TOP TEN STORIES OF 1999

Darrell Satzman

This is the second in a two-part series looking at the top ten news

stories of the year in Burbank.

NO. 1

A BIG DEAL

It was a stunning sight.

After five years of failed negotiations and acrimonious lawsuits that

cost local taxpayers millions of dollars, city officials stood together

with members of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Aug. 4

to announce they had reached a tentative deal for a new terminal.

The Framework for Settlement, negotiated by Mayor Stacey Murphy,

Councilman Dave Golonski and a team from the authority, calls for a

330,000 square foot, 14-gate replace terminal that would be about twice

the size of the current facility. The deal would permit the airport to

expand to 19 gates once certain objectives -- such as a mandatory

nighttime flight curfew -- are achieved. The framework does not require

an immediate curfew or a cap on the number of flights but the airport did

agree to close down the terminal between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Many factors came together to bring the deal about but was none was

more important than a May. 5 Court of Appeal decision that affirmed

Burbank’s right to control land-use decisions on airport property.

Critics have blasted the framework, accusing the city of giving away

too much when it was in its strongest position. A group led in part by

former-Councilman Ted McConkey has started a petition campaign to force

an initiative that, if approved by voters, would require the city to

obtain a mandatory curfew and cap the number of flights 10% above the

current level in any deal it makes with the airport.

Meanwhile, three Los Angeles congressman, that city’s city attorney

and several council members, and a L.A. County Supervisor have also

criticized the proposed deal and threatened to sue unless a provision

banning easterly take-offs is removed.

The Burbank City Council has also supported a motion by Councilman Bob

Kramer that will result in a public advisory vote on the framework. That

ballot is expected to take place in the spring, shortly before the City

Council votes on the deal.

Early optimism over the framework among many Burbank residents has

given away to the realization there is still a long way to go before a

new terminal is built. The first half of 2000 promises to be a time when

many of the remaining questions about the framework deal are answered.

NO. 2

ERIC FAVELA CONVICTED OF KILLING ADAM SMITH

Dismissing defense arguments that he was insane when he stabbed Adam

Smith to death in a faculty parking lot at Burbank High School, a

Pasadena Superior Court Jury found Eric Favela guilty of first-degree

murder on Sept. 1. Exactly one moth later, Judge Michael J. Byrne

sentenced Favela to 26 years to life in state prison for the first murder

ever on a Burbank school campus.

According to witnesses, Smith, 17, tried to walk away from the

confrontation but was pursued by Favela, who was reportedly upset about a

remark Smith had made about his former girlfriend. Favela, who wore a

shaved head and blank stare throughout his trial, stabbed Smith once in

the heart and once in the stomach.

Favela’s lawyer never denied that his client stabbed Smith, but he

said Favela was insane at the time due to brain damage caused by a

beating with baseball bat. The jury disagreed, finding Favela sane and

agreeing with the prosecution that the attack was made in a fit of

jealous rage.

The killing of Smith, a Burroughs High School student who was taking

summer school classes at Burbank High, stunned Burbank residents and left

some parents wondering if their kids were safe at school. Favela’s

conviction offered a measure of relief, if only that those who commit the

most heinous of crimes will be held accountable for their actions.

That was only small consolation for Adam Smith’s parents, Michael and

Mary, who addressed the court at Favela’s sentencing.

“I’d like to think that Adam would have had some value to the world if

he was living,” Michael Smith said. “I think he would have been a good

man.”

NO. 3 LAURELL DEFEATS MCCONKEY

Both candidates swept into office four years earlier on the strength

of their opposition to expansion at Burbank Airport, but when it came

time for voters to validate their performances in 1999, Bob Kramer got a

big thumbs up and Ted McConkey was given the boot.

Kramer emerged from a field of seven candidates to win overwhelming

reelection to the City Council on Feb. 23. McConkey finished a distant

third, good enough to force a run-off with second-place finisher and

political neophyte David Laurell.

In the April 13 run-off, Laurell, 42, a magazine editor and former

Burbank Leader columnist, trounced McConkey by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

Burbank voters apparently tired of McConkey’s confrontational style,

which won him a core group of loyal supporters but alienated many

residents who bristled at his personal attacks and long-winded speeches

at council meetings.

