YOUSEFIAN LOSES CITY COUNCIL RACE
By Charles Cooper

Crescenta Valley Sun
April 10 2009
CA

One of the more controversial figures in Glendale city government will
be exiting the scene as a result of Tuesday’s election. Bob Yousefian
finished fourth in the balloting for Glendale City Council with 6,654
votes, as a newcomer to the council ran first for the second election
in a row.

Former city commissioner Laura Friedman topped the list with 8,497
votes in complete semi-official returns, topping incumbent Ara Najarian
by 31 votes. Najarian received 8,466, while incumbent Frank Quintero
ran third with 8,120 votes. Two years ago, now Mayor John Drayman
finished first.

Friedman, who formerly chaired a design review commission, is a small
business owner. She will be the first woman on the council since the
retirement of Ginger Bremberg in 2001.

Yousefian, now completing his second term, was informally censured
by his colleagues for public comments in the past. He had briefly
considered running for treasurer before deciding to run for reelection.

He drew public attention for a verbal altercation with city manager
Jim Starbird at the end of a public council meeting and proposed to
his wife from the council dais during his first meeting as mayor. He
also cast a symbolic "No" vote on the budget last spring. advertisement

Mayor John Drayman said Wednesday he was very happy with the election
results. He praised Friedman for running a positive campaign, and
saluted Yousefian for his eight years of service to the city.

Drayman said the Crescenta Valley was very active for the second
election in a row, adding that he was pleased to see local residents
recognizing the importance of city government in their lives.

Some of the more active candidates in the election didn’t fare that
well when city residents cast their votes for three seats. Former
Pasadena police chief Bruce Philpott finished fourth, activist Chahe
Keuroghelian fifth and Vartan Gharpetian sixth.

The rest, in order of finish, included Lenore Solis, Aram Kazakian,
Michael Teahan, Edward Lafian and Aramazd Stepanian.

Former mayor Rafi Manoukian’s bid to return to the scene as treasurer
apparently fell short, as he lost by 823 votes to incumbent Ron Borucki
after leading much of the evening. City clerk Ardashes Kassahkian
was unopposed for reelection.

Measure U, a restructuring of the city utility tax, passed easily
with 10,774 yes votes and 5,250 voting no. City officials maintain
that the measure is revenue neutral and protects some $8 million in
city revenues against legal challenge.

A total of 866 provisional ballots remained to be counted Wednesday
morning, along with a number of mail votes dropped off at polls
on Wednesday. A total of about 55,000 votes were counted Tuesday,
representing about 18,000 voters casting their three votes for council.