Local News in Brief : Starlight Operator Beats Rent Deadline

Tim Pinch, operator of the beleaguered Starlight Amphitheatre in Burbank, beat a city-imposed deadline Thursday to come up with the cash for back rent and other bills, city officials said.

Pinch, 33, took a check for $10,500 to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department 25 minutes before the office closed, a spokeswoman for the department said. If Pinch had missed the 5 p.m. deadline, city officials said, they would have taken steps to terminate his contract.

Pinch said he has struggled to pay his bills in the face of lukewarm response to summer programs he staged to try to breathe new life into the Starlight, which has long been a losing proposition for the city.

Pinch still owes the city $5,984 in bills for rent and police and fire services, according to department officials. He said he is making arrangements to pay the rest of the money.