Glendale City Councilman Bob Yousefian got down from the horseshoe at Tuesday's City Council meeting and addressed the council as a private citizen, speaking from the public speaker's stand about a setback ordinance that could affect his home, before climbing back up to his seat. That bit of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" populism was interesting enough, but the real fireworks happened after the meeting was over, when Yousefian and City Manager Jim Starbird got into a public argument. The tragedy of all this is that, while it was caught on video, there's no sound for the exchange between Yousefian and Starbird, just a lot of arm waving on the part of Yousefian and an attempt by Starbird to take Yousefian aside by grabbing his arm. The Glendale News Press judges the spat an "altercation." Anyway, let's just say that although the (silent) exchange was on cable access channel, it involved words that are more often seen on the other kind of cable TV. The video shows a police officer walking over to the counci horse shoe after the fight erupted. But needless to say, no arrests were made.

This has been brewing for years. I don't know how Starbird and Yousefian got along before this happened, but the members of this all boys club City Council have a history of taking some pretty juvenile snipes at each other. If you watch them long enough, it starts to remind you of watching high school kids in a cafeteria. There's the eye rolling, the dumb jokes and the clumsy attempts at self promotion.

Anyway, now Yousefian is saying that he's had enough. He told me he's going to next week's council meeting, and then he plans to take a couple weeks off for vacation. There was some talk of a Mexican getaway. For someone who is so married to the job that he actually - three years ago - asked his then-girlfriend to marry him in the middle of a City Council meeting, some time off may be just the solution.

What caused this rumble in the Jewel City? There was a proposal floating around that was spearheaded by Councilman Dave Weaver and would require setbacks ranging from 15 to 35 feet for the homes along part of East Glenoaks Boulevard, where Yousefian lives. It gets very technical very fast, but Yousefian was upset about a lot of things with the proposed ordinance. And he says he didn't get a notification letter from the city at his home address telling him what officials were planning to do on the setback issue. Anyone who wants more detail on this one is going to have to watch the video. Go to about 3:36:00 to watch the start of the council meltdown, when Yousefian steps down to the speaker's podium and demands to speak. If that's not exciting enough for you blood hungry council fans out there, skip ahead to 3:54:30, when the meeting ends and Yousefian and Starbird start acting like keystone cops in a silent movie.

Yousefian also said that speaking from the speaker's podium about house and home has convinced him that the council does not listen. "I can understand what it's like for the average citizen who goes to City Hall and tries to convince them that it's a problem," he said in a phone interview. "It's like talking to a wall."

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Burbank police had a wild chase last night, after a robbery at a Burbank liquor store lead officers on a chase all the way to Santa Clarita, as the officers dodged bottles thrown at them by one of the suspected robbers. Burbank blogger Dan Evans happened to stop by the store that was robbed, Burbank Reese Market, at 1701 W. Burbank Blvd., because his wife was suffering from a case of the munchies. He relates the following depressing exchange between the robbery victim who worked at the store and a TV reporter, after the clerk told the reporter that he got punched during the robbery.

"But I've seen worse," [the clerk] said. "I'm from Cambodia. I escaped from far worse people."

Whoa.

"You mean Pol Pot?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Who?" asked the reporter.

"The dictator," I said. "The Khmer Rouge. You know?"

"No," said the reporter.

"Yeah," said the clerk, lifting up his shirt to show a constellation of long-ago scarred burn marks. "They did this. Those kids, they nothing."

Dan Evans is suitably depressed about the reporter's ignorantly breezing past the Cambodian Genocide, but who knows, maybe the TV reporter was just annoyed at the spontaneous intrustion on her interview by one Dan Evans? I don't know, I wasn't there. Having seen a TV reporter a couple months ago mention the non-existent "city of Sherman Oaks," I can definitely relate to Dan's frustration at the "Duh" moment.

Anyway, back on the trail of these alleged robbers, police followed them for 43 minutes. Burbank police reports that one of their men in blue spotted the suspects just a few minutes after the robbery and started the chase, which went up to Santa Clarita. As we reported in the Daily News story:

Live footage from KCAL9 showed a man leaning out of a driver's side rear window, throwing full beverage bottles at pursuing officers. The [suspects'] SUV nearly struck a white car during the chase.

The suspects parked their vehicle on 14 Freeway near the Via Princessa offramp and surrendered to police.

Burbank police report today that the suspects were a 23-year-old from Los Angeles, who was booked on robbery and felony evading arrest, an 18-year-old from Alhambra, who was booked on robbery, and a 17-year-old from Los Angeles, who was arrested for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. All three of the suspects are suspected gang members, according to Burbank PD.

