Complaints

There is a lawn sign in my neighborhood that says: “Burbank: Stop Walmart, Live Better.” Of course, there has been zero explanation of why we in West Burbank, or any part of the city, would be worse off if Walmart opens in that big, vacant store in an established shopping center located in an industrial/commercial section of town. The hype against Walmart is based upon old complaints in other parts of the country that just aren't applicable here, or upon labor union frustrations about not being able to collect more dues.

Gretchen Hoffman A year after Charter Communications opened the doors to a regional call center -- resulting in a flood of complaints about customer service -- officials say the cable company is consistently meeting industry standards for call- response times. The call center has more than doubled the number of custo- mer-service representatives, to 600 employees, and is answering 90% of calls in 30 seconds or less, Charter spokeswoman Sandra Magana said.

Complaints about the massive open-air recycling facility in Sun Valley flow in each month in minute, sometimes stomach-turning detail. Rats have skittered off the property of Community Recycling & Resource Recovery and into a nearby business, according to calls logged by the city. Churning dust is said to be "making everyone's eyes burn," making breathing difficult and causing bloody noses among workers at a neighborhood paving firm. Gulls scavenging from piles of food waste have scattered bits of garbage from the sky. And then there is the stench, variously described in the logs as "a dead animal smell," a "rotten egg odor" and "putrid.

Ken Johnson loves traffic; it’s the constant stream of complaints he receives that has taken some getting used to. Since he joined Burbank’s Public Works Department as the city’s traffic engineer seven years ago, Johnson has received probably thousands of complaints, questions and suggestions about traffic problems that plague a city with more than 100,000 residents and 190 traffic signals. “We get at least 10 calls a day from people who have complaints and issues,” he said.

NORTHWEST DISTRICT -- The Burbank Police Department needs no additional oversight of officers accused of wrongdoing, the police chief told members of the committee reviewing the city's charter Monday night. Police Chief Thomas Hoefel outlined for the city's charter review committee what measures are already in place to investigate officers. "The City Attorney's Office and human resources looks at us, and there's the [state] Department of Justice if there's something criminal related," Hoefel explained.

BURBANK ? The City Council passed an interim fence ordinance on Tuesday night that raises the height limit for residential fences by one foot in most cases and allows existing fences to stay up as long as they do not pose a safety hazard. A Blue Ribbon Task Force will be formed to review the interim standards before they are put in place permanently. Homeowners have been coming out en masse to protest changes to residential fence standards, but as it turns out, the outcry was much ado about, almost, nothing.

Ryan Carter Based on complaints from local merchants and residents, Burbank Police are cracking down on increasing crime in areas around Burbank Village. In the past week in the Village area -- from the Media City Center on the north to Gordon Biersch Brewing on the south -- police have cited and arrested about 50 people. Half of them were citations for possessing open containers of alcohol. Thirteen of them were for urinating in public, with the remainder mostly being for fighting, police said.

As a former attendee of and longtime former lay leader at Little White Chapel, I have been interested in the cell phone tower debate now going on. While some neighborhood complaints I believe are unfounded and/or paranoiac, others appear legitimate. I wonder if the minister or current lay leadership has made any effort to alleviate those complaints or explain why they wish to use church premises for such a purpose, especially anything that detracts from the 70-year significance of the steeple that is a hallmark for this part of Burbank.

For 40 years, Burbank residents have built fences and walls on their properties. But none of those front and backyard structures compare to the bureaucratic wall that threatens to separate them from enjoying their property. Residents have been allowed to build and build over the years, without seemingly any public outcry and little enforcement. Now, after more than 500 complaints from two citizens, the fate of the city's law on such heights is being determined. With the complaints, and the sudden enforcement they've sparked, the city threatens the ability of residents to enjoy their property.

In spite of the recovering economy and ongoing investigations into the Police Department, a recent survey shows that 96% of Burbank residents generally are satisfied with the city. About 78% of those surveyed reported they were very satisfied overall with Burbank's services, and 18% said they were somewhat satisfied. Another 3% said they were somewhat dissatisfied, less than 1% said they were very dissatisfied, and 1% had no opinion. The last citizen survey was conducted in 2001 and showed a 95% general satisfaction with city services.

