Burbank Glendale Pasadena Airport

Josh Kleinbaum Bob Hope Airport is two-thirds of the way home. The Burbank and Glendale city councils on Tuesday voted unanimously to rename the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport to Bob Hope Airport in honor of the late entertainer and longtime Toluca Lake resident. Pasadena is expected to approve the name change next week, which will make the new moniker official. "Bob Hope is someone that we should honor," Burbank City Councilman Todd Campbell said.

With Star Park -- a 2,150-space lot -- preparing for its grand opening Tuesday, the Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport has cut its prices. Rates for economy lots will drop Monday from $9 to $4.55 per day, valet parking from $20 to $12.73 daily, and hourly parking from $30 to $18.18 daily. All fees exclude the city's 10% parking tax. Star Park is scheduled to open at 2555 N. Hollywood Way, if weather permits the final work on the project, Zelman Development Co. Vice President Paul Casey said.

Karen S. Kim AIRPORT DISTRICT -- A political group in Washington, D.C. has taken on the arduous task of reducing congestion at Southern California's overused airports, including Los Angeles International Airport and Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. The way to tackle this difficult feat is by shifting airport activity to underused airports like Palmdale Regional Airport and Ontario International Airport, the group proposed. The group, called the Southern California Regional Airport Congressional Working Group, met with Norman Mineta, head of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Federal Aviation Administrator Jane Garvey on July 19 in Washington, D.C. to discuss their proposal.

Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport officials would like to claim that it is out of concern for pedestrian safety that they are trying to prevent access between the Star Park parking lot, owned by Zelman A-1, and the airport terminals. But when pressed on the issue by a superior court judge, the airport's own attorney acknowledged quite clearly, "We don't think this is a case about safety." Rather, as the Airport Authority's assistant executive director admitted in deposition under oath, the airport's efforts to prevent pedestrian access, such as removing the 60-year-old crosswalk and installing fencing and signage, "were all designed with the belief that Zelman was going to put a 3,000-car parking lot there."

Laura Sturza AIRPORT DISTRICT -- After a Southwest Airlines jet overshot the runway and skidded to a stop on Hollywood Way in March 2000, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport needed a plan to prevent future crashes. The Airport Authority hired Excel Paving Company to resurface 230 feet of runway with "engineered material arresting system" (E-Mass), a material for preventing runaway jets. E-Mass is a fairly new technology that provides another level of safety, Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill said.

AIRPORT DISTRICT -- It was a really happy new year for Burbank resident Benjamin Ross. Ross, 23, received quite a scare Dec. 29 when the landing gear on the single-engine Piper Comanche he was flying malfunctioned and he was forced to make an emergency landing at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. The dramatic episode was broadcast live on several television stations along with the radio transmission between Ross and a flight instructor who guided him in, at times shouting "Bring it down.

The following incidents were taken from police reports. AIRPORT DISTRICT 2600 block of Hollywood Way: A 43-year-old Burbank woman was arrested on suspicion of assault and battery on a police officer on Aug. 31, police said. The woman was arrested after she allegedly ignored a Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena airport police warning for her to use a crosswalk, police said. When police approached the woman, she allegedly became hostile, refused to show identification and allegedly began hitting and kicking the officer, police said.

Burbank High band wins parade trophies Burbank High School's Bulldog Marching Band and Pageantry won three first-place trophies and a third-place trophy from the Antelope Valley Band Review parade competition on Dec. 2 For two consecutive years, the Burbank High Band has had first-place finishes at the Lancaster competition. Drum Major Scott Rauenswinder earned a first-place trophy for Drum Major/Mace, and the Burbank High Auxiliary squad won first place in its category.

The following incidents were taken from police reports. MAGNOLIA PARK 1000 block of Screenland Drive: A 21-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man, both from Burbank, were arrested Thursday after officers serving a search warrant found an illegal assault rifle, police said. AIRPORT DISTRICT 2627 Hollywood Way: A 28-year-old Altadena man was arrested Tuesday after security officials at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport found a loaded pistol in his baggage when he tried to pass through a screening checkpoint, police said.

