Letter to the Editor: Schultz Dismisses Outside Campaign Rhetoric, Endorses Candidates

In November 2020, I was elected to the Burbank City Council.  Over the last four years I have worked tirelessly alongside my colleagues and hardworking city staff members to deliver on the promise of a safer, more equitable, and more sustainable community.  While we still have our challenges, I can proudly say that we are in a better position today than we were four years ago.

We reopened our local economy and built back from the COVID-19 pandemic.  We balanced our city budget.  We approved more units of affordable housing.  We have done all of this while maintaining exemplary city amenities, especially police, fire, and emergency medical services.

However, I am deeply troubled by recent independent expenditures that have painted a far more dire outlook of our community. There are repeated mischaracterizations that Burbank is suffering from “rising crime,” “out of control city spending,” “homelessness,” and more.  The reality is that violent crime rates are down, our city budget is balanced, and we’ve seen several successive declines in our unhoused population in recent years.

We have made tremendous progress together over the past four years, but it’s imperative that we continue the work that we’ve started by electing candidates that share our values, appreciate Burbank’s storied past, and most importantly, remain focused on our city’s bright future.

We are lucky to have so many qualified candidates running for Burbank City Council and the BUSD Board of Education.  But now more than ever, we need thoughtful and visionary leadership to build on our recent successes in the years ahead.

That’s why I’m supporting Eddy Polon and Konstantine Anthony for City Council.  They understand that to build on these accomplishments we must think outside the box and be bold in our problem solving.

That’s also why I’m supporting Armond Aghakanian, Emily Weisberg, and Laurette Cano for the School Board.  They will fight tirelessly for every child, teacher, and staff member in BUSD.

I’ll also be voting YES for Measure ABC.  We can’t afford to not make this investment.

Our future is what we make it and it’s on the ballot this year.

Nick Schultz
Burbank