By Eliza Partika
Glendale News-Press
The Glendale City Council honored local students who won the 46th annual Children’s Bookmark Contest with a Mayor’s Commendation at this week’s meeting.
Each year, the library invites children from preschool through 8th-grade to design a bookmark based around the year’s summer reading theme. This year’s theme is “Find Your Voice.” One winner from each grade level was chosen out of 700 entries spanning GUSD and beyond.
The bookmarks will be distributed to the community at the start of the Summer Reading Program on June 1. The winning students proudly held up their bookmarks for councilmembers and the public as Mayor Dan Brotman read the commendation.
“Your artwork in this year’s theme of ‘Find Your Voice’ inspires other young artists by sharing your story of self-expression, and sparking change through your words and artwork,” he told them. “We are honored to showcase your art in our libraries and in our community.”
“We encourage children to share their stories, express themselves and spark change through their artwork on the bookmarks,” said Jennifer Driscoll, senior supervisor of Children’s Services at Glendale Library Arts and Culture.
The Glendale Library Arts and Culture accepted $54,702 in California State Library funds to support Lunch at the Library Summer 2023 program and Parks and Nature Literacy program.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WEEK PROCLAMATION
Brotman read a proclamation to declare Emergency Medical Services Week from May 23-26 in the city of Glendale. He affirmed the vital services EMS workers provide to the community, including compassionate, direct care, injury prevention and public health outreach.
“Access to care directly improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury,” he said.
Commander Todd Tucker, the battalion chief for Glendale’s EMS services, commended his workers and accepted the proclamation on their behalf.
“We run approximately 20,000 calls a year in the Fire Department and around 85% of those are medical in nature. So, we’re pretty busy out there,” he said.
The proclamation is intended to highlight the first responders, both EMTs and paramedics of the Fire Department, but Tucker also recognized the responders trained for EMT services in the Police Department.
He implored the public to learn more about EMS services and to engage in training themselves.
“We can’t do it all by ourselves, however. We need the public to be involved and to hopefully get trained in ways that can help us help them,” Tucker said.
Some of those ways are in CPR training and community emergency response services through the Glendale Fire Department’s Community Emergency Response Team training, meant to educate volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards
that may impact their area.
CERT trains community members in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations.
Tucker encouraged the public to sign up for CERT classes on the GFD website, and called attention to the CPR training classes that will be held the week of June 1-7 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Central Avenue between the Glendale Galleria and Americana shopping centers.
Glendale City College’s Vaquero Plaza will also hold training classes that week from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Any interested community members can walk up and get hands-on, 10-minute CPR training that focuses on chest compressions, the most important part of emergency response if someone’s heart has stopped.
“We can get folks trained in
the proper landmarks, techniques, rate, depth, and in the use of an Automatic External Defibrillator, if an AED shows up on scene, how to be comfortable using something like that,” Tucker said.
RESCUED CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
Fire Chief Timothy Ernst described a daring rescue accomplished by the Glendale Fire Department on May 3 when a roof collapsed at East End Studios on Glendale Avenue.
Only minor injuries were sustained, but the rescue took two and a half hours. Several medical helicopters whirred overhead while firefighters worked to free workers trapped in the wreckage, including one worker trapped in a damaged boom truck on which one of the beams was precariously balanced.
One of the fire chiefs was in a meeting at Firehouse 22, which is down the street from the studio, when he felt the thunderous collapse of the building. At first, he thought equipment in the department’s nearby workshop had given way. In reality, 200 foot-long steel supports that spanned the length of the movie studio under construction had collapsed.
Glendale, Pasadena, Burbank and San Marino fire departments, as well as two helicopters from the Los Angeles Fire Department and approximately 75 firefighters responded to the scene.
“I’m hearing from our police chief, and now our fire chief, how lucky we are to have departments and staff that are so well trained, work so hard to keep us safe, to rescue and do their jobs. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I know our community does too,” said Councilwoman Paula Devine.
Councilman Ara Najarian expressed concern about further construction at that location. “Accidents like that don’t happen by accident. Either the plans were wrong, or the engineering was incomplete. I mean we were extremely lucky there weren’t any deaths.”
He called for the council to review the studio’s building plans and work procedures so construction will halt until it is safe.
City Manager Roubik Golanian said the city building inspector attended meetings regarding the incident that reevaluated the site and ensured the building was red tagged. Once it was deemed safe to enter, said Director of Community Development Bradley Calvert, the site was tagged with a yellow flag. Construction work will not be able to resume until developers conduct a meeting with Glendale building safety teams, ensuring that proposed plans meets the city’s standards and codes.
“Our building safety team has been working closely with the construction team itself and the owner of the property,” he said.
OSHA was also called to investigate.
INAUGURAL SMALL BUSINESS SUMMIT
The first small business summit is to be held next week, May 16-18. Initiated by City Council to help identify potential funding for local businesses, the event is intended to connect entrepreneurs.
“The intent here is to connect local businesses with the resources they need for funding for capital, even just for networking. To be able to bring them together and provide the resources that they need to help grow our local economy and grow everything from our tech ecosystem to what is identified in our academic development strategic plan are our primary goals,” said Calvert.
The first event on May 16 at 10 a.m. will feature virtual speakers on how to grow capital and business development.
Other events include information on certifying women- and minority-owned businesses, and how to boost efficiency with tech tools.
On May 18, at Embassy Suites north of the 134 freeway, there will be events with various speakers, a panel discussion and networking.
“We invite all our small businesses to attend and learn how to grow your business,” Calvert said.
First published in the May 13 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
