myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
The Week That Was and That Will Be - August 26
Ever wondered what it takes to keep a city running smoothly while addressing everyday challenges? Join us on "The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be" as we explore the latest happenings in Burbank. We kick things off by celebrating Riley Leonard, our Word of the Week champ, who bagged a $25 gift certificate to Hill Street Cafe. Next, get to know school board candidate Annie Markarian through our ongoing "Meet the Candidate" series. And don't miss our Ask the Mayor segment on a Burbank bus, featuring transportation expert David Kriske, who shares invaluable insights on the city's transportation network. We also cover the recent police commission meeting, highlighting the big leap from three to 50 license plate cameras and delving into ongoing investigations into homelessness policies.
What’s being done to improve traffic safety in Burbank? Hear about the rollout of mobile electronic speeding cameras in key areas and the Burbank Armenian Association's "Drive Right, Save Lives" campaign. Young leader Romik Hacobian joins forces with Vice Mayor Nikki Perez and Police Chief Michael Albanese to promote safe driving practices. This campaign is a community effort to curb speeding and foster a safer environment on the roads. We also discuss the Police Department's new $208,000 grant aimed at deterring unsafe driving behaviors, although there's some concern about relying solely on social media for public outreach.
Stay up-to-date with city council activities and community events, from the Community Goals Committee meetings to playground enhancements at local parks. On Tuesday, the city council will discuss lighting upgrades at Schaefer Field. Additionally, get an inside look at my recent conversation with police commissioners Paul McKenna and James Coombs at an event hosted by Community Chevrolet. We talked candidly about the need for better communication and proactive engagement in policy-making. Finally, I extend my heartfelt thanks to our listeners for their ongoing support and encourage everyone to like, subscribe, and consider a channel membership to stay connected with all the latest in Burbank.
My Burbank Talks presents another edition of the Week that Was and the Week that Will Be a weekly podcast featuring highlights and commentary on local events and issues taking place right here in Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program.
Speaker 2:Joe.
Speaker 3:I'm T-Burbank. Thank you, thank you, thank you everybody in our canned audience. We appreciate you coming by the MyBurbank Command Center for another week of the Week. That Was and the Week that Will Be, the August 26th edition. So let's start off with last week's word of the winner. That winner was Riley Leonard and he sent in the word galaxy. And, of course, when you send in the word of the week, you win a $25 gift certificate to Hill Street Cafe, located on Glen Oaks. And let me tell you what I always have to say it the food's outstanding. If you ever go in there, let them know you've heard about it on our show. I think the owner would appreciate knowing that the word is getting out. So we do appreciate it and standby. Later in the show we will have a new word of the week, which means a new winner for next week.
Speaker 3:Also, remember to like and subscribe to our channel. Real simple things to do, doesn't cost you a penny. And if you would like to spend a little money, think about a channel membership. That would really help us and keep bringing you great content. So that's up to you. But the like and subscribe is a real important thing because once again, you know YouTube sees that stuff and will then keep recommending the channels to more and more people, so we do appreciate that. Also, if you want to get our meet the candidate series, make sure you email us at news at myburbankcom. If you're a candidate and are going to appear on the Burbank ballot in November, we'd love to do a podcast with you. We don't care which party you're from or which race you're running for, but we'd love to get you on just to talk about you and let people get to know who you are. So, once again, that's news at myburbankcom. Send me an email, we'll get you on the air. We just had Annie Mark markarian, who's a school board candidate. She just did a recent podcast that's up on the site now. So you like to get to know annie? Good time to uh well, you know the show, of course. Click over there and listen to what she has to say. Let's move on to um.
Speaker 3:Last tuesday, so last Tuesday, we did the Ask the Mayor show in Burbank Bus and we had a special guest, david Kriske, who I call the traffic guru, and he's somebody who it's amazing how much transportation there is in Burbank in all different forms Safer streets, the Burbank bus system, all sorts of things. David Kriske knows every answer. This was the most ambitious show we ever did and the mayor asked us to do it on a Burbank bus and we did it on a Burbank bus and it was, I think, a very good show. It's up online now Once again. When you're done with this show, of course, then turn over there and take a look at it. I want to also make sure that I thank Dick Dornan for the amazing great camera switch he did on the show, and Austin Gephardt, who did the amazing work on setup and logistics. He was our technical director, basically. So, once again, all subjects were on the table. Nothing was dodged. We didn't edit it, we didn't cut it or anything else. It's a straight show, about an hour and 20 minutes long, dealing with only Burbank transportation. So give it a listen, I think, or watch it, of course, on YouTube. I think you'd enjoy it.
