myBurbank Talks
The Week That Was and That Will Be - May 27
How do you capture the awe-inspiring moments of a space shuttle launch amidst deafening sound pressure and blazing rockets? Join us as Craig Durling, an expert photographer, takes us on an extraordinary journey behind the scenes of photographing space shuttle launches at Kennedy Space Center. Craig shares his meticulous preparations, the collaborative spirit among fellow photographers, and the advanced equipment necessary to withstand the intense conditions. We also clear up common misconceptions about the different shuttles, like the Discovery at the Smithsonian and the Endeavor in Los Angeles, along with reflections on the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery.
. We celebrate Larry Crino’s Word of the Week win and discuss the significant city council decision on the gun store ordinance in Burbank. Whether it's the thrill of shuttle landings or the meticulous coverage of test flights, we provide a rich tapestry of insights and local updates.
In our final segment, we cover a range of community-centric topics. From legislative changes around firearm store locations to the Burbank Housing Authority's efforts to improve affordable housing, we touch upon key developments impacting our community.
We also recap a heartfelt Memorial Day ceremony and highlight the vital role of local political watchdogs in civic engagement. Plus, don't miss an engaging photography event featuring Ross Benson, Bonnie Burrow, and David Laurel, as well as a humorous take on city traffic woes and infrastructure issues. Tune in for a comprehensive look at both the extraordinary and everyday moments that shape our community.
How do you capture the awe-inspiring moments of a space shuttle launch amidst deafening sound pressure and blazing rockets? Join us as Craig Durling, an expert photographer, takes us on an extraordinary journey behind the scenes of photographing space shuttle launches at Kennedy Space Center. Craig shares his meticulous preparations, the collaborative spirit among fellow photographers, and the advanced equipment necessary to withstand the intense conditions. We also clear up common misconceptions about the different shuttles, like the Discovery at the Smithsonian and the Endeavor in Los Angeles, along with reflections on the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery.
. We celebrate Larry Crino’s Word of the Week win and discuss the significant city council decision on the gun store ordinance in Burbank. Whether it's the thrill of shuttle landings or the meticulous coverage of test flights, we provide a rich tapestry of insights and local updates.
In our final segment, we cover a range of community-centric topics. From legislative changes around firearm store locations to the Burbank Housing Authority's efforts to improve affordable housing, we touch upon key developments impacting our community.
We also recap a heartfelt Memorial Day ceremony and highlight the vital role of local political watchdogs in civic engagement. Plus, don't miss an engaging photography event featuring Ross Benson, Bonnie Burrow, and David Laurel, as well as a humorous take on city traffic woes and infrastructure issues. Tune in for a comprehensive look at both the extraordinary and everyday moments that shape our community.
From deep in the Burbank Media District. It's time for another edition of my Burbank Talks, presented by the staff of my Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program.
Speaker 2:Hello, burbank, craig Stewart here with you once again, along with Ross Benson.
Speaker 3:Holly ho, rolly Roe. This is a show. Let's go. Here we go and once again on Zoom Greg.
Speaker 1:Durling. I always enjoy the poet Ross Benson. He always gets his little things to rhyme. But hi, everybody, good to be back.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure all the words that he says mean something in the world.
Speaker 1:Well, they're not actually words, they're sounds, but they're melodic.
Speaker 2:They are and they rhyme.
Speaker 3:Several weeks ago you guys told me that I wasn't saying anything, so I say something. Now we got Billy Blastoff-Durling here.
Speaker 1:I am not Bill Hartenstein, but I learned a lot from him. Now, did you shoot that picture? I did. Well, it was a remotely taken picture, but it was my setup.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was in Florida, of course.
Speaker 1:That was Kennedy Space Center in 2011. That was the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133.
Speaker 2:And Discovery is the one that you can now find here in Los Angeles, correct?
Speaker 1:No Discovery is at the Smithsonian. We have the Endeavor.
Speaker 2:We have the Endeavor. That's correct, okay.
Speaker 1:Which is now vertical, by the way.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. Did they ever launch a shuttle from vandenberg? No, I think they were talking about it at one time and they might have had the capabilities to do it, but I think it was just too difficult to get all those, because they were talking about when they landed here. They would have to get be able to launch from here instead of taking flight across the country every time well, edwards was always an alternate landing site and I lucked out on my first.
Speaker 1:I got the privilege of covering several shuttle launches during that program, but sts-117, which was atlantis. I went to florida to cover the launch and was lucky enough, uh, that it had to. Had to uh land at edwards air force base, so I got the landing too from the same same mission. It wasn't because of weather wasn't able to land at Edwards Air Force Base, so I got the landing too from the same mission. It wasn't because of weather. It wasn't able to land in Florida.
Speaker 3:Now, people, if they understood that shot behind you and the preparation to get that shot, I mean, I remember Gene Blevins and Billy Hartenstein and yourself, the equipment and the boxes and you're nowhere near that space shuttle.
Speaker 1:It's just crazy. If I was manning this camera, I wouldn't be here to tell the tale because of the sound pressure and everything.
Speaker 2:You have special equipment and boxes. You actually put your cameras in remotely.
Speaker 1:Now NASA gives you permission to go to an area to do this oh yeah, we're all credentialed uh where we are within kennedy space center, um, but the day prior to the launch we're escorted uh out toward the pad. So specifically, so we can set up these remote cameras and a lot of them. They kind of they're it's, they're all kind of homemade, they're professionally ones made, but, um, but you get to see some of the the creative uh talents of photographers and building their own remote boxes yeah, how many photographers oh, there are dozens to a hundred photographers, um on the property, um covering it for different world.
Speaker 1:I mean global organizations, because these, these launches represented global endeavors and projects.
Speaker 1:But you know, you had to have all the.
Speaker 1:We had digital timers with all the different launch possible launch times set and when the, when the that time hit, the, we had, well, we had solenoids that picked up the noise of the launch.
Speaker 1:So once they heard the noise of the launch, which was no missing that, the door, the weatherproof door of the box, would open up and the camera would just start firing until it ran out of frames or room. And by then you know, within the first 30 shots or so, the shuttle's already out of frame and long gone. But yeah, we each would have several remote cameras set up around the pad with different compositions, different views of verticals, horizontals, things in the foreground, on the other side of a swamp and stuff like that. And we also shot it from the press site, which was three miles from where you see this one taken from, and even three miles away. It would take a minute for the sound waves of the launch to get to us, but it would hit you in the chest like a medicine ball from that far away, so I couldn't imagine being this close at all.
Speaker 2:Is the press here where they had the friends and family would go to watch the takeoff, the launch?
Speaker 1:There were a lot of observers, friends and family. I think we're usually in a different area, if not at the launch control, but there were a lot of people out there, but it was always a very secure area.
