Jackson Bell
Mayor Marsha Ramos wants city officials to work more closely with
residents, and she wants the city to do more long-term budget
planning.
Now that her City Council colleagues have elected her mayor this
year, three years after Ramos was first elected to the council, she's
got a lot more say on those issues.
Ramos, 46, moved to Burbank from New Mexico when she was 6 and
graduated from William McKinley Elementary, David Starr Jordan Middle
and John Burroughs High schools. She and her husband, David, have two
adult children, Richard and Steven.
Ramos is a managing partner for the Glendale-based firm Geosystems
Inc., which provides geotechnical consulting. She volunteers for the
Burbank Family Services Agency, and has been a member of the Burbank
Human Relations Council for more than 20 years. In addition, her
hobbies include gardening around her home, which she tries to make
time for on weekends.
Ramos sat down with the Leader this week to talk about her new
role on the council.
LEADER: What are your ideas or goals?
RAMOS: This year, I want to build a solid foundation by reaching
out and connecting with community members. I would also like to see
financial stability. This year, the council will look forward with a
five-year budget plan. Also part of that solid foundation is to
create a designated team that hopefully will get people to address
issues such as traffic and transportation, updates on land-use
elements, the budget and so on. Another component to success is to
build collaborative efforts that will achieve maximum efficiency by
calling together different groups of community leaders and
representatives in addition to working with specific focus
neighborhoods. I plan to meet with the community to listen to what is
important and hear feedback on if the city is effective and how it
could do better. Collaborative efforts bring together everyone for
good discussions, to find out what is important and to get the best
results.
LEADER: The city has a big push to revitalize downtown -- new
theaters, shops, etc. What is the next area of the city you would
like to focus on?
RAMOS: I think we still need to work on the focus neighborhoods
[such as ones along Elmwood and Verdugo avenues], and specifically
address housing and neighborhood services in those areas. We're also
evaluating the success of other focus neighborhoods.
LEADER: People move to and stay in Burbank because of its
small-town feel. How will the city balance redevelopment and bringing
