Los Angeles River

NORTHWEST DISTRICT -- Burbank has completed $11.5 million in improvements to the city's wastewater treatment plant to meet a state board requirement to keep ammonia from getting into the Los Angeles River. In 2003, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board required Burbank, Glendale and Los Angeles to significantly reduce the amount of ammonia released into the Los Angeles River from its wastewater treatment plants. "To meet that we had to change how we do business," interim Burbank Public Works Director Bonnie Teaford said.

CITY HALL ? Several areas in Burbank are included in a city of Los Angeles plan to revitalize a 32-mile stretch of the Los Angeles River. The Los Angeles Department of Public Works is in the midst of an 18-month planning process for a project aimed at creating open spaces, revitalizing the community and enhancing the environment along the river, Ara Kasparian, an engineer with Los Angeles Public Works, told the council. An ad hoc Los Angeles City Council committee established goals in order to build upon previous revitalization efforts , he said.

Ryan Carter BURBANK -- Although rain has been scarce lately, officials are reminding residents that a single storm could wreak havoc in local storm channels. "They move water quickly out of the city, their walls are vertical and there's nothing in them except debris. And when you fall in, when the water is up, there's no way up and there's no way out," Burbank Fire Capt. Ron Bell said of the city's storm channels. That's why getting the word out -- even during a dry period -- is important.

This is in response to Mike Antonovich's Nov. 24 letter "Not the proper time for a bag ban. " You wrote: "This is not the appropriate time in our efforts to clean up the environment ... " Really? When exactly is the appropriate time then? I believe we should have banned the plastic bag eons ago. In fact, we probably never should have started allowing plastic bags to be used. "Educating our residents on the harm of illegally disposing their plastic bags can be effective," you go on to say. Again, I say really?

BURBANK — Officials from Burbank and Los Angeles have joined forces to oppose tightened water-quality standards from the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, which they say would mean higher utility rates for customers. The new standards are so stringent that, in some cases, the caliber of water quality the board wants in discharge to be released into the Los Angeles River would even exceed the cleanliness of drinking water in Burbank, Mayor Todd Campbell said.

Once again the 30-plus-year windbag, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, gets published in the Burbank Leader in his ongoing effort to make it 40 or more years at the public trough ("Not the proper time for a bag ban," Nov. 24). A while back, someone gave me some reusable bags. I use them all the time now — easier and more comfortable to handle, hold my groceries better, and don't cut into my fingers as plastic bags do. I am 76 years old. Come on seniors, get interested in new and innovative things, especially if they help the environment.

Amber Willard LOS ANGELES -- A man suspected of shooting his wife and three teenage daughters last week committed suicide by jumping from a freeway into the Los Angeles River, officials said Tuesday. Gabriel Ghazelian, 49, died of blunt force trauma to his chest Friday afternoon when he jumped from an overpass at the intersection of the Golden State (5) and Ventura (134) freeways, into a few inches of water in the river, a coroner's spokesman said.

Sitting on a concrete slope on Friday, Burbank Community Day School student Marissa Rauda peered into a patch of brush, palm trees and sand ? the wilds of the Los Angeles River. "I think it's so dirty that there's no water," the 16-year-old said. "There's just a lot of dust." Students from the Community Day School gathered at the stretch of the river in Atwater Village as part of the Friends of the Los Angeles River's River School Day Cleanup. The event gives students a chance to discover that there is water in the river, as well as plants and wildlife, said Katie Klapper, a member of Friends.

Two Girl Scouts will have the best seats in the house when this year’s Tournament of Roses parade heads down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day. Anna Stapelseldt, 17, of La Crescenta, and Kaitlyn Ross, 17, of Burbank, will be carrying the banners for the trophy-winning floats. “This is really exciting to represent my community,” said Anna, who is a senior at Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena. Kaitlyn had always watched the parade on TV, but she’ll get an even closer look, she said.

