Construction Site

Five local business were evacuated Tuesday and traffic was stopped after construction workers broke a natural gas main, causing a leak that took nearly an hour to contain, officials said. Workers were grading the site in the 200 block of East Olive Avenue when a bulldozer damaged a two-inch pipe. Burbank firefighters responded at 3:18 p.m. Tuesday, Fire Captain Ron Bell said. Burbank Police officers closed Olive Avenue between Third Street and San Fernando Boulevard to traffic until about 4:10 p.m., when The Gas Company workers fixed the pipe, Bell said.

Block-by-block, six students from Monterey High School are building a legacy at John Burroughs High. Students are building a new dugout on the baseball diamond at Burroughs as part of their masonry class, taking their skills learned in the classroom onto a real-life construction site. Burbank Unified School District officials had to tear down the old dugout, after it was found to be noncompliant with the district’s structural standards, said Craig Jellison, senior director of facilities for the district.

Karen S. Kim Providence St. Joseph hosts groundbreaking MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- Providence St. Joseph Medical Center will host a blessing and groundbreaking ceremony Monday to celebrate the construction of its new Northeast Building. The event beings at 5 p.m. at construction site of the hospital, 501 S. Buena Vista St. For more information, call 847-4600. Providence St. Joseph nurses to get raises MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- Providence Health System San Fernando Valley Service Area, which includes Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, will provide its employees with $3.2 million in pay raises, officials said.

Gary Moskowitz MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- A groundbreaking ceremony for Burbank's new Buena Vista branch library and Abraham Lincoln Park will be next week. Mayor Bob Kramer and other dignitaries will host the event, which will be at 9 a.m. Oct. 6 at 300 N. Buena Vista Street in Burbank. After the ceremony, area schoolchildren will begin painting a mural on a wooden fence that surrounds the construction site. Construction on the $9-million, 28,000-square-foot project is set to begin Oct. 15. Facilities will include fiber optic wiring, public access computers connected to the Internet and a satellite conference room.

I often drive by the construction site of the huge new retail development near the Five Points intersection here in town, and find that I am bothered not so much by the development itself, but by the absolutely ludicrous pylon identity signs looming along the street. It's obvious that these comical signposts with the cartoon-like airplane cutouts on top are the work of a commercial architect rather than a talented architectural graphic designer. This is what happens, of course, when someone decides to skimp on design costs, as developers often do. It doesn't help, either, when you have a City Council that fancies itself an architectural review board.

Molly Shore Flying dust on a Burbank High School construction site prompted South Coast Air Quality Management District inspectors to cite the construction management company, a violation that has since been corrected. AQMD spokesperson Sam Atwood said Bernards Bros. received a notice of violation Tuesday because excessive amounts of dust spread beyond the school's property line into the community. Atwood added that the agency was tipped off about problem by an anonymous parent.

The following incidents were taken from police reports. MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH 2400 block of North Buena Vista Avenue: Police are investigating a report of a battery. A man told police he was assaulted Wednesday morning by three men in their late teens. Police said the man was treated at a nearby hospital and released. Police said he had a black eye and several stitches. MEDIA DISTRICT WEST 322 Pass Avenue: Police are investigating the theft Wednesday of two dirt compactors, valued at about $1,600 each, from a construction site.

The following information was taken from police reports: NORTHWEST DISTRICT 1000 block of Naomi Street: A 37-year-old Burbank man reported to police Monday that his garage had been entered and power tools and gift cards with a combined value of $1,300 had been taken. 2300 block of Burbank Boulevard: Employees of a cellular phone store reported to police Thursday that the building was broken into and two laptop computers and two monitors with a combined value of $10,100 were taken.

Laura Sturza Cars slowly cruising the city's streets might not be lost, but searching for a Craftsman house or vintage diner to set up shop for a film shoot. "We'll go into the foothills of Burbank to [look for] a very specific house," location manager Keith Bohanan said. "Sooner or later, I look up and I've run into a house that is nowhere I thought I'd be." Often, the unexpected home pans out better than the one originally sought, which might have noisy construction going on across the street, said Bohanan, who lives in Burbank.

