Glendale Councilmember, Dan Brotman, posted a video on Instagram and introduced the subject of Verdugo Wash concerns with his best Mr. Rogers imitation.
“Hi, my name is Dan Brotman. And this is Mr. Bonsai.”
With some relaxing music in the background (to put us in a ‘mellow mood’) he let’s us know that “some people are concerned” about the project (sugarcoating opposition). Dan assures us that he “get[s] the concern,” and names a few before summarizing the rest as “blah, blah, blah.”
His suggestion is to depend on Glendale’s police and fire departments to disallow any homeless from occupying his new expensive bike lane with mini park. He let’s us know that our police will kick out any homeless occupants “humanely.” And his shout-out to the fire department is meant to relieve area resident concerns about encampment fires.
Without asking us to “get comfortable,” yet, Brotman’s video is calculated to play like a hypnotherapy session with relaxing music, while a Mr. Rogers-like Brotman with a soothing voice reassures us that government will keep everything under control. Brotman, playing therapist, tells us our fears are “understandable, but overblown.”
To make the deal even more attractive, he envisions his pricey project with surveillance cameras and gated at night to prevent “crime or other problems in the city.”
He finishes up begging us to be “open-minded.”
Then he tells us to “trust” him.
And he reminds us that “the community has to work” with him and the project supporters. (The two opposing City Council members had to be recused.)
If you think the idea that this video is calculated and produced to resemble a therapy session is far fetched, Dan closes with:
“And we have to work through what some of these concerns are, and make sure people are … comfortable.”
Hypnotic Dan Brotman would like us to relax while he mesmerizes more tax dollars out of our pockets. And it’s insulting that he would try a tactic like this video for a council decision in which the only two opposing two members were recused. His only hurdle is how we feel about paying for another of his pet projects for a city he considers “experimental.”
Now I want you to take a deep breath. And as you exhale, consider a wiser vote on June 2, 2026.
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