myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
The Week That Was and That Will Be - September 9
Curious about the latest buzz in Burbank? Brace yourself for a whirlwind update on local events, crucial civic issues, and community triumphs. Join me, Craig Sherwood, as we celebrate Angelo Sawin's creative contribution with his word "heritage" and address the urgent need for cooling centers due to the extreme heat affecting our elderly. We’ll also delve into vital conversations, including my podcast with city council candidate Judy Wilkie, a heart-wrenching stabbing incident on Cordova, and the exhilarating victory of Burroughs High School's football team over Harvard-Westlake. Additionally, I’ll recap the packed rent cap meeting at the Johnston Center and my insightful discussion with school board candidate Dr. Tom Crowther.
In the latter half, prepare for an in-depth look at significant shifts within Burbank's City Council, from public comment policies to new ordinances affecting developers and earthquake-prone buildings. We also weigh the pros and cons of the proposed ban on gas-powered leaf blowers and preview upcoming events such as the 9/11 commemorative ceremony, a recycling workshop, and a fiscal review meeting. Don’t miss out on our comprehensive update on community happenings, including the grand opening of Slice House and the Burbank Animal Shelter's fundraising initiatives. Plus, I share my concerns about Measure A and its potential implications for our city. This episode is packed with all you need to stay informed and engaged with Burbank’s vibrant community life!
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:Hello Burbank, craig Short, here with you once again for another the Week that Was and the Week that Will Be. And let's start off, of course, with last week's winner, angelo Solwin, who sent in the word of course, heritage. Well, angelo, you are the winner every $25 gift card. So we appreciate you listening, we appreciate you entering and, according to your email, you're going to take your friend with you. So we hope that you and Andrew have a great time and let us know how it went. Okay, and for everybody else, there's a new word Later in the show. So stand by for that, because you too Can be a $25 gift card winner On the show. So let let's see what else we have here.
Speaker 2:Cooling centers I have a question is why do we not have any cooling centers in burbank if the county will not pay for it? Why does burbank not step up? I would think that that okay. County burbank says county usually pays for its cooling center at the library. I would think that that okay. County Burbank says county usually pays for its cooling center at the library. Well, they didn't pay for it. So we can't throw a little money at an employee or two to have them man the library and and have a cooling center. And is this, this God forsaken heat? Holy cow, it's like Mars outside it's 175 degrees at times, it feels like. But why do we not have cooling centers in Burbank? We have a lot of seniors here and I think we're overlooking that Anyhow. So let's move on here.
Speaker 2:Thursday, our podcast with Judy Wilkie, who is running for a city council seat, was put on the YouTube site. I thought it was very impressive. If you talk about somebody who's actually worked in about every department in the city and knows this city very well, it's Judy Wilkie. So I was very impressed with her podcast. It's on the site now our YouTube site so please take a listen to it. Let's move on to Friday.
Speaker 2:Last week there was a stabbing in the 1200 block of Cordova. From what we heard seems that one brother maybe stabbed another into the neck and maybe hit an artery. We heard on the radio the police tried to put pressure on his neck until paramedics arrived and he was transported immediately by paramedics but he did not make it. So very sorry to hear about that. And he was transported immediately by paramedics, but he did not make it. So we're very sorry to hear about that. Police took four to the station and they said the person that did the stabbing was a person of interest and was being detained. A report we heard on the radio by a dispatcher said that he claimed it was self-defense. But we will see. I'm sure what people say at the moment and what really happens are always two different things, but sorry to hear about the unfortunate situation, especially with family members regrettable. So we will see and we'll try to keep you updated as we hear more information, if it's released.
Speaker 2:Friday Night Lights Burroughs defeated Harvard Wesley 28-6 and the game was pushed back an hour Due to heat. So I think we have some photos For you guys. Let's take a look here on our Screen here and see what we have the story by Jim Reggio and here we have some great pictures that were shot. So those of you who are watching on YouTube right now can take a look real quick at some of the photos from that night. There was a question if the game would be played or not with the heat and because of it did cool down enough to play the game that they did get it in and Burrows did pick up their first 20 of the year at Harvard-Westlake. So good for the Bears. Burbank High was off last week. Both teams are going to return to action this week, though.
