Ask the Mayor with Nikki Perez - May 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 forumgiving the Mayor of Burbank an
opportunity to answer questionsfrom you, the listener and
address issues important to theCity of Burbank.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Now let's join our hosts as they welcome the Mayor
of Burbank.
Hello Burbank.
Craig Short here once again,along, of course, with Ross
Benson.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Good morning, good afternoon, and look at the mayor
.
We have the mayor here.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, yeah, you know, we can't have an Ask the Mayor
show, of course, without themayor, so let's welcome Mayor
Nikki Perez.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hi, how are you both doing on this warm and sunny day
?

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Well, you know, I got a question already right off
the top.
You're glowing, you know youthink you're pregnant or
something.
You know your makeup.
You're pregnant or something?
You know your makeup.
How did she get a half an hourin makeup and I get 30 seconds?
I don't get it.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
I have to talk to our makeup person.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Okay, Ross, you call it pregnancy glow, I call it
sweat.
But you know, to each their own.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, as yesterday you know you probably understand
a little bit bit we had our um,um, a memorial day celebration
over cambridge and, uh, give usyour thoughts on it well, I
gotta tell you, the only bummerwas we didn't get to do the
flyover because it was very,very cloudy when we got there.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Of course, bright and sunny by the end of the
ceremony, but everything else.
Our veterans committee planneda flawless event, as they do
every year.
They had lovely singers.
The young man from bros whosang the national anthem was
amazing.
He performed a good school, heperformed great school, um, and
of course they.

(01:41):
They had always thoserenditions with the guitar.
They're so emotional.
They always get me and it wasvery nice to have my year as a
mayor to share my thoughts withthe community and I was really
grateful that I got to share myfather-in-law's words.
He feels very strongly that wehave Veterans Day and we have
Memorials Day and we have ArmedServices Day and each one has

(02:03):
their own special meaning forfolks who are currently serving,
folks who have served and folkswho gave the ultimate sacrifice
.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
So it was great, yeah , the whole situation out there.
The American flag that was huge, hanging for the fire truck as
a background.
You know the roses, theceremony of the rose, where each
person that has not come homeliterally was acknowledged and a
rose was put on the you knowmonuments and so forth.

(02:32):
That is always very, verytouching.
And it was just in community,band playing all the different
you know songs and so forth.
It was really good.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
It was years ago that we actually redid that entire
thing.
It used to just be run down andwe got to put things together
and it's a beautiful place now.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
It's really a fantastic, you know place to
honor people, the Rose Garden,in fact, channel 5 News at 10
o'clock did their piece fromthere.
Everybody was gone.
We were, most people were homeasleep, but they came out there
and they did their uh wrap-upshow.
And the rose garden.
Mickey depalo, who is um, youknow, takes care of the vets and

(03:18):
is a vet, a vietnam vet andeven mentioned how the DIG
program came out yes, in May, tohelp fluff up and make
everything look and it reallydid look pretty, I mean.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
And for all our residents out there.
If you don't know about the DIGprogram, I have to do a
shameless plug for them, becausethey're wonderful.
Dig is someone or somethingthat everybody can volunteer
with If you're here in Burbank,even if you're outside of
Burbank, we do have groups comein and help us out.
They really have big days whereyou can go on a Saturday
morning, you can pull out someweeds, you can help us replant.

(03:54):
It's a very nice and likecalming experience.
I had the chance to participatea couple of times.
It's very cathartic.
You really pulling out weedsfrom the park makes you feel
good and then you see theefforts of your works and having
them come out to the RoseGarden was really nice for us.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
A little funny side story.
We kept always seeing that.
You know we talk about that.
You know DIG, it was alwayscapital D-I-G.
You're saying what does DIGstand for?
They always capitalize theletters.
It just means DIG.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Now I Just means dig.
Now, mayor, I have a question.
Many, many, many.
When I had hair, I thinkBurbank had a SEDA program.
It was they'd employ kids ornot kids high school students,
to go out and do gardeningprojects or paint light poles
and so forth.
I noticed in Magnolia Park anddriving down San Fernando
yesterday.

(04:41):
The weeds are getting kind ofhigh and I know we cannot use
any type of weed killers, but isthat something that the DIG
program could maybe start atVictory and work their way west
and pull the weeds out of thesummer?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
That is very true.
There's a couple businesses,especially between Victory and
Buena Vista, where the weeds areprobably five, six feet high in
the parkway I'm going.
How does Burbank let thathappen?

Speaker 1 (05:08):
I know we don't have forestry crew to do that and
it's time consuming.
But that's what the dig program.
I wonder if that could be putin there.
There are you know long becauseyou can't use the weed killer,
you can't use weed whackers, butmaybe something that we could
do to beautify our businessdistrict it's definitely getting

(05:29):
hard to manage.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
I'm glad you brought up the point about the, the weed
killer, because that's gettingvery in the weeds.
But, um, I had to wait a second.
I've got a but, um.
But the reality is the statebanned a certain weed killer
that we use.
That was very effective, andthen they did so for good reason
the chemicals in it.
But then we also have the issuethat with the weed killer that

(05:51):
is supposedly safe, some of ourforestry guys are allergic to it
.
It's causing rashes.
So we're, you know, kind ofstuck between a rock and a hard
place.
And for folks who wonder aboutforestry, I'm still in awe of
them, because there's only aboutseven of them and they handled
all of the debris and everythingfrom the from the thunderstorm.

(06:11):
So do you have one of?

Speaker 1 (06:12):
your players.
That used to be a player foryou, Kind of a forestry crew.
I see him out there every time.
He says I was coached Sure.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
We'll do it.
You know, I've had many players.
He's been doing it for a longtime.
Yeah, he's not ready to retire,in fact.
Yeah, yeah, he's not ready toretire, in fact, he's been doing
it.
Well, I've seen him.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
He might give you a 30-year guy, oh yeah, and I've
seen him out there at 3, 4 andour forestry crew again.
The rose garden was a goodexample of how gorgeous it was.
If you get out into our parks,that's a lot of grass to mow.

(06:51):
That is a lot of you knowbesides.
Just the grass, the care andeverything goes into it.
They do a good job.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
And I'll bring up the question about dig to our parks
department because I think theanswer in the past, because I've
thought about it too.
Believe me, on some of mymorning runs I noticed that me
and the weeds are kind ofgetting crushed, um, and I
thought about, like what aboutthis right away?
Why can't we clear?
And I thought about digging thepast.
The answer I've gotten in thepast is that we have so much
already on our hands with withthe parks, and I have seen that

(07:22):
firsthand, like having done acouple of dig days pre-pregnancy
you're not supposed to gardenwhile pregnant, but, um, but
I've just heard that it's toomuch to get to, so we're looking
for for other solutions.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I think it was that made noise.
It's very it actually lookslike.
Yeah, it's not good at all, soI remember that program.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
We're going back many years.
I think I know a couple firemenjust telemontas who started in
that program and then he becamefireman and we're talking 35, 40
years ago and it's haddifferent iterations, because I
remember when I was in highschool it had a different name.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
I can't recall what it was, but it was like
everybody knew it as oh, that'sthe folks who sign up to clean
brush in the summers right, yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
But back to memorial day.
It was a great, uh, two hours.
I think we had started it rightat 11 and we were out of there
12, 31 o'clock, a line, no, aton of people went over to the
vfw for a great picnic.
They had put on a heck of abarbecue.
I didn't make it.
But the committee it's not justMickey, there's a committee of

(08:31):
a dozen or more that are part ofMemorial Day and Veterans Day
ceremonies.
They really do.
As Craig would remind me,memorial Day is to remember
those who didn't come home.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's right and veterans at the day, the ones
who are still or have served.
There you go, yes.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
And then the last thing I'll say about Memorial
Day ceremony.
I think it's really nicebecause it's one of our few
solemn holidays and I think thecrowd that was there really
understood that.
The Veterans Committee for sureunderstands that and it's nice
for me to see them, because theydon't get enough credit.
They do both of these events,but they're also really a
resource for veterans.

(09:11):
I've gone to Mickey when I havequestions about hey, I have a
veteran who's asking about thisand this, where can I send them,
or who can I send them to, andevery time he says send them to
me.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
I just the other day on social media I you know a lot
of people say I comment, I make.
Somebody had come on and askthey know a vet that has been
talking suicide working here inburbank and I said first, family
service agency.
That phone is available 24hours.
Or get a hold of mickey dipalo,he will make sure you are taken

(09:43):
care of and whatever they need.
Uh, they have some programsover at uh family service agency
for our military great placeand it's tough.
You go and serve and what youget to see, oh you know when
you're serving and so it itaffects okay, well, you know
what, let's move.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
We got a long, long topic today.
Let's move on.
It was a great ceremony,absolutely, yesterday.
The budget, that's been a ahuge thing for months now.
The toilet flushing orsomething for you, for you, the
budget, there, the budget, Okay.
So yeah, the budget issomething every year.

(10:23):
It's it's, it's that beast thatwe have to tackle, and I come
to a final vote on June 3rd.
So I know there's something youreally can't talk about because
the vote has not happened yet.
But, kind of you know, myquestion is what's the hardest
part of doing the budget, ofcoming together with everyone?
What for you, is the hardestpart, as you're?