Speaker 3:So Wednesday they had a police commission meeting and some of the things they talked about. They're talking about the license plate cameras and they're now using them. They've gone from three to now 17, and they're going to install an additional 34. So that means there's going to be close to 50 cameras out there who can read license plate numbers. Now, what's the benefit of that? If your car is stolen and you get it called in right away, that license plate goes into the system, and not only, of course, in Burbank, but all the cities that do have the technology. That license plate goes into the system, and not only, of course, in Burbank, but all the cities that do have the technology. Any camera that's sitting on a light pole somewhere and picks up that car and that license plate, they get an alert right away. Also, if there's a crime that's committed and somebody's trying to get away, and you get the license plate number and the police can put it on the system right away it'll pop up. So it benefits Burbank, of course, but it's in other cities also. So it's kind of like, I guess, the LoJack when it first came out years ago. The LoJack was a system that you put in your car and if your car was stolen, you would treat the LoJack system and it would send out a signal that's saying you know, I'm a stolen car, please find me. And I know I can still hear the helicopters now and then picking up a low-jack signal, or police cars, and they had the technology inside them to track them down. So that's still being used today also.
Speaker 3:They brought up the homeless policies and I was a little once again. So I'm waiting. I'm still waiting for the report from Burbank police about the homelessness in North Hollywood that Paul Kerkorian decided to publicize and bring up and basically throw Burbank under a bus. And it's been over two months and of course we were turned down for the body worn camera footage. They said the investigation is still going on. I'm not sure how long an investigation into a 10 to 20 minute incident takes, but oh well, joel Schlossman brought it up also in the oral communications but nothing was said in the entire meeting. So it's kind of frustrating that even the commission didn't really say you know, when do we expect the report? When do we get the report? I just wish that there'd be a little more. Of course they call transparency, you know, with that. So it's frustrating. But you know we keep moving on. The chief you know we keep moving on.
Speaker 3:The chief, you know, talked to the commission and he talked about a new technology. They're going to bring in mobile electronic speeding cameras to issue tickets on the streets like Callaway, buena Vista and Glen Oaks. So right now they're looking into vendors, and what these cameras will do is if somebody's speeding down the street. You know it's like your red light cameras used to be you get at an intersection and you cross into this intersection during a red light, the camera takes your picture and sends you a ticket. Well, this is going to be the same technology, but this time with cameras that will see a speeder, take your picture and then, of course, send you the ticket. So it's one way to address. It's a more aggressive way of addressing the speeding issue, because right now that's a hot topic. Now, really, it's a hot topic everywhere. I dare you to turn the news on just about any day and not see where some car was speeding and somebody was killed. So it's something that you know. If people can't be responsible, then we have to make them responsible. I guess that's how you. That's why you have to have laws, and then, of course, you have to enforce the laws. So hopefully that's setting the doubt. That's down the line. They're looking into vendors right now to see if they can find a vendor for the system and they're going to go from there. I'm going to talk later about my comments, in my comments about the commission, so stand by till the end of our show today and you hear my thoughts on it.
Speaker 3:Let's see Thursday. Thursday, last week we had an interesting event. Community Share really hosted the Drive Right Saves Lives Driver Campaign, and let me tell you that this was something that you know. I've got some photos up here we can throw up here while we're talking. Let's see here Okay, ross Benson shot some great photos of the event, so let's show. We're going to show a couple of photos while we're talking up here.
Speaker 3:So the Drive Right, save Right, save your Safety campaign they kicked off. It was put on by the Burbank Armenian Association and Romic Hagopian I hope I'm saying that, right, he's a police commissioner and it was also emceed by Andre Diontian Once again, I hope I'm saying that, right, I feel bad, I'm just terrible on names. He's also a Burbank Transportation Commissioner and the Armenian Association also. So some of the speakers of the day included Nikki Perez, our vice mayor, our council members, zet Mullins, our police chief, michael Albanese, chad Kelman, who's the GM of Community Chevrolet, and Shanna Warren of the Boys and Girls Club. There were other speakers also, but those are the ones that stand out a little more also. Um, I think it's important. I want to kind of talk a little about Romic and the Armenian Association, the American-Armenian Association.