Speaker 2:Moving on to the weekend, saturday Burbank held their first of their potential rent cap meetings at the Johnston Center and it was very well attended. Many residents had questions and they attempted to answer them. So we're working on a video right now so you can see what was said by both the city and the residents. So hopefully you have a chance to take a look at that once we do get it posted, and it should answer a lot of your questions. I think right now there are far more questions than answers. They're trying to get information, they're trying to put things together, so it's very fluid right now. A couple city council members were there listening and they do have several more meetings that you can uh listen. We'll get over a couple later in the show here.
Speaker 2:Also, on saturday we put up our podcast with dr tom crowther who is running for the area one uh school board school board seat to Tom Crowther who is running for the Area 1 school board seat, and that is also our YouTube site. Once again, another very impressive person. Tom's lived the city his whole life, done a lot of things, been involved in a lot of aspects of the education system in Burbank. Once again, good podcast to listen to get to know Tom. It's really too bad that four-fifths of the city will not have a chance to vote for him. I think it's just not right how they've done that. But that's my opinion for what it's worth Really. That's it for last week. It was kind of a quiet week. A lot of meetings, you know, because it was a holiday weekend and everything. So a lot of things didn't happen, but that's kind of it for the week. So let's take our mid-show break and we actually have a lot to go over with you for the week ahead, so we'll be right back after this quick word.
Speaker 3:Enjoying the show right now, thinking you may want to do your own podcast by Beret Talks is renting out our podcast studio on an hourly rate. You can do audio podcasts or both audio and video, and even bring in guests to talk with. 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 stud rentals at myburbankcom. That's studio rentals at myburbankcom and we will get back to you.
Speaker 2:now back to our show okay, back with you again and uh, well, for the weekend, the week, that will be a lot of stuff going on. So, fasten your seat belts, sit back and relax. If you're in your car, keep your eyes on the road, whatever you're doing, anyhow. Uh, monday uh, once again, another potential rent cap steady community meeting, which is number two now, will be held at noon, and this one is going to be virtual, so go to the city's website for info on how to watch. From 530 to 630 at the Buena Vista Library, burbank's Sister City Committee is going to announce their opening of applications for the 2025 Sister City Student Exchange Program. It's a great program they have and they're going to have their first meeting on Monday. So if you're interested in hosting somebody from our sister city, or even being involved with our students who go to their sister city, then that's a great meeting to go to.
Speaker 2:Monday's Planning Commission meeting has been canceled, so we're not going to plan anything for this week. Arts and Public Places Will meet at 6pm at the community services building and they're going to get an update On an immediate district specific plan and get financial info, along with the deferred projects that the city is facing. Landlord tenant commission Is also going to meet on Monday. Of course, why not? Everybody should meet on Monday. Commission is always going to meet on Monday. Of course why not? Everybody should meet on Monday? And they're going to meet at 615 at the Community Services Building also.
Speaker 2:I know that our rent cap and everything else we're doing is going to affect that commission down the line, going to give them a lot more teeth, going to give everybody a lot more, you know, credibility I shouldn't say credibility. They have credibility, but there's really not much they can do with it. So the city's working on enforcement actions and putting together an entire thing. So that's why these rent cap meetings are so important that you attend and give your opinions about whether you're a landlord or your tenant as funny, one of the persons at the meeting on Saturday said that they were. They're not and give your opinions about Whether you're a landlord or you're a tenant. It's funny. One of the persons at the meeting on Saturday Said that they were not a lord. It's funny how you use the word landlord but they don't consider themselves a lord. They said so. I thought it was kind of a humorous statement.
Speaker 3:True.
