QUEEN PAULA DEVINE IS WISHY WASHY ON DISTRICTS

YOUR GLENDALE COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER: The stories behind the headlines.

YOUR GLENDALE COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER: You only have your word, independence, and honesty.

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Patriotism Versus Politics

In our previous Newsletter, Why Not Council Districts, on July 11, 2023, under UP PERISCOPE, we called out the non-profit YWCA. During June, the YWCA flew a GAY FLAG but never an AMERICAN FLAG. Even though June was PRIDE MONTH, during early July, the YWCA continued to fly a GAY FLAG, and, again, no AMERICAN FLAG. When YOUR GLENDALE COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER called out the YWCA for continuing to fly the GAY FLAG in July and not adding the AMERICAN FLAG, someone may have contacted Tara Peterson, the Executive Director of the YWCA. Shortly afterward, the GAY FLAG was removed, and still no AMERICAN FLAG. This is not intended, in any way, to disparage gay and lesbian individuals.

Why doesn't the YWCA fly the AMERICAN FLAG outside the YWCA building every month?

Does the YWCA deserve to have the status of a so-called non-profit when it is actually a political organization?

REGARDING COUNCIL DISTRICTS, POLITICS MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS.

1. SIX COUNCIL DISTRICTS WITH AN ELECTED MAYOR IS NEITHER A DEMOCRAT NOR REPUBLICAN ISSUE.

2. REDUCING TERM LIMITS TO TWO, FOUR-YEAR TERMS FOR A COUNCIL MEMBER AND MAYOR IS NEITHER A DEMOCRAT NOR REPUBLICAN ISSUE.

3. Having elected officials be more responsive to neighborhood concerns is neither a Democrat nor Republican issue.

4. Having less money in politics by special interest groups, who wish to sway politicians, is neither a Democrat nor Rpublican issue.

5. Having people have more direct access to their representatives is neither a Democrat nor Republican issue.

6. Shortening the terms of entrenched career politicians to two, four-year terms is neither a Democrat nor Republican issue.

7. Expanding the council so more parts of our city can have a voice in how Glendale is governed is neither a Democrat nor Republican issue.

8. Having an elected Mayor and an elected City Attorney responsible and answerable to all Glendale residents is neither a Democrat nor Republican issue.

These are eight valid reasons why the city should have six council members. And here's a bonus since we should have an elected Mayor.

NO person from South Glendale has ever been elected to City Council under the current system since Gus Gomez was elected to a seat over 25 years ago. How is that fair to the part of the city with the MOST residents and the least open or park space?

For some time, our current five council members together earn about $100,000 annually plus benefits. Current council members often are retired with an above-average income or have current jobs that allow them to spend the necessary time to do a good job as a council member.

To attract more qualified candidates, any future Council Member or Mayor should be compensated at a higher standard than they are today.

No system of electing a Council Member or Mayor is perfect, but going to districts and an elected Mayor is an ideal form of government, and starting a grass-roots system to campaign is easier.

Three previous editions on The Need For Council Districts, Elected Mayor and Elected City Attorney:

Why Not Council Districts, Tuesday, July 11, 2023.

Racist Letter By Glendale Tenants Union, Thursday, May 11, 2023.

Do We Need Council Districts?, Friday, April 28, 2023.

COUNCILWOMAN PAULA DEVINE IS THE EPITOME AS TO WHY WE NEED COUNCIL DISTRICTS WITH AN ELECTED MAYOR.

YOUR GLENDALE COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER believes in Council Districts and an elected Mayor, because it would encourage Glendale residents, with limited incomes, to join in the political process without raising between $100,000 to $150,000 to be successful.

Paula Devine does not support Council Districts and an elected Mayor.

A person without Paula Devine's credentials would have to resort to becoming a beggar to run for political office in order to win.

WHAT DID COUNCILWOMAN PAULA DEVINE NOT TELL THE PUBLIC AT THE JULY 11, 2023, COUNCIL MEETING?

Councilwoman Paula Devine did not tell the public that she was a retired school teacher and, with her late husband, was considered quite well to do. With her civic interest and wealth, she was able to be active in many civic organizations before she decided to run for Glendale City Council.

