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Tamala Takahashi Newsletter — October 5, 2026
🌟 From the Dais with Mayor Tamala Takahashi | October 5, 2026
Happy October, Burbank,
Wednesday evening at the Celebration of Schools, somewhere between the elementary school choir and the middle school band, I gave up on taking photos and just let the room happen to me. This year's theme was "The Power of Community," and the room spent the whole night proving it. Three days later, that same power showed up on Burbank Boulevard, where neighbors spent Saturday morning filling BTAC's pantry shelves ahead of the holidays. October is the calendar's awareness season: breast cancer, mental health, fire prevention, even community planning got a proclamation from the dais on Tuesday. Here is the thing about awareness, though. It only counts when it turns into action, and this week's edition is full of moments where Burbank made that turn. Let's get into it.
🏛️ Council Corner
🔹 The votes from September 29, as promised: Council returned from its dark week with a full evening last Tuesday. We presented the proclamation declaring October as National Community Planning Month, and the consent calendar passed unanimously, carrying two items I previewed in recent editions: the $1,235,750 Homeland Security grant that will build a new Emergency Operations Center for the City, and the $50,000 agreement with Home Again Los Angeles to administer the Immigration Emergency Assistance Fund. That second item is small in dollars and enormous in meaning. When a neighbor is navigating an immigration emergency, the difference between panic and a plan is often one caseworker who knows the system, and now that help has a steady home.
→ 💬 My take: The Creative Industry Taskforce report I had circled twice did not disappoint. The recommendations share one throughline: keeping creative work, and creative workers, rooted in Burbank. Council received the report and voted unanimously to direct staff to return with a prioritized implementation plan, including costs and timelines. As Council liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission, I will be tracking every step, and you will read each one here in plain English. Staff reports, minutes, and video are posted online.
👉 View meeting agendas and eComment
🔹 A quiet Tuesday, then back at it: Council is dark tomorrow, October 6, and returns Tuesday, October 13, at 6 p.m. I will preview that agenda in next Monday's edition once it firms up, so your eComments can be ready before the lights come back on.
🚌 Transportation Updates
🔹 One more day at the Olive Bridge: The concrete repair work that closed the Metrolink elevator and stair access at the Olive Bridge (201 N. Front St.) is scheduled to wrap tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6. If you ride the train Downtown, build in a few extra minutes one last time. Thank you for your patience this week. Maintenance like this is never convenient, but a bridge we repair on our schedule beats one we repair on an emergency's schedule, every single time.
🌿 Environment & Sustainability
🔹 Check my climate math for yourself: The 2024 emissions inventory we reviewed at September's study session is now posted online, so the numbers I summarized here, 12.8 percent below 1990 levels against a 40 percent goal by 2030, are yours to dig into directly. I meant it when I said data first, decisions after, and informed residents make better decisions possible. And since October is also Energy Awareness Month, here is the most practical way to help close that gap: BWP's rebates for home efficiency and electrification are sitting there waiting to be claimed. Some of the biggest climate action in this city happens quietly, one panel box and one heat pump at a time.
👉 Explore the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan
👉 Browse BWP rebates and incentives
🏘️ Housing & Development
🔹 Eleven days left for the Rancho Review Board: Applications for the five resident seats close Friday, October 16, at 5 p.m. Quick refresher: this advisory board reviews every Development Review project inside the Rancho Master Plan Area for fit with the neighborhood's distinctive equestrian character. The board recommends rather than decides, but those recommendations carry real weight, and I would much rather have residents shaping that review from the inside than reacting to it afterward. If the Rancho is your home or your heart, do not let this window close on you.
👉 Visit the Community Development Department
💼 Economic Development & Local Business
🔹 Three days to make the Holiday in the Park lineup: Applications for the Main Stage, the Community Stage, and the juried Art Block at the November 20 celebration on Magnolia Boulevard all close this Thursday, October 8. The Art Block charges selected artists no application or participation fee, and the Community Stage exists precisely for choirs, dance troupes, and school groups who have never had an audience that size. If you have been waiting for a sign, this is it, and it comes with a deadline.
