Ask the Mayor with Nikki Perez - A Mayor’s Year In Burbank

A year that began with windstorms and fires ends with a gavel passed—but the real story is everything in between. We sit down with Mayor Nikki Perez for an unguarded look at what city leadership actually takes in a place like Burbank: twice the work, the same vote, and constant pressure to keep meetings civil and residents heard. Nikki opens up about navigating pregnancy and new motherhood while chairing council, the moments where decorum faltered, and why protocol matters when the room is tense and the stakes are high.

We dig into the most contentious issue of the year—rent. After two years of study and public input, the council lands on a 4% soft cap with relocation assistance when increases exceed that threshold and tenants can’t afford to stay. Nikki wanted a hard cap, but chose to compromise to get the city moving and prevent serial shock increases. The conversation reaches beyond rent to the bigger affordability squeeze—utility rates, inflation, and the cost of delay—and how early, steady adjustments beat crisis spikes every time.

Burbank’s wider identity and economy are in play, too. With studios shifting and mergers in the headlines, residents fear for jobs and small businesses. While the city can’t reverse federal decisions, it can clarify zoning, protect infrastructure, and keep Burbank film-friendly with a responsive, human permit process. Nikki highlights the city’s police leadership, the strength of its staff and PIO team, and the practical realities the next mayor will face: a likely budget deficit, tariff impacts, and the need to prioritize core services while communicating clearly about what local government can and cannot change.

What keeps a leader going when the inbox is harsh and the chambers are loud? Letters from kids, neighbors who stop her in the grocery aisle, and a family that shows up—every time. If you care about how cities actually work—rent policy, public safety, film permits, zoning, budgets—this candid, grounded conversation delivers clarity and heart. Prefer more of these deep dives into local power and policy? Follow, share with a friend in Burbank, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
My Burbank Talks presents another edition of Ask

(00:02):
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.
Now let's join our hosts as theywelcome the mayor of Burbank.

SPEAKER_03 (00:16):
Hello, Burbank.
It's Craig Schuert here onceagain.
And once again, I'm here withRoss Benson.

SPEAKER_04 (00:22):
Wow, I haven't been in this studio.
I think I had hair last time,didn't I?
Oh no, I had I had a full mouthof teeth.
Oh, there you go.
Now I lost the tooth, so I mightlisp and tisk and blah blah
blah.

SPEAKER_03 (00:34):
But we have renovations done in here and uh
a nice new computer stuff.
Yeah, wow.
I'm pretty shocked.
But what we have we still haveis our mayor, Nikki Perez.
We do.
We are honored.

SPEAKER_00 (00:44):
Good to see you both.
And the last time I was in thestudio, I had a whole human with
me.

SPEAKER_03 (00:50):
You're one and a half people here, actually.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
Yes, I was.
It's nice to be one person nowwith a beautiful little human on
the side.

SPEAKER_03 (00:58):
Well, to actually we're filming this day before
council reorganization.
And uh so it's actually yourlast official day as the mayor
of Burbank for now.

SPEAKER_04 (01:07):
So we have to say mayor Nikki Perez, because right
now you are she is the mayorright now.
Um weren't you supposed to be inbed at nine o'clock at five
o'clock or something?

SPEAKER_03 (01:19):
Your days go very long when you're the mayor,
though.

SPEAKER_00 (01:21):
This this is actually the longest day of the
year for me because after this,I I actually go back to being
frozen and hibernating until thenext mayorship.
Just kidding.

SPEAKER_03 (01:31):
Well, let's let's kind of talk about your year
because the year is winding upright now.
So I think the first question isdid it measure up to what you
thought it would measure up tobeing the mayor for of Burbank?
Did what what was the thing thatprobably you didn't expect that
you found you had to really doand stuff?
Or what what was I mean, what'sthe experience like?

SPEAKER_00 (01:53):
Um, I I think I'll say one thing, and if if our
future mayor, whoever they maybe, is listening, um, because we
will vote tomorrow, um the onepiece of I think advice I would
give is be ready because it istwice the amount of work.
It is twice the amount ofresponse because a lot of folks

(02:14):
maybe don't know about ourprocess at City Council.
We have five council members whoall get the same vote on the
dais, but every year we vote forone of those people to become
the mayor, which essentiallymeans they are the chair of the
meeting, they run the meeting,they keep the order, and they
are ceremonious ceremonially theperson who is presenting the

(02:37):
certificates, giving awards,speaking on behalf of the city.
And although they don't get anyextra compensation or they don't
have an extra vote, they are theface of the city for all intents
and purposes.
And for folks who maybe don'tknow the inner workings, you
know, they look for the mayor.
If you're coming from out oftown, you look for the mayor.
If you have a question, youprobably want the mayor.

(02:59):
And so the one thing I realizedis I get a lot more emails, mail
questions.
And and it was pretty humblingthis year to get a lot of asks
to be at events and places.

SPEAKER_03 (03:11):
Well, I'm sure I'm sure most people don't realize
how our system works in Burbank,where it's a rotating system,
you know, every year.
They just assume, like a lot ofplaces, you elect a mayor.

SPEAKER_04 (03:20):
So, you know, I I will I I gotta say, you and I
are together probably more thanyour husband on some days.
You know, Blake and I are goodfriends, but your calendar
sometimes has people don'trealize 10 items on it.
You and I can go from one ribboncutting to another ribbon
cutting, and then you go to ameeting where you have to be at

(03:42):
City Hall with a group of kidsor whatever, and people don't
realize that one position.
I remember a couple years ago,one of our mayors said, if his
wife wasn't running thebusiness, it would have gone
under.
Yeah.
You are so busy.
Now you you went throughpregnancy, you went through a
delivery of a a baby girl.

(04:04):
On top of it, I saw you.
I remember we were at one of theribbon cuttings, and you looked
to me and you said, My feet areso swollen, can you get me out
of here?

SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And Ross, to his credit, waslike, the mayor needs to go home
and put her feet up.

SPEAKER_03 (04:20):
Oh, I would say that more than once.
You know what?
Let's get out of there.
You are the first mayor toactually deliver a baby while in
office, of course.
Um, a whole new thing.
I mean, you you added to theBurbank population, you know,
one new voter in 18 years.
Um, all I have to say, how toughis it goes to go through a
pregnancy and then everythingelse, you know, while you're

(04:41):
trying to do all these officialduties.

SPEAKER_04 (04:45):
I gotta say, there one the reason I knew she was
pregnant, she was up on the diasand said, I need to go pee.
And I've never heard of Mary saythat before.
I do recall that, and I said,Boy, that's kind of unusual.
But then when you got closer toyou know birth, you were not

(05:07):
holding a lot of water, you werejust uh it is rough.

SPEAKER_00 (05:10):
And and you know, any of my colleagues can tell
you it is hard up there to sitthere, and and you don't want to
be rude, you don't want peopleto know, but I have seen all of
my colleagues do the little tapdance where we're like, oh man,
there is all this public commentleft, and we still have the
report, but I need to use therestroom so that I can think.
And so now imagine that with alittle human squishing your

(05:30):
bladder.

SPEAKER_03 (05:31):
Well, I very honestly I think there were some
people who are very we're not Ithink just w rude, but yet you
you'd have to leave and afteryou delivered and then they have
to go and excuse them for 10minutes or whatever, and you'd
have to explain, hey, I I'm I'mdoing things right now for my
baby.
And people didn't seem to care.
It's like you know, I I get it,but this is real life too, you

(05:55):
know, and and you you can't justyou're you're not a robot.
Yeah, and you can't be treatedlike a robot.
I mean, you care, and it's notlike you're ignoring people, but
you you know, what are you gonnado?
Cancel a meeting because youknow, so or just not show up.

SPEAKER_04 (06:09):
I will say, thank goodness you had a great vice
pair.
Yes.
She filled in a lot of times,and even all your council
members.
I gotta say, this last year Ishot a lot of pictures.
You guys cover each other's buttbutt pretty darn good.
And some days you and I knowit's a busy day, especially if
it's a meeting at councilmeeting day on a Tuesday.

(06:32):
But people don't understand whenyou get your binder, they get a
binder of what's gonna be at thecouncil meeting.
It is literally four inch thick,five inch thick, that they've
had to they have to read throughthrough the weekend, plus attend
events.
I mean, it's not you're justceremonial and you show up one

(06:53):
day a week.
It's a full-time job.

