Ask the Mayor with Nikki Perez - March 2025 - myBurbank Talks

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My Burbank Talks presents another edition of Ask
the Mayor a monthly forum givingthe Mayor of Burbank an
opportunity to answer questionsfrom you, the listener, and
address issues important to theCity of Burbank.
Now let's join our hosts asthey welcome the Mayor of
Burbank.
Hello Burbank, craig Short hereonce again, and it's another

(00:20):
month of me with our Mayor ofBurbank.
So we have Nikki Perez with us,who's our mayor, to do our
second show now.
She's a very busy person, andnot only a busy person, but
she's also a very busy pregnantperson.
So, number one, congratulationson the pregnancy.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thank you, craig.
Don't you have a sound effectfor that?
A baby crying, crying baby, ababy move, or something?
Yeah, you have a sound effectfor that A baby crying, crying
baby, moo, or something.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, we'll go just for that.
We also have with us, of course, Ross Benson.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Howdy, as I say tally ho, let's go.
We got a show to go, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
So another one of the .
You've been a very busy person.
Now we listened to you theother night at the council
meeting and you reported out ontwo weeks.
Literally took you 10 minutesto talk about all the things
you've done in the last twoweeks.
How the heck are you getting itall fit in?
Besides, you know beingpregnant, you know a little bit

(01:20):
of a thing, and then you got ajob and everything.
How do you get all that stuffin?
I mean, is it just a grindevery day?
I mean, you wake up once in awhile and say, oh boy, here goes
another 14 hour day.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
You know, craig my dad has a saying if you love
what you do, you'll never work aday in your life.
And although that is somewhattrue, because I am tired at the
end of the day and my feet hurtsometimes, but I love being out
there A lot of the events Italked about and went down the
list, each one of those,especially the ones being at the
schools with our kids oh,that's priceless.

(01:54):
That's irreplaceable.
So I'm trying to soak up everyminute of being the mayor and
getting to do all of this andgetting to talk to kids who are
excited that I went to schoolthere, getting to talk to kids
who are excited that I went toschool there, getting to talk to
families, getting to talk toour Crest workers and telling
them that I was in the Crestprogram.
I'm just hoping that everythingI'm doing out there in the
community will inspire some ofthem to go into government.

(02:17):
So I don't know that gets meexcited.
You can even tell right now I'mexcited.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, you know you said I remember you going down
the list.
You were at an elementaryschool where the kids wanted
your autograph.
I love that one.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
That was my elementary school.
I went to Roosevelt.
Oh, you did.
Yeah, you were a Roosevelt kid.
I was a rough rider.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
You went to Burroughs , where you graduated.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
You just did a mayor's show there too, didn't
you?
Yeah, you just did a mayor'sshow there too, didn't you?

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, you all can look out for that.
In the next few weeks We'llhave a mayor's show out there.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
I can't wait because I want to hear you play.
Was it the flute?
French horn, french horn,that's right, that's right.
But the campus when yougraduated is prior to it being
rebuilt, right?
Or is it the current campusthat you were at?

Speaker 3 (03:05):
No, actually it's the current campus that you were at
.
No, actually it's the currentcampus.
The couple things that aredifferent is the gym has changed
a little bit.
They've done some repainting inthere um, a lot of repainting
actually.
The pool because I was also inswim has new murals and
everything.
But my class I'm class of 2012.
We were the first class tograduate on the new Memorial.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Field Second.
I graduated out there when itused to be good.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
I remember my graduation.
I think it was like 125 degreesout there too.
That day it was just 5 o'clock.
It was hot, though.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Did you guys have the indents yet?
Because that field was in sucha shape by the time my senior
year came around.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
It was never in good shape.
By the third football game theyhad weather.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
The grass was gone for the rest of the football
season In 1974, we had their TomTuncliffe who was a big real
estate person.
His kid was a quarterback andhe had to play.
Well, it had rained for threedays prior to the big Burbank
Burles game.
He landed a helicopter on thefield to get the water dispersed

(04:08):
on the field so they could playthe game, and it was a mud bowl
, I remember.
But that was back, that fieldwas in, or you would sit up in
the stands, as you probablyremember, and get splinters
guaranteed up in those stands.
Those wooden seats were no fun.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
That was the only time I was thankful for the
marching band gloves that youhave to wear because that way I
didn't get any splinters.
But we had a running joke Cheerus and football had a running
joke about the 50-yard line.
You knew you had hit it becausethat's when you tripped into
the pothole.
So I'm glad to see the newfield for them.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Right now they're all making use of it yeah, they are
, and we, we cover a ton ofstuff out there.
But you had, you went toelementary school.
You went to burroughs, you were.
You went to washington, you dida couple of ribbon cutting, you
did.
I mean, your calendar is likeslammed and you still have

(05:05):
energy, thank goodness.
Last night's council meetingonly went a couple hours instead
of went to two, three in themorning.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
We realized two agenda items was a pretty good
number and also I think we'rebeing cognizant of it.
You know I have a number systemon there where I can see like
okay, it's 810.
We should probably move on tothe next item.
Catherine Labrado, who works inthe city manager's office, has
a pretty good pulse for that andour city clerk is now helping

(05:34):
the rest of my colleagues out?

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Did she have one of the cue cards that she was
holding up with time?

Speaker 1 (05:42):
limit.
Yeah Well, I see it.
Chris Rosi does not talk mucheither.
You're constantly asking.
He always has a lot to say, butChris is very brief in his
comments usually.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Now you want to, can we?
Can I date Craig and I Go forit.
Catherine Labrado's dad, danLabrado, was worked in our Parks
and Rec department.
We've worked under him when westarted a program called
neighborhood radio watch late,late 70s, yeah late 40, 50 years
ago.
So I know her dad, but she'sbeen.
She came from parks and she,yeah, she moved she had a.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Let's not forget, chris was actually played
baseball for me at burroughsyeah you know light fielder, so
you got've got history.
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Well, it really shows .
And you said the kids arequestioned, they're just,
they're in current events andthey're interested in our city
politics.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Listen, it doesn't matter if those kids are 8 or 18
.
They are asking questions likewhat do you think about
inflation?
Yeah, and you know I got thatfrom a third grade class.
Wow, they're paying attention.
Wow, they are paying attention.
But it was really nice for mebecause it gave me an
opportunity to kind of talk tothem about the role of our city

(06:57):
when it comes to economics,inflation, the role of the
federal government, state, andyou can see their wheels turning
.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
So I'm like, if they're learning this, this now,
by the time they're my agethey'll be in congress.
I know that, um, when you wereat burbank high recently, you
know, for our, our fundraisingfor altadena, um, I was in the
united states court and we meetmy team and they were like
afterwards they're saying, doyou really know her?
Is she's really the mayor?
I go, yeah, that's it.
I wanted you guys to see whoyour mayor was.
Yeah, because, you know, put aface to it, let's see how.
She's not some distant personyou just hear about.

(07:30):
You know, she's a.
She's a real person who is agood person.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
So grew up here in burbank, like you're doing,
going to our local schools.
That's the best part.
You know this city and we'vetalked about it before and I
think previous show that youknow Burbank as good as anybody.
You know all the nicks andcrannies, as they say, are all
the good restaurants.
You know and you're stayinghere.
You know, which is kind of nice.

(07:54):
But you know, I realize thatwhen you guys talk about some of
these things, these kidsnowadays, it's just amazing what
they're learning and thequestions they're asking.
And we've had a couple of kidsget up at council to speak.
Yeah, yes, and they're darngood.
Yeah, I love seeing that.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
I wish I could speak like some of them.
They're so well prepared.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
That podium is intimidating.
I don't care what it is, Idon't care how well you know the
council.
It's still an intimidatingplace to be.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
It is.
You know, it's interesting.
I've had friends on thatcouncil for a very long time and
going up to it myself when Iwas a chair of the library board
, I was like, oh, it's in frontof people I know, I've had
coffee with all of them andyou're still like oh wow, this
is an intimidating dynamic, butyou also want to respect the
process and the facility and allthat.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
It's part of respect.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
You know it should be a little bit intimidating
because it's an important thing,you know Well you just said the
word respect and Craig, and Iremember there, the chamber,
there should be some decorum.
Yes, and it's unfortunate thatcurrently I I listened to some
people that get up to speak toyou and the council and they

(09:07):
just, I get it, they're nothappy, but I'll tell you it sure
shows how they were raised, youknow, and it's unfortunate
because here in Burbank thingsare a little different.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
Folks realize where you are, you know, and the only
thing I would say to that, ross,is I think the five of us have
done a really great job ofmaintaining that decorum and
showing the community how itdoesn't matter where you come
from, what background, becausewe're all incredibly different
each one from the other, and wecan maintain the decorum.
So all we can ask is that theresidents who come up there also

(09:41):
maintain it, not not for us,but for their fellow residents.
If you're heckling, somebodycan't hear their name called.
If you're arguing, the momwho's waiting for her turn and
has child care at home can't getto speak in time and can't go
home in time.
You know the folks watching athome.
That's an interruption for them.
So it's just thinking abouteach of us as fellow neighbors

(10:03):
and the things that people bringup.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Some of the things recently have nothing to do with
our community and it's justwhat we voted on nuclear war, I
think they brought that up.
Yeah, All these differentthings.
Folks realize where you live in.
We're not LA, we are a city ofour own, you know we have all

