General Election

Armond Aghakhanian is officially out of the Burbank Unified school board race after collecting the least amount of primary election votes among five candidates competing for two seats. With just 2,749 votes, Aghakhanian trailed at fifth place behind David Dobson, who had 2,854, according to final figures released Friday by the city clerk's office. The two had been within the margin of unconfirmed mail-in ballots after Tuesday, forcing the candidates to wait until the results had been verified.

Karen S. Kim BURBANK -- As the four top vote-getters in Burbank's primary head to the general election inApril, the first order of business was deciding whose name would appear where on the ballot. Candidate Marsha Ramos' name will appear first on the general election ballot. Howard Rothenbach's, Dave Golonski's and Gary Olson's names will follow. The ballot order was determined by a drawing in the city clerk's office, where a representative of each candidate was asked to draw a number.

January 1993: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd president of the United States. April 1993: Dave Golonski is elected to the Burbank City Council during the city's general election. At 34 years old, he receives 5,833 votes out of 9,961 cast. September 1994: Acclaimed sitcom, “Friends,” debuts on NBC, kicking off its 10-year run. October 1995: After a long, heavily publicized trial, former football star OJ Simpson is acquitted of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Voter turnout in Tuesday's general election reached 18%, with 11,161 out of 60,623 registered voters participating, according to the final election results. In the City Council race, David Gordon came in first with 5,430 votes, while Jess Talamantes finished second with 5,290 votes, results show. Mayor Dave Golonski and David Nos finished with 4,571 and 4,367 votes, respectively. In the Burbank Unified school board race, winners Larry Applebaum and Charlene Tabet amassed 5,882 and 4,967 votes, respectively.

Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman handily outdistanced their five little-known, underfinanced challengers in Tuesday's primary, ensuring that the high-spending, nationally watched showdown between two liberal Democratic congressmen will continue through the November general election. With more than half the precincts reporting, Sherman, of Sherman Oaks, and Berman, of Valley Village, finished first and second, respectively, giving them both a place on the fall ballot under the state's new "top two" primary system as they battle to represent the San Fernando Valley's 30th Congressional District.

WHOLE FOODS PROPOSAL The council will consider a resolution denying a proposed Whole Foods Market on Main Street and Alameda Avenue in the Rancho District. The council has already voted 3-2 to direct the city attorney to draw up the resolution denying the plan, saying the size of the project was not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. But the project developer has submitted a letter to the city council asking council members to consider a smaller, 40,000-square-foot project before voting to officially reject the project.

Mark R. Madler Residents cast their votes in greater numbers for Tuesday's general election after a disappointing showing in the February primary. With all precincts reporting, 11,498 voters returned ballots in the election for two seats on the City Council and two spots on the Burbank Unified School District board. That number easily eclipsed the 10,376 cast in the primary and the 9,059 cast in the 2003 general election. There were 48,792 ballots sent out to registered voters in the city.

Amid criticism of delayed results during the Burbank primary election in February, during which final numbers weren't announced until roughly 12:45 a.m., city officials say they have plans to release initial results earlier in the evening for the April 9 general election. During the February primary, officials collected roughly 1,500 ballots in the last three hours before the ballot drop-off centers closed at 7 p.m. And before officials started counting any of the 9,811 votes - including the more than 8,000 that were already turned in and validated - they waited to validate the signatures on the later ballots, thus delaying the overall results, said Burbank City Clerk Zizette Mullins.

Robert Frutos claimed enough votes after Tuesday's primary to clinch a seat on the City Council, bypassing the need to compete in the April 9 general election and forcing the three incumbents into a match up in which only two seats remain. With all 42 precincts reporting by 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, Frutos claimed 53% of the vote. It was sweet revenge for a candidate who just two years ago lost the same race by 86 votes. Reached by phone, earlier in the evening, Frutos said he was “very honored and blessed people have confidence in my candidacy.” Incumbents David Gordon and Jess Talamantes rounded out the top three, with 4,670 and 4,319 votes, respectively.

CITY HALL — The county-certified results of Tuesday's general election show that 20% of Burbank's 51,201 eligible voters returned ballots, with winning council candidates Gary Bric and Anja Reinke nearly splitting the city's 42 precincts between them. Bric edged out Reinke as the top vote-getter with 6,301 votes, just 15 ahead of Reinke's 6,286. Bric, who is serving on the Traffic and Transportation Committee, captured 20 precincts in all — with a particularly strong nexus of support in the Hillside and Northwest Districts.

