myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Meet the Candidate: Emma Pineiro, Burbank City Council Candidate
Editor's Note: Emma sent the following statement to myBurbank after the podcast to clarify her position on the subject of a Rent Cap:
"To clarify, during the discussion about a potential rent cap, the proposed ordinance I refer to is drafted by the Burbank Tenants Union, not City Council. This is important to note because the proposed ordinance is not official. Instead, it essentially serves as a guideline for what proponents of a strong rent cap are advocating for, based on ordinances passed in similar areas. I am not endorsed by the Burbank Tenants Union. The City of Burbank has implemented a Rent Cap Study to get feedback from residents before making a determination about a rent cap and its terms. The community’s feedback is most important when determining the path forward. I invite every resident to contact me with any ideas or concerns they may have with a rent cap."
- Emma Pineiro
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What if the future of Burbank relied on fresh perspectives and innovative solutions from its youngest leaders? Join us in this captivating episode of "Meet the Candidate" as we introduce you to Emma Pineiro, a third-generation Burbanker with a blend of Hispanic and Swedish heritage. From her childhood in Sweden to leading the Burroughs varsity soccer team, Emma's journey is a testament to community spirit and resilience. Her academic excellence with an honors degree from UCI and a Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law sets the stage for her to tackle some of Burbank's most pressing issues.
Dive into the heart of city planning as we explore Emma's strategies for transforming Burbank's public transportation and addressing homelessness. Hear about her vision for a greener city with electric vehicles and a more integrated public transit system, including the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line on Olive. Emma also offers insights into the complex discussions surrounding rent control and affordable housing, highlighting the need for a balanced approach that meets both tenants' and landlords' needs while complying with state regulations.
Finally, we tackle critical public safety and community enhancement topics. From the increasing demands on Burbank's police and fire departments to the potential introduction of parking meters in downtown Burbank, Emma provides thoughtful considerations on how to improve services without compromising accessibility. Learn about her ambitious plans to revitalize the Starlight Bowl, creating a cultural hub that rivals LA's most famous venues, and her commitment to balancing environmental concerns with infrastructure needs. Tune in for an engaging conversation that underscores the importance of youthful involvement in community development and celebrates Emma Pineiro's promising political journey.
My Burbank Talks presents another episode of Meet the Candidate, the show where we invite anyone appearing on the Burbank ballot in the 2024 election to join us here and give our listeners a chance to learn about their background and the issues important to them. Now let's join our podcast.
Speaker 2:Hello Burbank, craig Sherwood here with you once again and it's another Meet the Candidate, and this one really is Meet the Candidate because I think we have somebody today who's new to the Burbank political landscape, somebody I really do not know. And the reason I like doing these podcasts is we get newcomers. I really did not know Nikki Perez or Nick Schultz before they ran and it was good to get to know them in advance. And I think this is important to get to know who people are, you know before the election and get to really know who they are and what they're all about. So today we have Emma Pinheiro. Are you a doctor? I'm not. No, I read something about being a doctor.
Speaker 3:So I have my Juris doctor?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure no, okay, I read something about being a doctor, so I have my Juris Doctor. I'm not sure what that means.
Speaker 3:So I went to law school and I received my degree, which is a Juris Doctor, and then I'm not licensed to practice in the state of California yet. So not technically an attorney.
Speaker 2:Okay, not technically, but soon to be one Soon to be yes. Well, let's give you a little background on her. She's a third generation Burbanker and, as an American, born abroad. So where were you born?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was born in Sweden. That's where my family's from. Well, actually, essentially what happened was when my grandfather he was a Mexican citizen he joined the United States Army and was sent overseas to France and he was stationed there, met his Swedish wife and they moved to California, to Burbank. He received his citizenship, took an apprenticeship with ABC Studios. He was an editor there for a long time. My dad went to Burbank High School and grew up in Burbank and then, when he grew up and got older, he went back to Sweden, found a wife, had my sister and I in Sweden and then we came back when my grandparents were in their later stages of life to grow up here in Burbank.
Speaker 2:Okay, Very interesting. Yeah, so there you are Hispanic and Swedish heritage and it impacted your upbringing a lot Hispanic and Swedish heritage and it impacted your upbringing a lot. You say the teachers, coaches and members of this community have shaped who you are. Did you play any sports or anything in?
Speaker 3:your day. Yes, yeah, so I played soccer for about 18 years. I captained the Burroughs varsity soccer team for the year 2013 to 2014. So it was excellent learning how to be a part of a team and kind of be involved in the community that way, and I think I was featured on the newspaper quite a few times for soccer.
