Local News in Brief : Agency Rejects Funds to Promote Burbank

The Burbank City Council on Tuesday turned down a proposal by a group of businessmen who wanted to use city funds to help promote Burbank as a major industrial and business center.

The council, acting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, voted 3 to 2 to withhold $75,000 from the Burbank Economic Council, an independent organization sponsored by Burbank Chamber of Commerce President Michael Caggiano.

The economic council was set up to attract new business and encourage existing businesses to remain, Caggiano said. Among other things, the economic council proposed producing a video that would be used in “an aggressive outreach campaign to maintain a quality image of Burbank.”

“It just doesn’t look like it was organized and put together very well,” said Mayor Al F. Dossin, who added that city officials feared that they would have minimal input in the organization’s activities.

Councilwoman Mary Lou Howard said she had wanted the organization to promote city schools, neighborhoods and services. “I got the impression that they just wanted to support development, and I didn’t want that,” she said.

Caggiano said he would appeal the Redevelopment Agency’s decision.