Councilwoman Sidelined by Fractured Pelvis

The Burbank City Council will be without one of its most controversial members for the next few weeks as Mary Lou Howard continues to recuperate from a fractured pelvis she suffered in a fall at her home Friday.

Howard, 52, was still in St. Joseph Medical Center on Tuesday and said she did not expect to go home for a few days. She said she was in pain and was having some difficulty walking with crutches.

“This is so crazy,” she said by telephone. “I’m not feeling so well today. But everyone’s been so nice. My room looks like a flower shop.”

Howard, who has been on the council for more than 10 years, fell down about 12 stairs at her home Friday afternoon while going from the second to the first floor.

“My heel got caught in my pant cuff and I tripped,” Howard said. She said she couldn’t move when she got to the bottom of the stairs.

2 Meetings

Doctors told Howard that she would miss at least two weekly council meetings. “But the people at City Hall are trying to hook up a camera and monitor at my home so I can still vote,” she said.

The meetings are televised live Tuesday nights on the Sammons Communications public access channel.

Howard said she would campaign from bed for a slow-growth ordinance she authored that is coming before Burbank voters Feb. 28. The proposal would restrict large residential developments in single-family neighborhoods.