City Council Special Election

     It is always difficult to pick a candidate to support in Burbank’s City Council elections --- and the special election going on now to fill the seat vacated by disgraced former Councilwoman Stacey Murphy is no different. On the other hand, it is fairly easy to know who “not” to vote for in these elections.
     After watching some of the oral communications session of the council meeting on January 10, I remembered why I stopped watching council meeting. In what appeared to be an orchestrated “show” put on by self-proclaimed supporters of David Gordon, speaker after speaker played the “pick on Bill Wiggins” game while voicing the virtues of Gordon. I hope most voters saw through this political propaganda.
     Gordon reminds me of a cleaned up version Ted McConkey, the ultimate council gadfly, who when elected remained outside and ineffective. By the way, I see McConkey has a Gordon sign on his front lawn. That should tell you something.
     Like most candidates in recent years, Gordon shows an utter lack of understanding about the airport issue. Pretty much they all do. I doubt if any of them ever read over the environmental impact report the airport originally prepared when the idea of a new, safer terminal was first proposed. (I did, by the way). And I’m almost certain few of them understand “runway capacity” and how it relates to the number of flights an airport can handle much more than the number of gates in a terminal. Unfortunately, thanks to the often biased reporting in previous years by the Burbank Mis-Leader newspaper, darned few residents of Burbank really understand the airport issue.
     So who do we vote for to the fill the empty council seat? I’m torn between three candidates--- Bill Wiggins, Vahe Hovanessian, and Mike Dontanville. Folks have let me know that they have found Dontanville to be a refreshing change from the other candidates, and he does take a more reasonable approach to the issue of the Airport.. Hovanessian is educated, articulate, and most of all, he wasn’t one of the incumbents running last time. In the last council election I voted for Hovanessian.(Yes, I had the good sense to not vote for Stacey Murphy).
     Wiggins on the other hand, probably has a good grasp of the airport issue due to his service as an airport commissioner. Hopefully, it has given him some new insight into the need to have a modern, safer terminal. The long, continuing battle over the airport is something of Wiggins own making. As a councilman, his was the swing vote that prevented the Airport Authority from selling bonds to finance the new terminal. Had Wiggins voted in favor of the bonds, we would already have had a new terminal years ago, the citizens of Burbank would have saved millions in legal fees paid to the City’s special attorneys, and the airport wouldn’t even be an issue in this election.
     Wiggins is a known quantity. He would bring his experience and non-confrontational qualities to the council. Both Hovanessian and Dontanville offer the opportunity and the risk of someone new on the council. They are all good choices. I hope Dontanville and Hovanessian run next year in the regular council election.
     Unfortunately, it boils down to which candidate can actually win. Dontanville just isn't well known enough to pull the votes needed to win. Hovanessian would be a good choice if he could win. I don’t think he has the votes this time around to beat both Gordon and Wiggins. Wiggins is the only one who can beat Gordon. A vote for Dontanville or Hovanessian will take away votes for Wiggins, and probably ensure a victory for Gordon. So I’m urging folks to vote for Wiggins. Just remember to mail your ballot in before January 24.

   --- Stan

posted 1/11/06

Questions or Comments email Stan at Burbank Blog.Com