Photo: FLLewis/ Media City G — Former mayor/Council member Emily Gabel-Luddy at the city council reorganization meeting May 1, 2014
Burbank City Council member, Emily Gabel-Luddy, is seeking a second term. Gabel-Luddy is basing her campaign on her lengthy experience in city government and views for the future of Burbank. Here are Gabel-Luddy’s responses to the questions I emailed to all city council candidates.
1. Why are you the best candidate for a seat on the Burbank City Council?
I believe my credentials, which combine thirty years of experience as a professional city planner, ten years on the Burbank Planning commission, three and a half years on the city council and a year as Mayor clearly make me the most qualified candidate for the City Council.
2. What are the major problems facing the city that you can help solve?
The most important, and in many ways most challenging issue facing the city will continue to be achieving the right balance between economic growth and neighborhood protection so that we can maintain and enhance the Quality of Life that we have come to identify with living in Burbank. It is the most difficult because it means managing all the issues that contribute to our quality of life, not just one or two. It requires hard choices, creative solutions and occasional compromise.
I think people are properly worried about change in the community and what it will mean for them and their family or their jobs. They worry that Burbank will be overrun with out of scale and out of character development, and point to Glendale and Los Angeles as examples of what they don’t want for Burbank. They are equally clear about how much they value the level of services we provide and the facilities that are available to them, from the new Verdugo Aquatics Center to the Recycling Center; from our Burbank Police Officers, Firefighters and Paramedics quick response to our doorstep; and the availability of meals, instruction, exercise and transportation to and from our premier senior center, The Joslyn Center. I have a friend who consistently says, “Only in Burbank.” That phrase captures the best our community has to offer and what people fear losing.
I support maintaining and enhancing the Quality of Life that makes Burbank special and I believe that a sensible, constructive and moderate course of leadership is the most successful approach for our city in the future.
3. What are the biggest concerns of residents? What do you think the city council should do to alleviate those concerns?
Clearly the biggest concern of residents is the preservation of the quality of life that has come to define Burbank. I think people worry about change in the community having a negative impact and that is a concern I share.
I think the council needs to focus on policies that balance the community’s equally strong interests in maintaining the level of services offered by the city, and protecting the single family neighborhoods we value so highly, with the need for a strong local economy that generates the revenue to support those services and provide the well-paying employment we want for ourselves and our children.
###
Q & A with other city council candidates
