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Tamala Takahashi Newsletter — September 14, 2026
🌟 From the Dais with Mayor Tamala Takahashi | September 14, 2026
Hello, Burbank,
Friday morning, I stood with neighbors at the ceremony marking 25 years since September 11. I met residents who lost family and friends in the attack, and others whose loved ones were first responders who have since passed from illness caused by the toxic dust. A quarter century on, we still gather, and we still grieve together. That is not a community's weakness. It is the proof of one. Burbank has been my home for those same 25 years, so my whole life here has unfolded alongside that promise to remember. This week asks us to carry that same care into the ordinary work of the city: Council returns to the dais tomorrow night after three quiet Tuesdays, crews started work on the Palm Paseo on Wednesday, and a park full of art and live music is waiting for us on Saturday. Here is what you need to know.
🏛️ Council Corner
🔹 No votes to report: Council was dark again on September 8, our third quiet Tuesday in a row. That stretch ends now, and my briefing binder is thicker for it.
🔹 Council returns tomorrow, Tuesday, September 15, at 6 p.m.: The evening opens with a study session on our Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan and the 2024 emissions inventory, includes a proclamation for Fire Prevention Week, and carries two transportation items on the consent calendar. I break down the climate session and the street items below. If you want to weigh in, you have three doors: the podium, Zoom, or eComment before the meeting. I read every comment that comes through, and tomorrow is the week to use them.
👉 View meeting agendas and eComment
🚌 Transportation Updates
🔹 Decision day for the street safety dollars: After two editions of previews, the vote is finally here. Tomorrow's consent calendar includes accepting the $1,584,000 federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant and awarding the Phase 3 contract for signal improvements along the I-5 corridor, funded through Metro. A quick refresher: everything on consent is approved together in one motion, unless a Council member or a resident asks to pull an item out for its own discussion. This is outside funding doing work our General Fund would otherwise shoulder, and safer crossings and smoother signals are improvements you notice on every single trip across town, however you make it. If you have thoughts on either item, submit them before tomorrow's meeting: the eComment window is open right now.
🌿 Environment & Sustainability
🔹 The climate check-in happens tomorrow: The study session covers how our Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan is actually performing, measured against the 2024 emissions inventory. Here is why the format matters: study sessions are where Council asks questions and gives staff direction without taking a formal vote, which makes them the single best moment to shape what happens next. I want to know where we are ahead of pace, where we are behind, and what it would take to close the gap. Data first, decisions after. If there is a climate question you want raised from the dais, there is still time: reply today and I will do my best to work it in.
🏘️ Housing & Downtown's Future
🔹 The old IKEA, the Kmart, and the mall, explained: It is the question I hear more than almost any other, so last Tuesday I shared a full staff update on where our three most visible vacant sites actually stand. The short version:
→ 🏠 Former IKEA site: The City recently received a proposal for 72 townhomes and 350 multi-family units. It is early in review, and the details may shift as the project moves forward.
→ 🛒 Former Kmart site: The City is working with Ralphs to relocate into the space with a brand-new, state-of-the-art grocery store. Plans are submitted and moving through entitlement, which is the City's formal review and approval process.
→ 🏬 Burbank Town Center and Sears: These hinge on the update to the Downtown Burbank transit-oriented development plan, the same draft so many of you marked up at the open houses. ONNI, the mall's developer, is tracking that process closely and intends to submit plans for additional housing and commercial uses once it wraps, expected in the first quarter of 2027.
→ 💬 My take: I know how frustrating it is to drive past big, empty anchors year after year while our community needs housing, businesses, and places to gather. The honest answer is that all three sites are moving, just at the speed of careful review rather than the speed of our impatience. I will keep pressing for progress and keep translating each step here as it happens.
👉 Track current development projects
💼 Economic Development & Local Business
🔹 Palm Paseo work is officially underway: Crews started construction Wednesday, September 9, on the beautification project bringing new landscaping, shade, seating, upgraded lighting, bike racks, and public art to the Downtown walkway near the Orange Grove parking structure. Work runs weekday mornings from 7 to 11 a.m. to spare the lunch rush, pauses for the holiday season in mid-November, and wraps in summer 2027. Every business along the Paseo stays open the entire time, so here is my ask: a construction fence is not a closed sign. Keep the lunch dates, the errands, and the coffee runs coming, because the merchants behind that fencing are counting on us.
💚 Health & Wellbeing
🔹 Grief does not follow a calendar: Talking with residents at Friday's ceremony reminded me that anniversaries can reopen loss even decades later, and that is not a setback or a failure to heal. It is simply how grief works. If this weekend sat heavy on you or someone you love, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and answers calls and texts 24 hours a day. And one small thing this week: check in on the people who showed up Friday carrying someone's name in their heart. Being remembered alongside their person means more than you know.
🧶 The Community Thread
🔹 Five days until the Autumn Arts Festival: This Saturday, September 19, from 4 to 7 p.m., Johnny Carson Park fills with local artist booths, food trucks, and a live concert from hometown rock band The Velvonics, courtesy of our Parks and Recreation Department, the Cultural Arts Commission, and the Valley Cultural Foundation. It is free, family-friendly, and no ticket is required, though an RSVP helps organizers plan. Bring a blanket, bring a neighbor, and let the kids pick the food truck.
👉 View the city events calendar
🔹 A weekend of bidding for the animals: The Volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter closed out their seventh annual online Auction for Animals on Sunday evening, after a weekend of bidding on more than 300 items donated by local businesses and neighbors. To everyone who donated, bid, or simply shared the link: thank you. Every dollar raised goes straight to the animals at our shelter, and that is a weekend well spent from any couch in Burbank.
🔹 Arts around town: Artists, today is the day: submissions for the Harvest Moon exhibit close Monday, September 14, so send yours in before the window shuts. Catch Me If You Can: The Musical opens Thursday at the Colony Theatre. Rats by Sophie McNally continues at Gallery 839 through September 28, the California Japanese Ceramic Arts Guild exhibit runs at the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center through September 24, and Pitch Puuurfect enters its final week at the Salit Conservatory, closing September 21.
👉 Browse the Burbank arts calendar
🗓️ Mark Your Calendar
🔹 Verdugo Aquatic Facility: The pool remains closed through this Sunday, September 20, for scheduled maintenance, so plan your swims for the week after.
🔹 Time capsule ideas close September 25: A week and a half left. If an object, photo, or story says Burbank 2026 to you, the library wants to hear about it now.
👉 Visit the Burbank Public Library site
🔹 One month to State of the City: 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, and my drafting continues. More details in the weeks ahead.
💡A Final Thought
Twenty-five years of remembering has taught me something about this city: showing up is a muscle, and Burbank keeps it strong. The same instinct that fills a ceremony on a Friday morning fills an auction for shelter animals, a comment queue before a council vote, and a park on a Saturday afternoon. This week hands you easy ways to use it. Send me a climate question before tomorrow's study session, speak up on the street safety items, buy lunch on the Palm Paseo, or spend Saturday afternoon at Johnny Carson Park. Pick whichever fits your week. The dais lights come back on tomorrow at 6 p.m., and I hope your voice is part of the evening.
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
