Empire Center

Ryan Carter Traffic police hope holiday scurrying won't end with commuters going to City Jail or a hospital. As the yuletide season approaches, Burbank Police are reminding commuters to stay cool when confronting what they anticipate will be large crowds around the city's expanding merchant hubs in the post-Thanksgiving Day shopping rush. They are also warning about the potential of driving with a little too much yuletide spirit -- holiday drunken driving.

Media company signs Empire Center lease MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH -- Deluxe Media Services, a entertainment media-services company, will move into the Empire Center in June. The company signed a five-year lease earlier this month for more than 32,000 square feet of office space in the center's office campus, located west of the restaurants and retail shops. Deluxe Media Services is a worldwide entertainment company that specializes in providing systems and solutions for the production, manufacturing and distribution of entertainment content.

The reaction to this week on Facebook to news that Walmart bought the Great Indoors site adjacent to the Empire Center was swift and firm: No thank you. It appears that the main reason — outside the usual opposition to the company’s business ethos — was fears over the impact a behemoth retailer would have on the already congested portal to the Empire Center. One commenter summed it up in his post: “We don't need more out-of-towners coming to our city and causing more traffic and taking up parking spots, especially at times like holidays.” Such is the curse of Walmart — it’s a major tax-revenue generator, but with it comes all the trappings of a high-volume store: crowds, traffic, rough competition for small businesses.

Common sense dictates that Walmart will bring a tremendous amount of additional traffic to the streets around Empire Center (“Suit aims at stopping Walmart,” May 9). Why then does this City Council insist on waiting until these streets become gridlocked before making the needed traffic improvements? Where do council members propose the increased traffic be diverted to while the street work is in progress? It's strange that half of the $10 million fee paid for traffic improvements by the Empire Center developer got pooled with other fees and was used to complete traffic projects elsewhere in the city.

I am just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of Burbank residents who are awaiting with enthusiasm the opening of Burbank Walmart here in Empire Center. I am sure that the traffic will not be a problem at all because since day one that the Empire Center was opened, the parking area was never filled to its capacity, meaning the place is big enough for all the commercial businesses around, and there are so many alternative routes to take. Besides all the job openings and revenues for Burbank, which is very good indeed, what matters most is the convenience it will give the buying public to have a nearby Walmart.

Just recently, I went to Michael's Arts & Crafts, and found it to be a great store. Even better is having Aaron Brothers right there with it. The Empire Center is a beautiful shopping center. I heard a lot of people talking about it, and I had to see it for myself. I was very pleasantly surprised. I think it would be nice to have a small shuttle service for the handicapped and for nondrivers. It could be like the L.A. DOT buses I used to see in Van Nuys.

Three local residents have filed a lawsuit against the city to stop a Walmart from opening in Burbank, alleging the city illegally cleared the way to issue building permits to the world's largest retailer without adequately investigating the store's environmental impact. After months of public outcry that included protests and opposition voiced at City Council meetings, Shanna Ingalsbee, Katherine Olson and Yvette Ziraldo filed the lawsuit Friday through their attorney, Gideon Kracov, who also represents United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 770. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that the city has yet to make street improvements that were required before building permits could be issued for any new businesses in, or adjacent to, the Empire Center, according to a resolution approved by the City Council in June 2000.

The Burbank City Council this week cleared the way for Walmart to open a new store near the Empire Center, leaving opponents with few options other than legal action to stop the world's largest retailer from moving in. On Tuesday, more than 100 people - bolstered by the support of labor unions - rallied outside City Hall and then crammed into the council chambers to protest the planned Walmart. The show of opposition failed to sway city officials, who say zoning codes allow the Walmart to open so there's little they can do. Opponents have been trying to force Walmart to conduct an economic impact review and the city to carry out major improvements to road infrastructure around the former Great Indoors site before approving the building plans.

Jackson Bell As the Empire Center attracts hungry customers wanting more dining options, Burbank has benefited with a 7.5% growth in restaurant sales taxes, according to recent city figures. "All the other areas in the city [with a high concentration of restaurants] have stabled off and aren't growing," Burbank Financial Service Director Derek Hanway said. "It's the Empire Center that is making the push right now." The 1% Burbank accumulates from the 8.25% sales tax in California brought in $558,000 in the most recent figures, Hanway said.

Opponents of a Walmart in Burbank have lost a potential weapon in their fight after Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of a bill that would have required economic-impact reports on how big-box stores would affect the local economy. Brown said Senate Bill 469 by Sen. Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) would have added an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. “Plenty of laws are already on the books that enable and, in some cases, require cities and counties to carefully assess whether these projects are in the community's best interest,” Brown said in his veto message.