Mailbag: Councilman better off not being mayor

The position of “Mayor of Burbank” carries no weight, other than running the meetings, attending ribbon cutting ceremonies and other civic functions. Mayor Anja Reinke and Vice Mayor Jess Talamantes are well suited for the newly “picked” positions. Mickey Mouse could do it.

Councilman David Gordon, at first I was appalled that they didn’t pick you (“Reinke named new mayor,” May 5). With a blatant obvious snub of you, the lame excuse that they didn’t like the way you voted on the budget, etc., etc. Is there some jealousy involved here?

Gordon, thank them! This leaves your valuable time to be focused on the real issues and problems the city had. Your probing and in depth analysis of all the relevant issues in the city are welcomed by most residents and you are respected for having the concerns and well-being of the citizens first and foremost.

God bless you, Gordon. Keep up the great job you’re doing. You handle the bickering admirably and with wonderful restraint; though I don’t like the odds of 4 to 1, you are more than capable of taking them on!

STEVE URBANOVICH

Burbank

Council treatment of Gordon is familiar

Councilman David Gordon is being shut out of the mayorship by the constituency of Councilman Dave Golonski (“Reinke named new mayor,” May 5) in the same way that Councilman Ted McConkey was excluded during his years in office.

The title of mayor bestows more power along with celebrity status. Particularly when it comes to breaking tie votes of 2-2. It often means success or failure of staff pet projects. City staff has a record of withholding information from Gordon and the public as well. They want rubber stamp approval with as little disclosure as possible.

As for Gordon’s poor record of working with city officials, have we discussed the city attorney withholding the results of the state attorney general’s investigation (“City attorney withheld decision,” Feb. 13)?

DON ELSMORE

Burbank

Readers don’t need Leader’s editorials

For quite some time, I’ve been distressed with the direction the Burbank Leader has taken. Gone are the community commentaries that afforded residents an outlet for expressing their views about people, places, things, or anything else on which they wished to opine.

At the same time, the paper runs needless editorials, which appear to be nothing more than convenient space-fillers. The reporting in the Leader should be sufficient for any reader to draw their own conclusions, making most of the recent abundance of editorials unnecessary.

Readers don’t need to be led by the nose to an otherwise obvious conclusion. The views of the editors, whether residents of Burbank, or not, should be held in check for truly important, totally necessary editorials. The Leader is published for the benefit of the residents of Burbank, and not for the making of careers at our expense.

In addition, the Leader continues to publish Richard Tafilaw’s childish, inane and space-wasting “non-column” in its Wednesday edition. The Burbank community would be better served if the editor of the Leader invited Robert Phipps back to grace its pages. His absence has left a vacuum that hasn’t been adequately filled.

Please, do your readers a favor, pay Phipps a decent wage and allow him to work his intelligent, engrossing magic.

The purpose of this newspaper is to inform and engage, not bore the public with relentless editorials and columns best left for bird cage fodder. Barring these changes, the Leader will continue in its spiral toward inconsequence.

PAMELA LANG

Burbank