Bob Hope

Good morning, readers. Today is Sunday, December 9. A Bob Hope estate sale drew a crowd in Toluca Lake on Saturday. But there was not much to buy , according to L.A. Observed . Sherman Oaks residents were left without power early Sunday , reports Patch . Women are vying for open L.A. City Council seats in next year's election . Daily News An after-school program for low-income Burbank families is at risk of...

Karen S. Kim MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- Comedy fans throughout the nation breathed a sigh of relief Thursday after doctors described hospitalized comedian Bob Hope as "in stable condition." Hope, 98, checked into Providence St. Joseph Medical Center on Sunday after having trouble breathing at his Toluca Lake home. Diagnosed with pneumonia, Hope is being treated with antibiotics, intravenous fluids and respiratory therapy, and is expected to be released, Hope's personal physician, Lee Kagan, said at a press conference Thursday.

U.S. Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Howard Berman (D-Burbank) have introduced legislation to name the downtown post office at 135 E. Olive Ave. for legendary entertainer Bob Hope, who died July 27 at 100. "Bob Hope was more than an entertainer, he was an ambassador of hope to our men and women overseas," Schiff released in a statement Thursday. "An honorary veteran, Bob Hope's legacy will be that of a wartime and peacetime soldier, always fighting to bring a smile and a piece of home to U.S. troops around the world."

The Burbank Community Band will present a free concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Burbank High School Auditorium, 902 N. Third St. This is the first public concert by the band in more than 10 years, outside of the annual Veterans' Day, Memorial Day and Flag Day performances. The program will include standard concert numbers - overtures, marches and familiar tunes including a “Salute to Bob Hope” with songs such as “Buttons and Bows,” “Moonlight Becomes You” and, of course, “Thanks for the Memories.” A free-will offering will be solicited to cover renting the auditorium.

'Hope' post office bill going to president BURBANK -- Legislation that would name the post office at 135 E. Olive Ave. for legendary entertainer Bob Hope has passed the U.S. Senate and now awaits the president's signature. The bill, introduced in September by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Howard Berman (D-Van Nuys), was passed by the Senate on Oct. 30. Hope, who lived in Toluca Lake, died July 27 at age 100. Among his many honors, the city of Burbank renamed a portion of Catalina Street near NBC studios after Hope in 1998.

Rev. Larry Stamper honored at Kiwanis dinner Programs for children supported by the Kiwanis Club of Burbank will benefit from the sixth annual gala dinner shared by friends of the Rev. Larry Stamper May 31 at Lakeside Golf Club. Stamper, pastor of the Burbank First United Methodist Church, was honored for 30 years of giving to his community. Under the theme "Lights, Camera, Action," a silent auction kicked off the proceedings followed by dinner and a live auction.

Family members of Bob Hope unveiled a bronze relief sculpture Tuesday at the airport that bears his name. Siblings Linda and Kelly Hope, along with Don Wiegand, the St. Louis-based sculptor who created the bas relief, uncovered the 425-pound sculpture to celebrate the life of comedian Bob Hope. Because her father traveled the world, Linda Hope said it was fitting to display his likeness at the entrance of his namesake airport. Still, his son, Kelly Hope, said the size and scale of the sculpture would likely have made his father pause.

Post office to be named after Hope BURBANK VILLAGE -- The U.S. House of Representatives this week unanimously passed legislation to name the Olive Avenue post office for legendary entertainer Bob Hope. The bill, introduced last month by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Van Nuys), was passed Tuesday. Hope, a Toluca Lake resident who contributed much to Burbank, died July 27 at the age of 100. "An honorary veteran, Bob Hope's legacy will be that of a wartime and peacetime soldier, always fighting to bring a smile and a piece of home to U.S. troops around the world," Schiff said in a prepared statement.

Mark R. Madler Bob Hope's family no doubt will beam with pride Saturday when the downtown branch of the post office is named in the late entertainer's honor. The comedian's mother might have had a different take on the event, though, according to longtime Hope publicist Ward Grant. "She wouldn't like that her son's picture is in the post office," Grant quipped. The post office at 135 Olive Ave. will be renamed after the entertainer in a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. The event also features the debut of the new World War II Memorial stamp.

Ben Godar The City Council on Tuesday was expected to throw its support behind a plan to rename the Burbank- Glendale-Pasadena Airport for Bob Hope. The council was scheduled to recommend the name change and review letters that will likely be mailed to the Glendale and Pasadena city councils seeking their support in renaming the airport after the legendary entertainer. Former Burbank Mayor Michael Hastings proposed the change to the council July 29, two days after Hope died at his Toluca Lake home at the age of 100. The proposal is supported by Hope's daughter, Linda, and management at NBC Studios, which had a more than 50-year relationship with the entertainer, Hastings said.