Speaker 2:And probably on my Burbank too. Yes, yes, I really believe that sports is important in the development of anybody I shouldn't just say sports, but choir or extracurricular activities because it makes you part of a community and teaches you responsibility and those kind of things where you just don't get them if you just go to school and go home at 3 o'clock every day. So I think that those are important aspects. In 2018, she graduated with honors from UCI Okay, so that's Irvine for people who don't know what UCI is and the 2020 pandemic led her back to Burbank, where she remotely attended SCU Law School.
Speaker 3:SCU being Santa Clara University School of Law.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm not always good on all the acronyms sometimes and then she relocated to Silicon Valley to complete her studies In 2023, she received her Juris Doctor with a Corporate Specialization Certificate and, upon graduating, she worked to assist an attorney offering legal services to early-stage startups in the tech and sustainability sectors. Now I find this interesting. Disconnected from the area, she moved back to Burbank this April to work towards her law license and use her skills and education to better her hometown. Now we're going to start off with this one Her last, one of her last lines is time and time again, she's heard the call for more young people to get involved. This is her listening. So what have you heard so far?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you know I am the youngest candidate. I just turned 28 on the 13th of September, so I felt a lot of pressure growing up to be impactful as a community member. I was an outstanding service award receiver from Luther.
Speaker 2:Where'd that pressure come from? Was it your family? Or just how'd you feel that pressure?
Speaker 3:I think I've seen you know, I grew up in the Burbank sort of called bubble and I think I saw many things that needed change Uh, a lot of our residents impacted by problems that I was experiencing as well, and so, as somebody who's kind of been, as someone who's grown up here, I've kind of been a product of this environment, and so I've seen what's been going on and I knew that we need more voices, we need to be more proactive, and so that's kind of where the pressures come from just being a community member and seeing what needs to change.
Speaker 2:I agree, I am a graduate of Burroughs myself. Back in the early days of rock and roll, and right after I graduated, I ran for city council myself when I was 18. Didn't win, of course, and we probably thank goodness, but I didn't come in last either, and one of my platforms back then was why don't we have any movie theaters in Burbank? That's how long ago that was. There were no movie. We had all these studios here, no theaters.
Speaker 3:Yeah, isn't that?
Speaker 2:interesting. Yeah, just had the Pickwick that was shutting down and that was our drive-in, but we had nothing else. So that was. But my thing was, you know, I thought Burbank was just becoming too quiet and too we were rolling the sidewalks up at 6 o'clock at night and going to bed and for the younger generation, we had nothing to do here. That was kind of my platform. You think you want to change the world, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely Making local changes and being a part of your local government, I think, is so important to make an impact.
Speaker 2:So if you get your I say it when you get your law license, what type of law do you want to practice?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was in the corporate space for a while, but essentially it's a little bit different. It wasn't working for like a large firm and I wasn't working as in-house counsel. It was kind of like a mix in between. So really we were acting as in-house counsel for a multitude of different companies and so it was very close knit and I really enjoyed my time there. Contracts are kind of my bread and butter. I really enjoy looking at the law and kind of looking at terms and seeing where we can put risk, where we can't take risk. So I think I would continue in that sector. But where exactly I would fit in in the legal sphere whether it would be working for a firm or in-house counsel is kind of to be debated.
Speaker 2:That's interesting Baseball people, some people just love to watch the game, other people love the stat part of it. I think that's probably what corporate law is probably, you know, to the legal business. You know it's all the stats and contracts and all that so interesting. Well, let's get into a few issues here. We're going to start off with transportation. I have been critical on transportation. We did an Ask the Mayor podcast a while ago on a Burbank bus and had David Kriskian, the guru of transportation in Burbank, and because I do not feel the Burbank bus system serves our city. So how do you feel about the transportation needs in Burbank, what we currently have and what would you like to see happen?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Transportation is a big priority. I think it needs more attention and we need to be more proactive about it. We currently have so many people that are underserved with transportation needs and I agree. I agree, our Burbank bus system is not efficient enough. You know we're moving towards electrifying our city and yet we have two fixed bus systems with large buses that have very low ridership and the buses that we do have that serve our members that need accommodation, disabilities, they have our elders. It's not necessarily meeting everyone's needs. So, moving forward, I think what we really need to do is look at auditing our bus system and our walking and biking system. Our walking and biking system Because, as we move towards electrification of our vehicles, I think it would be more beneficial perhaps to have a smaller sized fleet and electrical, so that we aren't paying so much per ridership and we are not kind of experiencing the effects of low ridership like we are now.
Speaker 3:I think it's around 50 to 60 dollars per rider. We were at 60,000 riders a while ago, before COVID. Now we're at 30,000. So we haven't really increased our ridership enough to have the system we have. And also, looking at the fixed routes, perhaps they're not meeting the needs for travel that we have in the community. So surveying our community members and looking at what their needs are, and maybe not even surveying, but community outreach, meaning when you're going to places, when you are using the bus I'm a bus user talking to people how is this working for you? Are you able to get to your job? Are you a long range or short range commuter? I think these are really important questions when we're looking at transportation, because it kind of helps us understand the infrastructure we need in order to be sufficient and not use taxpayer monies to kind of keep this system afloat.
