Burbank’s legislative platform includes opposition to rent control
The Burbank City Council is taking a firm stand on some state and federal issues it will and won’t support over the calendar year.
Council members unanimously voted on Tuesday to approve the city’s legislative platform for the year — a guideline that outlines Burbank officials’ thoughts on certain state and federal matters, as well as prioritizes the issues that impact the city.
Christine Alles, an administrative analyst for Burbank, told members the statements outlined in the platform will also act as a reference point for city staff and state and federal representatives to use when advocating on the city’s behalf.
The platform covers a wide array of topics, including the Hollywood Burbank Airport, housing, municipal finance, economic development, homelessness, state and federal funding, sustainability and public safety.
In this year’s platform, Burbank will advocate for issues such as affordable housing at all income levels, expanded street outreach teams to address homelessness, noise relief from the local airport and mental-health programs to increase public safety.
On the other hand, the platform expressed the city’s opposition to irresponsible development, legislation that would further strip local control regarding wireless communication devices and efforts that would allow online travel companies to circumvent paying the city’s transient-occupancy taxes for hotel reservations.
“The primary focus of the platform continues to be the preservation of local control and local legislative authority while continuing to seek state, federal and local funding for the projects, programs and services that benefit Burbank’s residents and businesses,” Alles said.
The platform also states Burbank’s opposition to rent control, but several council members did not approve of the proposed language, which states that the city opposes rent control as the sole solution to addressing housing affordability.
Mayor Sharon Springer said using the word “sole” makes it seem as if Burbank could consider implementing rent control in the future despite the city’s historical stance against it.
“The whole meaning is changed by that one word,” Springer said.
On the other hand, Councilman Tim Murphy said he had issues removing the word from the statement because of state rent-control measures signed into law last October.
“It just seems silly to say that we oppose state law,” Murphy said. “I think it would further enrage tenants who are concerned about rent control.”
Although he was hesitant to remove “sole” from the legislative platform, Murphy voted to move forward with amending the statement to remove the word.
