Friday, October 30, 2009
Photo 11/01/09: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove —Burbank Police and Fire Headquarters where the flags are flying at half-staff in remembrance of Sgt. Neil Thomas Gunn, Sr. The Burbank Police Department has taken some pretty big hits lately from lawsuits, investigations, low morale, scandal and now the apparent suicide of one of its patrol officers. According to a press release put out by […]
Monday, October 26, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove. (From left to right) Commissioner James Etter’s empty chair, Chairman Robert Frutos, Commissioner Claudia Bonis, and Commissioner /Vice-Chairman Nathan Rubinfeld at the October 14 police commission meeting. There’s a good chance James Etter’s chair will be vacant at this Wednesday’s special Burbank Police Commission Meeting. Commissioner Etter walked out of the police commission meeting on October 14, after complaining […]
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Photos: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Mayor/Councilman Gary Bric & Vice-Mayor/Council Member Anja Reinke Last Tuesday’s Burbank city council meeting provided a lot of reasons for folks to get riled up. At the top of the list, the city council’s 3-1 approval of that hotly-debated new film permit ordinance. Gary Bric, Anja Reinke, and Jess Talamantes voted for it. Dr. David Gordon was the […]
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank Police and Fire Headquarters at Third Street & Orange Grove Avenue. Burbank Police Commission meetings at police headquarters are getting more and more interesting. Last night’s meeting brimmed with drama including verbal fireworks and one commissioner abruptly walking out in a huff. The way I see it, these are the growing pains of commissioners who are struggling to break out of an […]
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Photo: Burbank City Councilman Dave Golonski from Burbank city website Burbank City Councilman Dave Golonski is not happy with the way the Burbank Leader newspaper reported on that statement read by Mayor Gary Bric at last Tuesday’s city council meeting. The much-talked-about and reported-on statement is the first official public reaction from the entire city council to a slew of police lawsuits […]
Friday, October 2, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove —Burbank Police and Fire Headquarters. In a recent Los Angeles Times story about the FBI probe and those lawsuits filed by former and current members of the Burbank Police Force, Burbank City Attorney Dennis Barlow had very little to say. City Attorney Barlow is quoted as saying he “… was unable to comment on the FBI investigation or […]
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank Mayor Gary Bric read a statement at last night’s council meeting. Finally, after weeks and months of mostly silence or as some folks have described it stonewalling, the Burbank City Council spoke out last night about the controversial and very messy situation surrounding the police department. Back on May 13, I wrote a post about the alleged problems in the BPD and called on the city […]
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank Police Vehicle The legal problems for the city of Burbank and its embattled police department got a whole lot worse this past week. On Tuesday, well-respected Ex-Deputy Police Chief Bill Taylor filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that he was demoted to captain for drawing attention to several serious incidents in the department, including discrimination […]
Friday, September 11, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank Burbank officials have hammered residents with new water restrictions, penalties, and higher rates recently. We’re in a water crisis they insist. Well, you’d think if the shortage is as serious as they say, the first order of business would be to make the city as water efficient as possible. There are indications this has not been a high priority or the […]