San Fernando Valley

The Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley endorsed Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) by a 62% margin last week for the newly drawn 30th Congressional District, which includes a sliver of west Burbank. He won the endorsement over fellow Congressional incumbent Howard Berman (D-Valley Village). About 50 members of the organization's executive board voted. The group represents 27 Democratic clubs in the San Fernando Valley, including clubs in Burbank and Glendale. The Burbank Democratic Club has also endorsed Sherman on its own, according to club president Larry Nemecek.

Molly Shore HILLSIDE DISTRICT -- After providing medical services for nearly a century to Burbank and San Fernando Valley residents, Thompson Memorial Medical Center Hospital is being demolished. The hospital was founded in 1907 by Elmer H. Thompson, a young doctor who arrived in Burbank from Wisconsin two years earlier with his pregnant wife, a French poodle and a bicycle. Then known as the Burbank Community Hospital, the two-story building at Olive Avenue and 5th Street was the first hospital in the San Fernando Valley.

Mr. Simmons reminds us all of our rich history here in the San Fernando Valley, and I am delighted that the Burbank Leader has provided a forum for its preservation. Without these printed words, the history will be lost, and we will all be the losers in the long run. Another archive of our aviation history is from the Burbank Aviation Museum, a nonprofit group dedicated to the preservation of our great aviation history. In a newsletter article dated September 1993, we learn that Dave Simmons has a long history in aviation.

MEETING AT 6:30 P.M. TUESDAY CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER -- 275 E. OLIVE AVE. Major items: Contract award, East Alameda Avenue and Olive Avenue repair project. Final approval of subdivision tract, 3003-3015 Riverside Drive. Agreement between the city and L.A. County probation department for a contract probation officer. Accepting a donation to the Fire Department for a fire safety house trailer. Parks, clean water, clean air and coastal protection grant application.

OPTIMIST CONTEST LANDS STUDENT A SCHOLARSHIP The Magnolia Park Optimist Club sponsored a local deaf student to compete in the Optimist International Communication Contest for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing in Visalia in May. Sarah Tubert, a Burbank High School student, competed against other students representing Optimist Clubs in Oxnard, Ventura and the San Fernando Valley and was awarded first place and won the $1,500 scholarship....

Erin Park MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- Honoring key community leaders, the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley will hold its third annual Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony, "Valley of the Stars," tonight at Warner Bros. Studios. Robert Voit of Voit Development Companies will be recognized in the field of business for his outstanding commercial developments. Harvard-Westlake School will be honored for 100 years of excellence in education, alliance officials said.

Jenna Bordelon MAGNOLIA PARK -- A copy of the Articles of Capitulation signed at the end of the Mexican-American War and several early water-main covers will be on display at the Gordon R. Howard Museum as part of "A Patchwork History of the San Fernando Valley." From 1 to 4 p.m. every Sunday in July and August, local history buffs can catch a glimpse of what life was like for San Fernando Valley settlers. The exhibit is free. The museum is at 1015 W. Olive St. Photos and documents and paintings from as far back as the late 1800s will be displayed in four full cases of memorabilia.

Irma Lemus BURBANK -- Working with other business leaders to help move the San Fernando Valley forward is what Bill Allen said he will miss in his former post as head of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. Allen, who led the Burbank-based alliance for three years as president and chief executive officer, turned over controls Monday to the the company's former chief operating officer, Bruce Ackerman. Allen and other Valley business leaders started the alliance in 1995 to stimulate the regional economy in the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The San Fernando Valley — the nation’s largest geographic nonmunicipal entity — has grown more educated and diverse in recent years as it expanded to include 1.74 million people, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report was based on the American Community Survey of 2008 and shows that the region, made up of Burbank, San Fernando, Calabasas and Los Angeles, as well as some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and portions of Glendale, has developed into a multicultural region, a trend that could be further amplified in the 2010 Census, experts said.

The Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley endorsed Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) by a 62% margin last week for the newly drawn 30th Congressional District, which includes a sliver of west Burbank. He won the endorsement over fellow Congressional incumbent Howard Berman (D-Valley Village). About 50 members of the organization's executive board voted. The group represents 27 Democratic clubs in the San Fernando Valley, including clubs in Burbank and Glendale. The Burbank Democratic Club has also endorsed Sherman on its own, according to club president Larry Nemecek.

Trade agreements are disastrous and troops should leave Afghanistan immediately, according to a survey released last week by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks). The survey showed that 58% of San Fernando Valley residents who answered a questionnaire think trade agreements send millions of good jobs overseas and hurt the U.S. economy. Also, 43% of the residents surveyed thought U.S. troops should be pulled out of Afghanistan now. When asked about the Middle East conflict, 48% of the respondents thought the U.S. should strongly support Israel, 23% felt the U.S. should support Palestinians at least as much as Israel and another 23% thought the U.S. should stay out of the conflict.

DOWNTOWN — High-speed-rail officials next week are slated to consider signing off on four alternatives for a single station in the San Fernando Valley, including a possible stop near Bob Hope Airport. Representatives of the California High-Speed Rail Authority had planned to recommend two stations to the board of directors as part of the 800-mile system. But after hearing public concerns about parking, traffic and connectivity, they elected to whittle it down to just one station in the valley, local officials said.

High-speed rail representatives are strongly considering a stop near Bob Hope Airport as the sole San Fernando Valley station for the planned 800-mile system, local officials said. Rail representatives early this year expressed a preference for station options in Burbank along the San Fernando Road corridor, either in the city’s downtown area or near Glendale, on Alameda Avenue. But after hearing public concerns about connectivity to the airport, the authority is instead considering a stop near Bob Hope, at Hollywood Way, said David Kriske, Burbank’s principal transportation planner.

Decades of patronage from the local studios revealed its grandest form this week with the introduction of the new Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center. As the first comprehensive cancer center in the San Fernando Valley, it is surely the crowning jewel for the Providence St. Joseph Medical Center — especially with a $36-million price tag. Amid all the pomp and circumstance that typically comes with opening a building of this scope and size, it might be easy to forget the long history the local studios have had in supporting St. Joseph.

The San Fernando Valley — the nation’s largest geographic nonmunicipal entity — has grown more educated and diverse in recent years as it expanded to include 1.74 million people, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report was based on the American Community Survey of 2008 and shows that the region, made up of Burbank, San Fernando, Calabasas and Los Angeles, as well as some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and portions of Glendale, has developed into a multicultural region, a trend that could be further amplified in the 2010 Census, experts said.

The San Fernando Valley — the nation’s largest geographic non-municipal entity — has grown more educated and diverse in recent years as it expanded to include 1.74 million people, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report was based on the American Community Survey of 2008 and shows that the region, made up of portions of Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando, Calabasas and Los Angeles, as well as some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, has developed into a multicultural region, a trend that could be further amplified in the 2010 Census, experts said.