SPEAKER_00 (06:55):
It's a full-time job that we somehow try to squeeze
into a part-time job.
Uh, and in a city like Burbank,you know, so some places still
can can kind of get away withthe part-time vibe because maybe
they don't have a policedepartment, maybe they don't
have fire, maybe they don't havewater and power.
We have all of those things, andwe have 105,000 residents, and

(07:16):
we have the media andentertainment giants that we do.
So it does become a full-timejob.
And I I hope people willconsider that in in the future.
You know, this is not a smalltown council.
There's a lot of folks whoselives you're taking into your
hands and decisions that you'remaking.
But to your point, Craig, I willsay I'm really grateful to all

(07:37):
of the council members, toJustin and Courtney, to all of
the city staff, the cityexecutives, because they went on
this ride with me that the cityhad never been on.
It was completely unprecedented.
There is nowhere in the charterin our council guidelines that
speaks about a council member orthe mayor being pregnant and

(07:59):
needing certain accommodations.
And so that's something thatJustin and I talked about.
And although most people weregreat about it, I know there are
a few folks who don'tunderstand, but I hope it kind
of paves the way.
I hope this was awkward for someof those folks.
But in the future, the next timethere's a pregnant mayor,
they're like, oh, she's justlike any other job, she's

(08:20):
pregnant and she's gonna leavefor a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 (08:22):
It's just too bad you had to scold people because
it was just you know uncalledfor, you know, unprofessional on
their part.

SPEAKER_04 (08:27):
So well, I think that that is an overall picture
how the decorum in our councilmeetings has changed.
You and I have been watchingcouncil 45, 50 years.

SPEAKER_03 (08:40):
Yeah, we we go back to the days of you know Jules
Kimmitt and and uh MervilleMelperlich and uh all the rest
of them.

SPEAKER_04 (08:48):
Oh I mean, we have a list.
Yeah, we you know, and and guyswould get kicked out.
I mean, literally walked out.
But now there used to be adecorum when you walked into
that chamber.
It's it's gone.

SPEAKER_03 (09:01):
Well it's a it's unfortunate swearing that
bothers me too.
I mean, I I wrote an opinionpiece about a year ago because
somebody was going and using theF word, and I'm going you know,
Mike Nolan used to always dothat also, and I'm and and Mike
would we'd talk every week, allyou want on the phone, we'd
talk.
And I always say, Mike, I go,you know more about this than
anybody else in the city.

(09:21):
You you're you make the greatestpoints in the world, you know
the history, but all peopleremember when you're done
talking is how you sort somebodyor how you demean somebody.
They don't you don't rememberyour message.
So these people have tounderstand when you swear, that
word becomes what peopleremember, not the message, you
know.

SPEAKER_00 (09:39):
That's true, that's true.
And and you know, my mywatchfulness about it is in and
sometimes I agree with what thefolks are saying, you know,
yeah, and then I feel it, and Iunderstand that they're upset.
There's a lot of thingshappening right now that are
making our community upset.
My only concern with theswearing is um when there's
little ones in the chamberbecause sometimes there's
parents who bring their littleones, and and that's not what

(10:02):
they signed up for right now.

SPEAKER_03 (10:03):
You have to swear though, your vocabulary
challenged, in my opinion.
Seriously, you can't come upwith a a word that fits instead,
you have to use a slur orsomething.

SPEAKER_00 (10:11):
You can't I will say sometimes it comes from from the
dais, too.

SPEAKER_03 (10:14):
So well, yeah, I was gonna ask you about that.
Uh so we had a little at ourlast meeting where you got a
little contentious, and Ithought you handled it really
well.
Thank you.
Um, but what anything you wantto say about that or your your
your feelings on that?

SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
I would just say if my colleagues, if the people of
Burbank are listening, I saidthis when I took the gavel.
My job as mayor, and I I thinkI've done that to the best of my
abilities, is to run the meetingwith decorum and to make sure
that each one of my colleaguesgets a word in, gets to share
their opinions, and thateverybody gets a chance to talk

(10:52):
and everybody gets to follow theprotocol and that we come to a
consensus.
Sometimes even something that Idon't want, you know, but that's
that's consensus.
That's government at work.
And I think the onedisappointing thing for me was
it it didn't was working all theway up to until my last meeting.
It's like I guess maybe one outof uh one out of uh 12 months

(11:15):
isn't isn't bad.
But um that that last meeting,there was a a lack of order
followed, and I had to bang thegavel at one of my colleagues to
keep keep order in the meeting.
And I just hope that as we lookat the future, we remember that
that's not what we want fromourselves.
Because if we're asking fordecorum from our residents, if
we're asking for decorum andorder from our boards and

(11:36):
commissions, which we have donea lot of this year, then we
should have that for ourselves.
We should make sure we're notcutting each other off,
especially the chair of themeeting, whoever they may be.
And we should make sure that wecan share our opinions
respectfully and and we're gonnahave different opinions, but
we're all entitled to them.
That's the whole point.

SPEAKER_03 (11:56):
Have you and uh that council member talked since then
and and tried to work out thefeelings or anything, or did you
kind of just let it go and godeal with it later?

SPEAKER_00 (12:06):
You know, and and again, I I think for me it's not
about feelings, it's just aboutprocedure.
For me, I'm sharing, I wassharing my opinion, and I
actually had the leader pointthat out.
They said, you know, there wassome bickering, and I said, uh
actually, no, you know, therewas a breach of protocol, and
that's it.
When I was responding, I was notresponding to the council

(12:27):
members' comments, I wasresponding to the constituents
because we had a lot ofresidents come up and share
their fears, say they didn'tfeel acknowledged.
And I think at one point I saidit's not just thoughts and
prayers for me, because I I sawthat that group had posted
online, oh, council is justgiving us thoughts and prayers.
And I hope they know that'snever my intention.

(12:48):
When I speak from the heart upthere, when I say I feel you,
I'm with you, I am feeling it.
I'm worried about some of ourresidents.
I have actually heard, and andright now they are
unsubstantiated rumors, butthere are voices and rumors
going around that a citizen ofBurbank was picked up by ice, a
U.S.
citizen.
And not the first time, and itwouldn't be the first time in in

(13:10):
during this ice raid situation.
But to me, as the mayor, thatconcerns me on a personal level.
That is the resident of my citywho I feel responsible for, and
I want to get to the bottom ofthat.
So I want those folks to knowthat to me, it's there's an
alarm.
You know, the chief would veryeloquently got up there and and
re-reshared a statement saying,although we we don't have that

(13:34):
substantiated evidence, we wantthat conversation with the
public.
We want to have that evidence.
If you have that, send it myway.
Let's talk.
And I think he said something Ireally liked.
He said, My job as the chief andand us as the department is to
inspire confidence in thecommunity and to create that
relationship.
And that's what I want too, youknow.

(13:55):
And so I felt a duty to respondto my constituents in that
moment.

SPEAKER_04 (13:58):
You know, and I and I find um I will say I chief is
doing a great job.
Uh I will say we brought him in.
You guys had several chiefs thatyou could have chosen.
And you looked at his backgroundand he loves what he's doing,
and he's open communications,and he wants, you know, like he

(14:20):
keeps saying, transparent.
Yes.
And he is.
He got up there.
That report he gave was quite heput a lot into it.
Spoke eloquently, and that's howhe feels.
And that's when he was hiredfrom Glendale.
You guys looked at that.
You know, you chose somebody inthat position.
And it's just sad now.

(14:41):
You know, I I know before yourterm starts or when you're every
year the council gets together.
And one of the things is pointedout that you all get along.
Yes.
That is very uh we we Craig andI have witnessed some meetings
that it got nasty way beforethis year.

(15:03):
You know, and and that's whythat was instituted.
Was you guys gotta makedecisions.
You make decisions for a lot ofpeople in this community and you
gotta get along.
You might not agree and like Iwe we've heard you know, it's
fine that you don't agree, youknow.
Fu it's usually not a five-ovote vote, you know, but it's

(15:26):
really you gotta like get alongwhen you gotta come up with
these decisions.

SPEAKER_03 (15:30):
We we've done about fifty podcasts here.
And during the election orpeople came in and had different
opinions than I have, and I didnot agree with some of their
opinions.
But I always had a conversationwith them.
And I listened to what they haveto say.
Now did it change my mind?
Probably not.
But I thought they had the rightto say it and get and the
opportunity to say as much timeas they needed to say it because

(15:52):
I think we don't listen.
We don't live give a person achance to say their opinion and
listen to it.
You don't have to agree with it,but you had to be respectful of
it.
So I try always try to do ourcandidates when they came in and
and anything else.

