Media City Groove
Media City/Burbank l news l entertainment l features l opinion l and whatever sparks interest
A major Magnolia Park business is calling it quits. This time it’s not a huge spike in the rent to blame, but a dramatic drop off in business. Management at Full O’ Life, 2515 West Magnolia Blvd, broke the bad news to employees last Tuesday. Full O’ Life, a healthy foods market and cafe, opened back in June of 1959. Cindy Moon and her mother, Kay Matheson, 97, are the owners. The opening of Whole Foods The family run business has weathered a lot of hard times, but the recent... Read More →
Burbank City Manager, Mark Scott, has the town buzzing again. Actually the dust of confusion and shock has not really settled from Scott’s abrupt resignation last month, uh, he changed it to retirement, no wait, it’s now apparently back to resignation! Last Monday, the San Bernardino Sun reported Scott would be the “city’s interim manager beginning Feb. 8.” The news of Scott’s selection by the San Bernardino City Council was first disclosed publicly in Burbank by a commenter on the Semichorus blog and... Read More →
For months now, there has been chatter around B-town about former Burbank Airport Commissioner, Sue Georgino, and where her true loyalties lie. On the city council agenda tonight, a discussion regarding Georgino’s decision to take a consulting job with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority less than a year, after resigning her position as a commissioner on that authority representing the interests of the city of Burbank. Recently, Councilman, Dr. David Gordon, requested the matter be agendized after disclosing Georgino was hired last May “to provide strategic planning for a 14-gate replacement... Read More →
A funeral service will be held later today for former-Burbank police cadet and Bakersfield Police Officer, David Nelson. The 26 year-old former Burbank High School graduate was killed in the line of duty last Friday, when his cruiser crashed during a police pursuit. In a statement from the Burbank Unified School District, Nelson is remembered as “… an intelligent, caring, funny, energetic, and hardworking young man who touched many lives.” The service for Officer Nelson is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills... Read More →
The city of Burbank is still buzzing about the city council majority’s approval two weeks ago of the controversial Talaria mixed-use project. Tonight the council will revisit the project with the second reading of an ordinance approving Talaria. This is an opportunity for the council to reconsider its decision on the major aspects of this far-reaching development. No one really expects the council to do a 180 and kill the project, which is backed by BMV Investment Co., LLC and Burbank Media Village LLC — the powerful local real estate management... Read More →
Burbank City Manager Mark Scott is supposed have his finger on the pulse of the city and know how local government operates. Before coming to Burbank in August of 2013, Scott “worked in the city management profession for more than 35 years, including 24 years as a city manager in 5 cities” according to his bio on the Burbank city website. So a lot of folks were shocked, amazed, and some even speechless last Friday, when Scott abruptly revoked the installation of one-hour temporary parking restrictions on the... Read More →
After a week off, the Burbank City Council is back in session tomorrow. The five council members have a busy agenda over the next few weeks. On the list, the showdown over the parking issues in the 3400 block of Magnolia Boulevard. After festering for months, the dispute has boiled over, resulting in merchants slinging harsh allegations at each other and even a blistering “cease and desist” letter being delivered to two store owners. The city council needs to step in and resolve the matter. On August 23,... Read More →
The dispute over parking in the 3400 block of Magnolia Boulevard has taken an ugly and disturbing turn. Over a period of several months, some of the merchants have spoken out and contacted city officials about parking problems along that block. At the center of the dispute is the coffeehouse/cafe, Romancing the Bean. No longer a sleepy street known only to dealers and buyers of antiques and collectibles, the boulevard is now attracting shoppers and diners who see it as a trendy and cool place to visit.... Read More →
Some issues, like the debate over the selection of Burbank’s mayor, never seem to die. It frequently comes up in the spring when a new mayor is picked by the city council members. In the past, there have been some ugly episodes with certain council members being shut out of the rotation for mayor. Dr. David Gordon has been passed over several times for the position, which is mostly ceremonial. Last May, following outrage and pressure from the public and media, Gordon was voted in Read More →
The stare-down between the Burbank City Attorneys Association and the Burbank City Council is over. The association blinked. City Hall sent out a news release yesterday saying: “Representatives of the BCAA advised the City Manager by letter on July 17, 2014, that their group is disbanding effective immediately and is withdrawing a lawsuit and several complaints with the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB)” Also, the release is posted on the Burbank City website. Here’s the back story. Contract negotiations between the city and the BCAA reached an impasse last summer. Then... Read More →
The Burbank City Council will again be crunching budget numbers tonight during a special city council meeting. At the June 10 meeting, the council majority shocked the over-confident staff by not approving utility rate increases for electric, water, refuse, and sewer. The vote was 3-2 with council members Emily Gabel-Luddy and Gary Bric voting for the rate increases. Council member Jess Talamantes, Vice-Mayor Bob Frutos and Mayor Dr. David Gordon voted against the rate hikes. The staff had assumed the council would roll over and accept its recommendation... Read More →
