Burbank City Council eyes issues facing the city over next 2 years
A looming budget deficit, a housing shortfall and traffic congestion around the city are just a few of the many issues the Burbank City Council discussed during its annual goal-setting workshop earlier this month.
Council members and city staff gathered inside the Community Services Building on Aug. 5 to talk about and prioritize the issues they think should be addressed over the next two years.
Marisa Garcia, assistant director for the Parks and Recreation Department, was the goal-setting facilitator during the meeting and said the the city is adopting a new two-phase process to accomplish goals over the next two-year period.
During the first phase, which was what the City Council participated in at the meeting, each council member told city staff the issues they would like to see addressed. The second phase will occur at a later date, Garcia said, and will focus on the possible ways those issues could be addressed.
“These strategies will be very specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely,” Garcia said. “The goal is to make sure that these goals and strategies are deliverable and accomplished within the next two years.”
One of the issues that Councilman Bob Frutos wants the city to look into is how more people can be encouraged to use the city-operated bus system, which he thinks is underutilized.
“I’m tired of looking at the buses empty on Buena Vista Street,” he said. “I don’t think that’s efficient for our city.”
Councilman Jess Talamantes’ main focus was on finding a way to get out of the looming deficit sooner rather than later.
“We have to get some ideas so that the council can discuss them and see what’s viable or not for our city,” he said.
Councilwoman Sharon Springer suggested that city staff continue working on how to address the housing shortage in the city.
“We need to look at our housing imbalance and do our best to close the gap between our workforce and our housing, but also close the gap between our residents’ income and the median income of those who work in our city,” she said.
Vice Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy said she wants to see improvements made on how the public can be more involved in the planning process of major development projects.
“I would advocate for our staff [to think] of another procedure that we can develop and work with, so that when the project comes to us, it’s not the end; that we have some way, in a public forum, [to provide] feedback earlier in a project,” she said. “It would enrich the conversation.”
Regarding traffic issues in the city, Mayor Will Rogers said he wants to see if city staff can use more “realistic” traffic models whenever a development project is proposed.
“[The current traffic models] all assume that all drivers obey all laws all the time,” he said. “We seem to be able to do so much in programming these days, I have to believe a coder could sit down and take care of this rather quickly.”
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