Speaker 2:Agreed, I think so. We really have no north-south routes in the city except for the one on the way to the airport, and we have nothing really on the hill whatsoever for bus needs. So I mean, one of my ideas is to keep some general bus lines with smaller buses and maybe some trolleys on some of the streets also in between some of the bus lines to help people get around through Magnolia Park up to downtown, things like that.
Speaker 2:So that's one. I think we could do a lot better. I have one more transportation question but I want to talk about. You said, about electrification. We're going to go electric. Of course I'm worried about our infrastructure if that happens. If we start going electric and everybody starts putting in electric into their house for their cars, are we going to have a system enough for that? And what happens in an apartment building where you have 100 units and now you've got to put 100 car chargers in there? I mean that's going to be a situation. I mean, what do you see?
Speaker 3:as far for infrastructure, how we think we could accomplish that, because that's something that we might get the cars before we get the power, and we don't want to overheat or overuse our grid in order to, so that it has negative impacts on our residents living here, right? So part of that, everything is kind of like a dynamic. It all serves a purpose. When you think about things, when you think about housing, transportation, you know water and power it all kind of functions together, and so when we are trying to introduce new things like electric buses or EV charging stations, we also need to look at increasing our technology. What kind of technologies are we currently looking at in order to support these projects that we need moving into the future, because sustainability is incredibly important? So I think, looking at what projects are going on and what kind of proactiveness we're taking with private and public partnerships you know regional transportation systems and trying to understand how we can serve our needs for sustainability while also not having negative impact on our residents sustainability while also not having negative impact on our residents.
Speaker 2:Well, staying in that regional transportation mode, let's bring up the BRT. I think everybody I don't think anybody's against buses and mass transit I don't think anybody's against that. But I think they're against what they're trying to do on Olive, because it might send a lot of traffic in neighborhoods. Increase traffic three to four times to get a bus a minute to a minute and a half quicker through the corridor. So what are your? The city council right now is working with Metro, so what are your thoughts on the BRT and how it affects Olive right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the BRT line. It provides that transportation that has been underserved for a really long time and I think it's a great idea. The project's already in place, but it's currently still under design. So there are things within the proposal that I take issue with, one of them being parking traffic and how exactly our residents and our businesses are benefiting off of this BRT line.
Speaker 3:So you know, the topic of a designated bus lane has come up with the BRT line implementation and I think we really need to be active in asking the right questions. And that means how residents will be impacted by this, and not the positive impact, but the negative. Are we going to have enough parking for our businesses that are losing parking space because the BRT line will be implemented? How is the traffic going to change? We have data on congestion. We use something called level of service, which is kind of the metric that we've established for congestion and traffic. However, it doesn't take into consideration those that are walking or biking. So even if we have designated Olive as something that will be stable for traffic with the BRT line implementation, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be for those that are walking or on bikes. So it's really important we need to ask these questions and be involved in that project so that we have a voice.
Speaker 2:I would like to see the BRT project also incorporate the metro station instead of being a stop a quarter mile away, because I don't understand the common sense in that. If you're trying to help transportation On my soapbox, I think until you find a way to get people where they want to go in a reasonable amount of time, they're just not going to use it. When you go to Google Maps, wherever I trip and you look by car it's 45 minutes and by bus it's an hour and a half. It's like wow, why would I take a bus? So people might use a system, not if it takes you where you want to go, but it just. I don't mind a little extra time, but not double or triple the time you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, until we have better accessibility and a better streamlined system, it's going to take a while for users to actually want to use the bus. But there are benefits. Right, we have. We're reducing emissions by reducing those that are in vehicles. So that's so important when we're looking at health effects here in the city. As you know, air pollution is a big problem and you don't think about it on a day to day, but really it is affecting the health of our citizens and also the amount of cars that are on the street impact our streets in the way we have potholes or need maintenance. So having reduced traffic in vehicle form, the buses do offer benefits, and then it's a cheaper form of transportation when you think about it. So there are benefits, but I think we need to ask more questions.
Speaker 2:Great. Now we're going to move on to a a lot tougher question and that's a homelessness and the unhoused and all that. It's a big buzzword in California right now and everybody and I find it interesting that it's more and more of a critical thing now that the Olympics are coming or anything else, because I think we don't want to show the world our situation and although California has one third of the nation's homeless in our state, but they're trying to do things and right now they've been throwing just money at it, which isn't doing a great job, and we have a thing called measure H that we're getting like 5% of the money we put into it. So what are your thoughts on our our homeless situation and how we can, how we can help and what are your visions for for not just now, but for the ongoing process?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was at the senior citizen board meeting and one of the commissioners made some notable data announcements, and one of those being that, although our homeless numbers have dropped, our homeless numbers for the elderly has gone up by about 25%.