Complaints about the massive open-air recycling facility in Sun Valley flow in each month in minute, sometimes stomach-turning detail. Rats have skittered off the property of Community Recycling & Resource Recovery and into a nearby business, according to calls logged by the city. Churning dust is said to be "making everyone's eyes burn," making breathing difficult and causing bloody noses among workers at a neighborhood paving firm. Gulls scavenging from piles of food waste have scattered bits of garbage from the sky. And then there is the stench, variously described in the logs as "a dead animal smell," a "rotten egg odor" and "putrid.

A U.S. District Court judge has accepted a third amended complaint from a woman who got into a tussle with security officials at Bob Hope Airport when they wouldn't allow her to bring applesauce and other snacks onboard a flight in 2009. Nadine Hays, a Camarillo resident, claims she was taken into custody after the April 2009 incident based on a falsified citizen's arrest form and tampered evidence. U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Walsh said several defendants who have been served, including some airport employees, must now respond to allegations in Hays' complaint - or enter a plea - by March 1. The defendants include Tesia Tettah, the Transportation Security Administration employee with whom Hays allegedly got into a tug-of-war.

This post has been corrected, see below for details. The woman who got into a tussle with security officials at Bob Hope Airport when they tried to confiscate her applesauce and other snacks filed a third amended complaint in her lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court. At 125 pages and citing more than 60 defendants, Nadine Hays' previous complaint was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Walsh because it was “long and rambling.” Walsh instructed Hays to focus on the airport incident and arrest that followed.

A woman who tussled with Bob Hope Airport security officers over a container of applesauce for her elderly mother seems poised to draw the ire of another federal official - this time a U.S. District Court judge. Nadine Hays was arrested in 2009 after she refused to give up an ice chest containing the snack to Transportation Security Adminstration officials. Criminal charges stemming from that incident were dropped in October 2010, after Hays reported six months of good behavior. [For the Record, Oct. 24: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that TSA agents arrested Nadine Hays.

As a former attendee of and longtime former lay leader at Little White Chapel, I have been interested in the cell phone tower debate now going on. While some neighborhood complaints I believe are unfounded and/or paranoiac, others appear legitimate. I wonder if the minister or current lay leadership has made any effort to alleviate those complaints or explain why they wish to use church premises for such a purpose, especially anything that detracts from the 70-year significance of the steeple that is a hallmark for this part of Burbank.

Burbank Police Officer Cindy Guillen didn't want to file a lawsuit, her lawyer told jurors Monday, but was forced to do so after complaints of gender and ethnic harassment within the department were ignored. In his opening statements in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Solomon Gresen promised to tell Guillen's full story, from her humble beginnings to fulfilling her dream of becoming a police officer in Burbank. Gresen described Guillen as an “outstanding police officer.” “There is no question about the caliber of her work,” Gresen said, adding that Guillen serves as the public information officer to the Spanish-speaking community.

There is a lawn sign in my neighborhood that says: “Burbank: Stop Walmart, Live Better.” Of course, there has been zero explanation of why we in West Burbank, or any part of the city, would be worse off if Walmart opens in that big, vacant store in an established shopping center located in an industrial/commercial section of town. The hype against Walmart is based upon old complaints in other parts of the country that just aren't applicable here, or upon labor union frustrations about not being able to collect more dues.

In spite of the recovering economy and ongoing investigations into the Police Department, a recent survey shows that 96% of Burbank residents generally are satisfied with the city. About 78% of those surveyed reported they were very satisfied overall with Burbank's services, and 18% said they were somewhat satisfied. Another 3% said they were somewhat dissatisfied, less than 1% said they were very dissatisfied, and 1% had no opinion. The last citizen survey was conducted in 2001 and showed a 95% general satisfaction with city services.

State election officials this week confirmed they are investigating claims that Democrat Chahe Keuroghelian, a former candidate for the 43rd Assembly District, failed to file proper campaign disclosure reports. Glendale resident Heather Chetian filed the complaint alleging that Keuroghelian failed to meet the 24-hour deadline for reporting money raised through a telethon on AMGA Channel 280, and that the candidate supplemented his campaign through independent expenditures financed by "operatives" of Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake)

Now that I?ve become a renowned journalist (insert smiley face here) people keep coming up to me with ideas for my column. Bill really thinks I should look into the horrible state of repair many of our streets are falling into, especially Buena Vista Street between Riverside Drive and Alameda Avenue. He?s heard from a city worker that they have a backlog to keep them busy for many decades. Sort of makes you wonder where the heck all our tax money is going, doesn?t it? Lisa and Mary both asked me what I thought about the new configuration of Verdugo Avenue.