Speaker 3:I should say there's been a perception that only Armenians are speeding and I'm sure if you're an Armenian, you kind of feel, you know, you kind of stick in, tire of hearing, oh, it's only the Armenians. Well, number one, it's not only the Armenians, okay, it's everybody. It's everybody with a driver's license. In fact, some people don't even have a driver's license, so it's everybody involved in this. And I think what we have to realize is that you can sit back and say, well, it's not my problem. Well, the Armenian Association is saying you know what? We want to do something. And they have young leadership in there and the young leadership is working to solve problems and I think you know we have to give them credit Because there's a problem.
Speaker 3:Everybody's accusing them, and them only, which is not true, but yet they're feeling, you know, we feel we need to do something to help educate. So they have this great program put together that's going to give information out to all kids in schools that are in ninth grade, 10th grade, you know, freshmen, sophomores. Plus every car dealership in Burbank is going to give out information to the when somebody buys a car, you know, once again it's. It's what they're trying to do is educate. They're never going to stop the problem. Nobody's ever going to stop the problem, because every kid that has a car thinks well, you know, I've got a car and nothing's ever going to happen to me because I'm the best driver in the world.
Speaker 3:It's funny I always hear all the time that NASCAR drivers best drivers in the world, or Formula One drivers the best drivers in the world, and guess what? They crash too in the world. Or Formula One drivers the best drivers in the world, and guess what? They crash too. So nobody's the best driver in the world and they're not going to ever crash. But you can really reduce your chances by just not number one one thing just don't speed.
Speaker 3:Anyhow, the American Armenian Association has launched this campaign and they got a lot of people on board and I think it's something that is a real positive. And it's good to see people like Ramek who are going to work on, who are going to be our future leaders in the city, because, let's face it, all us old fogies aren't going to be here forever and there will be a new generation. We're starting to see a little bit of the city council a younger city council this last election and I think they're doing a great job and I think the city's in good hands. But it's good to see people stepping up and wanting to do things that will be positive in the future. So, in fact, right now, the picture of Baromuk on the screen. He was up there talking about the whole situation. So you know, once again, I appreciate the effort he's putting in. He's also, like I said, a Burmese police commissioner too, besides being the president of the American Armenian Association. So we appreciate that commissioner too, besides being the president of the american armenian association. So, um, we appreciate that and, uh, I think that's a bit about it for our photos here. I think we got a couple more here, so let's show them to you here once again. A lot of people there showing out the campaign. Our police department was there, our fire department was there. We have a video coming out in a day or two that will actually have the speakers and show the event and you know, once again, we hope you take a look at that. So that's our. Those are our pictures from the show, so let's move on here. Okay, get to see my ugly mug again, of course. So let's move on here.
Speaker 3:Friday, oh, friday, football is back. Okay, high school football, of course we're talking about, and good to have football back. We have Burbank High played Actually a very competitive first half, but they lost to San Dimas 49-14 at Burroughs last week. So next week I don't know why they do it they do it in college football. So college football they're having their week zero. High school football had their week zero. I don't know why we just can't call it week one, but it has to be called now as week zero, because you're allowed 10 games and so now they use 11 weeks to play 10 games. So instead of just having week 1 through 11 and having a buy somewhere, there's still gonna be a buy, but we're still gonna call it week 0 through 10. So I'm I'm not sure what that all means.
Speaker 3:Um, next week, um, so bird bank high will be going to valley college to play st genevieve and um burroughs is going to Valley College to play St Genevieve and Burroughs is going to host Hart in their season opener here at Burroughs. Well, that should be a good contest. I mean, hart's always a good team. That's the old Foothill League and we used to always enjoy that Foothill League. So anyhow, last weekend was a pretty quiet weekend, thank goodness. We like a quiet weekend now and then, especially in the summertime, when you still go out and do some things, and hopefully the kids needed some time to recoup from their first week of school. So that's about it for the week that was. So now we're going to pause for a commercial and we'll be back in a second with the week that will be.
