myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
The Week That Was and That Will Be - October 28, 2024
Discover the heartbeat of Burbank this week as we uncover the city's vibrant mix of events and pressing issues. From the electrifying anticipation of the Dodgers' playoff games, featuring the phenomenal Otani, to the heartwarming celebration of Drew Woods as our Word of the Week champion, there's much to cheer for. We relive the excellence of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce's State of the City Luncheon, with Mayor Nick Schultz's stirring address and those unforgettable Bundt cakes making a lasting impression. The local high school football scene is buzzing with Burbank's triumphant victory, though it's not all celebration; we also touch on the community's concerns following a recent officer-involved shooting that has left many questions unanswered.
Tackle the thorny issue of transparency within the Burbank Police Department in our candid conversation about the aftermath of the officer-involved shooting. We dive into the challenges faced in obtaining information due to restricted police feeds and the denial of public records requests, sparking a debate on accountability and oversight. Amidst the growing call for openness, we highlight the need for a police commission with more oversight power and express our hopes for a future police chief committed to transparency. As always, our enthusiasm for the Dodgers remains high, and we share our excitement for the upcoming Planning Commission meeting, where key city plans will be discussed. Join us for an episode filled with community spirit, critical insights, and a dash of sports excitement.
My Burbank Talks presents another edition of the Week that Was and the Week that Will Be a weekly podcast featuring highlights and commentary on local events and issues taking place right here in Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program.
Speaker 2:Hello, burbank, clay Shulman here with you once again for another. The Week that Was and the Week that Will Be, and of course the week that was was some amazing Dodger games and with the Dodgers now up 2-0 and headed to New York tonight to play 5-0-8 start time, let's hope for the best. I hear Otani is going to be in the game. Injury's not too bad, so let's hope for the best. Anyway, let's get going here. As always, we have a humble request that you like this video and please subscribe to the channel, so YouTube continues to recommend this video to others like yourself. And also think about a channel membership To support us here at my Burbank. Last week's World of the Week winner was Drew Woods. Congratulations, drew. You are the winner of a $25 gift card this week to Hill Street Cafe. Of course, the word was pumpkins, so once again, congratulations, drew Woods. Last week on the channel, we had a podcast on the appeal heard at the city council meeting tomorrow regarding the issuing of a permit for a cell tower in the 800 block of South Main. Our friends Jenny and John from Notebook LM took the deep plunge into the issue On Tuesday. The council was dark last week so nothing really went on there, so that's okay.
Speaker 2:On Wednesday, the Chamber of Commerce held their annual State of the City Luncheon at the Airport Marriott. It was a complete sellout with over 600 people in attendance. We did a nice little story from Ashley Erickson. Ross Benson got some great photos of the day, so please enjoy our coverage. I have some thoughts on it. To start with, the cake on the table from Nothing but Cakes Amazing. If you've never had a Nothing but Cake before, you're missing out. They actually have a store here in the Empire Center and and that's all they do is just sell Bundt cakes. They're amazing. I had the red velvet Unbelievable. So thanks to the people. Anyhow, back to the ceremony. Jay McKeyser of the Chamber put out a spectacular event that was well organized. Also, a huge shout out to the entire public information staff, headed by the amazing Jonathan Jones from the city of Burbank, for putting together two spectacular videos showcasing Burbank and the upcoming Burbank projects in the works. I was lucky enough to sit with the staff at their table and picked up numerous video and editing tips, like I really do need them too, by the way, from the talented staff.
Speaker 2:Mayor Nick Schultz has become an accomplished speaker and delivered flawlessly on his points. However, we need to find someone with a little background in comedy to help on the very slight humorous bits, or at least I think he's trying to be humorous. We'll talk to him in the next. Uh, very slight humorous bits, or at least I think he's trying to be humorous. We'll talk to him in the next. Uh, by the way, I decided not to do an Ask the Mayor podcast in October because I know he is extremely busy with, of course, the state of the city and in the final weeks of his assembly campaign, which I fully endorse. For him, we really need someone who lives and knows Burbank at the state level. Now that we lost Senator Portino, we'll be back with the mayor in both November and December as he finishes his term on the Burbank City Council.
