Mailbag: Ramani service speaks for itself
In response to Carl Hunter’s recent allegations that Sunder Ramani could not “have an interest in this community if he does not live here,” I beg to differ (“Neighbors say they haven’t seen much of Ramani,” Sept. 17).
Ramani’s business is in Glendale and was previously in Burbank for his entire adult life. He also owns property in Burbank. But more important, his service to this community has been tireless. For starters, he was one of the founding members of the Burbank Sunrise Rotary and has been a Burbank Rotarian ever since.
He has served on the board of directors for the Burbank YMCA, including as chairman. He has been Burbank Chamber of Commerce president, served on the board at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center and has been part of the Glendale Educational Foundation, just to name a few.
Obviously, I am not the only one to notice his immense contributions to this community. In 2005, he received both the Burbank Temporary Aid Center’s Top Award for Citizenship and the Burbank Assn. of Realtors’ Citizen of the Year Award, which was awarded “in recognition of your hard work to the people of Burbank.” In 2006, he received Glendale’s Man of the Year Award, and in 2007 Woodbury University bestowed upon him their “Movers and Shapers Award.”
Are you trying to disparage all these organizations by suggesting that these awards meant nothing? Besides established boards and organizations, Ramani has stepped up to help wherever there was a need. When a Burbank school needed a new sign for the front of its school, it was Ramani who raised the money and saw to it that they received their sign.
When Burbank Officer Matthew Pavelka was killed in the line of duty, it was Ramani who helped raise the money to help organize an event which honored all Burbank officers in Pavelka’s honor. This list of accomplishments could go on for great length if enough newspaper space was allowed, as this list does not exhaust all that he has done.
Personally, I would rather challenge Assemblyman Mike Gatto to display his record of service to the community side by side to Ramani’s. Any takers? I thought not.
Jeff Bryan
Burbank
Please Let Us Keep Our Bus
The city of Glendale is proposing the permanent elimination of public transportation in Glenoaks Canyon, home to hundreds of families (“Council discusses Beeline rate-hike,” Sept. 22). For more than 75 years these residents have had public transportation available. This involves only a one-mile extension of Line 201, which Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials say they cannot afford.
It is difficult to understand from a taxpayer’s point of view how anyone can even discuss building a “Subway to the Sea”, the most expensive method to create transportation, but the MTA cannot provide one mile on a paved road to accommodate hundreds of families.
How expensive can one mile be to add to Line 201? We realize there is a low ridership, but where will these riders go for public transportation when this is eliminated? These families pay a huge amount of taxes into many pots and we cannot receive one mile of public transit? This is not right, especially when we consider how much of our tax money is spent to benefit a few.
Dolores Francis
Glendale