Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor: Civilian aviation workers, vintage planes should be showcased at new terminal
Last year I advocated for the city of Burbank to construct a monument to honor the civilian aviation workers who did so much to build Burbank and to save our nation and the free world. The problem with my suggestion then was that I did not have a location or a funding source for such an endeavor.
Burbank voters have provided possible answers by approving the plan to build a replacement terminal for the Hollywood Burbank Airport on the site of the former Lockheed B-6 plant. What better place to recognize these long unsung heroes than in conjunction with the new airport terminal? Plus, the Airport Authority will be required to spend 1% of the cost of construction on public art. What a perfect funding source for such a well deserved and long overdue recognition!
Imagine what it would look like to have the road leading into the terminal lined with examples of classic Lockheed planes, such as the P-38 Lighting, P-80 Shooting Star, SR-71 Blackbird, F-111 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter, Amelia Earhart’s Electra 10E or the first Air Force One, a C-121 Constellation. For starters, we could relocate the F-104 Starfighter, the Spirit of Burbank, currently fading and dirty in front of the Olive Recreation Center.
What about also having a larger than life-size statue of “Rosie the Riveter,” clearly the most recognizable symbol of civilian aviation workers during World War II?
The Airport Authority will build the safest, most convenient, environmentally sustainable and technologically advanced terminal it can. But it needs to be architecturally significant, and they could concurrently use the city’s art-in-public-places requirement to make a dramatic tribute to the workers and planes that were so important to Burbank and the history of aviation.
I urge the Burbank City Council and the Airport Authority to consider this idea during the current early-planning phase of the new terminal.
Bud Ovrom
Burbank
The writer is a former Burbank city manager.
***
I agree 100% with Brian Crosby when it comes to the Burbank Unified School District logo (“The Whiteboard Jungle: Burbank Unified should focus on students, not the district’s logo,” June 13). I retired from the district in 2004 after 25 years there and have lived in Burbank for 50 years and never saw the logo as a family. To me it represents students, a high school student, a middle school student and an elementary school student.
The logo should not be changed because Steve Ferguson sees the logo as a family. He has made the issue about himself and how he perceives the logo. He should get over it and get on with the real issues facing the district.
On the subject of changing the names of our schools, what about Joaquin Miller Elementary School? Who the heck was he? A teacher told me that he was a scoundrel. What about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? They owned slaves. Some say that Walt Disney was a racist — and on and on. Changing school names is ridiculous because some people are offended. No matter what the name of a school someone will be offended by it.
Betty Vanole
Burbank
***
Burbank Unified school board member Steve Ferguson is unhappy with the school district’s logo, and I quote, “Right now, our district’s logo features a man, and a woman and a child figure. Not all families look like that any more.”
As I perceive this logo, it can mean many things: a father, a daughter and a son; a mother and two sons (can’t a son be taller than his mother?); the older sibling in the middle could have responsibility for a younger one, or two parents with a child.
The logo’s neutral color is perfect. It’s simple message is striking — “Equity and Excellence.”
As a retired and longtime teacher in the BUSD (39 years), I tried to instill in my students the importance of looking at and weighing all sides of an issue. Our current logo is fine, reaching out to all.
Marilyn Deal
Burbank
***
The Burbank schools are in a budget crunch, and board member Steve Ferguson is not comfortable wearing the Burbank Unified lapel pin because the logo isn’t fully representative?
At the rate society is going there won’t be room on the pin to represent all the new lifestyles. Let’s just focus on making sure our students get the education they need to be successful … which is what the word “equity,” found in the logo, means.
Joann Saraceno
Burbank
***
Re: “Commentary: Proposed housing bill would have done more harm than good,” June 15. Evidently, Mayor Gabel-Luddy leads by sticking her head in the sand. Look at the housing numbers she provides: In five-plus years, 323 units have been added in Burbank, including 11 units for veterans with very low income. That’s 11 units for people on the verge of homelessness in over five years.
That’s a disgrace, and it’s why state measures like SB 50 are urgently needed. Shame on Burbank for failing to do its share to solve the intertwined problems of housing and homelessness.
Chuck Petithomme
Burbank