Mailbag: Give Gordon a shot at the top spot
We are in 100% agreement with the May 8 editorial “Give Gordon a chance.” It is undeniably wrong that Councilman David Gordon’s fellow council members should be allowed to treat the council office as a childish popularity game and continually vote to deny him the opportunity to represent those who twice voted him into office.
This is, however, not the first time that this has happened. In the past, others such as Tim Murphy and Ted McConkey were denied the position because their council peers voted against them. The bylaws of the Burbank City Council need to be revised so that all those elected have the right to be rotated into the mayoral position, and thereby have the opportunity to represent their constituents.
GLENN AND GAIL NICOL
Burbank
Carpool lanes, subway won’t help
As usual, the state of California and those in Los Angeles County, including Burbank, are completely out of touch with what the real needs are concerning traffic and the real needs to make things less congested.
Another carpool lane will do absolutely nothing to improve congested traffic. This is Southern California, not New York. The majority of people drive. They don’t use mass transit, they don’t ride their bikes.
Freeways are the main way of getting around, not only to and from work, but all around the state. The majority of drivers don’t use carpools. All you have to do is look at those lanes while you are on the freeways to realize this. Too many people in California live miles away from work. Carpool lanes are useless here. To waste more tax payers money for carpool lanes just goes to show how out of touch the politicians really are.
Expansion of freeways is the answer. You expand the freeways, you open up the flow of traffic. The “Subway to the Sea” is also a total waste of money, and the people of L.A. County who voted on the half-cent tax hike for it should have their rights to vote taken away.
In these economic times, do we really need another subway that hardly anyone will use?
BRIAN COOPER
Burbank
Senators voted correctly on health
To our Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer: Thank you, thank you, thank you for passing health-care reform.
It’s historic, and while not perfect, it’s a great start. I am a woman in my 60s, on Medicare, thinking back to how my parents, once on Medicare, did not have to supplement their coverage with anything. I am also looking at the kind of health insurance our political representatives have, and I cannot stop asking myself: Why not everyone?
With this new reform, I have greater hope that all of us Americans will feel a bit more secure about what happens if we get sick or suffer a serious accident. I also hope this means that we are the ones who control our own health care, and that insurance companies can no longer collect our money and then deny us assistance when we need it — without boosting premium prices.
I am grateful also for this measure as it provides coverage to so many who are not as fortunate as I am to have any insurance at all. Stay with it. Don’t lose it. We are very grateful.
ADRYAN RUSS
Glendale
Council is breaking its own rules
Devotees watching the Burbank City Council will recognize two things. One, it is budget crunching time, and two, the council has a penchant for limiting the public dialogue to content they consider complimentary.
The yellow-printed council agenda for April 20 listed Item O — Recess for the Redevelopment Agency meeting. The blue printed agenda for Redevelopment contains only one item: approval of minutes.
The redevelopment recess ran over one hour of broadcast time for a presentation by employees of the American Lighting Motor Co. Sitting on the council counter was the motor company’s 56-page business plan.
These activities are a disgusting deviation from standards the council imposes upon the public. The public is not allowed to put any promotional material on the counter. The public is not allowed to use their comment time to show a political public service announcement about a candidate of personal choice in an election cycle. This is an imposition because we will have to put up with four years of viewing when the candidate is successful in an election process.
The council meeting will be rebroadcast three times during the next week and is archived on the city’s website for viewing on demand. The city should be ashamed of this abuse of advertising disguised as council business.
The citizens are long overdue for an accounting of what is being spent to support staff activities involving development and legal court action. We need critical management, not public relations hyperbole.
DON ELSMORE
Burbank
More like shock the young vote
Dan Evans’ column about boosting voter turnout (“Start the Presses: Boosting voter turnout,” May 5) missed, in my opinion, the most direct means to which voter turnout could be dramatically increased.
While working the polls during the special election at West Press on Buena Vista Street and Clark Avenue, I became unusually disgruntled by the 1% voter turnout. When I noticed teenagers begin to walk past on their way home from school, I posted myself on the corner.
“Adopting” a polling place is fine and dandy, but nothing gets young voters to the polls like an aggressive, overbearing U.S. Marine asking if they are 18 or older, and then telling them to get in there and vote.
JEFFREY W. PRUTZ
Burbank