SPEAKER_04 (16:05):
Also with my Burbank.
That is one of the points.
Craig and I, when we started myBurr Bank 15 years ago, we'll
take a letter from anybody.
We have some perimeters, we havesome rules and regulations that
we go by.
You gotta be a Burbank resident.
I think you gotta you gotta giveus a real address and phone
number.
I check it.
And we we confirm those.

(16:27):
Good, you know, and but we won'thold back a letter.
You know, we are fair as fair.

SPEAKER_03 (16:33):
I don't agree with them.
I think it's as long as theydon't swear and things like
that, okay.
Um but we're off your pointright now, which is not, you
know, so I just want you to knowthat you know, I think what
you're doing, and I agree withhow you run a meeting too.
And it's just unfortunate thatwe have um a situation where

(16:54):
your colleagues don't have thatsame respect, you know, and I
think you know, they have theirchance to speak as long as they
want to speak.
And once their time is thatthey're done speaking, and just
listen to somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 (17:06):
And and that's my hope for the future.
I mean, and for the next mayor,you know, they got a tough job
because things are not gettingeasier, these topics are not
getting easier.
And when this this stuff getsharder, we have to find it
within ourselves, each one ofus, to be able to have those
conversations, you know, in in apolite manner and to be able to

(17:27):
respond to the community in inthe way we deem appropriate.
I know that we are all gonnahave a very different way of of
responding to folks, and we eachhave we're entitled to that.

SPEAKER_04 (17:37):
So Well, it it it's funny you I'm just sitting here
thinking, you said recently thatprior to you being elected, I
did not know who Nikki Perezwas.
And I didn't have and I I didn'twe we talk, Craig and I talk all
the time.

(17:57):
And we you know, we had all thecouncil uh candidates, and I did
not know you.
I will say I have not onlyworked with you, I love you.
Um we have you you run the cityquite well, you represent it
quite well.
I love most that you're aBurbank resident sitting in that
chair.
Nobody knows this city betterthan you.

SPEAKER_03 (18:20):
And you've earned our respect too.
You have you've you've earnedour respect, and that's it's
important.
And I may disagree with you onsomething, but I still respect
what you are and what you'reabout.

SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
So you have witnessed your parents the world
way more to than you agreeingwith me.
That the respect I think that'sso foundational, and honestly,
that means the world to me fromfrom both of you.
Thank you.
Because respect is earned, it'snot given.

SPEAKER_04 (18:40):
Yeah, you know, um you know, you've you've seen
your parents you know, in thiscommunity.
He works for the your dad worksfor the studio, you've witnessed
it yourself.
It's not like you're new to thiscity and what goes on with the
businesses.
You know, you went to Burroughs,you know, you went to Burroughs
in Roosevelt.

(19:01):
Yeah, you know, and you're ahomegrown kid.
You know, not a lot of peoplesit in that position can say,
you know, every alley in thiscity, you know where you can
play and where you can't.

SPEAKER_00 (19:13):
I gotta tell you, if if we're gonna talk about like
best, worst, hardest thingsabout like being the mayor,
that's been the best part.
It and very few people in theworld or in in the United States
get to say, I've been the mayorof a city.
The club of people that havebeen the mayor of their hometown
is very small, and it is thebest feeling, I will say.

(19:36):
That has been so, so amazing.
Because I've also gotten to youjust feel it on this deeper
level, I will say.
Like it's it's it's nothing likehaving your fifth grade teacher
tell you, I'm so glad you're themayor.
That's something beyond.
Like, I can't describe that, andthat's that's been the thing I'm
gonna hold on to the most.

SPEAKER_03 (19:56):
Oh, big.
I mean, there's a you know, Imean, when you you know, when I
was a head baseball coach, ahead varsity coach.
You feel the responsibility ofrunning a program.
It's you know, your decisionsmatter.
And so being a mayor had thisthat's a big lot bigger than
being a baseball coach.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (20:12):
To that point, it is a double-edged sword.
Like you said, I think Craig,you asked me this a few years
ago.
It was on police and fire day.
You asked me, like, what's whatdo you feel now being on the
council?
Like uh, you know, that was alittle questions back then.
Oh, I remember this one becausebecause I've been thinking about
it in my head.
You asked, like, how does itfeel now?
You know, the responsibility.
Right.

(20:32):
And I think I said, if peopleever doubt or you know, think
like, does she take thisseriously?
Not only is this my hometown, myfamily lives here.
My parents, my brother, mycousins, my friends, people I
grew up with, all of my friends,every my life is here, everybody
is here.
So every time I make a decision,every time I think of putting
something forward, every time Ivote, I think about all of that.

(20:57):
It and and that is another hugeamount of pressure.
You think about sometimes maybefolks and my child now lives
here, you know.
You think about that pressure.
Um, and and in a way, I think ithelps me make better decisions
because it affects the people Ilove directly.
But we have the conversation,you know, when when you're at
higher levels of office, maybesometimes it's not as as

(21:19):
pinpointed.
You don't think about that, ormaybe when you move from
somewhere else and now you'reyou're in the city, you're like,
well, you know, I I live here,but you don't think about the
fact that this is gonna affectyour mom and her retirement.
You don't think about the factthat this is gonna affect your
brother who works here in thecity, and you know, and I think
that's that's really important.
And I've noticed now that wehave more and more city

(21:40):
employees who are who are inthat boat.
I actually met a couple of guysin in PD at at Spike's Memorial
who who shared with me, like,hey, we know this is a very
important thing for you, and Ilive in the city.
And that's important because youyou respond very differently
when it's your community.
There's a personal touch there.

SPEAKER_04 (21:59):
That brings up, you know, several years ago we had a
councilman that uh put a lawinto effect about nepotism.
And I think that should berevoked or changed now because
it did.
Um you have you watch your momor dad go be a policeman or a
fireman or work for public worksall these years, and you can't
go to work for the samedepartment.

(22:21):
And it's sad, and I think thatyou that should be changed now
because we're not getting youknow, if your dad was a cop or a
police officer or a fireman, youwitness you know, you watch them
work for a fantastic city.
And if you want to do it now,you'd say do the same job, but
you have to do it in otheranother city.

SPEAKER_03 (22:39):
You know, Burbank.

SPEAKER_04 (22:40):
Zezette, for example, her son can't come to
work here because she's acouncil member.
And it's so unfortunate.
He's a police officer inGlendale, just got promoted to
sergeant from detective, and hecan't transfer to Burbank.
There's firefighters who theirtheir kids have to go down to
fire departments.
So and that's that'sunfortunate.

SPEAKER_00 (22:58):
Do you know if it's until folks retire that they
can't like once they retire,they're not gonna be able to do
retirement.

SPEAKER_03 (23:04):
Right.
But they work for the citycurrently, no, they've got uh
they've got to uh they can't beinvolved in the same department
stuff.

SPEAKER_04 (23:10):
You know, and it's unfortunate because we are not
getting the cream of the cropbecause when you're born and
raised here as you have said,you don't know this city.
Yeah you know, and I will say Italked to your m your mom and
dad last week at tree lighting.
They're so proud of you.
You know, um being a parent youwant your kid to do well.

SPEAKER_03 (23:33):
You know, and Ross gets emotional sometimes in
these things.
Like I say, my kidneys arebehind my eyes.
They are.
Okay, well let me let me uh I'mgonna change the subject but not
the mood.
Let's talk about what are youmost proud of in your term of
what did you accomplish that youare most proud of in your year

(23:55):
as mayor?

SPEAKER_00 (23:57):
I think I'm gonna talk off the dice because I
think you can talk a lot aboutoh, we passed this, and then
I've been reading through thethings we've done this year, and
I am proud a lot of uh about alot of those things.
The housing enforcement unitwent online during my mayorship.
Um we had our Parks and RecCentennial kick off really well.
We have um the uh theentertainment task force that

(24:19):
kicked off.
So those are all great, but Ithink uh there's a saying I like
which is very true, which ispeople won't may not remember
what you said, but they'llremember how you made them feel.
And a lot of times I getcomments like this on social
media or I'll get this via anemail, and and people will say,
Oh, you're you're such a mayorfor the people, you're like the

(24:40):
people's mayor.
And I love that because that'sthat's what I want, you know.
I I wanted to be somebody that'sincredibly approachable,
somebody that you might imagine,like, oh, I talked to this
person at Target, or I I gotcoffee with them.
It wasn't this kind ofintimidating force, you know.
And and I've that's been I thinkthe part that I'm most proud of

(25:02):
that I think I've been thatapproachable person for folks to
come and ask me a question, orthey felt like they can speak
their mind.
And that that I think issomething I hope continues, and
I hope residents feel like theycan get more involved.
I've actually had that from fromyounger people and even some of
our newer residents becauseBurbank is growing, and those
folks who are coming into thefold, uh I think and and I wish

(25:25):
it was this way for our countrytoo.
I think if you're coming in, whywon't we welcome you?
We want you to be a part of thefold, and we want to tell you,
hey, this is how we do thingshere, come join us, you know?
And I think we we have thatright now, and I'm I'm proud to
be a part of that.
Part of telling folks this isBurbank, join us, get involved,

(25:46):
and we hope you love it as muchas those of us who have been
here for years do.

