myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
The Week That Was and That Will Be - September 16
What if the future of Burbank hinged on the visions of local leaders? We'll highlight the Rent Control Study Meeting video, debate the City Council's new public comment rules, and explore the contentious topic of banning gas-powered equipment in the city. And don't miss "The Civility of Albert Cashier," the latest musical sensation hitting the Colony Theater.
But that's not all—our community spotlight shines on the dedication of the "Community in Action" mural at McCambridge Recreation Center, a milestone in Burbank's Art in Public Places program. We'll bring you highlights from the Sustainable Burbank Commission's latest meeting and James Ingram's insightful presentation from the Livable Communities Initiative. As we look ahead to the weekend, we'll preview exciting events like the Kids Community Dental Clinic's fundraiser at Nickelodeon Studios and more. Your support keeps us going, so tune in and stay connected with Burbank's vibrant community!
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:Thank you, thank you. Thank you, hello Burbank, great to share here with you once again and with of you. Thank you, hello Burbank, craig Sherwin, here with you once again and with, of course, one request. As always, we have a humble request that you like this video and please subscribe to the channel. So YouTube continues to recommend this video to others like yourself, and also think about a channel membership to support us here at MyBurbank.
Speaker 2:Last week on the YouTube channel, we uploaded candidate videos with Dr Alex Blinken, who is running for Congress, eddie Pullen, who is running for City Council and Dr Armand Agahadian, who is running for the school board District 5 seat. We also released a video we shot at the Rent Control Study Meeting and Ashley Erickson also did a women of Burbank video featuring Two of the stars of the new colony Theater, the new colony theater Musical, the civility Of Albert Cashier, which we're hearing great things about, by the way. So Very, very good job by the Colony theater. So not a lot Happened last weekend. We're going to have a very, actually a very short show this week. We also do not have a gift card to give out this week because we have run out of gift cards. So if you're a business out there and would like to sponsor our weekly gift card giveaway, please contact us here at news at myberminkcom, and talk to us about sponsoring a $25 gift card for the shows and we'll give you a lot of a great thing called well, it's not free publicity, but we'll give you a lot of publicity that's worth far more than that $25 card is worth, because it brings customers in and people love to win. You know how everybody loves to win.
Speaker 2:So last Tuesday the City Council adopted new public comment rules. But don't worry, just give it five to ten years and it will change again. So basically, they're going to give you time based on how many cards are turned in. But the one thing I really don't like about it is that if you get there late, you can't put in a card and talk to the council. You're shut out. That's it, you're done. So you've got to get there before public comment starts or you can't speak. If you don't call in before public comment speaks, you can't talk either. So you know I get what they're trying to do, but on the other hand, is this the best way to do it? You know why not have a limit of one minute talking if you're late, either on the phone or in person, because at least then you still get a minute to say something instead of saying sorry, tough luck, you're out of here. I don't know, but, like I say, it'll change in 5-10 years. It always does, so just give it time.
Speaker 2:One thing the council talked about Was possibly outlawing gas blowers, for you know the lawn your gardener uses Gas hard gas-powered blowers, leaf blowers, lawnmowers, even generators. But one of the problems they have is what happens at the airport or hospitals if all gas-powered equipment is eliminated. So it's very interesting if you have to really think about that. Yeah, it's, we want to get rid of that gas power stuff and I guess the state's gonna start outlawing it anyway. So you have to go to electric. But if you started outlawing all the gas powered, you know things, especially commercially then what's going to happen in emergencies and you know what we're going to have the earthquake. Anyone that earthquake goes, we're going to have to need, we're going to need generators and all sorts of things, not only for public health reasons. We have our hospitals, but you might even have one in your backyard just to keep your refrigerator and your food fresh. So something needs to be looked at with that. We're going to figure that out. I've actually got got. Personally, I have a generator now that has solar with it, so who knows if it'll work or not, but I have it. Patrick Prescott said that most everything will go electric in time anyway. So it's already starting to be banned this year by selling them by the state.
