Notice of Department Realignment
	Please be advised that in September, 2009, the Glendale City Council approved the realignment of the functions and responsibilities of the Community Development and Housing Department into three new, reformulated departments in order to improve service delivery to the community through coordination of programs and staff. This realignment and transfer of functions and responsibilities is effective as of January 1, 2010. The former Community Development and Housing divisions and their new respective departments are noted below:

	Division Housing Division Neighborhood Services Community Development Block Grant Workforce Development	New Department Community Redevelopment and Housing Community Planning Community Services and Parks Community Services and Parks

	Over the next few months, the WebPages for the new departments will be changing to reflect the reorganization. At some point in the near future, the webpage for the Community Development and Housing Department will be discontinued and viewers will be redirected.
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City Employee Finds Historic Artifact

CD&H Home > City Employee Finds Historic Artifact

The statue of Miss American Green Cross was created in 1928 as a tribute to an early 20th Century tree society and a symbol of the deforestation that was taking place across the country at that time. California Governor C.C. Young led a parade of 100 cars and 4,000 school children to the unveiling of the bronze Miss American Green Cross. Five newsreel cameras covered the event where the monument was placed at the corner of Broadway and Verdugo Road in Glendale, California.

After a car crashed into the statue, it was dumped behind Brand's Castle, and laid abandoned for 30 years. Hikers discovered it in an overgrown canyon in the mid-50's reporting that the arm of Miss American Green Cross was missing. It was assumed that vandals had carried it off. In 1981 the monument was taken to the city maintenance yard where she remained for 10 more years ~ until Glendale Parks, Recreation and Community Services, along with the organization Glendale Beautiful, raised money to have her restored. A local sculptor, former Glendale Community College instructor Ron Pekar, after testing the properties of the metal, attached a new bronze arm and hand.

In 1992 the monument was dedicated for a second time and placed in Brand Library Park, 1601 W. Mountain Street in Glendale. The statue stands today with outstretched arms at the start of a hiking trail into the very mountains where she was discovered a half a century earlier.

Fifteen years passed since the second dedication, so you can imagine the surprise when Glendale City employee Jaiver Covarrubias unearthed a heavy bronze outstretched arm. Familiar with Miss American Green Cross, Covarrubias painstakingly cleaned it, only to discover that a finger was missing on her right hand. Other than that, the historic artifact is still an exquisite example of beauty and grace. The statue was originally created by sculptor Frederick Willard Potter.

Last modified: Friday, February 16, 2007 4:33:25 PM