myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Ask the Mayor with Mayor Nick Schultz - September, 2024
Get ready to uncover the inner workings of Burbank's leadership with Burbank Mayor Nick Schultz! In this episode of "Ask the Mayor," we reminisce about our hit bus-themed episode and brainstorm future ideas for themed shows. We dive straight into the city's evolving traffic landscape, guided by the past insights from Burbank’s transportation czar, David Kriske. Additionally, Mayor Schultz addresses the public's anxiety over the accessibility of staff reports and meeting minutes, shedding light on the requirements under the Brown Act.
We then travel to Washington, D.C. with Mayor Schultz as he shares his experiences representing Burbank and Burbank Water and Power. Find out how meetings with key figures like Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla play a crucial role in lobbying for project funding and legislative changes. This chapter not only outlines the objectives of such high-stakes trips but also reveals the significance of personal engagement in securing federal grants for local projects like the Olive Avenue Bridge.
Finally, we tackle diverse and pressing issues affecting Burbank—from the legal dispute over voting rights with Nick Gutierrez to the complexities of regulating Airbnb and short-term rentals. Mayor Schultz offers his perspective on maintaining professionalism amidst political feuds and elaborates on the city's strategic legal defenses. To wrap up, we celebrate community spirit through events like Burbank Pride, emphasizing their role in promoting love and acceptance. Tune in for a comprehensive discussion that touches every aspect of governing a vibrant city like Burbank.
My Burbank Talks presents another edition of Ask the Mayor, a monthly forum giving the Mayor of Burbank an opportunity to answer questions from you, the listener, and address issues important to the City of Burbank. Now let's join our hosts as they welcome the Mayor of Burbank.
Speaker 2:Hello Burbank, craig Sherwood here with you once again, and of course, we have with us Ross Benson, holly ho, let's go. There, we go. And we're here for another edition of one of our most popular shows. Ask the Mayor, with Nick Schultz, mayor Schultz, how you doing.
Speaker 3:I'm good guys. Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 4:Burbank has its own mayor.
Speaker 3:Apparently. Oh no, happy to be back, guys. I know this isn't as fun as last month on the bus, but I think we'll have a good time today.
Speaker 2:I did have a lot of people who commented about the bus. I thought it was a great episode Me too, In fact, down the line we should think about doing themed episodes like that, you know, and when different big issues come up or something.
Speaker 4:That's a great idea. I'd support it. Well, having the czar of Burbank transportation, mr David Kriske, with us was just beyond. I mean, you can't ask any questions regarding parking traffic transportation that he doesn't know. Oh yeah, so you were lucky.
Speaker 3:Oh, I really lucked out. That was the easiest episode for me by far. Just let David talk.
Speaker 2:He's so knowledgeable, you know, know, and he's a burbank person he gets it, he gets the city, he understands it.
Speaker 4:So yes, he does you know those little things, um, when you live here all your life you graduated from burbank or burroughs you know how the traffic flows on any given street and he, really he does have his. You know, we're we're real fortunate that we don't have a big turnover in community development.
Speaker 2:In his department he's had other people under him that have come and gone, but you know, being a burbank lifer, he, I was sitting at the uh, the old five points, which is burbank, uh, victory and and all that right there, and I was sitting there saying I wonder how much of a David Krischke footprint is on this new design compared to what used to be there. So it's so many intricate pieces in that whole traffic intersection.
Speaker 4:Now you know and I get. We talked about a couple of things and he brought up a couple Some of these new things that everybody's going to complain about. Verdugo, everybody complained about, but what did it do? Reduce the number of accidents, slowed people down. It did these turns that they're making at intersections of Verdugo and Olive that they eventually want to do. And, like Craig and I saw here at Rose and Riverside, that used to be a Y. You remember when it was with the sign overhead In front of Bob's big boy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, riverside and Alameda met.
Speaker 4:How many accidents did we cover out there of people going into that. It was a stop sign yeah.
Speaker 4:And so you know. But you know, having I get it, people don't understand. I'll give you you an example quickly and then we'll get into your mirror. Show, I'm driving down glen oaks last week and a guy literally passed me at 90 to 100 miles an hour. Wow, I was a providence to go south at providence and glen oaks and I laughed like heck because burbank motor officers were working a task force. There was a motor sitting right there. He zoomed after him, impounded. The car took the rest of the two drivers. I mean you don't go flying down Glen Oaks because that worked very well. He finally got him. The car stopped. He had to get up to 100 miles himself and he was on a motorbike. Valencia and San Fernando. The guy saw him coming behind him. I'll go down.
Speaker 2:Valencia Itself is dangerous, for the motor officer too.
Speaker 4:Exactly, Exactly, and then I passed him. I said he passed me going 100. He said that's what we clocked at Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:All righty. Well, let's get a couple questions here for you, sure Our.
Speaker 2:September edition Of Ask the Mayor. Ask the Mayor Bum, bum, bum bum. So this is kind of a question from me a little bit, and it's why can't the city put the staff reports and minutes for meetings that are not recorded for the public? As an example, I was looking at the meetings and the Burbank Athletic Federation was going to have a meeting and they just recently toured facilities and I go well, what facilities did they tour? What did they look at? But there's no minutes to look at. They're supposed to approve the minutes as part of their agenda, but there's nothing there except a two-page agenda, and I find that with a couple meetings there's a lot of meetings like that. Sometimes there are the minutes up there, sometimes they're not. So if somebody wants to be informed of what's going on and it's not being recorded, how, what would you suggest that we should do to find out that type of stuff?
Speaker 3:Oh well, thanks so much, craig. I think that's a great question. So let me just back up by saying that, in general, as you both know, under the Brown Act for any Brown Act qualifying body, like the council and most of our major commissions, we are required to post a notice of the meeting, and, to the extent that there are minutes capturing what happened in that meeting, it is eventually supposed to make its way onto the website. But I think you're hitting on something really important. I've heard it for four years now. I've seen it myself. You often have commissions that meet at the same time, so people can't physically be in my pet peeves, right, transportation and Sustainable Burbank Commission, for example, though they're, you know, same exact time. And, yeah, you can cross the hallway in CSB and go to both. Well, this week, the council and federated same exact time. That's right, that's right. So I mean, that's a problem.
