Burbank City Hall

Karen S. Kim BURBANK -- As City Clerk Judie Sarquiz seeks reelection, the 29-year Burbank resident says that a heart for community service is the quality that has most influenced her four-year term. "[The city clerk's office] is the first point of contact for anyone in the community who needs anything or has a question, and I just love being able to be a part of that," Sarquiz said. "I know everything that's going on. There's not a thing going on that I don't know about."

BURBANK — The city of Los Angeles purchased 80 acres of park land in the Verdugo Mountains above Burbank from a private developer, further expanding the fourth-largest wildlife refuge in the San Fernando Valley. Verdugo Mountain Park, a more than 500-acre refuge located northeast of the Bob Hope Airport, provides a dense haven of brush and chaparral plants for everything from lizards to snakes to bobcats and mountain lions, said John Kirk Mukri, general manager of Los Angeles' Department of Recreation and Parks.

While volunteering with first-graders 20 years ago, Jack O’Neill stood tall in the R.L. Stevenson Elementary School classroom with his long arms by his side. Before he knew it, three or four tiny, affection-seeking hands belonging to children he helped teach once a week were entwined with his. Small gestures like these made O’Neill reexamine and change the course of his life. “I discovered my affinity for children,” said O’Neill, who does not have children of his own. “And I discovered they had an affinity for me.” He is known all over Burbank for the 39 years he dedicated to NBC and for the myriad titles he’s had, most notably vice president in finance.

High schools participate in county academic decathlon BURBANK -- Burbank High School's nine-member academic decathlon team slipped from last year's third place to 10th place this year in the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon. John Burroughs High School placed 31st out of 40 participating high schools. The overall winner of the Decathlon was Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, which scored 43,081 out of a possible 60,000 points. Second place went to Beverly Hills High School with 40,415 points.

A future Walmart in Burbank dominated the public discourse in 2011, sparking protests at City Hall, new Facebook pages opposing the retailer's move into the city and divided opinions among residents - and it's only just begun. Walmart is scheduled to open near the Empire Center in early 2013, according to spokesman Steve Restivo.  The mega-retailer's sometimes rocky road to Burbank started in early July when news broke that the Walmart Real Estate Business Trust had purchased 12 acres where a 120,000-square-foot Great Indoors store was located.

To explore the outer limits of open government, look no further than Burbank City Hall, where there are things under lock and key that even City Council members aren't privileged to see. So powerful are state laws preventing disclosure of police personnel records that it appears only a handful of people are able to view the complete findings of a recent probe into allegations of misconduct at the Burbank Police Department. And even though it was the council who in January authorized the $200,000 needed for former San Luis Obispo Police Chief James Gardiner to conduct his investigation, they're not on that exclusive list.

AS IF YOU ASKED Two weeks ago, I commented on Burbank City Hall's pattern of lurching and leaping on developments surrounding proposed construction at the local airport's terminal. In testimony to the influence and fearsome authority I wield over city leaders, the pattern has shifted from occasional confusion amid bouts of frenzied activity to an atmosphere of constant, frantic tumult bordering on hysteria. What was City Hall's merely annoying preoccupation with appearances has become an all-consuming desperation to manage perceptions and counter imagined strategies, campaigns that have had almost exactly the opposite effect.

Terminal campaign flies in the face of what's best for the city The Leader reported Nov. 20 that council members Golonski and Murphy took a quick road trip to Glendale. The purpose? To attend a Glendale City Council meeting in order to inject the latest public relations blitz from Burbank City Hall. What's the new blitz about? Burbank now wants a new, larger-than-life airport terminal on the former Lockheed B-6 property! Our illustrious council members are in search of El Dorado with this prime piece of Burbank real estate.

AS IF YOU ASKED Burbank City Hall is thrilled and atwitter over the reception it received during a visit to a Glendale council meeting this week. I think the Burbankers have set themselves up for a hard fall. The episode focused on the airport in Burbank. The councils of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena each name three of the airport authority's nine members. This week, Glendale's appointees came in to give a briefing on recent events. Burbank has thwarted plans to build an expanded new terminal for a decade.

TODAY Shakespeare At Play, based in Burbank, will have a Bingo Fundraiser at 7 p.m. at Hamburger Mary’s, 8288 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. The suggested donation for 10 rounds of bingo is $20. For more information, call (818) 566-1925. FRIDAY “A Christmas Carol,” a musical adaptation of the holiday tale by Charles Dickens, opens at Glendale Centre Theatre, 324 N. Orange St., Glendale. Mario Di Gregario stars as Ebenezer Scrooge.