Letter to the Editor:
Thoughtful, Innovative…and a Baker?!
Eddy Polon isn’t your average politician. He comes to his race for Burbank City Council by way of years of work on the city’s Transportation Commission, and from decades of living in and loving Burbank. Eddy is a bicyclist and when he got door’ed on Burbank Blvd a few years back, he determined to dedicate himself to making bicycling safer in our city. That vow led him to the transportation commission, and to deep thinking about how to improve intertwined problems of housing, commuting and affordable residence in Burbank.
Maybe because he ran a bakery for 18 years – one that featured a union contract with workers – Eddy thinks systemically. He pours the water of thoughtfulness over the flour of data, then patiently kneads the mixture, allowing it to rise. Eddy looks at the proposed bus lane on Olive and knows it may cost drivers an extra 90 seconds to get from Buena Vista to Victory. He also knows that in coming seasons of the World Cup and the Olympics, it’ll be swell to have an efficient channel for moving people from Hollywood to Pasadena without resorting to more cars.
Eddy looks at empty storefronts, mindful that the current permitting process for new businesses means startups face 18 months of delay before they open their doors. Could we make that 90 days? That’s what the city council is for. Polon wants to be part of the solution.
Meanwhile, realtors and AirBnB are pouring money into the council race from Independent Expenditure PACs to try to get conservative opponents elected. Their goal is not to moderate housing and rental costs that make Burbank unaffordable for young families. They don’t want to rock the fiscal boat, whatever the collective cost.
Eddy sees a bigger picture. He has a vision of a city with three-storey affordable town houses along Glenoaks. He advocates not just for $1.2 billion in delayed infrastructure repairs to our schools – schools that are a primary lure of new residents of the community – but he looks ahead to hiring more teachers and expanding programs. One English AP class at Burroughs has 46 students. We can do better; Eddy has ideas for how.
Transportation, housing, permitting, schools, homelessness – all of these are braided together, and with intelligence, patience and good will, seemingly insurmountable challenges can be met and mastered.
What’ll it take? Many believe it’ll take the gentleness, intelligence, patience and vision of a baker to cook this cake. We have a pretty solid candidate for the role in Eddy Polon.
Vote early. Let’s build a better Burbank.
Marty Perlmutter
Organizer, Indivisible Media City Burbank