Speaker 1 (10:44):
doing the process, spending money oh, we gotta
spend money.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
that's what we do.
But, um, what is it?
You gotta spend money to makemoney, yeah, but I I think for
me, in the way I've described itto most folks, without getting
too much into it, because, likecraig shared, we're still it's
not final.
We vote on June 3rd and anybodywho's interested please tune
into that meeting.
The reality here is the way Ilook at it in a very crude way

(11:13):
is Burbank has always beenincredibly fiscally responsible.
We have done our homework.
We are the kid in the groupproject that did our homework
and everywhere I look outside Ifeel like we're the only kid
that did the assignment and it'sreally a group project.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Well, years ago a lot of cities had problems with the
pensions and cities wentbankrupt, Counties went bankrupt
, but Burbank always held theirhead above water.
So Burbank has a history ofbeing, you know, always held
their head above water.
So Rebecca has a history of ofbeing, you know, of doing their
homework.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
And you don't have to look too far.
I mean, look at the countybudget.
City of LA has a massivedeficit.
Look at our state budget anddon't even get me started on our
federal budget.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
They print money, they just make more money, but
they, they cut out the pennies.
You know literally.
But you save your pennies.
They might be worth somethinglater exactly you know.
I will say our financialdepartment.
I know several people that workthere and in madam becker, who
is our department head, sheknows our budget.
You can ask her at any giventime.

(12:19):
She could almost tell you whatpage of our city budget she
keeps.
It's not only her, she's thekeeper of all that, but also
every department head isresponsible and if you really
look at our budget, like yousaid, it's amazing.
Other cities are going bankruptand you look at Burbank and all

(12:41):
those things still work.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
I have to say.
I think the number one thing iswe are not in a budget deficit.
Burbank is not a budget deficit.
We have a surplus, which ishuge.
Most of our neighbors can't saythat and we have had that
budget surplus during COVID.
During this time, as we headinto a literal recession,

(13:04):
because that's where we'reheaded as a country, and as
literal recession because that'swhere we're headed as a country
and and as a state, that'swhere we're headed.
But as a city, we have kept ourhead up above water and it's
because of the very, veryresponsible financial decisions,
which are sometimes really hardvotes to take and really hard
things to to do, to sell money,that potential recession which
we're all you know.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
who knows if coins will land one day or another on
tariffs?
Are you taking that intoaccount, that we may be heading
to a recession and how to savefor that?
Is that part of the process?

Speaker 3 (13:38):
So I think the biggest or the most common thing
you heard in our budgetdiscussions, which our first one
was, let's start with day inMay, but we started early May,
then we had the May 20th meeting, which we just had, and our
last one was June 3rd, but ourentire discussion has centered
around economic uncertainty.
And that's where I say I feellike we're the kid that did our

(13:58):
homework right.
We did the assignment, weturned it in, we were really
responsible.
But some of those countydollars are in question, those
state dollars have been cut backand those federal dollars are
still hanging on the balance.
And you know, for us as a cityit's really hard to have six
million question mark that wemay not get from the feds, or

(14:21):
two million that we for surewill not get from the state.
And where do we pull from?
So I think, on the one hand,we're really lucky that we've
been economically stable becausewe can fill some of the gaps.
On the other hand, we also wantto make sure that we don't
completely use all of our, allof our rainy day funds or all of
our budget, because we want tosave for what will be a
recession and we want our city,our small businesses and our

(14:45):
residents to feelrecession-proof.
You know, and I think right nowwe have $1 million in recurring
funds that's what it looks likein projection $1 million of
recurring funds and we haveabout $21 million of unrecurring
funds in the general budget,which is really good.
That means we've done our jobto bring in the money this year.

(15:07):
It's not recurring, but that'swhy we keep our eyes on on that
one million.
And the only thing I will say islooking, if you look at our
budget white papers and thethings that we're we're looking
to spend money on, we have beenvery conservative about how much
it is.
Nothing in our council, asks I,I believe, has gone over my

(15:27):
gosh.
Nothing has gone over the$100,000 mark from our, from our
council, asks the five of us,and I think that's been because
we've been very thoughtful aboutwhat does a community need
right now and they need a steadyhand to save.
And then the other piece that Isee is us putting money towards
things that we've had on ourcouncil goals housing and

(15:50):
homelessness.
We're trying to fill some gapsthat we're not going to get
grants for.
Um.
A great example is a jobsconnect program that's on the
table right now and councilproposed again.
It's not voted on yet, butcouncil proposed again.
It's not voted on yet, butcouncil proposed filling that
gap.
It's about $87,000.
That program has been helpfulto so many people, especially

(16:12):
during this economic time wherethey switch careers, look at
different paths.
That's been really importantfor folks and we heard the
community.
We had hundreds of emails aboutthat program and so those are
smart things that we can investin.
While maybe it's not the timeto spend, you know, $500,000 on
some economic study, we'vethought about what we do at this

(16:35):
time and I think you know itwas no surprise to me, but I
also thought as a sign of goodleadership.
When I sat there I knew thatjustin had said we don't want to
spend over that million becausethat's our recurring.
We don't want to spend that onasks just so today.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
The president just said today that he's going to
cut all the funding tocalifornia because a transgender
athlete participating in asport and uh.
So if they cut all the funding,then that means sacramento is
not sending money down hereeither.
So you're gonna have to preparefor those kind of things and
that's where I'm saying it.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
It really feels like we're the kid doing our homework
and it's really hard to have apresident saying things like
that offhandedly.
I have to sit there, hold mybreath and wait to see what
actually comes out on paper.
And and, if you're interested,one of the budget white papers I
did ask Jennifer for and shewas wonderful about this is the
Conference of Mayors of USmayors is tracking all of this

(17:33):
and it doesn't matter whatpolitical party you're in
nonpartisan, it doesn't matter.
All of the mayors from thedifferent cities across the
nations are part of thatConference of Mayors and they
are just dollar tracking each,each thing that could be
impacted.
So hud, um, hud, departmentdollars, which are going to
section 8 funding, cdbg, whichare the community development

(17:56):
block grant funding, which goesto anything from your parks to
some non-profit activities allof that has been put on the
table as a question mark in thisbudget and they have tracked,
dollar by dollar, how muchcities could lose.
And so I gave that list toJennifer and I asked her to
asterisk and make a note ofwhere we as a city could be

(18:16):
impacted Good and the bad.
On the bad side, again, thoseare community dollars we're not
talking about, again, those arecommunity dollars.
We're not talking about, Idon't know, not getting dollars
because of some, some politicalopinion.
We're talking about, literallysection eight.
That that's not, you know,that's money that's been on the
table forever.
Community developed block grant.

(18:37):
It's been on the table foreverand we use it for so many things
, from roads to playgrounds,which roads and playgrounds
don't have parties, and then umand so like.
That's that's the bad part,that we would lose those kind of
dollars.
That's on the tape.
That's a possibility.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
That's happened once before we lost all of our
redevelopment.
We've seen what that looks like.
Yeah, okay, that costs a lot ofmoney.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
But when you talk about that budget, you also had
a report from ken berkman.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
The same arranged in our sidewalks, and our alleys
are looking the best that theyhave in many years and that's
where it comes in, the fact thatwe've been doing our homework,
we've been doing a good job, andso, on the one hand, I would
take a look I forget what numberin the budget papers it is, but
you you can look at the actualentire budget.

(19:27):
It's towards the back.
It's our budget white papersand those are proposed solutions
.
They just included it as a memo.
I didn't ask for any dollaritems there.
I just wanted the public, whoasks a lot about this, and then,
rightfully so, people areasking how are the federal cuts
affecting the city?
So the bad news is those aresome pretty important programs
that could be affected.

(19:47):
The good news is, in comparisonto a lot of our counterparts or
other cities, we don't actuallyuse a lot of federal dollars
and would not be as severelyimpacted as some folks, you know
.
So that's a really good thingfor our residents to know, for
peace of mind, and I can talklater about how it affects us in

(20:08):
other areas.
But you know that's that's beenthe hardest part with the
budget.
To your point, craig aboutwhat's hard, it's the economic
uncertainty.
It's not knowing how deep of arecession we're going into.
It's not knowing whether or notsome federal grants are coming
in, whether or not some stategrants are coming in.
That's been the hardest part.
And I think you also asked melike what would I love to see?

