City Considering Termination of Beeline Shuttle into Canyon

[UPDATE]

The City Transportation Dept. has submitted their recommendations about the Beeline to the City Council. Now is the time to contact the City Council and let them know your thoughts. They will be deliberating and making their final decision shortly. Please email the council and let them know your opinions.

jstarbird@ci.glendale.us

fquintero@ci.glendale.us

dweaver@ci.glendale.us

anajrian@ci.glendale.us

jdrayman@ci.glendale.us

lfriedman@ci.glendale.us

GOCHA is respectfully requesting your urgent communication with the Glendale Transportation Department and the Glendale City Council in order to prevent the loss of the canyon’s  public transportation service.  Without your input this will be a permanent loss to Glenoaks Canyon residents.

This is with regard to the meeting which was held regarding Glendale Beelines. We realize Beeline #13 has low ridership and is a target for cancellation in the near future. However; some type of public transportation should be provided a community that has historically had public transportation. Due to the City's failure to aggressively pursue the retention of Metro Line 201 service, we had for over 70 years, we have had all these problems.

To avoid this loss of transportation, our suggestions are to either continue the current service of Beeline #13, or, preferably, restore Metro Line 201 service one mile up the canyon, or, at a minimum, schedule a short connection to the Metro Line 201 at Chevy Chase and Glenoaks. Otherwise we will be completely stranded without any public transportation in our canyon. By the way, Metro Service is provided at no cost to the City of Glendale. The cost of the Beeline # 13 is about $ 44,000. per year.  In view of the very costly perks, paid by the taxpayers and provided  by the City of Glendale to government officials, this would seem like a very reasonable amount to pay to provide independence to the people. Loss of our public transportation in this canyon, will have a devastating impact on our students, seniors, home care and cleaning service providers. and the community. Many are unable to walk up one mile for a bus and cannot afford taxis all the time.

We have paid representation on the Metro Board, Mayor Najarian, and with the power given by the people to the City Council, we rightfully expect our voices to be heard and our needs to be considered favorably.

Comments on the proposed fare increase and service change may be submitted by email at beeline@ci.glendale.ca.us

by phone at 818-548-3960

Or in writing to:

Glendale Beeline, 633 E. Broadway Room 300 Glendale, CA 91206

Comments will be collected through September 18, 2010 and incorporated into a report to the City Council later this fall.

Angela Vukos, GOCHA Board Member would like to organize a committee to work on preserving our transportation.  Please email her at svukos@sbcglobal.net for more information and/or if you would like to help in this important effort.

Glenoaks Elementary School Teaming Up With Nike

[Via The818Now.com] The Glenoaks Elementary School Green Team with team up with the school Parent Teacher Assn. and Nike to keep old shoes out of the Scholl Canyon landfill. A drive to collect old but usable shoes will begin Jan. 29 and end Feb. 12. The shoes can be recycled into high quality sports and playground surfaces.

Shoes can linger in landfills for up to 1,000 years, and the reuse-a-shoe program has kept 21 million pairs of athletic shoes out of landfills, organizers said.

Glenoaks organizers said they hope they can recycle 200 pairs.

The Glenoaks Green Team has led the effort to initiate cans and bottle recycling at the school, as well as a school garden project.

The Green Team students meet every month after school.

Disaster Preparedness Team Meeting This Sunday 1/24/10 2-4PM

It's time for the annual Glenoaks Canyon Disaster Recovery Team meeting. The meeting will be held this Sunday, January 24th, from 2:00pm - 4:00pm. The meeting will be held at 2241 E. Glenoaks Blvd.

See you there.

Hollister Terrace Setback Consideration

The consideration of options for preserving the setbacks of properties located along and adjacent to Hollister Terrace will be addressed at the January 19, 2010 City Council Meeting. This issue was to be addressed at the December 15th meeting but has been postponed until January. The City Council meeting will start at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers located at 613 E. Broadway.

Click here to see a copy of the City Council Meeting re Setbacks on Hollister Terrace.

Trees Being Planted in Honor of Long-time Community Members

Two trees will be planted on Tuesday, December 15th in Lower Scholl Canyon park in honor of Don Rector and Sharon Kelly Lee, both long-time residents of our canyon. The trees were donated by GOCHA in honor of Don and Sharon's dedicated commitment to our community.

The ceremony for Don's tree, a California Sycamore, will take place on Tuesday at 10:50am, immediately followed by the dedication of Sharon's tree, a Toyon tree, at 11am. We hope to see you there.

