Dialog in the 02-21-09 Vanguard Weekly News between Aramazd Stepanian and Barry Allen

Barry Allen:

I do admit to be ignorant of a lot of things. For instance, I don't have a clue what the Vanguard is and who you are. And, unlike your unkind and false reasoning as to why I have not responded to your questions, I don't say this in any hostile way. I don't know who you are and I don't know why you feel I was obliged to answer you. You haven't contacted me directly, you haven't introduced yourself, we haven't shaken hands. You don't know me. You have absolutely no idea who I am and what I stand for. You have never been to Luna Playhouse and clearly do not think that it should continue its work. You may or may not be one of the many philistines who have made Glendale one of the most characterless places on Earth, despite all the wealth that exists here. Fine.

I don't seek your or anyone else's endorsement or approval. I chose not to answer the questions of The Realtors' Association and the Sierra Club either. I am taking part in this election to freely open up a number of subjects that are never, or hardly ever mentioned in Glendale or are not considered within the sphere of a City Council Member's brief. I will try, to the best of my ability, to formulate and express my thoughts and ideas and you can come and listen to them if you like. Perhaps I do not wish to subject myself to a formula that will be dictated by the structure and content of your questions. You clearly have very strong opinions about how things are done or not done in the city and write with a certain attitude that may be fair and justified, but that, for the time being, is of no concern to me.

Aramazd Stepanian

Response by Barry Allen:

Mr. Stepanian:

Thank you for writing. It is very sad when you don’t know or recognize an advocate for accountable government that has been active in this community for the past 5 years. I applauded your Luna Theater and my wife and I wanted to attend a performance but were unable to as tickets were unavailable. I listened to the requests for toilet exemption and understood that the City worked with you to a resolution. Rent on the other hand is what you have negotiated. Asking the City for a bailout and then running for City Council is certainly your right and I applaud you for speaking out.

As advocates for fiscal accountability, Vanguardians asks questions of all candidates to assist the 86,000 registered voters to be better educated as to the understanding of the issues by the candidates. You have chosen not to respond and as you saw in Vanguard I suggested reasons for the readers: “There are many reasons why respondents to a community watchdog group would ignore an opportunity to have their responses to questions posted on an impartial website. Here are some of the conclusions you can draw from that failure:

· Too busy

· Truthful answers are difficult

· I want to be consistent now and if I get (re-)elected to be able to continue ignoring my constituents.

· I don’t want to display my ignorance

· Nothing in writing that will stick to me in the future

You can make up your own reasons. You can also ask the four why they chose not to respond.”

I don’t see those words as unreasonable or unkind. As to your statement that I “clearly do not think that it should continue its work” you are telling me my intent, a matter that you are not in a position to know or infer as you don’t know my thought processes. As a non-profit we cannot endorse. However we can rate. I understand that you are making your statement but I question whether running for a City Council seat is best for the community. You could rent the Civic Auditorium or the Central Library Auditorium and have a venue large enough to invite several hundred people and share with us your thoughts and ideas rather than using a flash card and responding in 30 second or 1 minute sound bites to the questions of others. I do appreciate the arts and the artisans.

Barry Allen