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Four Contending for City Council

First published in the June 11 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.

  • Ara Najarian
  • Elen Asatryan
  • Vrej Agajanian

Incumbents commanded a lead for all three City Council slots that were up for election on Tuesday, although none has yet declared victory in the at-large contest.
As of the News-Press’ deadline on Friday, Dan Brotman, Vrej Agajanian and Ara Najarian were leading the field of eight candidates, with Elen Asatryan trailing the third-place Najarian by fewer than 200 votes. Brotman, who is seeking his first full term after completing two years of an unexpired term, led the way with 9,819 votes. Agajanian, who is seeking his second four-year term, had 9,274 votes. Najarian, who has served since 2005, had 8,590 votes.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Registrar continues to process mail-in ballots and has counted nearly 992,000 ballots across the county so far.
Trailing the incumbents were Asatryan, a community organizer, with 8,394 votes; Anita Quiñonez Gabrielian, a former Glendale Community College trustee, with 6,443 votes; Jordan Henry, a Los Angeles public works employee, with 5,259 votes; Karen Kwak, a tenants’ rights activist, with 5,165 votes; and Isabel Valencia-Tevanyan, a community organizer, with 1,975 votes.
Asatryan was within 196 votes of Najarian as of Friday.
Multiple candidates expressed late this week that vote tallies remained too close to call for now. The registrar updated its ballot count on Friday afternoon and expects to add its next round of votes on Tuesday. The agency will count all verified mail-in ballots received through Tuesday, as long as they were postmarked on election day.
If the results hold, it would establish continuity for the City Council for the first time in several election cycles and retain the composition established by the 2020 election — which introduced Brotman to complete an unexpired term, reelected Paula Devine to her second full term and brought in Ardy Kassakhian for his first term.
Agajanian, a former engineer who now hosts a program for a television station he owns, has made the development of affordable housing a signature issue. Brotman, an economist, has focused on crafting sustainable energy policies and improving pedestrian access in town. Najarian, an attorney who also holds prominent seats on the board for L.A. Metro and Metrolink, has emphasized improvements to transportation engineering and transit access to Glendale.
In the immediate future, the City Council faces a number of high-profile decisions, including direction on a linear park being proposed along the Verdugo Wash and a variety of initiatives on how Glendale Water and Power sources its energy. The council will also have to fill several pending vacancies, such as police chief, fire chief and the director of community development.

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