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The 4th annual Glendale Relay for Life will start on Sat. Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. It's actually a 24-hour event, and the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society. More than 38 teams and 600 people have signed up for this year's event. The reason it's called a relay is that each team is supposed to have one person on the track at all times, including during those wee hours of the morning. People say the whole event is like one big party. Opening ceremonies will include a “Survivors' Lap.”

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Following up on yesterday's blog post about Alfred Beardsley, 46, we learn today that the sports memorabilia collector and former Burbank or Glendale resident (now tangled up in the O.J. Simpson robbery case) was a friend of the late Irv Rubin, leader of the Jewish Defense League. Interestingly enough, Rubin's widow, Shelley Rubin, says that her late husband and Alfred Beardsley met at O.J. Simpson's murder trial.

"Al, I remember that he said he collected O.J. memorabilia even back then," Shelley Rubin said Thursday in a phone interview. "He was on the periphery during that trial, I guess he would try to ingratiate himself with the O.J. people, which really infuriated my husband and I guess that's how they started talking."

In case anyone's wondering, Irv Rubin was at the O.J. trial because Ron Goldman was Jewish, and the JDL wanted to show solidarity. Eventually, Irv Rubin and Alfred Beardsley got to talking, and Beardsley became a good friend of Rubin, a firebrand Jewish activist who was later arrested and accused of plotting to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and the office of Arab-American congressman Darrell Issa. Before that, Beardsley and Rubin appeared together on "Jerry Springer," where they got into a brawl with some Ku Klux Klan members. When Rubin died in federal lockup from what authorities describe as a suicide, Beardsley spoke to the Daily News about his late friend. "I've always found him fascinating and intriguing," Beardsley said. "This is a guy who spoke right from the heart."

Now, Beardsley is in custody on a parole violation case, just days after he emerged as an alleged victim in O.J. Simpson's new robbery rap. Check out the Daily News article here on the latest developments with the case.

Shelley Rubin says that O.J. Simpson had given personal possessions to Alfred Beardsley because Beardsley was part of Simpson's entourage during the murder trial.

"I think Al Beardsley is quite in awe of celebrities," Shelley Rubin said. "I think that might be part of Al’s problem.’’

But while he was friends with her late husband, Beardsley was reliable, she said. "The way Beardlsey acted toward my husband was like a bodyguard. But he was very annoying and he talks about himself a lot.’’

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In conjunction with the Getty's exhibition "Edward Weston: Enduring Vision," the Friends of the Glendale Public Library is hosting an event about the photographer. The tie to Glendale is that Weston opened his first photography studio on Brand Boulevard, although at the time that particular corner of the world was called Tropico (later annexed to Glendale.)

The Getty describes Weston as one of America's most revered photographers. He chose as his subjects everything from nudes to artichokes, along with coastlines and clouds. He even went through a phase of photographing peppers and other vegetables. The Getty event runs through Nov. 25, and the Glendale Public Library event is on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.

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The victim has become the criminal in Las Vegas, as Alfred Beardsley has been arrested for a parole violation in Las Vegas, just days after he emerged as one of the victims of O.J. Simpson's alleged robbery. Beardsley is a sports memorabilia collector who is either from Burbank or Glendale, depending on what news agency you look at. Our story today says he's from Glendale. Beardsley was arrested today by deputies with the U.S. Marshals Service. We're looking into reports that Beardsley used to be tight with Irv Rubin, the late leader of the Jewish Defense League. We'll keep you posted as Beardsley goes through the revolving door of Las Vegas justice and ends up back in California to face a parole violation case.

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)|

The La Canada Flintridge Democratic Club is hosting former diplomat Joseph Wilson, the husband of secret spy superstar Valerie Plame. The club says that Wilson coming to La Canada should be a significant event for what it describes as a growing community of La Canada lefties, since the area has a long history as a conservative enclave. The way Democrats describe him, Wilson was like a white knight who emerged from the Bush administration to do battle with the evil horde. On its Web site, the local Democratic club follows that lead, saying Wilson will talk about "efforts to silence a critic and subvert the right of citizens to exercise free speech." The event is happening on Sept. 30 at 11:30 a.m. at the La Canada Flintridge Country Club. That seems like a funny place for the emerging La Canada Flintridge left-wing community to gather, but there you have it. Also be warned: tickets are $100 per person.

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The Armenian National Committee's Glendale chapter has rolled out a new Web site. Taking a cue from that "Easy Button" commercial, they even have a button that you can click for justice. Who doesn't need one of those on their desk? There's also a great picture of Glendale with the Verdugo Mountains in the background, which begs the question: do the Verdugo Mountains really do a good stand-in for Mount Ararat? I've heard different things about this over the years.