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Speaker 3:Okay, back with you again, craig Sherwood, here with the week that will be, because the week that was is gone. It's now part of our recent history. So once again, we join you from the Miami-Burbank Command Center and appreciate you listening either on whatever podcast platform you're listening on or, of course, watching us on YouTube. So thank you very much and we do appreciate it. So let's move on here. On Monday today oh, okay, today, of course, the Brewery Community Goals Committee. They're meeting at 6 pm at the Community Services Building. Now, mostly it's just a review of past items and there's really nothing new on their agenda, but they are having their meeting. It's nice that only one meeting today instead of the usual two or three or four meetings at the same time. So at least maybe they're figuring all that out. Finally, tuesday, the city council will meet at 6 pm at City Hall and on the consent agenda okay, one thing they're going to do is and once again we've got some great pictures for you here of this they are going to be. They're going to be approving playground park projects for Brace, maple and McCambridge Parks. So very much important. So I think we're going to see a couple of pictures of what Brace Canyon Park is going to look like with the new playground equipment. Interesting now how we have one more brace and then we can turn to um maple. Maple's a very small. It's on the corner of uh maple and jeffries, right next to luther middle school. Very small, but you know it's, it's a uh. It's good to have those little parks inside, right inside the community areas. Then, of course, right here's my cambridge. Looks more like a somewhere out of miami, I think it's got looks like the palm trees going on. It's got the uh. The ocean colors, everything else interesting. Now they never use sand anymore. It's some kind of a synthetic uh ground that when you fall on it you bounce. You know, I I guess it. They proven it won't. You know you can't break legs and arms and everything else and break bones easily. Plus, you can't people can't put razor blades in the sand anymore. There was a problem back, you know, 20 years ago. People used to put stuff in the sand, so I thought that was always just really a bad choice. But these are some shots of what the Cambridge is going to look like. So once again, it kind of looks like a. It belongs to Miami, I think. Anyhow, let's get back here. What else are they going to be doing? They're also going to approve a contract to upgrade the lighting at Schaefer Field.
Speaker 3:Now let me tell you what, being an ex-baseball coach oh man, it's Burbank you don't realize how lucky you have it to having baseball fields with lights. You don't have that really anywhere else. You know all the little leagues, all the places. Now you know a couple here and there have it. But I know when I used to coach high school, it was always. People were always like wow, you guys have lights. You know, and if I usually coach to crespi, we'd go play somewhere for a night game and kids would be excited. What's so exciting? Because never put our lights before. So kids in burbank have an advantage. In fact, when I used to coach here in Burbank, we used to uh, I used to schedule as many games as possible at nighttime because I knew it was an advantage for us because others didn't have the uh, didn't have lights, and so I figured those kids and that went to we'd see, we'd see kids getting balls. You know the ball would get hit pretty high and they'd lose the ball above the lights and it would benefit us, of course. You know, when I was at Burroughs, they wouldn't let me play a lot of night. They wouldn't let me play league games at night, so it was another one of their who-knows-what things. I'll get off that.
Speaker 3:And yeah, I think it's a great thing that we're actually updating those. I think we've already updated the lights at McCambridge. I think we've done all of two. Um, I think it must go lighting, and which basically means you can you can um control the lights on your on an app on the phone. And the great thing is, you know, back in the day, back 20 years ago, if you played playing at Schaefer Park what we called Northwest back then and the lights went out for some reason, it would take 20 to 30 minutes to get the lights back on again. You had to wait 10 minutes for the lights to cool down and then 20 minutes for them to once they get turned on. Now, the day, the lights are all set, you turn on the switch and they go on in seconds. As you can see, I think Major League Stadium is now, I think basketball is the first to do it, and now Major League Stadium is like Dodger Stadium. Now I have all those lights installed and they can dim them and make them bright and flash them and everything else Unheard of 20 years ago. One of those little things technology has done for us that we just don't realize until you realize what you didn't have in the old days. Sorry to talk about the old days, but I have to.
Speaker 3:What else is the city council doing? They're going to, they're getting a grant from the Office of Traffic Safety for the Selective Traffic and Forging Program $208,000. Okay, and it's for education programs. So it says, through social media, the department will engage with online communities to educate a broader audience and ultimately deter unsafe driving behaviors.