SPEAKER_03 (25:50):
I was talking to an actor I knew and uh everybody
loved him.
And I go, you know, I how do youhear great things about you?
And he goes, I learned a longtime ago that if you're nice to
one person, they'll tell tenpeople and they'll tell ten
people so that now there's ahundred people who know what a
great person you are.
But if you're mean to that oneperson, now a hundred people are
gonna know what a mean personyou are.

(26:11):
So it because it's passedaround, you know.
Oh, I I met the mayor, what agreat person she was, or I met
the mayor.
She just was you know not goodat all.
But but that's why you leave a agood impression on people
because it gets around.
You know, people talk to people.

SPEAKER_02 (26:24):
Right.
That's very true.

SPEAKER_04 (26:27):
Well, I I I will say I I've witnessed to so many
young girls coming up to you.
I remember you either at CivitanDay or you and I have been at so
many things together.
We were a cro uh castle andcrown doing a ribbon cutting.

SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 (26:44):
And the kids come up to you and you you tell these
girls, you're a great example.
You can do this too.
And that's you know, we haven'thad uh Mary Lou Howard being our
first uh female mayor.
Yeah, you know, we've hadseveral, and I will say, in the
position you are for these youngkids to witness and come up to

(27:06):
talk to you, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 (27:10):
We had an event on Burbank High last year, we had
uh Ralph Tadina and I asked himto, you know, come up and you
know, just say a couple words orwhatever in support.
And then during the center, Isaid, come over here to my
dugout, I want you to come tomeet my players.
And I said, Here's the mayor ofBurbank, everybody.
And he came over there and youknow they they've still talked
about that, you know.
I mean you left a lastingimpression with your high school

(27:32):
kids like that, you know, andand there you were, you know,
and and it it's good for them toto see who our mayor is and to
experience you know, becausethey they really don't they're
not watching council meetings,they're not, you know, unless
you're on uh TikTok orsomething, you know.
So I think I I I you know Iappreciated that, you know, and
I know you had better things todo that night than do that, you

(27:53):
know.
But you made you you made thetime for me and then the program
when it was really appreciatedand it went a long way.

SPEAKER_00 (27:59):
I wouldn't say better things to do.
I thought that was a greatevent.
And I also thought it was greatthat what what we did, you know,
as a as a city, as a communityand the team, and I'm glad we
got to recognize them.
I was not there because I wasgiving birth, but I'm glad we
recognized them at city council.
Um, it was it was actually verynice.
Some of the parents send memessages like, We know you're
not here because you're withyour little one.

(28:19):
Congratulations! And I actuallythought that was very sweet
because those were some of thefirst messages I opened
post-birth, you know, when whenyou inevitably open your
Instagram at you know 5 a.m.
Um, but that was very sweet tosee, even in the moment, people
being like, Hey, we know we'rebeing recognized, but we're
thinking of you, we care aboutyou.

SPEAKER_03 (28:40):
It is good.
So, what about what about a whatpolicy decisions this year you
had?
Anything that was you know,anything you brought up.
But I thought rent could, youknow, the rent whole, the whole
rent thing, but it wascontentious all year.
Yeah.
But I think we finally have a aframework now.
And uh, I mean, I think it thisthat was kind of your agenda
too.
You know, you you brought thewhole issue up.

(29:01):
Not the whole issue, but the youyou brought it to the forefront
a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 (29:04):
Oh man, Craig, that's my white whale.

SPEAKER_03 (29:06):
That is my white whale.
So explain a little bit whatwhat's where we started and
where we're at now.

SPEAKER_00 (29:11):
So we started, believe it or not, when I was a
bright-eyed and bushy-tailedcouncil member in my first
meeting in January of 2023, whenI asked for to to agendize rank
control as an item um in in thecity.
And it has taken us two yearsfrom then of study sessions,
surveys, um, my colleagues forfor better, asking for more

(29:36):
information, asking for whatother cities are doing.
We have turned almost everystone.
And where I landed, and I wasvery clear about this, I said it
the day of because I wantedpeople to know where I'm at.
I still think that a 4% hardrent cap would suffice.
I think that would be clear,direct, straight to the point.
And I do think that our localproper, like our property

(30:00):
owners, have a vehicle throughthe federal government and
through uh federal law to askfor a right of return if they're
not making fair return.
There is a vehicle for that.
Every rent control ordinance hasto have it.
Now, every hard rent controlordinance has to have that
written in.
This uh soft cap that we landedon, so not my favorite thing.

(30:22):
Again, part of my job is thespirit of compromise, right?
And and I I also stronglybelieve that my job is to find
the best outcome for people if Ican.
So of course I wasn't gonnathrow the baby out with the
bathwater.
And when I saw, okay, this iswhere we're going as a majority,
joined in, um, gave my twocents.
And now what where we're headedis staff is drafting an

(30:45):
ordinance for a 4% soft cap isthe the unofficial term, but it
really means um if you raiseyour tenant's rent more than 4%
and they cannot afford it andthey can show verify that they
can't afford it, then you uh andthen they tell you I need to
move out.
I'm basically self-evicting.
Um, you owe them three monthsrelocation assistance.

(31:08):
And and that's what we'relooking at staff to to do.
It is in essence, uh the city ofGlendale has this as well.
That that's the other thing.
It's nothing new.
City of Glendale has this, Cityof Oh, mom brain.
I don't know if it's culvert.
There's a city down south.

SPEAKER_03 (31:25):
Sometimes I don't remember Santa Monica's got some
crazy something else.

SPEAKER_00 (31:31):
But um sometimes I don't remember, I I know
surprisingly, I don't rememberevery rent control ordinance in
every city after four hours ofsleep.

SPEAKER_03 (31:39):
They're all different.

SPEAKER_00 (31:40):
But but but it's I say that to say, you know,
Glendale has a few other citiesin the region have this, so it's
not unprecedented and it's notsomething that hasn't been done
or or is currently working inother cities.
So it is doable, it is um uh, Iwill say a sensible middle
ground, right?
And I do think council came to asensible middle ground.

(32:02):
So now what we have left to seeis put the policy forward, see
how it works, see if we reallyare able to prevent tenants from
being um evicted due toincredibly unfair raises.
Because that was my my concerntoo, you know, when people say,
Oh, you just want people not topay rent, I'm like, no, but
nobody, nobody that I I know,and and folks who have good two

(32:28):
family incomes, you know, twoincomes in the family can pay an
8% to a 10% it increase in manyhow I did it.

SPEAKER_04 (32:38):
I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 (32:39):
We've talked about it many times, and and you know,
maybe you can do the one, andthen I know sometimes some of us
like me, I'm uh I love tosquirrel away and save for the
winter, but maybe maybe you canhandle one.
What happens next year?
Because it can happen everysingle year.
So that that's what we're reallytrying to prevent.
I'm not trying to prevent folksfrom raising the rent.
In fact, I understand that theyhave to.

(32:59):
The cost of everything goes up alittle bit, but that's one of
those things that if it goes upin exuberant amounts every year,
can price people out.

SPEAKER_03 (33:08):
And water and power is raising their rents on
January 1st, and it's probablymore than 4%.
Yeah.
So I mean, it's that's thenature of the beast.
And I know but there's bothsides, and I don't think
there'll be a solution, an easysolution to that, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (33:20):
Oh, there's definitely no easy solution.
And I'm glad you brought upwater and power because that's
an example of the wrong way todo things.
We and and no one on thatcouncil is responsible for this.
All of us inherited the mistakesof previous council members from
years ago, because it was 20years of passing down the buck
and not raising rates when wecould have had, and it goes the

(33:44):
same way for rent control.
We could have had 2% increasesfor our residents that may have
been like, oh, that kind ofsucks, but it wouldn't break the
bank.
And now we're at the point wherewe had to do an exuberant
increase, which was not what wewanted to do, or we would
possibly give up our utility,which is also not something
we're doing.