👉 Explore all Holiday in the Park opportunities
💚 Health & Wellbeing
🔹 Burbank glowed pink on Thursday: The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center held its annual Pink Lighting Ceremony on October 1, and the building shining pink over Buena Vista Street is one of the most moving sights our city produces all year. To every survivor who stood there, every family carrying a name in their heart, and every member of our local care teams: thank you. Breast Cancer Awareness Month runs all of October, so let the pink glow do its actual job and book the screening you have been putting off. And the tenth annual Tequilas Burbank fundraiser, honoring the memory of Julie Franco, accepts donations through October 22 toward its $15,000 goal for the cancer center's genetics and genomics program.
🔹 A week for minds, not just bodies: Mental Illness Awareness Week runs October 4 through 10, capped by World Mental Health Day on Saturday, October 10. From my clinical work with teens and families, I can tell you the hardest part of getting help is almost never the treatment. It is the first sentence said out loud. So this week, lower that barrier for someone: ask the direct question, listen without fixing, and know that the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline answers calls and texts free, confidentially, 24 hours a day. You do not need to be in crisis to deserve support, and neither does anyone you love.
🧶 The Community Thread
🔹 The Power of Community, demonstrated: Wednesday's Celebration of Schools was pure joy from start to finish. Roberta Reynolds was named the district's Champion of Education, Heidi VanKooten earned Teacher of the Year, and Vladamir Oganes of Burbank High received special recognition for his Student Navigation Project. Between the choir, the band, and speech after inspiring speech, I completely forgot to take pictures, which might be the best review an event can get. As a mom who watched three kids grow up through Burbank schools, nights like this one are personal for me. Thank you, Burbank Arts & Education Foundation, for building it.
🔹 BTAC's shelves are fuller because of you: Saturday morning's donation drive, run in partnership with Assemblymember Nick Schultz, brought pantry staples, hygiene products, and baby essentials to the Burbank Temporary Aid Center right when holiday preparation begins. So many of our neighbors rely on BTAC's once-a-month pickup of household essentials, and every bag dropped between 9 and 11 a.m. lands directly on a family's table. Thank you to everyone who added one more stop to an already packed Saturday. If you missed it, BTAC accepts support all year long.
🔹 Saturday, in four acts: The third annual Burbank Book Festival filled the Buena Vista Library with authors and story lovers, Boo Bash brought early Halloween mischief to the Adult School, the Rose Float craft faire raised support for our Rose Parade entry at the BWP campus, and a kids arts festival landed at GAIN. Four events, one Saturday, zero admission fees. To the staff and volunteers who made an impossible schedule look easy: this city noticed, and we are grateful.
🔹 Arts around town: Photographer Eric Renard's L.A. Overexposed opened Friday at the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center and stays on view through October 22. Catch Me If You Can: The Musical enters its final two weekends at the Colony Theatre, closing October 18, and KAIJU continues at The Road Theatre Company through November 1. Pick one and bring a friend who claims they never go to live theater.
👉 Browse the Burbank arts calendar
🗓️ Mark Your Calendar
🔹 Fire Prevention Week, October 4 through 10: Council proclaimed it back in September, and now it is here. The homework is wonderfully simple: test your smoke alarms, agree on two ways out of every room, and actually say your family meeting spot out loud. Ten minutes this week could matter more than anything else on this page.
👉 View the city events calendar
🔹 Indigenous Peoples' Day, Monday, October 12: A day to honor the Indigenous peoples on whose ancestral lands our region stands, including the Gabrielino-Tongva and Fernandeño Tataviam communities, and to celebrate cultures that are very much present, not past.
🔹 State of the City, ten days out: The annual address and luncheon lands Thursday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport, under the theme Better Together. My draft is nearly there, and this is the final call for nominations: if a person, program, or project deserves a shout-out from the podium, reply this week and I will do my best to work it in.
💡A Final Thought
Council is dark tomorrow, which makes this one of those rare weeks when the biggest item on the city's agenda is simply us. Awareness months all work the same way: noticing is the start, never the finish. So here is my quiet-week homework, and you only need to pick one. Text the friend you have been meaning to check on. Book the screening you keep postponing. Send me a State of the City nomination, or get that Holiday in the Park application in before Thursday. Small actions, stacked together, are how a city takes care of itself, and Burbank has been stacking them all week. See you back at the dais on the 13th.
Together, we're building a community and better future that works for everyone. Thank you for staying connected!
Tamala Takahashi
Mayor, City of Burbank
tamala.takahashi@mygovtools.org