Speaker 2:You don't know that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we are in a good transition. Right, we are decreasing our homelessness numbers, but we're not looking at the impact it has on all of our kind of sensitive populations, and that includes our elders. So we need to be thinking about when we're making housing decisions, transportation decisions, infrastructure changes, development. We need to be thinking about how we are helping those sensitive populations, and homelessness also kind of tacks onto that a lot of social services, right, so we have mental health services and services for addiction and other programs that are the stepping stone to making them not homeless.
Speaker 2:One of the. You know somebody with addiction. They're not addicted. Just ask them. Somebody says I don't want the help, I want to live here on the street. Yes, there are people who want the help and receive the help, and they get the help and everything else. But there's also that percentage that don't want the help and want to stay living on the street and say I'm not addicted, although we know they are to something. How do we get those people help and get them on the right course?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question. I think that's kind of the crux of the issue. Right, we want to help people that may not want the help, right? That being said, though, I don't think that the importance of having these programs available to those that actually will take advantage of them is something that we should be thinking about when we think about trying to implement programs to help the homeless. So, yeah, how do we help them? Well, I think forming a stronger community is one way, and we do that in multiple different ways.
Speaker 3:Right, there's no one-stop solution to homelessness, because, you know, people experience homelessness for a wide range of reasons. We can do things that make things easier for them. So if there are people that don't necessarily want help, well, it can't be a stopping point for us moving forward with the programs we do implement. We have to think about those that will take advantage of these programs, Because there are people who are unemployed, have lost their jobs and now living in the cars, and it has nothing to do with addiction or mental health, it's just purely they're in a bad spot, and I think when we think about homelessness, we're far removed from it because we are ourselves not experiencing that issue. But I think it's really important to remember that we are not invincible and at any stages of our life you know we are at risk to becoming homeless. And what services we provide in the community. We should think about it as I'm providing myself service in case something is happening, so kind of as a risk barrier, right.
Speaker 2:I think you are correct, because there's no easy answers and I think it's a it's a societal problem that we have to somehow deal with, especially with those who do not want the help, because those are the ones who might create violence and create situations and we don't really want to lock them up. So I don't know how. Like I said, it's something we have to really study and have something. We need to have a plan for those people. But you're right, I think the people who do want the help we have to provide, study and have something. We need to have a plan for those people. You're right, I think the people who do want the help, we have to provide the help for, because they will take it and get them back on their feet again. It doesn't get any easier from here. You ready for another tough one here? Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2:Rent control and affordable housing. Now, as you know, Burbank is studying rent control. Right now. The state has a cap on raising rents, like 9% or something. People in Burbank want a tighter rent control and more help, and the landlords are saying you know, costs are going skyrocketing and you know we're just. I got four units and I can't afford not to raise my rent and pay for new air conditioning or new whatever it's going to be in the unit. So where do you stand on our rent control in Burbank? Let's start with rent control. Where do you stand with the rent control and what's going on right now? How do you feel?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I will actually be in attendance at the rent control meeting on September 25th. So I have that in my calendar. But I've taken a look at the ordinance that has been proposed and you know I hear landlords I do. When we think about providing housing from a tenant standpoint, it's an essential service right that we're providing something that they need in order to live. From the landlord perspective, you know it's a business. They want to make money. So how does rent control kind of fit into this dynamic? And where are we with divisiveness?
Speaker 3:I'm hearing a lot of things from landlords about affordability. We won't be able to afford having our properties up for rent if we have rent cap. Well, there is a mechanism within the ordinance that allows for landlords to get above rent cap. So if there is a rent cap that is set by the city council it's not a one-stop shop that you are going to be 100% limited in your amount of rent. You can increase. There are avenues that you can take to essentially get up to the to. I believe the ordinance is up to eight percent for rent increases. Um, and we also have to take into consideration that we the rent cap isn't asking you not to make money. It is saying that you have the right to have fair return, fair, reasonable return. But do you?
Speaker 2:feel we need to do this, considering the state already has like a 9% cap on it as it is. I mean, that's a state law. Do you think if we go to 8% that's really going to make that much of a difference?
Speaker 3:Well. So essentially you wouldn't just get 8% right, you would have to go and file with the city to be approved for that. So the rent cap would be set at 3% and any landlord who feels that 3% won't cover their costs and they won't get a fair return can then go through this process of receiving a higher rent cap. So there is benefit to having a rent cap for those that are currently living in buildings that they're up to date. They don't need a lot of improvements and they're receiving fair market value for their rent, but are maybe perhaps going above what is necessary to have a return.
