Letter to the Editor:
I’m writing in support of City Council Candidate Carmenita Helligar. Full disclosure I’m proud to know Carmenita and to be a friend, however that is not the only reason I think she’s an excellent choice for our city council at this time. Since meeting Carmenita 3 years ago, I have watched her bring our community together by listening and actually hearing the concerns of our small business owners, our school district parents, our teachers, our city employees from our police department to our local libraries and the common theme of all of this is she cares deeply for our city and will do her best to make Burbank work for all of its citizens. She’s owned her own businesses so she understands how to manage a budget, she’s raised a family so she understands family budgets. When someone brings a question to her about an issue they may have within our city, she won’t rest until she finds the answer. Her experience of being a resident of Burbank, a parent in our school district, and a business owner/entrepreneur are all skills she will use as our city faces concerns of housing, education, public transportation, public safety, climate change and more. I believe we need her voice on our City Council and that she will do her best to make our city even better than it is.
Sincerely,
Lisa Dyson
Burbank resident
Burbank resident
She does not bring the community together. It’s evident that her pursuit of removing books was not popular with a number of community members, including a number of students that she claimed to be speaking for. In the aftermath, it continues to be unpopular locally and nationally. Burbank’s name continues to be brought up in various forums any time the topic of banning books in schools is raised.
As for hearing the concerns of teachers: She called the City Council on November 10, 2020, which is available on YouTube, because she was unhappy with the response she received from teachers in her aim for book removal. After implying that any teacher who argued to keep the books was consciously racist and was essentially labeling their students with slurs, she directly stated that the union President was making a choice not to care about students. She then called on the Council members each individually to contact the teacher’s union for a talk. If they didn’t, she said, they would be complicit in inflicting trauma on students.
This rhetoric is inappropriate and sows division. A councilperson’s job is not to wield power over other organizations and elected community leaders.
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