Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Burbank has not escaped the bumps and bruises of the brutal recession, but yesterday it got some good news from one of the top financial agencies. Standard and Poor’s upgraded Burbank’s credit rating to “AAA,” the highest grade possible. S&P credited the Media City with a strong local economy, steady tax base, low debt, high reserve balance, and attractive location in […]
Friday, November 20, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Attorney Solomon E. Gresen speaks to the media outside Burbank city hall on November 3, 2009. Encino Attorney Solomon E. Gresen represents Burbank Police Lieutenant Omar Rodriquez and several of the other eight present or former BPD officers suing the city and the department. The Burbank Leader reports BPD Detective Angelo Dahlia alleges in his lawsuit that he saw Lieutenant Rodriquez threaten […]
Friday, November 20, 2009
File Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank Police and Fire Headquarters at North Third Street and Orange Grove Avenue. The number of present or former Burbank Police Officers suing the city and some department brass jumped to eight this week, and there are indications that total will go even higher. The latest lawsuit was filed by BPD Detective Angelo Dahlia on Tuesday in federal court, […]
Monday, November 9, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove —Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr I don’t know if he was pushed or he volunteered, but Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr is heading for the door. The announcement appeared a short while ago on the Burbank city website. It comes almost a week after that volatile council meeting where Councilman David Gordon called for an […]
Friday, November 6, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank City Councilman David Gordon and Vice-Mayor/Council Member Anja Reinke at the Tuesday November 3, 2009, council meeting. Reverberations from last Tuesday’s Burbank City Council meeting are still shaking the town and probably will continue to do so for some time. That should really come as no surprise to anyone who was there or watched it […]
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 […]
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 […]
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove A human rights issue in China stirred up the Burbank City Council meeting last night. I was there for the first public comments section and heard some passionate supporters of the Chinese health and spiritual movement Falun Gong speak out. They attempted to bear witness to the persecution of the practice by China, which considers Falun Gong a cult. During a 10 […]