(20:31):
I think, just for the future,one of my biggest things was I
knew during my mayorship I didnot want to be in an economic
deficit right for the city.
So keeping a balanced budgethas been one of the most
important things and I'm reallygrateful to my colleagues that.
When it came time to proposeideas look, in past years all of
us have thrown like $100,000ideas down the pipeline just to

(20:54):
see what might work or whatmight sound good.
I will say people were verygood about saying this is not
the time.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
We need to sit down and and figure out the economic
situation first and get throughthis next year, and so I do
appreciate that, oh, I know oneof the craig will be uh, I like
the fire department, for example, um, they had done a project,
um a test of that extra, ourrescue ambulance between the

(21:24):
hours of 7 am and 7 pm and thatthey found they're going to as
of July I hear it'll take alittle longer but they will now
man that as a 24-hour rescueambulance Driving here.
Verdugo, at least forward fivetimes said any Burbank RA

(21:44):
available.
The calls are going up.
We were building front street,the um, the project out by the
airport.
All these different things willcause more calls to go up, but
you guys were thinking about itbefore they're occupied.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Exactly, demand the equipment that's needed and I
think that's police and fireservice day.
We talked to you know, on ourdeputy chiefs and said we got a
lot more people coming to see,especially our housing we have
to do.
Do we need another fire stationor two?
And he said, yeah, we're gonna,we're already thinking about it
, it's already being projected,we're already in the process.
So it sounds like people arealready thinking about that

(22:21):
stuff and that's what Iappreciate about fire, police,
burbank, water and Power.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
They're already thinking about those things,
like Ross said, before we getthere, because we can't think
about it after.
We have to be proactive aboutthis and the reality is the
billings are coming.
It's up to us to decide how wedo it and how we manage these
things responsibly.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well, let's move on, and we're talking, and we're
talking about budget, but let'stalk about another thing that is
not really budget but affects alot of people and I'm sure
you're getting a lot ofquestions about it.
The council is because now, forthe last couple of years, we
keep getting water power rateincreases I think a new one is
coming on August 1st, I believeand these are, and there's

(23:06):
reasons for this.
I don't think a lot of peopleagree with the reasons, but the
reasons are kind of, you know,black and white, so you want to
kind of get into what's comingon with the rate increases and
what the thinking is behind them.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Well, you know, I just want to interject real
quick.
People don't bring this stuffup when other cities a windstorm
comes along or a rainstorm andthey're without power for four
or five days.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Doesn't happen here well, not wonder what.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
Not only that, but I think after all, our rates are
some of the lowest in all of lacounty, as it is and you all, y'
all have my talking points,because those are two things
that I really want to highlight,and I think the first thing,
first things first.
I want folks to know exactlywhat to expect.
So, effective July 1st 2025,sewer and refuse are going up.

(24:00):
So sewer is increasing by 6%and refuse is by 8%.
If you want to talk in depthabout what that means on your
bill, please do reach out andcall the city or reach out to
talk to me, because I've hadconversations with folks where
you know, folks are like, oh myGod, that sounds like a lot, but
then, when we get down to thenitty gritty and calculate what

(24:21):
that actually looks like forthem, there's ways to save.
It can be a few dollars.
I and I don't say that to belike, oh, it's just a few
dollars, it's not, it's still acost.
They raised that last year.
Also, sewer and refuse, yes, butthis is this one is something
that we had planned to do for acouple years.
So both of the um, both of thewaste plans and the utility, the

(24:45):
water and power plans, that hasbeen a long time coming.
The council that I started withmy first year on council, we
decided to begin the rate hikes,because we hadn't.
For years, in my entirelifetime, we did not get rate
hikes in Burbank, and thatsounds nice, but people have to
think where's that?

(25:06):
What's happening then?
Things are not free.
That just means that we werecreating a balloon.
No, and I have to be reallygrateful to our new general
manager of Burbank Water andPower, who has very openly said
that she is not going to be themanager to kick the can down the
road.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
How many city employees or department managers
will give out their personalcell phone and tell people.
I will take your call toexplain it to you.
I mean she has said it from thedial.
She says that she's gone out onthese coffee times that my
Burbank has promoted.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
Heck, I even have it here in my notes straight from
her yep, she is just.
She is there to answer yourquestions and it's just, I think
, great and and I'll try to dosome of her explanations justice
, but oh my gosh, I wish I could.
I wish I could speak water andpower the way she does.
Thanks to her I've learned alot more, but I I can explain
some of the issues and then atthe end I do want to share her

(26:02):
number, because if folks havedetailed questions they can call
her, and water and power arethings that, for the most part,
require either a business degreeor an engineering degree to
talk about absolutely, or somekind of science degree in the
water department.
Boy Mandipal explain it to youas if you have that degree and

(26:24):
you leave with an understanding.
She is phenomenal Sharp sharp,sharp engineer.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yes, she, when you guys hired her she came in and
she was ready to go and she justchanging that department.
I mean, mandeep is a greatperson.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
And speaking of water , you know those were your sewer
and refuse rates.
Those are for your trash andyour sewage, but the actual
water and power rate increases.
We made a very calculateddecision because we think the
worst time to increase rates isthe summer.
That's when you're using yourAC, that's when you're using
water the most.
We're all trying to keep coolsomehow.

(27:03):
So those rate increases do notgo into effect until January 1st
of 2026.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
I did not know that Very good.
That's very, very good thing.
I mean, that's great.
That's really takingconsideration.
You're right, the worst monthof the year, august to through
november it's 100 degrees everyday usually it's.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
it's an awful time to do it and you know, electric
rates will increase by 9.9percent and water is going up 14
percent and, if I'm telling you, if we didn't do it now, it
would be 20 to 40 percent in thenext few years, which is why we
want to make the toughdecisions now.
That's what people elected usto do, not kick the can down the

(27:44):
road.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
And I don't think most people understand.
We don't own the water, we buyour water.
We have no water rights at all.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
Exactly, craig and I, you've gone on that trip up to
the Colorado River and see, andwhen it rains here we can't get
any of that rainwater Right, youjust watch it go right down the
LA River.
Say goodbye, rainwater.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
So that really is, if you think about it, raising,
it's what we're getting charged.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
And when we talk about that I'm glad you
mentioned that, ross, becauseagain, we have no water rights
and we buy all our water fromMWD, the Metropolitan Water
District, and they have a needright now to rebuild their
depleted reserves.
They went down from 80 millionin 2018 to 30 million in 2023,
and they're still collecting,you know, funds, and that's due

(28:32):
to not raising those rates.
So one thing we're doing israising our rates to match what
they're charging us, because ourcosts have gone up with them
too.
I always like to remind folks,you know, burbank Water and
Power is a publicly ownedutility.
You own the utility, we all ownthe utility and, as such, it's

(28:53):
really not generating profit.
The goal here is to pay for whatwe're using and pay for the
things that keep our water andpower running, and a lot of
times, folks will ask what is?
What are the increases do?
Are folks getting salaryincreases?
Is that what it is?
It's not.
I think.
You know salaries are make up,actually, about 15 percent of

(29:15):
water and power's budget, andthis, this rate increase, is not
leading to any of that.
It's due to really six maincauses.
The first one is very clear inplain sight those thunderstorms
and the damage from the stormswe had.
A lot of our polls are old.
A lot of them went out.
If you were out and about inthe public in January, you

(29:38):
might've seen a bucket truckholding up a pole.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, literally in the victory, yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
I really famous one.
I always like to tell peopleyou remember where Marty McFly
flew out of the Burger Kingholding onto the truck.
That pole right there was beingheld by a bucket truck.
It was and and then you knowthat kind of work from our staff
to keep us running cost us alot.
We had a lot of damage.
The Starlight Bowl is a greatexample of that.

(30:04):
That's a great example that wesee.
Some examples that we don't seeare those poles, the lines that
were damaged.
We actually had more downedpower lines than I've ever seen
in in-pass storms.
We actually reached the pointwhere.
That's why we're telling folksto call a certain line for trees
, a certain line for pole damageand then a last 911 line for

(30:30):
downed power lines, becausethat's how pressing the issue
was.
And you know that's a hugemajor contributor to the
increase in cost.
The second major contributor isconstruction.
We are constructing a lot andI'm going to be really blunt,
it's because of unfunded statemandates for water, power and

(30:50):
sustainability.
The state is asking us to do alot of things and I think it's
not any legislator in particular, it's not the governor in
particular.
The state has always had adance with its municipalities
where they think it's a greatidea for the entire state of
California to do something like.
We want to go sustainable, wewant to go green cities.

(31:13):
You need to do this.
That is rarely matched withwe're going to give you money to
do this.
Right, and it's been the longstanding argument from cities up
to states You're telling us todo things, you're not giving us
money to do things, and thatcouldn't be more true for water
and power.

(31:33):
We have quite a few unfundedstate mandates, some that we
have already submitted, andMandeep will tell you.
We've submitted papers andwe've submitted pleas to not
have to reach certain goalsbecause they're just too
expensive for us and they wouldbe too much of a burden on our
constituency.
And you know, right now,because of those budget problems

(31:57):
or because of those mandateproblems, we're seeing things
that are just unattainable, andthat's why we're looking for
other solutions, like thebattery storage that we've
started putting in.
We do do solar.
We have taken an approach as autility where we're doing a
little bit of everything so thatwe have our foot in every kind

(32:20):
of sustainable market, so thatif one of them does really well,
we can hold on to that whenwe're ready, which is something
we didn't do years ago One ofthe last utilities to get into
solar, and that's not on thiscouncil, not on anybody who's
currently working at the utility, it's on our predecessors and
we're trying to learn from maybesome of their sidesteps.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
I will say that and I agree with you.
Mandeep even said she's goingto Washington all the time.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
I've been with her.
You have.
We do not stop.
There are no breaks inWashington.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
She goes there to try to negotiate yeah, and really
so much.
She goes with a team that knowswhat they're talking about, you
know, and they're reallythey're not sitting in their
offices back at Burbank thinkinghow we can, you know, do this
crossword puzzle.
It's you guys are traveling,you guys are talking to your

(33:16):
counterparts and, like you saythe rates here, people call your
friends in other cities and askthem what's your water and
power bill?
You know, last time your water,your power was out, how long?