Speaker 3:Problem with only using social media, though, is that people who want to see it will. That's a problem when you're only using social media, I think. As an example, I don't use Facebook, I don't use TikTok. There's a lot of things I don't use, so I will see that. But, on the other hand, if you're only watching things through social media, and they're only putting it on social media, who are the people who are going to see it? It's the people who chose to follow them, not your average person in the public. A lot of people don't follow the Burbank Police Department. A lot of people don't follow the Burbank Police Department. A lot of people don't follow my Burbank, I don't know why. I think you should always follow us, of course, but I think they should also get this stuff out to the news media, because people will watch the news. Who don't watch Facebook, who don't watch Instagram? Who don't watch TikTok, who don't watch X? So I think it's important to get out to the news media also, not just doing social media.
Speaker 3:What else here? They're going to approve approximately $4 million for the Providencia Sewer Improvement Project, phase 2. It's required sewer system management plan project to increase sewage conveyance capacity to accept flows from approved and anticipated development projects in the downtown Burbank District Because of agencies not having correct records. This is what I find interesting, because a lot of agencies didn't have correct records. This was supposed to be completed in July of 2023. And the utility conflicts include two parallel abandoned Southern California gas lines, an abandoned private sewer lateral, a live fiber optic line, burbank Water and Power electrical conduit and, most recently, a live 20-inch oil pipeline. So I think it's hilarious that they that they. How do I say it? If you were digging at home and you hit a pipeline or something, you're in all kinds of trouble. Of course they don't want to do that either, but you know you should check with, of course, government agencies to see if there's anything below the ground. Well, it seems like the government agencies aren't doing a good job of putting down what's underground, because when Burbank went to make this sewer system, they're finding all these pipes that are underground that there are no records of. So crazy, crazy.
Speaker 3:What else is going on here? The city council is going to select a new member of the planning commission and they're is going to select a new member of the Planning Commission, and they're going to also pick a new member of the Council for the liaison for the Park and Rec Board. So, and they're also going to get an update to the Arts in Public Places. So it's actually not a jam-packed Council meeting, for a change Probably means that they might be done by maybe 10 o'clock. That'd be nice. I'm sure they have meetings coming up, though they're going to be a little more contentious, but for right now at least, it'll be a little better meeting If you want to go to bed on time. Anyway, get city staff to bed on time so they can get up to their 10 am meeting on time. Moving on to Wednesday See, your Citizens Board is going to meet at 1 pm at the Johnson Center and they've got a big event coming up.
Speaker 3:It's the 55 and Beyond Resource Fair. Good idea, I know the library put on the media fair at Woodbury and it was very well populated. And once again this is another fair coming up for people 55 and older to go over the resources that they have that they probably don't know about, not only in Burbank, but I'm sure there's going to be private companies there to talk about their resources too. You know, when you get older you appreciate those things. I know that. You know, once I got that Medicare it was kind of a game changer. It means now I've got to work on getting those two new knees so I can actually walk again. So it's good to you know, it's good to be old, it's good to get. You know, and there are people taking care of you, there are resources to take care of you and if you are struggling with buying groceries or paying rent or your water and power bill or things like those resources are going to be there for you to come and find and sign up for and get help with. So good idea, so nice job by our Senior Citizens Board.
Speaker 3:The Transportation Committee is going to meet at 5 pm at the community services building and they're going to talk about the media district specific plan. I have more trouble saying specific. Lately. For some reason it seems like everybody's talking about that plan. You know, I still think that plan has a lot of holes in it. You know all the boards and commissioners are talking about it, but I don't know a lot of holes in it. You know it was easy to read. You know all the boards of commissioners talking about it but I don't know what they're. They're doing about it, but they're all everybody's just talking about it and are all getting presentations made to them and then they're all saying, okay, just note and file. So I'm not sure what the purpose is. But hopefully the transportation commission and understand the problems in the immediate district lack of parking in Riverside Drive for the restaurants. You're going to have the BRT bus line going down Riverside Drive.
