myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Ask the Mayor with Nikki Perez - A Mayor’s Year In Burbank
A year that began with windstorms and fires ends with a gavel passed—but the real story is everything in between. We sit down with Mayor Nikki Perez for an unguarded look at what city leadership actually takes in a place like Burbank: twice the work, the same vote, and constant pressure to keep meetings civil and residents heard. Nikki opens up about navigating pregnancy and new motherhood while chairing council, the moments where decorum faltered, and why protocol matters when the room is tense and the stakes are high.
We dig into the most contentious issue of the year—rent. After two years of study and public input, the council lands on a 4% soft cap with relocation assistance when increases exceed that threshold and tenants can’t afford to stay. Nikki wanted a hard cap, but chose to compromise to get the city moving and prevent serial shock increases. The conversation reaches beyond rent to the bigger affordability squeeze—utility rates, inflation, and the cost of delay—and how early, steady adjustments beat crisis spikes every time.
Burbank’s wider identity and economy are in play, too. With studios shifting and mergers in the headlines, residents fear for jobs and small businesses. While the city can’t reverse federal decisions, it can clarify zoning, protect infrastructure, and keep Burbank film-friendly with a responsive, human permit process. Nikki highlights the city’s police leadership, the strength of its staff and PIO team, and the practical realities the next mayor will face: a likely budget deficit, tariff impacts, and the need to prioritize core services while communicating clearly about what local government can and cannot change.
What keeps a leader going when the inbox is harsh and the chambers are loud? Letters from kids, neighbors who stop her in the grocery aisle, and a family that shows up—every time. If you care about how cities actually work—rent policy, public safety, film permits, zoning, budgets—this candid, grounded conversation delivers clarity and heart. Prefer more of these deep dives into local power and policy? Follow, share with a friend in Burbank, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.
My Burbank Talks presents another edition of Ask the Mayor, a monthly forum giving the Mayor of Burbank an opportunity to answer questions from you, the listener, and address issues important to the city of Burbank. Now let's join our hosts as they welcome the mayor of Burbank.
SPEAKER_03:Hello, Burbank. It's Craig Schuert here once again. And once again, I'm here with Ross Benson.
SPEAKER_04:Wow, I haven't been in this studio. I think I had hair last time, didn't I? Oh no, I had I had a full mouth of teeth. Oh, there you go. Now I lost the tooth, so I might lisp and tisk and blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_03:But we have renovations done in here and uh a nice new computer stuff. Yeah, wow. I'm pretty shocked. But what we have we still have is our mayor, Nikki Perez. We do. We are honored.
SPEAKER_00:Good to see you both. And the last time I was in the studio, I had a whole human with me.
SPEAKER_03:You're one and a half people here, actually. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I was. It's nice to be one person now with a beautiful little human on the side.
SPEAKER_03:Well, to actually we're filming this day before council reorganization. And uh so it's actually your last official day as the mayor of Burbank for now.
SPEAKER_04:So we have to say mayor Nikki Perez, because right now you are she is the mayor right now. Um weren't you supposed to be in bed at nine o'clock at five o'clock or something?
SPEAKER_03:Your days go very long when you're the mayor, though.
SPEAKER_00:This this is actually the longest day of the year for me because after this, I I actually go back to being frozen and hibernating until the next mayorship. Just kidding.
SPEAKER_03:Well, let's let's kind of talk about your year because the year is winding up right now. So I think the first question is did it measure up to what you thought it would measure up to being the mayor for of Burbank? Did what what was the thing that probably you didn't expect that you found you had to really do and stuff? Or what what was I mean, what's the experience like?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I I think I'll say one thing, and if if our future mayor, whoever they may be, is listening, um, because we will vote tomorrow, um the one piece of I think advice I would give is be ready because it is twice the amount of work. It is twice the amount of response because a lot of folks maybe don't know about our process at City Council. We have five council members who all get the same vote on the dais, but every year we vote for one of those people to become the mayor, which essentially means they are the chair of the meeting, they run the meeting, they keep the order, and they are ceremonious ceremonially the person who is presenting the certificates, giving awards, speaking on behalf of the city. And although they don't get any extra compensation or they don't have an extra vote, they are the face of the city for all intents and purposes. And for folks who maybe don't know the inner workings, you know, they look for the mayor. If you're coming from out of town, you look for the mayor. If you have a question, you probably want the mayor. And so the one thing I realized is I get a lot more emails, mail questions. And and it was pretty humbling this year to get a lot of asks to be at events and places.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I'm sure I'm sure most people don't realize how our system works in Burbank, where it's a rotating system, you know, every year. They just assume, like a lot of places, you elect a mayor.
SPEAKER_04:So, you know, I I will I I gotta say, you and I are together probably more than your husband on some days. You know, Blake and I are good friends, but your calendar sometimes has people don't realize 10 items on it. You and I can go from one ribbon cutting to another ribbon cutting, and then you go to a meeting where you have to be at City Hall with a group of kids or whatever, and people don't realize that one position. I remember a couple years ago, one of our mayors said, if his wife wasn't running the business, it would have gone under. Yeah. You are so busy. Now you you went through pregnancy, you went through a delivery of a a baby girl. On top of it, I saw you. I remember we were at one of the ribbon cuttings, and you looked to me and you said, My feet are so swollen, can you get me out of here?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, yeah. And Ross, to his credit, was like, the mayor needs to go home and put her feet up.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I would say that more than once. You know what? Let's get out of there. You are the first mayor to actually deliver a baby while in office, of course. Um, a whole new thing. I mean, you you added to the Burbank population, you know, one new voter in 18 years. Um, all I have to say, how tough is it goes to go through a pregnancy and then everything else, you know, while you're trying to do all these official duties.
SPEAKER_04:I gotta say, there one the reason I knew she was pregnant, she was up on the dias and said, I need to go pee. And I've never heard of Mary say that before. I do recall that, and I said, Boy, that's kind of unusual. But then when you got closer to you know birth, you were not holding a lot of water, you were just uh it is rough.
SPEAKER_00:And and you know, any of my colleagues can tell you it is hard up there to sit there, and and you don't want to be rude, you don't want people to know, but I have seen all of my colleagues do the little tap dance where we're like, oh man, there is all this public comment left, and we still have the report, but I need to use the restroom so that I can think. And so now imagine that with a little human squishing your bladder.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I very honestly I think there were some people who are very we're not I think just w rude, but yet you you'd have to leave and after you delivered and then they have to go and excuse them for 10 minutes or whatever, and you'd have to explain, hey, I I'm I'm doing things right now for my baby. And people didn't seem to care. It's like you know, I I get it, but this is real life too, you know, and and you you can't just you're you're not a robot. Yeah, and you can't be treated like a robot. I mean, you care, and it's not like you're ignoring people, but you you know, what are you gonna do? Cancel a meeting because you know, so or just not show up.
SPEAKER_04:I will say, thank goodness you had a great vice pair. Yes. She filled in a lot of times, and even all your council members. I gotta say, this last year I shot a lot of pictures. You guys cover each other's butt butt pretty darn good. And some days you and I know it's a busy day, especially if it's a meeting at council meeting day on a Tuesday. But people don't understand when you get your binder, they get a binder of what's gonna be at the council meeting. It is literally four inch thick, five inch thick, that they've had to they have to read through through the weekend, plus attend events. I mean, it's not you're just ceremonial and you show up one day a week. It's a full-time job.