Burbank officials have proposed axing the city's primary election, a move they say would save roughly $72,000 a year, but would also require voter approval. Critics called the proposal "short-sighted," but election experts said it may actually bring more voters to the polls. POLL: Shoudl Burbank axe its primary election? Burbank is one of just about 15 cities in the state that has more than one election, according to a city report. Neighboring cities Glendale, Pasadena and La Cañada-Flintridge are among the more than 460 cities in California with just one. The last time in Burbank that the primary results differed, in terms of top vote-getters, from those of the general election was in 1989, when the second top-vote getter in the primary won the treasurer seat in the general election, according to Deputy City Clerk Susan Domen.

I would like to congratulate Jess Talamantes and David Gordon for their victories on Tuesday night's general election. It was a hard-fought campaign and they deserved to win. I would also like to express my appreciation for David Golonski's 20 years of service to our city. Dave, you did a fine job. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the many voters who selected me as their candidate. You have my gratitude, from the bottom of my heart. Lastly I would like to thank my wife, Kimberley; Ron Sabatine, my campaign manager; Mal and Linda Kelman, my treasurers, whose tireless efforts kept me positive and on task; and Bob Frutos and Gary Bric for their unwavering friendship and support.

Voter turnout in Tuesday's general election reached 18%, with 11,161 out of 60,623 registered voters participating, according to the final election results. In the City Council race, David Gordon came in first with 5,430 votes, while Jess Talamantes finished second with 5,290 votes, results show. Mayor Dave Golonski and David Nos finished with 4,571 and 4,367 votes, respectively. In the Burbank Unified school board race, winners Larry Applebaum and Charlene Tabet amassed 5,882 and 4,967 votes, respectively.

With roughly 80% of the ballots for the Burbank general election counted just after 8 p.m., longtime Councilman Dave Golonski remained vulnerable to defeat. Fellow incumbents David Gordon and Jess Talamantes, meanwhile, were in the top to slots needed for re-election. Out of 9,330 ballots counted just after 8 p.m. Gordon was the top vote-getter, having collected 4,480 votes. Talamantes followed just behind him with 4,417 votes. During the February primary, Bob Frutos was elected outright, bypassing the need to compete in Tuesday's general election and forcing the three incumbents - Talamantes, Gordon and veteran Councilman Dave Golonski - to a match up in which only two seats remain.

During the last stretch before Tuesday's general election in Burbank, fundraising continued among the four candidates competing for two seats on the Burbank City Council, recent reports show. City Council incumbent Dave Golonski raised $3,410 over the most recent reporting period spanning March 24 to April 3 from 22 sources, boosting his total since the start of the campaign to $18,983. He received $250 each from the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters, Disney Worldwide Services and Warner Bros.

With just four more days until the Burbank general election, officials say it's too late to mail ballots in, but votes can still be cast. Residents can drop off ballots at five locations - the Buena Vista Library, Joslyn Center, Tuttle Center, McCambridge Recreation Center and the city clerk's office at City Hall - between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday and between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The City Clerk's Office will also be open for drop-offs on Friday and Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Officials are hoping to exceed the primary voter turnout, during which the city collected 9,869 ballots out of 61,170 eligible voters.

January 1993: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd president of the United States. April 1993: Dave Golonski is elected to the Burbank City Council during the city's general election. At 34 years old, he receives 5,833 votes out of 9,961 cast. September 1994: Acclaimed sitcom, “Friends,” debuts on NBC, kicking off its 10-year run. October 1995: After a long, heavily publicized trial, former football star OJ Simpson is acquitted of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Amid criticism of delayed results during the Burbank primary election in February, during which final numbers weren't announced until roughly 12:45 a.m., city officials say they have plans to release initial results earlier in the evening for the April 9 general election. During the February primary, officials collected roughly 1,500 ballots in the last three hours before the ballot drop-off centers closed at 7 p.m. And before officials started counting any of the 9,811 votes - including the more than 8,000 that were already turned in and validated - they waited to validate the signatures on the later ballots, thus delaying the overall results, said Burbank City Clerk Zizette Mullins.

The primary nominating election held on Feb. 26 spoke volumes to Burbank City Hall watchers. In case you've been sleeping under a rock for the past few weeks (or sitting in traffic waiting to park at Costco), here's the latest: The three candidates who garnered the majority of votes were Robert Frutos with 53%, David Gordon with 48% and Jess Talamantes with 44%. Frutos won a City Council seat outright, leaving two seats in contention. Incumbents Gordon and Talamantes had a strong showing.

It's crunch time for the four City Council hopefuls, who have less than a month to knock on as many doors and raise as much money for their campaigns as possible before ballots are mailed out for the April 9 general election. The stakes were raised for the three incumbents after challenger Robert Frutos won one of three seats outright in the primary on Tuesday, leaving just two remaining seats. As of last week, the incumbents had raised roughly an equal amount of money - David Gordon and Dave Golonski were hovering around $8,500; Jess Talamantes was slightly higher at $9,150.