Speaker 2:Let's move on to Friday. Friday Night Lights saw Burroughs lose to Pasadena 24-7, while Burroughs I'm sorry, while Burbank topped for Santa Valley 52-7. So big win for Burbank topped Crescent Valley 52-7. So big win for Burbank. What has happened to the Crescent Valley All-Star team? I guess there were not as many good players from Hoover and Glendale to poach this year in football. Anyhow, saturday an officer-involved shooting was reported at 1 am near the corner of Buena Vista, and Victory Police gave no details except the lone driver was in a stolen van. They did not supply his name, nor did they say why the shooting occurred and if any weapon was recovered. All they said is the man received minor injuries. We will talk more about this in Craig's comments at the end of the show. So with that, a quick rundown of last week. As always, we'll take our quick little commercial break and be back with you with the week that will be so stand by Enjoying the show right now, Thinking you may want to do your own podcast.
Speaker 3:Viberate Talks is renting out our podcast studio on an hourly rate. You can do audio podcasts or both audio and video, and even bring in guests to talk with. We will help you get set up on podcast platforms and start a YouTube channel, and we can edit your productions to make you look and sound your very best. If you are arrested, please drop us an email at studiorentalsatmyburbankcom. That's studiorentalsatmyburbankcom, and we will get back to you. Now back to our show.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's my studio audience. Yes, thank you. Thank you very much. What happened to you guys in the first segment? We guys all went to the restroom or something. No, anyhow, craig Sherman, back with you once again with the week that will be and let's get on to later tonight. And what a shame for those of you who want to go to the meeting. We got a World Series game on at 5.08 tonight. By the way, otani will be playing.
Speaker 2:The planning commission will meet at 6pm at City Hall. They're going to get an overview of the media district specific plan and also going to create an overview of the media district specific plan. They're also going to create a new 2021 to 29 housing element opportunity site overlay zone. This is kind of interesting. We'll get into this a little later. I think I'm going to see if we can get a Notebook LM podcast on that. I think there's some very interesting aspects to it. We'll get into that.
Speaker 2:Moving on to tomorrow, tuesday, the city council meeting at 5pm is going to be a little bit different, so the meeting is going to be broken up into two sections this week. At 5pm, the city council will have a study session on the first six months of the downtown Burbank-San Fernando Boulevard reconfiguration phase one Report says it's basically a success, except for the parking in red zones and double parking, which is a concern to the fire department because it narrows down the amount of road they have to travel down in emergency responses. My suggestion Make half the spots handicapped and the other split between the public and delivery companies that just stopped to pick up orders. The parking structures are close enough that healthy people can walk a block. With my knees to walk the distance, I never go downtown to buy anything because I know there will never be any handicapped parking available, so it's something to think about. I never go downtown to buy anything because I know there will never be any handicap parking available, so it's something to think about.
Speaker 2:At 6 pm the regular meeting is going to start and it's going to have all the pregame pageantry associated with it. There will be a legislative update from Assemblymember Laura Friedman let's hope she shows up and not the member of her staff and a city's paid consultant on those matters. They're going to also approve a pay raise of at least 3% to police officers and higher to some other ranks, as well as seniority pay for long-time officers Well deserved, and we need to keep paying our officers, our fire department, all of our first responders, top dollar and keep them here and keep them happy. Now they're going to have and we once again did a little podcast on this, as I told you earlier, they're going to have an adoption of a resolution denying an appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of an administrative use permit for a wireless telecommunication facility located at 800 South Main Street. I guess that's how they really feel about it before the hearing. So we did a podcast earlier on this and you should find out more about it and the appeal, because I got a feeling it's got no real chance because there is too much federal law and president involved and they're relying on reports from 1996, which is way before today's technology. But what are you going to do about it? Because once again it's more of a federal thing. And cell phone towers and cell phone towers are all throughout the city. There's over probably 100 in burbank. So you can't all of a sudden say, well, this one is evil, this one's not going to work and everything else I get it's by a preschool. Um, it's, it's by a near an elementary school. I get all those things. But you have to have more than being nimby in this day and age of technology. So we'll see. Now, this one is great.
