Gordon deserves to be mayor

Isn’t it about time the people of Burbank had a say in who our mayor will be?

If ever a time in our history screamed out to change the system, it is now, considering what we have to look forward to in 2011.

Once again some of the vindictive City Council members, when not bickering like little children, will play their little game and overlook the most vilified person on the council, and one of Councilman Dave Golonski’s lambs will be appointed mayor. What a travesty!

If it takes signatures on a petition to change this farce, I’m willing to walk the streets.

God bless you, Councilman David Gordon, we love you, and hope soon one day true justice will prevail in Burbank.

Steve Urbanovich

Burbank

City needs to protect its programs

The city of Burbank has always been blessed with a variety of programs that help develop the holistic health of young people throughout our community.

We have, in a sense, created a social safety net for our young people here in this city. Our programs have become the model for the region and have enabled our city to produce some of the most healthy and well-prepared young people in the state.

Recently, however, this very intricate safety net has come under attack. The school district, in an attempt to identify needed cost savings, closed the Outreach Center, which served as a youth crisis hub, forcing overloaded school administrators, teachers, classified employees and nonprofits to take on more work.

Now the city’s management is taking another whack at the safety net by letting go of as many youth programs as possible.

Next on the chopping block: funding for the Mayor’s Youth Task Force, which sustains the most basic program for young people, our school-based counseling programs. Simply put, the on-campus school-based programs, provided by the Family Service Agency of Burbank, is saving lives. Any action or request to defund this program is a clear indication of an elected or appointed leader’s inability to represent the whole community’s interests. It is that serious; it is that essential.

Join me in sending a message of support for the programs that are keeping our young people healthy by calling the City Council office at (818) 238-5750, or e-mailing them at CityCouncil@ci.burbank.ca.us.

If we want these programs to stay alive, we are going to need to be proactive, as it is very likely that the city administration will state that we simply can’t afford it without further cuts to safety personnel.

Don’t let this fool you. The reality is, this is the same administration who last year planned for and this year wrote employee bonus checks in the amount of $1.1 million — an amount that could have easily funded all Youth Task Force programs for four years.

Steve Ferguson

Burbank

Editor’s note: Ferguson is chairman of Burbank’s Park, Recreation and Community Services Board.

Eliminating Prop. 13 would hurt seniors

After reading Gerry Rankin’s op-ed (“Past Brown-era tax law is not sacrosanct,” Feb. 11), I have a suggestion for him.

Why doesn’t he offer to help pay his neighbor’s taxes if he is that well set in his life and he’s so embarrassed. The majority of seniors benefiting from Proposition 13 are not that well off. Most of them would lose their hard-earned homes if this tax was removed and would probably have to go on welfare, which would increase the state’s deficit.

I dare to say that Rankin’s taxes would hit a high note also. Proposition 13 is a safeguard for all homeowners in that you cannot have your taxes increased more than 2% per year. Without it, assessed tax values could go sky high, and most people could not afford to keep their homes.

I think Gov. Jerry Brown realizes that to stop Proposition 13, he would have so many homes in foreclosure he wouldn’t know where to turn.

Luella Noonan

Burbank

Gabel-Luddy a good fit for council

Burbank is very fortunate to have extremely qualified candidates for the City Council positions.

Emily Gabel-Luddy is the one candidate I am most familiar with.

I first became aware of her while I was the board secretary of the Los Angeles Police Commission and she was a hearing examiner with the Los Angeles Planning Department.

Later I observed her demeanor while attending Planning Department hearings in both Los Angeles and Burbank.

I found Gabel-Luddy to be extremely talented, always prepared and extremely concerned about problems of citizens appearing before her in both cities.

Based upon these observations, I would not hesitate to recommend her for the City Council.

William Cowdin

Burbank