(10:28):
our own.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
They also brought the thing with Palestine, and you
know.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
I don't think I listened to what you said.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Was it.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
I was covering for Nick that night, so that was my
first council meeting.
At the run I got trial by fire.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
That's right.
He was in Washington on Zoom,wasn't he?
No, he was not there at allOkay.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Oh, he was on vacation for that one.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
And if you really purposely on vacation, but if
you realize with city staff thatare sitting there, which
normally people watching can'tsee unless you're there.
They know what's going onpretty well and so if you need
to punt to them, you know you'regoing to get.
You know when fred ramirez getsup, you know, and it always

(11:13):
gets me.
They it doesn't matter ifthey've gotten up three times or
four times.
They always give their name,their titles, and I guess is
that I've never learned.
I didn't know.
Maybe that's how they're taught, but everyone always gets it on
the record.
It could be for the record.
Yeah, it's for the record, andI guess is that I've never
learned.
I didn't know.
Maybe that's how they're taught, but everyone always gets it on
the record.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
I could be for the record.
Yeah, it's for the record.
So they have to state theirname, their title, their
department and they're all verywell versed, very professional
about it.
And what amazes me is they'reready to go.
I see them when a question isasked.
They know, oh, that's going tobe me, I'm ready to get up and
that's really good with yourstaff.
I think the worst thing wouldbe looking at the crowd and

(11:49):
seeing them be like do you know?
Do you know?
And we never have that.
That's amazing on most peopledon't understand the.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
You know they look at politics of other cities.
Justin runs our city and youguys turn to him and our city
attorney you know very well.
And in other cities peopledon't understand what the
mayor's function versus thecouncil and so forth.
And I find just locally, youknow we run a tight ship.

(12:16):
You know you listen to ourfinancials, our departments.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, okay.
Well, how about let's get intoa question here?
All right, let's talk about.
One of your agenda items thatyou brought up was electric
bikes and scooters and all thatstuff.
I listened to reports andprobably got more confused in
the long run, because there's somany types of electric bikes

(12:43):
and pedal assist and everythingelse and it's funny, the
scooters are not allowed onsidewalks but the bikes are, and
there's just so many differentaspects to that entire
conversation and I think thedirection to come back with some
kind of a, you know, aframework for what you can ride

(13:05):
and where you can ride.
The thing I find distressing iswhen parents are buying these
electric bikes that go 25 milesan hour for their kids who are
like 14, 15 years old, becausethey don't want to have to drive
around or now, oh, just get onyour bike and go where you need
to go now.
But to me I just don't thinkthat's safe to have.
You know, I think you should atleast be 16 to have to have an

(13:27):
electric bike, like the only daywe had mopeds and he had me 16.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
but I I don't think that's a good parenting decision
so here's the thing craig on onthose and I gotta say this for
the benefit of our public, and Ieven corrected this on one of
our, our mayor's minute thingswe got to be really clear about
what we're talking about becausethere's so many categories
right, there's electric bikesand scooters, there's motor

(13:51):
bikes and scooters, and thenthere's motor vehicles or motor.
Uh, you know, they don't have acategory and those are those
mini kind of dirt bike lookingthings that unfortunately we do
have parents buying and ifyou're a parent and you're
listening, please do not buythis for your child.
It is essentially likened to amotorcycle, but it can't be

(14:15):
categorized as a motorcycleunder California state law
because it doesn't fit certaincriteria.
So I would say themanufacturers found a loophole,
but the scary part is those areabsolutely illegal on the road.
They don't fall under anyvehicle category, not bike, not
car, not motorcycle but theyhave a motor.
And what we see is sometimesparents may be wanting to please

(14:39):
their children or, not knowingexactly what they're buying, are
purchasing these and we'reseeing a lot of issues in the
hillside on our hiking trip.
That, for us, is scary.
It's an accident waiting tohappen and PD has been on top of
it.
But it is hard to you know,adjudicate and catch folks,
because it's one of these thingsthat as soon as you catch one

(15:01):
and confiscate it, anotherfamily has bought one for
another kid or they buy themit's funny, you know we have a
big hospital here, st joe's.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
you talk to any er doctor, nurse and they always
say one of the things they'llnever do is buy a bike, a
motorized device for their kid.
It's that, or it's like drivingin a car with your feet on the
dashboard.
Those accidents come in butpeople don't realize these kids

(15:30):
are getting scooped up.
Yesterday I heard Glendale hadone that was a motor scooter or
motorbike versus a car.
They airlifted the kid tocounty.
I'm sorry You're talking tonsof bills in medical, you know,
and these kids are riding themsix apart, usually six across.

(15:51):
They're not using their head.
You know when they see a policeofficer they'll do it a lot
differently.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
but boy Well, what I'm concerned about, if anything
, I would be scared to ride abike because in the old days
when I used to ride right youknow, and I'd ride up to
downtown and of course theyellow bridge would scare the
heck out of me because thesidewalk was so narrow, the
railing so low, but that's awhole nother story but you could

(16:17):
ride down, you know, withtraffic, and you always felt
kind of safe, okay.
But now that everybody's got aphone and they're all looking at
their phones while they'redriving and they drift, and I
think that's where a lot of ouraccidents are happening now with
bicycles, because people arelooking down and they're
distracted or not payingattention to what's in front of

(16:37):
them and they drift overaccidentally and nail a bicycle
rider.
So I'd be scared to ride on anystreet.
Now that's not protected.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Well, if you recall, I had a rider, I'd be scared to
ride on any street.
Now that's not protected.
If you recall, I had amotorcycle.
I had a Goldwing, a HondaGoldwing probably one of the
biggest bikes out there.
It had fairing on it, it hadtons of protection.
But when I used to drive,either on the freeway or saw
people shaving smoking, once Isaw a lady putting on her
pantyhose and that's when I saidyou know what they're putting
on her pantyhose?
And that's when I said you knowwhat I sold the bike.

(17:06):
You know, I have family thatwould like to see me around.
It's just the distracted driver, as they call it, either
playing with your stereo, andnow they have these so you can
watch the movies in your car.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
It's just, yeah, not safe folks.
And what I would say to thattoo is I and I think last night
and if you didn't get a chanceto watch that portion of the
meeting, um, our, our detectivewas phenomenal at explaining
that- john fulmer.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, lieutenant fulmer.
He well, that's the third timeI've seen it, because we watched
.
I said detective lieutenant, hedid he was so horrible at that.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
He's changing jobs too, while he's at it, so he did
I keep saying Captain Cornelius, and there I got the name wrong
and the title.
He's Deputy Chief Cornelius,not Cornelius.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
But you know again and I will agree in that
conversation that you had lastnight I watched it from the
police commission when theytalked about it and Zezette was
right when it came backTransportation now wants to get
involved in it.
It's weird how the differentyou know are going to do.

(18:17):
But I agree, technology ischanging very fast and around
town.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
We need to keep up on those laws and I will say it
was a little messy there because, although she was right that
the commission had asked for it,that was my agenda item and the
reality and when I talked tojustin about this, the reason
the transportation commissionwas confused is because the
agenda item itself should nothave gone before any commission.

(18:45):
That was admitted by Jess and amistake on the city manager's
part, because a first step doesnot go to our commissions for
the reason that there's no realmeat to it.
The council hasn't even decidedwhether they want to do a deep
dive.
Once we decide either, well,we're going to note and file
this, there's no point to sendit to them.
Or if we say, well, we're goingto note and file this, there's

(19:06):
no point to send it to them.
Or if we say, no, we'd likethis to move forward, we'd like
some information, we'd like anordinance for consideration.
Then it can go to theappropriate committees.
Lack of foresight on his partbecause it went as an agenda
item to the police commission,although it should have been

(19:29):
just an information piece.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
They have their resident expert that has ridden
these bikes in Aswan.
Well, that leads me to anotherquestion right there, madam
Mayor.
Is Craig and I, you know thecommissions that we can see,
because a lot of them they'renot recorded, they're not
televised?
Some of these commissions aregoing down rat holes, literally.

(19:51):
You know they're talking aboutstuff and getting deeper into it
.
Police commission was one.
The police commission broughtup I'm trying to think what it
was.
Oh, the, what's it called?
Domestic violence and a wholething about that.

(20:12):
And they have each commissionmembers calling different
organizations about usingsomething.
Folks, why are we recreatingthe wheel?
You know, and that was one.
There's another commission, Iunderstand, the Sustainable,
what's it called?
The Little Beret Commission.
Yeah, they're pretty powerfuland when they want to move stuff

(20:34):
forward it gets forward.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
But we have other commissions that don't get me
started on that, because youknow where I'm going to go with
that.
You know where my pet peeve ison that, I do.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
But it's kind of true .
They're talking about stuff.
Your meetings can be a lotshorter.
They answer to you guys.
They don't make decisionpolicies.
They all need to realize and bereminded you guys are not
council.
You might sit at the dais tohave your meeting, but that's
about where your power stops.
Everything goes to you or tothe council.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
And I think you know, on our part as a city and I
think all of us on council havecalled for this better, better
training, and I can say this assomebody who served as a
commissioner.
I didn't really know what I wasgetting into until I was there.
I wasn't sure if being onlibrary board meant I was going
to look at library policy 24-7and send recommendations to
council, which wasn't entirelythe role right All the books.