SPEAKER_00:It's a full-time job that we somehow try to squeeze into a part-time job. Uh, and in a city like Burbank, you know, so some places still can can kind of get away with the part-time vibe because maybe they don't have a police department, maybe they don't have fire, maybe they don't have water and power. We have all of those things, and we have 105,000 residents, and we have the media and entertainment giants that we do. So it does become a full-time job. And I I hope people will consider that in in the future. You know, this is not a small town council. There's a lot of folks whose lives you're taking into your hands and decisions that you're making. But to your point, Craig, I will say I'm really grateful to all of the council members, to Justin and Courtney, to all of the city staff, the city executives, because they went on this ride with me that the city had never been on. It was completely unprecedented. There is nowhere in the charter in our council guidelines that speaks about a council member or the mayor being pregnant and needing certain accommodations. And so that's something that Justin and I talked about. And although most people were great about it, I know there are a few folks who don't understand, but I hope it kind of paves the way. I hope this was awkward for some of those folks. But in the future, the next time there's a pregnant mayor, they're like, oh, she's just like any other job, she's pregnant and she's gonna leave for a little bit.
SPEAKER_03:It's just too bad you had to scold people because it was just you know uncalled for, you know, unprofessional on their part.
SPEAKER_04:So well, I think that that is an overall picture how the decorum in our council meetings has changed. You and I have been watching council 45, 50 years.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we we go back to the days of you know Jules Kimmitt and and uh Merville Melperlich and uh all the rest of them.
SPEAKER_04:Oh I mean, we have a list. Yeah, we you know, and and guys would get kicked out. I mean, literally walked out. But now there used to be a decorum when you walked into that chamber. It's it's gone.
SPEAKER_03:Well it's a it's unfortunate swearing that bothers me too. I mean, I I wrote an opinion piece about a year ago because somebody was going and using the F word, and I'm going you know, Mike Nolan used to always do that also, and I'm and and Mike would we'd talk every week, all you want on the phone, we'd talk. And I always say, Mike, I go, you know more about this than anybody else in the city. You you're you make the greatest points in the world, you know the history, but all people remember when you're done talking is how you sort somebody or how you demean somebody. They don't you don't remember your message. So these people have to understand when you swear, that word becomes what people remember, not the message, you know.
SPEAKER_00:That's true, that's true. And and you know, my my watchfulness about it is in and sometimes I agree with what the folks are saying, you know, yeah, and then I feel it, and I understand that they're upset. There's a lot of things happening right now that are making our community upset. My only concern with the swearing is um when there's little ones in the chamber because sometimes there's parents who bring their little ones, and and that's not what they signed up for right now.
SPEAKER_03:You have to swear though, your vocabulary challenged, in my opinion. Seriously, you can't come up with a a word that fits instead, you have to use a slur or something.
SPEAKER_00:You can't I will say sometimes it comes from from the dais, too.
SPEAKER_03:So well, yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. Uh so we had a little at our last meeting where you got a little contentious, and I thought you handled it really well. Thank you. Um, but what anything you want to say about that or your your your feelings on that?
SPEAKER_00:I would just say if my colleagues, if the people of Burbank are listening, I said this when I took the gavel. My job as mayor, and I I think I've done that to the best of my abilities, is to run the meeting with decorum and to make sure that each one of my colleagues gets a word in, gets to share their opinions, and that everybody gets a chance to talk and everybody gets to follow the protocol and that we come to a consensus. Sometimes even something that I don't want, you know, but that's that's consensus. That's government at work. And I think the one disappointing thing for me was it it didn't was working all the way up to until my last meeting. It's like I guess maybe one out of uh one out of uh 12 months isn't isn't bad. But um that that last meeting, there was a a lack of order followed, and I had to bang the gavel at one of my colleagues to keep keep order in the meeting. And I just hope that as we look at the future, we remember that that's not what we want from ourselves. Because if we're asking for decorum from our residents, if we're asking for decorum and order from our boards and commissions, which we have done a lot of this year, then we should have that for ourselves. We should make sure we're not cutting each other off, especially the chair of the meeting, whoever they may be. And we should make sure that we can share our opinions respectfully and and we're gonna have different opinions, but we're all entitled to them. That's the whole point.
SPEAKER_03:Have you and uh that council member talked since then and and tried to work out the feelings or anything, or did you kind of just let it go and go deal with it later?
SPEAKER_00:You know, and and again, I I think for me it's not about feelings, it's just about procedure. For me, I'm sharing, I was sharing my opinion, and I actually had the leader point that out. They said, you know, there was some bickering, and I said, uh actually, no, you know, there was a breach of protocol, and that's it. When I was responding, I was not responding to the council members' comments, I was responding to the constituents because we had a lot of residents come up and share their fears, say they didn't feel acknowledged. And I think at one point I said it's not just thoughts and prayers for me, because I I saw that that group had posted online, oh, council is just giving us thoughts and prayers. And I hope they know that's never my intention. When I speak from the heart up there, when I say I feel you, I'm with you, I am feeling it. I'm worried about some of our residents. I have actually heard, and and right now they are unsubstantiated rumors, but there are voices and rumors going around that a citizen of Burbank was picked up by ice, a U.S. citizen. And not the first time, and it wouldn't be the first time in in during this ice raid situation. But to me, as the mayor, that concerns me on a personal level. That is the resident of my city who I feel responsible for, and I want to get to the bottom of that. So I want those folks to know that to me, it's there's an alarm. You know, the chief would very eloquently got up there and and re-reshared a statement saying, although we we don't have that substantiated evidence, we want that conversation with the public. We want to have that evidence. If you have that, send it my way. Let's talk. And I think he said something I really liked. He said, My job as the chief and and us as the department is to inspire confidence in the community and to create that relationship. And that's what I want too, you know. And so I felt a duty to respond to my constituents in that moment.
SPEAKER_04:You know, and I and I find um I will say I chief is doing a great job. Uh I will say we brought him in. You guys had several chiefs that you could have chosen. And you looked at his background and he loves what he's doing, and he's open communications, and he wants, you know, like he keeps saying, transparent. Yes. And he is. He got up there. That report he gave was quite he put a lot into it. Spoke eloquently, and that's how he feels. And that's when he was hired from Glendale. You guys looked at that. You know, you chose somebody in that position. And it's just sad now. You know, I I know before your term starts or when you're every year the council gets together. And one of the things is pointed out that you all get along. Yes. That is very uh we we Craig and I have witnessed some meetings that it got nasty way before this year. You know, and and that's why that was instituted. Was you guys gotta make decisions. You make decisions for a lot of people in this community and you gotta get along. You might not agree and like I we we've heard you know, it's fine that you don't agree, you know. Fu it's usually not a five-o vote vote, you know, but it's really you gotta like get along when you gotta come up with these decisions.
SPEAKER_03:We we've done about fifty podcasts here. And during the election or people came in and had different opinions than I have, and I did not agree with some of their opinions. But I always had a conversation with them. And I listened to what they have to say. Now did it change my mind? Probably not. But I thought they had the right to say it and get and the opportunity to say as much time as they needed to say it because I think we don't listen. We don't live give a person a chance to say their opinion and listen to it. You don't have to agree with it, but you had to be respectful of it. So I try always try to do our candidates when they came in and and anything else.
