Burbank's Holiday in the Park

Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank will be closed tonight between Buena Vista and Hollywood Way for the annual "Holiday in the Park."  This should be great fun if it doesn't rain.  My reason for going: this will be a good opportunity to visit some of Burbank's and the greater L.A. area's best resale and vintage clothing stores (yes, I've previously blogged about Burbank's clothing stores).

Statue of Lenin unveiled in Burbank

Burbank City unveiled a brand new statue of Vladimir Lenin last week in Burbank!  This pic is a preview, but now Lenin is in front of a giant American flag and is overlooking Costco.  As if.

Oh, wait, no this is Dr. David Burbank.  He just looks like Lenin.

Burbank's commitment to environmental sustainability

Burbank Public Works has just sent out a terrific, 8-page brochure on recycling and environmental sustainability projects in Burbank. The brochure includes a profile of the recycle center, info on what's recyclable in Burbank, tips for "greening up" summer parties, the last laws, refund values of bottles and cans, info on city green workshops (call the Burbank Recycle Center for details at 818-238-3900), info on the Sustainability Action Plan, ideas for natural landscaping and more. If you'd like a copy, please phone 818-238-3900. Way to go, Burbank!

Swat Team on San Jose - Update

Update 4/30/2008: This is hearsay, but a coworker says it was a gang-related shooting. Great. And Burbank P.D. doesn't want to publicize it, because they don't want even MORE gangs here. It's 3:00 pm, and San Jose from Glenoaks to 6th is blocked off. A Burbank PD swat team is assembling, and there appears to be a covered up body in the road. Anybody know what's happening?

Sober Living in Burbank

Note: the post that follows originally appeared here on March 5. It continues to get many comments. Because of that, I've moved it to the top of this page so it doesn't disappear (as it will on Blogger when it gets to the bottom.) Please feel free to continue commenting here, and to also check out the other posts on sober living in Burbank. I am happy to be able to foster a community dialogue. [Today's] Burbank Leader reports that local residents are angry about a sober-living house on Clark Street. Sober-living residences usually house a half-dozen people who are recovering from alcohol and drug addiction. At a recent community meeting, neighbors complained that this home was endangering their children and lowering their property values. The article states that the police have been called to this particular home several times and made three arrests there in 2007. These state-funded residences currently cannot be regulated by municipalities, although there are on-going attempts to change that.

As an aside, I'll cop to being addicted to shows like A&E's Intervention. Yes, it's just another reality show. But it has performed a service, at least for me, in that it has educated me immensely about addiction -- and I had a death in my own family last year as a result of chronic alcoholism. I've learned that sober-living situations can be vital to those struggling to get well.

So here's the conundrum: don't we as a community and a society have a responsibility to help those trying to help themselves? Isn't giving recovering addicts an opportunity to live in a normal community a good thing? I think so. But would I feel safe living close to this particular facility? No. Any answers from anybody out there?

Burbank Sober Living in My Office

Further to all the sober-living posts on this blog: Today during my weekly office meeting, I learned that there was a community meeting recently to complain about the particular house on Clark Street in Burbank. At least one of my co-workers attended, and said there were 50 people there, including 3 city council members. There were differing opinions on whether a sober-living home lowers surrounding property values and endangers the neighbors. I say "no" to both of those. I spoke about my own neighbor situations (we've had bad ones [see posts below])(3/11/08-oops, update: although I've spoken about my family situation, I just realized that neglected to talk about neighbors in my previous posts. That's updated in the comment here. Sorry) and also my family situation, and I also suggested that my co-workers look at the numerous posts on this issue here.

Follow Up on Sober Living Post

See the post below about the sober living facility on Clark. The owner of the home responded with a comment, and I sent that along to the writer of the Burbank Leader story, Jeremy Oberstein. Here's part of his response:

Thanks for passing along that comment from the blog. I did speak to the owner of the house and we are running another story about conditions in the home.

Thanks, Jeremy.

Update: click here for the 3/7/2008 updated Burbank Leader story.

Magnolia Blvd. 1, Burbank Blvd. 0

There's a new weapon in Magnolia Blvd.'s ongoing war for global domination with Burbank Blvd. -- flower baskets. These geranium baskets grace just about every light pole on Magnolia between Buena Vista and Hollywood Way. I've learned that they are paid for by the Magnolia Park merchants, although they will be maintained by the City. How will Burbank Blvd. counter this?

Fire at Michael's

Last night, there was a fire at Michael's Restaurant on Olive. Two adjacent homes were also burned. The fires were set by two 17-year-olds, according to the police, and did serious damage to all the properties, although Michael's is open for lunch. More news when there is some.

Got Loft?

Want a loft but don't want to move downtown or to North Hollywood? The Burbank Collection is open for sales and will be available for occupancy next June. This is the complex going up right across from the AMC in downtown Burbank and will feature a fitness center, swimming pool, dog run, etc. Each 1-, 2-bedroom or penthouse unit will have 2 side-by-side parking spaces and guest spaces. I haven't seen the model units yet, but I'm told they all have high ceilings, stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops and washer dryers. At this point, they range in price from $700,000 to $1,000,000, but I expect that will change as the market continues to contract. I was recently in downtown Burbank on Saturday night and was impressed by the foot traffic. It truly has become a "destination" and I think it would be a fun place to live.

Shootings in our Little Burbank!

There was a triple murder-suicide on my block this past Thursday. It was a neighbor-against-neighbor dispute, in a large apartment building, and at least one victim had nothing to do with the dispute. Family members were witnesses. Putting aside the issue of gun control, what does this say about urban density? In particular, the growing density in my neighborhood? (Okay, I'm a NIMBY.) Sure, this could be looked at as an isolated incident. But each week the police log in the Burbank Leader lists at least one crime "incident" on San Jose, a block away. As we all know, San Jose has become extremely overbuilt in the last two years and the number of people living in the neighborhood has soared. But the City planning staff member that I spoke to in April insisted at the time that there's no statistical correlation between density and crime. Oh, really? Tell this to the other neighbors who were in the bullets' paths. This shooting is just more fuel for my developing anti-growth sentiments. Incidentally, most of my co-Realtors are pro-growth.

No July 4 celebration

The City of Burbank has announced that it will not have its annual July 4 fireworks show this year due to the high fire danger on the hillsides. Good idea. Fires have broken out after the Starlight Bowl show even in wet years.

Burbank Planning Board

My appeal of the project on Harvard Ave. was denied by the Burbank Planning Board last night. No surprise there. It seems that the Board is going to pretty much rubber-stamp anything that meets the current codes. I won't be appealing to the City Council. However, I'm debating going to the CC to ask them to consider down-zoning in the area. Any thoughts?