(21:29):
Exactly.
You don't really get a good, Ithink, explanation until you're
there and doing it and it's alittle bit of trial by error
which, on council, I would saythe inverse.
We get a really comprehensiveexplanation of what we're going
to be doing on the dais and Ithink a of our commissioners, um
, have a lot of ideas and oncewe tell them, well, this is kind

(21:51):
of the avenue to do it, they'revery much more amenable to that
.
It's just they don't maybe know.
And also, you've ever seen thebrown act boy talk about
something that's clear as mudfor folks well, it's gotten a
lot with the good old Brown Act.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
But I remember and that's the public doesn't
understand, right, committeemembers can't talk to one
another, commissioners can't.
It's real limited on who youcan talk to and how that word
gets around.
But again, I find some of thecommission members.
It's kind of like.
I read every application.
When you guys decide to putsomebody on a board, that's what

(22:30):
I do in the middle of night.
I read everybody's.
You know some of those resumesare, are presidential material,
right?
Some of these people aredoctors, you know, and they're
they're way over for what you'regoing to be doing for the city
of Burbank.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
And it's interesting because there's there's ways,
right.
One of the things I and wediscussed this a little bit
during our meeting on the boardsand commissions.
I actually don't mind that wehad the transportation folks
come to us last and be like wewant this in front of us.
To their credit, both of thefolks who came forward they ride
e-bikes.
They ride bikes.
They're crazy about them.
I learned through our staffreport things like the fact that

(23:10):
actually the two legal electricbikes go 20 miles per hour.
It's the third classificationsfrom.
They already know that, theyknow the ins and outs of that.
I would actually love to getfeedback from them whether I'm
going to agree with it, whetherI'm going to make the decision
on it.
That's, that's where it's up tous as counsel.
But a lot of these folks are,like you shared a very well

(23:32):
versed.
I mean, we've had PhDs onsustainability.
Yeah, that I thank God we havethem because I'm not a PhD in
environmental engineering, right, and so getting the info from
them is helpful and I will say Iwelcome the pushback sometimes.
Sometimes they send in letterssaying we actually disagree with
your decision based on this,this and this.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
That's usually the sustainability commission, isn't
it?

Speaker 3 (23:56):
And you know what?
I'm their liaison, I thinkthat's along with our vice mayor
, with Tamla Takahashi, and wesit there and we just let them
talk because we agree with them.
You know, doing their ownprocess.
The only time we would everchime in is if they say you know
well what has council said onthis, and it's just a point of

(24:16):
information, council has donethis.
Our job is to be very neutralthere, and so if they then want
to send a letter to councilsaying they disagree with
something we've done, absolutelythey're prerogative their first
amendment right to do.
And then it's up to us todecide if we say, hey, listen,
there's something to this, or ifwe say we know why we made our

(24:38):
decision, thanks for your input,and that's their advisory role.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
It's part of the process, which is what we need
to have is a you know we're ableto listen to everybody and then
make a decision one of thesuggestions I will say I made
and I I during our boards andcommissions meeting.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
I said this and it was taken into the the minutes
and the motion is one thingthat's helped steer
sustainability.
I think going back to thecommission because, like you
said, I don't know power is theright word.
I think they have a lot ofscope, because you can argue
that sustainability iseverything, but then that also
becomes kind of a murky process,like then what is your

(25:15):
responsibility?
What do you do?
And so one thing that hasreally worked for them is their
staff lays on Ken, who came inand was like okay, I'm new to
this, but what I'm seeing is weneed orientation here.
They created a set of goals andnow they're going off of those
goals, so they have a lot moreof a goal-oriented and focused
mindset.

(25:35):
These are the 10 things we'refocusing on.
Anything that comes outside ofthat may be discussed, but
there's always at least one ofthem that says, well, that's not
one of our priorities may bediscussed, but there's always at
least one of them that says,well, that's not one of our
priorities.
Let's go back to our prioritiesand I suggest that every
commission set up their goal, sothat they can tell us these are
our priorities, this is what wewant to talk about, and that
helps staff to know okay, thisis coming up to council, or this

(25:57):
commission is probably going totell council this and that we
were all working moreeffectively together, because a
lot of these commissions couldgo like nine ways.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
I do feel sorry for some of our city department
heads that are staffers andbecause when you're working with
a group of citizens, they'reprobably getting thrown all
sorts of stuff.
It's kind of like a videomeeting people yes, very
well-meaning, and some of themare very you know sharp.
That's very well-meaning andsome of them are very you know
sharp and I think, like you said, maybe, like you said, a

(26:28):
guideline when people apply forthe job you know, or apply for
the commission, they need toknow what that commission really
does.
And is this a commission?
You just want to get on acommission or do you have some
input or some background thatwill help you?
Yeah, um, we need to move onhere, okay, well, no, there's

(26:51):
one other thing.
Go ahead.
I'm gonna tell you right now.
You're not allowed to ride ane-bike or anything with two
wheels, at least for the nextfour months oh, absolutely not
for the next six months I uh,yeah, no, absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
I'm not getting on anything with wheels.
That is an main vehicle at thispoint, unless they have training
wheels yeah, and I will justsay this for folks we are
creating, uh, not only comingback with policies and
regulations on all of thesetypes of devices, but one thing
that was really important tocounsel, especially after

(27:25):
receiving the presentation,realizing wow, there's a lot of
misinformation, there's a lot ofthings we don't know.
Why would we expect ourcommunity to know?
It's the education on what isan electric bike, what is an
electric scooter, what are thecategories.
And if you're a parent rightnow listening to this, thinking
what do I do, I would encourageyou actually to go to one of our

(27:47):
local.
In the meantime, before we getthis education campaign going,
go to one of our local bikeshops.
The gentleman from Stoltz Bikescalled in last night.
They know their stuff.
If you are like my 16 year oldwants an electric bike, what do
I do?
Talk to these folks.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
They're more than happy to tell you don't mean to
interrupt you, but maybe go toone or two.
We have a whole mess of great.
Don't just go online, yeah, andorder from what's that big
company?
Or amazon, oh yeah, that'sright.
Um, you know, and that theydon't give you, you know?
Know you get a pamphlet.
Yeah, you don't learn fromdoing it.

(28:25):
And then let your kid go outand go to the end of the block
and crash.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
We have a lot of interested bike folks, bike
groups in Burbank, and everybodyin them is more than willing to
talk and tell you.
I know when, when I talked tothem, they were like, well, this
is what you'd like for your ownkid as a starter bike.
Because I was sitting up therethinking, oh my gosh, as a
parent, do I want my child onany bike at this point?
But the reality is kids aregoing to want to be on a bike.

(28:53):
There's ways to shop around forthe safest bike and these
classifications.
If you go to somebody locallyhere who can tell you about them
, they'll explain it to you.
They'll explain what not to getand they'll also know what's
legal and not legal on ourstreets.
And if you're listening andthis goes out to the guy who
zipped by me today while I wastaking a walk down the street

(29:16):
scooters, e-scooters are notallowed in the city of Burbank
on our sidewalks, so please, getoff the sidewalk.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
I think that was the biggest thing that everybody
took from it.
I don't think any of us havenever walked down a sidewalk or
somewhere that yeah as a kidflies by is drive down cliborne,
any of the border streets ofburbank.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
you see all these scooters left there because as
soon as you get to burbank theirgeo shuts them off and people
and people are stuck.
You see them all over Clivemoreand everything it's pretty
funny.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
But I remember that council meeting when they were
talking.
I remember David Kriski upthere.
I think he lost a little hairthen when they were talking
about those scooters coming intotown and now he has a pretty
good agreement with all thosescooter companies that you know
you're not coming into Burbank.
You remember that councilmeeting?
It went for hours, oh yeah.
And then we were worried aboutseeing street corners, like you

(30:10):
do in North Hollywood and LA.
There's 20 of them piled up.
Well, we haven't seen that yet.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Drive down to Clyburn .
Right here You'll see 304.
But on the west side yes, okay,burbank side I want to move on
to solar a little bit.
Solar power for houses.
I was thinking about going solarand then you guys came up with
new guidelines and it seemed tome to be a lot less incentive

(30:39):
than it was before.
I also know that we own our ownpower company, so is it in our
best interest to stop sellingpower?
If everybody starts going solar, then what do we do with our
power company?
So to me it's a slippery slope.
To a point we have the benefitsof our own power, but on the

(31:00):
other hand, if everybody's notusing it, what's going to happen
?
I was very confused, in allhonesty.
I watched the whole thingbecause, like I said, I was very
interested in going to solar.
I'm not now because it soundedlike all the incentives are gone
and it didn't sound like thecity really is pushing it.
Plus, there's no incentivesfrom the city to go.

(31:22):
We get a new washing machine ora new window, we get all kinds
of rebates.
You go solar?
No, there ain't nothing for you.
So just to try and throw it outthere, what?
What was the thinking about?

Speaker 3 (31:34):
this whole thing.
So it and solar is, you know,bless mandeep and the folks at
bwp, because it's it's hard outthere.
Solar is one of those marketswe relate to the game to solar
as a city and in some ways Ican't blame us because it is not
a lucrative thing and what wetell people is remember, burbank

(31:55):
Water and Power is a publiclyowned utility.
All of us in this room are partshareholders in Burbank Water
and Power, the entire city is,and so they're not in it for a
profit ever.
And when you have somethinglike solar at the rates we were
at before, it was unattainable,it was untenable for us.
It was we were losing money andessentially our other rate

(32:20):
payers were subsidizing thesolar customers.
So that gets really hard too,because we also have very strict
federal regulations that sayyou can't do that.
You can't have one class ofrate payers that's essentially
being subsidized by the rest ofpeople and that's kind of, I
think, the most common man's way.

(32:41):
I can explain it because that'show I ended up.
You know understanding it,because reading the thing too
and talking about wattage andtalking about you, know this
percentage and you know whywe're lost, craig, it's because
it's like the stock market.
If you've ever been in the roomwhere our utility buys water
and power, it's like being onWall Street.

