Mailbag: Burbank needs more bicycle lanes

I support the Verdugo Avenue bicycle lanes in Burbank. They increase safety and public health for cyclists and all users of the road.

The Verdugo Avenue bicycle lanes are an important step toward creating a greener environment and more livable Burbank. Please give the public more time to become aware of them. I believe we should at least wait through the next two school semesters as students at John Burroughs High School should be encouraged to get the bikes off the sidewalks (dangerous!) and on the bike lane.

As both a motorist and a cyclist, I see both sides. When the bike lane is empty and traffic is congested, it creates driver frustration. However, if there were more cyclists using it, and I was stuck in traffic, it would create envy and get me on my bike more.

Actually, more bike lanes would help. Some prime areas needing it include the NBC area and the streets leading to Toluca Lake.

We could make the lanes more narrow, though. The Verdugo lane is a bit wider than it needs to be. Bikes ride — or should ride — single file.

David Ross

Burbank

Bike paths will help to ease traffic

I have been a resident in Burbank for the last 31 years. During that time, Burbank has always been a leader in quality-of-life issues, such as the city recycling program, prior to our local neighbors. Other programs include improved parks and neighborhoods, and protection of our way of life from the Bob Hope Airport.

I believe the next serious affront to our city is the increase in traffic congestion. The expansion in volume these days is hampering our small town style. I am generally unhappy with the situation in nearby Glendale, and hope we don’t follow them in this respect.

I am very pleased to see the advances Burbank is making in adding bicycle routes to our city roadways. The more residents who leave cars at home, the better our environment will be. I have been especially impressed with the plans to make a continuous safe bicycle path from North Hollywood through Burbank to Glendale and beyond.

I myself have used the Verdugo Avenue and Chandler bike paths and could not be more pleased. They have either not impacted, or very slightly changed, the automobile traffic flow and have allowed the safe passage of cyclists.

I cannot thank Burbank enough for its vision and assistance in this matter, and add my support of these wonderful new bikeways.

Lester Mannos

Burbank

Many would gladly have their salaries

If the executives at Burbank Water and Power are threatening to quit because they are not getting a raise — let them (“Water execs in line for raise,” July 3).

I’m sure there are people at Burbank water and Power who would like an opportunity to apply for a promotion. I’m also sure that there are many unemployed people who would also like the opportunity to apply for their jobs.

There are millions of workers out in the work place who have not received a raise in a very long time, but most of them are just happy to have a job at this point.

Chris Jacobovitz

Burbank

Interpretations of 2nd Amendment

When I heard about the recent Supreme Court ruling that the 2nd Amendment had to be applied equally not to just federal laws but also to state and local laws, I immediately joined the NRA so I could celebrate with its members. I got out my ancient single-shot pistol and fired a number of shots into the air. While I was doing this, someone tried to break in the front door, so, BAM, I stopped that intruder. Oops, it was my neighbor who had just had a massive facelift and I didn’t recognize her.

That is not as ridiculous as some might accuse me of being, because statistics I have read show that far more friends, neighbors and family members are killed by household guns than intruders. I lost a nephew by a readily available household handgun.

If necessary, for a number of reasons, including profession or residing in a dangerous neighborhood, handguns should be available for personal defense, but only legally purchased and registered, as well as owners who are licensed to own and trained in the use of the guns. Doesn’t it sound just like other dangerous devices called cars that must be registered, licensed and have licensed users? Sadly, I know that these deeply held gun thoughts will really raise the hackles of those who adore their guns.

The constitutional amendment: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The gun lovers and those who believe that individual rights take precedence over everything else completely ignore the first half of the amendment.

Others consider the amendment ambivalent on individuals’ gun rights, while the rest of us do not think it is ambivalent at all. We believe that “A well regulated Militia....security of a free state” is crucial to the interpretation and implementation of the amendment and can’t be ignored and trampled on by those who believe in an unfettered right to have guns.

Also, there is no doubt that in the late 1700s, when the amendment was ratified, the need for defense of the state was of paramount importance in the minds of those who initiated the amendment, not the complete freedom for individual ownership of the killing machines.

Robert Morrison

Glendale