SPEAKER_03 (34:03):
It's funny, I'm watching this there's now the uh
new uh the race for governor isnow on.
And we have that new guy ontest.
Oh boy, and I'm gonna fix thecost of living in California,
and I'm gonna reduce everybody'swater and power bill by 25%.
I go, how are you gonna come toBurbank and tell us to lower our
bills by 25% on a publicly ownedutility?
You can't do that.

(34:24):
You can't do that.
So here's a guy just lying outof his mouth on television and
just to get votes.
Aye.
Crazy, you know.
I mean, I I just wish peoplewould uh really listen to what
politicians say, you know, andon campaign promises and
everything else, and and thenhold them accountable to it.

SPEAKER_00 (34:42):
100%.
I agree with you, Craig.
I mean, you you've seen it.
I I have my my list of thethings I said I would do, and I
I have I go checking them off,you know, and and rent controls
is on there.
It's one of those checks that Iput, well, it's not what I
wanted, but I addressed it, andmy colleagues addressed it.
Um, Burbank on Parade is also onthere.

SPEAKER_04 (35:03):
And it's coming back, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 (35:04):
Yeah, shameless plug right now.

SPEAKER_04 (35:06):
Oh uh well, we can't call it Burbank on Parade.
It will be celebrate Burbank,and we have our date, May 16th,
I will say, and we're gonna havethe parade and a car show and a
festival in Magnolia Park iswhere it's gonna be.
And I can't wait to see you in aconvertible.

SPEAKER_00 (35:23):
I can't wait to be in the convertible.
Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 (35:26):
I'm not sure if you're gonna be in the
convertible, and then we put youback in the band playing, you
know, an instrument.

SPEAKER_00 (35:35):
Well, give me give me a marching band uniform and
give me a flugel horn and sendme down.

SPEAKER_03 (35:41):
Oh, and we're just talking about the the Alex
McGovern coming up, but soonyour terms are end as a council
member.
Are you gonna run again, youthink?

SPEAKER_00 (35:50):
Oh my gosh, you're putting me on the spot here.

SPEAKER_03 (35:53):
If we don't do that, then we aren't doing our jobs
here.

SPEAKER_00 (35:56):
You know, I I will never say never.
I'm not gonna say No, you don'tthink yeah, but you know what?
That's that's I'll take that asan answer right there.
I you know the door is open.
I think I'm incrediblythoughtful about all this stuff.
And then not not tooting my ownhorn, but I I do think, you
know, when folks would tell me,like, are you gonna run for this
seat?
No, I'm not gonna run for a seatjust because it's open.

(36:16):
I would run for something if Ithink I can do something if that
in that seat, if I think that myskill set has something to
bring, you know, to that.
And with Burbank, the reason Iran was, well, I know the city
like the back of my hand.
It's where I grew up.
And the real catalyst, at leastin the moment, was I saw while
working for the statelegislature that we were missing

(36:37):
out on dollars, that we weremissing out on bills.
A lot of the housing bills thatwere coming down.
I could have warned you at thetime.
In fact, I called in like acrazy 19-year-old being like,
hey, I work at the statelegislature.
There's bills coming down thatare affecting us.
Let's do that real fast.

SPEAKER_03 (36:51):
So once you got on the council, what did you do to
rectify that situation?

SPEAKER_00 (36:55):
So immediately, I was actually another one that
happened in my first year.
We started doing zone textamendments with our community
development department, and weimmediately put into motion the
specific plans.
The rancho had been in the willthey won't they specific plan.
We have that in place.
That is coming up.
Those take a long time to do.
And I will say the state alsocontinues to change their

(37:17):
housing legislation, which meanswe are constantly in this game
of chicken playing catch up.
But we are now in the placewhere we are playing the game,
not trying to catch up threeyears ago, you know, and I think
that's been really helpful.
And that's also allowed us tolook at the development that's
coming in the future and preparea little better for it.

(37:38):
Especially, I don't think thisis a good thing, but especially
right now during the lull ofconstruction because of all the
tariffs and all the pricing thatthat our developers have shared
is causing a lapse inconstruction.
It gives us a little bit of timeto kind of refocus and say,
okay, what do we want that tolook like in Burbank?
I always tell folks in the citywho tell me, like, oh, we don't

(38:00):
want more people here, we'redone.
I always tell them change isinevitable and city growth is
inevitable, not just forBurbank, for everywhere.
But you have two options eitherwe we can sit here and we can
complain about change, or we cansay, this is how I want it to
change.
These are the things I'm okaywith, and start to direct our
specific plans to look likethat.
And if you have questions aboutthat, watch council in 2026,

(38:24):
especially at the beginning,because we have quite a few of
those plans coming back.
Golden State specific plan iscoming back.
Can't talk about the mediadistrict plan because I live
there, so I'm not allowed to,you know.

SPEAKER_03 (38:33):
We're just adjacent right here.
We are adjacent, we're not inthe media district.

SPEAKER_00 (38:37):
You're still technically considered in that
plan though.

SPEAKER_03 (38:40):
Oh no, no, we're adjacent.

SPEAKER_00 (38:42):
I went to the media and ask.
But they consider I I asked toobecause there was that area, but
they consider what happens inthe media district as part of
like like basically you getthrown in there.

SPEAKER_03 (38:52):
Okay, well, that's why that's why I thought.
I don't know why we were not ourlittle section's not included,
but what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 (38:58):
I think they include like a specific it's weird.
They include an area, but youhave to have like business
activity and change.
And and you should be happy,Craig, because that means that
nothing's gonna change overhere.

SPEAKER_03 (39:08):
That's good.
We like that.
We have our we had a council uhmayor, oh what's it 25, 30 years
ago, named uh Bill Wiggins, wholived over uh a block away from
here.
And when Bill Wiggins was on thecouncil, we suddenly had a
neighborhood protection plan putin here with uh streets one
yeah, one way, you couldn'tenter, speed bumps in every
street.
This whole thing got done whilehe was on the council, and uh it

(39:31):
raised our property values.
I wonder if that was a uh fairpolitical nowadays.
We would call that a violation.
You kinda wonder, but I'll tellyou what, yeah, we're all
benefiting from that 25 yearslater.

SPEAKER_00 (39:43):
Listen, me, myself, and Councilmember Zotti both
have to accuse ourselves everytime anything comes up from the
media specific plan because weboth live down here.

SPEAKER_04 (39:53):
Well, you have witnessed from your uh I think I
can safely say you live.
Near the ranch.
You have witnessed in your yeara big change in your sight lines
out your front door.
I got built fast.
Yes.
And you witnessed it.

(40:13):
You saw it get demolished, yousaw it get rebuilt.
I think now that we look at whatis there is the future.
It's not going anywhere forprobably another hundred years.
But you've gotten to witness alot in this town, especially
down here on the flatlands, asthey call it.

SPEAKER_03 (40:33):
Let me just add to add to that, and I don't know
where you're going.
Water butters is up for sale andgonna go through a hostile
takeover made all those things.
What does that do?
What do you think that does toBurbank?
Because that's you know theirhome is here in Burbank.
So how do how does that I don'tthink most people realize what
but I'm just saying, what whathappens if they say, you know

(40:54):
what, we're gonna just tear thestudio down?

SPEAKER_04 (40:57):
They don't own the property.
That if you remember severalmonths ago, Jeff Worth took over
the property.
He owns the land.
Not the main ranch.
He owns the uh no, he owns themain lot and the ranch.
He owns the land.
Okay.
Any company can come in here andthey can do whatever.
Did you know that?
I okay.
Yeah, sometimes sometimes I amthe uninformed guy.

(41:20):
Very smartly.
Rarely.
Very smartly, Jeff Worth andWorth Real Estate, and it's just
not Jeff, it's the conglomerate.
Right.
They own the property so thatnothing can happen to the
acreage that is there.
We won't see houses built onthat property.
If a studio moves in and says,we want to sell a building and

(41:41):
put up an apartment building,they can't say that because they
don't own the property.

SPEAKER_00 (41:45):
And and to that, I will say, um, being careful,
because this was the subject ofuh an agenda item that was
requested by one of mycolleagues.
So I won't go too deep into it,but I'll say what I said at the
council meeting.
Again, I'm always going torespond to our public because we
had a lot of public commentabout this.
And rightfully so.
You have to think about it fromthe point of view of a resident.

(42:08):
If I'm sitting here and I'm amember of the Teamsters AyaTC,
if I'm a caterer that'sunrelated to all this, if I am a
business on Magnolia Boulevard,I am thinking, oh my God, that
is half my customer base.
Oh my gosh, I have relationshipswith the TV shows that come out
of Warner Brothers.
What is gonna happen to me?
And so we had a lot of questionslike that on Tuesday, and we had

(42:30):
a lot of demand from ourresidents asking us to cancel
the merger.