(33:01):
It's intense and they'replaying that game all day so
that we can have decent rates.
And don't get me started onwater, because at least we have
good buying power in in theelectrical world and we're we're
you know we're as much a selleras a buyer.
We're, we're good there in thewater world.
We have no water rights fromAbsolutely.

(33:22):
If folks don't know, ladwp hasall the rights to the water
rainwater that fell.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
One of our reporters, Lynn Lipinski, actually went on
the deal.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
She was sitting right next to me.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Oh yeah, they went together, they went together and
Ross and I have taken that trip, also Thanks to Marcia, thanks
to her years ago.
Thanks to Marcia Ramos Marcia'samazing for shedding that truth
.
I was in school with both ofthem.
Yeah, people, we don't get ourrainwater.
All that rain we're getting, itgoes to LA, not to Burbank.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
If you ever see me in the community and I have a
little bit of a salty face whensomebody says, oh, thank God, we
needed that rain, I'm like,well, we're not getting the
water benefits from it Becauseof that.
We have to be really aggressiveas a utility to protect all of
the rate payers Right.
And so we have just reachedsolar works in an interesting

(34:16):
way.
Don't ask me what the exactpercentage is, but when you hit
a certain tier of solarcustomers, you can go into that
buying tier, which is what wefinally hit.
And so for our utility, it justmade sense to be there and,
yeah, it's not as much of abenefit to the solar client.
I wouldn't say it's no benefit,it's not as much of a benefit.

(34:37):
And one of the things I know wegot in the weeds with that
conversation.
But one of the things that uh,constantine and I were calling
for was, if it's going to beconfusing already, can you at
least because the utility had adifferent schedule for for folks
for solar rates than for, uh,regular electrical rates?
We just asked them put them onthe same timeline at the very

(35:00):
minimum, so folks understandthis is when your solar rate
goes up and this is when yourelectrical rate goes, so that it
wasn't like oh well, I have topay attention to when electrical
rates go up in July, but then Ihave to pay attention in
September when solar goes up.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
It just gets messier, there was one statement made by
a speaker that said when thepower goes out in Burbank and
you're on solar, you lose yourpower also, and I didn't know
that.
I thought that your solar wouldthen just take over.
And let's say there's anearthquake or something, okay,

(35:37):
well, I've got solar, I'd stillhave power.
But according to that and notone person talked about that
Afterwards I'm going I wonder ifthat was true.
But that was one of one reasonI said no, I I really don't want
to say if I'm not going to havepower because the city loses
power, then what's that's thegood of having my own power unit
and batteries and everythingelse?
What?
What good is it then?
You know?

Speaker 2 (35:57):
but I will say, the good part about that is magnolia
power plant.
We have our own people.
A lot of people don't realizewe don't get power from any
outside agency.
We create our own.
But we sell a lot.
We sell a lot, right, uh,thanks to may rest in peace ron
davis of his idea of buildingthat and and would prove, you

(36:18):
know, I mean we sell a lot ofthat, you know, and in other
cities paying us.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
But if we lose power, if everybody else is down,
everybody comes back up becauseand and we're, you know, again
trying to make another anotherfinance reference here but
diversify your, your investments, right?
So we actually our utility isalso looking at different types
of of investments in power solaryes, it, it sounds

(36:45):
environmental.
It's not the only environmentalway, right?
We're on our eco campus.
We're testing that new battery.
That battery over the summercan power about 300 homes.
So if there's something wherewe have an issue and power goes
down, we have that back.
We also have solar, we alsohave the power plant.
So, with all these differenttypes of power streams, that's

(37:06):
how we make sure that we'renever fully out.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
I'm going to tell you the thing that electric cars,
all these things I get it,sustainability and everything
else.
But what happens in 15 yearswhen all these batteries in the
cars they don't work anymore,the batteries in the store,
where are we going to do allthose batteries?
They're going to go tolandfills.
They're going to go to play.
You know we don't have.
You know we're going toactually have a problem when it

(37:32):
comes to all those usedbatteries that we have Is that,
while the technology is good,it's not where it should be as
far as sustainability for theused batteries.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
It's funny you say that because it's kind of like
airplanes.
I had a job once to photographold airplanes.
There is an airplane mortuaryout in Mojave Desert, yeah, in
the graveyard.
I went out there.
I was hired to shoot.
There's literally planes outthere, or more, and you can go
in them.
It just blew me away.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
But what happens to old airplanes?
When they fly them there andtake keys and walk, they can
actually use those some of thoseagain because of the way the
air is out there right in thedesert, and in three or four
years they can usually stillfire one of some 47s and bring
it back or something.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
But yeah, it's well, same thing with our batteries
and so forth.
How, yeah, but the batteriesthat's used up.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
It's done yeah, and then here's the thing I agree
with you, craig, that we look.
Electric cars are actuallygreat if, as a consumer, if you
have somewhere to plug them in,if you have the capacity to buy
one because they're still lowpricey, and if you are going,
you know the short distances orare traveling somewhere longer

(38:44):
where there's batteries andcharge or chargers along the way
.
So there's a lot ofconsiderations still that a
consumer would have to make, andone of the things that, as a
utility, we actually brought toDC was we have to think about
all of these things with commonsense too.
I know there's a push inCalifornia to push consumers to
go towards electric cars.

(39:04):
I understand that.
I understand that gas is, youknow, rough.
I still think the state and thefederal government, if they
want this, should provide moreincentives to folks to switch
because, yeah, and what happenswhen it comes to Nebraska?

Speaker 1 (39:19):
How many charging stations are you going to find
in some of these states?
They don't care about.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
You got to bring in the infrastructure before you're
asking.
You can't put this on thelittle guy, you have to put it
on the government and on thelarger corporations.
Let them build thatinfrastructure, then ask us all
to go buy these cars.
It puts more faith right.
And then the other thing is oneof the things we were
advocating for is as a utility,we should not be the focus.

(39:46):
I feel like in many ways we andthis is across the nation, many
of the government entities,specifically utilities have been
told you have to go green firstand in many ways I get that.
Like are the things we'retesting on our eco campus.
But what our storm showed us isthat, yes, we can have an
electric fleet, but we are thatutility is the one actual group

(40:10):
of people that needs those gaspowered vehicles in an emergency
.
So does fire, so does police,but we need to have those in
reserve and we need to think.
We need to work smarter, notharder.
Right, right.
And I think as state we shouldnot be focused on oh, let's
penalize or let's look at BWP,because they have those like 17

(40:33):
gas powered vehicles, while theentire consumer group of the
state of California is notbuying electric.
Let's look at putting in theinfrastructure.
Let's put the pieces in so thatconsumers feel comfortable.
Let's find a way to make thosecars more affordable, Because I
can tell you right now I wouldlove to have an electric car.
I can't afford to give up mycar right now and switch my car

(40:55):
and find somewhere to charge it.
It's really hard.
So I don't know if that's mysoapbox.
And let's make it easier forthe consumer, please.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Nuclear power.
40 years ago we had all thesenuclear power plants and now
we're finding out.
Maybe not a good idea back then.
Oh, it's clean energy.
Nuclear power it's good.
Clean energy not going topollute yeah, but what do you do
with those nuclear rods thatare all used up where?

Speaker 2 (41:16):
are they going to go?
Your point was very good.
You have to think of a policefleet fire department that has
to have in the south pass, theyjust go all electric yeah,
they're trying, they're testing,you know, but again, when you
have to rotate out and chargingand all, there's a lot of stuff
that I mean.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
And call me crazy, but maybe our emergency systems
are not where we should start,right?
Yeah, I don't know.
Radical idea.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Well, you want to move on to what you got for us.
What about you know we?
I think, um, we had brought itup and you were going to do your
homework.
Um, do you love doing homework?
I know, love homework.
We're going to talk about toblake that he has to give you a
certain amount of time to giveyou let you do your work.
The olympics are coming up.
Yeah, you're right down theroad.
Literally, literally.
What are we doing in our city?

Speaker 3 (42:14):
so I'm prepared.
I'm glad you asked that, ross,because this also came up.
You know we talked about itlast time and around the same
time I think it was either twodays earlier or two days after I
was at skag.
For folks who don't know,that's the southern california
associationments.
I'm our representative forRegion 42, which is just a
numerical, fancy way to sayGlendale and Burbank, but I sit

(42:37):
on that board and it's reallyfascinating because they bring
regional issues from all acrossSouthern California, and so, of
course, the Olympics was one ofthe first topics we discussed on
my time on the California, andso, of course, the Olympics was
one of the first topics wediscussed on my time on the
board, and the representativefrom the committee talked about
all the ways cities can getinvolved.
What are we doing?
Sign up here?

(42:58):
And, of course, the veryinteresting idea to make it all
this is an idea from the mayorof LA to make it all bus, bus
transportation.
So essentially, there's notgoing to be parking at the games
.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
we will see how that goes, but on our end, as a city
of burbank, yeah, she might goto guam during the olympics and
nobody told me we're having theolympics okay, craig, maybe
that's the time to take the bike, right, yeah, but the one thing
that got me thinking like,where do we sign up?