Rancho District residents urge Los Angeles officials to keep proposed sewer project out of the city.LOS ANGELES -- Residents from Burbank's Rancho District came out in force Thursday night to implore Los Angeles city officials not to run a proposed sewer project through their neighborhood. Of particular concern to the residents, who gathered in an auditorium at the Los Angeles Zoo, was how the proposed project -- which includes a treatment facility that would vent air from the sewer pipe -- would harm the area known as the polliwog, where homeowners like to come with their horses and dogs for exercise.

This is in response to Mike Antonovich's Nov. 24 letter "Not the proper time for a bag ban. " You wrote: "This is not the appropriate time in our efforts to clean up the environment ... " Really? When exactly is the appropriate time then? I believe we should have banned the plastic bag eons ago. In fact, we probably never should have started allowing plastic bags to be used. "Educating our residents on the harm of illegally disposing their plastic bags can be effective," you go on to say. Again, I say really?

Once again the 30-plus-year windbag, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, gets published in the Burbank Leader in his ongoing effort to make it 40 or more years at the public trough ("Not the proper time for a bag ban," Nov. 24). A while back, someone gave me some reusable bags. I use them all the time now — easier and more comfortable to handle, hold my groceries better, and don't cut into my fingers as plastic bags do. I am 76 years old. Come on seniors, get interested in new and innovative things, especially if they help the environment.

Two Girl Scouts will have the best seats in the house when this year’s Tournament of Roses parade heads down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day. Anna Stapelseldt, 17, of La Crescenta, and Kaitlyn Ross, 17, of Burbank, will be carrying the banners for the trophy-winning floats. “This is really exciting to represent my community,” said Anna, who is a senior at Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena. Kaitlyn had always watched the parade on TV, but she’ll get an even closer look, she said.

In recent weeks, the city has pushed the boundaries for bicyclists even further, and that’s a good thing. From a restructured Verdugo Avenue, to an expanded master bike plan, that some people might dismiss them as an impediment to car traffic, or a waste of taxpayer money, is the kind of political stance that’s put the region far behind other metro areas in nurturing a more sustainable infrastructure. The updated Bicycle Master Plan is expected to address the needs of more than 12,000 residents who work in the city, but who cannot traverse certain areas because dedicated bike paths end abruptly.

CITY HALL ? The Burbank City Council became the latest agency to approve a slew of bikeway improvements that, once completed, should make it easier for bicyclists to safely navigate from one region to the next. Glendale and L.A. County are headlong into their own improvement projects and master plans, and eventually, the network of street markings and dedicated bicycle lanes are expected to mesh to create a more passable infrastructure for the no-car set, officials said. In Burbank, the City Council on Tuesday approved an updated Bicycle Master Plan that is expected to accommodate more than 12,000 residents who work in the city but cannot traverse certain areas because bike paths end abruptly.

MEDIA DISTRICT — A federal judge in Los Angeles refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. of polluting the surrounding area with chromium 6. U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson on Monday denied the company’s motion to dismiss the claims of Environmental World Watch and four residents who contend that the contamination violates the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Disney officials...

MEDIA DISTRICT — A federal judge in Los Angeles refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. of polluting the surrounding area with chromium 6. U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson on Monday denied the company’s motion to dismiss the claims of Environmental World Watch and four residents who contend that the contamination violates the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Disney officials...

Hordes of spectators surrounded the perimeter of Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary in the Hollywood Hills on Tuesday morning as they strained to catch a glimpse of Michael Jackson’s coffin and private funeral caravan. Fans engulfed a grassy area across the Los Angeles River as the late pop star’s motorcade — a chain of 30 cars led by five Rolls-Royces followed by more than two dozen California Highway Patrol vehicles — entered into the tightly controlled cemetery.

BURBANK — Two women were injured Friday morning when their car flipped into the Los Angeles River off the Golden State (5) Freeway, officials said. The 43-year-old driver of the Toyota Matrix was traveling north on the freeway in the fast lane when she lost control at an unknown but high speed, California Highway Patrol Officer Todd Workman said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, which occurred at 4:50 a.m., he said. The car veered toward the side, swerving down an embankment, running through a grove of trees, finally flipping over into the western channel of the wash, Burbank Fire Department Capt.