Photo: Janet Strong, North Screenland Drive resident, at a city council meeting in Burbank March 8, 2011
Recently, I was listening to one of the Burbank council meetings. A gentleman speaking on behalf of his neighbors asked for help with an ongoing problem of parking on their street. Some neighbors have driveways and others do not. This dilemma has some neighbors overlapping other folks’ driveways in order to park and is causing problems for city trash pick up as well. This neighborhood is being denied respect. Safety concerns for their health and welfare are being ignored.
This is very wrong. Why does this neighbor and his neighbors have to beg for help to obtain permit parking? According to Burbank traffic engineer, Ken Johnson, the neighbors are still two signatures short of the requirement by staff. These neighbors have filled out all the paperwork for the permit, jumped through all the staff hoops. Instead of working with them, city staff works against them. This kind of reaction from staff, forces residents to return again and again to make the same request for help before the city council.
Can’t anyone at Burbank city hall do something for the people who live in that neighborhood?
Some points for Ken Pulskamp, our interim city manager. At that recent council meeting Pulskamp, spoke up and asked the Public Works Director, Bonnie Teaford, to be kind enough help these neighbors . Let us hope the neighbors will get their parking permit without anymore hassles. It shouldn’t be this difficult for residents to get help from their city officials.
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Janet Strong is a retired motion picture costume artist, long time Burbank resident, and concerned citizen.