There are issues and controversies Burbank folks can’t stop talking about. The proposed and long-stalled Walmart superstore at the old Great Indoors location on North Victory Place at the Empire Center is one of those hot debates. Right now, B-town is buzzing about the September 4th ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Allan J. Goodman. It’s a tentative decision, but still has shaken up city hall. At the Tuesday, September 10 city council meeting, Burbank City Attorney summed up the ruling this way: “… the city lost... Read More →
Actor Ben Affleck played a superhero on the big screen once, and many movie fans don’t want to see that happen again. Affleck played a blind Marvel comic hero in “Daredevil,” which opened Valentine’s Day 2003. The film was pretty much a dud. It cost around $78 million and to date, has made only $102 million. Yesterday, Warner Bros announced Affleck as the new Batman in the “Man of Steel” sequel set for 2015. There is chatter all over the Internet about the selection. The negative reaction... Read More →
After one season of less than dazzling play center, Dwight Howard, is saying bye-bye to the Lakers and its fans. For weeks, there has been a lot of chatter about Howard and what he might do once he became a free agent on July first. Would he re-sign with the Lakers or go elsewhere? Last night, it became official: Howard was blowing off some heavy recruitment by Kobe and the Laker management and headed to another NBA Team. Apparently, the Lakers were outmaneuvered by the... Read More →
A newly reorganized Burbank City Council got down to business with a closed door session at City Hall late today. The only item listed on the agenda is a conference with legal counsel about anticipated litigation. After yesterday’s momentous event, the Burbank City Council has a fresh start and hopefully, it will drop the old baggage (stale approaches, unworkable ideas, and biases) and get on with fixing the problems and solving the issues that are swirling around Burbank. In her acceptance speech, Mayor Gabel-Luddy spoke about her theme for the coming... Read More →
Here we go again. Rumors are flying and the Internet is buzzing with chatter about NBC replacing Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.” I don’t know what it is about Leno that makes NBC want to kick him around. Remember when then NBC honcho, Jeff Zucker, came up with the brilliant idea of pushing Jay Leno into a primetime show and handing over the “Tonight Show” to the younger, quirky, funnyman Conan O’Brien — at the time the host of “Late Night.” Leno was still at... Read More →
Victory for Measure “S” Supporters of Measure “S” in Burbank are celebrating victory. The numbers for Tuesday’s election are out and the improve Burbank schools measure won easily with 4, 053 “Yes” votes — which amounted to 61.45% of the tally. They needed 55% for approval. The $110 million bond will be funded by a property tax of $55 annually per $100,000 assessed value. I cast my ballot in the election at John Burroughs High School over in the 1900 block of Clark Avenue. I voted... Read More →
The Tribune company, the owner of the Los Angeles Times and the Burbank Leader, emerged from a lengthy and expensive bankruptcy on December 31, 2012 — and now there is even more talk about selling assets — especially the newspapers.The Tribune has new owners and a new board of directors. The Tribune has in its financial portfolio eight major newspapers, among them the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune, and several smaller papers ,and some websites as well as 23 TV stations — including KTLA in Los... Read More →
The controversy surrounding the dismissal of the Omar Rodriguez cases has put the Burbank City Attorney, Amy Albano, on the hot seat. At the city council meeting on August 14, Albano, was asked to explain how the Omar Rodriguez cases ended. You might remember, Albano took over as city attorney last October. Albano reportedly has nearly twenty years of experience in municipal government and was previously the city attorney for Thousand Oaks. Albano beat out 27 other candidates for the Burbank city attorney job. So one would think... Read More →
A lot of folks want to know the details of the settlement handed to former Burbank Police Lieutenant, Omar Rodriguez, by the city of Burbank. And rightly so. Rodriguez was fired in April 2010, after filing a 2009 lawsuit with several minority Burbank police officers, complaining of illegal activity in the department, including discrimination and retaliation. The lawsuit and the fallout from it is part of what has become known as the scandalous Burbank “police mess.” In a recent Burbank Leader article about the settlement and the decisions to... Read More →
A lot of chatter in B-town and on the Internet about the appointment of Burbank Police Lieutenant, John Dilibert, as an interim school board member — to complete the term of Debbie Kukta — who recently stepped down to take the interim position of city treasurer. Lt. Dilibert narrowly won out over former Park, Recreation, Community Services board member/chair and political strategist, Steve Ferguson. Lt. Dilibert, 48, has served on a number of community and private boards and committees– including an interim term on the Burbank Unified School District Board... Read More →
Some of those hard working employees at the Internet giant Yahoo are getting shown the door today. Two thousand employees are being sacrificed”…as part of an overall plan to reshape the Company for the future,” Yahoo says in an SEC filing, according to deadline.com. No word yet on how many of the Yahoo employees working in Burbank will get the axe. Yahoo reportedly has around 14,000 employees. While these workers are kicked to the curb, behind the scenes, there’s drama going on over... Read More →