Speaker 2:But a little humorous Tuesday Busy day. On Tuesday the Burbank Athletic Federation will take a bus tour at 530 of Valley Park, foy Park, mccambridge Park and Olive Park to discuss field maintenance and future projects. So hopefully the softball players and the youth players will have good facilities to use in the future. The City Council will meet at 6pm at City Hall. They have a closed session which they will talk about Sally Koenig versus the city of Burbank in a personal injury, property damage, wrongful death case. So I'd like to find out some more information about that. I'd have to try to look into it a little bit, but we don't. We hope that whatever it is Gets resolved Some things we're going to also talk about. This is what I think is very interesting. We're going to get into it a little bit here. So there's a lot to it. But I think it really affects people More than anything else. So I'll try to explain what I can here by what they said in their agenda. They're going to have a resolution to adopt modifying rules for the conduct of council meetings, the speaking times so allotted per individual. They're going to have speaking time limits per individual based on the amount of public comment cards received and callers in the queue at commencement of the public comment period. Speaking time limits will apply as follows If there's 1 to 20 speakers, allotment of up to 3 minutes each. 21 to 39 speakers, the allotment of up to 2 minutes each. 40 plus speakers, the allotment of up to two minutes each. 40 plus speakers, the allotment of up to one minute each. So speaking timelines will be determined at the commencement of each public comment period.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we're going to close session of the study session. General public comment. Reports to the council, public hearings, telephonic comments in the queue at the beginning of the comment period, whatever it might be. Closed session, study session, general public comment and public hearings will be included in the count of comment cards received For each public comment period. Comment cards or phone calls will no longer be accepted once the comment period begins. That's something very interesting, okay. So if you get there late and you try to get your comment card put in after oral communication has started, they won't take it. You want to call later in the meeting so you're not stuck on the phone the whole time. They will not take your call.
Speaker 2:Also, the meeting end time. So the meeting end time is currently 11pm, with the caveat being the meeting can be extended by a vote of three council members. Now, when was the last time you watched a meeting and they said we need to extend the meeting, we need to take a vote? Did anybody not? Did they ever not get voted for? So once again, I think it's kind of you know, I just think it's a formality, that's ridiculous. But the new policy now. I just think it's a formality, that's ridiculous. But the new policy now, while the meeting end time may be extended by voted free council members, like it was before, of course in conjunction with a brief conference with the city manager. So Justin Hess is going to review the status of the remaining agenda items to determine the best manner to proceed. So now it's going to be on Justin Hess to say we can put this on another night and then make that meeting longer, or we can get this taken care of right now.
Speaker 2:Once again, if we're talking about having meetings during the last 11, 12, 1 in the morning, why are we not just having more meetings? I don't get it. And number three, the agenda setting for the Joint City Council, burbank Unified School District meetings have a change and I basically call it the Steve Ferguson rule, because Steve Ferguson pretty much crapped on the Burbank City Council and pulled the whole meeting and agenda because he didn't get his way before the meeting started, and so the meeting started, and so the meeting with the BUSD got canceled last year because of a fit by Steve Ferguson, you know, I guess another one of his fits, before he eventually just quit and walked out on the school board before his term was over too. I mean, that's just so. Anyhow, they're changing the way the agenda is set up for BUSD meetings with the city council. It's once a year, usually in November, december, that area so I think they have the meeting usually in January. So, anyhow, but don't worry about all these changes. Okay, this will change again in about 8 to 10 years. Okay, this will change again in about 8 to 10 years. Okay, it always seems to happen about every 10 years that the city council says we don't like the way this is going. We're going to change the way we do our comments. So, like I say, if this doesn't work out, they're going to change in 8 to 10 years anyway. So hang in there. I mean, we used to have comments at the end of council meetings. We used to have five minute oral communications. We didn't used to have comments before, um reports and things like that. It's always changing. Every council changes and thinks they have the better idea.
Speaker 2:But anyhow, this new system, I think, is going to be actually Prohibitive to people Especially. I say, if you get late to the meeting and all of a sudden you can't Get your card in in time, well, you're going to be locked out. You can't speak then. So I think that's wrong. I think you should have a right to Put your card in and get in line whenever you get there. Not everybody Works a right to, you know, put your card in, get in line whenever you get there. You know, not everybody works a nine-to-five job. So what else is the council doing? They're having a public hearing.