Speaker 3 (33:30):
was that out and we're part of the American
Public Power Association.
Our city is a member.
I'm really proud to be thatrepresentative from our council.
So I get to go to Washingtonand advocate for our money and
I'm lucky to say we do have abudget ask from Congressman
Friedman that was put in thebudget.
We'll see how it goes.
That's not done yet inWashington but that is our ask

(33:52):
was for a portion of fundingthat's going to go towards our
reservoir, which was going to bemy next point of why our money
or why our rates are going up.
The third thing is the capitalimprovement projects that were
not done years ago and I thinkthis one's a very hitting point
for our constituency becausewhen I heard it I was like, oh

(34:12):
my gosh, it made me mad as aresident Right Before any of us
were on the council, beforemandy, before anybody working
there.
We have our water reservoirthat has been leaking just a
little bit every year and now isthat the one at brace park, or
is it the one above um orangegrove?
I think it's the orange groveone.
It's the bigger one, sorry,like I don't know exactly where

(34:33):
it is, but it's our mainreservoir.
It's two million gallons ofwater.
That's is, but it's our mainreservoir.
It's 2 million gallons of water.
That's its storage.
Instead, it's currently holding1.2 million gallons of water.
So we're losing almost half ofour water because we've had a
leak that we haven't fixed foryears.
You know, at the beginning itwas, oh, we're losing some water
, but you kick the can down theroad and you don't get that

(34:54):
project done.
And that project was and I mayget the numbers off, mandeep has
as much better numbers but itwas something like a $20 million
project when we were firstlooking at it.
It's now a $60 million projectbecause of many, many factors.
And so we need to reach thispoint where we can't say anymore

(35:14):
of, oh, we'll do it later.
We got to do it now because,let's be real, in, in three
years, that's going to be a 7080 million dollar project.
We got to get these things donebecause we got to save our
water for for us here.
And then the last thing is andI know you've both alluded to
this well, not the last thing.
Second to last thing is the longhistory of no rate increases.

(35:36):
We haven't raised those ratesin so long and for folks who
maybe sit here and I'm guilty ofthis sometimes you sit here,
you look in your Burbank bubble,you think things are happening
here.
I can tell you from being onthe calls.
Every other Friday we have acall with the American Public
Powers Association.

(35:56):
Every other Friday we have acall with the American Public
Powers Association and so I tunein to a call with mayors, with
water and power directors, withfolks who sit on metropolitan
water boards across the nation.
We're talking folks fromBurbank, folks from Kentucky,
folks from New York, and allthese conversations are the same
everybody's raising their ratesbecause it's just unaffordable.

(36:19):
Now, this is a nationwide issueand the capital improvement
costs are also nationwide issues.
I heard from folks in New Yorkthat they're also building
something that has gone up 200%in cost and they're looking for
ways to do that.
And those are the state folks,right.
So there's a problem across theboard and we're trying to
address it now, before it getsmuch more costly and before we

(36:43):
have to turn to residents andsay it's a 40% increase.
I never want to turn to peopleand say that.
So I'd rather take these, theserates now and and fix our
problems here in Burbank andcontinue to be the kid that does
the work in the class, thefederal government.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
You know they're hot and cold.
You just don't know where to goon some of these things.
These are necessities.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
I mean it's really hard.
One of the things we went tofight for and I think I
mentioned this in the last showone of the things we went to
really really push hard for inWashington was our tax exempt
municipal bonds.
It's really important for usthat those municipal bonds stay
exempt from taxes, that forBurbank alone that can mean a
six million dollar difference,and that is again not a partisan

(37:27):
issue.
We in the APPA you have mayorsfrom all kinds of cities, all
places.
We may disagree on a lot ofthings.
Things everyone agrees thatthose bonds need to stay tax
exempt to keep our utilitiesrunning and to not pass those
six million in the case of ourbank onto our residents.
So it's really hard to befighting for that and to find

(37:49):
things that as americans we allagree on on the ground floor and
then take it to the federalgovernment and kind of hear
crickets.
You know that that's reallyhard for us, um, but I will say
the the federal government andkind of hear crickets.
You know that's really hard forus.
But I will say the last reasonand speaking of the feds, is
tariffs.
That's the last you know reasonfor these increases.
Those are six reasons why, butI also have to say, on the other

(38:13):
side, what you're paying for isreally the best reliability in
the nation we have.
Okay, I have to be to be honest, we have the strongest
reliability on water, we havethe second strongest reliability
on power in the nation and Ithink that's huge.
Yeah, it's huge.
You know that and we wesometimes take that for granted.

(38:34):
I feel like I've had momentswhere I'm like I mean, indeed,
my power was out for two hours,when I know for folks who
handled the storms in othercities, that was days.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
If people are curious , every month when the Water and
Tidal Board meets, theirminutes are public information.
Board meets, their minutes arepublic information and anybody
can go online, uh and and see,literally, when there's a power
outage, what it's caused by ifit's equipment failure, if it's
a mylar balloon, all thosedifferent things, and I'll tell

(39:10):
you how downtime is minimal ifyou have power out.
They know that fast.
The scada center out there bythe fire department training
center, they can tell you whenyou turn on your tv.
Almost you know, years ago theyused to during the super bowl
they could tell them how manypeople flush their toilets.

(39:32):
They knew it was after.
You know, yeah, exactly by theamount of water and power that
people would use.
It's funny.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
And if you call our customer service line and you
have questions about this stuff.
Look, I know I did.
I called them because I wasvery sure that my husband has a
few computers at home and heloves setting up his almost
game-like system and I knewthat's why our power was high
and I called and the folks atBWP backed me up on that one.
So you can find out what it is,what you can do to really save

(40:03):
some power.
And you know, without joking,there are real things that you
can do, like changing out yourlight bulbs, changing out your
water fixtures, and we have alot of those things available
for free at BWP.
If you go over to the customerservice desk, they will help you
with all of these things tohelp you make your house more,

(40:26):
more reliable in that sense.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
And making it more efficient.
You think about somebody thatowns tons of apartments in the
city, owns tons of apartments inthe city Burkow management.
They've gone in and changedtheir shower heads, their light
bulbs in their places, theirwater faucets, and you know, in
the long run when you have thatmany renters and you can save

(40:52):
that much.
They've also done that at themall with sufficiency, so it's
not taking as much.
People don't understand.
You could call the Departmentof Water and Power.
They will send somebody out foryou scheduled it's an outside
contractor, I believe and tellyou in your own house how you
can save from weather strippingaround windows so your air

(41:17):
conditioner is more effective,If you're flushing your toilet
and it's taking too much water,which you can do.
All those things and it's free,it's all free, it's
unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
I mean, most recently I'm a renter, like folks know.
My landlord and I were goodfriends.
We talk about all of this stuffand he knows the hikes are
coming and we actually had theconversation.
I was like you know, listen, I,I can call burbank water and
power, I can connect you and forall the renters out there, um,
burbank water and power has agreat template letter that you
can send to your landlord whereyou can explain hey, these are

(41:50):
some of the rebates here, theseare some of the programs, if
you're interested.
I've heard some good thingscome from the letter and from
those conversations because theywant to save money too.
And there are things that youcan do as a tenant.
I mean, look, I changed my ownshower head, I changed a few of
the faucet rings to add the,like you know, water efficient

(42:10):
saving ones, and it was verymuch appreciated by our landlord
.
And then there are things thatI can't do right, like some of
the metering things and some ofthe outside sprinklers.
But I did share with him.
This is where you can go, thisis who can help you, and he was
incredibly grateful.
And on the commercial side, Iwill say that program is on
pause right now, but it's comingback.

(42:31):
We do all of this through SCAPA, which is another it's a
Southern California powersassociation that we're also a
member of and they have aprogram where they'll send out
somebody to commercialestablishment.
So if you're a coffee shop, ifyou're a business owner here in
the city, you can also have thisdone.
They'll check your lightfixtures, they'll check all

(42:52):
these kind of things.
It's on a wait list right now.
It it's coming back for sure.
We're just renegotiating theprice um for for the state.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Well, you know, before we get off of uh, water
and power.
Totally, I know you made it avery important point and, um, it
was said many times.
If people are worried with thestudios being slow right now, if
you're work at a store and theycut your hours but these rates
are going up, if you cannot payyour bill, if you need help, the

(43:26):
Water and Power has severalprograms that they have
available that they're notcoming out to knock on your door
and turning your power off.
Tomorrow they will work withyou and I've been.
I've used a couple of theirprograms.
If you're a senior citizen,there's programs that they offer
that you don't need to worryabout your power being cut off

(43:49):
and so forth.
They really want to take careof you.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
And I just have the number right here.
You can give folks a call at818-238-3572.
And we will work for you.
We do have several low incomeprograms under the bus program.
We have grants.
We know we have ways to helpfolks say, because the last
thing we want to do is turn offpeople's power, we just want

(44:13):
people to be able to pay theirbill.
And many times it's enrollingin the program, many times it's
changing your appliances, youknow.
And the last two things I willsay is also, mandeep is
incredibly open to talking tofolks.
Mandeep Samra is our generalmanager for Burbank Water and
Power, who explains these issueslike no other.

(44:34):
I think at the end of all thecoffee chats people left, if not
happy about it, at leastunderstanding why these rate
increases were coming.
And she's available at818-967-1997.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
That is her cell phone.
I can tell you, you know, andthink about it, their team,
three Sisters, sisters, coffee,she had a coffee there.
Um, romance in the bean, shehad coffee there.
She'll go out wherever you wantto meet to figure this out, her
team will be out there.
And that was very, very helpful.

