Dear Editor,
This is my response to an individual who posted an LA Times article that reported the meeting where the museum project was promoted.
Actually, the City did NOT have an Open Forum regarding the Armenian museum.
The two meetings were NOT discussions. They were to PROMOTE what may be an eighty million dollar project that includes the Armenian Museum that will obliterate forever, Central Park.
It is NOT a “Redesign” of Central Park! Central Park will be gone forever.
The so called ‘green swap’ is a promotion that will destroy parking for the Central Library, and supposedly provide other green space. In fact, the open sky and green lawn at the current location that has stood since the founding of Glendale over a hundred years ago will not be ‘replaced.’ What the City of Glendale did was TELL THE ATTENDEES WHAT THEY INTENDED TO DO. THERE WAS NO DISCUSSION.
When the idea of the Armenian museum was first proposed, evidently, there WAS a discussion about the more appropriate location, next to the Glendale Civic Auditorium, but the residents and Glendale College had objections. It is my understanding that Zareh Sinanyan, now mayor of Glendale, proposed the placement of the Armenian museum on Central Park and the council has promoted that as a “Done Deal” with not one minute of public discussion.
If you attended a meeting that was an open forum or town hall type discussion, please note where and when this took place. There are many other suitable locations for a museum. Is this government by ‘caveat?’ What do you think? Shouldn’t major projects like this be discussed in a open forum? Should one minority culture subjugate the other cultures in our city?
SAVE CENTRAL PARK!
Let’s find a more suitable location for this museum and consider that Glendale is an eclectic city with many cultural backgrounds. Because the City Council is sponsoring this project, let’s discuss ALL of the folks who live here and not favor one over another. Doesn’t that seem like a good idea to you? What about the founders of Glendale? The Asians? The Hispanics? The Anglos? The others? A museum celebrating all of the cultures in our city seems more appropriate to me. Promoting DIVERSITY should be the goal of any city, not an exclusive favoring of one culture over others. Does that make sense? It does to me. If it doesn’t to you.. please explain why we should favor one culture over another?
– Andrew Zanazanian