Speaker 3:Will Riverside Drive be changed to a one-lane street like Verdugo to accommodate bicycles and things like that? There's a lot of things that they can do in the area. What about Riverside Drive? Riverside Drive going down from Alameda to Clybourne? A lot of areas. You look at the signals. They had lots of problems with signals at Alameda and Olive Trying to get them to so people at first when we put them in a lot of accidents. They fixed that problem now, but a lot of weights there sometimes too, if you want to cross the street it takes forever. So hopefully the Transportation Committee looks at some of that stuff. It looks at bicycles, pedestrians and autos. So we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 3:So Thursday there is going to be a. So yeah, we'll see how that goes. So Thursday there is going to be a. What's Thursday? A community. Yep, that's right. I said it, that's right. Yep, community. And what does that mean? Oh, that means that's our word of the week and the word of the week and the word of course is community. And so if you made this part of the show and of course if you do, we always appreciate it. You know it's sad, we have to bribe you by a word of the week to get you to watch this far. But if you are watching the show or listening to the show and you hear the word and now you know the word community, send an email to us at contest at myburbankcom and we will pick a winner, like we do every week, and they will win that $25 gift card to Hill Street Cafe. And let me tell you what. What could be better than that? You know, someday you feel like a nice little meal, either by yourself or with a friend. Yeah, if you go with a friend, you put the $25 gift card towards your entire meal and then you guys eat cheaper and just split the bill or something. So it's a good idea, it's fun and once again, the word, of course, is community. I just had to say the word so I could hit the thing again. Anyhow, there's a meeting on Thursday for the proposed downtown Burbank parking management plan from 6 to 7.30 pm at the Community Services Building. The meeting will be at 6 o'clock and it's basically to learn and provide feedback about the development of the proposed downtown Burbank management plan, specifically the on-street parking spaces on San Fernando Boulevard. The final version will be presented at an upcoming city council meeting at the end of 2024.
Speaker 3:So, do you like the one lane onaten Island Road? Do you want to go back to two? Do you want to take out the lane on Staten Island Road? So there'll be more parking? Now, if you get my opinion, for all, $0.35, it's worth. I'd like to see a little more handicapped parking on Staten Island Road. I think those are the people who actually need the parking close to businesses. Other people can park in it. The parking structures are all free to park in and you walk a block A handicap's a little different. So I'd like to see a little more handicapped parking on San Fernando Road. I guess, of course, that's my take, being the guy with no knees Anyhow.
Speaker 3:So stop by, listen to the presentation, make some, some comments. Let's move on here. Um, well, you know what? All we have left is one thing and one thing only, and that, of course, craig's comments. So comments. So let me read my comments here.
Speaker 3:And something happened that I was very, you know, it was a conversation I had that I was very happy to have. Actually, I was at the event at Community Chevrolet last week and two members of our police commission were there, you know, because actually three members Ramek was there, but also Paul McKenna and the commission chairman, james Coombs, and being the gimp I am, I had to basically stay seated the whole time, but both came over to me and talked. There were one, paul McKenna, and we. We both Paul McKenna had some knee replacements also. He talked to me about the entire process and kind of get me pumped up a little bit to go through with it and make sure I get the knee, the new knees really great to talk to, though, but we talked some some shop there and same with the commissioner.
Speaker 3:He came over a little later, and Commissioner Combs and both of them knew, and I told my friend. I said you know, I'm critical of the police commission. I don't think that you are a metropolitan advisory committee. I go, policies are made and you're told about it. After the fact, you don't advise on policies, you don't do much of anything, and I told them to their face that, okay, if I say it here on the show, I'll tell it to their face also. I'm not going to hide, and you know what. They kind of agreed in some aspects, but in other aspects they told me how they're trying to work on things and how they're trying to change things. So, number one, I have a lot of respect for both of them and, of course, for Romer too.
Speaker 3:We talked a little bit also. But I have a lot of respect for the other two because we've never talked before and they both sort of introduced themselves sat down with me and we talked, probably a good 20 minutes and we talked about different things the commission does. We talked about the policies we talked about well, you know what I think the commission should be doing and they listened and they gave back their side of it. And I listened because that's what you're supposed to do nowadays You're supposed to listen to each side of you disagree. So, yeah, I have my opinions, no doubt about it. I'm tough on my opinions sometimes. I get it, but at least I have opinions and I'm not scared to live by them. But I'm also in the chain of opinions and I'm not saying right now I'm giving the police commission a pass, but I am giving them consideration to say maybe you guys are doing the best you can do with what you have. So they're trying. I just wish they had you know before the police department put up, you know, such as the.