Speaker 2:We're having a hearing on restoring addresses on the even side of the street between 600 and 740 Roselli Street back to Burbank, even though they are Burbank addresses. Roselli Street back to Burbank, even though they are Burbank addresses. It seems as though during redistricting the government transferred those addresses from Burbank to Glendale so that now Glendale receives all of their tax money and Burbank provides all their services. You have to love our government work. And what's this going to cost us? Well, burbank taxpayers are going to be on the hook for about $50,000 To transfer these properties back to Burbank. It will then take a couple of years in property taxes to recoup our money. So the government screws up. And now the government charges us to fix their screw up. So you wonder why do people not trust government sometimes Anyhow? So poor people in Roselli aren't even considered to be in Burbank, even though they have homes in Burbank. What a mess. Gotta love redistricting. Gotta love a little gerrymandering and all the stuff they do to make themselves happy in their little areas. I'm not going to get Election time. Gotta love it.
Speaker 2:Thursday it's Halloween and there is going to be a Halloween carnival at McCambridge Park and it's going to be a carnival and it's from 6.30 to 8 o'clock pm. It says you can put your luck and skills to the test. It's going to be a carnival and it's from 6.30 to 8 o'clock pm. It says you can put your luck and skills to the test at the Halloween carnival and play games to collect prizes and candy, but you must register first. So go to the city's website to register. By the way, it will cost you $5, so make sure your kids get $5 worth of candy, which I'm sure they probably will Anyhow. Besides that, it's very important that you take a breath while driving on Halloween night. Leave 10 minutes early before you have to go somewhere and drive slow. There's a ton of kids out there crossing streets and wearing dark clothing, costumes that may be hard to see. So please slow down and let's make sure everybody gets through Halloween safely, please.
Speaker 2:So Friday next week here or this week, I should say it's once again time for the big game. Did I say game, as in big game? I just love pushing the button. I'm sorry. Anyhow, it's the big game. I know, I know and what that noise means. It is the word of the week, which is, of course, game. So all you have to do is send an email to contest at myburbankcom. Put the subject line game and we will enter you into this week's contest for a 25 gift gift card and, of course, you get your name right on next week's show. That alone should be just a prize Anyhow. So let's get back to the show here.
Speaker 2:So once again, it's time for the big game, and this year there are playoff implications on the line. Burbank is 5-1, and Burroughs is 4-2 in the Pacific League, so a win by Burroughs will put both schools in the playoffs, with a loss by the Bears might put them in a tie with Pasadena, and since Pasadena beat the Bears last week, they are now tied and the loss could knock Burroughs out of the playoffs completely. You'll probably have to buy your tickets online, because they do not take cash at the games or sell tickets at the games anymore, but the good news is the game was not even close to being a sellout last year, so there's probably going to be seats available. It's just too bad that this game had become a social event and next week, when the teams make the playoffs, nobody seems to care anymore and do not show up to the games to support the teams. I don't get that. So the Burry Bros games, of course, is important, and the playoffs aren't, and you always spend your money, waste your time. I don't get it. Those teams deserve your support.
Speaker 2:Let's move on to the weekend. On Saturday, dig yes, that's right. Dig Returns from 8 am to 10 am and it's going to be at the McCambridge Parks War Memorial. It's going to be a time to spruce up the memorial in time to make it look sharp for Veterans Day and the Veterans Day ceremonies coming up. And, as always, don't forget your shovels and hoes. Okay, enough of that.
