Budget Is Focus of New Trustees

Two newly elected trustees for Glendale Community College said their goal was to maintain a high level of education despite state budget cuts that will severely limit the number of classes offered at the 25,000-student campus.

“When you cut classes, it adversely affects the educational plans for the students and delays their life,” Ara James Najarian, a Glendale attorney, said Wednesday. “They plan to go on to a UC school and they can’t because they get stuck on a community campus.”

The state has cut the Glendale school’s budget by $2 million this year and is expected to slash $6 million next year. Roughly 5% of the school’s classes have already been cut, a school official said.

Najarian and East Los Angeles College Dean Kathleen Burke-Kelly were elected Tuesday to the five-member board. The two newcomers beat incumbents Robert Holmes, a 20-year veteran of the board, and Martin Pilgreen, who served for eight years.

Najarian said the remedy to the budget crisis is to eliminate classes that are nonessential and not well-attended.

“We want to make sure these students moving on get the classes they need to transfer to a university,” said Najarian, who credited his win to an aggressive campaign. “We must preserve the core classes needed for transfer.”

Burke-Kelly, who has lived in the Glendale area for 37 years, said the budget crisis is clearly the biggest obstacle facing the board. “Our goal is to make sure the quality of education remains and to serve as many students as possible,” she said.

In other Glendale elections, two incumbent city councilmen and three sitting school board members won easy victories. Rafi Manoukian and Gus Gomez each won a second term on the City Council. On the school board, Pam Ellis, Mary W. Boger and Lina M. Harper all won.

In Inglewood, which also held elections Tuesday, the outcomes of three races remained in doubt with more than 300 ballots left to be counted.

Because no candidate won a majority, runoffs will be held June 3 between the top two vote-getters in City Council District 4 and for Board of Education Seat 4. The tallies were so close -- including a tie for second place for the council seat -- that it was not yet known which candidates will be involved in the runoff.

In Council District 3, Eloy Morales Jr. clung to a 43-vote lead over attorney and Lennox School Board President Trini Jimenez.

City Clerk Yvonne Horton said she could not predict when her office will finish tallying the votes, mostly from absentee and so-called provisional ballots that were set aside for examination. The city has 21 days to finalize results, but officials hope to finish sooner.

Horton was reelected outright Tuesday, and Pastor Johnny J. Young won the race for Board of Education Seat 5, collecting more than 61% of the vote.

City Treasurer Wanda M. Brown ran unopposed.

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Times staff writer Jean Merl contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Election results

Glendale and Inglewood voters went to the polls Tuesday. Three Inglewood races are still undecided as the clerk continues to count absentee and provisional ballots. Winners in boldface.

Glendale

City Council

Two elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % John Robert Christopher 533 1.7 Dave Wallis 2,177 6.9 Gus Gomez* 7,404 23.6 Rick Dinger 3,727 11.9 Rafi Manoukian* 9,024 28.8 Larry Miller 3,972 12.6 Carole Sussman 4,442 14.2

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Unified School District

Three elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Pam Ellis* 12,238 32.3 Mary W. Boger* 10,64228.1 Lina M. Harper* 8,875 23.4 Odalis Suarez 6,107 16.1

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Community College District

Three elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Anita Quinonez Gabrielian* 8,307 20.9 Martin Pilgreen* 6,622 16.7 Kathleen Burke-Kelly 8,536 21.5 Ara James Najarian 8,291 20.9 Robert K. Holmes* 7,876 19.5

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Inglewood

City Council

District 3

One elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Trini M. Jimenez 538 48.0 Eloy Morales Jr 581 51.9

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District 4

One elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Lorraine M. Johnson* 521 33.0 Mike Stevens 536 33.9 Ralph L. Franklin 521 33.0

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City Clerk

One elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Gloria Ann Greene 551 8.6 Gloria Gray 2,018 31.5 Yvonne Horton* 3,820 59.7

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City Treasurer

One elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Wanda M. Brown* 5,556 100

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Board of Education, Seat 4

One elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Willie F. Crittendon 2,797 44.7 Monique M. Gonzaque 943 15.0 Mary Bueno 961 15.3 Terry West Spencer 598 9.5 Mildred McNair 951 15.2

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Board of Education, Seat 5

One elected

100% precincts reporting

*--* Candidate Votes % Johnny J. Young 3,867 61.3 Alena Cindy Giardina 1,784 28.3 Jose Soto 648 10.2

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