Speaker 3:And then what I can tell you is that, as part of our PIO subcommittee, we have talked about how we can record more meetings and live stream them. It's really going to come down to an even larger investment in staff. We would need more personnel to capture all of it, and in the long run, that is something that council could look at. I also think that we can make better use of technology. So even if you can't, you know, live stream it or put it on the air, we could hopefully do more audio recording. So maybe folks could have an audio file, just like everyone who listens to your podcast, they could listen in on the meeting. That may have a little bit more staff costs too, but I think in the next budget cycle that that's something actionable that we can do. Everyone could have a little recording device center of the table. Hopefully it captures, you know, the all the conversation that's had in the meeting and then that could be added to our website.
Speaker 4:Well, that's funny. You say that because you could do what the school district, uh, has done. I put a ring camera in the middle of the room.
Speaker 2:Well, I have actually shown up to a few meetings of rent control and and, um, I've done three or four meetings. I bring a gopro, set it on a little tripod and it records everything. Just fine, I mean. And that's a simple little little nothing.
Speaker 4:you did hit on a good point. That would mean increasing our PIO staff, which is direly needed. Yeah, they do so much and they are so—. I agree, and that one department things have changed from used to be one person Mary Jane Strickland many years ago, or Larry Johnson, or Mike McAnus, and I can go through the list of one person in that office. Now you have a video crew, you have Mary, you have you know how many there's. That's one department that we should beef it up.
Speaker 3:I completely agree, and so what I would just say, Craig and Ross too, is that the fact that it hasn't been done, I don't believe, is a reflection that the council doesn't care or it's it's not.
Speaker 2:I don't believe that either.
Speaker 3:Right. I think we just need to do that to accomplish it in the next budget cycle. I agree with both of you we should take a good look at PIO, and if we gave them another body or two to add to that that unit, then maybe there is more that they could do, cause, to your point, ross, somebody would still need to show up with the GoPro to set it, and then I know there's more man hours that we'd have to put into, you know, storing all that data on the website, but it could be done. So you know that's something to look at.
Speaker 2:It'd be nice to maybe put up there also, because you said everybody that's governed by the Brown Act. I do not know which commissions are governed by it and which ones are not, so it might be nice to list all the commissions that are actually governed by the Brown Act.
Speaker 3:That's a great question. I'll talk to Kimberly about it. I think that could be a very easy fix to the city clerk's webpage and then at least you'd be able to know.
Speaker 4:Well, it's funny, at last week's council meeting they had a report and I'm trying to think think it was uh, they put up there and they surveyed 30 or 40 different cities. They're doing it for that report. I mean, why can't we take and you know, if we're surveying that, call those same cities? Yeah, I guarantee there's somebody in their pio office or their mayor's office or whatever to find out. How do you guys do it?
Speaker 3:I agree with you. I agree, so, I mean, to your question, craig. I think that's a great point you made. It's definitely a suggestion I'm supportive of, and I think end of November we're going to get our budget mid-year review. That might be a great time to talk about. You know, hey, that would be the time for a council member and I might be the one to do it to say let's put together a white paper report and when we come back with next year's budget, tell us what it would cost. At least we'll know. But what would it cost to add a couple of personnel and really be able to capture all the meetings in their entirety with at least audio recording?
Speaker 4:um, I think that's doable well, like craig said, there's so many times we'd like to know what's going on. The city wants to be transparent, but that transparent yeah, exactly but we find that transparent means what they want to be.
Speaker 2:You're going to look through the slide, not see anything.
Speaker 4:You know, and we, we get hit with that quite a bit. Yes, there are most people on a block. If you ask them. We have found, like further down we have a question here. People don't care, you know, you hit that light switch and lights go on. But there are a majority, there are a good share of people in this community that want to know what's going on and this is how you find out. I I agree, especially when they have open applications for, like the Burbank Athletic Federation. Unless you're a sports person, do you know what that organization does?
Speaker 2:You know, I Well, you can look at their agenda, but you can't see what their past Right? Anyhow, let's turn the page here.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's get in our, let's get in our um let's get some plane here and, yeah, let's get some mileage out of this one um, so you recently, a couple weeks ago you're in washington dc and not your first trip to washington dc as the, as the mayor of burbank. So basically, why were you there? What you're trying to accomplish, and has anything come from it yet, which we probably know has not, because it's Washington DC and nothing happens there in a quick you know. But what was the purpose of your trip there this time and in the past? Who are you talking to and what are you trying to get them to either acknowledge or to fund, or to you know, whatever it is that you're doing there.
Speaker 4:Now I have a question, or to fund or to you know, whatever it is that you're doing there. Now I have a question. When Afro Craig asked that, I noticed you're going there when it's sunny and 70, 80 degrees. I don't remember the mayor ever going to Washington when there's 10 feet of snow. I noticed that you go in the summer months. That's strange.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm definitely not a snowbird. Uh, I like so, no, I, there actually is a reason. So back in beginning of last year, so beginning of 23, um, I took over the spot that bob frutos had at the time, which was to represent, uh, the city of burbank, uh, and our utility, burbank water and power, as part of the American Public Power Association. So we are part of that organization. It's all local utilities, whether it's a city or county or irrigation district, that are providing water and or electric services, and so we lobby together. We go back twice a year to meet with members of Congress, as well as representatives from the Departments of Interior, energy, transportation, as the case might be. So whoever we need to meet with back there, it's generally to educate them about the issues we're experiencing, and there's always an ask whether it's more money for projects or changing the law so that we can do the things that they want us to do.
Speaker 2:How high up in the food chain are you getting when you talk to these people? Are you just doing talking to assistants and stuff? Are you ever talking to a? You know, I remember the cabinet.
Speaker 4:I think I saw you said you got you met with Adam Schiff and some other.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so. So on almost every trip I've gone I always meet with Adam Schiff, unless he's not available, but just this last trip I met with Adam. And then in the past I've met with California Senator Alex Padilla. I met with at the time Senator Dianne Feinstein's chief staff member as it relates to energy and water. When we go to agencies and so we meet with Department of Energy or Department of Interior, we're not meeting with assistants, we're meeting with program directors and I would say mid to upper level management types. But we always want to talk to our elected officials because we want to talk to them about what's happening in our community. And I'll give you both one example.
