City Hall Names a Room for a Survivor

The friends and family of Porter Ranch resident Bob Janovici gathered in the City Hall rotunda to commemorate his work and name a conference room after him in City Hall.

Janovici was formerly the chief zoning administrator for the City of Los Angeles. But he was forced to retire when he was nearly killed in a train wreck on Jan. 26, 2005. 

Someone parked a Jeep Cherokee on the tracks in Glendale. Janovici was on his way to City Hall when his southbound Metrolink train plowed into the SUV.

That train then collided with a parked Union Pacific freight that sent the cab car into another Metrolink train traveling northbound, pushing the train off its tracks and into a Costco parking lot.

The accident killed 11 and injured nearly 200 passengers.

Janovici lost a kidney, suffered a broken neck and with a severely injured brain, he lay in a coma.

For three weeks in the hospital he showed no improvement. Doctors said he'd remain in a vegetative state.

And then survivor Bob Janovici awakened.

Within a month, he was speaking and three years later, the man who was never supposed to talk or move again was doing physical therapy four times a week, the Daily News reported at the time.

Today, he has a bright, outgoing personality, a vast collection of watches, and an encyclopedic knowledge of sports.

And on Wednesday, City Hall remembered his 37 years of service and honored him.

-- The District 4 Newsletter contributed to this report.