Walt Meares
It's that time again. Three Burbank council seats are up for grabs
and the candidates are asking what we see as issues. As an interested
citizen, the following concern me:
1. Redevelopment: What's our total bonded debt and when will it be
paid off? What are the net annual tax benefits to us of after debt
service? Is this return adequate to the effort we invest? What are
the City's payroll costs for Redevelopment? Why isn't some form of
reporting of Redevelopment financial status presented at least once a
month?
2. Pensions: Given the attention attracted to some Los Angeles
County public employee pension issues and the state of California's
exposure in public employee pensions, what is the status of Burbank
employee pensions? What are our obligations and how are they growing
from year to year? Do we have cause for future concern?.
3. Traffic: We have a major problem with traffic, yet every
development passes muster with the Planning Board and/or the City
Council with "appropriate" traffic capacity and mitigation measures.
There must be a problem in the practice of traffic assessment and
planning. I'm sure some of it comes from developers who see traffic
mitigation costs related to their projects as overhead or tax costs
that should be borne by someone else. Do we need a bottom up review
of the nuts and bolts of the actual process and the methods used to
develop planning factors and forecast traffic? Should we consider
outsourcing such work so we can have competitive bids, independent
audits of the work and penalty clauses enforceable over the first
five years after the project is completed?
4. Land Use: We spend a lot of time on land use and I have a
nagging feeling that the purpose of much of it is to increase
population density to enhance tax revenue. We see much comment on
"the small town quality of life" aspects of the city, yet we are a
first tier suburb of Los Angeles, as are Glendale, Pasadena and
others. We are a fundamentally urban community that must pay a lot
more attention to the quality of life in all parts of the city --
single family, low density apartment, condominium, high density
apartment, commercial district apartment and business -- to retain a
livable community. No use should impinge on others, but they all abut
one another. Trash pickup and other services cut across all. There
are other issues related to this.
5. Hillside Mitigation Measures: Consider those measures studied
and implemented for hillside areas adjacent to Stough Park, the