Speaker 1:Several different checkpoints to get to where we ended up, because we were basically right next to the launch the VAB, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Control Center and all that but the press site was a specific area where all the media would hang out and they had a building there and they would have meetings and things like that. Quite a lot of infrastructure there, but it was closer than any human basically could be to watch the launch.
Speaker 3:And I know people don't understand. It's not like you take your Instamatic and hold the button down, it's gone. I mean you guys have it set up remotely to sounds and timing and just amazing.
Speaker 1:yeah, there's a lot of pre-planning that goes into it and I could never have done pulled it all off without uh, bill hartenstein, gene Blevins' help. They help with even just getting access to the facility. But for people who are just listening to the podcast, there's a picture behind me from the launch of Spatial Discovery. The last one, sts-135, was the last shuttle launch period, which was Atlantis. This was Discovery's last launch STS-133, when it went to the space station, international Space Station, and that was already in 2011, a long time ago. It doesn't feel like that long. But I sure miss the program.
Speaker 1:They made for some great photos and experiences.
Speaker 3:Well, you mentioned two names, Bill Hartenstein and Gene Blevins, two very, very close friends of ours. A lot of people around Burbank and Glendale know gene blevins for his local photography and, and Bill hartenstein and they are well I I consider them famous, so when one of these space shuttles crashed, they were out. They're the only ones that have some of the pictures that NASA wanted.
Speaker 1:They were well, they're great photographers, period. But they've both been covering aerospace and aviation for decades. Bill Hartenstein, as a matter of fact, had the first photo public photo of the B-2 bomber published, but they still cover launches from Vandenberg, the rocket launches, the SpaceX launches. They still cover them for different publications and magazines. Bill has shot for Abweek magazine for decades now.
Speaker 2:Gene once told me the story of how he got the shot of the one that burned up in the atmosphere the Columbia, the Columbia, and they went out there and I think Santa Barbara up in the hills so they could get it coming into the atmosphere, and they shot it and it went through and at that time I had no idea there was anything that had happened, until they heard later.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they could only speculate, but the story they've shared with me it was Bill and Gene were together up on top of a mountain up in uh fraser park or something, but there was there was a radar array up there so they could get some uh foreground with these satellite dishes and they both had uh we're going to capture the streak of the columbia on re-entry and bill was monitoring the nasa uh transmission, uh mission control and all that listening to that. And there's a period where the shuttle they lose communication with the space shuttle listening to that.
Speaker 1:And there's a period where the shuttle they lose communication with the space shuttle on on re-entry, there's a period of time that's known Um, and it's one point. Gene's watching looking up and he tries to get Bill's attention. He goes Bill, you see that something, it looks like something's coming off the off the shuttle. There's stuff coming off and bill thought everybody, and even at nasa, thought it was just plasma, right, uh, which is generated. But bill being so familiar with the program, he was listening to the live feed and he knew once they said they still didn't have communication with uh, the the columbia, when it was supposed to have re-established by then. Um, he looked at Gene and said it's gone, we've lost it. And he was right.
Speaker 1:They did lose it and they were two of the only photographers that had pictures like they did. And I remember NASA asked for all their equipment, every piece of camera equipment that they used to get the pictures. They asked for the negatives. Basically they wanted the equipment so they could completely reenact or duplicate what they had. So there were no anomalies in the camera equipment that would affect the photos and NASA basically bought them brand new equipment. I think they kept all the camera equipment but they bought Gene and Bill brand new gear to replace it. So their photos were very valuable in the investigation of that tragedy.
Speaker 2:When I used to teach at Crespi I used to teach journalism I actually had Gene come in and talk to the class about that one time and his experience. And it shows that you never know what's going to happen and you just never know. And he was not going there for that reason but wound up with that result. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:They cover the shuttles. They covered that for the media, and Gene has managed to be front row for a lot of interesting events over the years. He's been shooting for the Daily News and other global outlets. For what Ross?
Speaker 3:50 years now. Oh yeah, he's a bit younger than me, so Okay, 70 years. Yeah right.
Speaker 2:A good friend of the show, dick Dornan, once took me out to Florida, when he was at Crespi, with a basketball team. I was the sports information director, so I got to go on the trip with them and one of the things we did we toured the Kennedy Space Center, which you have no idea how big those rockets are, how big, yeah, the.
Speaker 1:Atlas V is there, you know horizontally Right.
Speaker 2:And then, finally, you get to the capsule that they would travel in, and it's tiny.
Speaker 1:I mean Imagine spending a couple of weeks shoulder to shoulder in that thing, in the fetal position.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, I looked inside. I wouldn't be able to fit in the door, but it's amazing how small that is and how many circuits. They say now your cell phone has far more computing power than that entire capsule had.
Speaker 1:Oh well, the cell phone you have in your pocket has more computing power than everything used to launch like an Apollo mission, where they had rooms and rooms of mainframes and computers and stuff like that they had those ladies who did the numbers.
Speaker 2:That movie that came out recently that I thought was very well done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but if you want to, see one of those space capsules, as well as Space Shuttle Discovery. They're both at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, or you can go to downtown LA at the Science Center and see the Endeavor, I think it's, we don't know if it's open to the public.
Speaker 2:No, I think it's about November. You said I think it's about November, but yeah, I think it's. You know, I know this isn't Burbank stuff, but you know what? Sometimes we find interesting things to talk about and hopefully you learn something or it piques your interest, you know. Well, there's a picture I put up behind me in Zoom here but we ended up getting a, you know, having a local, local guys to talk about. I actually recently watched a shuttle landing on youtube from inside the cabin.
Speaker 2:I thought it was very interesting oh yeah um, they have those videos they put out now of the. I guess they're declassified now. Everything else well, they cover it from a million angles yeah, but there's a video from inside and I'm talking about how they did things and, uh, pretty amazing, the glide slopes, everything, okay, well, it glides in it's a glider when it comes in into uh it's a gliding refrigerator it's not under power.
Speaker 1:Well, I know they got it they got to get. They have one chance to get it right now.
Speaker 3:Dean has shot for branson for years and he's out there in the desert. Every time they do a test flight of something that goes up in the air if it's a paper airplane or whatever Gene's been there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's front row for all that stuff. He will do anything for the coverage. He's very dedicated and talented.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very talented, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Well, back to the week. That was the week that will be. We digress.
Speaker 2:Yes, let's talk about last week's winner first. Of course, the War of the Week was Hollywood and our winner was Larry Crino. So, larry Crino, congratulations, you are the winner. And once again, I don't know why, but people don't send their addresses in along with the word.
Speaker 1:The call to action is when you submit your word of the week, make sure you put your mailing address, whether it's a PO Box or a house address, whatever. We're not going to send you junk mail, we're just going to send you your gift card the Hill Street Cafe. But it saves an email exchange. But thanks, Larry, and congratulations. Thanks for listening and sending in the right answer. Enjoy your meal at the at hill street cafe.