(45:12):
I don't ever recall, in all myyears of living in burbank, any
other general manager leavingtheir office to go out and go
face to face.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
And they've been really helpful.
Those chats have been reallyhelpful because, you know, to
our credit again, burbank, Ialways think, is a high
information community.
We're not asking why is my rategoing up, we're asking why.
Well, there was a woman whocame to city council the other
day and loved her questions.
She actually asked specificallyabout why Burbank is in a

(45:43):
50-year contract with one of ourlarger utilities and why,
specifically, we're not lookingat the second part of a question
.
She asked very specific piecesabout why we're not going with a
different provider and Mandeepanswered most of her question on
the spot.
But she also said call me.
And I think those are the folkswho really, if you're looking
at these rate increases andyou're like I just don't

(46:05):
understand why this percentageor what portion of this is going
to capital improvements versusthis, she will tell you and
it'll be in a veryunderstandable way because,
believe me, I have had thequestions.
Very last thing I will say onthis is because I want folks to
understand that, look, I get thefinancial strain, unlike some

(46:27):
of the folks in Washington orSacramento.
Your city council lives andbreathes in the community and
will be directly impacted by thedecisions we make.
You know, I think if we look attaxes, it's very easy for
legislators to talk about thaton a broad sense.
Or Medicaid Very easy for someof those folks to talk about
them because they have lovelygovernment health care.

(46:49):
When it comes to the decisionswe're making here, I also get
the rate increase and some of uson council, like I can tell you
, I make right above minimumwage right now.
It's going to impact my family alot, especially with a little
one on the way, and so it's nota decision I'm making lightly.

(47:10):
My family, my parents, work inthe entertainment industry, not
doing so hot.
It's not a decision we makelightly and I know it's going to
hit all of our wallets.
There are ways to help you ifit's really hitting your wallet
to a degree you can't handle.
But but please know that it'snot something that we wouldn't

(47:31):
decide to do unless it wasabsolutely necessary and unless,
looking at the budget, Ithought there was no way to
avoid.
Because right now, where I lookat it, I think I have, you know
, a hard decision, a much harderdecision, and the hard vote is
to say we're going to vote toraise rates.
People are going to be upsetand it's going to hurt our

(47:51):
wallets this much.
The harder decision and theworst choice would have been to
say oh, I don't want to raiserates because it make me look
bad.
Let the next council personhandle that in two years down
the road and let's let our ratepayers pay 40.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
Let's, let's bankrupt people, and I don't want to do
that right I think that's one ofthe great things of having you
as our mayor, a lifelong Burbankresident.
Everybody you know it is arequirement.
You live in Burbank to serve asa city council member, but you
grew up literally in this city,not the same as every one of

(48:30):
your fellow council members, butyou know.
You know literally everythingwhere the dollar goes and so
forth and so forth, and how thebudget works.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
So well, I'm going to come up with our next subject.
Sorry, craig One last humblebrag.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Absolutely Go ahead.
One last humble brag, please,please, look at the reports.
Please look at the reports fromour last council meeting.
I have it here.
I don't know if you can seethis clearly.
These are the electrical billcomparisons.
I just want to remind folksthat burbank is right here.
We are the second cheapestelectrical bill, riverside is

(49:08):
the lowest and I promise youthat riverside glendale.
All these utilities have ratehikes of their own coming soon.
And let's look at uh, at water.
That was electrical, okay.
Looking at water, we are thelowest, the lowest of all of the
cities here in the county.

(49:28):
So I just want to remind folksthat that tidbit, because we
really are trying to keep itthat way too and this.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
If, if people want to dig down deep and you can go
into, uh, last week's citycouncil meeting and you can look
at the video, and Joe, thechief financial officer of Water
and Power, broke all this downyou could see for yourself
exactly this chart.
She didn't have this printed upby some PIO in City Hall.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
For us it's available up by some PIO, you know, in
city hall.
For us it's available.
If you go to uh Burbank city'swebsite and look under council
meetings and agenda notes andlook at uh May 20th, you can
scroll down, find this.
What I say was agenda item nine, eight or nine.
You can look for it.
It's on there.
I would watch the YouTube video, quite frankly, because joe and

(50:20):
mandy do an excellent uh job ofexplaining things and if you
have questions after, give me acall, give me a call all right.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
Well, we're gonna move on now.
And something happened to me Ishould say my burbank, which
I've heard for a long time now.
There's a lot of people veryupset with how events in Burbank
just don't happen.
And we have the Road Kings carshow coming up and my Burbank

(50:53):
has a booth there.
And I was talking with the RoadKing people and I said I'd like
to bring some shirts and hatsand stuff to sell there also.
He goes yeah, you can do that,but I need a copy of your
insurance policy.
I go, a copy of my insurancepolicy.
What do you mean?
I've never had to bring oneanywhere before.
And he goes.

(51:13):
Well, the city of Burbank isrequiring that you have a
million dollars of insurance tosell a hat or a shirt.
And so I went out and got it.
It cost me over $300, which Iwon't make that day, so I'm
going to lose money.
And then I've got my Burbankvendor's fee also for the day,
so you're looking at close to$400.

(51:36):
And so I'm talking with the guywho was in Road Kings.
I was saying, wow, I go.
Why would you?
Because the decision query thatcame out last year some people
didn't have the right insurance.
They fined us.
They fined us a big amount.
And the Road Kings is 100%non-profit.
All the money they make that'stheir big thing every year and

(51:59):
all the money they make they useBoys and Girls Club Home.
Again, it goes to all theBurbank non-profits.
And they said well, we just hadto give them less money than
non-profits because the city ofBurbank took a big fine from us.
And I go wow, he goes.
The future of our event isreally in jeopardy right now
because the city's making ithard for us to put this on.

(52:20):
So my thing was you know, yeah,I'm going to lose some money on
this, okay, and can I afford todo the future?
Probably not.
So I probably won't be involved.
But if you lose the event,we've lost so many events.
Now we said earlier the BarrancaParade might be coming back,
but I know Holiday in the Park,which has been going on for a
few years.
I know there's a lot of it.

(52:40):
We used to have the Fourth ofJuly at Cambridge every year by
the Brink's JCs A great event.
There used to be a lot of greatevents in the city and more and
more they're all disappearing.
Other cities can be able to doit still, but Burbank seems to
be having less and lessexperiences for the citizens as
a whole.
You know our people, so I'm notputting you on the line on this,

(53:03):
because it's not your decisionor anything else, but I just
think that the thing you startthinking about is how do we help
these nonprofits, how do wejust help all these events to
keep things happening in Burbank?
I'm going to find we have theVisit Burbank Street Festival
this coming weekend.
I'm going to find out ifeveryone of those booths had to

(53:25):
pay a million dollar insurancepolicy to be out there, because
if not, why are we picking andchoosing which events and who
gets it and who doesn't get it?
And so that kind of stuffbothers me.
Is it the consistency also?

Speaker 3 (53:38):
And I can tell you now, craig, they did, because
that is a blanket policy acrossthe city.
And again it comes to some ofthese new mandates, new safety
mandates for a lot of theseevents that we have.
We have new insurance policiesthat we need to require vendors
to get.
And that's really hard.
And I hear you, especially withour nonprofits, because the

(53:58):
goal of what they're doing iscommunity, which has been one of
my biggest concerns, and I cantell you that again we sit in
our Burbank bubble and we lookat Burbank and say it's costing
us so much to do.
I promise you that folks whoare vendors at Ventura County
Street Fair, folks who arevendors at a City of LA event,
are paying these exorbitant feestoo.
It's getting harder foreverybody.

(54:19):
So one of the things that Iwanted to look at is how do we
help out the right people tohost these events right?
And so one I will tell you, I'mhappy to continue talking with
our parks department and I didtalk a little bit with them when
it came to the Road Kings showContinue talking with our
community development departmenton ways we can start to sift

(54:39):
out and support folks that arethe non-profits, or how we can
take on as a city and sponsorsome of these events.
I think our rank on parade, Ithink holiday in the park should
be and that's one councilmember's opinion but I think
they should be city sponsoredevents.
We should be really, reallysupporting these things and
happening.
I remember back in the day themovies they called the movies in

(55:01):
the park, but they're at theold Ikea lot, right.
A lot of those events were soamazing for me as a kid and I
want kids to have thatexperience now.
So one of the things I've beendoing is really talking to our
departments about how we canmake these community events that
the city is putting our ownmoney forward and I know that's

(55:21):
a long-term discussion and eventhough you're asking budget and
all that, you asked me what Iwish we could have included as a
vendor.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
I don't.
I don't mind paying a dayvendor fee.
I get that, but when you'reyou're looking at paying more
money than you could possiblymake, then at what point you're
saying?

Speaker 3 (55:37):
forget it.
Exactly, exactly, and we'reseeing a lot of that.
You know that was a big issue.
I know last year for Pride,like Burbank Pride, they had
that issue with many of theirvendors who said it's really
hard for me to do it.
And in talking to some of thosevendors, you know I kind of
followed the money a little bitand watched Okay, well, did they
go to do another Pride event inanother city?

