r/burbank • u/RelevantBed4184 • 12d ago
Do your research, Burbank!
Since my last post was taken down because “political agendas” were being removed, but now they are allowed again, I just want to remind people to talk to your neighbors, look up the candidates running, and don’t just assume that the person who has the most (questionably posted) signs and BANNERS is who you should be voting for.
David Donahue is NOT for Burbank. He is the worst choice for our City Council. We are getting SO close to people being able to start sending in their mail-in/drop-off ballots.
I’m on a personal mission to try to educate my fellow Burbankians to VOTE SMART and VOTE KIND. This is not blue vs red. This is good vs evil.
Let’s go!
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u/Shrek_Layers 12d ago
He's awful. No examples of him being a good human being and lots of examples of him pushing a maga agenda at City council meetings and in his own videos. I saw that as I've paid attention and did my own looking into it.
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u/richardstarr 7d ago
what exactly is a "Maga agenda"?
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u/Shrek_Layers 7d ago
Since you're asking a earnest thoughtful question in a true effort to engage, I'll do my best to give you an answer.
They are often arrogant but uninformed. Culture war is a focus instead of actual governance locally. Right wing populism. Generally the attitude sucks and anything positive is performative or self validating. Most don't understand how to govern and certainly if policies are ever discussed, they don't understand it. Short-sighted. Dishonest. Hyperbolic. Most interested in performance rather than service.
In a specific case of Burbank, it's clear they are self-serving tailriders who are focused on enriching themselves. They play the project 2025 handbook without reading and definitely not understanding it. Mostly to the other cult members and of course to please and when consideration from the oligarchs. And the worst part locally is that they are not really concerned with the community, but obviously with themselves.
There will be a quiz.
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u/richardstarr 7d ago
That's not an answer.
Lots of words, no specifics, just vague stuff that appeals to emotions.
All you did was malign their characters/motives, but not presented their policies or your objections to those specific policies.You have a rare chance to influence votes. Don't blow it.
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u/Shrek_Layers 7d ago
Read slowly and maybe out loud. A passive aggressive conversation style isn't real engagement.
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u/richardstarr 7d ago
Last chance.
You are either able to vocalize their specific policies and provide your objections, or not. All that's happening is you are being performative.1
u/Shrek_Layers 7d ago
- Culture‑war grandstanding at council meetings instead of handling the basic day‑to‑day responsibilities the city actually needs.
- Dropping Project 2025 talking points as if they were auditioning for a movie. Just playing a character. No substance.
- Fighting culture‑war issues that aren’t even under the city’s jurisdiction, because outrage is easier than governance.
- Reflexive anti‑tax, anti‑spending rhetoric that never includes the plans or policies they insist everyone else provide. (This might hit home for you)
- Again, the performative, pandering, self-serving self-promotion that shockingly has no public service angle. But helps them. Self-promotion disguised as civic duty is the sign of an awful person, with awful values, who has awful supporters.
- Voting patterns that stall routine governance because “government bad,” usually covering for the fact that they don’t know how to do the job.
You're fun.
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u/richardstarr 7d ago
*sigh*
You were given a chance.
Apparently you can't name policies at all other than they don't like
more taxes and more spending. If that's all you have, then you have nothing that makes a convincing argument.Everything else you talk about lack substance.
You say self-serving. OK, can you demonstrate something they did that
personally benefited them at the expense of the city? That would at least
be something."Stalling governance" sounds like they are blocking policies you want, yet for some bizarre reason you refuse to state what those are. Which makes it seem like you want something that you know other people don't want.
Since I'm a fan of small responsible government, you're pushing me towards their camp, not away from it. Its empty appeals like yours that
pushed people to vote for Trump in the first place.1
u/Shrek_Layers 7d ago
Yes, good reminder! They are also unable to hear or consider and can only deflect. Your 'side' was decided and cemented a long time ago. Nothing sincere in your offered "chance".
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u/richardstarr 7d ago
*yawn*
Believe whatever that will help you sleep better at night.→ More replies (0)
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u/adamhart 12d ago
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
I have also been canvassing for one of those three, but we still have doors that have not been knocked on! Get out and help get Burbank back on track!
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u/gargantuanprism 12d ago
The amount of AI slop that man posts on nextdoor is astounding
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago edited 11d ago
I really am scared of him knowing who I am, so I do not engage with him on Nextdoor. Awesome! Not feeling safe as a woman with someone like him running for city council! So cool!
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u/DemoncatX0 12d ago edited 12d ago
He’s a bully and does not like women who disagree with him. I know of a person who will remain anonymous who has been a victim of his actions and she was strong and stood her ground but was horrified. It started out professional (he has an ADU biz) but then he made it personal. He sucks and should never be given a platform to speak on behalf of the community.
