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Tamala Takahashi Newsletter — August 31, 2026
🌟 From the Dais with Mayor Tamala Takahashi | August 31, 2026
Good morning, Burbank,
Wednesday was Women's Equality Day, 106 years since the 19th Amendment was certified and women won the constitutional right to vote. Before I ever sat on a dais, I spent years with the League of Women Voters, and that anniversary always reminds me that democracy is mostly quiet, unglamorous work. This past week proved the point: a joint Council meeting Tuesday, a regional water agreement signed Thursday, and neighbors spending their Saturday morning shaping the future of Downtown. None of it made national headlines. All of it matters. Let's dig in.
🏛️ Council Corner
🔹 Recap: the August 25 joint meeting: Council met Tuesday night jointly with the Housing Authority and Parking Authority, and it was a productive one. We approved the consent calendar, which included continuing appropriations into the new fiscal year, a $14,928.55 Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation grant for our Fire Department's wildland program, a $131,650 California Highway Patrol Cannabis Tax Fund grant for Burbank PD, the resolution opening statewide Open PACE clean energy financing to Burbank property owners, two regional water agreements (more on those below), and the contract amendment keeping our Downtown planning team on board through the finish line.
Council also held the public hearing and adopted the Section 8 and Public Housing Agency plan updates required under federal HOTMA rules, filled the vacancy on the Community Development Block Grant Committee, and received the evaluation of project labor agreements on our capital projects. That last conversation will keep evolving as individual projects come forward, and I want your perspective as it does. Full staff reports, minutes, and video are posted online.
👉 View meeting agendas and minutes
🔹 Next up: a quiet start to September: Council is dark on September 1 and September 8, then returns Tuesday, September 15 for a regular meeting. I have had that date circled for a while: it opens with a study session on our Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan implementation and the 2024 emissions inventory, which tells us whether our climate work is actually moving the needle. The evening also includes a proclamation for Fire Prevention Week and two transportation items I break down in the next section. As always, the forecast can change, so check the posted agenda before the meeting.
🔹 Homework for November: On November 3, Burbank voters will consider two ballot measures that could change how City Council members are elected. Our Charter currently requires at-large elections, meaning every member represents the whole city. This is exactly the kind of decision that rewards early reading over election-week cramming, so give yourself a head start. You have my word that these pages explain the measures without telling you what to think.
👉 Learn about the ballot measures
🚌 Transportation Updates
🔹 $1.58 million for safer streets: The September 15 consent calendar forecast includes accepting a Safe Streets and Roads for All grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, bringing $1,584,000 in federal funds to Burbank for street safety work. Every one of these dollars is a dollar our General Fund does not have to carry, and safer crossings and corridors are the kind of investment you feel every single day, whether you drive, bike, roll, or walk.
🔹 Smoother signals along the I-5 corridor: Also forecast for that meeting is a contract award for Phase 3 of the I-5 Corridor Arterial Signal Improvements Project, funded through Metro. Signal timing is not glamorous, but it is one of the most cost-effective tools we have against congestion, and I would rather fix the intersections we own than only complain about the freeway we do not.
🏘️ Housing & Downtown's Future
🔹 One open house down, one to go: The first open house on the Draft Downtown Specific Plan took place Saturday morning at the Community Services Building. Thank you to every resident who traded a slow weekend morning for maps, planning documents, and conversation. If Saturday did not fit your schedule, the second session covers the same material this Wednesday, September 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Room 104 at 150 N. Third St. This plan will guide how Downtown grows around transit for decades: housing, walkability, and the character of our core. Your comments have already reshaped it more than once, and I would love for Wednesday's room to be full.
🌿 Environment & Sustainability
🔹 From council vote to signed deal in 48 hours: Council approved the water exchange agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority on Tuesday, and by Thursday the agreement was signed. It allows Burbank to purchase up to 5,000 acre-feet of water annually through 2047, moving through existing pipes with no new construction required.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Burbank has no naturally occurring water rights of its own. We are entirely dependent on imported water, which makes agreements like this one our insurance policy for the dry years we know are coming. Watching a regional partnership go from dais to done in two days is my kind of momentum.
🔹 Trail closures to know about: Due to excessive heat, the Stough Canyon and Wildwood Canyon hiking trails are closed until further notice. I know these trails are beloved, and the closure is about keeping hikers and our first responders safe. Please respect the signs, and check with the Nature Center before you lace up.
💼 Economic Development & Local Business
🔹 The State of the City table keeps getting bigger: Another round of sponsors joined the 2026 State of the City Address & Luncheon this week, and I am genuinely grateful to every new and returning organization investing in this event and in Burbank's business community. We gather Thursday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport, and early bird general admission is $150, with tables and sponsorships still available. The theme is Better Together, and preparing this address has become one of my favorite assignments of the year: it forces me to step back and see how much this city accomplishes in twelve months.
👉 Reserve your State of the City seat
💚 Health & Wellbeing
🔹 September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month: Tomorrow flips the calendar to a month that sits close to my heart as a therapist. Here is what I want every Burbank household to know: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and available 24/7 by call or text, for you or for someone you are worried about. And a truth from my clinical training that surprises many people: asking someone directly whether they are struggling does not plant the idea. It opens a door. Check on your people this month, including the ones who seem fine.
🧶 The Community Thread
🔹 An encore three weeks in the making: The Fab Four's rescheduled Starlight Bowl show was set for last night, giving ticket holders from the cancelled August 8 concert their long-awaited second chance under the stars. What could have ended as a refund line became a season finale instead, and that took patience from fans and real hustle from the band and the Starlight Bowl crew. Thank you all for sticking with it.
🔹 Your library card is going Hollywood: Starting in September, Burbank Public Library is offering three limited-edition card designs featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the Ninja Turtles, thanks to a partnership with Nickelodeon for National Library Card Sign-up Month. Only in Burbank does your library card come with hometown animation credentials. If you have been meaning to get a card, or your kids have outgrown theirs, September is the month.
👉 Read the library announcement
🔹 Arts around town: Tonight at 7 p.m., the Buena Vista Library hosts a conversation with Sandy King and Sean Sobczak, co-authors of the graphic novel John Carpenter's Cathedral. On Thursday, September 3, the Rats exhibition by animation artist Sophie McNally opens at Gallery 839 at the Animation Guild with a free reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, September 4 brings Candlelight tribute concerts to the Equestrian Center, and the Pitch Puuurfect art show continues at the Salit Conservatory through September 21. Seventeen square miles, and the art just keeps coming.
👉 Browse the Burbank arts calendar
🗓️ Mark Your Calendar
🔹 Labor Day, Monday, September 7: City offices will be closed in observance of the holiday. Enjoy the long weekend ahead, and maybe give the person who bags your groceries or pours your coffee an extra thank you. The day exists to honor the people who keep everything running.
🔹 September is National Preparedness Month: Between heat waves, hillside fires, and the earthquake we all know is a matter of when rather than if, preparedness is a Burbank life skill. The single easiest step takes two minutes: sign up for emergency notifications so the City can reach you when it counts.
💡A Final Thought
With Council dark for the next two weeks, you might expect things to slow down. They will not. September brings the Downtown open house, fresh emissions data, State of the City preparation, and a ballot worth studying. Quieter meeting rooms just mean the work moves to inboxes, site visits, and kitchen-table conversations like the ones behind this newsletter. So here is my ask while the dais rests: tell me what you want unpacked this fall. What policy needs a plain-English translation? What corner of the city deserves a spotlight? Hit reply and point me somewhere. I read every note, and this newsletter is better when you help steer it.