(55:58):
Well, did they go to do anotherPride of another city?
They didn't.
It's just getting hard acrossthe board, but one of the things
I put together in hopes ofhelping and I know it's not a
solution, but I hope it's onestep to help, like you mentioned
, some of these nonprofit folkswho are really doing it for
community with zero personalfinancial incentive.
Nothing is.

(56:18):
We did have our first iterationthis year of my proposed
community grant for communityevents.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Something that needs to be done for a long time now,
and so you championed.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
Thank you.
I felt very strongly about thatone and actually one of my
reasons for doing that and Iknow we're not there yet and I'm
getting ahead of myself in afew years, but well, in a year
but one of the reasons I evenput that grant forward was
talking about Burbank on paradeRoss and I have been talking
about that for years how do webring it back?
And I wanted a community grantout there that helped events

(56:48):
like that to come back andhelped our current events that
are struggling to stay, and wehad over 30 something
applications for for our firstiteration.
It's a pilot program program,it's two years and you know I
had a great time explaining.
I got a question from one of mycolleagues about why we were

(57:09):
doing this and whether or notthe government should be funding
these non-profit events.
And the way I see it again isthis is not the government just
funding non-profit events.
This is the government saying,hey, part of our job, because
it's part of our goals, not justhousing, it's not just water
and power, it's also quality oflife.
Absolutely Part of our job isfunding the community events.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
Exactly.
People I don't think realizeturn on the TV.
Where was it?
Yesterday A car drove through afestival when Liverpool,
liverpool.
Last week a car drove through aparade you know, a marathon
somewhere.
It's happening more and moreand it's a sad state of how we

(57:56):
have to look at things.
But as a city, I know forHoliday in the Park, burbank On
Parade, safety is the number onething.
Being the chairman of largeevents like that, I think about
it all the time.
You know we need to now usesome cities use sawhorses.
Some cities use sawhorses.

(58:18):
Burbank, the traffic engineerand the traffic lieutenant has
come up with these barricadesthat will prevent a car from
going through.
We have to use those.
They cost a lot to be made butthey also are safe.
You can drive a car at 70 milesan hour and not get through
them.
But the nice thing is yourcommunity grant will go toward

(58:42):
paying for part of that.
Burbank on parade uh, we havefound some money put away that
will help pay for that.
Um, holiday in the park again,the city co-sponsors and helps
pay for that.
So that's how we can still dothese events, but it's tough.
Uh, you know, the city doesmake us.

(59:02):
The city fees are one thing, thecounty fees, if you want to
serve a cookie, and I will takefor an example Porto's.
You know Betty Porto, last yearshe had to package everything
that she gave away as arequirement of the la county
health department.
You know which cost her.

(59:24):
On top of making the productand giving it away, she had to
put what the contents was.
You can't make, you can't sellnow homemade brownies.
You can't.
There's so many restrictionsbrownies.
But I get you know, you thinkabout it.
You have 40,000 people andpeople are eating things.
You don't want everybody to getsick.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Great.
No, I mean, that's our societytoday.
Our society is who's the nextcrazy guy going to be?
We all get that.
I don't think everyone wants afree ride either, right, but I
think all we want is help andassistance and knowing we're not
fighting the system workingwith the system.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
The hardest part of those insurance costs.
You mentioned, though and Ithink that's across the board, I
think one of the themes I'veseen if you ask me right now
what's the worst thing you'veseen working government
Insurance.
It's awful right now, be ithome insurance, be it apartment
insurance, be it car insurance,medical insurance $300 for a
one-day policy think about that.

(01:00:23):
That's insane, and and that'sthe part where it gets really
hard, and and we've sent lettersfor our insurance commissioner
saying like this is out of handI do think it's incredible price
gouging when it comes toinsurance and, honestly, I, it
would be something that I know Ican't do anything about at the
local level, but, man, I, if Iever got up higher, that's

(01:00:45):
something I would want to tackle, because it's just predatory in
every vein well, it's funny.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
Um, I look back again , uh, from the former burbank on
parade, when they did it downall of many years ago.
The state makes mandates.
You can't use a fails at a yeah, because it'll go down the
sewer and it'll fog up the sewer.
You can't run water down thesewer over so many gallons and

(01:01:15):
it's a state requirement.
So the city has to, you know,abide by those things, all these
little tiny things that peoplehave no clue on.
How you know that, to put onthe event of all these things
that you have to take intoconsideration, it all costs
money, yep yep, I like I said.

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
I know it's not the solution, but for folks who are
wondering about the communitygrant, we did put 50K aside for
this pilot for the first yearand we're going to do it again
next year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Let's get the community grant.
So you know, I mean I might aswell box it.
I'm off it now I'm back down toregular size here.
Let's talk about the communitygrants, let's talk about you
know who's getting what and whatthe whole is going.

Speaker 3 (01:01:57):
So it was really tough for our city because, of
course, we got the applicationswhich I thought we would.
You know, I know there are somefolks who are skeptical, saying
I don't know, we'll see.
And I was like I promise you,people are out there who want to
do good in the community and wehad applications from a lot of
different groups, like Zonta putin their application, btac, all
our normal nonprofits and somenew folks, which was really

(01:02:20):
exciting to see Some folks whohave ideas and want to do good
in Burbank.
We couldn't pick everybody, andthe way we did it which I think
was the best way, and if youwatch last week's council
meeting you'll also get to see alittle bit of our discussion on
this was we had a committeemade up of staff from a few of
the different departments thatwould Iraq, so CDD, parks and

(01:02:41):
Rec, the city manager's office,and these are just staff members
.
These are not council members.
They don't have a vestedinterest.
They're not, you know, membersof an organization.
I'm very openly a member ofZonta myself.
It would have been reallyunfair to have me on there right
, and so it was great to havethat group really sit there and

(01:03:03):
look at each application andthen graded each of them on
feasibility, on their budget, ontheir actual plan, on benefit
to the community and also on howopen it was to the public.
For example, if you asked formoney for a gala, that was
denied because you're asking fora more private function, it's

(01:03:25):
not necessarily a benefit to thecommunity.
If you're asking for somethingpolitical or religious again
community event that's open foreverybody, you know you didn't
get the funding.
So one of the things I reallyappreciated is in this May 20th
meeting from was that last week,my gosh, last week, my goodness

(01:03:47):
, I feel like the time is.
I feel like it was last year.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
How busy you are, though.

Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
But from that meeting , our staff Catherine Labrado
really breaks it down foreverybody on the criteria, on
each thing that was judged forthe applicants, and I think we
learned lessons too, right, andin how we want to market this
and how we want to make surefolks know what we mean by a

(01:04:14):
community event, an open publicevent, right.
And so we set our criteria andwhat I really appreciated was,
you know, one of our councilowners brought up an
organization that didn't getfunded and he said I'd love to
see this funded.
And we did have a talk as acouncil and saying we're not
going to make any changesbecause that would be unfair and

(01:04:34):
bringing our own bias into this, which is fair, and we but we
also agreed that our staff wouldbe available to have at least a
20 minute discussion with anyapplicant that didn't get a
grant about why they didn't getfunded, so that next year they
can apply with a project thatwill get funded, and I think
that's an invaluable resource.

(01:04:55):
When do you apply for a grantas a non-profit?
As somebody who's worked at a501c3, I have never had a grant
application.
Where I apply, I don't get itand I don't just get a letter
that says see ya, thanks, youknow, nowhere have I gotten.
We'll sit down with you for afew minutes and explain to you
how you can make the applicationbetter for next year.
So if you're listening outthere and if you applied and you

(01:05:17):
didn't get in, you're a littledisappointed, or if you didn't
apply and you're thinking ofapplying, do call our city staff
or city manager's office andtalk with our staff about what
the criteria is and what you cando to strengthen your
application and make it betterfor next year.
We have an extra $5,000 that wedidn't use this year for next
year because we hope we can fundeven more projects.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
Well, it was quite interesting because I watched
this one very closely because ofMagnolia Park, burbank, on
Parade, several things, and I'mglad you stood up for a couple.
When you are giving money out,if it's CBDG funds, if it's a
grant, community grants, I willtell you people come out of the

(01:05:59):
woodwork.
Don't take that personal folks,but people I find come up to
that dais and I know mostorganizations in the city quite
well.
One of the things on yourcommunity grants were you need
to be a 501c3, not a 501c6, c3,not a 501 C6, 501 C, whatever

(01:06:21):
there are requirements andthat's why I know for a fact
Magnolia Park we didn't applybecause I did the homework.
We did the homework and askedand it says right on there you
got to be a 501 C.
I didn't want to take your timeand I would think a city
staffer would have caught thatreal quick.
Anyway, come August we will be,but it's funny, there are some

(01:06:46):
requirements but people come outof the woodwork and it's nice
to see that the city is tryingto work with these organizations
.
It's not that we don't want todo events.
Burbank is one city that youknow we want to.
It's real important havingcommunity but that you set the
goals.
And here's a perfect proof thatI think you gave away $45,000.