Speaker 3:We can't think about housing like any ordinary business. It's not. We're providing an essential service. People need to live. It needs to be accessible and affordable, and we're a built-out city. We don't have capacity to have a lot of people. So if we have buildings that are limited, it'll help people be put in housing.
Speaker 3:But that's not to say that landlords aren't important. They are because they are providing this service and we need to make sure that we are taking into consideration their financial needs in order to provide housing. So what the rent cap would do is it would limit the landlords, yes, by the 3% cap. However, we provide other avenues for our landlords to seek more if more is necessary.
Speaker 3:And then another thing is, when we talk about rent caps, we think about Costa-Hawkins, which is currently up to be voted on, and Measure 33 would repeal Costa-Hawkins be voted on, and measure 33 would repeal cost hawking's, and essentially that's where we don't allow, uh, any kind of rent cap on buildings that have been in tenancy before 1995. So that's an important dynamic to look at too. There are a lot of buildings that don't have any kind of rent cap, are not even under the, the california rent cap, which means we have a lot of people who are paying 13% increases, 15% increases, and they have. Every landlord that has tenancies after 1995 have the right to do so. So it's a dynamic problem, right, but we can't just ignore the fact that we don't have affordable housing here. It's a crisis.
Speaker 2:And in affordable housing. One of those mechanisms states put in is the SB35 and the SB7, those things and Burbank is still several thousand units below where they need to be and the state can take action in a couple more years if we don't get there. But we have the situation in many neighborhoods. People say I don't want that SB35 project in my neighborhood and the city really has no choice in denying those projects, as they learned with Pickwick. What would you suggest for our SB35 or our affordable housing to get those units built in Burbank? Any ideas or comments on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, this is kind of one of the number one issues I'm trying to tackle. So, yes, you're correct, we have our RENA numbers, our regional housing allocation numbers for Burbank, I believe it's like 8,772 units that we are required to have kind of planned out for construction.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that number.
Speaker 3:Very good, and then we received kind of a staff report March 24th, 2024, around that time in March that reported the kind of allotments we've made so far, and it's around 1,300. So we're 7,000 more 7,000 plus housing units away from meeting our allocation. So what does that mean? Well, it triggers this kind of ministerial streamlined process for development and Pickwick was one of those development projects that took advantage of this ministerial process and essentially it removes the city's discretionary ability to look at these projects and see how they fit in with the neighboring. You know, little we have like the Rancho and the different kind of neighborhood feel essentially. And so how do we combat this? How do we make sure that we are having projects in place that kind of fit the traditional landscape of Burbank but we're also meeting our allocation needs?
Speaker 3:I think we need to be more proactive about development. We no longer have a choice to delay or to deny applications. Instead of waiting for developers to come to us and ask for projects that are not necessarily in line with what Burbank wants and needs, we need to be looking at development that fits within our landscape and be active about it. There are many ways we can build buildings that don't have such a negative impact. They're not large kind of medical office looking buildings that are housing units on the side of freeways and whatnot. So we need to be more thoughtful about actually pursuing development projects. It's been a hot topic because, yeah, you're right, there's not been a lot of want for these development projects to happen. But we're in a time and place where if we don't make a decision, the decision is going to be made for us.
Speaker 2:We have areas such as the old IKEA and that's been sat now vacant for years and the landowners just aren't in a hurry to do anything with it, but yet we could probably build 1,000 units there in that area. We're also going to do a downtown Burbank Civic Center type thing too. Should the city get involved in some of these things and try to negotiate the properties or, in the Civic Center property, build affordable housing in the property they want to build downtown Burbank?
Speaker 3:I think, absolutely. I think the city needs to be more involved in all developments. Right, we kind of sit back and wait for things to come to us. Part of my campaign is I'm not doing any fundraising, not taking any contributions. I don't have a team of volunteers behind me. I'm doing the work myself, doing the research, the due diligence it requires to kind of be understanding of everything going on. If I am elected city council, I'm not going to sit back and do the minimum meetings. I'm not going to be doing that. I'm going to be proactive meeting with community members, meeting with landlords, meeting with property owners, meeting with private partnerships. I think if we take a more rigorous approach, we will meet everybody's needs. We can find a mutually beneficial agreement between whoever the stakeholder is that benefits the citizens and the residents of Burbank. So yes, definitely I think we need to have someone on the ground, working with everybody here to make change.