Speaker 3:I talked with Adam about this two weeks ago. So we tell them about our issue with transformers. There are supply chain issues around the globe and we have transformers that are aging in place here in Burbank and we can't get a replacement part. You know we want to buy American. I guess some others are looking at buying Korean, but we always want to buy American and there's now a two year wait list to get replacement transformers. So we talked to Adam, as we've talked to representatives from Padilla's office and Lafonza Butler's office, and I met Brad Sherman on a prior trip and we talked to them about the fire at the substation adjacent to Warner brothers and how critical that would be if that substation goes down. Not just that it would have catastrophic impacts to our residents, but one of Burbank's one of the region's largest employers can't produce content. That's bad for business, it's bad for our economy. So when we go there, we tell them stories like that. We talk about where we need their help in terms of uh, uh, funding to accompany the defense production act, um, all these federal tools that are aimed at speeding up the production of replacement parts for our transformers and trying to ease that supply chain issue. So that's really what the job is doing.
Speaker 3:And the last thing I'll say and I'll pause there because you might have follow ups yeah, I always get this question why does the mayor need to make the trip back there? We do have lobbyists that represent the city that are there every day fighting for us, but I can tell you, when it's a lobbyist, you get a staff member. When the mayor is back there, I usually have a lot of success with Mandeep and Jason from the utility getting in the room, with Alex Padilla, with Adam Schiff, and I may only have 15 minutes, but we use those 15 minutes to really put a name and a face to the story that they're hearing, and we always make the ask Um. Last thing I'll say Craig, sorry I forgot this on this trip we also, in addition to talking up this trip, we were talking about hydrogen. Uh, we were talking about water. Uh, water efficiencies, our, our, our potable reuse project that we want to do here in Burbank.
Speaker 3:But the other thing is we started talking with Department of Transportation about Olive Avenue Bridge and whatever happens with the BRT, whether it happens or doesn't, we're going to need a replacement bridge and we want it to be multimodal. We want it to be safer for pedestrians to use crossing. We want it to have dedicated bike lanes. This was our first time talking to department of transportation about our vision for the project, what we'd like to do, and there was something that came out of it. They gave us a long list like two pages of potential grants and programs that we can apply for to get funding for that bridge. So that's the kind of stuff that just doesn't happen. If you're not there at the table making the ask, you know it's a federal government, you don't ask, you're not going to a.
Speaker 2:We hire somebody to, you know, a lobbyist or whatever. They don't live in Burbank, no, they don't. They have, no you know, responsibility really to Burbank. They're, it's a job you know. They don't have the hardened feel of Burbank. So having the mayor back there is a great plus. And, like you said, the Olive Bridge, it needs to be replaced Not only replaced but, like you said, intermodal. So if they go high-speed rail and they decide to put a station here in Burbank, then we need to have access to buses or whatever it is. It needs to be a lot wider bridge and accommodate all that extra types of things, plus just safety-wise. That's right, Ross, and I have said before, when you're a kid you ride your bike over that bridge. When we got to wind, you're on the freeway. Even now it's like a three-foot railing. I agree it's very unsafe and narrow.
Speaker 3:And we don't have the money in our budget to replace it. We're going to need federal funding, and so it's very much the classic situation of the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Even if we don't do it for 10 years, we're starting the conversation Now. We're letting them know that it's a need that we have. And, Ross, I didn't forget your question either, my friend. Why always in the warm months? Um, so so the American public power association has two events every year. So in February they always have a lobby week. Um, so that's usually after the snow's off the ground, but we all go there to meet with members of Congress for the week. And then, typically in the summer, in July is when they have a like a two day fly in, so you fly in and you may have followup meetings. It's all tied to um, the congressional calendar. So we want to be there when members of Congress are there, Cause we can still go when they're not.
Speaker 3:But they're just, you know they're not talking to and then, because we can still go when they're not, but they're just, you know they're not talking to and then you are getting the assistance and the mid-level managers. We to your point, craig, we want to meet with the bigwigs, that's. You know, if we're there, we're going to talk to Adam Schiff.
Speaker 4:So you mentioned, you threw out there that you traveled with the head of our water and power and also with Justin Maruca, jason Maruca, jason Maruca. And Justin, uh uh, maruca, jason, jason, maruca and uh he used to be with uh uh supervisor Barger's office and then he came to work. He left that and came to work for us. Oh yeah, Loving what he's doing.
Speaker 3:He loves lobbying and oh he's he, he, he's great and I'll say he's probably so. So. So, mondy, we all know is is, is is brilliant. We are so lucky to have her. But we don't talk nearly enough about Jason Maruca, because this guy is tracking, you know not. He is not just relying on what lobbyists are telling us. He's tracking every bill that's of concern that could impact our rate payers, and he's when we go into these meetings. He's the one who we're collaborating. But he's developing talking points for me and Mandeep to use in talking to Adam Schiff, including what we should be asking. So they're an incredible team.
Speaker 3:Um, this was my last trip, for obvious reasons, going out with them, uh, but I really hope that one of my colleagues takes my spot and continues to make the trip. I mean, it's, it's a long way to go, but I think we've done some really good work in two years. I know we did good work when Bob was in the role too. So, you know, between uh, tamela, zazette, nikki, uh, and or possibly Constantine, or maybe one of the other new folks who comes on board, I hope somebody raises their hand and said I'd love to do that, cause it's your Nikki.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm sure she'd love to go. I think she'd be very good too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean I, I, I will say I agendized it. So you know, we'll let anyone who's interested nominate and we'll have a discussion. But, um, but I agree, I think our vice mayor would be a great candidate for it. But if for some reason, she doesn't and someone else has an interest, we got to get someone in there, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, mean every police department. They're crashing cars and whatever burbank's not crashing, we're just driving the miles out of ours. You know, and we need more, like the met car that took two extra years to get. Yep, because of you know, you have to make it safe and everything, and I know that was a big problem. And now police cars they're in the same boat.
Speaker 2:So when you're there, we need five more med cars. Yeah, we do, yeah, yeah, well, let's, let's move on right now. Okay, by the way, I am going to next month to be repaired. Okay, I'm going to talk about solar. All right, solar it is. There's a solar.
