Armen Erik Yesayan Announces Glendale City Council Candidacy

GLENDALE — Armen Erik Yesayan, a professional urban planner and 5-year city planning commissioner, has announced his campaign for Glendale City Council. The election will be held on Tuesday, April 7.

“I’m running for City Council to support small businesses, ensure affordable housing is prioritized, and improve pedestrian and traffic safety,” said Yesayan. “Glendale is one of the region’s best cities to live in. We need to preserve what is great about our city while continuing to improve and innovate.”

Yesayan was born and raised in Glendale and earned a Bachelor’s with honors in Planning and Public Policy and a Master’s in Planning from the USC Price School of Public Policy. As a professional planner working at an engineering and planning firm, Erik has gained real world expertise in transportation, water, and energy policy.

Twice appointed by Councilmember Ara Najarian, Yesayan has served on Glendale’s planning commission since 2009 and as chair in 2013, working hard to ease the red tape for small businesses, provide a more diverse mix of housing, and improve the delivery of city services for all residents.

“Erik’s urban planning background gives me confidence he will be an ally in stopping irresponsible development and ensuring strong public transportation to shape the future of our city,” said Najarian.

Concerned by unsafe driving and lack of infrastructure for those who walk and bike in Glendale, Yesayan co-founded the nonprofit Walk Bike Glendale in 2011, the only pedestrian and bicyclist safety education and advocacy group in Glendale. He also serves on the City of Glendale’s Pedestrian Safety Task Force, working closely with the City and stakeholders to draft a set of goals and implementation strategies to reduce pedestrian casualties immediately.

When elected, Yesayan plans to make traffic safety a priority on City Council and will advocate for more traffic education and advocacy programs, improved street designs, and accountable and responsive traffic enforcement, particularly toward aggressive drivers.

“As a city we must hold ourselves accountable by measuring policies against hard data to ensure the streets of Glendale are safe for every mode of transportation. We can and will eliminate traffic fatalities in Glendale and make our streets safe for walking, biking and driving. There is no other option,” said Yesayan.

Yesayan’s long history of community involvement extends to his volunteer work in Armenia with Land and Culture Organization in 2005 and Armenian Relief and Development Association (ARDA) in 2007. With ARDA, Yesayan joined a team of engineers, faculty, and students from three different US universities to build affordable homes using innovative polystyrene foam blocks. The project was led by ARDA’s founder and American-Armenian philanthropist, Steve Lazarian.

“It was an eye-opening experience to build two ecologically clean and structurally sound model homes in less than a month using new technology,” said Yesayan. “I’m happy to see the project has continued since its launch in 2007 and delivered affordable homes to those in need.”