Letter to the Editor:
Three of the Burbank City Council members are practicing a form of liberal fascism. They are denying the rights of the citizens by ignoring the results of repeated certified elections.
The Burbank voters in two separate elections have rejected rent control in the city. Now Council members Anthony, Takahashi and Mayor Perez are turning themselves inside out to circumvent those results and are pursuing a rent control ordinance against the will of the people. The results of the previous elections were 62% against rent control and 38% for. This qualifies as a mandate from the Burbank voters.
Our vote is our power and these three Council persons are trying to take away the people’s power. Perez, Takahashi and Anthony are pushing their own personal agenda. Anthony and Perez are renters but have refused to recuse themselves from voting on this issue while Councilman Rizzotti has been blocked from voting as a small housing provider.
It is unamerican to ignore the will of the people and it does a disservice to those Americans who believe in Democracy and the United States Constitution.
Perez and Takahashi are up for reelection next year. If they lose, do they intend to ignore that vote and continue to take a seat on the dais. We have a rightful expectation that the council members we vote for will represent us and adhere to will of the people. If we give up our right to expect our votes to be honored, we will pay a high price. One that could negatively impact our great city of Burbank. If City Council wants to visit the rent control issue again, they must put this issue to a citywide vote.
Nobody in the city bargained for an autocratic government headed by dictatorial leaders. The consequence of allowing any politician to ignore the will of the people will truly be horrific.
Rent control may not be your issue but there are other issues that may impact you and keeping our power with our votes is essential to our democracy and freedom.