Speaker 3:I noticed solar meeting on uh monday night about you know about rates, everything else and month, so be prepared. Okay, I'm going to talk about solar.
Speaker 2:All right, solar it is. There's a solar. I noticed solar meeting on uh monday night about. You know about rates, everything else and transport, so okay, october is going to be solar. All right do some solar talking. Thank you, um. Here's a question from one of our readers okay, and you know what I?
Speaker 2:I really agree with him, so I and it's maybe not word the best way it can be worded, but uh. So this is from Mike Um. He wants to know when you're going to have your own public press event demanding that Parker Corian apologize publicly to the city of Burbank, the police department and the two individual officers for smearing them with the whole dumping, the home homeless man hoax, and he's had some colorful things after that. You know, did not let him get away with it, and you know, and you know not to be weak now. I don't think you're weak at all in any way. You have made statements during the meetings. You know, and and are very unhappy. But yeah, what are we going? You know now he stepped down as president of the council or in place or whatever it is, but I really believe too that he does owe the city of Burbank an apology.
Speaker 2:The investigation was done and I asked him for a comment. His staff and I never got a response. So I think we should call him out a little bit. What's your feelings on that right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I appreciate the question, um, and to Mike I would say, uh, trust me, um, I am a methodical and I'm thoughtful, and that should never be confused for weakness. I appreciate your comment there, craig. Um, I haven't asked for Paul's apology because I don't want to give him that power. I don't particularly care for his apology. He knows what he did. He absolutely does, and I think that it's kind of like in the courtroom and this probably speaks more to just my mindset and my professionalism when I get a guilty conviction after all the work that I've put into it, we don't gloat. That's not what we do.
Speaker 2:Don't jump up and down, huh, no, no.
Speaker 3:And I mean, look, we could. We definitely could right Like we knew we got the guy. We knew he did it. I'm trained to be a consummate professional. The fact is, we did a thorough, comprehensive investigation. The video looked bad at first blush. The public was concerned, and I think that what Chief Albany said on the record, it was so eloquent, it was so well said. We know we were in the right. The world now knows that we're in the right.
Speaker 3:Paul should apologize Absolutely, but I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of asking him for an apology. He knows that he owes the city an apology, a city that he once served as a member of the school board, and the fact that he hasn't it's disappointing, and what I will tell you, though, is that the chief and I will be meeting with with Paul Krikorian and some members of his team. I think we're scheduling it for either this upcoming week or the following week. Um, we are hopeful that, whatever the hangup is, whatever concern he still has, we can, uh, answer any questions he has, reiterate what we found, um, you know, but this is one of those situations where we're not going to back down. We know what the facts show, and the last thing I'll say is this I understand that some of your listeners will be disappointed in my answer and they would love a press event, but I'm not going to do it for one other reason.
Speaker 3:What Paul Krikorian did is performative politics. It is exactly what people don't like about politicians. It's about chasing a headline and being self-centered and ego-driven rather than focused on the mission at hand. And as much as it would give me personal satisfaction to say I told you so in a large press conference all of you you guys and everyone listening you'll have real problems. So we need to, now that we've been proven right, get back to work and focus on solving your daily issues, like that's what we owe to you. Get back to work and focus on solving your daily issues, like that's what we owe to you, and in that way, I hope that I can lead in a way that I'm disappointed. Paul couldn't like a real leader, picks up the phone, calls the mayor of Burbank as he said he would and still hasn't, and says Nick, I have a concern. We need to meet and talk about this before you go to a press conference and try to play games.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, before you go to a press conference and try to play games, Well, you know the whole situation fed into a, I'm going to say a handful Burbank PD has, you know your haters You're going to have I don't care. You know you got a ticket once. I hate Burbank cops. You know they're assholes. People will say you have that handful of people and that's what it fed into and you know they go. Well, see, they wrote me a ticket once. They're they're wrong and they're always going to be wrong. People don't understand.
Speaker 4:You get a ticket not because you know you did something wrong, it's a training. Most people have taken their driver's test at 16 and when you're 40 or 50, when's the last time you, you know so you get stopped for something you do. Most of the time it's a warning. They don't. You know cops don't have quotas. Uh, writing tickets it's because it's something you've done and it's the same thing. You have this handful of people that would love to. You know, I'm not saying Mike is one of them, but you know you have a group of people that would love to.
Speaker 3:Well, you, that would love to car and feather, and I get it. I mean, like, look, as a Burbank resident, as someone who is proud of our city and our police department, like I, get on an emotional level, that desire to have some vindication. But at the end of the day, I can't do exactly what I am unhappy that Paul did. I can't make this a political thing. I can't sit there and hold a grudge against him. What I'd like him to do, of his own volition, is to acknowledge that he was wrong, acknowledge that the way he went about it was wrong. I would love an apology for the department, but what I'd love even more is, now that we're talking, paul, we're having a homeless solution center that we're hoping to bring online in the next year or two and in that way Burbank will contribute regionally to a problem that we haven't historically. Paul, how can you help us Like, how can we work together? I know council district two has resources.
Speaker 2:That's where I want to turn that major measure H money that we don't get to, yeah, so let's coordinate better.
Speaker 3:So that's that's where I come from. Is there's no time to be petty and angry? There's time to solve problems, because you know the more that I go back and forth with Paul Krikorian, it just validates why people are so disengaged with politics, because it's all about personal feuds and personal spats. Paul doesn't have to like me. I wish he would apologize, but even if he won't, what I care about is what is he doing, what are we doing and how can we work together to tackle homelessness in LA?
Speaker 4:That's you know. It's funny because you go back to the situation and you could turn on your TV or open up any paper any given day of the week and the news is going to focus on some negativity to deal with law enforcement. That's the just. You know. We happen not to. We printed it as it was. As Craig was very clear when he printed it, we will wait till the investigation is done. We are not going to point fingers. It was not cool what he did. But moving on, you know there's a lot more positives that are coming out of Burbank PD. Just look at it. You know. I mean daily we witness a lot better things. You know and this I always say to people what was your biggest problem six months ago? Can you remember to the day?