Speaker 3 (43:31):
What do we do?
Our staff, once again, is aheadof the curve.
So I had thought like, well, dowe have Olympic facilities?
How can we get involved?
What is our role here?
And, of course, staff hasalready started talking to the
airport.
We've already started lookingat, you know, the hotels for at
least that tourist piece.
Right, you can make yourairport a LA-28 designated

(43:52):
airport, which we should be.
I think folks who don't livehere don't know this, but trust
me, if you're listening, youwill prefer to fly into Burbank?
Oh yeah, exactly yeah, and we'llhave a brand new replacement
terminal, yeah, and that'll havea brand new replacement
terminal, yeah, and that's oneof the things we're looking at
right, that tourist aspect,because I think in many ways
Burbank is much better suitedfor that than even the city of

(44:15):
LA.
I'm sorry I'm going to toot ourown horn here.
If you're coming in for theOlympics also, come stay with us
, come take the Warner Brotherstour, come look around Burbank,
come see some history we have alot of that nice piece here.
We are the media capital andyou can get a lot of that in and
then take your bus over to LAto watch some Olympic games.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Well, that and the soccer in there, don't?
We have several Olympics, thesoccer in there.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
I think our pools are also Olympic-sized pools
Verdugo and McCambridge.
Well, they're replaced fromMcCambridge and uh, verdugo and
mccambridge.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
They could be well, they're replacing mccamber, is
that spur?
You know teams and that's onething we've considered, but I I
think what I want to talk aboutin the bulk is that the city,
when I asked them, they said wealready have a plan.
So the city has alreadyextended offers to the la 28
organizers to host para olympicathletes.
If you've been paying attentionin burbank, a lot of the ribbon
cuttings have been going to hismayor.

(45:09):
A lot of the things that we'vebeen talking about are our
adaptive sports.
No city is set up like Burbankin our region for adaptive
sports and it's one of thethings that and again, I don't
mean this in any disrespectfulway, but we've seen a lot of
talk about the Olympics this inany disrespectful way, but we've
seen a lot of talk about theOlympics.

(45:30):
City of LA is also responsiblefor hosting the Paralympics and
the scope in that has felt verylimited.
They haven't created thatcommittee.
That's necessary, and soBurbank's on opportunity there
saying hey, we're actually aleader in this, let us host the
athletes, let us host thetraining grounds, let us lead.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
We should also point out that the Par paralympics are
a week after the olympics end.
The next week after they end,that's when the paralympics
start, and if you think of thatoverall, that again crystal ball
.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
You know our airport, I mean we have our own, you
know, and we will definitelyhave a ton of new places on
board to.
You know lease and rent and so,like you said, there's tons of
tour things.
So, yeah, that makes a lot ofsense.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
And I really like that staff is thinking that way
because it's innovative for us.
You know, we could be likeevery other small city that
right now is competing to saywhat do we have that we could
host this viewing party or wecould do this thing.
That is in conjunction.
We picked a very specificcategory and really we're
equipped to host a lot of theParalympic pieces.

(46:37):
I mean, hosting athletes is abig deal and we have already
applied to say we're qualifiedto do that, we're qualified to
have Paralympic games in ourcity, and so that's really good
for the city of Burbank becauseit's almost like we're taking
ownership of a whole piece ofthe Olympics I'm just curious
with that.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
is that several different departments, or do we
have somebody within the citythat is kind of spearheading
that, or how is that so that?
That play putty starting toform.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
That's a good question.
It's that's a good question.
It's primarily parks and rec,but it's going to be a team
effort, right, becausetransportation has to be
involved, because we have towork in.
How are folks going to get overhere?
Um, we'll finally take theburbank bus somewhere you know
what, from your words, from yourlips to god's ears, craig I get
in trouble with that.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
Yeah, I, I feel, and david kriski still talks to him.
Yes, he does.
I don't do it, kriski.
Well, okay, that brings me upto another one that I see that
I'm not sure the windstorms thatwe had back in January and
everything kind of ripped apartour starlight Bowl and we've

(47:50):
talked.
That's a.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
I kind of brought this up, but to me the Starlight
Bowl is a huge embarrassment toBurbank, I think.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
But now it's an opera .

Speaker 1 (48:00):
If you look at last year's lineup, it was all cover
bands.
You got bands like Foreigner orSupertrade.
You got a lot of those oldbands that are the cover bands,
you know.
You got bands like Foreigner orSupertrade.
You got a lot of those oldbands that are the real bands.
You don't need to have a coverband of them and they're playing
small venues all throughoutSouthern California.
Why are we not even attractingthose kind of bands to come to

(48:20):
start with?
But number two is and this isnot on you in any way, but this
is on our council for the last30 years why did we let that
facility run down so much thatit got that one windstorm could
really take it?
Finally take it out.
Why the upkeep not there?
Because it's a hidden gem inthis city.

(48:41):
You know.
It's such a beautiful location,it does so much, and then we
only use it six times a year.
And as for nothing, you knowthe Beatles cover band, you know
, and then some fireworks andthat's kind of about it.
So I just think the council, thecity, should say we need to
either raise it or we need toreally build it up and make it a

(49:04):
very attractive.
And yeah, it's going to takemillions.
Absolutely, it's going to takemillions of dollars.
Absolutely it's going to takemillions of dollars.
But sometimes there's certaininfrastructure I think, that are
important and unique to a city.
So that's my soapbox for asecond, the way I felt about it,
because I think it's, I thinkit's, it's an embarrassment
because it can be so much more,so great.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
I'm glad you bring that up, craig, because that's a
good pitch to me now becauseI'm catching the ball.
Um, that is something that,from day one, zazette mullins
and I have been bringing up, andduring last budget season we
both talked about it.
We we wanted that to getbudgeted and it did, and so our
last budget included therevitalization funds for the

(49:45):
starlight bowl, and it was.
I'm glad that it did, becauselook what happened now.
And here's the thing I am gonnagive you some annoying
positivity.
Please do.
This is an opportunity.
I actually think justin and thefolks in the city manager's
office made the right decision,saying we're not going to have
the season this year becauseit's it needs work yes, I would

(50:09):
rather stop what we're doing andjust then, rather than say, oh,
let's just uh, fix the repairsand and bring in like a hasty
last minute season and get thosecover bands I've been looking
at, instead they're saying we'regonna shut down for a whole
year and we're actually going todo the revitalization that
we've budgeted for.

(50:29):
It's there in the books.
Do I think we needed awindstorm to show us that?
No, but I think the windstormdid show us just how bad
condition the Starlight Bowl wasin.
And also I will say that that's50 percent of it.
The other 50 percent is man man.
Those were some nasty wins andin that specific area, if folks

(50:50):
were not familiar, yes, oh, thatit was a canyon so that brings
me to a good question, and Iknow you're very supportive of
our local media.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
We have a ton of people.
We have lighting people, wehave sound people, we have
carpenters, we have draperypeople.
We we have lighting people, wehave sound people, we have
carpenters, we have draperypeople.
We have all these people thatare hurting for work.
Can we any way look at workingat the bowl, get it going and
use some of our local talent,these people that right now, yes

(51:25):
, they're building 16 new stagesat the ranch.
It won't be occupied.
I talked to my son today.
Nobody is working in theindustry.
It's very slow, really rough.
Maybe we can get some of ourlocal people.
We have volt lighting.
You know they're burbank people,burbank based.
They can light up the whitehouse, they can light up the

(51:45):
starlight bowl.
I mean, we have sound people inour own community that instead
of I know you have to go out forbids and now that's what gets
me.
You gotta, you know, spread thewealth.
But I think why don't we startusing burbank people?
Get them employed, use them.
You know not that I don't likela people or lindale or whatever

(52:07):
, but we have our own peoplethat I would love to see hear
them go.
Yeah, I worked at starlightbowl last week doing something
or something, and maybe it'sjust some way we can get the
local workforce and anddefinitely when it comes, you
hit the nail on the head withrfp.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
when it comes to the reconstruction of it, we have to
, by law, go on an rP, go outfor a bid, do that process and
just knowing the little bit thatI do, I have friends that are
carpenters and friends that arein the industry working a lot of
these kind of set constructionjobs.
It's a little different thanwhat's happening when you're
revitalizing something like this.

(52:43):
So we do have to go out for aconstruction company there for
something much bigger.
But looking at the future,that's one of the things that
council brought up, becausebefore we knew the bull was
going to be completely out ofcommission, we were already
having these meetings about therevitalization and the city has
hired a consultant who hasworked on revitalizing other

(53:06):
projects to meet with all of uson council, to meet with Parks
and Rec, with the commission,with community members, and
start asking us what do we wantto see?
And I can confidently say thatI know my colleagues on council
said we want to see somethingnew that involves our
entertainment industry.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
Well, ok, I guess what they've decided to do is
community concerts for thesummer they're thinking about
putting.
You can't bring 4,000 peopleinto a neighborhood.
You know that has to be spacedout.
But again, there is work therethat we can get local people.
I don't want to count theholiday in the park.

(53:43):
We rented stuff.
We rented toilets, we rentedlights, we rented radios.
We rented them from Burbankcompanies.
I wanted to make sure that themoney stayed right here in
Burbank.
And again, when we're doingthese little, whatever we're
going to do this summer let'shire some of these local people
that have been unemployed.
You know that can help and workand do things.

(54:06):
I just think it's a way to.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Go ahead Tout holiday in the park.
We love holiday in the parkhere.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Yes, we do.
One of the reasons I broughtthis up is that the history of
Burbank when it comes to oldfacilities as a baseball guy, I
remember all of Stadium Hugehistory.
New York Yankees played there.
It was, and they let itdeteriorate and go down and down
and down.
Then we had an earthquake and Isaid, oh yeah, you know that

(54:34):
earthquake.
Now it's just, we just gottatear it all down because they
never maintained it.
And I've seen that happen withthe starlight pool.
Now, you know it's.
Those are the old mystery, youknow, a doomed repeat type thing
.
And that's bothering me is thefact that I just don't want to
see the Starlight Bowl becomewhat happened to the Olive
Stadium, you know, and that's.
And then bringing bands in, andever since we had a council

(54:56):
member probably you've not heard, but Jim Richmond was back in
the seventies and he did notlike the bands that came in
because they weren't morally,whatever you know.
They said a bad word to one oftheir songs or whatever it was,
you know.
And so we had the big lawsuitbecause we had an outside
professional company bringing inthese great entertainment acts.

