Remarks by Tamala Takahashi
286 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 8 of 12
Okay. You know, I have one more question before I make my comments. So I know I do. I'm doing the math. So again, it's a budget question, I think. So with the film permit fees, the $333,000, what percentage of those come from the one-day permit fees and what percentage come from the full week long? Do we have any idea?
Okay. And the reason, yeah, I'll get to, you probably could probably figure out why I'm asking that. But, yeah, so I, you know, the permit fees, actually, I'm going to hold off on the permit fees conversation. I'm going to talk about the other stuff first, and then I'll come back to the permit fees.
All right, so first I agree with the creative hub being amazing. I'm so glad that that came up during, that came up out of the task force. I love the potential shift. It wasn't in the presentation tonight, but in the staff report there was a mention of the creative capital, shifting to creative capital of the world. I love that idea. I mean, maybe not fully, maybe media and creative capital of the world, but I love bringing that in and really broadening who we are and our identity as a community as we adapt moving forward into the industry. And creative is more than just... We'd have to get…
Leave it alone. All right. All right. And then I've mentioned before, I would love to kind of change our model that we use in the city of live, work and play like this too. Live, work, play, and create. I've been saying that for years, and if that ever happened, I would just have a little party. It'd be great. And then I love the idea, too, of following up with the task force folks, with the community, keeping that conversation alive, as Vice Mayor said, because this is an ongoing conversation forever. And as the industry shifts, this is We don't know where it's going to go, but my guess is…
Yeah, and practically speaking, the permit fees themselves may be only a small portion of the initial cost to get everything up and running. That's why I asked that too to really understand that. But if it's a marketing technique, for example, to say we don't have permitting fees and we don't have that, be able to say that. You know, I also asked the question about do we know, the things that we've already done, do we know if that's increased our production? Because the question that we might want to ask staff is to go and see has removing permitting fees affected production, but I'm…
All right. Any other comments? Yeah, I think these are all great ideas, and I think that the message is clear, that we're trying to find ways to, to Council Member Anthony's point, not just compete for other, from other cities, but to increase the production in general. You know, to be the place where, one of the places, or the best place, to come and do production that maybe wouldn't have been done at all because of our approach. And we're doing so many elements of that already. It's not like the fee is the only part of that message. It's the only part of that story. But it's definitely…
Yeah, you know, pre-COVID, I don't know about you guys, but it seemed like every other show I turned on, there was, oh, that's Burbank. Oh, that's Burbank. Yeah. And I think that that's an important point to make, that there's more than just the permitting for filming. That is the number, though. That is, we can quote it. It's one that people pay attention to. And that's something I didn't mention earlier, but I think I wanted to add, just to have it out there that I said it, is that when looking at the budget and looking at how much this costs to subsidize these permits, these permits in…
All right. So there's no formal vote necessary for this?
Okay. Do we need a vote on that? Because we have a first and a second. Yes. Okay. Let's do it.
Okay. All right. Next up, we will hear council comments, including reporting on council committee assignments. attendance at conferences, regional meetings, and community events. Who would like to go first? All right, Vice Mayor first.
Okay, on Wednesday, September 16th, I attended in the morning National League of Cities First Tier Suburbs Council Quarterly Meeting. And then later on in the morning, I went to the Police Foundation's awards luncheon. With the others. And then I also, with Council Member Rosati, on Thursday went to the opening of the Last Sip Cafe, and they made me a drink that had magical flavors in it. I don't quite know what it was, but it was really, really good.
Yeah, it was, I think it was a latte, maybe, but it had something like foam on the top or something. I don't know. It was really good. Yeah, it was really good. And it had sprinkles, like something that sprinkled on top. I don't even know.
He asked me, what do you want? I said, well, surprise me. And so he gave this drink to me. Oh, I remember. That's right. No idea what was in it, but it was really good. He should probably ask me if I had any allergies, but it was fine. On the 18th, I went to the Career Transition Expo as well. And on the 19th, went to the Burbank Autumn Arts Festival at... Bob Hope Park, Burbank Autumn Arts Festival. Oh, last step. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the last step. It's off Riverside, across where Red Maple used to be, across from there. It used to be a Japanese place.
Sushi place, yeah. Which is bummed. I'm bummed that that's gone now, but there's a lot of sushi places, so it's okay. Burbank Arts Festival was amazing. The band was so much fun. It was so well attended. Kids all over. I gave out so many stickers. I love Burbank stickers to the kids. Everyone in the park was wearing them. It was super fun. And the weather was perfect. So well done, Cultural Arts Commission. And then that evening, I went to see Catch Me If You Can over at the Colony. Oh, my god. That was so good. If it's still running, I'm not sure if it's still running or not. But if it is,…
I didn't know what it was going to be. I thought maybe they were going to put a flower on my head. TFTI. It was great. It was so sweet. Kids were there. All right. And then the 22nd, I went to the fire department promotional ceremony as well. And then that rest of that week, I was at the Cal Cities conference doing all the things. And then on Saturday, the 26th, went to Zonta, the 90th anniversary, and the recognition of Gloria and all her hard work. Man, the things that she's involved in, there's so many things she's involved in. Oh, my gosh. I don't know how she finds the time. She's…
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Good evening and welcome to a regular meeting of the Burbank City Council on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026. Please join me for a moment of reflection. This moment is intended to begin our meeting with the positive and collective support for our beloved community. The City Council welcomes everyone joining us this evening. We encourage you to take a moment to reflect on our community and the work we will be doing tonight. Although each of us has our own unique reasons for being here, We are united in our passion for our wonderful city. As we pause, let us consider our individual contributions…
Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready, begin.
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I'm doing well, thank you. Please conduct the roll call.
There will be two periods of public comment tonight. Members of the public may comment in person or remotely for all comment periods. In-person commenters must submit cards before the public comment period begins. and remote commenters must be in the queue with their hands raised before the public comment period begins. The first public comment period is for general public comment on any matter concerning city business and or any agenda item. If you are here in person and wish to speak during the general public comment, please submit a yellow public comment card to address the council to our…
Good evening, everybody. We have four presentations tonight. And our first presentation is the presentation of declaring September 15th, 2026 as National Voter Registration Day in the city of Burbank.
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How about you talk first and then I'll do the proclamation after.
Absolutely true. All right, so I'm going to read the proclamation, National Voter Registration Day, whereas National Voter Registration Day is a nationwide, nonpartisan civic holiday dedicated to ensuring that eligible Americans have the opportunity to register to vote, update their voter registration information, and access trusted information about the registration process, and... Whereas collaboration among election officials, civic organizations, libraries, and educational institutions can help expand access to reliable voter registration information and reach eligible voters where they…