Speaker 3:No, Well, and the other thing I'd say, ross too, is that I don't think there has been any shortage of criticism aimed at Councilmember Krikorian or his staff or CD2. What I've heard in watching the blogs and listening to the podcast myself is people are rightfully asking the question that's great, you're concerned about Burbank, but why don't you take care of your own affairs? Why don't you focus on your own house and keeping that in order? So I think that you know the concern that we have. It is shared by others. Others are carrying the criticism. I'm just going to say, to the extent that Paul or any member of his staff listens to this, you know, look, we know we're in the right. I think. I know I know what I would do if I were in your shoes. But if you're not going to do that, let's just get together, let's work through our problems, let's be good regional partners, cause at the end of the day, that's what you all rightfully expect, that's what we should.
Speaker 4:Well, you just said it. You look at the problem, the problem gets worse, you look at the solution and that is, you know, a lot of people look at it that way. Yeah, I talked to somebody the other day that apparently lives over here near Coanga and um Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake and he reminded me about their homeless problem under the bridge there at Coanga. You can't drive under a bridge in Burbank and find that, because our Street Plus people and everybody else is out there tackling it. You know, you got to admit, you drive down our streets and if you see a homeless person, they probably have been contacted by our MET team, by our Street Plus team. We're doing everything. What's LA doing?
Speaker 3:Well, and look when the chief and I meet with Paul and his staff, if they're willing to listen, we're more than happy to talk about all the things that we're doing really well. And hey, if they want to borrow some of those ideas and put them to good use and council district to even better.
Speaker 2:Well, now we know we have your meeting next we have another, another topic for our next show Also. I'm going to follow up on that thing. I'll keep you posted. I think in the long run it kind of blew back in his face and made him look kind of bad. I think in the long run.
Speaker 4:Well, I don't think he realized when people we had people write to us, look at the video. It's not correct time-wise. It was sped up. You know a lot of stuff there. They edited out what he wanted people to see and that's just not right. I mean, if you're going to jump on somebody, get all your ducks in line, exactly.
Speaker 2:LA politics. I mean, how many of those people are getting arrested anyway for this and that it's not happening in Burbank? Let's move on. Enough of that Now. The other night the council you guys actually made a longer time in closed session. I know you're not allowed to talk about closed session things, but I know one of the things on the closed session agenda was the case of Nick Gutierrez versus the city of Burbank. Nick Gutierrez, is there a Nick Gutierrez? Well, you know, we think there is, but we can't find a Nick Gutierrez.
Speaker 4:I tell you, if my name was Nick Gutierrez and I lived in Burbank, I'd change my name.
Speaker 2:Maybe they thought that was like the John Smith of Spanish names or something and they would never find him, who knows? Um, anyhow, so you guys met a little and I hit, so we have some news about and that's about it's about council districts yeah, at the school district immediately just jumped right into without really they got kind of scared and then did it, which is a total been a total disaster for the school district and I noticed during some of your interviews, craig, I will say I I did listen to your podcast with your uh different uh people running for different offices, school board and so forth.
Speaker 4:I was not easy on them either no, you weren't. But again, you laid out, you questioned districting and I think all of them were in favor of next year, whenever they can.
Speaker 2:Well, that's just yeah. Our school board president, emily Weisberg, says she hates it and wants to get rid of it, and hopefully, after we talk about what we're going to talk about right now, we can get some information, because I think if the city is successful, we will see the school district follow along. So what can you tell us about where we're going with that whole thing right now?
Speaker 4:Mr McDoodle, we're muting your microphone.
Speaker 3:Don't worry, joe, if you're listening. As you both know, I can't talk about anything that was discussed, uh, in close session by the council, so everything I'm saying is what I, on good faith and every reason to believe, is public information.
Speaker 4:So people wanted to research it when it's filed in documents at the courthouse public at that point public information. So what you're providing us is what has been it's public. It's public information, that's right.
Speaker 3:So Mr Gutierrez filed a lawsuit last year, and when you file a lawsuit you initiate a complaint, and so in this case they're alleging that the city has violated the Voting Rights Act and there was another cause of action. In that case we. One of the first steps you can do is you can file a legal document called a demur. A demur essentially says we think that the court you're addressing it to the court You're saying we think you should toss this complaint out because they haven't alleged sufficient facts to prove anything. We filed several demurs and had several of them granted, with the court agreeing with us. But each time the court said Mr Gutierrez, if you want to come back and allege new or additional facts, we'll give you another bite at that apple. Have we seen Mr Gutierrez yet? I don't believe he's come to court. He's represented by his attorney, as are we, and so they've litigated this. Where it stands now is that one of the two causes of action.
Speaker 3:The court did agree that there was enough to proceed to trial. That doesn't mean it doesn't mean either way. It doesn't mean the court agrees with us or with him. They're just saying, in theory, this is a tribal issue. A jury could agree with either party. So we have a tentative trial date set for the mid middle of 2025.
Speaker 3:And between now and then we'll be going through the discovery process. So that might include deposing Mr Gutierrez and or any individual who is behind the lawsuit or funding it or assisting it in some way. So we'll take depositions, there'll be interrogatories and, depending on what we find from that discovery process, any number of things can happen. It can go to trial. Either side could file a motion for summary judgment if they feel that all the evidence taken together would basically what the standard is. There's only one outcome a jury could make and that is that we're right and they're wrong. So, depending on what we find in discovery, that might be a tool that we employ. I can't get into it much more than that, but what I will say is I can tell you that between Joe and competent and I feel very confident myself in our position so we'll see what happens in 2025.
Speaker 4:So what I get from you? You know a lot of people. We haven't heard about this for a while. It's kind of been quiet and when we saw the agenda last week it was oh, maybe they came up with a decision or something. I think we hired outside consultant, outside attorneys to handle this case. We've dumped a lot of money, a lot of money, into fighting this and you know, when you ask to be a juror, you wonder what kind of cases you could sit on. This is a perfect you could be a juror sitting, but you got to tell them let me expand upon that a little bit.
Speaker 2:And you know I was very critical of the city for not going after Tin Horn Flats. Economically after that whole thing, all we got back was basically our cost for that one section. We should have sued them for all of our costs. Now would this be considered a frivolous type lawsuit if it's thrown out or whatever, or we win? Can we go after the plaintiff and say you know, this never happened. We want our costs back. We want our like Ross says money for our consultants, all those things. Is that something? Are we you as a lawyer, probably, and we're just talking general right now but is that something that you know? We have a recourse on.