Speaker 3:Yummy, yummy. I wonder what he's gonna have breakfast, lunch or dinner well, you can have breakfast for dinner there.
Speaker 2:You know three days for dinner, but breakfast every day so everybody else that's listening right now.
Speaker 1:You need to listen through the show for this week's Word of the Week. It's hard to miss, but we usually bury it in the second half of the show somewhere, just to keep you awake and wondering.
Speaker 2:Well, let's get on with last week here. Last Tuesday we had our city council meeting. It was the one biggie they've been working on for two years. It was the gun store ordinance and basically my personal view is I was very disappointed that they never brought up that they would limit the amount of gun stores in Burbank. That was never part of the conversation, but I will say this conversation.
Speaker 2:But I will say this the restrictions they've now put on the gun stores where they can't be within a thousand feet of residential, a thousand feet of schools, a thousand feet and 500 feet from each other and a lot of things like that. There was basically only two areas of the city left where gun stores could basically go and they are very small little areas, industrial-type areas, and even if a gun store does go there, then I'm sure you can't get anyone near it because of the 500-foot restriction rule. So while we may now get maybe more gun stores which I really doubt I don't think it will be a plethora of them, it'll just be maybe one or two well, it was basically a land use issue and that's what they addressed, and that was what they were.
Speaker 3:You know, um, before it was a kangaroo court. I mean, we didn't have any, uh, quite a few of the requirements, and now it took them, like you say, two years. They went. There's a lot of law that they had to cover. A lot of due diligence and uh, you know you, they, you got to be careful these days. You know, they had to make sure that they wrote it properly and so forth, or they'll get sued, you know and forth, and it sounds like they kind of did it right.
Speaker 2:Well, this is the first reading and we'll come back again in two weeks for the second reading of it. They're still going to confirm the distances. There's some question about the distance you know should be 1,000 or 500 feet in some areas. Distance you know should be a thousand or five hundred feet in some areas. Um, they didn't take into consideration anything with los angeles or glendale that are very close to these two bordered areas so it does beg a question that that we've brought up many times so far.
Speaker 1:Craig did they talk about if that's 500 feet as the pro flies?
Speaker 2:no, once again you're absolutely right. Or driver no, they did not, which once again is disappointing. I don't understand they still needed to find that right yeah, I you know what, and we have the mayor coming on tomorrow night for an ask the mayor show and I'm going to ask him that question I think it's an, it's a necessary uh determination.
Speaker 1:That means to be needs to be made.
Speaker 2:Several people ask the same question and you know so that needs to be defined, because that could be a total loophole because the state law, the state law unloaded firearms says not within 1,000 feet of a school. And once again, though, if it's by how the crow flies, there's four gun stores in violation. If it's by the Thomas Guide in the old days, then they're not.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and that's so important. I mean you can go to Google Maps and drop a couple of dots and tell anybody how far away something is from something else in a straight line, and personally I ain't nobody.
Speaker 1:But I think that's the way the measurements should be considered, because it takes any question out of the discussion as to well, what if you take this street? What if you're on the sidewalk? What if you cut through a yard? What's the spirit of the law? You know, child safety at a school, proximity to a schoolyard Is it property line to property line? Is it front door to front door? These are things that need to be nailed out now, because they're obvious. If I'm talking about bringing it up now, other people are going to bring up that question if it comes to a litigation or something like that.
Speaker 2:Clearly, I agree. I think they have a couple of bugs to work out, which they will work out in these next two weeks, and then they'll have a final vote and found decision and then a week from tomorrow and you'll have the mayor's ear tomorrow night. Yes, we will. Any else on that, ross?
Speaker 3:No, I was real surprised. There were only a couple of people that got up to speak about it.
Speaker 2:So was I.
Speaker 3:There was not a barrage of people from outside the city. There were your standard, your normal, normal. You know you're taking my, our rights away and you're doing this and all, but actually, I'm going to do the second man with this.
Speaker 2:Not nothing whatsoever. But yet people wanted yeah, because that's, that's a great bullet point for them, a talking point.
Speaker 1:You know, you're taking away our second amendment rights, no what to go to multiple places to go buy guns, yeah, so yep, exactly.
Speaker 3:So I thought you know we've been waiting for this. Uh, they they made you know some changes and uh, like we'll see uh next or a couple weeks. Like they hired a consultant that's been working with them and also all the different city departments, and they're going to come back, like you said in the second reading, and clarify a couple things.
Speaker 2:So okay, well, moving on to wednesday. So wednesday, a couple things went on ross and uh. Number one uh, we had the burbank housing authority had their uh ribbon cutting for a low income housing event. Um, I think you were there to shoot it. And then lynn Lipinski did a fantastic little article on it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know. Burbank Housing Authority, who works with the city, is trying to put in low. How do you word it?
Speaker 2:Low-income.
Speaker 3:Low-income housing. This was an ADU. A lot of people you think of that neighborhood between Empire and Thornton. It was on Niagara, I think it's a 2200 block.
Speaker 2:Is it a single residence?
Speaker 3:No, it's a multi, it's an apartment house. It's a couple in the back. That's where the ADUs were.
Speaker 2:Okay, I always thought ADUs, it was a single type of a structure.
Speaker 3:Well they said ADU, and that's what I kind of wondered too. Too, you would think. But apparently they I don't know if it was a garage they converted, because you can convert your garage to an ADU. But that was a not a groundbreaking, but a ribbon cutting had a big crowd there and they did a dedication to the city employee that passed away just a couple months ago. He put a lot of work on that and there's a fountain there and there's an article in my Burbank, like you said, written by our own Lynn Lipinski, that covers it all. I know there's, you know that's right down the street from that new whatever you call it seven-story with seven parking places.
Speaker 2:Oh Empire.
Speaker 3:On Empire.
Speaker 1:You know it's all of a rock's throw from there wasn't that area all used to be called the uh, the western enclave?
Speaker 3:is that part of?
Speaker 2:town all I know is that's where probably 20 20 years ago, but I think it was known as the western enclave well, I'm worried about that entire area type truth because you the truth, because you've got not only the seven-story building on Empire but you have two more big high-rises like that with low income and then, of course, all the crime of the Empire Center. I think that entire area has become a. I'm worried about the future of that whole area in Burbank.
Speaker 3:Well, you've got the Fries Project coming in Well the Fries is a little more upscale though. Well, yeah, it is, is, but it's still in that still western area, and it's all because of, if you recall, transportation. You got trains, you got buses, you got planes and all you need.