Speaker 2:Once again, no easy answers. These are all tough subjects, you know, and you seem to be very well prepared for these questions. I'm very impressed. I'm going to move on a little to the park and rec department here. First, a personal thing I have right now is the state of our Starlight Bowl, which I think is a jewel in the city, and we've let it deteriorate down to just nothing. We use it six times a year and we have cover bands coming in. I think it could be a vibrant asset to our city and we could work with the neighborhood to make sure it works, because I know when they rent it out they have sold out shows there and big acts and the whole thing, but yet we can't do anything with it. How do you? This is my, this is my. This is not an issue anywhere else except for for Craig Sherwood right now, because it's something I look at and I and it disappoints me, being a lifelong resident here. So any thoughts of what you think about what we should do with the starlight pole?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know it's something that should be prioritized, that maybe has been overlooked. Right, Because when we think about economic stimulus we don't necessarily think of that facility as something that has potential. Right, because there's problems with parking and kind of getting to the Starlight Bowl. That kind of negatively impacts the neighborhoods. But there are ways, I think, that we can improve the space. That would increase tourism, that would increase economic stimulus within the area, and also there's ways we can reduce those negative impacts to neighborhoods. I mean, if we had a bus system that ran from a parking structure or a parking lot up there and that was the only means of getting to the venue, then we kind of reduce the type of traffic that's running through the neighborhoods. If we can create even a space that offers kind of this unique we're offering entertainment but we're also offering, maybe housing or office space. There's ways we can kind of make it so that people will want to go there. Make it a, make it a center for community engagement, not just concerts six times a year, but something more like a destination, right, and I think that would be beneficial to Burbank. We need more things to draw people here, and that kind of brings me to like the idea of what we've been doing with, you know, the entertainment industry.
Speaker 3:California has a lot of setbacks right now with with the kind of tax incentives we're providing our entertainment industry, and people are leaving. People are leaving California, they're going to Texas, they're going to Georgia and and when we lose business like that, we're losing that tourist pull that we get from being the media capital of the world. And the Starlight Bowl is one of those avenues that we have room to grow and and kind of fortify and revitalize us as the media capital of the world. We can have concerts like those that they have down in LA. We can do that. We just need to make it work for our residents and I think there's a way we can come to some kind of mutual agreement. Perhaps that means private partnerships with somebody, maybe not. We all just need to look at how we can change things that mutually benefit everybody.
Speaker 2:We had a private partnership back in the 70s, private partnership back in the 70s and the Burbank City Council had a council member who had some Christian values and didn't like the band that was coming in and banned the band and the company we had partnered with then sued the city and won a big settlement and ever since then we have not touched anything commercially. Basically, ever since then we have not touched anything commercially. Basically it was an unfortunate situation because it was actually starting to boom a little back then. I agree with what you say about they bus people to the Greek theater, they bus people to the Hollywood Bowl. I mean, you can come up with that. We can have people park at the Metzlick Station like they do for the Hollywood Bowl and bus them.
Speaker 2:I really like what you said and I hadn't thought about the fact. Look what people will come to the Bowl and then want to go dine afterwards, absolutely and support city services. So another aspect which you know what, in all honesty, I didn't think of. So very good, I appreciate that because that's one of my personal things right now I think the Stride Bowl needs to be redone and made to that jewel that other cities have. Okay, well, that's enough off my soapbox, now back on the ground. Let's talk about the pine tree situation going on and they want to take all the pine trees off just because they may fall down someday. There's seven or eight trees that are sick. Needs to be removed, understand, but now it's throw out the baby with the bathwater type of situation. So that's going to be coming up in the council in the next month or two. How do you see that whole situation?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm very interested about that because, you know, green space and supporting our environment is so important, right, it kind of keeps Burbank, this small town, feel when we have trees and parks that are, you know, lively. But when we think about trees on streets, what we don't necessarily think about is the impacts of roots down below. So I can't say for certain whether or not the reason those trees are being taken out is because of potential impact to our kind of electrical or plumbing. I don't know, but those are facts that I'd like to know to take into consideration when making a determination about whether or not those trees should be removed or not. If those trees are lively and they don't have any risk or kind of infrastructure impact, then I would ask myself well, why is the reason we are doing this? Because trees are essential. They provide, you know, a lot of pollution, pollution reducing effects and they offer, you know, the aesthetic pleasingness to the eye. So I'm definitely looking forward to their discussion about more things about that. I'd I'd love to be a city council member that plants the most amount of trees in our history.
Speaker 3:Um, I actually was at a meeting with, uh, the chief of the fire department, danny alvarez, and um, we kind of discussed how the verdugo hills have kind of remained similar in their landscape. We kind of talked about fire reduction and kind of any kind of goals to plant native trees or plants that would actually aid in fire reduction, and we kind of got to the point where he essentially said, no, we haven't really done so, because the kind of landscape isn't, it hasn't been meant to change. We've kind of kept it the way it has been. But I think, moving towards the future, when we do look at our missions and sustainable living, planting trees is extremely important and I don't think planting trees would have negative impact on us. I think it would have more positive than negative. So it's definitely something on my agenda.
