11/10/23, 12:59 AM Council aims to nix tensions
Exhibit 2
News-Press
NEWS
Council aims to nix tensions
BY JASON WELLS
JULY 5, 2008 12 AM PT
GLENDALE â€" Racial tensions that have played out in various forms throughout the city over the past year have renewed calls for a permanent human relations commission to address the public rifts and facilitate greater cultural understanding.
Mayor John Drayman on Tuesday called for a report on how to go about forming the commission following a string of incidents in the past year that have belied racial tensions throughout Glendale, from high school campuses to City Hall. “I don't want to wait until we have another incident or issue,― Drayman said.
At the political level, the tension has manifested itself multiple times during the election campaign, the fight over federal block grant funding and a ban on outdoor grilling.
It was perhaps strongest early this year as the City Council moved forward with, and eventually approved, a change to the absentee ballot application process to disallow third parties from handling completed applications.
The city's large Armenian community framed the change as an attack on the voting rights of recent immigrants, calling proponents of the proposal “hateful malcontentsâ€O who were perpetuating discrimination and bigotry.
The ongoing battle between neighborhood activists and Armenian restaurant and banquet hall operators has also been a constant strain on cultural relations with some https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2008-07-05-gnp-commission05.art-story.html 113 11/10/23, 12:59 AM Council aims to nix tensions
restaurateurs and their attorneys claiming the protest is over racial bias, not the environmental impact of their businesses.
For some city officials, the signs of community discontent among neighbors are too many to ignore.
Graffiti was discovered at St. Peter Armenian Church in February and deemed by church and police officials to be âfœhateful;â€D a large-scale fight broke out at Glendale High School in May 2007 between mostly Armenian and Latino students; and spray-painted swastikas were found Montrose.
“The indications are all around us, ― Drayman said.
Glendale has had mixed results with establishing a community-based, member-driven human relations commission. The last time the city had such an actively involved body was in the years immediately proceeding the 2000 stabbing death of 17-year-old Raul Aguirre outside Herbert Hoover High School.
Two Armenian teens were ultimately convicted on attempted murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in the death, which spawned ongoing and sometimes violent scuffles between Armenian and Latino youths and gangs.
But as the memory of the incident faded, so too did interest in the Glendale Human Relations Commission, and it eventually became defunct little more than a decade after its creation in the mid-1990s.
With tensions apparently steaming in a large city that has strong Armenian, Latin and Asian immigrant communities, the council appears ready to form a more permanent, city-sponsored human relations commission that would be proactive heading off future misunderstandings through public education and more active communication. https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2008-07-05-gnp-commission05.art-story.html 2/3 11/10/23, 12:59 AM Council aims to nix tensions
â€ol think it's a good idea,― Councilman Frank Quintero said. “Any urban city in American needs to work to bring different groups together.â€O Congressional representatives and Los Angeles County officials have offered to assist Glendale in its quest to determine how the commission should operate and under what guidelines.
A report on those options will come back to the council later this year for further direction and public input.
?JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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11/10/23, 12:58 AM Drayman changes course on relations
= News-Press
NEWS
Drayman changes course on relations
BY JASON WELLS
NOV. 1, 2008 12 AM PT
CITY HALL — Mayor John Drayman, having called for the reactivation of the now defunct Human Relations Coalition in July, is instead advocating for an ongoing series of private roundtable discussions with civic leaders to address citywide cultural issues.
Drayman initially called for a report on reinstituting the human relations commission to address ongoing racial and ethnic tensions that have played out in various forms, either on high school campuses or during politically charged debates at City Hall.
But after hosting a private roundtable discussion last week, Drayman said he concluded that facilitating ongoing talks among a broad cross-section of nonpolitical city leaders could be more effective in addressing cultural stressors. "We've tried the more conventional ways in the past, and we've run out of steam," he said.
Glendale's track record on maintaining a permanent forum to address cultural and ethnic issues is tied to the city's timeline of highly publicized hate crimes in the 1990s and the early part of this decade.
Former Mayor Eileen Givens established the Human Relations Coalition in 1994 to help the Police Department form hate-crime guidelines and to address incidents of racial tension in the community.
https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2008-11-01-gnp-relations01-story.html 1/3 11/10/23, 12:58 AM Drayman changes course on relations
It reached its peak in 2000, when three Armenian teenagers allegedly stabbed and beat 17-year-old Raul Aguirre to death during a fight in front of Hoover High School. One of the accused teens confessed and two others were later convicted for their roles in the death.
At the time, the Human Relations Coalition had 40 dues-paying members and dozens more volunteers, but by 2004, its roster had fallen to just 12. Later that year, it disbanded.
"We tried to keep it fluid enough to respond to the dynamics of the issue," Givens said.
But as the coalition wore on, faces changed, and so did its structure. Even Givens and longtime board directors, such as former Mayor Sheldon Baker, eventually left the coalition as their tenures at City Hall ended.
Civic leaders said the board eventually became politically toxic, repelling potential volunteers.
Those who attended Drayman's private meeting last week called the discussion "spirited" and "insightful," and said the broad, open-ended nature of the discussion provided an apolitical insight into Glendale's various cultural, religious and social communities.
Rabbi Rick Schechter of Temple Sinai said he saw the meeting as an opportunity to influence "communal policy" without being hindered by the tunnel vision some committees sometimes fall into.
"You really do have a chance to engage diverse opinions, rather than just set members on a council," he said.
https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2008-11-01-gnp-relations01-story.html 213 11/10/23, 12:58 AM Drayman changes course on relations
Maintaining the roundtable discussions as private and independent through either a nonprofit group, or through the city's sponsorship, would be a part of any future recommendation to the City Council, said Drayman, who personally funded the Oct. 22 luncheon.
While the former Human Relations Coalition was effective in addressing specific incidents, Drayman said he did not see the logic in restarting a commission that time and time again had fallen victim to political influences. "Very often, the community has the solutions, but they are slowed down by the city's bureaucracy," he said.
Members of any discussion group would likely be rotated among an ever-expanding pool of interested participants as the meetings took hold, Drayman said.
Givens, who did not attend the private meeting, said she was heartened to see some sort of community dialogue on potentially volatile issues taking place. "You got to get a dialogue going," she said. "I don't think the coalition died because there wasn't a need for it."
City officials who attended the Oct. 22 meeting will likely draft a recommendation with options to support the roundtable discussions and bring that to the full City Council for consideration in the coming months.
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