Speaker 2:Electric leaf blowers are just as loud as gas powered, except no smell of gas. So if you're trying to, if you're trying to eliminate the noise of a leaf blower, that's not going to happen because they're still going to make the same amount of noise if they're electrical powered. It just won't have the gas smell. So if you're a couple of houses away, you don't smell the gas, but you're still going to hear it anyway. So that's not really going to solve that problem. Here's the thing, though the city basically admitted there is no enforcement because they cannot respond to a timely mayor. So basically, if somebody calls in and says, hey, the gardener down the street is using a gas blower, by the time that gets to somebody in, you know in code enforcement, and then they decide to go out to their car and drive, the guy is gone. That's a problem with a lot of the code enforcement they have. If you call in about a problem, there's really no enforcement policy.
Speaker 2:If we keep passing laws and don't have ways to enforce those laws, what good are the laws then? You can't just keep making more and more laws and not hiring people to enforce them. Now I'll give you a suggestion. Maybe is we have that new parking control, laz Parking, who's now all over the city and they're trying to expand it. If Laz is allowed to give out parking citations, why not have them give out city citations also and have them start responding to things that are that code enforcement would respond to? Maybe they should start checking things like that. You've already got them out of the streets. Why not have a radio set, you know, set to the community services building and, and you know, have them go check on things? So that could be an idea. But right now, if you don't have an enforcement, a way of enforcing things, why have the law? You know people are coming in from outside of Burbank and not know the laws and then if they break them, there's nothing that can be done because nobody's going to come and tell them not to do it. So it's not that the citizens who live here who might know the law? And let's face it, if you have a gardener and your gardener comes to your work every day, you don't know if he's using what he's using. You know. You're not asking for inventory or stuff, you know. So I think they've got. You know there's a lot of bugs in the whole system, but is this the first time we've heard bugs in the system like that? So anyhow, maybe Laz can do it. So that's kind of it.
Speaker 2:For the council meeting. There really wasn't a lot going on, but they had a lot of once again, a lot of talk about it. Nothing really happened, okay. So Thursday Thursday we we had we had friday night lights on thursday and uh. So burbank football defeated fillmore 39 to 14 in a game at uh they played a burbank high, and friday night the burroughs bears football team defeated Los Altos 21-16. So a good weekend by both of our local football teams and congratulations to them. So I think they're going to start league games either this week or the next week, and of course, league games are the most important games of all. So it'll be interesting to see, with you know, both schools and new head coaches, how they do this year, and we wish them the best.
Speaker 2:That's kind of it for an abbreviated week. Last week, like I said, we got a lot of things going on. In all honesty, I've got a lot of videos I'm trying to edit right now so I'm trying to put in. Just give you the basic good information in this show this week. Um, don't want to talk just for the sake of talking, so that's kind of it for last week. For the week that was, we're gonna take a quick commercial break, be back with you in just a second, enjoying the show.
Speaker 3: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 bringing 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 studiorentalsatmyburbankcom. That's studiorentalsatmyburbankcom, and we will get back to you. Now back to our show.
Speaker 2:Hey, back with you again on the week. That will be so, and, once again, not a really busy week this week either. So sometimes it's like that Sometimes there's a lot of things going on, sometimes there's not. But let's start off with today, on Monday. So today there's going to be an exciting event At McCambridge Park.
Speaker 2:A community in action mural At the McCambridge Recreation Center, which of course we know is located on 1515 North Glen Oaks Boulevard, is going to be dedicated on Monday, which is today, september 16th, at 2pm. Located on 1515 North Glen Oaks Boulevard, is going to be dedicated on Monday, which is today, september 16th, at 2 pm. This mural marks the 42nd city owned public art installation and the 133rd artwork executed by the city's art in public places program. The mural was funded by the city's art in public places program, which supports the integration of art into public spaces throughout the city. This program requires new development projects to allocate a percentage of construction costs toward qualified on-site public art, while contributing toward the city's Arts and Public Places fund in lieu of the on-site art. So once again, that's something that's gonna be really neat. Um, I think anybody who lived in burbank for a long time knows there was always a mural inside the cambridge rec center. It'd be exciting to see what the new mural looks like. I think we'll stop by and try to take a look at. Maybe we'll shoot some video of it and put it on the channel for you. So, um, but that's exciting and our arts and public places Committee does a good job, and this is why they meet and this is why they put things together, although it's funny how, in some situations, such as the Ritzy Center, it's been 10 years and they're still waiting to get that done. So sometimes I guess, when you're dealing with instead of private, you're dealing with public. It just takes a long time.
