WHO WE ARE
Hello. My name is Bill Weisman, and I created this web site.  My wife and I are both retired, and we've lived in the City of Glendale CA since 1986.

After we retired from long careers in the Information Technology field, we started volunteering for the City of Glendale, and we started getting active in local government.  For us, that meant attending almost every weekly City Council meeting in person (from 2005 to the present) and many Board and Commission meetings as well, or watching them (live or archived) on streaming video here.  We began to learn more and more about the current issues facing Glendale's municipal government, and who the major players were, from the elected officials to the city staff to other citizen activists.  We donated money to several candidates for public office in Glendale, some succesful, and some not. We also worked as campaign volunteers, ringing doorbells, stuffing envelopes and putting up yard signs.

One of the people we became aware of was Barry Allen.  He showed up at many of the same meetings we attended.  He operated a non-profit called Vanguardians, Inc., and published a weekly newsletter, Vanguard Weekly.  Initially, we were glad to find an organization that acted as a watchdog over local government, and that provided an alternative news source to our local newspaper, the Glendale News Press.  We liked Barry Allen - at first.  We even donated $100 to Vanguardians in 2006.  However, as the months and years went by, we grew more and more disenchanted with Barry Allen and Vanguardians, based on their words and actions.  We also found that the deeper we dug into his background, the more derogatory information turned up, and the more it became obvious that most of Barry's claims are either wild exaggerations or complete fabrications. Consider just these two sentences from Barry's autobiography: 


Sounds pretty good.....but here's what one finds when one starts looking into these claims: 

• According to staff at the City of Southfield MI, there is no record that Allen Silvarman was ever employed by, or a volunteer for, the City of Southfield. 
• "After College and Law School" implies that he graduated from both.  We can find no evidence that he graduated from either.  On Barry Allen's LInked-In page, he claims to have earned a JD degree from the Wayne State University Law School, Class of 1964 - a claim that we have verified as false with the WSU Law School Registrar
• According to A. C. Lamb, Vice President of Security Services, Inc., Allen Silvarman was a stockholder in the company, not a co-owner or manager as stated by the authorities and news media.  He primarily handled the sales end of the business, and did occasional private investigation work.

The text above - and every other page on this site - consists of verifiable facts.  Our opinions of Barry Allen, which follow under WHAT WE BELIEVE, are just that: our opinions.  This is the only place on this web site where we express our opinions about Barry.  You are free to agree or disagree; just check out the rest of the facts presented here, and read as many issues of Vanguard Weekly as you can stomach.

WHAT WE BELIEVE
...that Barry Allen is a con man, who conned us out of $100 under false pretenses.
...that Barry Allen makes his living from Vanguardians, Inc.  Money donated to Vanguardians is what puts gas in his car and food on his table.
...that Barry Allen needs to be constantly stirring up scandal and controversy, to keep a steady level of donations flowing into Vanguardians
...that Barry Allen uses Vanguard Weekly at least in part for carrying out personal vendettas, smear campaigns, innuendo and character assasination
...that many of the articles published in Vanguard Weekly purporting to be factual are actually fictional, as are many, if not most, of their "letters to the editor"
...that being a convicted felon disqualifies Barry Allen from credibly criticizing the ethics and morals of others
...that Barry Allen changed his name from Allen B. Silvarman to conceal his criminal record, not because of a "focus group"
...that Barry Allen has employed the use of multiple aliases for decades as a deliberate strategy for purposes of deception
...that being a convicted felon disqualifies Barry Allen from firearms ownership, or serving on a jury
...that any documentation ever submitted to any government agency or media organization by Barry Allen is now under suspicion of being forged or counterfeit
...that Barry Allen was arrested and convicted not just for printing his own money, but also printing his own birth certificate seals and Social Security documents - items whose only purpose is the creation of false identities.
...that Barry Allen is playing fast and loose with the Internal Revenue Code in operating his 501(c)(3), and should be audited immediately
...that Barry Allen has inordinate influence in the City of Glendale, due to his close personal relationships with a sitting city councilmember, a former councilmember, a sitting planning commissioner, major Glendale realtors, and reporters from the Glendale News Press.
...that Barry Allen has cost the taxpayers of Glendale many thousands of dollars in staff time and resources responding to his requests under the Public Records Act - requests amounting to three times the number of total requests received in one year in the entire City of Los Angeles
...that Barry Allen is not a stakeholder in the City of Glendale, since he doesn't live here, own a business here, or own property here (that we know of)
...that Barry Allen's record of filings in Oakland County MI, under multiple similar names, by their nature and volume show ample indicia of mortgage or real estate fraud.  Not to mention the Federal Tax Lien, the divorces, judgments, Levy's of Execution, etc.
...that Barry Allen is the active director of a publicly traded Nevada Corporation that doesn't seem to know what business to be in, or how to make a profit.
...that Barry Allen implies on his Facebook page, his Linked-In page, in his autobiography, and in his brief résumés that he finished college and law school, when in fact he did not
...that Barry Allen has made other claims, like being Deputy Director of Civil Defense in Southfield MI, that cannot be substantiated

WHY WE DID THIS
Openness, transparency, accountability, integrity and honesty are the values demanded of the City of Glendale by Barry Allen and Vanguardians.  It is only fair that Vanguardians, and Barry Allen, be held to those same standards.  Unfortunately, it has become more and more evident to us over the years that while they vigorously insist upon openness, transparency, accountability, integrity and honesty in others, they see no need to adhere to those values themselves.  This especially concerns us in the light of Vanguardians constant solicitation of donations.  We want to warn the citizens of Glendale and elsewhere that Barry Allen and Vanguardians are not what they seem to be on the surface, and to urge that no donations of money or any other tangible asset be made to them.  They are unworthy of the public trust.

We would like to encourage anyone who feels that they have been victimized or ripped off by Barry Allen and/or Vanguardians to report it to the appropriate authorities.  If the appropriate authorities can't - or won't - do anything about it, please tell us about it, and we would be happy to publish your story here, should you so desire.

We would also like to encourage any Silvarman relatives, friends, or acquaintances in Michigan, Indiana, California or elsewhere, who stumble across this website, to please feel free to send us any news, information or stories that are germane to the content presented here.  Many thanks to those of you who have already been in touch.  We promise to keep your identity and any information you send us strictly confidential, unless we have your permission to publish it.

Many other citizens of Glendale are also trying to shine the light on this shady character. Barry Allen and his little band filed three times more public record act requests in Glendale last year than were received by the entire City of Los Angeles. Barry usually doesn't even take the material, so he doesn't have to pay any copying costs - he just burns through our tax money on fishing expeditions to try to find something controversial that he can use to raise money.