(55:18):
Who happened?

Speaker 2 (55:19):
to be a Burbank resident.
That was a funny story.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
And so now we had, we had, they sued the city and of
course one, because JimRichmond's morals are not for
everybody.
So it seems like we've beenscared ever since then to do
anything big up there and makeit our own again.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
And I'm glad you bring up council and council
priorities.
I think one of the things andone of the reasons I ran for
city council was a quality oflife piece right, I.
I think obviously if you don'thave public safety and housing
in your platform somewhere,you're not paying attention.
But a lot of people stopped andwere like what do you mean by

(55:57):
quality of life?
They're like what?
This sounds so puffy, this islike a fluffy and like feel good
.
I'm like no, you don'tunderstand.
Like, growing up here I hadaccess to a lot of those things.
The 4th of July show was somuch bigger than what it is now.
We had the Ikea movies in thesummer.
Those are the things I remembermore than anything and the

(56:18):
reality is, yes, families aregoing to remember the things,
the very technical things thatwe do that affect them obviously
rates and things like that.
But the reason you moved toBurbank, the reason you remember
growing up in Burbank, arethese community events and for a
long time we had a city thatwas focused on economic

(56:39):
development and didn't feel likecommunity development was in
line with that.
And I am so glad to know thateverybody that's on this council
, because I look at all of yourcampaign websites, but everybody
that's on here now had that intheir platform.
They had community, some formof community engagement, some
form of quality of life,something on there.

(57:00):
They talked about Burbank onParade, they talked about the
Starlight Bowl and they talkedabout making sure we have events
in Burbank and community eventsthat are high caliber that
people can enjoy, and so I thinkwe're also looking at a very
different council that's notjust looking at how much money
can we make out of this, or isthis?
Is this financially worth it?
It's well, is this financiallyworth it, and is it also a

(57:22):
community investment?

Speaker 1 (57:24):
But I think that's right there.
Let me make one point real fast, and I want Ross our next show
we do.
I want Ross to come in and leadthis conversation about all the
roadblocks the city puts up toanybody running an event.
Now that nobody wants to runevents in the city anymore
because it's so difficult, it'sso expensive.

(57:44):
There's so many know, ross, andI see next time we get you in
here, it's be a great topic forus.
I don't want to get into it nowbecause we're about done, but I
want to get that topic nexttime.
So, ross, I want you to put onyour list to to um good
discussion.
You know, and it's we're solucky to have you in here and be

(58:04):
able to talk to you, not onlyas an elected official but as a
fellow resident.
I mean, it's a world ofdifference.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
I always tell people and I think, craig, you asked me
this like two years ago on themic.
It was one of my first podcastsand you said now that you've
been on there for a year, whatdo you think?
Can you sleep at night makingthose decisions?
And I said yes, because I thinkwhat people need to understand,
different than Congress,different than the Senate,

(58:34):
different than the presidencyfor sure, city Council is so
much more niche that I know thedecisions I'm making immediately
affect my mom, my dad, mybrother, my husband, my kid.
You know everybody that is in myorbit, my friends, the people I
went to school with.
These are not just like ahundred and five thousand

(58:55):
constituents.
No, these are my friends, theseare my neighbors, these are the
people I live with every day.
And I think you feel that somuch closer when you're in local
government.
So I can tell you thateverybody on that dais feels
that way and takes all of thedecisions we make super
seriously.
Now, when it comes to theroadblocks and the money, that
has been one of my livingannoyances well, we'll bring it
up next time.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
I don't want to do that I don't get ross going,
because ross is.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
Uh, I will make one plug, though I will make one
plug, quick plug.
Uh, we know it's getting moreexpensive.
A lot of that is not somethingwe can control.
A lot of that is you know.
I mean it's so unfortunate, butthings like 10 years ago we
were not thinking about somebodydriving their car into a car,
absolutely.
You know safety concerns, sure,a lot of that.
And one of the things this ismy quick plug One of the things

(59:47):
that I put forward last year inour budget was a community grant
to make sure that folks likeholiday in the park, folks like
pride, folks like you knowanybody, a girl scout who wants
to do a community project and isasking the city how can I get
funds?
Well, here's a pool of money foryou and I know at first folks
were like, oh, do we really wantto put 50k?
I would 100k.
If it was me right, I wouldlove to increase that, and this

(01:00:07):
year is a pilot.
So if you're listening andyou're interested and you think
you have a 501c3 project, please, please put it forward, apply
it's on our website and, even ifyou apply incorrectly, if you
do it soon enough, staff willreach out to you and talk to you
.
I want to see thoseapplications come in so our city
staff can see our community isengaged.

(01:00:28):
We want to host these events,we want to do these things and
we need money to do them.
I know it's a start.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
We need help.
Yeah, we need help to do them.
That's funny, don't find us awhole thing, but we do need help
, and that's what the wholething is.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
You.
So afternoon holiday in thepark for the last several years
and one of the joys that I getout of it is watching the kids
and all the families, familiesand I talked to people that have
moved into Magnolia Park andthat's why they moved into
Magnolia Park.
We put on things and we need tocontinue.

(01:01:00):
It's healthy for our communityto put on.
We are still a safe communityto put on Holiday Inn Park and
attract 40,000 people for acouple of hours or do Burbank
Con Parade or whatever.
We need to continue to do thosebecause I find when you you
know, I witnessed it People thatlive on the hill haven't seen

(01:01:22):
everybody down in the valley andat Holiday in the Park.
What are you doing all year?
You know, and it's just yeah,to me after.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
COVID, we need a socialization, oh big time and
you know it's funny, one of thethings that it's been for my
family I don't get to see, eventhough they live around the
corner.
I don't get to see my parentsall the time with my busy
schedule Although Sundays arefor the family, my mom has that
very reserved.
But one of the things we alllook forward to is holiday in
the park and not to tug atheartstrings a little bit.

(01:01:53):
But one of the first thingsBlake and I talked about after
finding out we were expectingand being really excited to
bring our little one places washoliday in the park.
He said can you imagine and wetalked about this at the last
holiday in the park but can youimagine that next year we're
going to be here with asix-month-old walking around and

(01:02:15):
that was so sweet for us.
You know that's community forus.
I'm excited to take hercommunity is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
You're right, handley , I, I hear it.
We um I don't know if you haveheard um, I don't think I'm
breaking any records or tellinganybody, but I'm the interim
president of Magnolia ParkMerchants as of two weeks ago
and we're looking at doingHoliday in the Park.
It's already, I think, november21st next year.

(01:02:41):
We're looking at doing somefamily maybe started a little
early for families that havekids and strangers, because that
was some of.
We're listening to the feedbackwe heard from people.
Some we want to do stuff forsome autistic kids because
sometimes it's too loud and too.
You know we're we're working onall that.
But we're changing.

(01:03:03):
Jeff and I.
We have Jeff who ran it lastyear, uh, gonna run it for me
this year and we're thinkingmaybe starting an hour early for
those families, make it familytime the first hour and then,
you know, the kids start comingout, the older kids, the
football, the baseball kids andso forth, maybe go a little
later so it could.
We're working on all that.
We're.

(01:03:23):
We're, we listen to whateverybody's saying, but I talked
to so many people that theylove burbank because of and that
is now the event of the year isholiday in the park.
You know we're doing actuallythe only event of the year.
Well, we're trying to come upwith some others.
We're working on a pbid for nowfor magnolia park and all sorts

(01:03:44):
of other things.
We want to do more because,again, I remember Bebop in the
park.
They put a huge stage atCalifornia Magnolia and had a
band playing in the dance floor.
That's what Burbank people want, Like the beer, the chili
cook-off at the Fire Department.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
And we're getting more events.
Craigig, don't sleep on winewalk.
I know that's for the grown-ups, but they very much enjoy it.
The grown-ups need some fun too.
All I all I do is wine againnext year.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Boom somewhere, yeah, somewhere, oh there we go, and
next year the wine walk will bethe day after I'll be in the
park, the 22nd next year.
So you want to go to the nextquestion for us?
Um sure I have got to know him.
Um, have you be good for you toask this?

(01:04:36):
Have you met our new police?

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
chief.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
I have.
I've actually known him for alittle bit because he was our
neighbor in Glendale rightbefore this.
Yes, he worked for Glendale PDand so I think you know that was
one of the first good greenflags if we will that I had with
him.
He knows Burbank.
He also grew up in the area,spent his time, I believe, doing
a paper route in Burbank.

(01:05:00):
So that's really good for usbecause, you know, one of the
things that folks need tounderstand when they come here
is the kind of tight knitcommunity we are.
I think and then sometimes Iget dinged for this, but I think
it's true Burbank is both a bigcity and a small town.
We have an airport, we have105,000 residents and somehow

(01:05:23):
90% of those folks know eachother.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
That's the unique part, right?

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
You grow up here here , you die here, yeah, and you
know what, when you dial 9-1-1,you talk to a human being and
you're guaranteed to seesomebody within three minutes,
no matter what.
You know um, because the reasonI say um, you know, it's good
to hear your first impressionsof my um.
He is, uh, gonna make a lot ofchanges, I know within our
police department.