SPEAKER_04:Also with my Burbank. That is one of the points. Craig and I, when we started my Burr Bank 15 years ago, we'll take a letter from anybody. We have some perimeters, we have some rules and regulations that we go by. You gotta be a Burbank resident. I think you gotta you gotta give us a real address and phone number. I check it. And we we confirm those. Good, you know, and but we won't hold back a letter. You know, we are fair as fair.
SPEAKER_03:I don't agree with them. I think it's as long as they don't swear and things like that, okay. Um but we're off your point right now, which is not, you know, so I just want you to know that you know, I think what you're doing, and I agree with how you run a meeting too. And it's just unfortunate that we have um a situation where your colleagues don't have that same respect, you know, and I think you know, they have their chance to speak as long as they want to speak. And once their time is that they're done speaking, and just listen to somebody else.
SPEAKER_00:And and that's my hope for the future. I mean, and for the next mayor, you know, they got a tough job because things are not getting easier, these topics are not getting easier. And when this this stuff gets harder, we have to find it within ourselves, each one of us, to be able to have those conversations, you know, in in a polite manner and to be able to respond to the community in in the way we deem appropriate. I know that we are all gonna have a very different way of of responding to folks, and we each have we're entitled to that.
SPEAKER_04:So Well, it it it's funny you I'm just sitting here thinking, you said recently that prior to you being elected, I did not know who Nikki Perez was. And I didn't have and I I didn't we we talk, Craig and I talk all the time. And we you know, we had all the council uh candidates, and I did not know you. I will say I have not only worked with you, I love you. Um we have you you run the city quite well, you represent it quite well. I love most that you're a Burbank resident sitting in that chair. Nobody knows this city better than you.
SPEAKER_03:And you've earned our respect too. You have you've you've earned our respect, and that's it's important. And I may disagree with you on something, but I still respect what you are and what you're about.
SPEAKER_00:So you have witnessed your parents the world way more to than you agreeing with me. That the respect I think that's so foundational, and honestly, that means the world to me from from both of you. Thank you. Because respect is earned, it's not given.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you know, um you know, you've you've seen your parents you know, in this community. He works for the your dad works for the studio, you've witnessed it yourself. It's not like you're new to this city and what goes on with the businesses. You know, you went to Burroughs, you know, you went to Burroughs in Roosevelt. Yeah, you know, and you're a homegrown kid. You know, not a lot of people sit in that position can say, you know, every alley in this city, you know where you can play and where you can't.
SPEAKER_00:I gotta tell you, if if we're gonna talk about like best, worst, hardest things about like being the mayor, that's been the best part. It and very few people in the world or in in the United States get to say, I've been the mayor of a city. The club of people that have been the mayor of their hometown is very small, and it is the best feeling, I will say. That has been so, so amazing. Because I've also gotten to you just feel it on this deeper level, I will say. Like it's it's it's nothing like having your fifth grade teacher tell you, I'm so glad you're the mayor. That's something beyond. Like, I can't describe that, and that's that's been the thing I'm gonna hold on to the most.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, big. I mean, there's a you know, I mean, when you you know, when I was a head baseball coach, a head varsity coach. You feel the responsibility of running a program. It's you know, your decisions matter. And so being a mayor had this that's a big lot bigger than being a baseball coach. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:To that point, it is a double-edged sword. Like you said, I think Craig, you asked me this a few years ago. It was on police and fire day. You asked me, like, what's what do you feel now being on the council? Like uh, you know, that was a little questions back then. Oh, I remember this one because because I've been thinking about it in my head. You asked, like, how does it feel now? You know, the responsibility. Right. And I think I said, if people ever doubt or you know, think like, does she take this seriously? Not only is this my hometown, my family lives here. My parents, my brother, my cousins, my friends, people I grew up with, all of my friends, every my life is here, everybody is here. So every time I make a decision, every time I think of putting something forward, every time I vote, I think about all of that. It and and that is another huge amount of pressure. You think about sometimes maybe folks and my child now lives here, you know. You think about that pressure. Um, and and in a way, I think it helps me make better decisions because it affects the people I love directly. But we have the conversation, you know, when when you're at higher levels of office, maybe sometimes it's not as as pinpointed. You don't think about that, or maybe when you move from somewhere else and now you're you're in the city, you're like, well, you know, I I live here, but you don't think about the fact that this is gonna affect your mom and her retirement. You don't think about the fact that this is gonna affect your brother who works here in the city, and you know, and I think that's that's really important. And I've noticed now that we have more and more city employees who are who are in that boat. I actually met a couple of guys in in PD at at Spike's Memorial who who shared with me, like, hey, we know this is a very important thing for you, and I live in the city. And that's important because you you respond very differently when it's your community. There's a personal touch there.
SPEAKER_04:That brings up, you know, several years ago we had a councilman that uh put a law into effect about nepotism. And I think that should be revoked or changed now because it did. Um you have you watch your mom or dad go be a policeman or a fireman or work for public works all these years, and you can't go to work for the same department. And it's sad, and I think that you that should be changed now because we're not getting you know, if your dad was a cop or a police officer or a fireman, you witness you know, you watch them work for a fantastic city. And if you want to do it now, you'd say do the same job, but you have to do it in other another city.
SPEAKER_03:You know, Burbank.
SPEAKER_04:Zezette, for example, her son can't come to work here because she's a council member. And it's so unfortunate. He's a police officer in Glendale, just got promoted to sergeant from detective, and he can't transfer to Burbank. There's firefighters who their their kids have to go down to fire departments. So and that's that's unfortunate.
SPEAKER_00:Do you know if it's until folks retire that they can't like once they retire, they're not gonna be able to do retirement.
SPEAKER_03:Right. But they work for the city currently, no, they've got uh they've got to uh they can't be involved in the same department stuff.
SPEAKER_04:You know, and it's unfortunate because we are not getting the cream of the crop because when you're born and raised here as you have said, you don't know this city. Yeah you know, and I will say I talked to your m your mom and dad last week at tree lighting. They're so proud of you. You know, um being a parent you want your kid to do well.
SPEAKER_03:You know, and Ross gets emotional sometimes in these things. Like I say, my kidneys are behind my eyes. They are. Okay, well let me let me uh I'm gonna change the subject but not the mood. Let's talk about what are you most proud of in your term of what did you accomplish that you are most proud of in your year as mayor?
SPEAKER_00:I think I'm gonna talk off the dice because I think you can talk a lot about oh, we passed this, and then I've been reading through the things we've done this year, and I am proud a lot of uh about a lot of those things. The housing enforcement unit went online during my mayorship. Um we had our Parks and Rec Centennial kick off really well. We have um the uh the entertainment task force that kicked off. So those are all great, but I think uh there's a saying I like which is very true, which is people won't may not remember what you said, but they'll remember how you made them feel. And a lot of times I get comments like this on social media or I'll get this via an email, and and people will say, Oh, you're you're such a mayor for the people, you're like the people's mayor. And I love that because that's that's what I want, you know. I I wanted to be somebody that's incredibly approachable, somebody that you might imagine, like, oh, I talked to this person at Target, or I I got coffee with them. It wasn't this kind of intimidating force, you know. And and I've that's been I think the part that I'm most proud of that I think I've been that approachable person for folks to come and ask me a question, or they felt like they can speak their mind. And that that I think is something I hope continues, and I hope residents feel like they can get more involved. I've actually had that from from younger people and even some of our newer residents because Burbank is growing, and those folks who are coming into the fold, uh I think and and I wish it was this way for our country too. I think if you're coming in, why won't we welcome you? We want you to be a part of the fold, and we want to tell you, hey, this is how we do things here, come join us, you know? And I think we we have that right now, and I'm I'm proud to be a part of that. Part of telling folks this is Burbank, join us, get involved, and we hope you love it as much as those of us who have been here for years do.