Speaker 2:All you need is a major transportation center within so many hundred feet, and they consider a bus stop a major transportation center.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I can throw a couple cents in on the adu thing. Um, my limited experience with it that I'm currently going through is, I believe, any multi-dwelling unit, like a condo building or something like that. Anytime you want to change a what something that wasn't zoned for residential into residential, like we have where I live, we have one unit that is kind of a rec room area and we want to convert it into a rental unit. To do that, we have to now meet certain codes and standards and and basically go through the adu process. Even though we don't live in a single family dwelling, we want to convert something like that. So I think that's where this may apply.
Speaker 2:We better start the process now so you can have it done by 2028.
Speaker 1:We started it over a year ago and the city's sitting on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're just exactly They'll tell you how they want this all done, and then they sit on everything.
Speaker 1:And then they don't do it Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's where we're currently at, and that's where we're currently at, and that's where you're going to stay for a while. Later that night, our own Ross Benson had a photo how do you say it? It was an event with Ross Benson, bonnie Burrow and David L'Oreal talking about the history of Burbank photography, I guess it was quite well attended.
Speaker 3:It was at the Boys and Girls Club. It was a rundown. They have an auditorium there. I've always been in the gym. I've never been in this 99 seat really nice theater. Um that we filled. I mean, uh, they were never invited before oh you're right. You're right. But you know, between bonnie and and david and myself, we figured we've covered for Burbank for over about 150 years.
Speaker 1:Concurrently not in a row Right.
Speaker 3:Right and um, and I'm trying to think it was put on by the arts group and Eric Conner was the emcee and did very well. They blew up.
Speaker 2:They blew up.
Speaker 3:Well, they enlarged. Oh, okay, I mean pictures that I don't remember. I mean they were shot so long ago my baby, the guy jumping off the roof of NBC they had. They had pictures that Bonnie had taken of Clinton talking here in town and the feedback that we're getting. People really enjoyed it. We ran out of time. We had to be out of there by nine. We're going to do a sequel. We're going to move to the Historical Society upstairs where they have an auditorium and we can fit a lot more people. We've had a ton of people today.
Speaker 3:I had people come up and we were going to do a question and answer and it's just funny how some of the shots that we had taken, bonnie and I would shoot next to each other and so would David. So David never considered himself a photojournalist. We had taken, bonnie and I would shoot next to each other and so would David. So, um, david never considered himself a photo journalist shooting what you call the society stuff, right? But uh, bonnie and I definitely have and uh, it was a lot of fun. Um, like I said, um, I I was surprised we had former mayors there. We had mayors there. We had assistant city manager Courtney Padgett was there. Our current mayor and vice mayor stopped in.
Speaker 2:Did I tell you I met Courtney Padgett at the police and fire service day? Yeah, I'm very impressed with her, I think. Once again, justin Hess, I saw Justin there also.
Speaker 1:Yep, but great dynamic duel, you know well, I I regret that I wasn't able to to share in uh the event and go watch you guys speak, because I there's a, there are some burbank legends, certainly, uh, with the three of you up there, um, but I'm looking forward to the sequel. And how many people don't know that there's a big auditorium upstairs at the? Historical Society. Well, that's one of the reasons.
Speaker 3:Don Baldessaroni was sitting in the audience when I was looking out and I said maybe we could do part two at the Historical Society, and then he even came up with there should be a display of our work the three of ours work, because that's where it should go, is the Historical Society. That's true, our work, the three of ours work, because that's where it should go is a historical society, that's true.
Speaker 3:So we thought maybe another way to get some people down there and upstairs that great room that they have and we can project. It was just a fun evening. You look back, time has flown, just you know, between Bonnie and I and she's really an athlete, you know, she used to teach tumbling. She taught photography at Burroughs. There were people in the audience that had taken classes from her.
Speaker 1:So you tumble pretty well.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Off curbs and out of cars Very careful these days. I will tell you, but it was um, was it videotaped or anything?
Speaker 3:no, we should have. Well. Yes, I don't know who the gentleman was shooting for. I need to find out because they were rolling, uh there because the event itself is archival as far as I'm concerned well, yeah, shared, yeah. So, um, like I said, um, I brought some of my my fire three classic, the cover of a couple of books that I've had, uh, the life magazine that I've had a picture in.
Speaker 2:So well, talk to him. Let's get the video and we can put it on our YouTube site.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I will find out who had shot that. So, hopefully, uh, maybe a couple of months uh, they have never done been requested to do a, an event, the art group for a sequel or whatever, and they are just like all excited that. Everybody said we didn't get enough of this.
Speaker 1:Well, burbank people, and if we, and if we can share the video from the first event, then, uh, we'll get more people to the second one too, including myself, yeah, so that was.
Speaker 3:Uh, that was a long day. Going from one event. May has just been kind of like that.
Speaker 2:Well, the next day you were busy again, of course, because the old Cartoon Network is no more and has now officially become the Hollywood Production Center and part of their little empire of production places around Los Angeles and they have a real nice situation for any production house group wants to come in short-term rental, long-term rental, they need a production office, they're shooting a television show, whatever it's going to be, and they can get set up and once again you were there for that. Yeah, I was.
Speaker 3:The company that owns it. This is their sixth place that they have put together the gentleman that owns the building. He owned it when Cartoon Network was in it. He's the property owner. But you think about it how. Cartoon Network had it set up Tons of little rooms you could set it up as they call it turnkey, where they could set it up, as they call it turnkey, where they could set it up small office, larger. I met a lady that's a hairstylist that has, has rented a place. I'm an attorney, a TV attorney. She has a place here and most people don't know that building has a fantastic roof.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know what you call it Not a garden, but it's a rooftop garden, I guess you would call it, and I've been up there for things from Family Service.
Speaker 3:I think it holds 50 to 100 people up there Easily and they had a catered party up there. They had a step and repeat, as you know, it had hollywood production center, a lot of balloons and so forth. We had the owner, a lot of their clients, they had video going up there, they had a wet bar going, um, so it was really kind of neat. I, in fact, was talking to some of the people when burbank celebrated their centennial. I happened to know people that were in that Cartoon Network building. My daughter-in-law had worked in it. I shot the Burbank's centennial fireworks from that patio, so it was for me. People love the view up there and if you're looking for a space, you know, instead of in your garage or your closet, you know they have everything Because you're working.
Speaker 3:I was talking to I can't believe it people coming in from LA. I talked to this couple. They're animators, come in from LA, take the train and they walk right up the street and they're there. They don't own a car, they don't own a car, they don't need a car. Um, the old restaurant that we used to I think what was it called um milanos, milanos is is almost ready to be reopened a fish and steakhouse. So um, again. Uh, the downtown is changing. What a way to get that building in fact.
