Golonski does his job well

Your correspondents’ attacks on Dave Golonski raise some interesting points. How is it that Golonski has kept his seat on the City Council for 20 years?

Because voters have been satisfied with the job he has been doing. He acts like a dictator, writes Arthur Booth. I say that is hard to do when you are one vote out of five. Other than that absurd accusation, there is no substance to either attack on the mayor.

What can be substantiated, and in fact should be well known to at least those citizens who bother to vote, is that the city is confronting serious issues that will need council members who know the law, know how City Hall and Sacramento work, and are prepared to put in the time to read the documents and fully grasp the alternative courses of action and their consequences.

I have over the past few months come to know Dave Golonski through his recent appointment to the passenger rail board that oversees the Surfliner service. From his first meeting it was clear that Golonski had read not only the staff documents, but also a lot of additional background information and meeting transcripts. Thanks to his initiative, a failed service experiment that had continued too long was terminated and significant taxpayer dollars were saved.

You can argue for term limits if you like. You can claim that Golonski talks too much on the dais (hard to refute that at times), but you cannot argue against his dedication and commitment to the job he has been elected to do. I don’t always agree with his positions but I can draw comfort from the knowledge that he has given them thought and weighed the alternatives. As the city copes with a significant deficit and the hiring of a city manager and a chief of police, I would rather we have a pilot on the bridge who knows where the shoals are.

Paul Dyson
Burbank

Editor’s note: The writer is president, Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada, and chairman of the city of Burbank Transportation Commission.