Speaker 3:So so I would say two things. Um, at this stage, despite my personal opinions about the lawsuit, um, I don't think we can call it frivolous, at least not yet. You know we're we're not yet, but we will. I think we're going to go through, we're going to find all the facts and then we're going to make our argument in court. But in terms of cost recovery, the civil rights sorry, the California Voting Rights Act, it's, it's, it's pretty in favor of plaintiffs bringing lawsuits to compel undistricted jurisdictions to go to districts. So, realistically speaking, if we win, we are still probably going to have to pay our costs.
Speaker 3:I don't realistically see a path to collecting attorney's fees from Mr Gutierrez, I mean, let alone what assets. He does or doesn't have to do that. Conversely, one of my experience in the course of any litigation, you know it's not uncommon to periodically check in and make sure you know, is this something that we all want to still do? You always have to balance the pros and the cons because we are acting in what we hope is the best interest of the city. But you know when and if there is some sort of final action taken whether it's an outcome in court or something else that the next council most likely wants to do, that'll be reported out to the public. Otherwise, you know we're just going to continue on the course that we've taken and I feel very confident we're in great hands to defend and a great position to defend the city.
Speaker 4:Well, you know how you explain it. Now, you are an attorney. You know we don't have any other attorney sitting on the dais at this current time and we have a city attorney that is involved in a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, and you wonder, I know why he's going bald, that's for sure. But you know, like this case, you know to keep you guys updated, you don't make the decisions. His office and he's been an attorney for many years and he does their research and his assistance and so forth. So this one, you know it's going on a couple of years now.
Speaker 3:And one thing you said that's interesting, ross, is it's very much a team process. So the final decision of whether to defend the case, whether to settle, whether to go to trial, that is in the hands of the council. But all the strategic decisions, once we've made a decision right, we want to settle, we want to go to trial, whatever it is, it is joe and his team and consult whoever you know, anyone that we bring in to help him. Ultimately, joe is our tactical decision maker of how we do it, and I can say, yeah, you, he's, he's got a lot in his plate and he's stressed. But I wouldn't trust anyone more than Joe McDougal. He is, he's sharp, I think he has a very good sense of what to do, and so what I, what I can say to our, to our listeners and to our residents is you know, I can't imagine a better team being assembled to guide the city through this, and Joe's on it. He's great.
Speaker 4:Well, when you guys decided to hire him, when Amy left, you know you could have gone on to the outsider. He moved up, which was, I think, a very smart move. He's been with the city I think over 18 years Long time. He knows this town very, very well. He does and knows the issues, and this is not an easy one. There's a lot of cases now. Sometimes we hear people can't figure out why things don't happen like this. Legal matters take a lot of time. You, being an attorney, know that. You know how many times things have been held over or whatever. It takes time it does, and this one has taken a long time. But I think Craig's right.
Speaker 2:Once the answer comes to this one, the school district might have to. I think if we don't fight this, I think it would be a total confusion for our citizens who don't pay attention like it is now for the people, for the school district. That's right, and I think districts is just absolutely a disaster and I hope the council continues to fight this as long as it takes.
Speaker 4:I think you have a council. You guys work very well together and I don't think you guys are up there hitting heads when it comes to this one. You guys are listened to. You hired him, you hired Joe and city manager. Those are the only two people, but he's doing you right.
Speaker 3:And the other thing I'll just quickly say, ross, is that, look, both in open session and closed session, there are times when there are differences of opinion and agreement. But I think the one thing this council has always done a good job of understanding is that when we can find common ground and be united, it's better for the community. And look, none of us have the answers. Every decision is a tough decision, including this one, but as long as we're doing what we think is in Burbank's best interest, you know, at least I can sleep well at night.
Speaker 4:Well, a good example is, I think, the Pickwick. Uh, you know, sb 35, the council laid down, literally rolled over. I should never have done that, you know. But again, you know, we're gonna fight, you know, and they lost their butt big time and it's because they rolled over, you know, I will say that I'd say to their faces, because that's what they did and we lost, you know, and it cost us a couple of bucks, close to half a million dollars that's.
Speaker 2:that's a chunk of change.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, and the other thing I'd say on that, ross, is look, from my experience four years on council now and as an attorney, um, I think you've seen a couple of times now I know when the fight isn't worth it and when I think that there is no hope of winning and, and you know, you have to cut your losses.
Speaker 3:But I also know when I feel we have a strong case and I think we're in the right. And so you know, all I can do is use my best judgment and um, but I hope that you know, whoever the one or potentially two new council members are when they come in, that would be my unsolicited advice is listen to Joe, listen to all the experts, but at the end of the day, you have to be the one to go to the grocery store and talk to someone about why you did what you did. I've always erred on the side of. I'm going to do what I feel is right, what I think is the smart thing to do, and it it served me well so far. So you know, good luck to the next two council members.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a tough decision, you know, know when you guys have to make those decisions and you have the right guy up there. You know the ringleader absolutely. You know um, and you got to trust them and and you know, every week we listen to counsel and it amazes me all the legal things, that everything that is on that agenda as some part of a legal, you know, sense toward it.
Speaker 2:Well thinking. With that in mind, let's move on to our next subject Short-term rentals. Yes, so we just dealt with that a little bit in the last meeting. I got to be honest with you. I thought it was a little ridiculous in the staff report where it said there are 200 to 300 short-term rentals, but we don't know where they are. And a speaker got up and said you know, my daughter spent a day and a half and found over two hundred of them by just using the telephone. So I think you know you'd hope the staff would give you the best response and not take shortcuts like that.
Speaker 2:But short-term rentals are an issue in the city and I think you brought up the point. Point which I thought was very good in the meeting was that's taking away from our housing. Yeah, which means you know we're in our sp35, you know restrictions and stuff, and to get out of that we need to have x amount of housing available and that's not available. If we're, let's face it, if that's just two or three hundred, there could be five hundred. Yeah, we don't know. So I mean that's not available. If we're, let's face it, if that's just two or 300, there could be 500. Yeah, we don't know. So I mean that's, that's a lot of housing that's off the market because of that. So, um, talk about what the council is is is wanting to do. You went back to the first, the first step. You're going to come back with an ordinance and everything else. So talk about that a little bit Definitely.
