Rhetoric Cools as Burbank Council Candidates Avoid ‘Smears’ at Forum

Candidates for the Burbank City Council, who have been involved in a bitter race that has included personal accusations, debated redevelopment issues calmly Monday night.

The candidates squared off at a forum at the Burbank Board of Education building attended by incumbent Mayor E. Daniel Remy and Councilman Larry Stamper, who favor Burbank growth, and three of the four challengers for the three available council seats--Michael Hastings, Mary E. Kelsey and Brian Bowman--who charge that residents have suffered from deals made by the Council with developers.

Sponsored by League of Voters

The fourth challenger, Al Dossin, did not participate in the forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

Although the candidates occasionally raised their voices, the forum was serene contrasted with earlier clashes.

Most of the candidates vowed to steer away from smear tactics.

“I hope and pray that this will be a fair, clean campaign,” said Remy, who is fighting for reelection after finishing fourth out of 18 candidates in the February primary election.

Flyer Distributed Before Meeting

A flyer proclaiming that residents should save the city by voting against Remy and Stamper was distributed before the meeting.

Differences over the direction and pace of commercial growth in Burbank have become a major issue in the campaign. The debate over growth has encompassed everything from skepticism about a proposed regional shopping mall in downtown Burbank to complaints by residents that new development is spilling into quiet neighborhoods and creating parking and traffic problems.

The challengers repeated their promises to better plan building projects in Burbank, such as a proposed major shopping center and movie theater.

Experience Cited

Remy and Stamper both credited their experience in dealing with developers with bringing three major restaurants and other real estate developments into the city.

But Hastings, 31, an advertising executive, and Kelsey, 68, a community volunteer, claimed that the council had given away the land where the three restaurants were developed.

“I know we needed the restaurants and the development,” Kelsey said. “But I just feel we could have gotten a lot more for the land.” She said the city should have conducted further negotiations with other developers.

Although Hastings criticized the incumbents on several issues, he found himself on the defensive during a question-and-answer session. He was asked why he had not voted in the 1983 municipal election.

“I probably did not know about the election,” he said, prompting groans from the crowd of about 50.

Three Endoresed by Councilwoman

Kelsey, Hastings and Dossin, who were the three top vote-getters in the primary election, have all been endorsed by incumbent Councilwoman Mary Lou Howard, an opponent of both Remy and Stamper on issues ranging from City Hall staff appointments to the granting of redevelopment contracts.

At the beginning of the primary campaign, Howard had said she wanted to see Remy and Stamper defeated, charging the Council is run by an “old-boy” network that makes deals with developers at the expense of residents.

Remy replied at the time that Howard and her “hand-picked team”--Kelsey, Hastings and Dossin--planned on returning Burbank to the “awkward, decaying little town that it was 10 or 15 years ago.”

Aside from the incumbents, Bowman was the sole candidate to qualify for the runoff without being endorsed by Howard.