Candidate for
Council Member; City of Burbank

First, I want to say thank the voters of Burbank for giving me the opportunity to serve as your Mayor last year and as a member of the City Council for the last 3 ½ years. I fulfilled on every issue I committed to when you first elected me: fully fund public services before employee bonuses, support expanded business opportunities, maintain police, fire, public works and senior services, protect libraries and parks, oppose airport expansion, oppose overdevelopment and traffic congestion, partner with our schools to better serve our community. With hard work and good management we balanced the City budget without layoffs or furloughs and went from a deficit of $8.5 million in 2011 to a surplus today; while dedicating an additional $1.2 million to residential street repairs annually for the next five years. Maintaining a fiscally conservative budget approach is important to me and continues to afford city services that you have come to expect from our police, fire, public works, parks and libraries.

Building on the solid foundation of my predecessors, I reenergized the Domestic Violence Task Force with a new team of committed police, city attorney, city clerk and community partners to make our resources accessible in 5 languages to anyone in the community; and continue critical education and outreach programs. I am proud of my service commitments to Cultural Arts and the Sustainable Commissions.

I am proud of my role to secure multi-year funding for school-based counselling and after school programs for our youth. They are our future. We owe them our best thinking now for a positive future for them and our community.

With an improving economy, many challenges remain. Not everyone in our community has benefitted from the upswing and we must do all we can to bring good paying jobs into Burbank. Our efforts to conserve and protect our neighborhoods is critical + whether you are asking for help with historic preservation, sound standards for residential compatibility or protection against cut-through traffic, overflow parking or speeding. The CALTRANS construction must be properly managed to minimize negative impacts on our businesses and schools. To each of you who has contacted me over the years, thank you.

I commit to remain responsive to the needs and concerns of all of Burbank, work to develop effective solutions and at all times continue to be a voice for constructive, positive problem solving on the Burbank City Council.

I am including the following issues that came before Council to provide examples of how I have dealt with a range of issues:

Mansionization: As a Planning Board member, and now as a Councilmember, I have maintained that the base FAR should be 0.35:1 which is smaller than allowed in our existing city ordinance 0.40:1 -- or total house square footage equal to about one-third of the a homeowner's lot size.

Currently, I am an advocate for the Visual Survey and the efforts to reach out to many segments of the community, including our community organizations and realtors. Our staff now need to focus and bring forward a sound proposal to close the loopholes in the current ordinance so that we can resolve this issue which is so important to our neighborhoods.

Boarding House Uses: In the summer of 2014, we took our first step at addressing inappropriate uses in single family neighborhood by adopting strict regulations banning boarding houses and short-term vacation rentals. These regulations were unanimously approved by the City Council after public feedback on the negative effects on single family neighborhoods when homes were rented out like boarding homes.

Hillside Development: I continue to support the preservation and protection of views from single family homes in the hillside area. While it is not always possible to preserve 100% of all views for everyone, minimizing view loss is an important element in protecting the quality of life in our hillside neighborhoods.

It is not that property owners cannot make desired improvements to their property, but if those improvements will negatively impact the value of adjoining properties' views, the permit process should present clear and convincing information demonstrating that the proposal strikes the right balance between enhancing one's own property and maintaining the rights of adjoining properties.

Cell Towers: I do not believe that Cell Towers should be permitted in single family neighborhoods and have consistently advocated for local control. The location of cell towers is a local decision subject to specific and reasonable findings. In the case of location, however, I am still waiting for someone to demonstrate that it is a necessity to put cell towers in our R1 neighborhoods. I have consistently maintained this position.

Voted No on the Citywide Cellular Tower/Wireless Facilities Ordinance in 2011 Voted No to wireless facilities at the Little White Chapel (it would introduce a 24-7 noise element and its design was found to be boxy essentially creating a third story and diminishing the visual quality of the steeple)

Historic Preservation: In March 2014, we earned an "A" from the Los Angeles Conservancy for our commitment to Historic Preservation. The progress was so dramatic that Burbank was one of three cities featured in a "Notable Improvement" section in which the Report praised our City, for transforming "its approach to historic preservation by making significant improvements to its program." Our past, reflected in the materials, character, and details of our historic homes are also a bridge to our future telling new residents how proud we remain and how far we have come. My record for Historic Designation is clear: I support it.

"Five years ago, a group of committed citizens and City staff collaborated on streamlining and publicizing the City's historic designation process," said Burbank Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy. "This outstanding report card shows just how far we've come in recognizing and preserving our City's past." (March 17, 2014 City Press Release)

Voted Yes to support Historic Designation for homes in the community Voted Yes to support an ordinance enabling the establishment of Historic Districts in the City.

Taco Bell: December 2011 the Council disapproved a new Drive Through restaurant at the intersection of Burbank Blvd. and Buena Vista Street. The fast food restaurant location was next to multi and single family neighborhoods separated only by a 15 foot alley. I opposed this project because of the poor circulation to and from the lot; the vehicle conflicts likely to occur because of stacking problems on Buena Vista; the encroachment into the single family neighborhood because of the presence of "stacked" cars waiting to order food. The project would spill over with no way to mitigate and it would make a dangerous intersection more dangerous. Buena Vista Street was not a good location for another fast food restaurant. Taco Bell decided to renovate their existing fast food restaurant and upgrade it on Magnolia. It made sense not to introduce another fast food restaurant on busy Buena Vista.

Voted to Deny the project and Uphold the neighbors' appeals.