Speaker 2:What else? On Monday, our Sustainable Burbank Commission is going to meet at the Community Services Building at 5 pm. They're going to have a and I'm not sure what this means James Ingram of Livable Communities Initiative is going to have a presentation to the commission. But the problem with the agenda is it doesn't say what the James Ingram of Livable Communities Initiative is. So I can't give you information about what kind of presentation this is. So I feel I'm sorry. I wish I could give you more. I wish the agenda would have a little more on it besides just what they're going to do. So I guess, if you know who James Ingram is and you want to hear about his livable communities initiative, head on over to the Community Services Building at 5 o'clock today and see what this Animal Breed Commission is all about.
Speaker 2:Tuesday the City Council is dark, no meeting, nothing going on. We move to Wednesday and guess what? On Wednesday the police commission meeting has been canceled. So no meeting on just no meetings this week, except for Monday. Like I said, some weeks we have three, four meetings in the same day. Hopefully we start spreading these meetings out so on days where there are no meetings we can have meetings so that people who want to just go and attend meetings can go. Although sometimes I don't think you guys care until you know. Until the cows left the barn and now the gate's open, we got to figure out how to close the gate. Now you care. So it's good to know what's going on and hopefully by listening to our show every week you have an idea of what's going on in the city, what issues are happening and everything else.
Speaker 2:Thursday and Friday nothing. Let's talk about the weekend. It's coming weekend. If you're looking to do something, please check out the Civility of Albert Cashier playing at the Colony Theater. It's going to close on September 22nd and I hear it's phenomenal. We had a couple of stars on Ashley Erickson's Women of Burbank podcast last week, which you can watch it's on YouTube right now and they were both very impressive and the show looked like it was. I've heard rave reviews of the show and I'm gonna, you know, my hat's off to the colony theater because we understand, we know that a year ago they're in a lot of trouble and as soon as you're taking away from the people who run the colony and give it to somebody else. And people stood up. The city council held a special meeting. They decided that the colony people should stay and since then the theater has been thriving lots of shows, summer camps for kids, all sorts of activities, and it's really good to see it thriving.
Speaker 2:Theater is important. In all honesty, I wish I would go more. I'm not in musicals. I'm sorry, I'm just okay. Sometimes we are what we are. I'm not a musical guy, but I still believe the fact that a city like Burbank should have theater and we should have it, that it can help our high schools, because we have a lot of kids who are working at burbank and burroughs in theater, either behind the scenes or on the stage, and having a large facility like that where they can work on their skills and you know it, you never know who's going to be watching the big screen one day, so it's good to have.
Speaker 2:What else is going on Saturday here? Oh, saturday night from 6 to 10 pm the Kids Community Dental Clinic is having their annual fundraiser at Nickelodeon Studios. I was at Nickelodeon Studios recently for, um, the chamber of commerce event, and it's really a nice outside seating area. Hopefully we have good weather next week. Um, I haven't seen the forecast yet. I know it's a little rainy today, maybe tomorrow, but hopefully the weather improves during the week.
Speaker 2:Um, that's the problem with heavier outside things. I know they had their outside event at Johnny Carson Park, finally, and their outside movie and they had it on a day that was like 108 degrees. They canceled it twice last year because it was supposed to rain on both those days, so they kind of moved it more to a summer day. This last year or this year it was one of moved it more to a summer day. This year it was one of the hottest days of the year. I mean, talk about being snakebit.
