Mayor Jess Talamantes sees change as an inevitable part of Burbank’s future
Burbank Mayor Jess Talamantes said he wants to let his constituents know that change is necessary to allow the city to progress.
“Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future,” Talamantes said, quoting the late President John F. Kennedy, during the annual State of the City luncheon Wednesday afternoon.
More than 350 people attended the event at the Castaway restaurant in Burbank to hear Talamantes’ speech, during which he told attendees that the city has gone through many changes and has grown over its 105-year history.
The mayor mentioned several aspects of the city that are currently changing — completion of the new IKEA store, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority finally moving forward with its replacement terminal project at the Hollywood Burbank Airport and the widening gap between the median price of a home and the median income of a Burbank household.
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IKEA is aiming to open the doors of its largest store in North America this coming spring, and it will feature better access, parking and loading areas, which Talamantes called “definitely a change for the better.”
The Nov. 8 election also brought change to Burbank after residents approved the contentious Measure B, which allows the airport authority to build a 14-gate replacement terminal, a project they have been working on since the agency’s inception in 1978.
Though there were some people who opposed the terminal because they have concerns that airport authority members will build more gates than what they promised, Talamantes thanked those who supported the ballot measure.
“By thinking in decades, we’re providing our children and grandchildren a safer, more modern terminal,” he said.
Talamantes said he was more concerned about the housing deficit that Burbank and many other cities are facing. During a Burbank City Council meeting earlier this month, council members were told by city staff that the median price of a home in Burbank is $725,000, while the median household income is about $66,440 annually.
Additionally, rent in the city has gone up, with a one-bedroom apartment ranging between $1,600 and $2,000 a month and up to $2,500 for a lease on a two-bedroom apartment.
“This is an imbalance that will need to be addressed at some point,” Talamantes said. “I don’t profess to have the answers today. That is something that we’ll have to work on together as a community, but it will require open minds and the willingness to search for solutions.
“The search for solutions usually includes some form of change and that can be scary for some people,” he added. “But ignoring change is not a viable strategy.”
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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
