Candidates Backed by Homeowners Win Council

Incumbent Dave Weaver and homeowner group leaders Bob Yousefian and Frank Quintero won election to the Glendale City Council on Tuesday, while two incumbents and challenger Greg Krikorian took three seats on the Glendale school board.

For the Glendale Community College Board, incumbents Mary Hamilton and Victor King and educator Armine Hacopian also won election to four-year terms.

The City Council race was loosely divided between candidates backed by homeowner groups--including Weaver--and those supported by business interests. With incumbents Ginger Bremberg and Sheldon Baker stepping down, voters on Tuesday solidified the strength of homeowner groups in City Hall.

Yousefian, 44, who owns a home remodeling business, was supported by homeowner groups eager to preserve open space in the Verdugo Mountains and elsewhere. During the campaign, he called for bond measures to improve the city’s parks and schools. He is a past president of the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council and a former board member of the Northwest Glendale Homeowners Assn.

Quintero, although a past president of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, was also allied with homeowner groups. The 55-year-old Quintero is the current president of the Rossmoyne-Mountain Homeowner Assn. and campaigned on a platform of preserving the city’s quality of life.

Trailing Quintero, a vocational counselor, were civic volunteer Mary Boger and another former Glendale chamber president, Hamo Rostamian, who is in the commercial real estate business. Rostamian, 48, led the field of candidates in fund-raising with nearly $49,000 in contributions through March 17, the last reporting period.

Rostamian and Boger were backed by a political action committee calling itself Glendale Tomorrow, which also endorsed Tony Tartaglia. The group said it wanted to restore balance to a city government it contends is no longer business-friendly.

“The tax base in our city is mostly underwritten by our businesses,” said former Glendale Mayor Carl Raggio, a leader in Glendale Tomorrow.

Despite the business group’s backing, Boger, 55, also claimed endorsements from homeowner groups. Boger said during the campaign that she wanted “the city to become owner friendly--whether it’s homeowner or business owner.”

Tartaglia, 36, who moved to Glendale last year, vowed to bring big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco to San Fernando Road to increase city sales tax revenues. He is a public affairs manager for Southern California Gas Co.

Historically pro-business, the City Council is in transition. Two years ago, representatives of homeowners associations won a majority of the council seats for the first time. Councilman Gus Gomez was elected in 1999, joining Weaver and veteran homeowner leader Bremberg, who came out of her first council retirement in 1997, to give representatives of homeowner groups three votes on the five-member council.

Weaver, who was elected by his peers last year to serve a one-year term as mayor, defeated an incumbent in 1997 in his third run for City Council. He is a former president of the Glenoaks Canyon Homeowners Assn., and, like Yousefian, a past president of the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council.

This year, Weaver ran on the council’s accomplishments. They included a major development with the Disney Co. and a critical vote against deregulating the city’s power supplies, which have spared residents and businesses from significant rate hikes and rolling blackouts.

Besides Weaver, Yousefian and Quintero, another candidate with strong ties to homeowner groups was florist Larry Miller.

Weaver, Boger and Quintero were endorsed by political action committees representing city employees, police and firefighters.

The other City Council candidates were Allen E. Brandstater, John Robert Christopher, Pam Ellis, Stephen Ropfogel, Joe Scopacasa and Dave Wallis.

The winners will be sworn in for four-year terms on Monday.

In the race for Glendale Unified School District Board, Krikorian and incumbents Jeanne K. Bentley and Chuck Sambar won election, outpolling incumbent Louise Foote and six other candidates.

In the college board race, Hamilton, Hacopian and King bested a field of five candidates.

City Clerk Doris Twedt and City Treasurer Ronald T. Borucki ran unopposed for reelection.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Glendale Election Results

100% precincts reporting

Winners in bold

CITY COUNCIL

3 elected

*--*

VOTES Dave Weaver* 7,065 Frank Quintero 6,697 Bob Yousefian 6,500 Mary W. Boger 5,602 Hamo Rostamian 4,884 Pam Ellis 4,861 Larry Miller 4,063 Tony Tartaglia 2,775 Allen E. Brandstater 2,569 Dave Wallis 1,991 Steve Ropfogel 767 John Robert Christopher 548 Joe Scopacasa 444

*--*

CITY CLERK

1 elected

*--*

VOTES Doris Twedt* 12,345

*--*

CITY TREASURER

1 elected

*--*

VOTES Ronald T. Borucki* 11,798

*--*

COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

3 elected

*--*

VOTES Mary Hamilton* 11,686 Victor King* 10,566 Armine G. Hacopian 9,664 Phillip Kazanjian 6,260 Remy Lani Altar 4,590

*--*

BOARD OF EDUCATION

3 elected

*--*

VOTES Jeanne K. Bentley* 7,961 Greg Krikorian 7,923 Chuck Sambar* 7,861 Kathleen Burke-Kelly 5,668 Louise Foote* 5,353 Catherine Yesayan 4,291 Jan Bills 2,697 Wanda Dorn 2,596 Joe Mandoky 1,483 Bill Bodell 1,074

*--*

* Incumbent