After winning back his seat on Glendale City Council this March, Vartan Gharpetian seems to have doubled down on opposing any policy, project, or people who would want to make Glendale a safer place. Vartan Gharpetian continues to align himself with extremist policies laid out in Project 2025. Project 2025 includes a plan to defund public transit projects that would reduce emissions and provide mobility for vulnerable Americans. (Of course, opposing diverse transit options is part of Vartan's platform. He was opposed to bus lanes on Glenoaks, and is vehemently against the Verdugo Wash bike path project, both of which would reduce emissions and improve quality of life for Glendale's residents.)
At the May 21st, 2024 Glendale City Council meeting, Vartan was in peak form as he tripped all over himself trying to oppose a much-needed traffic safety rehab of La Crescenta Avenue without appearing too extreme.
Here is Vartan weighing the pros and cons of a proposed plan to reduce traffic in Montrose on a stretch of La Crescenta Avenue. He's crunched the numbers, and "152 accidents in 12 years" is a bargain Gharpetian is willing to make in order to keep 4 car lanes where most people exceed 45 mph on an isolated stretch of Montrose near an elementary school and residential area.
Vartan is "up there all the time" and "[doesn't] see anyone!" riding bikes. But then he says a few minutes later that "nobody is against bike lanes." Pick a lane, Vartan! Opposing anything good for Glendale is what you do best!
It seems that 152 accidents near a school zone is worth keeping the status quo.
Glendale's extremists have now reached point where anything remotely "progressive" (here, traffic calming measures on dangerous roads) must be opposed. Substitute "bike lanes" for "LGBTQ inclusion" and you might think you're watching a GUSD Board meeting circa May 2023.
Without any evidence other than his own brain thoughts, Vartan declares the bike lanes and traffic calming project on Brand Boulevard "a disaster."
We are not surprised.
Vartan Gharpetian endorsed fascist "KEEP THE KIDS SAFE FROM GROOMERZ" Aneta Krpekyan. Vartan appeared with his wife, Armina Gharpetian at Krpekyan's campaign kick-off party last fall, where she posted for photos later posted to Aneta's socials.
If Armina Gharpetian sounds familiar, that may be because she is a former GUSD School Board member, a dentist moonlighting as a seller of Covid tests during the 2022 surge, and purveyor of "both sides" LOKA dogwhistles on her social media in June 2023.
Meanwhile, Vartan Gharpetian also appeared on Wise Nuts, the worst bro podcast in the greater Glendale area, where he endorsed Jordan and Aneta as "conservative candidates."
To summarize: Vartan Gharpetian won his at-large election thanks to a crowded field, and is acting as an ally to fellow extremist Ara Najarian when it comes to proposed traffic safety projects in Glendale, many of which would make kids safer on the walk to and from school.
However, in Vartan's mind, it seems that bike lines and traffic calming are something he just can't get behind. Extremists who harass children and parents? That's just fine!