The defeat of the fiery McConkey, who has continued to stay involved

in a number of local issues -- most notably airport expansion -- was

perhaps more noteworthy than the election of the mild-mannered Laurell.

Although he ran an aggressive campaign, McConkey seemed to take his

defeat in stride.

“My father gave me advice when I was very young,” he said that night.

“There’s no shame in trying if there’s something you believe in.”

NO. 4

LOCKHEED SELLS OUT

A decade after closing up shop, Lockheed Martin Corp. went a long way

toward completing its withdrawal from Burbank in 1999 by selling off much

of its remaining property here.

The biggest and most significant deal involved the sale of the of

Lockheed’s 130-acre “B-6” property to Burbank Airport. The $86-million

price tag for the site -- where the airport plans to build a new terminal

-- was set in June by a Superior Court jury in the Burbank courtroom of

Judge Carl West.

However, the lengthy legal battle, which began when the airport seized

the property through eminent domain in June 1997, was not over. West said

the sale violated the state law since Burbank had not yet agreed to allow

the terminal to be built. West approved the deal in November when the

parties arranged to have the land where the terminal is planned placed in

an escrow account. If the city and the airport can’t come to terms on a

new terminal, the Airport Authority will have to sell the property.

Two other large tracts of Lockheed land were sold in 1999, both to Los

Angeles-based Zelman Development Companies.

In March, Zelman agreed to buy Lockheed’s 103-acre “B-1” property for

$69 million. The firm plans to build Burbank Empire Center, a

$200-million retail and office center that will include hotels, car

dealerships and several “big box” stores.

In December, Zelman inked a $20-million deal to buy Lockheed’s 31-acre

“A-1” property, which was used to design, manufacture and assemble

aircraft and which served as the company’s headquarters until the early

1990s. Zelman wants to build a high-tech industrial manufacturing complex

on the site.

The completion of both deals is contingent upon city approval of the

development plans, but it’s likely both will go through.

“This is the end of the ownership era for Lockheed,” City Manager Bud

Ovrom said.

NO. 5

GRADUATION BLUES

High school graduation is traditionally a time of celebration for high

school seniors, but this year in Burbank there were tears of anger and

disappointment mixed in with the tears of joy.

At issue was the Burbank Unified School District’s graduation

participation criteria. Part of that criteria mandates that seniors must

complete their academic requirements without missing more than 15 periods

of a class in a semester or receiving more than one failing grader per

semester. Some students who had fulfilled their academic requirements but

fell short of the graduation ceremony standard because of excessive

absences protested that the policy was unfair because it did not take

into account excused absences.

School officials said the rule, which they claim introduced to ensure

that seniors don’t slack off during their final semester, is both

justified and fair. They pointed out that a letter was mailed to parents

to sign and return at the beginning of the year, which explained the

rules. An appeals process, the district said, ensured that students with

valid excuses, such as a death or serious illness in the family, would

not be held out.

Taking up the students case was the Burbank Human Relations Council,

and less directly the American Civil Liberties Union. They said that it

was wrong to punish students who had met their academic requirements and

had a valid reason for missing class.

The district hung tough, however, and the few dozen students at John

Burroughs and Burbank high schools affected by the rule were not allowed

to participate. A few days after their classmates walked across the

stage, 11 of those students and their friends and relatives held an

alternative graduation on a makeshift stage at George Izay Park.

John Brady, the president of the Burbank Human Relations Council, told

those graduates the fight wasn’t over.

“Any policy, rule or directive that punishes the weak, the sick and

the unlucky is just downright mean and we are going to put a stop to

this,” Brady said.

AND THE REST

The stories ranked No. 6 to No. 10 appeared in Wednesday’s Leader.

The stories were:

No. 6: City employees Colleen and Richard Whitman’s family grows

quickly when Colleen gives birth to quadruplets.

No. 7: Media City Center mall goes up for sale.

No. 8: The execution-style murder of pet shop owner Sarkis Antonyan.

No. 9: Burbank City Council faces lawsuit over prayers before

meetings.

No. 10: More than 800 mourners turn out for services for teacher and

coach Paul Sutton, who at 41 died of cancer.