Speaker 1:I think it's the first time I've ever had Justin Hess at a ribbon cutting and want to be in pictures, oh, so these spaces are available to rent now, right, it sounds like it's one of these kind of a we work those shared office spaces but for productions and events and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, they used to have when I had an office at the tall building down on Alameda 3,900, 17th floor when I used to do weddings I would meet the couples there and a great office. They provide everything for you. You have a mailbox and if you need a contract typed out, there's people there to do that. I don't know if they still offer that in that building, but that's what you can get at um, the new production center you can do long-term rentals as well.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay yeah, cool and plenty of parking, that's. You know you worry about downtown, you don't have to pay. Well, I don't know if you have to pay, if you're 10 or whatever, but behind the police station, the city, that's a city lot and this building, it's now signed off where they lease spaces. Yeah, so kind of nice to see that the downtown, you know that building isn't sitting empty and that also helps the businesses downtown well, moving on to friday, well, we all woke up to some sad news that Raul Porto had passed away at 92.
Speaker 2:Ross. I know you know his daughter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know, betty and I are Betty Porto. We are very good friends. We sit not only on the Magnolia Park Merchants Association, but Benny and I have gotten to know each other over the years and she has invited me into their kitchen to show me how they make their tarts.
Speaker 1:Well, and we should clarify this is Porto of the bakery Right the bakery.
Speaker 2:The one who actually originated the entire thing, the Portos. And I found interesting. I guess the first one was somewhere in Los Angeles. I always thought Glendale was the first one.
Speaker 3:Silver Lake, and then they moved to Glendale.
Speaker 2:Glendale was the second one.
Speaker 3:And you think about it, the city. They knew what they were doing when they brought them to Magnolia Park. They are to attract people into Magnolia Park and you tell me any time you've gone by Porto's there isn't a line out the door.
Speaker 2:It's amazing I they could.
Speaker 1:Instead of the little parking lot behind the place, they could have a 10-story parking garage there and and fill that well, they're supposed they were supposed to.
Speaker 3:That was the agreement that betty porto told me when they came here this parking is limited there yeah, but um, it's unfortunate. Um, I know betty had been taking care of her dad for the last couple of months, so her. But every city function I go to there's a yellow box, or six yellow boxes In fact. The event we did Wednesday night there were those guava desserts and and cheese balls and meatballs and Betty Porto, you know, supplied the food you go to any event in the city.
Speaker 2:Well, I recently had a cake from there and it was moist. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.
Speaker 1:It was moist, Well, we certainly appreciate the food, but now we appreciate him upon his passing Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I thought it was real classy that the city had put something out about the loss of Pro Porto. It was on every TV channel and they now have, I think, six locations they're opening in Disneyland. Disneyland has asked them to open a Porto's within the property. I mean, it just blows me away. And you know you go with Betty and it's like you're walking with the mayor of Chicago or something. People just want to always.
Speaker 1:thank her, you know quite a legacy he's left behind.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Well, that's it for the week that was. Let's uh move on to the week that will be right after this quick word with.
Speaker 4:We will help you get set up on podcast platforms and start a YouTube channel, and we can edit your productions to make you look and sound your very best. If you are arrested, please drop us an email at studiorentalsatmyburbankcom. That's studiorentalsatmyburbankcom, and we will get back to you. Now back to our show.
Speaker 2:Okay, burbank, craig sherwood here with you, with ross benson, hi there, all right, no reason, sure? Oh? And, of course, craig derling still here, okay, well, today is the most solemn day each year in American history. It's Memorial Day. It's the day we celebrate all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, those who gave us the right to sit here on our podcast and talk about whatever we want to talk about the right to live our lives the way we want to live our lives and not be dictated to, to live our lives the way we want to live our lives and not be dictated to.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of things that go into freedom, and one thing freedom is it's not free, really. I mean, a lot of people gave their lives in many, many ways over many different wars and campaigns, and conflicts were many different wars and campaigns and conflicts. So I think it's always important on this day that we celebrate the departed. Who really? Who made this country great? I don't care what the campaign people say you want to talk about. Who made America great. It's these people who gave their lives for our country. I'm really happy when I see so many different organizations and ways, and I watched the NASCAR race last night and they did a tremendous amount of, you know, tributes to our war heroes. I know the president was out today doing his thing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, so we had once again our ceremony here in Burbank Ross, why don't you give us a rundown on the day?
Speaker 3:Well, it was again up in McCambridge Park and I've covered it for many, many years. Um, you know, as the burbank community band plays the, the songs, it's a mid-lay of mid-lay of each of each. Yeah, and this year they had a new service branch, the um space force. That's right there you go
Speaker 3:so it was different. Uh, there were more people there this year than we've had in many, many years. It starts off well. One the fire department's out there and they put up the truck company with the most huge, largest flag I think I've ever seen hanging vertical. And if that doesn't catch your attention, it's always impressive no-transcript.
Speaker 3:Oh, very impressive. And then, right at 11 o'clock, the flyover, the Condor Squadron that the Cusumanos pay for as a gift to the city. Those Condors flew right over, right on time, and it was funny because a few minutes after they flew over I looked through the park and their smoke came down to the ground and I thought people are having barbecues or what it was the smoke for the well, they're not electric yet but I will tell you the um.
Speaker 3:Our mayor was there. Our nick schultz spoke. He spoke eloquently. Our vice mayor was there. Um and um uh, constantine Anthony, our city manager, all the city department has, uh, quite a few of them were there. They do a ceremony called the Rose Ceremony what's it called? The it's, it's called's called the Rose Ceremony.
Speaker 2:Oh, holy cow, it's a little slow tonight. Boy, it is the Rose Ceremony. You said the word rose. Well, look at that. What could that mean, ross, when you hear that noise that?
Speaker 3:is the word of the week there you go. And that Rose Ceremony was done in the rose garden that your.
Speaker 1:We'll finish the story and then we'll talk about the word of the week. Yes, that's a good idea.
Speaker 3:The dig people out there, those roses, you know all those rose bushes and everything was really really nice out there, that's right.
Speaker 2:Dig was there last week, I believe, to really spruce things up.
Speaker 3:They cleaned it all up, right, yep, and it looked gorgeous. But that is really solemn when the um I think it's boy scout, troop 214, that's what's sticking in my head those boys and girls bring a rose and put it on those monuments. You know where everybody is listed. They read off everybody's name and I'll tell you if you don't get choked up when you see gary brick and his brother steve at the podium reading the names, that of the vietnam.
Speaker 1:They read the names of burbank residents who have right, these are burbank residents.
Speaker 3:They lost their brother and in vietnam, and the two of them read off their brother's name and, if that doesn't choke you up, talk about local kid that didn't come home. Gary sits on the Veterans Committee. The Veterans Committee is growing. It's just really today's ceremony solemn. Mickey DiPaolo is the emcee. He's the. Really today's ceremony Solemn. Mickey DiPaolo is the emcee. He's the head of the committee. But I will tell you that they've lost two people Pat Wamsley, who sang every year. She has done it. She started many years ago. She was the one that copied down some of the names and made sure spellings were right, and she's been on the committee for years. She passed away a couple of months ago and then we just lost um, mr McDaniel, right, um, that they, uh, they spoke about and these both were on the committee. So, um, it was just uh, and then, like I said, the, and then, like I said, the community band. And you close it out with taps.