Speaker 3:So. What your viewers and listeners should know is that at the last council meeting, we made the initial policy choice, the first step towards moving towards a ban on short-term rentals. So that means you can't have your single-family home available for a 30-day or less short-term lease on websites like Airbnb or VRBO. It wasn't an easy decision. We understand that some people have used that to supplement income, and so there can be very legitimate good purposes that people want to open their home and do that. But at the end of the day, we have any number of high class, world, world quality, high quality, world class hotels in Burbank. They're not full vacancy rates hovering between 70% and 80%, and we have to balance individual interest, individual financial interest, with concerns of the entire community and the neighborhood and impacts on traffic and quiet enjoyment of property we want to talk about tax ways because, let's face it, every time you get a hit on a pillow, we make money.
Speaker 2:When it's Airbnb, we make zero. We want to talk about tax ways because, let's face it, every time you get a head on a pillow, we make money. When it's Airbnb, we make zero. We make zero.
Speaker 3:So so the what I would say is the one thing that I think we can all agree on is that the current model isn't working, the current model being that they exist in our community. They're not licensed, they're not regulated, they're not regulated, they're not taxed, and so you know, they're both here and we get no benefit from it. So the choice we had to make was do we want to go down the first route, which would be um, licensing them, permitting them, regulating them and collecting a tax? But there's also more costs in terms of enforcement, because you have to go after those that don't comply with the regs. Um versus just banning it and allowing people that want to visit Burbank to stay in our hotels and keeping neighborhoods for housing and for quiet neighborhoods. That's where I ultimately came down. It wasn't an easy decision, but at the end of the day, we have ample hotel space here in our community. There's plenty of places to come and stay. You still can have access to longer-term rentals more than 30 days, so those are still allowed.
Speaker 3:But all of this is a long-winded way of saying that this is just the start of the process. That decision will not be finalized until, most likely, next year. So if you're interested in the council race. This is a great question to ask all the candidates of their position on, because ultimately, you know, at least two of them, coupled with our returning council members, are going to have to make the final decision. But we asked staff to start working on preparing an ordinance that would ultimately ban it, and there's going to have to be more outreach to get feedback on that. There's going to be more public meetings. It'll go back to the planning commission, I'm sure. So you know if you agree with what council did or heck, even if you don't. The train has not left the station yet. There's plenty of time to give your feedback, but that is the direction for now.
Speaker 2:The council's leading I'm going to ask you one question. I know Ross has some probably follow-ups also, but what is our recourse against the Airbnb website that, if we do ban them and they continue to list Burbank locations or whoever the listing agencies are, and they continue to list Burbank rentals even though they're banned here? Do we have any recourse against a website like that, or is that? Are we just powerless?
Speaker 3:We, we would. I'd leave it to Joe McDougal to better explain it. But yes, right now Airbnb is short-term rentals. They're neither allowed nor really not allowed under our code, the code silent to it. So we really can't. We don't have a leg to stand on. If we go to Airbnb and say take down this listing in Burbank, if you, if you regulate it, you could go to them and say this one's not licensed and permitted to operate here, take it down. Equally, if it's banned, you then at least have an ordinance along the books to say take it down. Equally, if it's banned, you then at least have an ordinance, a law in the books to say take it down. So, whichever way we go, I think we benefit from doing something, whereas the way we've been in this sort of weird purgatory where it's not legal but it's not illegal, it hasn't really served anybody.
Speaker 4:Don't tell exactly well, you know it brings up a great point. People don't realize our hotels pay quite a bit bed tax, oh and. But also, when you walk into a hotel any hotel in burbank they're, they're clean, they have working fire alarm systems, they have drills, they do all these things. When you're in an airbnb, you have nothing guaranteeing that there's going to be a smoke alarm in the place. You have no guarantee that there will will or won't be bed bugs. I mean, I can go on, the list goes on, and it kind of gets me without regulation, you know it's right, like our food trucks in town, they have to be licensed to operate in Burbank. You know you have to have some type of control and right now we don't got much control?
Speaker 3:No, and the one not to interrupt your thought, ross, but I would say um. For those who might disagree with me and say, hey, we should regulate it, what I would say is, if we're going to regulate it, the reason I didn't go that direction a is because I think housing should be for housing, but b? Um, there's a lot of questions we haven't answered. If you are going to regulate it, how many are you going to allow in the city? Is that to your point? Is there an inspection or verification process to make sure the properties are safe? Um, we?
Speaker 3:These are all questions that we would have to answer and we would have to make it all make sense. So, the fees that we would impose on the short-term rentals, yes, we'd want to keep some of that for profit, but we would have to reinvest a lot of it to make sure that we're properly enforcing it. So, yeah, to your point. I think, no matter which way the count the next council ultimately goes, there's a lot of questions we have to answer, and what isn't working is what we're doing right now, which is yeah, years ago I remember code enforcement, the business license guys.
Speaker 4:They would read the newspaper when we would have a newspaper and somebody would put an ad up in the newspaper and people would you know they get a call or a visit from code enforcement and they'd go how did you know I was, you know, in business? Blah, blah, blah. I thought we were proactive. Well, there you go. You know we're reactive. You're right, burbank is not proactive, but it's kind of we're gonna have to train people and get more inspectors because they're out there doing a lot more stuff now. But I I think it's something that you know. Times have changed and I think we need to kind of control and get the, get the horses kind of roped up back into the barn some way I completely agree.
Speaker 3:So stay tuned and and seriously ask all the council, council candidates about it, and next year I fully expect there to be any number of outreach and public meetings where people can give their their opinion and I think you're what you're going to get is, you know, those people that own airbnbs?
Speaker 4:oh, they're not going to want to go to any public meeting. They don't want to be seen. That you know? Oh, I own two or three places and I'm making right tons of bucks.
Speaker 2:Hand over fist yeah I've been on a real issue like in hollywood hills and stuff, and now there's houses seen vacant and maybe become vandalized and nobody even.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's, it's a mess well, I think burbank you gotta admit, burbank does have a lot of crazy rules, but this is one, this is one we got.