(01:07:12):
Now, folks, that doesn't comeout and that's not because
they're raising your power bill.
That's money that Burbank hashad put away in different funds,
that things have changed andthat's what they're based on.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
But aren't those very separate funds?
I think tax money not tax moneyper se, but city funds should
be used for the well-being ofthe community and I really
believe that's part of the wholeprocess is yeah, we got to have
the cops, the firemen, allthose things.
We also have to have thecommunity.
We have to still be who we areand talk to your neighbor all

(01:07:49):
those things too.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
One of the things I tell people and that's why my
priorities when I ran for officewere in that order.
My first one was public safety,because if you don't have fire,
pd and let's say you own autility those three things are
not good and well-funded.
You're not running the city,end of story.
My second thing was housing andhomelessness, because that's
our job as a city to make surethat we're housing folks, that

(01:08:12):
we have a sustainable place tolive.
And then quality of life was onthere, because I do also think
I know it's not the priority.
I know I'm like sorry Ross andsorry me, but Burbank on parade
is maybe not as important askeeping the lights on, but it's
still important.
People live in a communitybecause they care about the
businesses that are next to them, they care about the events

(01:08:33):
that are happening and they carethat they're safe, and all
three of those things are reallyimportant, and I don't think
sometimes it's always aboutgiving money.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
It's just about making it easier for them to
have their events.
Exactly, it's like streamliningthings, it's making sure that,
you know, maybe the fees aren'trequired and things like that.
So there's a lot of things theycan do besides just giving away
money.
That makes the event, more youknow, go on easier.

Speaker 3 (01:08:56):
And, like I said, it's one of our solutions

(01:09:21):
no-transcript.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
Burbank police department yeah, we can hire
event security, event staff,security, um.
But then again you have toweigh the difference of armed,
non-armed um you know whatburbank pd gets paid versus a
private.
All those things.
You need to waive againliability and that's a great

(01:09:48):
example of.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
Also, our staff wants to work with you, our city
staff.
I've seen them really finaglethings and try to make it as
affordable as possible forevents.
There are sometimes when folkscome to us with very grand ideas
, like I'm gonna shut down allof mccambridge park, and we're
like this is what it would costyou and us and the folks around
in that area.
You know why don't we do ithere instead?

(01:10:09):
And and really that's aconversation between the fire
chief, pd chief, parks and rec,community development and all
these folks are eager to reallywork with folks to make it
easier, because we know it canbe costly well, here's I'll
throw some numbers out because Iknow quite well.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
The closed magnolia boulevard is 40 some odd
thousand dollars, I mean, tomake it safe.
That doesn't count the policeofficers out there to work and
for burt holiday in the Parklast year for law enforcement,
protection and everything theydid $22,000.
Now there you go $60,000.

(01:10:47):
The event cost us $112,000 toput on.
Think about it.
That money just doesn't grow ona tree in Magnolia Park because
I keep looking for that tree.
Let me know when you find it.
But you got to make stuff safe.
And then when you bring thatmany, that many people together,
do you have enough lawenforcement and fire?

(01:11:10):
God forbid, something happenedthat we can handle the situation
.
Those are all things you haveto take into consideration.
So that brings up the nextthing on our list is July 4th.
Now a lot of people don'tunderstand that the storms that
we had, first the windstorm thatdestroyed not only, I think, 19

(01:11:36):
trees I heard up at StarlightBowl but also took off the roof.
Literally the highest buildingin the city literally blew off
the roof.
And then a week later you havetorrential rainstorm that the
rain had no roof stopping it, sothe water got into the dressing

(01:11:56):
rooms.
That building is very old.
People go to the summer concertseries every year.
Well, that's why they're nothaving it.
So they've gone to plan B.
Burbank didn't say we're notdoing anything, go pound sand.
Our parks department came upwith let's do something

(01:12:16):
different.
And I believe that's whatthey're planning is some
community events in thedifferent parks.
You know people don'tunderstand 5,000 people up at
the bowl.
You can't just put that into aneighborhood park and say people
go, have fun.
So I know they've taken thatinto consideration.
I hear there's going to be adrone show that will be

(01:12:38):
available to be seen from theCambridge Park, the Burbank High
Football and Baseball Fields,the parking structures at the
mall.
That's just one event.
In the evening there's going tobe other things at our Parks
Department.
Who is celebrating A hundredyears?
A hundred years of playingaround?

Speaker 3 (01:12:58):
You know they're very excited and they have, if
you're interested, they have alot of merch celebrating 100
years of insurance policies,parks and rent um, but yeah, the
fourth of july.
listen, I, I get it.
I've seen the comments onfacebook.
Folks are very sad that we'renot having our firework show.
If you ask me, thinking from agovernment and and you know,

(01:13:20):
community standpoint, on the onehand there's nowhere to do it.
We can give them the starlightbowl and really we rarely say in
government there wassubstantial damage.
This was substantial damage.
Like it is, it is unusable andI'm glad our city manager and
the council is very proactive inthinking listen, we already
have a restoration plan down theroad, let's just speed it up

(01:13:41):
Instead of saying we're going todo some quick repairs, let's
just make this really, really astate of the art.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
That's another thing that was kicked down the road
for 30 years because the StarryPool was antiquated and just
absolutely.
What do you think?

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
of handy capable.
How would you get up there?

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
You'd carry me.
Yeah, how would you get upthere?
You'd carry me, um, and youknow, once again, though, we
didn't do anything, get it up tostandards, and then this
happens.
And now, oh, there we go.
That thing that happened to allof all of park when they lost
the grandstands right, neverkept up.
The earthquake happened.
We didn't fix it and just toreit down.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
There was a piece of history again and and I'm glad
we've decided like okay, insteadof like oh, we're going to do
some minor repairs here andthere and see if we can have the
shows in this like we're doingthe whole thing.
We're speeding it up, so we'redoing it now.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
You know how I feel about it.
I think it's a huge gem for ourcity.
I think it's a great thing tohave.
And look at what the GreekTheater, all these theaters,
have and we don't have it herebecause they're garage bands.
It could be so much more here,and that's the goal.

Speaker 3 (01:14:42):
That's the goal, like , if we're going to renovate it,
if we're going to bring it backto speed, let's really do a
mass scale renovation here, Iagree.
And so that's one half of it.
The other half is look, it'snot lost on me, look at what we
just had with these fires.
Fireworks are really dangerousand I know Ross loves to remind
people of this and I appreciateyou for it, ross.

(01:15:04):
Fireworks are illegal in thecity of Burbank, folks.

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
My next, item on my list here is going to take.
I don't care if it says safeand sane.
Being a photographer in thiscommunity for the last 50 years,
I have people, pictures ofpeople with fingers blown off,
kids that have taken a sparklerand twirled it and got sparks in
their eye.
I have seen it personally.

(01:15:27):
Safe and sane no, they'reillegal in the city of Burbank
and that means all fireworks.
Even if they say safe and saneand you can buy them in Pacoima,
don't bring them in the citybecause you can be cited.
They're unsafe, they're insane.

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
And let me tell you, like I can tell you, there are a
few times when fire the firechief's heart rate is through
the roof.
The 4th of July is one of thosedays and it is the most
emergency room calls, it is themost fire calls and it's just
detrimental to our health andsafety, along with all the smoke

(01:16:05):
that's left over.
So it is something we have toreally rethink.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
I know folks love I don't think people remember this
might be before you were born,madam Mayor.
That back I can't tell you theexact year.
I was on the July 4th committeeand because the humidity rate
was so low they canceled havinga fireworks show up at starlight
bowl and they moved it to johnburroughs high school.

(01:16:31):
I'll say 20 years ago I wasthat low no no, I was around.
I was a kid, but I was around Iremember this, but I remember
being on the committee and theproblem was I remember they
hired Pyro Spectacular, who doesa show every year, and they
shot him off from the baseballfield.
But still, you can't tell anEmber personally where to go and

(01:16:52):
where not to go.
And the neighbors, the dogs,the complaints.
Yes, it was a great July 4 4thactivity, but you know what
fireworks is not meant to be putat a stadium like bernice, you
know, not in a residential zoneand so forth.
So that's why, if people arethinking, well, why don't you
just move it here or move itthere?

(01:17:13):
Nowadays, with the fires thatwe experienced, there's no show
in pasadena this year.
Folks, you want to know why?

Speaker 3 (01:17:22):
because they santa monica last year had their first
drone show and I gotta tell yousanta monica was one of the
last like safe, quote-unquoteplaces to do this, because they
literally did it at the edge ofthe beach, like where are you
gonna, where those numbers gonnafall?
And even then for them it wasan air quality issue.
Folks were really breathing inthe hazardous air.
So I will say I don't have allthe details for the event and

(01:17:46):
the drone show, but our nextshow.
Stay tuned because I will havemore details then.

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
Okay well, um, I will say this, but my neighbors here
will kill me.
I say this we want to watch agood fireworks show.
I just go to my backyard andwatch lakeside golf Course.
They launch a huge show everyyear and so streets around here
get crowded with people comingto watch the show here.
But you can see it right herefrom the old Kluk Lake area at
Lakeside.
So sorry about that, neighbors.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
But if you want to see a July 4th parade, there is
probably the top parade all overand it is gone down the media
district area.
Where's the parade that goesdown this street every year,
your July 4th parade?

Speaker 2 (01:18:30):
I'm not sure what you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:18:32):
The parade that you guys do down your street.