SPEAKER_03:I was talking to an actor I knew and uh everybody loved him. And I go, you know, I how do you hear great things about you? And he goes, I learned a long time ago that if you're nice to one person, they'll tell ten people and they'll tell ten people so that now there's a hundred people who know what a great person you are. But if you're mean to that one person, now a hundred people are gonna know what a mean person you are. So it because it's passed around, you know. Oh, I I met the mayor, what a great person she was, or I met the mayor. She just was you know not good at all. But but that's why you leave a a good impression on people because it gets around. You know, people talk to people.
SPEAKER_02:Right. That's very true.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I I I will say I I've witnessed to so many young girls coming up to you. I remember you either at Civitan Day or you and I have been at so many things together. We were a cro uh castle and crown doing a ribbon cutting.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I love that.
SPEAKER_04:And the kids come up to you and you you tell these girls, you're a great example. You can do this too. And that's you know, we haven't had uh Mary Lou Howard being our first uh female mayor. Yeah, you know, we've had several, and I will say, in the position you are for these young kids to witness and come up to talk to you, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_03:We had an event on Burbank High last year, we had uh Ralph Tadina and I asked him to, you know, come up and you know, just say a couple words or whatever in support. And then during the center, I said, come over here to my dugout, I want you to come to meet my players. And I said, Here's the mayor of Burbank, everybody. And he came over there and you know they they've still talked about that, you know. I mean you left a lasting impression with your high school kids like that, you know, and and there you were, you know, and and it it's good for them to to see who our mayor is and to experience you know, because they they really don't they're not watching council meetings, they're not, you know, unless you're on uh TikTok or something, you know. So I think I I I you know I appreciated that, you know, and I know you had better things to do that night than do that, you know. But you made you you made the time for me and then the program when it was really appreciated and it went a long way.
SPEAKER_00:I wouldn't say better things to do. I thought that was a great event. And I also thought it was great that what what we did, you know, as a as a city, as a community and the team, and I'm glad we got to recognize them. I was not there because I was giving birth, but I'm glad we recognized them at city council. Um, it was it was actually very nice. Some of the parents send me messages like, We know you're not here because you're with your little one. Congratulations! And I actually thought that was very sweet because those were some of the first messages I opened post-birth, you know, when when you inevitably open your Instagram at you know 5 a.m. Um, but that was very sweet to see, even in the moment, people being like, Hey, we know we're being recognized, but we're thinking of you, we care about you.
SPEAKER_03:It is good. So, what about what about a what policy decisions this year you had? Anything that was you know, anything you brought up. But I thought rent could, you know, the rent whole, the whole rent thing, but it was contentious all year. Yeah. But I think we finally have a a framework now. And uh, I mean, I think it this that was kind of your agenda too. You know, you you brought the whole issue up. Not the whole issue, but the you you brought it to the forefront a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man, Craig, that's my white whale.
SPEAKER_03:That is my white whale. So explain a little bit what what's where we started and where we're at now.
SPEAKER_00:So we started, believe it or not, when I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed council member in my first meeting in January of 2023, when I asked for to to agendize rank control as an item um in in the city. And it has taken us two years from then of study sessions, surveys, um, my colleagues for for better, asking for more information, asking for what other cities are doing. We have turned almost every stone. And where I landed, and I was very clear about this, I said it the day of because I wanted people to know where I'm at. I still think that a 4% hard rent cap would suffice. I think that would be clear, direct, straight to the point. And I do think that our local proper, like our property owners, have a vehicle through the federal government and through uh federal law to ask for a right of return if they're not making fair return. There is a vehicle for that. Every rent control ordinance has to have it. Now, every hard rent control ordinance has to have that written in. This uh soft cap that we landed on, so not my favorite thing. Again, part of my job is the spirit of compromise, right? And and I I also strongly believe that my job is to find the best outcome for people if I can. So of course I wasn't gonna throw the baby out with the bathwater. And when I saw, okay, this is where we're going as a majority, joined in, um, gave my two cents. And now what where we're headed is staff is drafting an ordinance for a 4% soft cap is the the unofficial term, but it really means um if you raise your tenant's rent more than 4% and they cannot afford it and they can show verify that they can't afford it, then you uh and then they tell you I need to move out. I'm basically self-evicting. Um, you owe them three months relocation assistance. And and that's what we're looking at staff to to do. It is in essence, uh the city of Glendale has this as well. That that's the other thing. It's nothing new. City of Glendale has this, City of Oh, mom brain. I don't know if it's culvert. There's a city down south.
SPEAKER_03:Sometimes I don't remember Santa Monica's got some crazy something else.
SPEAKER_00:But um sometimes I don't remember, I I know surprisingly, I don't remember every rent control ordinance in every city after four hours of sleep.
SPEAKER_03:They're all different.
SPEAKER_00:But but but it's I say that to say, you know, Glendale has a few other cities in the region have this, so it's not unprecedented and it's not something that hasn't been done or or is currently working in other cities. So it is doable, it is um uh, I will say a sensible middle ground, right? And I do think council came to a sensible middle ground. So now what we have left to see is put the policy forward, see how it works, see if we really are able to prevent tenants from being um evicted due to incredibly unfair raises. Because that was my my concern too, you know, when people say, Oh, you just want people not to pay rent, I'm like, no, but nobody, nobody that I I know, and and folks who have good two family incomes, you know, two incomes in the family can pay an 8% to a 10% it increase in many how I did it.
SPEAKER_04:I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00:We've talked about it many times, and and you know, maybe you can do the one, and then I know sometimes some of us like me, I'm uh I love to squirrel away and save for the winter, but maybe maybe you can handle one. What happens next year? Because it can happen every single year. So that that's what we're really trying to prevent. I'm not trying to prevent folks from raising the rent. In fact, I understand that they have to. The cost of everything goes up a little bit, but that's one of those things that if it goes up in exuberant amounts every year, can price people out.
SPEAKER_03:And water and power is raising their rents on January 1st, and it's probably more than 4%. Yeah. So I mean, it's that's the nature of the beast. And I know but there's both sides, and I don't think there'll be a solution, an easy solution to that, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, there's definitely no easy solution. And I'm glad you brought up water and power because that's an example of the wrong way to do things. We and and no one on that council is responsible for this. All of us inherited the mistakes of previous council members from years ago, because it was 20 years of passing down the buck and not raising rates when we could have had, and it goes the same way for rent control. We could have had 2% increases for our residents that may have been like, oh, that kind of sucks, but it wouldn't break the bank. And now we're at the point where we had to do an exuberant increase, which was not what we wanted to do, or we would possibly give up our utility, which is also not something we're doing.