Speaker 2:Those poor people are trying so hard to put something together in our community and then the weather just doesn't cooperate. 90% of the time our weather here is between 75 and 85 and nice as heck, but every once in a while we get the storm or we get the the heat wave, but it always seems to be when they're trying to run a movie over johnny carson park. So I I feel bad for those people. But maybe next year, who knows? Okay, all that's kind of left is for Craig's comment now. So Something I found interesting and I've been on kind of harp gun for a while now and I see Burbank Water and Power is going to do something. So Burbank Water and Power is going Into the solar, not the business, but are going to start working with people who have solar.
Speaker 2:So, after incorporating community and city leadership feedback, burbank Water Power will launch the new solar net billing program at a yet-to-be-determined date in 2025. After that date, all new solar installations in Burbank will work under the new solar net billing rate. Whenever a solar system generates more electricity than what is consumed on site, burbank Water and Power will compensate customers at Burbank Water and Power's avoided cost of energy at the time. The proposed rate changes will come after substantial analysis and will offer advantages for Burbank rate payers. The new compensation will help provide clarity to Burbank Water Power's solar compensation system. Instead of the previous system, which involved energy credits and a cash-out process, the new system applies customer savings directly to their next bill. After a customer generates the equivalent of their netting out of their bill, any additional dollar amount they have generated goes towards the customer's next bill. Upon request, excess dollars can also be sent via check on an annual basis. That's kind of nice.
Speaker 2:So basically and I've been on this for a while now you always hear about, you know well, you sell your electricity back to the city, but Burbank really hadn't much of a problem. It looks like Burbank is going to come into and put together a program for solar, so a lot of people might save some good money if they decide to go solar. Save some good money if they decided to go solar. And here was the reason I always thought well, we're not going to do that because basically, we own the water and power plant. This is not. We don't use edison, we don't use somebody else. Burbank owns the water and power plant, burbank owns the energy burbank, you know. So we pay for the planet generation and all those things. We pay for the equipment, everything that we own. So I've always thought, well, they don't want us to go solar Because if we start going solar, then they're not going to be putting out electricity and they're not going to be making their money back On their equipment. So I always thought that was one of the reasons we didn't go solar in Burbank, or didn't really have programs in Burbank for going solar.
Speaker 2:So it looks like now we're going to start doing something and, let's face it, solar is going to be it in the next 20, 30, 40 years. We've got to do it, but we can. Also, you know, I think there's always going to be a need for generating electricity. But this way, you know, if we have more electricity that we don't use, then the Brubank Water and Power Plant can actually sell that electricity to other cities and lower our bills in the little everybody's building along the way. Also, I don't know the exact specs and everything else, because it's very complicated, but they're going to start having these community outreach meetings. So if you're thinking about going solar in 2025, they're going to start having these community outreach meetings. So if you're thinking about going solar in 2025, they're going to let you have as large a system as you want and be able to sell the excess back to the city and your bill is going to go way down.
Speaker 2:So your water and power bill they're only talking power now, just electricity. They're not talking about your sewage fees and your water fees and all that. That's power now, just electricity. You're not talking about your sewage fees and your water fees and all that. That's all different, just electricity that you pay for on your bill. So that's. You know people get excited oh, I want to pay for a water and power bill. Oh, yeah, you're still going to pay. You're still going to have your trash picked up, you're still going to flush your toilet, you're still going to water your lawn All those things are going to happen and that's all separate. That's the electricity.
Speaker 2:So, anyhow, like I said, short show this week. We appreciate you listening, we appreciate you watching Whenever you are we're having. It's interesting that we have About as many people Actually double the people listening On our podcast platforms Than we do on our YouTube channel, so that's good. I guess you may be listening to the car on the way to work or on the way home. Or maybe you just turn it on at night when you're bored as heck and you want to fall asleep in bed, I don't know. But anyhow, once again, please do me a favor. Hit the like button, subscribe to our channel. Give us some comments below, let me know if we want to add something to the show or not. Your comments are always welcome. We do appreciate it, but that's it for another week. For the week that was the week, there'll be the september 16th edition and we will talk to you again next week.