(01:05:46):
He's young.
I think it will be a big changeand I'm looking forward to
working with him.
Good choice from.
I will say that Courtney andJustin is great and I would say
they did their homework.
I know they interviewed like 85police officers to ask them
what do you want in the chief?
And they really did theirhomework.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
And we were very lucky to have a city manager, a
system manager that we have.
They are hidden gems in thecity.
They are, they're Oz, but theguys behind the curtain, they
are, without doubt.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
They're wonderful.
And the one thing I will say isCourtney has really gotten out
there in the community.
People will talk about howgreat she is out there and she's
excited to do it.
And Justin, I will say ifyou've never seen Justin during
an emergency which I got to seefirsthand during the winds he

(01:06:41):
really turns into like a commandcenter himself, which is really
great.
You want that kind of calm,steady hand behind the wheel
when you're in a naturaldisaster.
So we're lucky to have both ofthem.
And the one thing I will, I willtell folks about the new chief,
which I think gave me a lot ofpeace of mind, if nothing else.
Uh, I didn't get to be therefor chief albanese's goodbyes in
dc, so of course I had to reachout to him and was like I want

(01:07:04):
to see you and give you a littlegift and goodbye and hug, cause
he's been such a mentor for mesince, since before day one,
he's been wonderful and a goodsounding board, and so I went in
to to see him his last day, onFriday.
We had a great chat, amongstother things you know, about
parenthood, about the city,about what he's going to go do

(01:07:26):
now in his retirement, and wetalked about the new chief and
when he described him, he saidyou know, I think he has a good
head on his shoulders.
He's a young person who's readyto stay for a while and he is
somebody and one of the onlycandidates who, when the chief.
These are the things I think youshould do to succeed, not go do

(01:07:48):
this.
These are things you should do.
He did each one of them to a T,and that's what you want out of
your chief Somebody who'staking the role seriously, and
it's great to get somebody inthere.
I keep joking with Justin.
I'm like well, you got a youngmayor, now you want all young
department heads.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Well, you know if you think about it, you got the he,
his E team, and I said I wroteJustin a note.
You know his E team is a prettydarn good crack E team, but
with Q on board, um, and it's nosecret, glendale just hired 25
new police officers.
I know that's one of the thingsthat he's coming in here with

(01:08:25):
is we need more officers, weneed to get the numbers up.
He's just forward thinking andit'll be different.
Nobody likes change.
I think we all go through it.
But you know what I think,people, in the long run, he will
be available in Glendale.
He's at every community event.
Yes, and I think we will seethat.
So is Mike Albanese, but Ithink we'll see Q out.

(01:08:49):
Rafael Quintero.

Speaker 3 (01:08:51):
And absolutely he's got big shoes to fill, but I
think we picked the right guy.
You know, chief Albanese is mygosh.
If every department in Americahad a chief like Chief Albanese,
we'd be in a much differentplace.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
His history is amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
Yeah, he's phenomenal and just the way he leads.
He leads community first.
He's very community oriented,and that is one of the things we
looked at in hiring a new chiefand I think we found that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
And I was with him last Thursday in fact, and he is
looking forward to Aprilrolling along.
He has his vision, him and Italked.
We've already exchanged textmessages back and forth and
we've talked photography-wise,what you know, some things that
I'm going to work with him onbut I think we're going to see

(01:09:36):
some fantastic things.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Well, we've got a little longer, we're kind of
going, but what a greatconversation so far tonight.
That leaves us with one thing,and of course that's the famous
what is on the mayor's mind?
So I give you the time you wantas much as you want, because
it's the internet and it goesforever.
So but what's on your mind?

(01:09:59):
What do you want to put out?

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
Careful never give a politician time.
Don't never tell a politicianyou got all the time in the
world.
They'll go on forever.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
Well, wait, wait the mayor's mind to the kids.
So do we get to ask you whereyou registered for?
Oh no, I can't oh my gosh haveyou thought about that yet?

Speaker 1 (01:10:20):
I'm sure you know.
Yeah, we get a lot of babyshower gifts.
I'm sure people start flying in?

Speaker 3 (01:10:26):
Yeah, definitely from friends and family, and
definitely technology has madethat much easier than I think in
the old days.
But what's on my mind right now?
Joking and not joking.
I'm hungry.
That's really on my mind rightnow.

Speaker 1 (01:10:41):
I'm always hungry.

Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
That's also my plug.
Craig and I are always hungry,so soon enough you'll get to see
a podcast with us trying somenew eats around Burbank, so stay
tuned for that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
Greg had.
We stopped at a place rightacross from City Hall today.

Speaker 1 (01:10:56):
Very good cheeseburger.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
I was very impressed and there was a crust from the
3rd and Orange Grove the brandnew.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
There used to be a deli there, and now it's, yeah,
moore's Deli from the policestation.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
It's open now.
It just opened last week.
And he had a burger that Iasked him and he said Very good,
Good burger, Flavorful burger.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
I've been looking at.
That's where the Chibo wasright.
Yeah, okay, yeah, I've beenkind of listening.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
I'll go in.
You had margarita.
No, what did you drink?
No, I had a pina colada.
Iced tea Without alcohol,lemonade, oh wow.
And I had first squeeze.
Yeah, there's no alcohol there,it's just, you know.
But it was amazing and I had alittle kick to it and everything
else.
It was really.

Speaker 3 (01:11:38):
Now I know what I'm eating before council next
meeting.
Yeah, this is right across thestreet.
Yeah, so that's one thingthat's on my mind.
I definitely want us to talkabout our different eats in.

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
Burbank and bring some attention to our local
businesses.
We're going to do a podcast onit.
We're going to do it down therabbit hole.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
Yeah, so stay tuned.
But other than that, I thinkwhat's on my mind right now?
If you're looking at what'scoming up on council, we're
going to start talking about thebudget very soon and that's
something to watch.
I will throw out.
I know folks are concernedabout some of our rates going up
, some of the parking costs thatare coming to downtown.

(01:12:15):
I really urge you to watch thesebudget conversations because
Burbank has been incrediblyfiscally responsible over the
years and it's the reason that,unlike some of our neighbors and
unlike many cities in America,after COVID, we have a budget
surplus which we can rarely say,and what that means is we have
money for a rainy day.

(01:12:35):
But like everybody, you know,like all of us individuals and
like every other city, we arestarting to pinch pennies
because that budget surplus ifyou look at our charts start
taking a look in April everyyear it gets tighter and tighter
and tighter and there is adeficit in our forecast.
So if you're wondering what'sgoing on with these costs, why

(01:12:57):
are they increasing?
We're trying to make sure that,for the benefit of everybody,
we actually don't hit thedeficit.
We want to find creative waysto make sure that the city's
general fund stays sustainable.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
Is that because of funding the pensions down the
line?
That's?

Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
one part of it, but it's just costs in general.
I mean it is crazy how some ofour insurance as a city has gone
up Everybody's has right sowe're facing the same thing.
Everybody else is without.
Really, we're not a business.
We don't have a revenue stream,right so, and a lot of things
in Burbank have been free or wehaven't raised the cost in a

(01:13:33):
long time and at the end of theday, that has been to some
detriment, because if we don'tkeep the rates at what's
happening in society, then wecan't provide things.
I mean, that was one of thethings we worried with, with,
like, the rate hikes for BWP.
I have the chart in my officeif you want to see it.
We are still the lowest utilityin the region.

(01:13:54):
You folks, we all pay a lotless than folks in LA, than
folks in Glendale, and we wantto keep it that way.
But we also don't want to reacha point where we're at this
deficit and we have to say, well, now we have to shut down the
utility and we're going to be atthe mercy of the county.
Now we have to God forbid shutdown fire or police and we're at
the mercy of the county.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
But you know we get from the same people the
complaint oh we don't want youto build anymore, we don want
you to build anymore, we don'twant to grow out.
But if you want that threeminute when you dial 9-1-1, we
got to get heads and beds andbed taxes, that that we have a
class one fire department, wehave what now?

(01:14:37):
Four guys on each rig sothey're safe.
We have a slew of new officerscoming on board.
That's where some of that moneyyou we're not getting it from
the studios because that jobslowed down, but the other
things that you guys are doing.
The new place that you'rethinking about, that's going to
be built out by the Marriott.
You know we have several aroundtown, the Fries Project.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
That's money that will go into that fund 100% and
you know if I can leave theresidence with anything, it's
change is hard.
I know change is hard.
We all experience it, I am.
Folks will tell me often like,well, I don't know, are you
living next to the construction?
I am living next to aconstruction site right now.
My house is rattling.

(01:15:21):
You know I feel you.
Change is hard.
But I will tell you what I tellfolks when they say I don't
want anything to change inBurbank.
I hate to tell you this.
The sobering truth is thatthat's impossible.
Things will change, no matterwhat we do.
Things will change.
But what we do have the abilityto do as a community is decide

(01:15:43):
how they change and basically bethe stewards of our own destiny
and say, well, I know this isgoing to change somewhere or
another because there are forcesbeyond me that can control that
, but I can't have a say in howit changes.
I can't have a say in how my,what direction my community goes
.

Speaker 1 (01:15:59):
And in the future and that's what I hope we can we
can all focus on- we had a citymanager 30 years ago maybe named
Bud Obram, which of course wehave a party in after him now,
and when Lockheed was going tostart shutting down, he
diversified a lot of our citiesso that our tax base would not,

(01:16:22):
if Lockheed left, we would notbecome a desolate city and
become a ghost town.
So he started, you know, as hebrought in you know, Price Club
that became Costco.
He brought in differentindustry into Burbank and retail
and started building hotels up.
So we would have a way of, youknow, offsetting all that.
And 30 years later, thankgoodness he did, but we may be

(01:16:43):
on another, you know, anothercrossroads again, because, in
all honesty, studios are notwhat the studios used to be.
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
And look, anybody who knows me knows that one of my
biggest focuses during mymayorship is really, really
supporting our studio economy,getting filming back in Burbank,
doing our small piece right,because we're not the state we
can't make a film tax credit,but we can send letters directly
to newsom, directly to everylegislator, saying the film tax
credit is our economy.