Speaker 2:Let's move on to Craig's comment here and, as I said before, we're going to comment on kind of the information going out by the Burbank Police Department. So the officer-involved shooting occurred in Burbank on Saturday morning and we can only go by what the police department has told us, because now they've cut off their police feed so we could not listen. It's already 15 minutes late and now, whenever something happens, they just pull the plug on it, so we have no way of independently verifying anything that is said or told to us. They deny our request for public record incidents like the homeless situation back in June, and I promise they'll probably refuse to give us any audio or video from this shooting, although I will be filing a Freedom of Information Act later today with the city clerk's office to get both. Information Act later today with the city clerk's office to get both. I'm pretty sure they have to give video out in 45 days from state law, but I'm not sure about audio. But you know, it's just, I don't get it. Why are they? When I went to listen to the audio, they scrubbed it Nothing there and I they scrubbed it Nothing there and I don't get it. They have basically become the secret police in Burbank.
Speaker 2:We had a meeting with the chief when this happened. He told us the only reason they were doing this was to stop crimes in progress, because criminals were listening to scanner apps on their phone. What does an officer-involved shooting have to do with this? It seems that officers who are promoting up in ranks are doing more and more to stifle the media and the free flow of information to the public. Now that the chief is retiring, will they hire somebody who is going to be more transparent, or will it continue to be the same secretive stance? I have no reason to believe that they are not being truthful, but there is no transparency for me to verify what they say. What if a future event has something go wrong and without a way of having someone to verify it, then it might get swept under the rug.
Speaker 2:Our police commission has no oversight ability whatsoever. I cannot request anything that the department does that. They cannot request anything the department does to be even given to them. I wonder if anybody remembers why the police commission was formed back in the 50s. It was because of the corruption involving both the city and the police department, which ultimately saw the police chief and the city and the police department, which ultimately saw the police chief and the mayor at the time get fired and actually get arrested. The department makes public policy all the time without ever running it by the police commission in advance, and the department prepares every report for the commission. They've been tied to the commission and the commission has thought about a report and the police chief has told been tied to the commission and have thought about a report and the police chief has told them no, they don't have the time to do that, which the police commission then just says okay, no problem, the Brink Police Department is made up of great individuals and they do a great job keeping our city safe.
Speaker 2:I am in no way against the department or the officers. I just want the ability to know that everything is on the up and up and at times, even though, in all honesty, I have no reason to believe that it is not at this time. I am a news person at heart and just by my nature, like to question things. It just concerns me that information flowing out of the Burbank Police Department has become a trickle. 10 or 10 years ago I had to fight with the department to get arrest records released to the media, even though it was state law, and now you can find them on the department's website. But it was something that my brain had to fight for. We don't have the time, resources or money to fight legal battles to get what's right, but we make every effort we can to try to get the information. So all I'm saying is not against the police department, that's right, but we make every effort we can to try to get the information. So all I'm saying is not against the police department, not against anybody there. I am against the policy, and it seems to be the lack of information or the lack of access to information by anybody on the outside, and I think this should be concerning down the line. Okay, so do not take this as an attack on the police department, but take it as an attack on their policy, on this policy in particular. So that's my comment.
Speaker 2:I'd love to hear from you about your thoughts also. So please, once again, do not forget to subscribe and like this video and please always consider that membership. There's a description to the MyBurbank YouTube channel to keep us going so we can keep bringing you this content. That's it for another week, and let's hope Shoya Tani is not injured really too badly and does get to play in the game so the Dodgers can win game three in the series tonight. And wouldn't it be great to have a parade back in LA? I think so too. We'll see you next week. Craig Sherwood, saying so long for the week, that was the week that will be, and we will see you next week. Thanks again for listening on your cars or watching on the YouTube channel. Take care.
Speaker 4:Thank you for watching the latest MyBurbank video. If you have it in your heart, please consider helping us by clicking on the super thanks down below or, even better, go to our channel and consider a membership. Your support is what keeps my Burbank going strong.