Speaker 5:I'll tell you, you know, it's just uh, what a ceremony chills yep, but always a solemn day.
Speaker 1:The last monday of of may, we can remember and honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, so we can sit here and complain about stuff.
Speaker 2:Um, yep, agreed so one more time we'll go back to our go back to our word of the week, which of course was it was in the rose garden, the rose. So if you'd like to win this week's gift certificate to Hill Street Cafe, send in the word rose on the subject line to contest at myburbankcom and please put your address in there too, for me, make it makes my life a little easier.
Speaker 1:Whatever address you'd like it mailed to, if you win. If you win, you'll be put in the running for the gift card.
Speaker 2:Yes, Contest at myburbankcom and we will send you the winner, not everybody.
Speaker 1:The winner we select will get the gift card for $25 for Hill Street Cafe, which People are starting to send in or winners are starting to send in pictures of their meals and the food and the good grub.
Speaker 2:They're making us hungry, sending the pictures from Hill Street.
Speaker 1:We only got a million or so submissions every week, so you've got a pretty good chance in the mix there of being the winner, so I'd give it a shot. If you've stayed up this long listening to the podcast. We thank you, congratulate you and wish you luck in your endeavor to win the gift card.
Speaker 3:Hopefully there will be a photo gallery in myburbankcom come tomorrow, if I can get through.
Speaker 2:Tomorrow being Tuesday, which might be today for those who are this video, because we get the podcast up on Monday nights. Usually, we don't get the video until Tuesday.
Speaker 1:If you watch it live, it is still Monday. Yes, it is.
Speaker 3:Of the 1500 pictures that I photographed today that hopefully will be edited down and the highlights will be in my. Burbank.
Speaker 2:Well, tomorrow the city council is didn't pay their light bill once again and they're dark, so no city council meeting tomorrow. But but this is a big, but it's a big. But Tomorrow we're going to do the Ask the Mayor show for May, the Ask the Mayor show for May. The mayor has. The mayor is actually up in Sacramento right now dealing with our Sacramento politicians, along with other city council members, and he's actually going to do the meeting via Zoom. So you'll have to move over from your Zoom seat there a little bit for tomorrow.
Speaker 1:I'll slide over a little bit. He can sit next to me.
Speaker 2:We will have him on Zoom tomorrow. So if you have a question and you're getting this on Monday night or Tuesday before 5 o'clock, send in your question to question at myburbankcom. That's question at myburbankcom, and let me know the question you'd like me to ask the mayor. I only use the first name. I don't use your entire name, so it's not about you. It's about asking a question to the mayor that you think would be interesting and you want to know the answer to, and maybe others would like to have the same question as you do.
Speaker 1:So this is a call to action to all the listeners out there. If you've ever yelled at the TV during city council meetings and had a question or anything, this is a great opportunity to ask the mayor a question. There are some things he can't talk about legally different proceedings going on and all that but this is really your chance to get a question in front of the mayor.
Speaker 2:It's a good point because if you call in during city council comments and you ask a question, they can't answer you during a meeting because of the Brown Act. Right if it's not on the agenda. So this is a chance where you can ask a question and get an answer at the same time.
Speaker 1:And he does his best and he's very good. If he doesn't know the answer, he'll find it and get back to us.
Speaker 2:He does not avoid questions.
Speaker 1:He does not avoid anything.
Speaker 2:So we're very happy with how he do it, so send those questions in.
Speaker 1:Well it's funny.
Speaker 3:Craig Durling said if you've ever yelled at your TV, I remember the days that I wanted to throw a hammer through my TV. Sometimes these people get up.
Speaker 1:Didn't you shoot a TV one time?
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, I think over there at the Empire Center they sell more on wednesday because the people that throw things at them or shoot them or whatever, after city council meetings exactly, exactly well, I know that you know rock stars often throw them out hotel windows are you saying joel slossman's there every week to buy a new tv?
Speaker 5:okay, joel is, say you know he, I will say that he's gotten up the last couple of weeks and the goal is you know.
Speaker 3:I will say that he's gotten up the last couple of weeks and I know he listens to our show. He has told me and he brings up some good points.
Speaker 2:I've always said he does make some good points. Yeah, I'm not totally against what he's saying about the new bond measure either. I think that needs to really be looked at closely and I think most people don't have no idea what the school board is trying to pull right now.
Speaker 3:Looked at closely and I think most people don't have no idea what the school board's trying to pull right now and I people don't realize. Over all the years that Craig Sherwood and I have been watching council, we've had a dozen oh glad flies from Melvin Perlitz, jules Kimmett, jules.
Speaker 1:Kimmett.
Speaker 3:I mean he was the best, wasn't he? He would sit in that front row, he'd pick it out front of city hall, he'd be out there with his cardboard sign and he always ended up what was his favorite line I'll fold my tent and go back to the back of the dugout or something?
Speaker 2:yeah, and when?
Speaker 1:he was done talking right yeah, yeah, yeah so, but you know we've.
Speaker 2:And mike nolan let's not forget mike. No, mike nolan was probably the most informed person we ever knew.
Speaker 1:Always correct. You said grumpy, wrong. It sounded like you said informed, but you think you meant to say grumpy.
Speaker 2:No, he was informed.
Speaker 3:We lost the treasure when we lost Mike.
Speaker 2:And Mike and I talked many times. I said, mike, you just don't get it. You are so smart, you have so much great information, but the way you delivered something, something you yell at people and you demean people, they remember that and not your message and that was always my point to him you know, is make sure they hear. That's probably why he never.
Speaker 1:Uh ran for city council because he couldn't behave like that during the meetings.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly, he well didn't get away with it I have pictures of glenn bell escorting him out of the chambers more than once.
Speaker 2:He took it all personally.
Speaker 3:Oh, he did, he did, we liked him. So there's quite a few there's, you know, other, like we say, there's a whole slew of they call them gladflies. It's nothing bad about them, they know, but we need them, we do, we do need them. You know, they kind of follow along, we, they know, but we need them, we do, we do need them. You know they kind of follow along. We need watchdogs.
Speaker 1:They kind of do the job of the press with the government, right, right, the press's job is to keep the government in check.
Speaker 2:And Lord knows I try with my story sometimes to be that social conscious a little bit. But sometimes you get some results like the gun store thing to a point Other times.
Speaker 3:like the gun store thing to a point other times like the empire center crime, it just goes on deaf ears. Well, I've recently read uh, there's been tons of uh columns in the la times talking about it's the media that keeps our politicians correct.