Former Councilman Bob Yousefian told this writer that he had appointed the late Art Devine to a Glendale Commission. When Art asked Bob Yousefian if he would be a good candidate to run for City Council, he said no, but his wife Paula was well-liked in the community and would have a better chance of winning a seat on City Council.

"I'm retired, stated Councilwoman Paula Devine, so I have plenty of time to do this (job) and listen," as reported in the Glendale News-Press, January 15, 2014.

"Devine then acknowledged she has never run for office but pointed to her long experience on various boards and a city commission."

Retired educator Paula Devine wants a seat on Glendale City Council, Glendale News-Press, 1/15/14, by Tim Traeger.
"A long-time resident, retired educator, and member of numerous local nonprofit boards has announced her plans to run for City Council, a move that would make her the sole woman in the race." Paula Devine was on the boards of Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Glendale Healthy Kids, and Glendale Police Foundation. Member of Kiwanis Glendale, Glendale Historical Society, Women's Civic League, Arroyo Verdugo Council of Government's Steering Committee, and Glendale Arts. Past President, Soroptimist International of Glendale. She was also a member of the Glendale Commission on the Status of Women.

With her late husband, Art Devine, the Devines are members of the Glendale Community College Legacy Society, having named the Glendale College Foundation in their Trust, and will continue to support GCC in the future through their financial investments.

CANDIDATE PAULA DEVINE WAS FINANCIALLY WELL OFF WHEN SHE FIRST RAN FOR A SEAT ON THE CITY COUNCIL IN 2014 AND THEREAFTER. HOWEVER, TODAY, SHE STATES YOU DO NOT NECESSARILY NEED A LOT OF MONEY TO RUN FOR COUNCIL.

Paula's pension is publicly available to view. She earns over $37,000 a year as a retired teacher from Alhambra Unified.
Her late husband's pension in 2014 was over $163,000 a year, bringing their household total to just over $200,000/year as retirees. This is public information readily available to the taxpayer and inquiring minds at www.transparentcalifornia.com.

Paula and Art have a wing named after them at Glendale Adventist Hospital for a sizeable donation they made to have that privilege. None of Glendale's southern renters will ever be able to match that type of generosity or have their names publicly promoted on a hospital building or other important institutions.

In 2014, when Paula Devine first ran for City Council, she loaned herself over $61,000 and spent almost a hundred thousand, according to the publicly available campaign filings. https://www.glendalevotes.org/home/showpublisheddocument/20075/636469452410100000

In 2014, Candidate Vartan Gharpetian raised only $50,000, loaned himself only $4,000, and came in second to Paula Devine. That was a special election; only the top vote-getter secured a council seat.

On June 3, 2014, Paula Devine won the special election and became a member of the City Council. Paula Devine received 33.69% of the votes.

Candidate Vartan Gharpetian learned his lesson in 2015 (according to campaign filings), and loaned himself over $70,000 to secure a seat on the city council. The top two vote-getters in 2015 were Paula Devine and Vartan Gharpetian.

Money talks loudly in politics, and now Councilwoman Paula Devine wants to convince voters that there is an easy and honest way to be elected to public office under the current system and without a significant amount of money.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS IN THE NEWS
Temecula school board adopts social studies curriculum, avoids fine but faces civil rights inquiry., Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2023, by Harriet Ryan. A conservative Riverside County school board that had previously rejected a social studies curriculum that mentioned gay rights activist Harvey Milk reversed course Friday night and said it would go forward with the instructional materials that meet state standards.

The unanimous decision by the Temecula Valley Unified School District followed a series of contentious public meetings and a threat by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fine the district $1.5 million if it did not provide its elementary school students with new state-approved social studies books for the coming school year.

Under what board members described as a compromise, the district will pull from the curriculum one supplemental lesson — a fourth-grade unit that discusses the gay rights movement — for further review and possible rewriting, according to a video of Friday night’s meeting. Milk is not in the textbook, but his biography appears in materials teachers may draw on or assign to students, according to information provided at the meeting.

Some conservatives from the “parents’ rights” movement attacked the inclusion of LGBTQ+ topics in the “Social Studies Alive” curriculum as sexualizing and inappropriate. The board president branded Milk, the state’s first out gay man elected to public office, “a pedophile,” and another member claimed the instructional materials promoted pedophilia.

The board voted 3-2 in May to reject the curriculum.