Speaker 2:Very good, so it's definitely something on my agenda, all right, very good. Let's touch on police and fire. So our first responders and our needs of police and fire. Give me your thoughts.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I have goals of going to the police commission meetings because I do really want to get more in tune with what, with what they need. But I have met with the fire department and it's kind of became clear that there is kind of something that we haven't taken a look at. And they're quite aware that their EMS, their medical services are have skyrocketed Right. Their EMS, their medical services have skyrocketed right. So now when we're thinking about housing, we're talking about putting you know, 8,772 units in. That means more population, and with more population comes more need for medical services, more EMS response. And another thing is Burbank's population is currently quite the age is quite high, so majority of our population is getting to the later stages of life and of course, unfortunately with that comes the need for medical services. So I believe I'm not particularly sure what the stat was he provided, chief provided but it was essentially like we hadn't added an ambulance or an emergency services vehicle into the fleet for 24 years and we've just now added one.
Speaker 2:We're up to four now.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, so. So what does that mean? Right, that means kind of our progress towards providing these medical services and giving them the resources that our fire department needs to actually provide services in a proper way is quite reduced. We don't have enough priority of looking at the long-range effects of adding all this housing. It's going to affect our fire department's ability to meet the demands and medical needs of our residents and we need to think about that when we are budgeting. So allocation for firm EMS services, I think, is going to be incredibly important. I don't know if this is an accurate set of data, but I believe Chief said it was about a 60 percent increase in medical services. So that's quite drastic. And that's not even accounting for the amount of dwelling units that we have to be putting in place to meet population density increases. So when we think about it like that, I think there is a strong, strong need to prioritize making sure that our fire department has the resources and the workforce to meet that.
Speaker 3:Then, on the side of police, I think enforcement has been something that has been kind of a question around Burbank. Right, are the things that we have in place actually being enforced? And I think it's a question we need to look at. Do they have the right resources? Do they have the funding to actually have the amount of manpower they need in order to enforce things? We have projects going on, like in downtown Burbank. We have the media or, excuse me, we have the downtown Burbank parking pilot program going in in January, which would be adding kind of a permit system or paid parking system. Would be adding kind of a permit system or paid parking system and that requires enforcement, right. So how that we're adding new laws that require enforcement, how are we also adding to our police so that they can implement that enforcement? It's an important question. I'm looking to dive deeper into public safety, so it's definitely in my to-do list.
Speaker 2:So much to do, so much to do Once you get on that council, it's definitely on my to-do list.
Speaker 3:So much to do, so much to do.
Speaker 2:Once you get on that council it's constant bombardment.
Speaker 2:You never know what's going to happen next. Last subject we'll get into and this is kind of a new one, once again a new subject also, but the city is looking into putting parking meters in downtown Burbank and with the right now, the crux of it being we want to have an 80% capacity at all times, because right now you can't park on Stanford, now you can't park on the streets because people just park there all day. So they want to create, you know, with parking meters, and of course that's going to be bringing in revenues and right now they say it'll probably pay for itself. But I can see them also going to put, eventually, parking meters in the structures to help pay for our aging structures. It could be Magnolia Park, maybe Glen Oaks. So a lot of people say, well, I love coming to Burbank because there's no parking meters, but on the other hand, is it a source of revenue that we should be considering? So let me have your thoughts on our parking meter situation have your thoughts on our parking meter situation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've attended a few commission committee board meetings that have had these reports on the kind of downtown plan and you're right, they are not currently looking at making the structures and parking lots paid, but the goal is to kind of increase the turnover on those main streets so that people have the ability to kind of pop in and out and to kind of stimulate those businesses that perhaps aren't getting enough foot traffic because there are people parked there for long periods of time. I agree with you, I think one of the kind of beautiful things about bourbon because you can just kind of whip up there, park wherever you'd like and go into a business without having to pay costs. But when we are implementing transportation systems, that will be kind of increasing our amount of through traffic. We also have to think about well, perhaps our parking currently is meeting more needs of those that are not residents than are residents. So this kind of like paid parking system will help us. But I think that we need to be smart about what exactly the extent is that we go to parking and paid parking. Right, we want to make sure that our elders are able to access San Fernando even if they aren't going to be paying, builders are able to access San Fernando even if they aren't going to be paying Loading zones, making sure that there are kind of remain those like minimum time restraint parking spots so that they can safely go in and out Curb cutouts, to make sure that when there is a loading zone, that it's accessible to those that need accommodations.
Speaker 3:It's incredibly important and we have so much. We have so much opportunity when it comes to raising funds through this parking system. But it's great that it's a pilot program because that means we can kind of tweak things if they don't work Right. Like one of the things that the senior citizen board commissioner kind of brought up was QR codes in the kind of presentations that they had. Some of the kiosks would have these qr codes that you'd be able to scan and kind of access these parking um, pay pay services, right. But that leads to an important question what about those people that are vulnerable to scams? Right qr codes? You know it was happening in hankin and beach.
