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What
do I think of Americana at Brand, the Glendale project being put to a public vote in September? First, it’s not hard
to pick at details of the countless terms in myriad agreements and approvals tied to Glendale’s grand redevelopment
project, a mall that’s planned to combine retail space, movie theaters, rental housing and owner-occupied housing. That
would be the case no matter the developer involved, the anchor stores pursued, or the number and willingness of land owners
displaced as the city seizes land. Disposition and Development Agreements (DDA’s) are behemoth documents (the DDA for
A@B is 214 pages long, including attachments). It’s inevitable to stumble across debatable language, or boiler-plate
clauses that should be tweaked. After all, human beings are involved (and some lawyers).
Redevelopment itself is wide open to criticism, a naked form of corporate welfare with no means testing.
Consider the brazenness of seizing through eminent domain property that is now deemed blighted. The city is apparently under
no obligation to admit its pivotal role in the project area’s decline by having spent 15 years assuring everyone within
earshot the city would one day take the land (maybe next month, maybe in five years). Gee, why didn’t local businesses
invest more in expansion and upkeep?
CLICK HERE for a pdf "Americana at Brand!"
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House Detective Trio Busts Former Burbank Mayor!
May 24, 2004
Let’s put that one in the Hall of Fame for "Most Misleading
Headlines." But perhaps it got your attention, and in the realm of David Laurell, a former Mayor of Burbank, there is no such
thing as bad attention. Laurell served one term on Burbank’s city council, from 1999 to 2003.
Laurell and his wife Max were recently "profiled" via a program
on CourtTV. More accurately, the Laurell’s Burbank home was profiled on the network once known for gavel-to-gavel coverage
of notorious criminal trials. CourtTV has been steadily increasing its dramatic and reality-type programming. Among
those efforts is a new show called "House of Clues."
CLICK HERE for a pdf copy of "House Detectives Trio...!"
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| Glendale Councilman Dave Weaver |
A "Dreaming of Roses" Nightmare
March 26, 2004
Glendale City Councilman Dave Weaver boasts his role in the Glendale
Rose Float Association as a jewel in his community service crown. But controversy is swirling around his secretive handling
of tens of thousands of dollars raised for the annual effort to build a float representing Glendale in Pasadena’s Rose
Parade, and his refusals to allow GRFA board members access to financial records under his control.
The battles have all the earmarks of past debacles involving Weaver.
There’s money, ego, and reams of information he keeps secret. He remains unshakably certain literally every related
criticism is unfounded, part of a years-long conspiracy among sinister forces to "get" him. Finally, some of the rumors revolving
around Weaver’s latest have been recklessly exaggerated by his critics to the point of obscuring the kernels of truth
at their center.
CLICK HEREl for a pdf copy of "Dreaming of Roses Nightmare"
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(Deceptive) MAIL CALL!
March 1, 2004
Perhaps the only thing more infuriating, insulting and deeply
concerning than the rubbish hoisted upon us in campaign literature delivered to our homes is the fact that it works.
Time after time, wrap your issue or your candidate in a few quick,
easy-to-digest declarations, and that small percentage that does manage to get off its backside to vote will fall for it hook,
line and sinker. Another revolting truth in this pattern, one rife with revolting truths, is that so many of those voters
proudly display their "I Voted!" stickers while suffering under the delusion that they had a clue as to what they were doing.
CLICK HERE for pdf copy of "Deceptive Mail Call!"
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The Jury Prize
February 13, 2004
When one has as many boneheaded ideas as I seem to have, one takes vindication where they can find it.
And I definitely see vindication in the recent felony corruption convictions leveled against a handful of city officials from
Compton, California. I was thrilled to see the LA Times cover the story prominently. The jury’s findings, the culmination
of a long overdue prosecution, reinforce my longtime opinion that some of the officials I’ve covered in the Burbank
and Glendale area over the years deserved to wear handcuffs, and to serve time behind bars.
CLICK HERE for a pdf version of "Jury Prize"
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OOPS, HE DID IT AGAIN!
School Officials Refuse to Learn Their Lessons.
January 20, 2004
Burbank - At the final meeting in 2003
of the Burbank School Board, a district staffer stood and made a difficult confession. He’d failed to complete an application
for federal funds that Burbank’s Adult School was eligible to receive, and so the district would not receive $208,000
it had expected. Without that anticipated revenue, the Adult School had to eliminate jobs and raise fees.
The admission from Adult School Director Tim Buchanan had to have
been difficult. But his noble declaration "I’m the person who’s responsible [for completing the applications]"
was effectively withdrawn an instant later when he added the tag, "when we’re alerted [that the application is due]."
Trouble is, Buchanan, two senior members of the school board and every high level staffer in the room knew something that
not one of them admitted aloud. The district had been alerted.
CLICK HERE for a pdf copy of "Ooops..."
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A DARK AND CLOUDY NOVEMBER DAY
November 22, 2003
I recently attended the funeral for Matthew Pavelka, the Burbank officer slain while on
duty last month. I attended as a private citizen, not as a journalist covering the event, and so it wouldn’t be appropriate
to share with you everything I learned and observed. But the experience did give me some insight to help address some comments
I’ve heard and answer some questions asked in the days just before and after the funeral...
CLICK HERE for a pdf version of this full column.
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| All photos from BPD web site |
This link will take you to the Burbank Police Department's web site, and a memorial for Officer
Matthew Pavelka.
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Here come da Judge!
November 5, 2003
The calls came flooding in, outrage over Glendale Councilman Gus
Gomez running to be a Judge with the Los Angeles County Superior Court. The outrage was focused on Gomez having pledged during
his recent reelection campaign that he would not run for "higher office" if he was elected to another term....
CLICK HERE for a pdf copy of this full column.
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Doctor, Doctor, give me
the news!
Oct. 25, 2003
I think it was three or four years ago that the Los Angeles Times began
running every few months a list of "Displinary Actions" imposed on area physicians by the California Medical Board. It has
been a sort of companion piece to the same newspaper’s monthly listing of citations from the Los Angeles County Health
Department in the process of inspecting restaurants.
When I first began paying attention to the punishments
meted out by the Medical Board, it was hard not to notice that the actions were hardly timely. For example, in disciplines
listed in the last weekend of October 2003, the bulk involved cases that were actually wrapped up in May, June or July. More
significantly, however, some of the cases concluded just this past summer had been underway well over a year...
CLICK HERE for a pdf version of this column.
Link to California Medical Board's Web Site | 