The following items were taken from reports filed at the Burbank Police Department: ? 500 block of East Olive Avenue: Two air compressors, valued at $400 and $700, were stolen from a construction site Monday. 2600 block of West Victory Boulevard: An 87-year-old woman was slightly injured at a Ralphs on Monday when her car ran over her leg, pinning her to the ground against a tree.While parking her car, the woman got out to move a shopping cart that was in the way when her car moved forward, resulting in minor injuries.

Block-by-block, six students from Monterey High School are building a legacy at John Burroughs High. Students are building a new dugout on the baseball diamond at Burroughs as part of their masonry class, taking their skills learned in the classroom onto a real-life construction site. Burbank Unified School District officials had to tear down the old dugout, after it was found to be noncompliant with the district’s structural standards, said Craig Jellison, senior director of facilities for the district.

The following items were taken from reports filed at the Burbank Police Department: ? 500 block of East Olive Avenue: Two air compressors, valued at $400 and $700, were stolen from a construction site Monday. 2600 block of West Victory Boulevard: An 87-year-old woman was slightly injured at a Ralphs on Monday when her car ran over her leg, pinning her to the ground against a tree.While parking her car, the woman got out to move a shopping cart that was in the way when her car moved forward, resulting in minor injuries.

BURBANK — After some major mix-ups in the modernization of buildings at Luther Burbank Middle School, contractors on the site are almost back on track, officials said. But getting on schedule will mean that schoolwork won’t be the only kind of work on campus as the new school year begins. The $12.9-million project is about 60% completed, said Craig Jellison, senior director of facilities. “Phase 1 and 2 [of construction] are done,” Jellison said.

CIVIC CENTER DISTRICT — City staffers and officials milled about a construction site on Third Street and Orange Grove Avenue Wednesday, sparkling with smiles as they inscribed their signatures on a hefty steel beam that was stretched across two saw horses. Then, to the sound of a rousing applause, a crane lifted the beam three stories high to the last open spot on the skeleton frame that will soon become the new Community Services Building. The traditional topping-off ceremony was put on by the project developer, Swinerton Builders Inc., to commemorate the progress of the project.

The following information was taken from police reports: NORTHWEST DISTRICT 1000 block of Naomi Street: A 37-year-old Burbank man reported to police Monday that his garage had been entered and power tools and gift cards with a combined value of $1,300 had been taken. 2300 block of Burbank Boulevard: Employees of a cellular phone store reported to police Thursday that the building was broken into and two laptop computers and two monitors with a combined value of $10,100 were taken.

Praise, not scorn, for camp operator I am writing in response to the May 22 story, "Council looking to exercise its right to regulate," in which Burbank city officials are considering creating an ordinance that may prevent or discourage a workout class from operating in the parking lot of Wildwood Canyon, all because a neighbor has complained about the noise. Three things bother me about this story. First, I am appalled that the neighbor, Zorica Tanaskovic, would even admit that she has taken disability leave from her job because the boot camp wakes her up in the morning.

Five local business were evacuated Tuesday and traffic was stopped after construction workers broke a natural gas main, causing a leak that took nearly an hour to contain, officials said. Workers were grading the site in the 200 block of East Olive Avenue when a bulldozer damaged a two-inch pipe. Burbank firefighters responded at 3:18 p.m. Tuesday, Fire Captain Ron Bell said. Burbank Police officers closed Olive Avenue between Third Street and San Fernando Boulevard to traffic until about 4:10 p.m., when The Gas Company workers fixed the pipe, Bell said.

Molly Shore Flying dust on a Burbank High School construction site prompted South Coast Air Quality Management District inspectors to cite the construction management company, a violation that has since been corrected. AQMD spokesperson Sam Atwood said Bernards Bros. received a notice of violation Tuesday because excessive amounts of dust spread beyond the school's property line into the community. Atwood added that the agency was tipped off about problem by an anonymous parent.

Laura Sturza Cars slowly cruising the city's streets might not be lost, but searching for a Craftsman house or vintage diner to set up shop for a film shoot. "We'll go into the foothills of Burbank to [look for] a very specific house," location manager Keith Bohanan said. "Sooner or later, I look up and I've run into a house that is nowhere I thought I'd be." Often, the unexpected home pans out better than the one originally sought, which might have noisy construction going on across the street, said Bohanan, who lives in Burbank.