Speaker 2:Okay, the proposed ordinance introduces an identification provision to establishing an objective requirement that all applicants protect and hold the city harmless from all costs and liabilities associated with a legal challenge to approval of their proposed project. So this is for developers, and I think that's interesting. They're going to make sure that the city doesn't get named in their lawsuits. They're going to make sure they're held harmless. All those things once again, legal maneuvering. And you know what? In all honesty, if the developer messes up, why should the city be held responsible anyway? So I get that they're also going to fill a vacancy on the Park and Recreation Board, and then they're going to have an introduction of an ordinance to amend Title IX, chapter 1 of the Birmingham Municipal Code to establish mandatory earthquake hazard reduction standards in existing wood-framed residential buildings with soft, weak or open front wall lines by establishing mandatory retrofit regulations. So, basically what it means and I saw the report it looked like there were about 20 buildings involved that building owners are now going to have to retrofit buildings identified that may pancake in an earthquake, identified that may pancake in an earthquake and, as we remember from Northridge, there's several apartments that actually did pano.
Speaker 2:They collapsed, and I think the city is trying to make sure that that doesn't happen in Burbank, and, let's face it, it's been 30 years since the Northridge quake and we are due for another one. So they identified 20 buildings that need to be looked at and then retrofitted. Now here's something interesting, though, is that the landlord can recover 50% of the cost from renters, at a rate of $38 a month for up to 10 years. So if they've got to fix your building and you're a renter, your rent should go up $38 a month to be able to pay for that retrofitting. So you have to ask yourself is it worth $38 a month to know you're going to live in a safe building, or is that going to break the bank?
Speaker 2:And then they're going to have a discussion to ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in the city of Burbank. Now we know the Sustainable Burbank Commission has been working on it for a long time. This is going to be a report. Only they're going to give their first report and then give staff direction on what to do. So probably a good idea. Let's hope that.
Speaker 2:Once again, how they're going to enforce it. You can have all the rules in the world, but if you don't enforce them, what good are they? We passed a sustainable ordinance about recycled items and I still. I, every restaurant I have I know of still uses plastic, plastic straws. They don't use silverware, all the fast food restaurants, everything else. Nothing's changed so and nobody's enforcing it. What do you do? So we can have all the laws of the world, but if you're not going to enforce them, why have the laws?
Speaker 2:Anyhow, wednesday, burbank Police and Fire is going to have a commemorative ceremony of the 9-11 attacks at the police fire headquarters at Orange Grove and 3rd Street at 6.30 am. So if you'd like to go out there and observe it's a very solid occasion they do every year you're more than welcome to go out there and support. The Board of Library Trustees will meet at 5.30 at the Central Library and they'll get some updates and then they post their photo. Why not? Kirby Recycling Understanding recycling and waste reduction is going to be held at 6pm to 8.30pm at the Burbank Recycling Center, which is at 500 South Flower Street. And they say have you been confused on recycling and other waste questions? If so, join expert Amy Hamms, recycling specialist from the Burbank Recycle Center, for basic training on what goes where and why. The event includes a presentation, a Q&A session and then a tour of the recycling center facility. This session has an essential starter kit to help you navigate past the confusion of packaging with tips as well as how to reduce waste. We're also going to have the fiscal and treasury review group is going to meet at 2 pm at the community services building. They're going to review the city Portfolio for January 30th of 2024. So let me tell you what. If you don't know about numbers, probably you don't have to go, but if you want to know about city numbers, about investments, everything else, very interesting. We have a great treasure in Crystal Palmer. She'll explain anything you want. If you want to ask the question, let's see here.
Speaker 2:The Park and Recreation Board is going to meet at 6pm at City Hall and with their new member, one of the things they're going to get a report on the Burbank Tennis Center report for the fiscal year of last year, 2023-2024. The Tennis Center pays the city of Burbank about $37,000 a year in rent. Interesting. They're going to get an overview of the Burbank Cultural Arts Framework which outlines the city's vision and the priorities for the arts over the next five years. And they're going to get a tobacco grant update. So we'll see how that's going. And, of course, the board is going to receive a report on the facility tours they're going to take On October 3rd Of the parks and facilities tour. Let's see here.
Speaker 2:On Thursday we have the Burbank Culture Arts Commission is scheduled to meet at 9 am, but no agenda has been posted yet. 2 to 3 pm there's going to be a grand opening and a ribbon cutting of Slice House. So we have another pizza location in Burbank. This is a new location. It's going to be at 108 East Baham Avenue, so we have a zillion pizza places, but now one more. We're also going to go to the third of the potential rent cap study community meetings. This is three of five, and this one's going to be in person at the LA Marriott Burbank Airport, which is a 2,500-year-old holiday way. So, once again, if you're a landlord or a tenant and you want to get heard or you want to ask questions or see information, you need to go to one of these events. So this is number three of five.