SPEAKER_03:It's funny, I'm watching this there's now the uh new uh the race for governor is now on. And we have that new guy on test. Oh boy, and I'm gonna fix the cost of living in California, and I'm gonna reduce everybody's water and power bill by 25%. I go, how are you gonna come to Burbank and tell us to lower our bills by 25% on a publicly owned utility? You can't do that. You can't do that. So here's a guy just lying out of his mouth on television and just to get votes. Aye. Crazy, you know. I mean, I I just wish people would uh really listen to what politicians say, you know, and on campaign promises and everything else, and and then hold them accountable to it.
SPEAKER_00:100%. I agree with you, Craig. I mean, you you've seen it. I I have my my list of the things I said I would do, and I I have I go checking them off, you know, and and rent controls is on there. It's one of those checks that I put, well, it's not what I wanted, but I addressed it, and my colleagues addressed it. Um, Burbank on Parade is also on there.
SPEAKER_04:And it's coming back, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, shameless plug right now.
SPEAKER_04:Oh uh well, we can't call it Burbank on Parade. It will be celebrate Burbank, and we have our date, May 16th, I will say, and we're gonna have the parade and a car show and a festival in Magnolia Park is where it's gonna be. And I can't wait to see you in a convertible.
SPEAKER_00:I can't wait to be in the convertible. Oh man.
SPEAKER_04:I'm not sure if you're gonna be in the convertible, and then we put you back in the band playing, you know, an instrument.
SPEAKER_00:Well, give me give me a marching band uniform and give me a flugel horn and send me down.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, and we're just talking about the the Alex McGovern coming up, but soon your terms are end as a council member. Are you gonna run again, you think?
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, you're putting me on the spot here.
SPEAKER_03:If we don't do that, then we aren't doing our jobs here.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I I will never say never. I'm not gonna say No, you don't think yeah, but you know what? That's that's I'll take that as an answer right there. I you know the door is open. I think I'm incredibly thoughtful about all this stuff. And then not not tooting my own horn, but I I do think, you know, when folks would tell me, like, are you gonna run for this seat? No, I'm not gonna run for a seat just because it's open. I would run for something if I think I can do something if that in that seat, if I think that my skill set has something to bring, you know, to that. And with Burbank, the reason I ran was, well, I know the city like the back of my hand. It's where I grew up. And the real catalyst, at least in the moment, was I saw while working for the state legislature that we were missing out on dollars, that we were missing out on bills. A lot of the housing bills that were coming down. I could have warned you at the time. In fact, I called in like a crazy 19-year-old being like, hey, I work at the state legislature. There's bills coming down that are affecting us. Let's do that real fast.
SPEAKER_03:So once you got on the council, what did you do to rectify that situation?
SPEAKER_00:So immediately, I was actually another one that happened in my first year. We started doing zone text amendments with our community development department, and we immediately put into motion the specific plans. The rancho had been in the will they won't they specific plan. We have that in place. That is coming up. Those take a long time to do. And I will say the state also continues to change their housing legislation, which means we are constantly in this game of chicken playing catch up. But we are now in the place where we are playing the game, not trying to catch up three years ago, you know, and I think that's been really helpful. And that's also allowed us to look at the development that's coming in the future and prepare a little better for it. Especially, I don't think this is a good thing, but especially right now during the lull of construction because of all the tariffs and all the pricing that that our developers have shared is causing a lapse in construction. It gives us a little bit of time to kind of refocus and say, okay, what do we want that to look like in Burbank? I always tell folks in the city who tell me, like, oh, we don't want more people here, we're done. I always tell them change is inevitable and city growth is inevitable, not just for Burbank, for everywhere. But you have two options either we we can sit here and we can complain about change, or we can say, this is how I want it to change. These are the things I'm okay with, and start to direct our specific plans to look like that. And if you have questions about that, watch council in 2026, especially at the beginning, because we have quite a few of those plans coming back. Golden State specific plan is coming back. Can't talk about the media district plan because I live there, so I'm not allowed to, you know.
SPEAKER_03:We're just adjacent right here. We are adjacent, we're not in the media district.
SPEAKER_00:You're still technically considered in that plan though.
SPEAKER_03:Oh no, no, we're adjacent.
SPEAKER_00:I went to the media and ask. But they consider I I asked too because there was that area, but they consider what happens in the media district as part of like like basically you get thrown in there.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, well, that's why that's why I thought. I don't know why we were not our little section's not included, but what do you do?
SPEAKER_00:I think they include like a specific it's weird. They include an area, but you have to have like business activity and change. And and you should be happy, Craig, because that means that nothing's gonna change over here.
SPEAKER_03:That's good. We like that. We have our we had a council uh mayor, oh what's it 25, 30 years ago, named uh Bill Wiggins, who lived over uh a block away from here. And when Bill Wiggins was on the council, we suddenly had a neighborhood protection plan put in here with uh streets one yeah, one way, you couldn't enter, speed bumps in every street. This whole thing got done while he was on the council, and uh it raised our property values. I wonder if that was a uh fair political nowadays. We would call that a violation. You kinda wonder, but I'll tell you what, yeah, we're all benefiting from that 25 years later.
SPEAKER_00:Listen, me, myself, and Councilmember Zotti both have to accuse ourselves every time anything comes up from the media specific plan because we both live down here.
SPEAKER_04:Well, you have witnessed from your uh I think I can safely say you live. Near the ranch. You have witnessed in your year a big change in your sight lines out your front door. I got built fast. Yes. And you witnessed it. You saw it get demolished, you saw it get rebuilt. I think now that we look at what is there is the future. It's not going anywhere for probably another hundred years. But you've gotten to witness a lot in this town, especially down here on the flatlands, as they call it.
SPEAKER_03:Let me just add to add to that, and I don't know where you're going. Water butters is up for sale and gonna go through a hostile takeover made all those things. What does that do? What do you think that does to Burbank? Because that's you know their home is here in Burbank. So how do how does that I don't think most people realize what but I'm just saying, what what happens if they say, you know what, we're gonna just tear the studio down?
SPEAKER_04:They don't own the property. That if you remember several months ago, Jeff Worth took over the property. He owns the land. Not the main ranch. He owns the uh no, he owns the main lot and the ranch. He owns the land. Okay. Any company can come in here and they can do whatever. Did you know that? I okay. Yeah, sometimes sometimes I am the uninformed guy. Very smartly. Rarely. Very smartly, Jeff Worth and Worth Real Estate, and it's just not Jeff, it's the conglomerate. Right. They own the property so that nothing can happen to the acreage that is there. We won't see houses built on that property. If a studio moves in and says, we want to sell a building and put up an apartment building, they can't say that because they don't own the property.
SPEAKER_00:And and to that, I will say, um, being careful, because this was the subject of uh an agenda item that was requested by one of my colleagues. So I won't go too deep into it, but I'll say what I said at the council meeting. Again, I'm always going to respond to our public because we had a lot of public comment about this. And rightfully so. You have to think about it from the point of view of a resident. If I'm sitting here and I'm a member of the Teamsters AyaTC, if I'm a caterer that's unrelated to all this, if I am a business on Magnolia Boulevard, I am thinking, oh my God, that is half my customer base. Oh my gosh, I have relationships with the TV shows that come out of Warner Brothers. What is gonna happen to me? And so we had a lot of questions like that on Tuesday, and we had a lot of demand from our residents asking us to cancel the merger.