For students out there, the Web site also has information on the ANC's internship program.

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For your viewing and calendaring pleasure, here is short notice that LA Shorts Fest 2007 in Burbank will soon be over. The short film festival started on Sept. 5 and it runs through Sept. 17, which is Monday, when the closing night awards happen in Hollywood at CineSpace. The festival has categories for everything, including foreign, horror, latin, and sci-fi. This year, writer/director James Toback won the "Maverick Film Achievement Award" for being the reckless artistic prodigy that he is. Toback, in case you didn't know, wrote the screenplay for the 1992 film "Bugsy."

The opening night venue was the AMC Burbank 16, but now that they're in the festival's daily grind, it has moved over a few hundred feet to the AMC Burbank Town Center 6. Enjoy!

Check out the Web site for the festival here.

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)|

Belmont, Mass., has become the third town to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League over the organization's stance on the Armenian Genocide, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Although it's much smaller than Glendale, Belmont apparently has a sizable Armenian-American population. The Belmont Human Rights Commission took the action in protest of the ADL's opposition to legislation in Congress that would recognize the genocide. Arlington and Watertown, two suburban Boston communities, have also severed ties with the ADL, according to the JTA article. Armenian-Americans have deep roots in Massachusetts, and it's no accident that the backlash against the ADL has been centered there, or that the controversy, which has now grown quite literally into an international incident, started in the Boston area.

This controversy broke out last month, and it shows no sign of letting up. As many readers no doubt know, it started when the ADL's director of the Boston branch was fired after puplicly breaking with the ADL's reluctance to call the genocide a genocide. He was subsequently reinstated. In the meantime, ADL National Director Abe Foxman issued a statement saying that the 1915-23 massacres of Armenians were "tatamount to genocide," but that Congress should not pass a resolution to that effect, effectively creating a situation where the ADL has been open to attack from Turks and Armenians at the same time, and has made friends in neither camp. As the JPA article points out, twelve Jewish organizations, including the Union for Reform Judaism, are supporting the legislation in Congress. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, was also highly critical of Foxman.

In light of the controversy, here are a few articles from both the Jewish and Armenian perspective. The Forward broke it down along lines of realpolitik and morality, saying that now that Jews have a country in Israel, it comes with the territory that moral positions have to be tempered with more material considerations. The Armenian Weekly of Watertown, Mass., had an open letter to Foxman from Newton Human Rights Commission member Michael Mensoian, who laments that the "ADL for whatever reason preferred not to seize the moment."

As long as we're on the subject, why not check out the ADL statement that started the firestorm. Harut Sassounian, publisher of The California Courier, an Armenian-American publication, has a response. I couldn't find the California Courier online, so here is a version of the article from the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church. The article also gives a good blow-by-blow of how the controversy developed.

And locally, the Jewish Journal has had a number of opinion pieces about the controversy. UCLA professor David Myers wrote that the ADL should have gone farther, saying that Jews have a responsibility to "act against ethnic cleansing or genocide, whether committed by friend or foe." The paper carried a less argumentative essay from David Harris, executive director of the influential American Jewish Committee, who raises the interesting question of what would happen if Saudi Arabia or Iran sought to make "denial of the Holocaust a condition of doing business." My former colleague, Brad Greenberg, now writes for the paper and runs the God Blog. Scroll down and find an article Greenberg wrote about the genocide back when he was with the Daily News.

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 06:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)|

It's a deal. Workers at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center have approved a four-year contract with the hospital. These are the workers who were about to go on strike on June 13, but they pulled back from the brink. On Thursday, hospital officials said Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon helped them and Service Employees International Union reach a deal. Here's our story in the Daily News:

BURBANK — Nurses and other workers at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center have approved a contract giving them a 5.25 percent pay rise in the next year, a hospital spokesman said Thursday. The four-year contract approved Wednesday also includes a wage scale based on experience and also bans subcontracting for services, spokesman Dan Boyle said. Officials credited Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon with helping to avert a threatened strike by the 1,500 nurses and other workers represented by the Service Employees International Union.

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On Wednesday, nurses and other caregivers at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank will vote on a deal union negotiators reached with the hospital last week. The union, Service Employees Internation Union, is pretty vague about what the deal entails, at least until after their members vote. They do say it would grant 1,500 workers at the hospital "their first ever wage scale system," and that it would ban subcontracting and provide wage increases.

The union narrowly avoided a strike at the hospital back on June 13. The proposed contract would go through September 2011, so presumably there would be no near-miss strikes until that time. But then again, you might not want to count on that. Unions and hospitals aren't exactly getting along these days.

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)|