Mayor Laura Friedman Talks Traffic Safety, Development

in April – and it’s a role she’s relishing.

Patch sat down with Friedman to find out more about her, city council, and the Crescenta Valley's future.

Friedman has lived in northwest Glendale since 2000 and became interested in city council while serving on Glendale’s Design Review Board.

“The more I learned about the city, the more I wanted to be involved in some of [the policy] decisions,” she said.

Friedman, a registered Democrat, “felt that the city council should have a more proactive stance in terms of planning, traffic management and a whole range of issues.”

Friedman jumped in and ran for Council in 2009. Her campaign was endorsed by several groups, including the Glendale Fire Fighter’s Association and the Glendale Police Officer's Association.

One of her main concerns for the Crescenta Valley and Glendale is traffic safety concerning pedestrians and bicyclists.  

“[We need to] find ways of making the city safer for people to walk around," Friedman said. "That includes children going to to school, people in downtown–everywhere. We have speeding, reckless driving, people blowing through stop signs, and that shows in our abysmal traffic safety record.” 

Another concern for Montrose specifically is design and development.

“There’s a lot of concern about maintaining that small-town feel,” she said.

She cited one “very controversial project” from her days on the Design Review Board, when a three-story mixed-use building was proposed for the vacant Foothill Lumber lot.

“The neighborhood felt it was over-scale for the area, that was one of the things that kicked this whole [design review] process into motion, because that project would have been allowed under our zoning codes," she said. "Now we have design review and design review rejected the project. It was just the wrong project in that location.

City council continues to implement design review, zoning codes and is examining height allowances along Foothill Boulevard. The council wants to “make sure that they [keep Montrose] the way [locals] envision” it.

“It’s a very close knit community," she said. "I love shopping on Honolulu and going to eat there. To me, it’s very much part of the heart of Glendale. My husband and I go all the time. And certainly  is a huge draw.”

Friedman also enjoys riding her horse and going to museums or galleries with her husband, Guillaume Lemoine, whom she married in 2005.

The mayor wants locals to know that she is very open.

"If people have concerns, they shouldn’t be afraid of sending an email or giving me a phone call," Friedman said. "I’m always happy to try to help.”