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Friday, July 10, 2009
Opinion > Editorials
When John Adams wrote to his wife in 1776 regarding the celebratory day of America’s independence, he told her that it “ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance . . . to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
At a time when local governments are closing ranks around their municipal budgets like herds of elephants around their threatened calves, it was a pleasant surprise to see the City Council last week put up $275,000 of its own general fund money to support school youth counseling programs — often among the first to be lopped off by the budget ax.
In the latest chapter of the ongoing Police Commission saga, City Council members voted to require applicants for the Police Commission to disclose any criminal background. Fine. But then they had to go and direct the city attorney’s office to keep those disclosures confidential, even though those answers will be factored into the public appointment process.
Burbank’s political appetite for all things green is pretty well-established. So when the City Council voted Tuesday to discontinue the BurbankBus’ downtown loop, you know there had to be reason.
The City Council, in voting to remove newly installed Police Commissioner John Brady on Tuesday, only made a bad situation worse. Now we not only have a Police Department in turmoil over a discrimination lawsuit, but a Police Commission that has apparently become the latest political thorn in the side of City Hall.
Chromium 6 contamination is a scary prospect, but in the absence of any official retort, it’s easy to let imagination take hold. Until the allegations of contamination levied in a recent spate of lawsuits against the Walt Disney Co. are vetted in a courtroom, it’s best to leave the “imagineering” to the studios.
Given all the headlines coming out of other cities regarding layoffs, tapping reserves and forced work furloughs, the City Council’s adoption of a balanced $774-million budget Tuesday was a relatively painless experience.
The lawsuit filed this week against the Burbank Police Department on behalf of five officers purports to expose racial discrimination and sexual harassment. We know, roller hockey is way cool, or at least, it was in the ’90s. Then came skateboarding, but at the risk of sounding prudish, even that appears to be waning. Now it appears BMX bikes have taken over the youth activity landscape, right before street parasailing takes hold, or extreme hand-walking.
On Tuesday, 18,000 same-sex married couples in California, including dozens in Glendale and Burbank, found themselves in an awkward position. Their marriages, performed before voters approved Proposition 8 last year, would be upheld, but all other gays would have to settle for domestic partnerships. Previous Opinion HeadlinesJuly 4th, 2009 EDITORIAL: Taking one for our youthAt a time when local governments are closing ranks around their municipal budgets like herds of elephants around their threatened calves, it was a pleasant surprise to see the City Council last week put up $275,000 of its own general fund money to support school youth counseling programs — often among the first to be lopped off by the budget ax.EDITORIAL: Persisting in tough timesWhen John Adams wrote to his wife in 1776 regarding the celebratory day of America’s independence, he told her that it “ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance . . . to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”June 29th, 2009 EDITORIAL:Burbank’s political appetite for all things green is pretty well-established. So when the City Council voted Tuesday to discontinue the BurbankBus’ downtown loop, you know there had to be reason. |
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