Glenoaks Canyon Beeline Issue Gets Some Attention

Thanks go out to Barry Allen and Vanguard (www.vanguardians.org) - a weekly non-profit watchdog paper that comments on City Hall activities - for commenting on the current Beeline route cuts that will affect our canyon. In his paper he states:

Beeline service cuts are coming with little community input. The folks in Glenoaks Canyon have route 13 available but it will probably be cut without the input from the users; without an alternative plan; without their testimony reaching Council, Staff or Transportation and Parking Commissioners. These folks can‘t or don‘t drive especially at night when those meetings are held. There is no bus service to get them to a meeting to express their need. What will the Staff do? Were these people interviewed? Bottom-line is that a lot of money was spent on a study for a trolley on Brand and zip for the Canyons. This week Council voted to accept a new contract for the Nextbus system that has no practical purpose for the expense. There are solutions to the problem but it takes a willingness to look for them.

If you haven't already, please read the post regarding the Beeline service issues and voice your concerns to the city.

Safe and Healthy Community Meeting Wednesday October 21

Attention all Glenoaks Canyon cyclists and pedestrians. The next meeting of the LA County Bike Coalition focusing on Glendale is happening this Wednesday, October 21st from 7pm - 8:30pm at the Brand Library Recital Hall. Come and share your thoughts about what is good or bad about walking and biking in Glendale.

To find out more, visit www.la-bike.org/glendale. This is one in a series of meetings regarding pedestrian and biking issues in Glendale.

Click here for the flier.

Beeline Bus Service Into Glenoaks Canyon May Be Discontinued

We have just received information advising us that the Glendale Traffic & Transportation Department held a meeting regarding Beeline service in Glendale.  They are recommending that our shuttle into Glenoaks Canyon, Beeline #13, be discontinued. To avoid this loss of transportation, our suggestions are to either continue the current service of  Beeline #13, restore Metro Line 201 service up the canyon or, at a minimum, schedule a short connection to the Metro Line 201 at Chevy Chase and Glenoaks. Without one of these options, our canyon will be without any public transportation, cutting off vital transportation options for residents, housekeepers, nannies, and others that work and live in our canyon and rely on public transportation.  By the way, Metro Service is provided at no cost to the city of Glendale.

We strongly recommend that you please e-mail both beeline@ci.glendale.ca.us and customerrelations@metro.net as soon as possible because they are keeping a record and counting comments received from us regarding Beeline # 13 and Metro Line 201 which will have  a bearing on their final decision.

When they make a decision, their recommendations will be presented to the Glendale City Council.  Therefore we also urge you to contact the City Council to become involved in this matter. Councilman Ara Najarian is on the Metro Board and former Mayor Larry Zarian is on the State Transportation Department. Email addresses of our Mayor and Councilmen are: fquintero@ci.glendale.ca.us, dweaver@ci.glendale.ca.us, anajarian@ci.glendale.ca.us, jdrayman@ci.glendale.ca.us and lfriedman@ci.glendale.us.  The City of Glendale Traffic and Transportation Department is located at 633 E. Broadway, Room 300, Glendale, CA 91206,  (818) 548-3960 in case you wish to contact them directly.

We are 760 homes in this canyon with a population of about 2500.  If we do not take action now, we will possibly lose our public transportation forever.  This will have a devastating impact on our students, seniors and our community.

If you have any questions, kindly call Angela Vukos at (818) 247-2781.  Thank you.

New Beeline 13 Schedule

The Glendale Beeline Route 13 bus schedule has been changed to coincide better with the connecting schedule of Metro 201. The new timetable can be found here.

Thanks to canyon resident Angie Vukos' efforts, the city of Glendale has agreed to change the timetable for the Beeline into the canyon to coincide with the newly changed timetable for the Metro 201 line. Apparently the Metro 201 schedule was changed to improve the connection to the bell times for Virgil Jr. High School. Before the change, the bus would come by the school before the students were let out for the day forcing students needing to catch the bus to have to wait 40 minutes for the next bus to come by. When Metro changed the 201 schedule, it no longer coincided with the Beeline schedule for line 13 into the canyon.

Of course, Angie continues to try and get the Metro line 201 service back into the canyon as it has been, until recently, for the last 70 plus years. Her most recent letter to Congressman Schiff can be seen here. Thanks to Angie for all her efforts.

Annual Membership Meeting

Annual GOCHA Meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 7:30pm at the Joe Bridges Clubhouse at Glenoaks Park.

Come join GOCHA for our annual meeting where we will discuss topics concerning Glenoaks Canyon. A representative from the Glendale Fire Department will also be there to discuss fire safety for our neighborhood and fill us in on the details of the August 4th fire in our canyon.