SPEAKER_03:That's not a power premier.
SPEAKER_00:I will say we do not have that power. I had to refer them to a little thing called the federal government. Um, and so you know, there was a lot of information sharing in that sense, letting them know we don't have that specific power. But we did let them know we are watching and there may be tools at our disposal. And our job ultimately as a city is to wait for the uncertainty to settle because we don't even know who we're talking to right now. We don't know who's really gonna be, you know, the the dust is still settling. We're not gonna find it out.
SPEAKER_04:Well, you know, that brings up a great point, Mayor, is while you're sitting as the mayor, people have brought up that they want things, they want Burbank to write letters and and change federal things that are happening in war-torn communities across our country. People don't realize you have control over 17.7 square miles. You do not have any your letter is right like everybody else writing what happens in foreign countries. People need to realize let's deal with our trash pickup and our community because we can't change things overseas.
SPEAKER_00:And to your point, Ross, it's it's been an interesting balance right this year, especially because a lot of this stuff has come up. And and it's been a balance because, on the one hand, you know, a city's main goal, and and if you're not looking at this as a council member, you're messing up, it's your water, your power, your police, your fire, the basics, your potholes. That's that's your number one priority. But every now and then your residents will come to you with things like this, and you will turn to them and say, This isn't a city issue, and they will turn back and remind you that their family's back there, that that is their nationality, and they want to know how you feel about people from their country. And you're put in this place where you have to be the arbiter and remind them that they're welcome here, that the folks who they have an issue are also welcome here, and that we have to coexist in the bubble that is that is Burbank together. You know?
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna throw this out there about Warren Brothers once again, though. Back in the early 50s, late 40s, early 50s, Disney went to the city of Burbank and said, we want to build an amusement park. There was no Ventura Frio back then. They want to go from the Disney lot all the way to the mountain, and they want to build Disneyland here in Burbank. And the Burbank City Council turned them down. And they went to Anaheim instead and bought the land there. I know. So what would happen if Warner Brothers said, you know what, we're gonna change our studio into like Universal Studios and do a big studio tour with a roller coaster like a Universal and make it a tourist attraction, too. So there are things down the line, which depending on who wins the uh the bid or whatever, could change the entire look of the studio because that that's an old property. Those those stages are old there. That's why they had to tear down the whole the the the uh the ranch and make the the whole new ranch there. So you kind of wonder what the infrastructure would look like.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. Talk about the uncertainty. We don't know. We wouldn't even know right now. Uh we don't know what we're up against, what we're up for, what we we have no idea how that's gonna turn out. So that's why on on you know, on Tuesday I told our residents, like, we see you, we hear you, we are also concerned because at the end of the day, for us our us as a city, our main concern is the infrastructure and the jobs. We want people to keep their jobs, we want to remain the media capital of the world. We don't want industry going away. And that is gonna remain our main concern as we watch what's happening because right now it's way too early to say, well, I'm mad about this, right? Matt, we don't know. It's uncertain. And we we continue to remind folks. We actually put out a mayor show highlighting all our past, and we gave them we gave folks a line in there too, reminding them like we highlight all of this to say, we know what's at stake. We're watching, we know it's uncertain, and you know, when the dust settles, you'll you'll hear from me again.
SPEAKER_03:I would encourage staff, hopefully, that when they come back with the information for you, they'll talk about all the zoning in that area and what can be zoned for and not. So, I mean, can they put amusement rides in? Can they change, you know, because you know, we had a problem with our SB35 stuff where we didn't get in front of that, and our zoning wasn't there in time, so we lost some stuff in the rancho. But yet if now if we could get ahead of this maybe with zoning, then maybe that might be uh down the line a better situation.
SPEAKER_00:Definitely.
SPEAKER_04:You you brought up a point, uh, an item a minute ago. I'm gonna give a plug for your mayor show, probably your last mayor's show. It it it I watched those and you did a great job. You went from the smokehouse for La La Land to you know Disney and to all the different places. Um, Craig and I have witnessed so many shows he's done here. We are folks, the media capital of the world. You can say you were the mayor of the media capital of the world, and that's there's more studios here. Why do they keep coming here? It's our police and fire, our safety services, and how the cities run.
SPEAKER_00:And I gotta give a plug for the film permit office. We, you know, there's a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of folks saying we run on film LA, and no disrespect to them. We don't, we just feel like we need the personal touch. And you know, a lot of folks have been talking about things like Culver City and their changes. I can tell you firsthand, everything that Culver City did to lower their police costs, lower their film permit costs, go back to 2008 levels, great. Now they're at our levels. Now they are matching what we charge. Now they've reached where we are. So I think a lot of a lot of what we maybe haven't done the best at, or what we could do better in is putting that information out there. So my last mayor show was the beginning of what you will see from PIO throughout the year on our film permit office, on our process. They're gonna highlight that, they're gonna remind people come film in Burbank because we make it easy for you. We have a person who is your one-on-one stop shop to talk about the permit, and we want to work with you.
SPEAKER_03:And we should publicize the way we publicize passports. Exactly. Because we begin passports was kind of the near, oh, we we do passports now. It's really advertised, and it's busier than heck in that office.
SPEAKER_04:You know, uh two seconds ago, you you put out three letters. P I O. Oh, yes. You know, I gotta say, Craig and I our our PIO department is run by Jonathan Jones, JJ. Or he has several names to us. And next time anybody sees him, baseball fan, by the way. And also on a Tuesday night, check to ask what socks he's wearing. He wears new decorative socks every week. And but our PIO office has worked with you, your state of the city, your mayor's show. They are fantastic. I mean every department that you've worked with as mayor. You got a new police chief, you have a new, you know, other uh library director. I mean, I can go down the list and I every time I see them come up for their report, we got a pretty well crew that you've worked with as mayor. And people don't realize you don't have the choice of hiring them. They get hired by Justin and Courtney or whoever. And we have the probably the best city manager any city can find, along with assistant city manager. I mean, they're always they're at every event. They're you can communicate with them, you can call them and ask them.
SPEAKER_00:I mean and I gotta give it up to them. They've hired some amazing people this year, and I've had the chance, like you said, to work with each one of them directly, all the way from talking to Jose, our new IT director, about what's the best way for folks to apply to the city. And and he had so much tips and that personal touch for somebody who was interested, one of our residents who was interested in IT. And so that was really nice to witness firsthand, and that's just via email, you know, um, to to our police chief who, you know, not not to make it back to ice, but but that's a huge topic for folks right now. And it it has been it has been hard, but it's also been a privilege to navigate this situation with our chief because we are both stepping into completely uncertain and uncharted territory. And he has handled it to the best of his abilities, and he's he said, I'm learning alongside all of you. And it's been an honor to serve with somebody who who's truly said that, who said, I'm working on this. It's unknown to us, but we want to hear from the community, we want to work with the council, and we want to navigate these these hard waters. I think there's a lot of quotes about this, but I think sometimes it's in the hardest times that you find, you know, your best allies. And I think I found that in in all the staff at the city. Jennifer Becker having to deal with his budget this year, you know. I think in this time when we have had from the outside a lot of hard things coming towards Burbank, our staff has stepped up and said, wait, we're ready. We are ready. We're we don't know what's coming. We're we're gonna handle the uncertainty coming from the outside with calm, with poise, and with dedication. That's exactly what they've done. And so I'm super grateful to each one of them.