This story has been corrected. See details below. Burbank Bob Hope Airport is finding that the cost of finishing its new transportation center on time is going to involve increased inspection costs, which have mounted to be more than $1 million higher than expected. Dan Feger, the airport's executive director, told the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday that an additional $750,000 will be needed to meet the projected inspection costs for the remainder of the project, driving up the total inspection cost to $2.15 million.

Drivers heading to Bob Hope Airport over the next two weekends are in for a series of freeway lanes closures and detours, authorities warned. From 11 p.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday, the southbound Golden State (5) Freeway will be closed between the Hollywood (170) Freeway interchange and Sheldon Street. Additionally, the southbound 5 Freeway on-ramps at Terra Bella Street and Osborne Street, and the westbound and eastbound State Route 118 connectors to the southbound 5 Freeway will be closed.

A study commissioned by Bob Hope Airport to ensure its compliance with federal diversity mandates found that while the airfield is doing a better-than-expected job contracting with businesses owned by white women, its use of minority-owned firms is lagging. The study, which was initiated in 2010, measures the disparity between how much of the airport's contract funds went to minority-owned and women-owned businesses, and what that percentage should be, based on the number of those businesses in the area that are qualified, available and willing to do the work.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) wants residents living near Bob Hope Airport to be able to get a good night's sleep, so he has reintroduced legislation to let the airport impose a formal, legally binding curfew on all flight operations. Schiff, along with Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), reintroduced the Valley-Wide Noise Relief Act this week, which would give Bob Hope and Van Nuys airports the authority to prohibit flights after 10 p.m. and before 7 a.m. Schiff said Thursday that the legislation, which was first introduced in 2011 but failed to pass, was born out of a desire to rectify what he and Sherman saw as a mistake made by the Federal Aviation Administration in rejecting Bob Hope's application for a curfew in 2009.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted Thursday to pony up $1.7 million to reach the local match for a decades-old $4.3 million federal grant that will be used to enhance Bob Hope Airport's efforts to foster a "plane-to-train connection" to local transit. The money will help accelerate construction of a Metrolink station along the Antelope Valley line, among other improvement projects, airport officials said. The funds will come from Measure R, a half-cent sales tax that was approved by county voters in 2008 to pay for transportation projects.

There's really no surprise that revenues are down at Burbank's Bob Hope Airport. I am an infrequent flier, and have utilized the Burbank airport for nearly 45 years. I recall the days when you could fly to most every major city out of Burbank Airport, non-stop. Now you must pay the same short-term parking rate as at Los Angeles International Airport, $31 per day. No wonder parking revenues are down. And you can no longer fly to many U.S. cities non-stop from Burbank. In fact, there are very few places you can get to non-stop.

For the first time in more than three years, the number of passengers at Bob Hope Airport increased in March - even if it was by only a slight uptick. A total of 333,647 passengers passed through the airport in March, a 0.27% increase from 332,740 from the same time last year, according to statistics released Monday to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The slight improvement comes as a sharp contrast to the first two months of the year, when airfield officials reported double-digit declines in passengers.

Bob Hope Airport is welcoming a new commuter airline this month whose routes will connect the Imperial Valley to Los Angeles and beyond. On Wednesday, Portland, Ore.-based SeaPort Airlines launched its new slate of 12 non-stop, round-trip flights per week into Terminal A using nine-seat Cessna Caravan propeller planes. During May SeaPort is offering an introductory fare of $39 each way. SeaPort spokeswoman Claire James said that when SeaPort initiated plans to offer flights to San Diego out of Imperial County Airport, it became apparent there was local demand for flights to the Los Angeles area, too. The largest city in Imperial County is El Centro, with roughly 42,000 residents in the southeastern corner of the state, near the Mexican border.

It's been a rough two years for Bob Hope Airport, where a precipitous drop in the number of passengers using the regional airfield has meant a worrying drop in revenues. Fewer passengers mean fewer receipts at parking lots, concessions and other revenue-generating enterprises that fund operations and pay for badly needed infrastructure upgrades. Assuming what's good for the airport is good for the airlines, the solution seems simple. "If the airlines reduced their rates at Burbank and made it more competitive, there would be more passengers and we'd be in better shape; there's no mystery to this," said Terry Tornek, a member of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

To comply with the city of Burbank's requirement for public art, Bob Hope Airport needs to come up with an additional quarter-million dollars for its new transportation center. Airfield officials are hoping to raise the money through an ambitious plan for a new pavilion celebrating the local airport's history. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday voted 7-1 to move forward with plans to spend the extra money on artwork in its transit center , which is currently under construction, and to raise those funds by selling naming rights in the new pavilion.