Glendale City Council

Glendale City Council

As meetings go this one was pro forma. It was the last meeting in the old format. The next voting meeting will begin at 6 PM and the public will have the opportunity to speak before regular business. The next workshop meeting is scheduled for 9 AM on August 20, 2013, not at its regularly scheduled time of 1:30 in the afternoon.

The majority of the agenda items were approved with nary a comment. Councilmember Sherwood did pull Item 3, a new liquor license for the 99¢ store at 53rd Avenue and Glendale Avenue. It was pulled to assuage the concerns of downtown merchants who had expressed their disapproval and wanted council to deny this applicant. We all learned more about 99¢ stores than we cared to. It appears that this retail chain has revamped its model and now desires to sell beer and wine to increase its revenues. Perhaps someday we’ll see shoe stores and clothing stores selling liquor “to increase revenues.” A specious argument used ad nausea by applicants applying for a liquor license. The new license was approved despite empty reassurances from various councilmembers that they supported downtown Glendale.

It does bring up some interesting thoughts for your consideration. When does an area have enough liquor stores and can a lot of liquor stores in a small geographical area stigmatize it? A topic best saved for discussion in another blog.

The other discussion that proved most interesting was that of the car cruising event that was held in downtown Glendale. It is Mayor Weiers’ baby and he put a lot of effort into its promotion. Apparently with some success as it brought people to downtown Glendale in the middle of the summer and the merchants loved it. Now it appears that the woman who produced the event has betrayed him. She is moving the event to Westgate where apparently they are willing to pay her for her production. This is in sharp contrast to producing the event in downtown under the city’s thumb. It appears far more attractive to her to be paid for her work rather than paying the city hefty permit fees for permission to hold her event. There was much gnashing of teeth by the mayor, vice mayor and Sherwood and Martinez, promising that they would “look into it” because they were behind the downtown merchants 100% — but not when it comes to denying a new liquor license. It is also noteworthy that Weiers still hasn’t the foggiest idea of how to run a council meeting. He often forgets where he is on the agenda, takes items out of order or has to be corrected by Vice Mayor Knaack.

Norma Alvarez

Norma Alvarez

Lastly and not surprisingly Councilmember Alvarez did not attend and did not call in to participate in the meeting. It appears she has injured herself once again. How many meetings has she missed due to injury?  Feel free to do the research but it’s been a bunch. Sometimes she did call in to participate. Often she did not show or call in. She lost her effectiveness as a councilmember a long time ago and for the good of her district she should resign. She does stand for reelection in 2014 and she would be well advised not to do so. Except for a few Ken Jones types and the Tohono O’odham she has lost the support of many in her district due to a combination of her antics and absences. For the first time I have added a poll question on the left side of this article. It provides you with an opportunity to cast your vote on the question of Alvarez’ resignation.

Vacation’s over, folks.

©Joyce Clark, 2013

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