SPEAKER_03:Well, we talked a little about the past and the present. Talk about the future a little bit now. Where what are the big issues coming up for the new mayor next year? What do you think are you know the yours is kind of rent control? That was kind of the defining, you know, all year long. What's next year's mayor gonna have on the agenda? Do you think that's gonna be uh the issue that's gonna kind of define his or her tenure?
SPEAKER_04:I don't know. She's she's finding out to be a great mom. Oh, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I I will say I it's funny you you mentioned that, Craig, because looking back for me, my mayorship literally started with a fire. Like, literally, as soon as I became the mayor, we had the windstorms in the city and the LA fires break out. So my biggest hope is that whoever comes next does not have that disaster or anything like that come their way. You know, I I hope that they don't start with with that difficult of a situation, but it is gonna be a challenge. We I I got the first taste of what the effects of our federal administration have been on our local government. The mayor next year will have our first budget deficit. It it is looking like that, right? It is looking plain as day. They will also tariffs have affected some of the larger businesses that that you know do business in Burbank, and we have felt the hit. And that next mayor will have to navigate a budget where we're going to have to get creative in finding ways to make revenue for the city and in finding ways to maintain the programs that we're offering, the staffing that we're offering, all of that, and then that's that's gonna be very challenging. And I I I want them to succeed in that. And the other thing is, you know, I know I know you mentioned rent control and that being being an issue, but I think that's part of a broader issue that is nationwide, affordability. Yes, affordability is the issue of our times, unfortunately. And the next mayor is just going to have to navigate that in full force. I I got, I think, what is the first wave of what this unfort unaffordability has been. When I came into power, we were all still, I don't want to say making jokes, but we kind of were making jokes about the cost of eggs. We're saying, Oh, can you believe this? Now we're like, can you believe this is still happening? Can you believe it's getting worse?
SPEAKER_03:It's not just eggs anymore.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. It's not eggs, now it's everything. Yeah, you know, and and they're gonna have to deal with a community that is gonna come to ask us in many cases things that are out of our control. Ask us, what are you doing to make my life more affordable? And it's something I think we're gonna have to contend with as a council for all of 2026.
SPEAKER_04:No easy answer. Well, you know, kind of we're on the other half of the half of the show, and I know you're a hell of a foodie. I have met you at plenty of places of favorite things that when you were mighty pregnant. Yes, we had food right in our studio, and uh, when you were mighty pregnant, you know the city pretty darn well. You are a burger fan. I am you also love other foods.
SPEAKER_03:Let's publish uh burger podcast. Well, exactly. And by the way, just because you're done with being a mayor's show does not mean you're not gonna be back here for another food podcast.
SPEAKER_04:Well, she has already said, and that's where I was going, was she wants to do a couple more shows on what's good in Burbank and what what we what you'll pass on.
SPEAKER_00:I will never pass on any food-related episode.
SPEAKER_04:I will be here. Well, that's gonna be we're gonna look forward to that. I think we'll just do one in January. Absolutely. I love that idea. We'll find some should have a little more free time. Yes. You know, that's if Blake will volunteer to watch the baby. He, you know, he's let's give Blake a a shout out. You know, Craig and I know Blake from previous um electors that he worked for, different people in office. So, you know, he has filled in for you a lot of times. He's driven you. I remember where your doctor told you you can't drive. Yes, and Blake would drop you off. Blake is here, Blake is there. You know, I hear Blake is a fantastic cook. You say he is he is ask us, he wants to do a little burger war of his own and ask us to participate. We're gonna get Blake in the studio with us.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe we'll get your mom to watch the baby, and we're we're gonna talk about some food that you know there's Hal's Kitchen, and then there's Craig. Blake is ready for the challenge. That is Craig's judgment on burgers. He's up for the challenge. Well, I I think I'm fair, but I am tough. And and just to get a little serious there, I think, you know, I you all know me. I I'm very I love to joke, but I I rarely cry in public. And that state of the city, when I mentioned Blake, that was probably the first time I've cried in public because quite truly he is the reason I'm able to be out here and and and do what I do. No one supports me like Blake supports me. Not not just watching our little one, but in any time I'm frustrated, because it's not an easy job. He is right there, having my back. When I doubt myself, he does not. And and oh my gosh, you cannot find a more supportive partner than Blake. So I've I've been lucky. I think, you know, back back in my staffer days, Jesse Gabriel, my my old boss, when when I told him, I'm interested in running for office, what's your best advice? He told me, amongst other things, amongst other, you know, technical things, he said, find a good person to do it with. Said, you know, you have to find a good partner, somebody that keeps you grounded, somebody that is not afraid to tell you when you're messing up and your faults, and somebody that supports you. And I could not be luckier to have Blake.
SPEAKER_04:Well, you know, I wanted to give a shout out because people don't realize um how busy the mayor is and your first you know, they call him the first wife or the first you know, first lady, first we're all we have a gentleman. First gentleman first gentleman in this case. Blake is just, you know, he's there. I have seen him his arms full with the baby. You know, I've seen him change diapers, I've seen him feed the baby, I've seen him you know, and and all those things you have filled in, you have done your job quite well, and a lot of people don't realize Blake is there behind you and and also your mom and dad. Oh yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_00:I am so lucky to have my mom five minutes away. My dad is uh obviously in love with the baby, but my mom is is the one watching her when we're we're out and about, so she's been super helpful, super amazing. I'm so lucky, and you know, my mom and I obviously have cried about it together, but it's something for us as you know, a family of immigrants. My mom did not get to have that experience with her mom. I my grandma is still in El Salvador, and I we didn't get to have that support. That feeling. So it's very cathartic for us now to have that. My mom is getting to do all the things as a grandma that she wished she would have had as a new mom. And so I feel so incredibly supported. And I think for both of us it's been incredibly cathartic.
SPEAKER_04:We were on something together, and I asked you a question, and she you said, Um, you it was a tough situation. I forget where we were, and you said my first critic called me within five minutes, and it was your mom.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, when when our water and power went out. My first call was uh my constituent, my mom, my toughest constituent, who texted me and said, Mayor, comma, my power is out. And you know that's serious because uh my mom did have one role when I became the mayor. She was incredibly proud, but she did tell me, in thy house, you're not the mayor, you're Nikki. There you go, and she's absolutely right. And I gotta tell you, I think the best thing any elected official can have is somebody to pull them by the ear and remind them, you're you're just a person.
SPEAKER_04:Well, look forward to tomorrow's reorganization. Yeah, here I know your whole family will be there mighty proud. Your brother, I know I have included him in tons of pictures. You know, you guys are a real close-knit family, like you say. Um, I have a son that lives here in Burbank, and he knows if he calls me, I can be there within five minutes from wherever I'm at.
SPEAKER_00:Emmy award-winning son that lives here in Burbank.
SPEAKER_04:This is true, two Emmys, and uh he knows that uh I'm so grateful that he lives here. He loves the city, you know, he won't go anywhere. I'm raising two granddaughters, and uh all his friends live here. And uh like yourself, it's kind of different, you know, when you the water here is different.
SPEAKER_00:It is. And you know, Ross, I do have to say one thing though while we're talking about awards. Have you heard of you know, the mayor gets to do this really cool thing called the key to the city. Do you know who received the most recent key to the city?