Speaker 2 (01:18:35):
Oh, our parade.
Every year we do the.
How many years 15 now we do aparade down our street from the
corner to the end.
They turn around, they go backto the corner.
That's a parade every year.
We've had.
We've had the Howard Ron andClint Howard, we've had the
Howard Ron and Clint HowardMaster Ceremonies or whatever

(01:18:59):
you know.
We've had all sorts of peopleon our one block parade.
So you are more than welcome tocome and participate if you'd
like to, but you're going to betied up this July 4th.
I'll get you next year.

Speaker 3 (01:19:14):
Hopefully we're still running around on July 4th.
She is, I'll get you next year,hopefully.
Hopefully we're still runningaround on july 4th.
I'm not ready yet, but, um, wecan get your golf cart to come
up and down back back.
I would love that.
I'd love to come down for theparade.

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
My doctor says I should keep walking oh, there
you go, it will be waddling.

Speaker 3 (01:19:28):
It's a full two blocks, one up, one down you
know, if I can't make it twoblocks by then, things are not
looking good.
So I'm hoping I'll be fullyavailable to do that.
It'll be fun.

Speaker 2 (01:19:39):
I didn't know I'll do it every year and put it on the
saying.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
You give me a hot dog and I'm good to go.
I am good to go and I got totell you, Ross, when people talk
about July 4th, I don't know.
That's what I'm looking forwardto.
I want a good hamburger and agood hot dog.
That's my July 4th.

Speaker 2 (01:19:56):
We used to have the JCs.
Years ago we did that thing inMcCambridge.
Yes, I remember Cambridge ParkRides, everything Carnival.
It was a great event every year.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
That's where the original people don't know.
Many years after the war theWorld Bank Compere started out
with Glen Oaks.
The war, yeah, burbank compparade started on glen oak.
Then, uh, they moved it tothird street and that's.
They did it at the same timethat, um, the circus was in town
, circus vargas, as long as wegot llamas and elephants and all

(01:20:27):
sorts of animals and we wentfrom um about cyprus to the park
yep, and then the park wasclosed.
Andover and Amherst we had citytrucks set up.
There was a big festival inMcCambridge Park.
We had a Burbank neighborhoodradio watch.
We were set up out there andgiving crime prevention tips for

(01:20:48):
many years.

Speaker 3 (01:20:49):
I got to tell you, ross, as a marching band kid, it
was no easy feat.
Marching behind the llamas andwhat they leave behind, it's
worse than horses.

Speaker 1 (01:20:59):
I will keep that in mind when we're talking about
Burbank on Parade People you'veheard it from my mouth and I've
seen the paperwork going throughthe city we are going to have a
parade in 2026.
We will, we will.
You have the mayor and mycommitment.
Um, it's going to be a lot ofplanning.

(01:21:20):
It might be a bit different.
It won't be on all of.
We're looking at differentsituations, but you know what
we're going to bring burbank onparade back to burbank we are
bringing him back, okay?

Speaker 2 (01:21:31):
well, you know there's been a long show, and so
at the end of every show wehave one thing and one thing
only.
We always say what is on themayor's mind besides diapers.
So we will give you the thefloor and you anyone.
Any subject you have want totalk about.

Speaker 3 (01:21:48):
The floor is yours let's see what is on my mind.
They do have some announcementsfrom things that are Don't.
We have that announcement.

Speaker 1 (01:21:57):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (01:22:08):
Oh right.

Speaker 3 (01:22:13):
So I do have two fun resource things that are
happening.
So our downtown burbank summerarts festival, which we alluded
to a little bit, is happeningmay 31st and june 1st from 11 am
to 6 pm in downtown burbank.
It'll be fun, a relaxing eventfor families goes down the
street and talking aboutcommunity.

(01:22:34):
I think that those are thethings right.
And then the other thing wehave is more of a resource fair.
On Saturday, may 31st, from 9am to 12 pm at Georgia's A Park,
home Again, la is hosting thecommunity resource fair.
We'll have organizations fromacross the region that are going
to provide essential resourcesabout housing, financial

(01:22:55):
literacy, employment and more.
If you want more info you cango to homeagainlaorg or you can
call them at 818-562-7778.
And those are my two eventthings that are coming up.
Let's see what else.

Speaker 1 (01:23:13):
I Well you know, know , while you're looking through
your notes, or, mayor, I'll uh,do a little ad lib.
Last week you and I attended ahome la's gala and it was at
ratford studios.
They raised, uh, two hundredthousand dollars, I believe, for
our homeless programs and soforth and it was a very, very
great atmosphere.

(01:23:33):
Little weather was.
We weren't sure if it was goingto rain or mist, but we were
lucky.
It was a great night.
They had a great band, the foodwas plenty of food.
They had ice cream, they hadraffles you can do and they
raised $200,000.
This community fair that AlbertHernandez and Home LA is

(01:23:53):
doing,000.
This community fair that AlbertHernandez and Home LA is doing.
Again, folks take advantage ofHome LA.
They are a great resourcecenter.
If you know somebody that'shaving problems, don't be
embarrassed.
They deal with this everysingle day.
We're in a situation now withthe studios and people not

(01:24:16):
working.
Hopefully that'll change realsoon.
But if you are having problems,stop by the park Olive Wreck,
very convenient.

Speaker 3 (01:24:25):
And they have a lot of countywide resources too.
So if you, even if you're notunhoused or you're not at risk
of becoming unhoused, if money'stight, there's economic
resources out there, financialliteracy resources.
A lot of times it's justlearning how to how to save some
money and, as somebody who usedto work as a homeless services
provider, that's one of the mainmain uh issues we see with

(01:24:46):
homelessness.
Sometimes you fall into debtand and one thing snowballs into
another and it's really helpfulto talk to some of these
organizations and and resourcesand I do have to say home again,
la is wonderful.
I had the pleasure of workingwith them both in my capacity in
the government side and also asas a provider, and they were
great to work with.
Fantastic.
My last thing that's on my mind.

(01:25:07):
Last thing, last thing, noproblem is this room's more of a
fun fact.
We do have a couple of funprojects going on right now, I
think there's.
We always talk about capitalimprovements and our sidewalks
and the reservoir and all thesethings.
If you're driving aroundburbank, pardon our dust.
We are working on a restorationof our city hall fountain so

(01:25:27):
you will see that up and runningsoon with recycled water by the
end of the summer.
By the time I have a newaddition to my family, that
fountain should be ready to go.

Speaker 1 (01:25:37):
Well, you know what I'll buy the soap.

Speaker 2 (01:25:39):
No, I'm kidding.
I was going to be carefulbecause they went to fix the
elevator on the Alleywater Pass.
It was supposed to be done byApril and now we're in June.

Speaker 3 (01:25:50):
I've been guaranteed and you know what I will say.
I never say never until I seethe fence come up and people out
there.
I've driven by city hall many,many times this last week and
our staff is on it.

Speaker 1 (01:26:01):
I will say this is the first time I was driving up
all of which I do 10 times a day.
This is the first time I'veseen a project like that, the
fence around it, Andy Gump outthere for the employees.
The people don't understand.
Thank you for watching our myBurbank video.

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
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
the latest videos.

Speaker 3 (01:26:31):
It's a tricky one because you know it's a
historical site, so we can'ttamper too much, but also we
can't use like it would be.
Again, for all the reasons wetalked about today, it would be
irresponsible of us to useregular water.
We have to use recycled waterat this point.
And then the other project wehave going on is the plane F-106
.

Speaker 2 (01:26:50):
Yes, that's right.
That's for a guy in that plane.
He sure needs a bathroom break.
He's been in that plane for 30years, hasn't?

Speaker 1 (01:26:58):
he, and again they've sanded it down.
They have it masked off again.
They put the fence around it toprotect so they can work out
there.
We remember when that was putin, wasn't that a Dan Remy thing
?
Yeah, that was while lockheedand so forth, and people thought
lockheed left, take yourairplane with you, but people

(01:27:20):
live still live here that workedon that plane and then let me
tell you to craig's point man,that poor guy needs a break, and
he's a break up there.

Speaker 3 (01:27:27):
Ross, if you think you didn't get time and makeup
today, he certainly didn't gettime and makeup.
He needs his eyes restored toeverything, so stay tuned to see
this didn't look sharp, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:27:38):
Yes, I like I say I drive by there every day.
You know these are things.
Yes, it did cost 250 000 torestore it, but you're not going
up there with, you know,putting just any type of coat of
paint on it.
It's got to last for years andit's out there in the sun, the
light, everything.
They're doing it right and,again, these are major projects

(01:28:01):
which I will.
I guess I saw your last councilmeeting.

Speaker 3 (01:28:05):
You were proud to have Ken Berkman get up and
people can go online and look atall these major projects that
the city's doing to keep thestatus of it and we will have a
lot of part in our dust in thefuture, because and it's good
right, it's good things that wesee we see a restoration to the
park itself, we see arestoration for our civic center

(01:28:28):
.
Those are all things for thecommunity, for the benefit of
our community, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:28:33):
Well, I think we've come to the end.
So for Mayor Nikki Perez and,of course, for Ross Benson,
there we go.

Speaker 1 (01:28:44):
When I said tally-ho we did go.

Speaker 2 (01:28:47):
There we go, craig Schroeder, once again saying
thank you for watching.
We'll catch you again nextmonth and hopefully the mayor
will be able to do one more showbefore the big day comes.
So thank you everybody, thankyou, thank you for watching.

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Ask the Mayor with Nikki Perez - May 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 - May 2025