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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Being L.A.’s Neighbor Good For Business

On the average working day the population of Burbank doubles in size. Take away the large employment areas of downtown, the Media District and the Empire Center and Bob Hope Airport, and what remains are distinct residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors that maintain a small-town atmosphere even when abutting the second largest urban center in the country. That, say city officials, is the advantage that Burbank brings when compared with its megalopolis neighbor Los Angeles. With no large bureaucracy to muddle through access to decision makers becomes easier. Phone calls to department heads get returned; questions on zoning and planning matters get answered. “Every person who works for the city cares deeply about helping that business or company,” said Assistant City Manager Mike Flad. Flexibility and adapting to changing business climates has served Burbank well. For years the city was synonymous with aerospace, home to the Lockheed Martin factories designing and building the aircraft that helped win World War II and the secret spy planes of the Cold War. The entertainment industry has its roots in Burbank dating back to the 1920s but only after aerospace left did the city take on the mantle of the media capital of the world with not only major studios in Warner Bros. and The Walt Disney Co. but in the post-production facilities, effects houses, radio stations and record labels. When Yahoo! Search Marketing leased space in a campus-like office complex near the airport in 2006, a global high-tech brand finally came to Burbank, potentially opening doors for others to follow. When NBC vacates its studios on Alameda Avenue for Universal City, few worries exist that other media companies won’t take the space. “There is no other place that can fill a void like Burbank can,” said Todd Campbell, a lifelong city resident who served one council term. Dealing with gridlock Burbank takes the good with the bad for sharing common borders with not only Los Angeles but Glendale as well. For residents, there is the close proximity of recreation (Griffith Park) and entertainment (Hollywood) opportunities. For businesses, there are major roadways in the Golden State (5) and Ventura (134) freeways, the Metrolink commuter line and the Bob Hope Airport. But when those same freeways become clogged at rush hour, traffic tends to spill onto Glenoaks Boulevard, San Fernando Road and Riverside Drive as alternate routes around the gridlock. Burbank flexes its economic muscle the most to accommodate business in ways that Los Angeles can’t or won’t. The city, for one, has no gross receipts tax. When Los Angeles changed its business licensing process, radio broadcasters left the city and set up new modern studios in both Burbank and Glendale. Clear Channel alone took stations in four different areas and put them in the Pinnacle building in the Media District in a deal worth $45 million. “Businesses don’t need a whole lot,” Flad said. “Don’t over-regulate and don’t over-tax.” Not imposing a gross receipts tax and a streamlined permit process contributed to Burbank becoming a finalist in 2007 for Most Business Friendly City by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. Not all agree with that distinction. For 40 years, Barry Kessler and his family have operated a jewelry store in Burbank, a city he said he loves. But there are limits to Kessler’s infatuation and these were reached with actions taken by the city he believes negatively impact the downtown. First there was the attempt to eliminate the free parking along San Fernando Road that was turned back. Then came the outdoor smoking ban that, Kessler said, drives away potential customers from restaurants and shops. After all, the arts district in North Hollywood and the new Americana at Brand shopping center in Glendale are a car ride away. “If (smokers) feel unwanted they are not shy to go elsewhere,” Kessler said. “They speak with their wallets and their feet.” Downtown successes The downtown of 2008, with or without the smokers, is one of the true success stories for the city. Once mocked on “Laugh-In” and in Johnny Carson monologues, downtown Burbank boasts a lively shopping and entertainment scene. What the downtown isn’t trying to be, Flad said, is the regional draw of, say, the Americana. Moving away from the city’s center finds the embryonic corridor of Burbank Boulevard where light industrial slowly gives way to retail; and the tree-lined streets of Magnolia Park where the commercial strip mixes auto stores, non-chain restaurants, prop houses, spas and banks. The linchpin for Magnolia Park is the Porto’s Bakery in a former drug store at Hollywood Way and Magnolia Boulevard. The city was an intermediary to bring the family-owned to the city to open a second location of its wildly successful Glendale eatery. So successful that more than two years after opening, the city was still working out how best to deal with increased traffic at the intersection. “They are tolerant of the negatives because the product is so good,” Flad said.

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