How Old Are You Now, Burbank? : Politics Invade Birthday Party

Burbank city officials and historians are eagerly awaiting the celebration of the city’s birthday. But they can’t agree on how many candles to put on the cake.

Mayor Mary Lou Howard says the city should celebrate its 75th birthday next July to commemorate the date in 1911 when Burbank became an incorporated city.

But Mary Jane Strickland, director of the Burbank Historical Society, heads a rival faction that argues that Burbank should instead celebrate the city’s founding in 1887, 25 years before the birthday the mayor wishes to celebrate.

Touches Off Battle

The dispute has touched off a small battle that has extended beyond the planning of birthday parties into Burbank politics, with each side charging that the other is trying to rewrite history.

Strickland contends Burbank actually became a city in 1887, when the Providencia Land & Water Co., which owned the site where central Burbank now stands, divided it into lots and subdivisions and filed maps with Los Angeles County naming the place Burbank.

“In terms of history, the 75th birthday is more important,” Howard said. “That’s when we actually had a city, a governing board of trustees. Up until that time, there was no city. There were just people staking out land.”

The fight erupted last month when the mayor’s Civic Pride Committee, a citizens’ group composed of City Council appointees, voted to concentrate more on celebrating the centennial of the city’s founding, despite Howard’s request that they come up with ideas for the 75th anniversary of its incorporation.

Howard was angered by that tack, especially since several members of the committee had been appointed by her chief political opponent, former Mayor E. Daniel Remy, who formed the committee four years ago.

Some members of the committee said the panel chose to side with Strickland, a longtime Remy friend and a former Burbank public affairs director. The committee members said the town could not support two birthday celebrations within a year of each other.

Denied Making ‘Sales Pitch’

Strickland told the committee that the historical society had been planning a 100th anniversary celebration for several years. Although Strickland denied that she encouraged the committee to support the 100th anniversary over the mayor’s 75-year party, Vice Mayor Mary E. Kelsey said Strickland gave the committee “a sales pitch” behind Howard’s back.

“It’s sort of a slap in the face to the mayor for the committee to act like they have no intention of doing what she asked them to do,” Kelsey said.

“It’s really a shame this has become a political issue,” Strickland added. “This has gotten to be ridiculous.”

But Howard finds the dispute anything but ridiculous. She and the City Council have established themselves as the steering committee for the Diamond Jubilee, which is scheduled for July 1 to July 4 of next year. She noted that, despite their strained relationship, Strickland and the Civic Pride Committee will need the city government’s cooperation for their 100th birthday party in 1987.

“I don’t know what they plan to do, but they will need our help,” Howard said.

The controversy has become so heated, the mayor said, that several people approached her at a Burbank High School football game last week, demanding to know which birthday she favors.

“This has become a real big deal in Burbank,” she said.

“It’s a very political town.”