Speaker 2:Friday, the volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter are going to hold their fifth annual online silent auction fundraiser Auction for Animals 2024. There's over 250 items up for auction, including items from Southwest Airlines, disneyland, wheel of Fortune, universal Studios, hollywood Halloween Town, as well as items donated by generous businesses, such as retail gift certificates, product gift baskets, restaurant gift cards and exciting entertainment experiences. In addition, an incredible selection of Disney sports animation and DC Universe memorabilia. So the auction will start on Friday and it runs through Sunday. So you can go to the city's website for a link to the auction Weekend. So we have stuff for this weekend. It's going to be a busy weekend and thank goodness, it's going to be a lot cooler too.
Speaker 2:So Saturday it's back, the Kitten Fair from 10 to 2 at the Animal Cell Shelter so amazing. And on Sunday we have the Moonlight. What Did I say Moonlight? Well, that can only mean one thing Once again, you have seen or heard the Word of the week, which, of course, is moonlight. So Sunday they're having a moonlight hike at the Stout Canyon Nature Center from 7.45pm to 8.45pm. It says come check out the great view of the moon as staff leads the hike up to the view. So that's it for the week. That will be.
Speaker 2:All that's left, of course, is Craig's comment, and my comment is about this new counting measure a. That's gonna be on the ballot. My public is getting bombarded with the yes on a. Now it's once again a homeless measure and they want to, of course, raise the sales tax to to help pay for homeless services. And exactly what measure h did. Now measure h will sunset within about two years, I think, and we lose and that quarter cent sales tax will go away.
Speaker 2:But what happened with measure h is we basically got screwed in burbank. For every every dollar we put in, I think, we got back about 15 cents. So we paid an enormous amount of money, millions and millions every year, and got back and practically nothing. And we're forced to pay for a lot of our own homeless services ourselves, our own city budget, because we're not getting the money from the county that we're putting into the county. Of course, the county distributes that money all over the place and I hear these stories now that, well, we can't really figure out where that money went. Uh, we can't really. We can't it what we spent it for ridiculous.
Speaker 2:So I'm hoping our city leaders will take a look at this measure a before the election and let people in Burbank know hey, this will be good for us, or this won't be good for us, because it's not going to be good for us in Burbank for us, or this won't be good for us because it's not going to be good for us in Burbank. We don't want to vote for that because we need money in Burbank for our homeless shelter, our homeless needs, street smart, temporary, all the different things that go on in Burbank. We do need money for that and if this is not going to give us money to help us in those needs and once again funnel money to everybody else. Why would we want to vote for that? Why would we want our sales tax raised for that? So I'm hoping that Burbank our leaders look into it, examine it and say you know what this will help us or not help us. And, of course, if they do that, I'll let you know what happens and what you should do when you vote.
Speaker 2:We're not against voting for the homeless services. That's not what this is about. This is about making sure we get the money that we put in so we can help the homeless. Very easy, and right now they didn't do that before. So is this good or bad for Burbank? We don't know. So hopefully we'll get a report back and find out. So you know, the people out there are a lot smarter than myself who need to really look at the fine print that we did not do on measure H and took their words the fact that we would all get money and help for that. So right now, five people decide who gets all the money for measure H and if you're not on their good side, you get nothing. So you got to put a request and beg and everything else and you still don't get anything. So hopefully, if this Measure H is any good. It'll have built-in provisions that we put in, that we've put in X amount of dollars, we get back X amount of dollars, so we'll find out.
Speaker 2:Anyhow. That's it for another week, trying to make the show a little shorter for you so you can keep you awake for as long as we can. That's about it. So, once again, I appreciate you listening. I appreciate the support to give the video a like, subscribe to our channel, and if you want to get a membership to the channel too, that would be awesome. So that really helps us a lot. So we would appreciate it. But that's it for now. Make sure you're saying goodbye. We will talk to you again next week.
Speaker 4:Thank you for watching the latest my Burbank video. If you have it in your heart, please next week.