SPEAKER_03 (42:35):
That's not a power premier.

SPEAKER_00 (42:37):
I will say we do not have that power.
I had to refer them to a littlething called the federal
government.
Um, and so you know, there was alot of information sharing in
that sense, letting them know wedon't have that specific power.
But we did let them know we arewatching and there may be tools
at our disposal.
And our job ultimately as a cityis to wait for the uncertainty

(43:01):
to settle because we don't evenknow who we're talking to right
now.
We don't know who's really gonnabe, you know, the the dust is
still settling.
We're not gonna find it out.

SPEAKER_04 (43:10):
Well, you know, that brings up a great point, Mayor,
is while you're sitting as themayor, people have brought up
that they want things, they wantBurbank to write letters and and
change federal things that arehappening in war-torn
communities across our country.

(43:31):
People don't realize you havecontrol over 17.7 square miles.
You do not have any your letteris right like everybody else
writing what happens in foreigncountries.
People need to realize let'sdeal with our trash pickup and

(43:53):
our community because we can'tchange things overseas.

SPEAKER_00 (43:57):
And to your point, Ross, it's it's been an
interesting balance right thisyear, especially because a lot
of this stuff has come up.
And and it's been a balancebecause, on the one hand, you
know, a city's main goal, andand if you're not looking at
this as a council member, you'remessing up, it's your water,
your power, your police, yourfire, the basics, your potholes.

(44:19):
That's that's your number onepriority.
But every now and then yourresidents will come to you with
things like this, and you willturn to them and say, This isn't
a city issue, and they will turnback and remind you that their
family's back there, that thatis their nationality, and they
want to know how you feel aboutpeople from their country.
And you're put in this placewhere you have to be the arbiter

(44:41):
and remind them that they'rewelcome here, that the folks who
they have an issue are alsowelcome here, and that we have
to coexist in the bubble that isthat is Burbank together.
You know?

SPEAKER_03 (44:55):
I'm gonna throw this out there about Warren Brothers
once again, though.
Back in the early 50s, late 40s,early 50s, Disney went to the
city of Burbank and said, wewant to build an amusement park.
There was no Ventura Frio backthen.
They want to go from the Disneylot all the way to the mountain,
and they want to buildDisneyland here in Burbank.

(45:17):
And the Burbank City Councilturned them down.
And they went to Anaheim insteadand bought the land there.
I know.
So what would happen if WarnerBrothers said, you know what,
we're gonna change our studiointo like Universal Studios and
do a big studio tour with aroller coaster like a Universal
and make it a touristattraction, too.
So there are things down theline, which depending on who

(45:38):
wins the uh the bid or whatever,could change the entire look of
the studio because that that'san old property.
Those those stages are oldthere.
That's why they had to tear downthe whole the the the uh the
ranch and make the the whole newranch there.
So you kind of wonder what theinfrastructure would look like.

SPEAKER_00 (45:57):
That's right.
Talk about the uncertainty.
We don't know.
We wouldn't even know right now.
Uh we don't know what we're upagainst, what we're up for, what
we we have no idea how that'sgonna turn out.
So that's why on on you know, onTuesday I told our residents,
like, we see you, we hear you,we are also concerned because at

(46:17):
the end of the day, for us ourus as a city, our main concern
is the infrastructure and thejobs.
We want people to keep theirjobs, we want to remain the
media capital of the world.
We don't want industry goingaway.
And that is gonna remain ourmain concern as we watch what's
happening because right now it'sway too early to say, well, I'm

(46:39):
mad about this, right?
Matt, we don't know.
It's uncertain.
And we we continue to remindfolks.
We actually put out a mayor showhighlighting all our past, and
we gave them we gave folks aline in there too, reminding
them like we highlight all ofthis to say, we know what's at
stake.
We're watching, we know it'suncertain, and you know, when
the dust settles, you'll you'llhear from me again.

SPEAKER_03 (47:00):
I would encourage staff, hopefully, that when they
come back with the informationfor you, they'll talk about all
the zoning in that area and whatcan be zoned for and not.
So, I mean, can they putamusement rides in?
Can they change, you know,because you know, we had a
problem with our SB35 stuffwhere we didn't get in front of
that, and our zoning wasn'tthere in time, so we lost some
stuff in the rancho.

(47:20):
But yet if now if we could getahead of this maybe with zoning,
then maybe that might be uh downthe line a better situation.

SPEAKER_00 (47:28):
Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 (47:29):
You you brought up a point, uh, an item a minute ago.
I'm gonna give a plug for yourmayor show, probably your last
mayor's show.
It it it I watched those and youdid a great job.
You went from the smokehouse forLa La Land to you know Disney

(47:50):
and to all the different places.
Um, Craig and I have witnessedso many shows he's done here.
We are folks, the media capitalof the world.
You can say you were the mayorof the media capital of the
world, and that's there's morestudios here.
Why do they keep coming here?
It's our police and fire, oursafety services, and how the

(48:11):
cities run.

SPEAKER_00 (48:12):
And I gotta give a plug for the film permit office.
We, you know, there's a lot ofmisinformation out there.
A lot of folks saying we run onfilm LA, and no disrespect to
them.
We don't, we just feel like weneed the personal touch.
And you know, a lot of folkshave been talking about things
like Culver City and theirchanges.
I can tell you firsthand,everything that Culver City did

(48:34):
to lower their police costs,lower their film permit costs,
go back to 2008 levels, great.
Now they're at our levels.
Now they are matching what wecharge.
Now they've reached where weare.
So I think a lot of a lot ofwhat we maybe haven't done the
best at, or what we could dobetter in is putting that
information out there.
So my last mayor show was thebeginning of what you will see

(48:57):
from PIO throughout the year onour film permit office, on our
process.
They're gonna highlight that,they're gonna remind people come
film in Burbank because we makeit easy for you.
We have a person who is yourone-on-one stop shop to talk
about the permit, and we want towork with you.

SPEAKER_03 (49:13):
And we should publicize the way we publicize
passports.
Exactly.
Because we begin passports waskind of the near, oh, we we do
passports now.
It's really advertised, and it'sbusier than heck in that office.

SPEAKER_04 (49:25):
You know, uh two seconds ago, you you put out
three letters.
P I O.
Oh, yes.
You know, I gotta say, Craig andI our our PIO department is run
by Jonathan Jones, JJ.
Or he has several names to us.
And next time anybody sees him,baseball fan, by the way.

(49:47):
And also on a Tuesday night,check to ask what socks he's
wearing.
He wears new decorative socksevery week.
And but our PIO office hasworked with you, your state of
the city, your mayor's show.
They are fantastic.
I mean every department thatyou've worked with as mayor.

(50:08):
You got a new police chief, youhave a new, you know, other uh
library director.
I mean, I can go down the listand I every time I see them come
up for their report, we got apretty well crew that you've
worked with as mayor.
And people don't realize youdon't have the choice of hiring
them.
They get hired by Justin andCourtney or whoever.

(50:31):
And we have the probably thebest city manager any city can
find, along with assistant citymanager.
I mean, they're always they'reat every event.
They're you can communicate withthem, you can call them and ask
them.

SPEAKER_00 (50:46):
I mean and I gotta give it up to them.
They've hired some amazingpeople this year, and I've had
the chance, like you said, towork with each one of them
directly, all the way fromtalking to Jose, our new IT
director, about what's the bestway for folks to apply to the
city.
And and he had so much tips andthat personal touch for somebody
who was interested, one of ourresidents who was interested in

(51:08):
IT.
And so that was really nice towitness firsthand, and that's
just via email, you know, um, toto our police chief who, you
know, not not to make it back toice, but but that's a huge topic
for folks right now.
And it it has been it has beenhard, but it's also been a
privilege to navigate thissituation with our chief because

(51:28):
we are both stepping intocompletely uncertain and
uncharted territory.
And he has handled it to thebest of his abilities, and he's
he said, I'm learning alongsideall of you.
And it's been an honor to servewith somebody who who's truly
said that, who said, I'm workingon this.
It's unknown to us, but we wantto hear from the community, we
want to work with the council,and we want to navigate these

(51:52):
these hard waters.
I think there's a lot of quotesabout this, but I think
sometimes it's in the hardesttimes that you find, you know,
your best allies.
And I think I found that in inall the staff at the city.
Jennifer Becker having to dealwith his budget this year, you
know.
I think in this time when wehave had from the outside a lot
of hard things coming towardsBurbank, our staff has stepped

(52:16):
up and said, wait, we're ready.
We are ready.
We're we don't know what'scoming.
We're we're gonna handle theuncertainty coming from the
outside with calm, with poise,and with dedication.
That's exactly what they'vedone.
And so I'm super grateful toeach one of them.