After four postponements, a hearing Friday is scheduled to decide the legality of a voter-approved measure limiting noise and expansion at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. City and airport officials have anxiously awaited the Los Angeles Superior court hearing to decide the legality of Measure A. Since both bodies agree that the measure is illegal, the airport refused to defend itself in the city's case against it. The city is paying legal fees for resident Mike Nolan to intervene in the case, acting in defense of the measure.

An open letter to the Federal Aviation Administration: It is a rare opportunity and certain responsibility that brings us to this point in time. The residents of Burbank have a history with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport — a history of doublespeak and expansion over and over again, even while being promised that “all is well.” It goes all the way back to the 1970s, the beginning of the joint-powers agreement and the “founding” of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, where the residents were promised caps on passengers and caps on flights.

CITY HALL — The City Council backed a local administrative law judge’s decision that allows Bob Hope Airport to continue to operate outside of state-mandated noise restrictions while it works to reduce the burden for those living in the airport’s vicinity. The decision was handed down in December by Judge Samuel D. Reyes, who admitted that “noise generated by airport operations continues to be a problem,” but that granting a three-year variance “is in the public interest.

Transit gets moving in city To get commuters out of their vehicles, the city expanded its transit services. In late February, the city began a shuttle program linking the Metro Red Line station in North Hollywood with the media district and Magnolia Park neighborhood. In September, a fixed-route service replaced an on-call service serving the downtown and north media district area with the downtown Metrolink station. And in October, a shuttle service began between the Red Line station and the Bob Hope Airport and north media district areas.

During his career with the Burbank Police Department, Edward Skvarna often thought that the then Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport would be a nice place to work. Now that he is chief of the Bob Hope Airport Police Department, he is finding out just how true that is. "If I'm not doing some public service, I don't know what I'd be doing," said Skvarna, who lives in the Santa Clarita Valley. "It's a natural place for me to be." Skvarna was named as the new chief of the 32-member department during a ceremony on Sept.

Mark R. Madler Bob Hope Airport is on track to handle a record number of passengers as figures for the first half of the year show an 8% increase over last year. Figures released by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority showed that 2.5 million passengers came through the airport during the first six months of 2005. The airport reported 2.3 million passengers during the first six months of 2004. "The belief this will be the busiest year for the airport is starting to come true," airport spokesman Victor Gill said.

Mark R. Madler Improvements to a parking lot and repairs to the two runways at Bob Hope Airport are the two main projects that added $15 million to the budget adopted Monday by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The airport commission unanimously approved the balanced budget Monday morning. Overall revenues and expenditures were anticipated at $74.2 million. The revised 2004-05 budget had revenues and expenditures of $57.3 million.

Mark R. Madler Gerald Briggs, who served on the Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority for seven years, died Saturday. He was 66. "He always worked on anything that was good for all of Glendale," said Ginger Bremberg, a former mayor who appointed Briggs to the city's Planning Commission and the airport authority. "He could serve on any board and do it with excellent service." An independent financial investor, Briggs was also involved for nearly a quarter-century with the Chevy Chase Estates Assn.

Mark R. Madler Now that the City Council has approved a development plan for Bob Hope Airport, it's up to the Burbank-Glendale Pasadena Airport Authority to ratify it. The council Tuesday night approved a document different from what the authority commission voted on in October, so the agency must OK the changes. The council wants 56 acres held in trust near the airport to be sold at the end of the 10-year agreement. The commission could meet as early as Monday for a special session if enough members are available to make a quorum.

Mark R. Madler City Council members will take another crack Tuesday at voting on a proposed development agreement for Bob Hope Airport after they revised the plan this week. The council met into the early morning hours of Wednesday, hearing public comments and then debating the agreement that sets zoning and land use plans for the airport. Postponing the vote allows them to read over the added language to the agreement, council members said.

Mark R. Madler The Burbank City Council will not vote until January on approving a development agreement with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on future projects at the Bob Hope Airport. The timing places the decision closer to the February council primary elections, a point not missed on airport expansion opponents. "I believe this should be an issue for discussion so voters can determine where the candidates stand," said Phil Berlin, a member of Burbank Voters & Taxpayers, a group opposed to airport expansion.