Latino Residents Demand Ouster of Burbank Official

Denouncing the Burbank City Council for “craven refusal to take firm action,” a group of Latino residents demanded that the council immediately remove a city police commissioner and committee member who used the term “wetback” during a public meeting last month.

In a letter submitted to the council Monday, the group called for the removal of Ron Shively “from all appointed city commissions and committees.”

The letter also asks the city council to issue a public statement saying that “Mr. Shively’s remarks are offensive to all citizens of Burbank, are to be condemned and that such language will not be tolerated.

“Taking these belated steps will not erase the ugly memory of Mr. Shively’s remarks, or of council’s craven refusal to take firm action when they first learned of the incident. It might, however, prevent future occurrences of this sort.”

The letter, written by Viviano Garcia, 63, and Joe Garcia, 45, is the latest development in a controversy surrounding comments made by Shively during a Jan. 6 meeting of the city’s FOCUS Committee. The committee was discussing contracting out city services when Shively said that if city gardening services were handed over to a private firm the jobs would not go to “wetbacks.”

Shively, who is also a candidate for the City Council, acknowledged that he used the term but said his comments came only after another member of the committee, Lew Stone, used the term first. Stone and several others who attended the meeting have denied that allegation; eight who attended said they heard only Shively use the term and two said they heard neither man use the term.

In a letter that appeared in a local newspaper last month, Shively said he did not remember making the statement but would “speak with greater sensitivity from this point forward.”

But the letter apparently did little to satisfy some in the Latino community.

Viviano Garcia, co-author of the letter criticizing the police commissioner, said many Latino residents in Burbank are “just very upset” about Shively’s comments.

“It just brought back memories we were trying to forget,” Garcia said.

Garcia said he wrote the letter with the support of many members of the Burbank Reunion, a 300-member Latino group.

Many, like Garcia, grew up in Burbank during a time when Latinos were “treated like second-class citizens,” he said.

“We couldn’t go to the swimming pool, we couldn’t go to the show, we couldn’t get haircuts at the barbershops.”

Joe Garcia, not related to Viviano, said such comments were especially disturbing coming from a person who holds such a “powerful position.”

“We think it’s very wrong for him to say something like that and then get the City Council behind him and deny it.

“It showed total disrespect for our people,” Joe Garcia said.

The letter also chided the mayor and City Council for failing to immediately denounce Shively.

“Those officials who have addressed the issue at all have defended Mr. Shively,” the letter said.

Councilman George Battey said he had not seen the letter but did not expect the council to act on the requests.

“The Council has not taken any action,” he said, adding that he doubts it will. “I don’t know if he used that term or not. If he did use it, it was very unfortunate and certainly inappropriate.”

Council member Tim Murphy said he had been “asked by several callers and complainers to take some action and review it and remove Shively from the police commission.”

“I have the authority only to bring it to the council’s attention,” he said.

Murphy said he would attempt to do so at the council meeting tonight but doubted that he had the number of votes to add the issue to the agenda for discussion.

Three of the five council members have to agree to add the item to the agenda before it can be discussed at a future meeting. Because some council members have alleged that the demands to remove Shively are politically motivated, they may not support Murphy’s action.