SPEAKER_04:I have to tell you, and I told you as you were hugging me, giving it to me. I was so surprised. I know where you are, what you're doing. I have your your cell phone in my phone. But you guys pulled this one off along with Jonathan and your secretary, Sandy George. I've been told by so many people that she was so behind the scenes on this. Craig and I work with Sandy so much to find out to book you for a podcast, to find out where you are. Sandy gets a pat on the back from Craig and I. But I I will tell you, I was so surprised. I'm still kind of surprised and shocked by it. I thank you for it. I didn't realize when I looked at that slideshow. And Craig and I have been together how many years? He's witnessed. I've shot everything. You know, he he's called me at 3 4 in the morning, better be here. Or or be there. And we know each other so well. And I have covered a lot in the city. Uh council uh chambers I've been in probably more than any staff or the city has ever done. When I go to calls and not the first and not my first rodeo, you know, I will say getting older, but I appreciate being recognized and receiving the key to the city. I'm like, I haven't tried it anymore.
SPEAKER_03:Where's the lock for that, by the way?
SPEAKER_04:Well, that's the thing. I haven't tried it yet, but I will say it is sitting on my desk. I look at it two nights ago I looked at it and I thought, I'm so honored that people I've had two, three hundred people congratulate me. And I just I love what I'm doing, as you know. I love making the mayor look good. I love making our city look good. And no offense, Craig and I came up with my Burbank for a reason.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and Ross, you know, you told me earlier today that no one knows Burbank like I do. That's not true. No one knows Burbank like you do.
SPEAKER_04:I Well it's funny, I always I I said that I think our assistant city manager two days ago if you're gonna running for a border commission you better know where every single street is. Craig and I will ask you where Purvis is, where Gaylord is, where Colgen Court is. You know, because if you don't know that, you don't know the city. And you know every street in the city because you were born and raised here, and it runs deep. You know, and like I said, Craig and I we've tried to make Burbank look the best we can with what we do. We want the citizens to be informed and there was nobody else doing that. And that's why we we continue to do what we do. We love working with the mayor's office to come in here to do a podcast.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because even 15 years ago, the um the um the leader was they're not in Burbank. There's no local media in Burbank, it's just outsiders who thought they knew Burbank.
SPEAKER_00:And I gotta tell you all, the the format that you work in, you have the podcasts, you have the social media. I mean, Ashley does a wonderful job with her videos on Instagram too. You have Lynn out reporting, and I think all of that together keeps Burbank informed. You have Ross in the comments on Facebook. There are times when I see people commenting something, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is misinformation gone haywire. And I scroll, and before I can say anything, there's Ross in the comments. I'm like, that's the comment, that's right. So I'll just like it.
SPEAKER_04:Just yesterday, somebody there was a call on Olive, and somebody said it was a family dispute. Officers were running in with assault rifles. You don't take an assault rifle to a family dispute. You might take a beanbag gun that looks the same, but if you're gonna put something out that thousands and millions of people can read, do it right. Craig and I have we check facts, we won't print something in my Burbank that hasn't been confirmed and checked, and that's the thing. Some of these people want to be the first to post it. Post it right.
SPEAKER_00:And I appreciate that from you, Ross, big time. So from to both of you, you know, I'm I gotta say I'm incredibly grateful for that mayor of as mayor. You'll have helped me have a platform have somewhere to come out and say how I'm feeling because it's very different than being on the dice. This is again.
SPEAKER_04:That person I was thinking, you know, you can't say we know that that city attorney will watch every single word come out of your mouth your mouth, but this is a forum that you're allowed to talk. We're not governed by a city attorney, you know. The PIO has helped us send questions to you, or if we need uh referrals, Jonathan is the best if we need to, you know, to ask something.
SPEAKER_03:But that's the important thing. Well, with all that said, this is it for you on Ask the Mayor. Any final thoughts before we leave?
SPEAKER_00:Oh man, you will see me share this, I think, a little more eloquently and and with that personal touch tomorrow morning. We have speaking of PIO, my farewell minute coming out. And I I will just give people a little shout-out for that and let them know to watch it, especially if you have kiddos at Jefferson Elementary School, because I will be sharing some letters that have been written to me and that have been incredibly touching. When you have a really hard day up on the dice, like the other Tuesday, or when you have you know a resident who argues with you about something maybe you can't change and just can't find that resolution, or when someone heckles you online and calls you fat, which I've gotten a lot this year.
SPEAKER_03:Welcome to the uh party on that one, huh? I'm like, man, can't over that years ago give the pregnant lady a break. Yeah, wow. But um after I deliver myself.
SPEAKER_00:You know, when you're getting all of that, to come home and open my council packet and see a letter from a kid at a school who drew me and my baby and said, Do you love your baby? I love your baby, and do you like Burbank? And I want to be the mayor. That that just makes your whole day.
SPEAKER_03:That's a paycheck. Yeah, that's right. That's a paycheck.
SPEAKER_00:That's literally it. You're paid in in in in that. And and that's that's amazing for me to do to open that, to open uh an email from a kid saying, I am, you know, a 12 uh 12-year-old at Dolores Huerta middle school, and I have questions about this and that, and I want to be mayor one day, and getting to respond to that has been so worth it for me. That that's kind of what fills you. And I had I guess to go full circle, even thinking about Say to the City. I had Marsha Ramos tell me something that I think has been very helpful to me. She said, Every time you get something that fills you with that joy, that thing that the little like warmth, a letter, a cookie, a token, whatever you get from from the public. Put it in a box, just fill up that box. And when you get that nasty email, when you get that death threat, because they come, open the box and look through the things and remind yourself why you're doing what you do. And boy, have I opened the box this year.
SPEAKER_04:Marsh's amazing, isn't she? She's amazing. We we were very close with Marsh and Dave, and we went to school with them. And one of the probably the best mayors Burbank has, and we've had you know some great mayors. Marsh is one, and Craig and I will say you have been a fantastic mayor. You've done a hell of a job.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Well, I think that's it. I think we've gone as far as we can go tonight. But you will be back for some food shows. And remember, you're not leaving the council. You're just I am not the mayor. You're still in the council, you still have the same power you did you know tomorrow after you passed the gavel. You have the same power that you had today with the gavel. So um, and who knows? Your return trip for Mayor Download. You never know how the votes go.
SPEAKER_00:So you never know. And and I will say you won't even say I'm gonna vote tomorrow.
SPEAKER_03:No, I won't. I won't put you in the spot.
SPEAKER_00:I I've learned the brown act by now.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, too bad others haven't. Um I'm not going there. I'm not gonna okay. Anyhow, so thank you very much.
SPEAKER_04:Ross, thank you for being here tonight. I this has been the best, one of the best podcasts we've done. Uh Crick and I've enjoyed every time you've been here. Um, it's just we were laugh and roll, and it's a good time, and congratulations.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you all. It's been an honor, it's been a privilege, and I am honestly excited to spend some well-earned time with my baby girl.
SPEAKER_03:Uh Mayor Perez and Ross Benson. This is Craig Sherwood saying thank you very much for watching tonight. We appreciate you watching. If you're in your car right now driving, two hands on the wheel. If you're on YouTube, subscribe and like and all that nonsense we always need to do. But uh, we will see you next time. Thanks for watching.
SPEAKER_04:Tally ho, as they say.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you.
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