Letter to the Editor:
Your MyBurbank editorial criticizing the Burbank City Council and City Attorney’s office over their inaction on recouping taxpayer’s money from the scofflaw owners of the Tinhorn Flats Saloon, as well as the city’s lack of transparency on answering legitimate questions posed by the media and members of the public, were spot on.
I had been watching and writing about the months of defiance by the Lepejian family who owned and operated Tinhorn Flats during 2020 and 2021 in being the only business in Burbank to refuse to comply with LA County Health Dept. and City of Burbank orders, as well as court rulings against them, and marveled at how they continued to stay open illegally for many months during a national health emergency they were helping to make worse.
In the years before the COVID pandemic that killed 1.1 million Americans in less than two years, with over 100,000 of them in California, Tinhorn Flats had been a rallying center for San Fernando Valley area supporters of Donald Trump, from whom they doubtlessly learned that its possible to easily break laws and thumb their noses at fellow citizens with no fear of serious consequences.
Doug Weiskopf
Burbank
Editor’s Note: Doug Weiskopf is a part-time reporter for myBurbank and covered parts of the trial. This letter is from him as a resident of Burbank.