SPEAKER_03 (52:31):
Well, we talked a little about the past and the
present.
Talk about the future a littlebit now.
Where what are the big issuescoming up for the new mayor next
year?
What do you think are you knowthe yours is kind of rent
control?
That was kind of the defining,you know, all year long.
What's next year's mayor gonnahave on the agenda?

(52:52):
Do you think that's gonna be uhthe issue that's gonna kind of
define his or her tenure?

SPEAKER_04 (52:58):
I don't know.
She's she's finding out to be agreat mom.
Oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 (53:05):
Well, I I will say I it's funny you you mentioned
that, Craig, because lookingback for me, my mayorship
literally started with a fire.
Like, literally, as soon as Ibecame the mayor, we had the
windstorms in the city and theLA fires break out.
So my biggest hope is thatwhoever comes next does not have
that disaster or anything likethat come their way.

(53:27):
You know, I I hope that theydon't start with with that
difficult of a situation, but itis gonna be a challenge.
We I I got the first taste ofwhat the effects of our federal
administration have been on ourlocal government.
The mayor next year will haveour first budget deficit.

(53:48):
It it is looking like that,right?
It is looking plain as day.
They will also tariffs haveaffected some of the larger
businesses that that you know dobusiness in Burbank, and we have
felt the hit.
And that next mayor will have tonavigate a budget where we're

(54:09):
going to have to get creative infinding ways to make revenue for
the city and in finding ways tomaintain the programs that we're
offering, the staffing thatwe're offering, all of that, and
then that's that's gonna be verychallenging.
And I I I want them to succeedin that.
And the other thing is, youknow, I know I know you
mentioned rent control and thatbeing being an issue, but I

(54:32):
think that's part of a broaderissue that is nationwide,
affordability.
Yes, affordability is the issueof our times, unfortunately.
And the next mayor is just goingto have to navigate that in full
force.
I I got, I think, what is thefirst wave of what this unfort
unaffordability has been.
When I came into power, we wereall still, I don't want to say

(54:54):
making jokes, but we kind ofwere making jokes about the cost
of eggs.
We're saying, Oh, can youbelieve this?
Now we're like, can you believethis is still happening?
Can you believe it's gettingworse?

SPEAKER_03 (55:04):
It's not just eggs anymore.

SPEAKER_00 (55:05):
Exactly.
It's not eggs, now it'severything.
Yeah, you know, and and they'regonna have to deal with a
community that is gonna come toask us in many cases things that
are out of our control.
Ask us, what are you doing tomake my life more affordable?
And it's something I think we'regonna have to contend with as a
council for all of 2026.

SPEAKER_04 (55:24):
No easy answer.
Well, you know, kind of we're onthe other half of the half of
the show, and I know you're ahell of a foodie.
I have met you at plenty ofplaces of favorite things that
when you were mighty pregnant.
Yes, we had food right in ourstudio, and uh, when you were

(55:46):
mighty pregnant, you know thecity pretty darn well.
You are a burger fan.
I am you also love other foods.

SPEAKER_03 (55:56):
Let's publish uh burger podcast.
Well, exactly.
And by the way, just becauseyou're done with being a mayor's
show does not mean you're notgonna be back here for another
food podcast.

SPEAKER_04 (56:04):
Well, she has already said, and that's where I
was going, was she wants to do acouple more shows on what's good
in Burbank and what what we whatyou'll pass on.

SPEAKER_00 (56:15):
I will never pass on any food-related episode.

SPEAKER_04 (56:18):
I will be here.
Well, that's gonna be we'regonna look forward to that.
I think we'll just do one inJanuary.
Absolutely.
I love that idea.
We'll find some should have alittle more free time.
Yes.
You know, that's if Blake willvolunteer to watch the baby.
He, you know, he's let's giveBlake a a shout out.

(56:39):
You know, Craig and I know Blakefrom previous um electors that
he worked for, different peoplein office.
So, you know, he has filled infor you a lot of times.
He's driven you.
I remember where your doctortold you you can't drive.
Yes, and Blake would drop youoff.
Blake is here, Blake is there.

(57:00):
You know, I hear Blake is afantastic cook.
You say he is he is ask us, hewants to do a little burger war
of his own and ask us toparticipate.
We're gonna get Blake in thestudio with us.

SPEAKER_00 (57:14):
Maybe we'll get your mom to watch the baby, and we're
we're gonna talk about some foodthat you know there's Hal's
Kitchen, and then there's Craig.
Blake is ready for thechallenge.
That is Craig's judgment onburgers.
He's up for the challenge.
Well, I I think I'm fair, but Iam tough.
And and just to get a littleserious there, I think, you

(57:36):
know, I you all know me.
I I'm very I love to joke, but II rarely cry in public.
And that state of the city, whenI mentioned Blake, that was
probably the first time I'vecried in public because quite
truly he is the reason I'm ableto be out here and and and do
what I do.

(57:57):
No one supports me like Blakesupports me.
Not not just watching our littleone, but in any time I'm
frustrated, because it's not aneasy job.
He is right there, having myback.
When I doubt myself, he doesnot.
And and oh my gosh, you cannotfind a more supportive partner
than Blake.

(58:18):
So I've I've been lucky.
I think, you know, back back inmy staffer days, Jesse Gabriel,
my my old boss, when when I toldhim, I'm interested in running
for office, what's your bestadvice?
He told me, amongst otherthings, amongst other, you know,
technical things, he said, finda good person to do it with.
Said, you know, you have to finda good partner, somebody that

(58:38):
keeps you grounded, somebodythat is not afraid to tell you
when you're messing up and yourfaults, and somebody that
supports you.
And I could not be luckier tohave Blake.

SPEAKER_04 (58:48):
Well, you know, I wanted to give a shout out
because people don't realize umhow busy the mayor is and your
first you know, they call himthe first wife or the first you
know, first lady, first we'reall we have a gentleman.
First gentleman first gentlemanin this case.
Blake is just, you know, he'sthere.

(59:09):
I have seen him his arms fullwith the baby.
You know, I've seen him changediapers, I've seen him feed the
baby, I've seen him you know,and and all those things you
have filled in, you have doneyour job quite well, and a lot
of people don't realize Blake isthere behind you and and also
your mom and dad.
Oh yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (59:29):
I am so lucky to have my mom five minutes away.
My dad is uh obviously in lovewith the baby, but my mom is is
the one watching her when we'rewe're out and about, so she's
been super helpful, superamazing.
I'm so lucky, and you know, mymom and I obviously have cried
about it together, but it'ssomething for us as you know, a
family of immigrants.

(59:50):
My mom did not get to have thatexperience with her mom.
I my grandma is still in ElSalvador, and I we didn't get to
have that support.
That feeling.
So it's very cathartic for usnow to have that.
My mom is getting to do all thethings as a grandma that she
wished she would have had as anew mom.
And so I feel so incrediblysupported.

(01:00:11):
And I think for both of us it'sbeen incredibly cathartic.

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:13):
We were on something together, and I asked you a
question, and she you said, Um,you it was a tough situation.
I forget where we were, and yousaid my first critic called me
within five minutes, and it wasyour mom.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:29):
Oh, when when our water and power went out.
My first call was uh myconstituent, my mom, my toughest
constituent, who texted me andsaid, Mayor, comma, my power is
out.
And you know that's seriousbecause uh my mom did have one
role when I became the mayor.
She was incredibly proud, butshe did tell me, in thy house,

(01:00:51):
you're not the mayor, you'reNikki.
There you go, and she'sabsolutely right.
And I gotta tell you, I thinkthe best thing any elected
official can have is somebody topull them by the ear and remind
them, you're you're just aperson.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:06):
Well, look forward to tomorrow's reorganization.
Yeah, here I know your wholefamily will be there mighty
proud.
Your brother, I know I haveincluded him in tons of
pictures.
You know, you guys are a realclose-knit family, like you say.
Um, I have a son that lives herein Burbank, and he knows if he
calls me, I can be there withinfive minutes from wherever I'm

(01:01:28):
at.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:28):
Emmy award-winning son that lives here in Burbank.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:32):
This is true, two Emmys, and uh he knows that uh
I'm so grateful that he liveshere.
He loves the city, you know, hewon't go anywhere.
I'm raising two granddaughters,and uh all his friends live
here.
And uh like yourself, it's kindof different, you know, when you
the water here is different.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:50):
It is.
And you know, Ross, I do have tosay one thing though while we're
talking about awards.
Have you heard of you know, themayor gets to do this really
cool thing called the key to thecity.
Do you know who received themost recent key to the city?