Speaker 2:This is how we can keep a good, crazy rule the riffraff out of burbank.
Speaker 4:You know the party houses, that the neighbors. You know 30 cars in front of a house on a weekend, especially up on the hill. Oh yeah, I mean. Last night I heard a police call go out at 3.30 in the morning for a party at a house and then they advised them it's a rental house, the neighbor's having a fit, it happens.
Speaker 3:No, it does. And to your point, ross, I mean look, I understand and I want to safeguard everyone's right to do what they want with their property and to turn a buck, but I have to balance that with. We have to have quiet, safe neighborhoods. You have a right not to be kept up till 4 am because of the party next door. This is a way that we control that, and so it. You know it's all about balance and anyway we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 2:Well, let's move on. We're near the end here and, as always, we really appreciate you coming in every month, because I love this. I get to ask you the questions on my mind and some of our listeners get to ask those questions, and you have the time to explain it in your own way so that it's not a hurried answer. And, okay, now, councilmember, so-and-so, now you weigh in. Now, you weigh in. You know, so we are. We get you know, a little better clarity, but at the end of every show we do our little um, what's on the mayor's mind? Yeah, so this is your time to let us know what's on your mind and what you have your thoughts, until we talk to you again next month.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Well. Thank you both for having me on again. No-transcript. We don't have that many community events anymore that bring people together and yes, this you know. You know not everyone's going to come to pride in the park, I get it, but those that are there, it's. It is fun, it is positive, it is family friendly, it's about love and acceptance and tolerance. It's it's all the values that I think we do share as a community and I just think it gets better and better every year, Although I would. Johnny Carson Park was great, but I'd love to actually see it move back into a more central location in the city. So, you know, hopefully the organizers will have an easier time working with city staff. I.
Speaker 3:That can be like pulling hair out at times but hopefully but hopefully my, my guess from my my thought is you know, year three was great. I hope year four can be even better and maybe there's a way we can get it back into a more central location in the city. But I would just leave, I'll wrap with this. If you didn't go this year, I hope you'll go next year. The musical acts, the performance, um, every it, just it gets better every single year. And I really not only was did I enjoy being there. Allie and I brought the kids out.
Speaker 4:It was a real blast, oh, I think you just said it, it's a safe place, absolutely Safe place. I remember the first one you and me we did an interview for my Burbank and Devin did the article, I recall, and asked these two gentlemen that were LGBTQ and they were blown away, that's right, sorry. Plus, they were blown away that this was going on in burbank and they said we, we didn't know our community could do something like this. Yeah, there is, I think, a great opportunity there, you know, um I agree bring out a different group of people if you don't agree with them.
Speaker 4:And I did read there were a ton of, I think channel one of the tv channels posted that they were going to have a booth there, their go team or something whatever oh, yeah, it was abc7, I think was that what it was and there were a good hundred people commenting yeah, not great, but you know what?
Speaker 3:you don't need to go folk I think that's a great way to look at it. The whole point of pride is about love, acceptance and tolerance. If that's not your thing, don't go. It's really simple. And if it is your thing and you want to go, then go. And it should be safe and fun. And you know, having two rugrats running around, I can tell you that Burbank Pride had security on site. It felt safe. The first one was a little raucous at times. I remember that this one felt really safe, really positive and hey, if we're going to do it and you're going to go, that should be what people walk away with, saying that was a fun experience. Um, I will be back next year. I encourage others to go and do your point, ross. If it's not your thing, okay, not a problem.
Speaker 4:You know, that's the whole point. Of pride is like everyone accept each other and, just you know, allow people to be people. You know, and I will say this weekend, last weekend I know your schedule, we get it printed out. Our community is now putting on. Somebody said to me the other day at a Magnolia park event there are so many events on a weekend? I'm not. It's hard for me to decide which one to go to now.
Speaker 4:This one, like craig and I said earlier, uh, this one lacked a little of the uh promotion that it had. Not everybody knew about it, but, um, the other one was I don't know how they did it or whatever. I know they didn't come to us, they didn't send us anything. I'm saying, uh, we, we have a free calendar. They didn't put it on it or anything, so we offer these things to our listeners. My burbank will. Last year we did an article, I remember, or we had you know, so we would have covered it probably.
Speaker 2:We would have covered it exactly. We didn't know about it, that's right.
Speaker 4:But there are so many things Our community is so fulfilling If it's either you know at the bowl or these different things going on, this is a community that you don't have to go for, but I am embarrassed of Channel 7, who bought it and we didn't.
Speaker 2:How'd that happen? So what do you do? You can't be everywhere, I guess.
Speaker 3:No, and you guys do a heck of a job, I mean especially on a volunteer basis. You guys cover more of what's happening in Burbank than anybody and you know I'm sure that your listeners would share my sentiment. That it's appreciated, because, but for you guys, how would anyone know what's happening in Burbank?
Speaker 4:Well, I I covered the other day the bench unveiling and a couple of guys came up to me, apparently went to school with Craig. They asked me about Craig and so forth and I can't tell you their name. Apparently, they played baseball for you when they were Rugrats. I tell you their name. Apparently they played baseball for you when they were Rugrats and um, but you know they. They said if you want to know anything about Burbank, you got to follow my Burbank, either the podcasts or looking online. You know, cause we're the only source to keep some of this out there. Yep.
Speaker 2:Well, mayor, do you have anything else you uh want to go over? Or should we call it a show?
Speaker 3:Um, no, I. Do you have anything else you want to go over? Or should we call it a show? No, I think it's great. I just want to thank you all so much for the opportunity. It's always fun. I learned a new word the other day and I told someone the show's real skibbity. I hope I said that right, but it's very skibbity.
Speaker 2:Skibbity-dibbity-doo, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I bet whoever just heard it is going to definitely uh, let me know if I used it the right way or not. But uh, no, I appreciate you guys and I'm looking forward to next month too fantastic well, that's it for another month.
Speaker 2:And, uh, for mayor nick schultz and ross benson, this is craig sherman saying thank you very much for listening, either on your in your cars and your podcast platforms or on youtube, if you're watching the show also. So thank you very much and we will talk to you again next month.