(01:17:11):
If you vote no, you're votingno on burbank.
You're crushing us and we canpush really hard.
But there's also things we cando locally to incentivize
filming here and so we'restarting to look at those things
down the line.
I don't say too much, we'restarting.

Speaker 1 (01:17:25):
We just saw two big, uh, you know two big thing about
big boy, a huge commercial lastweek for three days I mean
lights.
It was just all shut down andtoday we were.
I drove by, uh, frank's andanother huge crew out there
again at frank's today, andthat's all.
Frank's is a restaurant anymore, it's just a studio location
now, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:17:45):
I'm so happy to see that.
Billman, Burbank yes, pleaseand use our vendors.
Get your flowers, your catering, your supplies, your costuming
here in Burbank.
That's what we need.

Speaker 1 (01:17:58):
I know you won't know this, but I'll just say this
when somebody comes in to getour filling permit in Burbank,
do we have a list of all thosevendors that we can say, hey,
these are the vendors we'd likeyou to use that are local by you
know?
I know a lot of people alreadyhave their guy locked in, kind
of, but do we have a list ofthose vendors?
Or I'm getting a webpage.

Speaker 3 (01:18:15):
What about our city webpage?
So that's one of the thingsthat we're looking at building
and we do and I don't want tosteal their thunder too much.
The Chamber is working on somegreat things, but it's a
collaboration there where wewant to partner on offering a
lot of these things to folks whocome film in Burbank.
We want to roll out the redcarpet and welcome folks who are
coming to film here.
That's what I mean by takingownership of being the media

(01:18:38):
capital.
We can't just say it in a name,we have to own it.
So I'm looking at our websiterevitalization.
I'm looking at partnering withthe chamber to get these
businesses on that list and as aspecialty business that offers
these services, and then givingfolks tours who want to film
here.
Telling like this is why we'rethe place to be.

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
Yeah, I did a book for the city.
I was hired by the city, by thehead librarian had to be 45
years ago and she sent me out tocreate.
I shot in alleys, I shot Mostpeople don't realize where our
water reclamation plantunderground looks like a
submarine and I shot that and wehad, we produced a book,

(01:19:19):
location and location and, and Iremember I was, I shot so many
different places You're goodYou're stint in scouting Ross.

Speaker 3 (01:19:26):
Yeah, exactly, and I remember I was.
I shot so many different places.

Speaker 2 (01:19:26):
You're good at your stint in scouting Ross, yeah
exactly, and I'll tell you theyevery time, and the reason for
it was they really wanted topush.
People don't realize in Burbankwe have it all right here,
folks, and so we, we startedthis show I got to you know
about.
We talked about this baby bumpor something that you're mighty
proud of and should be, andwe're, you know, first burbank

(01:19:49):
mirror to have a baby, and Ican't wait to watch an office in
office.
Yeah right, I can't wait towatch some council meeting of
the baby next to you.
But so I think we should have acompetition and for our next
show, people should suggest babynames.
Oh gosh, burbank would be gladto give out a my burbank cat,

(01:20:10):
and we won't know the answeruntil maybe june or july, but
then whoever wins will be gladto supply the app or kid, give
us some name from someone oh mygosh, good way to end the show,
oh I'll crush that crazy idearight now by saying we have a
baby name picked out.

Speaker 3 (01:20:31):
Oh, and with the sage advice of many, many a mom who
I I'm happy to take any and alladvice because I have this is my
first rodeo, but, um, most,most of the moms that I've
talked to have said don't tellanybody your baby name.
Everybody has an opinion, it'snone of their business until
your baby comes.

(01:20:51):
And I am taking that sageadvice.

Speaker 2 (01:20:55):
well, it's funny because, watching one of the
award shows a week or so ago, Ihave a nephew, or my niece's son
, his name Dash, and one of theaward shows somebody named their
kid or he said you know, mykid's name is Dash.
I called my sister and I saidthere's more than one Dash in

(01:21:15):
this country.

Speaker 1 (01:21:17):
What's our guy in charge of Doge, eli Musk?
Have you heard the names of hiskids?

Speaker 3 (01:21:24):
I can't pronounce that I just I don't know what's
going on in.
What is he thinking?

Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
Yeah, he's getting a little bit of that.

Speaker 2 (01:21:31):
Yeah, From Craig and I, congratulations to you and
Blake on you know.
I know, uh, like you said, uhyou've made it, uh that you've
been working at it and so forth,and now you're going to be a
mom and life will change.
Forget going to being awakeanymore.
You should be on it all thetime.
Wait till you have that diaperon your shoulder and burp that

(01:21:53):
kid and you get to learn all thethings about putting a diaper
in the microwave, to lay it onyour kid's tummy, to settle
their stomach.
All those things you get tolook forward to.
I bet your mother's very happy.

Speaker 3 (01:22:05):
Oh yeah it there's some.
All those things you get tolook forward to.
I bet your mother's very happy.
Oh yeah, it's the firstgrandchild on both sides, so
they're very happy, very spoiled.
Congratulations.
Also, thank you, and and I willsay it's, it's exciting.
And then Blake made fun of me.
He was like you just had tohave all the firsts, don't you?
That's not why I did it.
If folks know me, they know andthis is a great thing to end on

(01:22:28):
.
In March it's EndometriosisAwareness Month.
For folks who don't know, I'mvery open about this.
I suffer from endometriosis,which is a very, extremely
painful condition.
It's on one of the top 20 mostpainful chronic illnesses in the
world and one in 15 womenexperience endometriosis and go
undiagnosed for years becausethe only way to diagnose is

(01:22:51):
going through the laparoscopicsurgery.
But you know it's categorizedby really rough periods, even
outside of your period.
It's really rough abdominalpain.
It's when you have an issuewith the lining of your uterus
which gets into reproduction andkids and boy.
It's been a struggle and I'vehad my doctors tell me I don't

(01:23:12):
know that you're going to have alittle one.
And here we are, so it's mymiracle you can tell Blake down
the road.

Speaker 2 (01:23:20):
I always use the word COD.
You know what COD stands for.
I always use the word COD.
You know what COD stands forCall on dad.

Speaker 3 (01:23:27):
Call on dad.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
So down the road he gets to look for when your
daughter needs money.

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
Call on dad COD.
I'm going to tell him and tellthe young dads out there.
It's not call of duty anymore,it's call on dad, all righty.
But I will leave you with thisfor your viewers, I will.
How about this question instead, ross, what is the number one
baby item, newborn item that youswear by?
I would love to hear.

Speaker 1 (01:23:55):
Let me know okay, I, I will not know that.
No, will ever.
But ross.
Being a father, I'd say asmother towel or a rag, but I
don't wow, okay, so peoplesending those those things and
let her know what is it that sheneeds day one it's she's gonna
find crucial that she neverthought of before sleep I

(01:24:17):
already don't get that, that'sokay.

Speaker 2 (01:24:18):
You know what I?
I having two granddaughters.
I got to be with them yesterdayand I will tell you, nikki, it
is just being with these twogranddaughters.
I mean they fight and all that,but it's just so nice.
I said to my son, they are justsuch a joy and that's what
you're going to find real fast.

(01:24:39):
Such a joy.
You will go through school andwatch your kid be up in choir or
wherever there could be 100kids, but there's only one kid
you're watching.

Speaker 3 (01:24:50):
I feel like I'm already running because I was
like, oh, when my kid goes toBurroughs.
So you know, the last thingI'll say on all this baby stuff
is, yes, I'm our first pregnantmayor and yes, it's brand new
for all of us, our firstpregnant mayor, and yes, it's
brand new for all of us.
But you know, it's funny.
When I told the folks at thecity, I was like, who do I even
like at my job?

(01:25:10):
It makes sense.
But here I was like, well, Ihave no boss.
Who's who do I tell that I'm,by the way, I'm expecting.
And when I told all of ourdepartment heads, when I told
Justin, my colleagues,colleagues on the council, all I
got was excitement.
Everybody was extremelysupportive.
Everybody was like, yay, amayoral baby, yay, the city's

(01:25:31):
baby.
So this has really become acitywide effort and I couldn't
be more grateful.
I couldn't be more grateful foreverybody's support, kindness,
advice and just helping methrough this process.
We're all going through ittogether.
So thank you, burbank, Iappreciate you.
I couldn't, I couldn't havepicked a better place.

Speaker 1 (01:25:51):
Absolutely.
There you go, very true.
Well, I think we should wrap upwith that.
I do agree.
Ross Benson and Mayor NikkiPerez.
This is Craig Sherwood sayingonce again, long show tonight,
but a great show.
I really enjoyed our timetonight.
I hope you did too.
If you're driving right now,you have two hands on the wheel.
If you're at home, hit thatlike button and all those
subscribe button type thing.

(01:26:12):
We always appreciate it and wewill see you next time thank you
for watching our my burbankvideo.

Speaker 4 (01:26:20):
Please consider a channel membership to support us
, or head over to our merchstore where you can pick up some
great items.
Also, make sure you subscribeto the channel so you don't miss
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Ask the Mayor with Nikki Perez - March 2025

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ask the Mayor with Nikki Perez - March 2025