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:04):
I have to tell you, and I told you as you were
hugging me, giving it to me.
I was so surprised.
I know where you are, whatyou're doing.
I have your your cell phone inmy phone.
But you guys pulled this one offalong with Jonathan and your
secretary, Sandy George.

(01:02:25):
I've been told by so many peoplethat she was so behind the
scenes on this.
Craig and I work with Sandy somuch to find out to book you for
a podcast, to find out where youare.
Sandy gets a pat on the backfrom Craig and I.
But I I will tell you, I was sosurprised.
I'm still kind of surprised andshocked by it.

(01:02:45):
I thank you for it.
I didn't realize when I lookedat that slideshow.
And Craig and I have beentogether how many years?
He's witnessed.
I've shot everything.
You know, he he's called me at 34 in the morning, better be
here.
Or or be there.
And we know each other so well.
And I have covered a lot in thecity.

(01:03:07):
Uh council uh chambers I've beenin probably more than any staff
or the city has ever done.
When I go to calls and not thefirst and not my first rodeo,
you know, I will say gettingolder, but I appreciate being
recognized and receiving the keyto the city.
I'm like, I haven't tried itanymore.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:27):
Where's the lock for that, by the way?

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:28):
Well, that's the thing.
I haven't tried it yet, but Iwill say it is sitting on my
desk.
I look at it two nights ago Ilooked at it and I thought, I'm
so honored that people I've hadtwo, three hundred people
congratulate me.
And I just I love what I'mdoing, as you know.
I love making the mayor lookgood.

(01:03:50):
I love making our city lookgood.
And no offense, Craig and I cameup with my Burbank for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:58):
Yeah, and and Ross, you know, you told me earlier
today that no one knows Burbanklike I do.
That's not true.
No one knows Burbank like youdo.

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:05):
I Well it's funny, I always I I said that I think our
assistant city manager two daysago if you're gonna running for
a border commission you betterknow where every single street
is.
Craig and I will ask you wherePurvis is, where Gaylord is,
where Colgen Court is.

(01:04:26):
You know, because if you don'tknow that, you don't know the
city.
And you know every street in thecity because you were born and
raised here, and it runs deep.
You know, and like I said, Craigand I we've tried to make
Burbank look the best we canwith what we do.
We want the citizens to beinformed and there was nobody

(01:04:48):
else doing that.
And that's why we we continue todo what we do.
We love working with the mayor'soffice to come in here to do a
podcast.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:56):
Yeah, because even 15 years ago, the um the um the
leader was they're not inBurbank.
There's no local media inBurbank, it's just outsiders who
thought they knew Burbank.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:07):
And I gotta tell you all, the the format that you
work in, you have the podcasts,you have the social media.
I mean, Ashley does a wonderfuljob with her videos on Instagram
too.
You have Lynn out reporting, andI think all of that together
keeps Burbank informed.
You have Ross in the comments onFacebook.
There are times when I seepeople commenting something, and

(01:05:28):
I'm like, oh my gosh, this ismisinformation gone haywire.
And I scroll, and before I cansay anything, there's Ross in
the comments.
I'm like, that's the comment,that's right.
So I'll just like it.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:36):
Just yesterday, somebody there was a call on
Olive, and somebody said it wasa family dispute.
Officers were running in withassault rifles.
You don't take an assault rifleto a family dispute.
You might take a beanbag gunthat looks the same, but if
you're gonna put something outthat thousands and millions of
people can read, do it right.

(01:05:58):
Craig and I have we check facts,we won't print something in my
Burbank that hasn't beenconfirmed and checked, and
that's the thing.
Some of these people want to bethe first to post it.
Post it right.

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:11):
And I appreciate that from you, Ross, big time.
So from to both of you, youknow, I'm I gotta say I'm
incredibly grateful for thatmayor of as mayor.
You'll have helped me have aplatform have somewhere to come
out and say how I'm feelingbecause it's very different than
being on the dice.
This is again.

SPEAKER_04 (01:06:26):
That person I was thinking, you know, you can't
say we know that that cityattorney will watch every single
word come out of your mouth yourmouth, but this is a forum that
you're allowed to talk.
We're not governed by a cityattorney, you know.
The PIO has helped us sendquestions to you, or if we need

(01:06:48):
uh referrals, Jonathan is thebest if we need to, you know, to
ask something.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:54):
But that's the important thing.
Well, with all that said, thisis it for you on Ask the Mayor.
Any final thoughts before weleave?

SPEAKER_00 (01:07:03):
Oh man, you will see me share this, I think, a little
more eloquently and and withthat personal touch tomorrow
morning.
We have speaking of PIO, myfarewell minute coming out.
And I I will just give people alittle shout-out for that and
let them know to watch it,especially if you have kiddos at

(01:07:24):
Jefferson Elementary School,because I will be sharing some
letters that have been writtento me and that have been
incredibly touching.
When you have a really hard dayup on the dice, like the other
Tuesday, or when you have youknow a resident who argues with
you about something maybe youcan't change and just can't find
that resolution, or when someoneheckles you online and calls you

(01:07:46):
fat, which I've gotten a lotthis year.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:48):
Welcome to the uh party on that one, huh?
I'm like, man, can't over thatyears ago give the pregnant lady
a break.
Yeah, wow.
But um after I deliver myself.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08:00):
You know, when you're getting all of that, to
come home and open my councilpacket and see a letter from a
kid at a school who drew me andmy baby and said, Do you love
your baby?
I love your baby, and do youlike Burbank?
And I want to be the mayor.
That that just makes your wholeday.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:20):
That's a paycheck.
Yeah, that's right.
That's a paycheck.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08:23):
That's literally it.
You're paid in in in in that.
And and that's that's amazingfor me to do to open that, to
open uh an email from a kidsaying, I am, you know, a 12 uh
12-year-old at Dolores Huertamiddle school, and I have
questions about this and that,and I want to be mayor one day,
and getting to respond to thathas been so worth it for me.

(01:08:45):
That that's kind of what fillsyou.
And I had I guess to go fullcircle, even thinking about Say
to the City.
I had Marsha Ramos tell mesomething that I think has been
very helpful to me.
She said, Every time you getsomething that fills you with
that joy, that thing that thelittle like warmth, a letter, a

(01:09:05):
cookie, a token, whatever youget from from the public.
Put it in a box, just fill upthat box.
And when you get that nastyemail, when you get that death
threat, because they come, openthe box and look through the
things and remind yourself whyyou're doing what you do.
And boy, have I opened the boxthis year.

SPEAKER_04 (01:09:24):
Marsh's amazing, isn't she?
She's amazing.
We we were very close with Marshand Dave, and we went to school
with them.
And one of the probably the bestmayors Burbank has, and we've
had you know some great mayors.
Marsh is one, and Craig and Iwill say you have been a
fantastic mayor.
You've done a hell of a job.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:45):
Absolutely.
Well, I think that's it.
I think we've gone as far as wecan go tonight.
But you will be back for somefood shows.
And remember, you're not leavingthe council.
You're just I am not the mayor.
You're still in the council, youstill have the same power you
did you know tomorrow after youpassed the gavel.
You have the same power that youhad today with the gavel.

(01:10:07):
So um, and who knows?
Your return trip for MayorDownload.
You never know how the votes go.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:13):
So you never know.
And and I will say you won'teven say I'm gonna vote
tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:17):
No, I won't.
I won't put you in the spot.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:18):
I I've learned the brown act by now.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:20):
Yeah, too bad others haven't.
Um I'm not going there.
I'm not gonna okay.
Anyhow, so thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04 (01:10:30):
Ross, thank you for being here tonight.
I this has been the best, one ofthe best podcasts we've done.
Uh Crick and I've enjoyed everytime you've been here.
Um, it's just we were laugh androll, and it's a good time, and
congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:45):
Thank you all.
It's been an honor, it's been aprivilege, and I am honestly
excited to spend somewell-earned time with my baby
girl.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:54):
Uh Mayor Perez and Ross Benson.
This is Craig Sherwood sayingthank you very much for watching
tonight.
We appreciate you watching.
If you're in your car right nowdriving, two hands on the wheel.
If you're on YouTube, subscribeand like and all that nonsense
we always need to do.
But uh, we will see you nexttime.
Thanks for watching.

SPEAKER_04 (01:11:12):
Tally ho, as they say.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:14):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:16):
Thank you for watching our My Burbank video.
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