Speaker 2:They put stickers on all the codes. Newport, huntington, something like that, yeah, they're making all the money themselves.
Speaker 3:Then yeah, and then it's also kind of targeting our vulnerable populations that don't necessarily have the tools to say, oh, that's a scam, right? So looking at how we can kind of tweak things to make sure that it's working for our residents is going to be the ultimate way we kind of come to a to a mutual beneficial parking situation, and that perhaps means that burbank residents receive permits, you know, or or that the businesses pay for their employees to park. Right, we there are, there are ways we can kind of work the system so that this parking system funds itself and that we residents aren't negatively impacted by it right now we're on a pilot program on san fernando boulevard in downtown.
Speaker 2:We went from two, two lanes of traffic, one each direction, to a single lane, one direction, and one of the considerations is once again going back to like we had the mall before and taking out traffic completely. How do you feel? I mean we were on like the 3rd Street in Santa Monica. I don't think the mall worked at all back in the 60s and 70s when we had it. But those are different times and now we have the parking infrastructure we didn't have back then. So when that comes up in about another six, seven months, what do you think? Should we go back to two lanes, keep it one lane, go no lanes and have no traffic? Any thoughts?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's difficult to determine at this point, right, because I think we need the pilot program to kind of give us feedback about what's working, what's not working. I think, you know, during COVID it was excellent to have kind of San Fernando closed down a bit so that walking was more accessible, and you know, the community got stronger, we were out more walking around. So I think it would be beneficial to even look at places like Santa Monica kind of compare and contrast. Ok, well, if we do implement a system where we close down the street, how will that affect traffic congestion around the area? How will it affect the neighborhoods? You know, are we going to be losing money by reducing parking? So there's a lot of dynamic there and I'm very interested in looking into it more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting when they come out. I'm not too unhappy with what they have now but, like you said, I wish there was a little more handicap parking things like that for people because, let's face it, most people can park in a structure and walk a few blocks. It's a little harder for handicapped people. Okay, very good, we're at the part of the show where I always let you or our candidate you know your camera is right here. I let you look right in the camera and I let you talk to the voters. No time limit. Whatever you want to say, I want you to tell people why they should vote for you for city council this November. So it's your time.
Speaker 3:Great, thank you so much and thank you for having me on the podcast. So it's your time am young, you know, and that kind of usually has a negative implication to it. But I'd like to step back from that point and realize that I've been a Burbank community member essentially since I was born, you know, three years old and beyond. I grew up here. I'm a member of the community, I'm a stakeholder. I want Burbank to be a better place for everybody. I want to make sure that we are providing for our sensitive populations, we're making the accommodations that we need when we're developing, when we're making infrastructure changes. I want to be a part of the implementation of new technologies to push us into the future for sustainable living and promote economic stimulus so that Burbankers are benefited.
Speaker 3:I don't want taxpayer dollars to be, you know, spent on things that aren't necessarily priorities or that are causing divisiveness. I want to be the voice that kind of comes together and brings everybody together to make mutual, beneficial relationships. I want to be the one that goes out into the community and engage with our you know, our members, our stakeholders, our businesses. I want to be this person that goes to talk with our state senators and our and our state assembly members and communicate with them the needs of Burbankers. I want to be available for the community, to kind of voice their concerns and take those into consideration when I'm making decisions.
Speaker 3:Time and time again I've heard the call for more people to get involved, and especially young people. This is me listening. I have the education, I'm working towards my law license and I'd like to use my background and my skills to further Burbank into the future and to maintain the beautiful bubble that we all live in, but increase it so that we are bettering the lives of our future generations to come. So on November 5th I'll be fourth on the ballot and I hope you vote for me. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Kevin Pinero. You may be 28, but you're wise beyond your years. I think you have a good grasp of our issues here in Burbank. You understand and you've been here. So you may be a newcomer on the scene, but I think you have a lot of experience here, so very impressive. Once again, I love these podcasts. For this reason, I did not really know who you were or what you were about. I have a great idea now and I see your vision and I also feel, as somebody who's lived here all my life, that the city is in good hands in the future. You know whether or not you win or lose I don't get into that but for some reason, if you do lose, I would love to see you stay involved and don't give up, because we need people like you in the city. So I appreciate you coming today.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Okay, Once again it's Craig Sherwood. Thank you very much for watching or, of course, listening on our podcast platforms. I always forget about you people. I know you're in the car right now if I listen on your drive home or something, so we appreciate you listening. Remember, if you appear on the ballot in Burbank running for any office, please send me an email at news at myburbankcom and let me know you'd like to be on the show and we will be glad to have you on. So once again, thank.