Speaker 1:Um, and it uh go to the light ross. Yeah, I'm sorry, I, I'm just. He just lit up.
Speaker 3:I did because the screen went totally white on me so I probably did turn quite white cause I didn't know what the button to push. But you know, without people watching, you know there's so many things that go on that we've questioned that go on, that know it's unfortunate. And now, without print media, it's gone to us digital. Yeah, you know how many people, how many. At fire service day we have people come up and say you know you guys are keeping us aware of what's going on. Just the other day david laurel even commented. The owner of the burbank Leader was in the audience and David said if it wasn't for my Burbank, a lot of people would not know what's going on in this city at all.
Speaker 2:I know the story I did on the Empire Center had what 45,000 reads on it, so it's.
Speaker 3:My niece just kept reading and hitting the spot. Well, I've reread it 44,000. Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Why, thank you? I didn't want to miss anything.
Speaker 2:Every, every word got a separate. It was 2,700 words. So it was, it was a, it was a book. But, very informative A lot.
Speaker 1:You did a lot of research. We talked about it before, but you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:A lot of research on that, but I don't got it got a lot of looks, which I was very happy with. You know, even though the city has become mute on the whole subject. I know it got a lot of reads and I hopefully that you know people. It opened people's eyes a little bit, maybe down the line again.
Speaker 3:When you say the city, you're talking government. All right, I understand. Okay, they don't act overnight, you know, and what you wrote might see. Look at what you did about newspaper racks. A lot of people don't realize you brought that up and it took two years, two years. Get them all off the streets, to get them off the streets.
Speaker 2:So you go to Bob's Big Boy. You don't see all those newspaper racks anymore.
Speaker 3:Or anywhere else in town, anywhere else. That was us, that was you that brought that up.
Speaker 2:That was us, that you that brought that up. That was us.
Speaker 3:That was, as you know but again this, this problem at the empire center down the road a year they might get slapped upside of the head and go. Maybe we should do something.
Speaker 1:Well, I do, and usually you're planting the seed and, and you know we're, more importantly than more important than no, we're, you know, notifying the government of these issues. We're notifying the public, we're alerting the public of these issues. We're notifying the public, we're alerting the public to these issues so they can then with a thousand voices go to our government and maybe have these things addressed.
Speaker 2:The only thing that kind of bothered me was everybody just kind of said, well, is it safe? Well, the article doesn't do with safety, with the amount of police time taken to take care of all this crime which takes them off the beats of other parts of the city to protect our city.
Speaker 1:That was a big power point. We talked about it quite a bit last week on last week's show too.
Speaker 2:I'll move on to that.
Speaker 1:But the majority of the crimes happening there are property crimes.
Speaker 2:Yes, retail theft crimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly. So let's move on. Nothing to fear.
Speaker 2:Let's move on. Nothing to fear, let's move on. So you know what? The rest of the week is actually pretty quiet. So where are the crickets? We, the crickets, they, oh, wait a second, we do have the crickets with us, um, and in fact the crickets now will not go away there we go.
Speaker 1:No, because it's the week isn't over yet, it's still crickets um, this weekend, guess who's back?
Speaker 2:this weekend it's dig. Dig is back and they're gonna diggity dog they're gonna celebrate national trails day by going to stout canyon nature center from 8 to 10 am. So, as always, you know, please join them, help them and remember, don't forget your hose.
Speaker 1:Whoa, I'm such a child, I still giggle. Oh, I know.
Speaker 2:That horrible joke I can't resist.
Speaker 1:Is that was the trails closed up there for a while because of the waiting maintenance. Is this part of that getting those three opened or something?
Speaker 2:No, I think they're back open again Misremembering.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're back open. They needed to um go and plow after some of the weather that we've had and I guess some of the trail heads were getting pretty nasty, so they went in, and the city does that, and so they don't have people walking through while you got bulldozers working and so forth. So that's why they did that well, I know our show.
Speaker 2:Uh, next week's gonna have a whole lot of meetings coming because for some reason no groups were, no city commits, it boards and commissions met this week, so they're all probably all gonna meet next week on.
Speaker 1:I think there were eight in three days we'll be stacked, you'll be happy, I just, I never I never can understand why we just can't have one meeting a day.
Speaker 2:But what do I know, I'm only a. Well, we got it, we know they're defensively.
Speaker 1:We do have a holiday week this week and that typically throws uh governments all all off kilter.
Speaker 2:Yeah anyhow, what do you do? That leaves us.
Speaker 1:That's it, oh oh, no, that's it, we're done. No roll credits. No, no, that's it, we're done. No, no, no no, no.
Speaker 2:There's only one thing, and this is the reason that people want listen this this long of the show.
Speaker 1:It's the only reason I stay awake.
Speaker 2:That's it. And of course that one thing is Ross's rant, ross's rant Ross's rant I take off.
Speaker 3:Well, I do have a couple of rants for this week and you're going to laugh, I'll tell you. I come down Glen Oaks and my granddaughter, who is five years old, looked out the window of my truck near Scott and Glen Oaks and said, papa, that weed growing up on that island is taller than I am. Now I, I don't get it. You know, I know we had a lot of rainfall, but and I know they can't um use, I guess, certain roundup or whatever, because pesticides, why don't they take a truck with salt in it and pour salt on the weeds and they'll die? But when a five-year-old says that weed is bigger than me, then you realize that and I have a picture. We're going to put it on the video, I'll send it to you, craig that this weed is at least four feet high.
Speaker 1:Did you put her in there for scale in the?
Speaker 3:picture. No, but I should have her stand on that island. Well, it seems to be a recurring theme for you.
Speaker 1:They're not fixing this problem. Your recurring rant about the weeds.
Speaker 3:Well, it's funny you say that because we've driven Magnolia Park and if you drive, I think it's between Buena Vista and, I think, victory in the tree wells the weeds have gotten and those are those dog, when you walk your dog they get in their fur. You know whatever fox tails and whatever and it just I don't know what. I know you can't put salt in there because you'd poison the trees.
Speaker 1:Well, it's probably some Arctic dung beetle that's endangered.
Speaker 2:Well, isn't it strange that all these people, in all these yards in Burbank we can handle our weeds. It seems the city can't handle their weeds. You know, I don't think it's something that's so.
Speaker 1:You know, that only happens on city property, I think we all take care of weeds Is the Parks Department or the Street Department? Whoever is commissioned with handling this? Are they short-staffed?
Speaker 5:or whatever. Well, yeah, In the cities I've worked for in the past if it's there.
Speaker 1:You know the guy that's assigned to that area or that median strip or whatever, that's his baby and he's got pride in that and it's going to look good because it represents him.