Speaker 3:We talked earlier in the show about the speeding cameras. They didn't go to them and say what do you think about the cameras? What do you think we should do about policies? We're doing this and we're telling you about it and you know to me that's. I look at how other commissions work in other cities, other police commissions and they're a lot more involved cities, other police commissions and they're a lot more involved, and it just doesn't seem like the police department involves this commission in decision-making and maybe that's not what they're supposed to be doing. I don't know, maybe that's what the city council doesn't want them involved in any decision-making or any policy-making. I think it's too bad.
Speaker 3:I think you know these are people who are dry, especially speaking to the commissioner. I these are people who are, who are drawing after, especially speaking to the commissioner. I think these are people who are trying and I think they're frustrated sometimes too, like we all are. But you know they don't just throw their hands up and say you know, we're not going to do anything about it, we don't care, but they do care. So I'm going to keep watching, not going to give a free pass, but I am going to understand. I understand where they're coming from and what they're trying to do.
Speaker 3:I still, like I told them, I said when you get a report, you're not doing anything with the report. I mean, you're not getting it out to the public. And the public should see a report every time a report is made and what it talks about and get the information out to the masses, not that they'll just put it on somebody's social media account, because if you don't subscribe to social media you'll never see it. So hopefully things will change a little bit. I know my opinions changed a little bit. They, like I said, they were very, very polite to me. Their conversation was a great conversation.
Speaker 3:I now have a lot of respect for both those commissioners and besides Ramek. So those three commissioners I have a lot of respect for because they really seemed to. You know they were there. Once again don't have to be there, but they were there and they were trying to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. But right now the problem is to be a disconnect between the department, the police commission and the city council. I'd like to see the three be more interactive on things. Of course, the next police commission meeting is going to be with the city council, so once again I'd like to see what the city council has to say about what are you going to do to actually influence policy at least run policy by them in advance, not tell them afterwards Whether the police radio encryptions.
Speaker 3:They told them a month after. They did it, not in advance, a month after they did it. The thing with the homeless guy. Why is that? Why is the reporting out to the commission? Why is the commission asking questions about that?
Speaker 3:A lot of things going on that you know. Let's face it. Police can be very contentious with some of their matters, and I understand a lot of it. You've got to keep close to the vest. You can't disclose a lot of things. There's technologies I can't discuss. There's a lot I get all that. But when you're talking policies such as speeding cameras in the city, why shouldn't the police commission have some involvement with that before it happens? That's all Um.
Speaker 3:By the way, they did ask one question at the police commission meeting which I thought was interesting, and they said is a new parking control people, is it paying for itself? And they said, oh, yeah, it's, it's, it's more, yeah, it's, it's, they're making money on it. So these new parking control offices, parking they have they are now making money for the city and paying for themselves. They're still not working all the hours, though. I don't know if they're working overnight or not. They may or may not be, I don't know because their channels are blocked from listening.
Speaker 3:I know about two weeks ago I was up on San Fernando be I don't know, because their channels are blocked from listening. I know about two weeks ago I was up on San Fernando Road I'm sorry, san Fernando Boulevard, I've said San Fernando Road too many times in my life, san Fernando Boulevard and somebody came and parked in a handicapped spot. And they weren't handicapped, they were there for food delivery and they parked there about 10 minutes. I was saying, where are the parking? Now it's just 10 o'clock at night, you know, but it's still crowded up there. There's still cars, you know. All the spots are full. So I'm not sure if they're working at nights up until 10, 11, 12 at night, or overnight, or whatever.
Speaker 3:Once again, their channels are blocked, so we can't listen to them, or whatever. Once again, their channels are blocked, so we can't listen to them. I'm sure that encrypting the parking control is an important thing that they need to do because, lord knows, people in the public might be actually listening to see if they're going to get a ticket or not. I don't know. Being facetious, I'm sorry. Anyhow, that's it for my comment and that's it for another edition of the week that was and the week that will be.
Speaker 3:Once again, can't tell you guys how much I appreciate you watching or you listening. Please, if you're watching YouTube, please hit the like and subscribe button. Think about a channel membership. We would appreciate it. It's something that really helps us and keeps us going here. Check out our other videos, too. Check out our election videos coming up. We're doing. We have a lot of content on here for you so you can see what's going on in the city. So we appreciate it. Anyhow, that's it for another week. Once again, craig Sherwood, saying thank you again for watching and listening. Thank you for watching and listening.