GINGER BREMBERG RETIRES, AGAIN FIERY COUNCILWOMAN SERVED 4 TERMS.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Ginger is a gut-burning spice often used to add zest to Asian dishes.

During her 16 years on the City Council, Ginger Bremberg, 75, who is retiring for a second time, has been exactly that: a Spice Girl of sorts.

The 4-foot-10-inch firebrand who sports a perennial short-cropped, no- fuss haircut is known for her shoot-from-the-lip, tell-it-like-it-is style. Her comments - a gold mine of sound bites for reporters during the years - are flavored with Midwest colloquialisms and ``Gingerisms'' that are colorful, funny and at times caustic.

``If you don't have an opinion, you have no business being in politics,'' said Bremberg, a Minnesota native, during a recent interview as she packed up belongings in her office.

``I didn't believe in wasting time. I am really not a regular politician. I am a person interested in politics,'' she said.

As for her colorful comments, she said, ``They just roll out. I don't plan them.''

Bremberg's feisty temperament mixed with brutal honesty has won her legions of admirers.

``There is a saying in this town that goes, you know what you get if you know Ginger Bremberg,'' said Gerald Briggs, president of the Chevy Chase Homeowners Association, to which Bremberg also belongs. ``There is no falsehood, no rhetoric.''

Bremberg became the second woman to be elected to the council in 1981, after a failed bid in 1979. She set out to retire in 1993 but returned in 1997 with the mission to fire then City Manager David Ramsay for taking money out of the capital-improvement budget for other uses.

To many, Bremberg is one of a kind.

``I don't think you can clone her. ... There is just one Ginger,'' said former Councilwoman Eileen Givens. ``She is a Glendale institution, that is for sure.''

But beneath Bremberg's tough and sometimes intimidating exterior, there is a gentle, caring side.

City employees speak of her as someone who remembers all their first and last names; someone who brings back to the office images of loons, a water bird native to the lakes of Minnesota, and cans of Spam after summer trips to her home state; and someone who loves to share New Yorker cartoons and mystery novels.

``She really took an interest in the employees,'' said Sandi Kepler, vice president of the Glendale City Employees Association.

At a farewell party held recently for her and Sheldon Baker, another retiring council member who had served for eight years, city staff reminisced fondly of Bremberg's tendencies as a former English teacher to pick on them for incorrect grammar, crooked ties and inappropriate manners.

City Manager Jim Starbird characterized Bremberg as a ``parliamentarian, grammarian and Miss Manners all rolled into one.''

During her four terms starting in 1981, Bremberg was the leading champion of hillside preservation. She was instrumental in passing the hillside ordinance in 1993 and recently fought successfully to tighten it.

But she considers earning the moniker ``garbage lady'' her greatest accomplishment. The name stemmed from her fight over the Scholl Canyon Landfill and the city of Los Angeles' attempt to fill it with its trash.

Over the years, Bremberg has also advocated historical-landmark preservation and senior causes.

Although some women see her as a role model, Bremberg said gender had no role in her politics.

``I've never paid a damn bit of attention to that. I had issues I believed in,'' she said. ``I can guarantee it didn't matter diddly squat whether I was a man or woman.''

Neither did the fact she is less than 5 feet tall.

School board member Jeanne Bentley called Bremberg ``a little lady in size but a mighty person in service and dedication.''

Despite her official retirement, Bremberg said she will remain involved in the community in typical fashion.

``If you think I am going to shrivel up and sit on the couch and become a sweet potato, you are absolutely wrong. I am going to come out on the other side, giving the benefit of my vast experience,'' she said.

Translation by Mayor Dave Weaver: ``If we don't perform the right way, she will be ... telling us what we are doing wrong.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) ``If you don't have an opinion, you have no business being in politics,'' said retiring city councilwoman Ginger Bremberg.

(2) Glendale Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg favored hillside preservation, working hard for the hillside ordinance in 1993.

John Kennedy/Special to the Daily News