Speaker 2:So I don't know if this is, but you know what? That's what we hear every time. Oh, we're short staffed or sourced. How many times is that going to be the excuse? I mean, it's an excuse during the pandemic.
Speaker 1:How often does this area have to be skipped before the weed is taller than a five-year-old? Well, that's the point.
Speaker 3:It's funny that you say that, mr derling, because a month and a half ago I know I praise the city's new 3-1-1 system. It's a great system if you find a mattress or a refrigerator or some of these things. But there has been a branch that fell out of a truck again in the vicinity of glen oaks and scott a month ago. I reported it. They sent me that it'll be taken care of. That branch is still there, so now I've taken a picture of it.
Speaker 1:Has it taken? Root.
Speaker 3:That branch. I wonder how long that branch is going to sit there. It's going to grow roots and become a weed.
Speaker 2:That's right, there's going to be a new tree.
Speaker 1:You're yelling at them for cutting down trees and neighborhoods.
Speaker 3:This is a new tree well, you know, and it just it's neglecting when people come into town. It just bugs me that they see, you know well, why is that? Um, and I do know some of the city folks listen. The other, the other rant that I have and I noticed it today, driving here, driving home from the Memorial Day cars are just speeding left and right. I mean zoom, zoom, zoom. I'm driving to speed them and they pass you, like you know, ghostbusters and people wonder why the city is putting in these different things to slow traffic down. That is the exact reason, you know, I know the lining up on all of is crazy. San fernando road is now different. Eventually, they you know there's other places that they're going to do this slowing measures because these cars are going faster than that.
Speaker 1:Out of hell, you know, and it's Right and unfortunately these measures affect, you know negatively, the people who aren't speeding. You know, just like new laws affect law-abiding people, but it's for those who are not law-abiding, it's those who are not driving the speed limit, but it affects everybody. The countermeasures affect everybody.
Speaker 3:You know I did write a note down that I was going to ask our traffic professional here who used to deal with this. I'm noticing these Uber drivers have their lights that they put hook to their rearview mirror now and they're in colors. Isn't that illegal?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, well, well at the red and blue right unless they've.
Speaker 1:They've recently gotten an exemption or something. But the law all vehicle code always read you could not have a uh. The only light you could have facing forward on a car is white or Amber. To the rear, amber or red period. If there is some loophole, because they're not a certain brightness or a certain lumens count, that they're not bright enough to to to be prohibited. But I'll tell you along the lines of what you're saying, ross, some of these little lift and Uber signs in the windshields are bright as all heck. You're right, you know they're designed to be visible, but it's coming down a dark road. You don't really know what's coming sometimes and you realize it's an Uber. So your point is well taken and certainly I've certainly taken note of it over the years when I see them myself.
Speaker 1:But unless they found some kind of loophole or whatever. I don't know. I doubt that they're California compliant.
Speaker 3:You know, driving around the airport you I'm seeing a lot more of these Uber cars or or ride share, and these lights are just like wait a minute, is that a Uber? Is that a law enforcement?
Speaker 1:vehicle. And they're blue, they're red, they're pink.
Speaker 3:They're all the, the, all these different colors, your rearview mirror. It's hard to tell, you know, yeah, yeah, well, those are my rants. Those are, uh, you know, a couple of things that I uh observed and I know, you know, every week I drive around this town and, uh, we have a fantastic city. Today was a good example with the memorial day ceremony, um, but there's all these little things that I always catch here and there.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to throw one on tonight too. Uh-oh, we're kind of quick tonight, but the other night I'm driving down Alameda and I believe it's at Naomi. There's a signal there where St Joe's emergency thing is.
Speaker 2:It never changes and the light changes. It never changes. And the light, oh no, it changes. And it went full cycle at like 10 o'clock at night and there's nobody coming either way. And I noticed that a lot of our signals in the city, you know, go full cycle with the walk and the entire thing. And I know these are all smart signals and they have, you know, they put the things in the street and you know if there's cars or not. And I just think after, I think you know the signal should change Absolutely. If you leave mall green, you create a raceway, but they should change, but they don't need to change for full cycles and people are just sitting and sitting and sitting and there's no traffic the other way.
Speaker 1:So I would like to see that. You know some of these signals get a little bit, you know, I know they have a traffic engineering thing and burbank's always kind of been notorious for being horrible at traffic flow. As far as the phasing of traffic signals, yeah, it used to be years ago that if you were doing 35 miles an hour from one end of olive to the other you could could get green, green, green, green, green, green green, but you had to be going exactly 35 miles an hour to do it. But there are a lot of cities and traffic engineers who there's a certain phasing programmed in for during the day for different commuting hours in the morning and afternoon, but maybe after 10 at night yeah, they don't need it.
Speaker 1:But maybe after 10 at night yeah, they don't need it. Phases to for the sensors to trigger Anytime a vehicle comes up, it'll, it'll, it'll phase through the signals and get them going rather than cause nothing. Worse, I agree, than sitting at an intersection when you're the only car there and you're sitting waiting and seeing the, and now, with the new crosswalk lights, that have the countdown if that's not, even counting down yet have the countdown if that's not, even counting down.
Speaker 3:Yet you know you have at least that amount of time to sit there, if it doesn't even. I remember years ago, I remember years ago, one of the traffic engineers told me, before they had the big boxes, you know that with computers inside, if it was just a box on a pedestal he says if the lights don't change, just go up a pound on it three times and sure enough, you know the gear, gear inside, probably needed to be moved, and I'll never forget that by the time you get back to your car, the lights have phased red again.
Speaker 2:Right, well now, like I say now a lot of times, when you go up to a signal and you activate it, it reads your car, you get the green light as soon as you go. Then it'll turn red again, you know, because it sends to one car there. But why can't, we can't do that more? The technology's there and we have it installed, but why we're not using it, I have no idea well, you probably haven't driven glen oaks lately.
Speaker 3:They're replacing all the lights. Uh, they're mostly done. Quite a few of them are done, and I remember several months ago, um, they were marking the street because to run new communications line.
Speaker 1:But all those oh, so they must have just paved it you're.
Speaker 3:There's a couple of streets in burbank that I think. Uh was it. One of you told me you go, craig. I think you and I were driving on point of vista from, uh I, either Magnolia or Burbank to Clark. It feels like you're on a dirt path.
Speaker 1:Well, in a cast on my leg, going over every feeling, every bump and pothole in the road.
Speaker 3:Right, so well, that's another week, that's it.
Speaker 2:Well, phew, we did it.
Speaker 1:Actually, a short show for today, should we do another call to action for the word of the week. To remind everybody what the word was, today's ceremony was in the rose Rose, like Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek.
Speaker 3:Oh, watch your language. Or the flower or the flower.
Speaker 2:So well, that's it for Craig Sherwood, ross Benson and Craig Durling. We wish you a good week and we will talk to you again next week.