I attended the council meeting on Jan. 10, and it was a crowded one to say the least. I was very pleased to hear people stand up and tell the council how they felt about this issue. It seemed to me it was about 95% to 5% in favor of not opening this day labor lounge. Do you think this had any influence on their decision? Neither did I. They caved to the illegal population, disregarding what the legal citizens desired.
OK, with that said, this center is supposed to cost $94,000 annually to run. The way I understand it, Home Depot pays the city of Burbank, then Burbank pays Catholic Charities to maintain it. Hmm, who holds the liability if someone gets hurt or some kind of problem develops? I drove by this Home Depot on Saturday and to my surprise, there were hundreds of protesters (200 against the center and 75 for it) I also noticed that there were at least 25 Burbank Police officers there keeping the crowd under control. Who may I ask is paying for them? I am guessing at this point, but that must have cost the city a couple thousand dollars for just that day. Is this coming out of my pocket -- for the center that I didn't want?
And the protesters vowed to be there every weekend until something is done about it. Let's see, that could run up into the tens of thousands, if this is true. Was that figured into the $94,000 budget? I doubt it. I want to know who's paying for these officers to be out there. I believe the council made a huge, costly mistake. We should pull out now and close this center down. It's not our job to find illegal aliens work. It's our job to deport them and save our city. I think it's time we empty a few more seats on this council and bring in some fresh minds, ones that can think clearly and make decisions based on the city's needs and the citizens' needs.
CHRIS SHAVER
Burbank
