 to hire a Tennessee company to come up with a “branding” strategy for Glendale. Mind you, not to actually do any “branding” – merely to come up with a strategy and a concept.

I think having a strong brand is very important – don’t get me wrong. But the use of funds like these at a time like this – and to spend such money on a non-local firm to boot – just speaks volumes about the leadership vacuum in Glendale at the present time. This is not to demean our very commited City Council in any way. They work a very thankless job for next to no money. I would bet that given the hours they put in by necessity not one of them even makes the minimum wage!

No, instead what I am referring to is the very structure of our city’s governance – and the fact that our city council members work part-time is while being expected to be both the legislative and executive body in the 3rd largest city in LA County. To me this is fundamentally absurd. This is the same form of government used by the little town in New England where I grew up. There’s a big difference between a town of 10,000 and a major city of more than 200,000.

This is why I continue to advocate for a Charter Reform Amendment for the City of Glendale: one that will provide for election of council persons by district and for a real mayor – elected directly by the people of the city – to replace the city manager. This would be much like our neighboring cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena.

There are millions of reasons why this should be done (including the City’s deficits and unfunded pension obligaHons). There may be reasons why not to do so, but so far I haven’t found any. Perhaps the branding company from Tennessee will come up with a few; probably when they come back to the City Manager with another $150,000 proposal.

Chris Welch
President
Adams Hill Homeowners' Association