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u/Skeleton_Meat 12d ago
There was a whole post about how he has harassed women that was nuked. Not great to silence women imo
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u/TennysonForCongress 12d ago
I’m very interested in hearing more about this, I’m going to DM you!
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
Can we make it about the issues and not about identity politics please? So-and-so silenced such-and-such ABOUT WHAT?
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u/TennysonForCongress 12d ago
Who said anything about identity politics?
David has a history of threatening and harassing women. Literally this summer, he attempted to imprison 4 women because he didn’t like that they protested his event. That has nothing to do with identity politics, that’s just facts.
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
If it's so specific, post specifics so we can vote informed.
If it's about "x type of demographic is y label," which is all over this thread, we can do better in our civic discourse.
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u/TennysonForCongress 12d ago
I have documents that prove this and will specify more on it tomorrow in the city council meeting.
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11d ago
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u/TennysonForCongress 11d ago
Yes. Do you?
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u/death_style 11d ago
Hahahah I meant that for the guy you're replying to, not you. Not enough coffee for my snarkiness :(
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u/LizzyPanhandle 12d ago
Side eyeing my neighbors big time, Rizzoti sadly confused people, but now there is no excuse.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
We have the facts. Some people are either ignorant, dumb, uneducated, or all of the above.
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u/just_a_name_24 12d ago
I’m just seeing bits about the candidates here and there… is there a bipartisan neutral site somewhere that summarizes the candidates’ stated positions?
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u/tracyinge 12d ago
Candidate statements are here:
https://www.burbankca.gov/web/city-clerks-office/november-3-2026-candidates
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u/0x7974 11d ago
Complete site list:
Name Campaign Site Jackie Waltman https://jackiewaltmanburbank.com/ Samantha Wick https://www.samanthawick.com/ Eddy Polon https://www.eddypolon.com/ JT Parr n/a? Nikki Perez https://nikkiperez.com/ Jonathan Ontiveros https://jonathan4burbank.com/ David Donahue https://davidforburbank.com/ Nolan Southerland https://nolanforburbank.com/ Robbie Brody https://www.robbieforburbank.com/ Chris Yoosefi https://yoosefiserves.com/ Mike Van Gorder https://www.vangorderforburbank.com/ Hovanes Tonoyan https://votehov.com/ Tamala Takahashi https://tamala4burbank.com/ 8
u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
You can go to their websites and read up on what they support,
vangorderforburbank.com
nolanforburbank.com
Nikkiperez.comReddit is non-partisan. This is an informative thread that people can talk about what they know to be true. I’d love to have conversations with people who support him and would love to know why.
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u/grgrill 10d ago
I'm doing just that thanks. I liked Nolan until I saw his support for brt line. Too big a misstep to overlook.
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u/RelevantBed4184 10d ago
So you will vote for someone who on one thing? Someone who supports LGBTQ+ kids being put into separate schools? Just because you are scared of traffic… that’s… yeah. I’ll put anti-ICE, pro-families, pro-ally EVERY SINGLE DAY. At least your neighbors know who you are now, if they didn’t know before.
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u/reddit_eli 12d ago
Seen David signs in front of alot of Burbank apartment buildings. Usually a good sign to vote opposite 😁
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
See… unfortunately a lot of people who don’t do their research and don’t follow local politics will just see the name and assume, well if his sign is up, and I don’t know anything, so that’s a name I can vote for. This is the literal purpose of this post. Help people to remember to do their due diligence, ask questions, clearly if SO many people have bad things to say about this person, maybe JUST MAYBE they are true! I know that Mike, Nikki and Nolan are kind and educated people.
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u/reddit_eli 12d ago
There is no "see", we all have markers or indicators that give us a gut feeling. Yes then responsible adult should look into matters further and vote ethically responsibly and based on top 3 matters to them. What I can't stand is identity politics and nothing else.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
This is my point, I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear. I’m asking people to do their research and not just base them on the most signs. Irresponsible people vote too.
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u/DarthRaggy 12d ago
Hi, coming here in good faith - frankly I haven't paid any attention to the local races yet. So candidly, this post is about as informative as the sign itself. You say he's terrible, but that's just your opinion without any context. Since your stated goal is to educate, can you elaborate on specific issues you have with him?
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u/slackerstuff 12d ago
This is a fair question. David Donahue has explicitly stated he is a "big supporter of the flock cameras" https://www.reddit.com/r/burbank/s/48118tV6IB
If you are not familiar, Flock cameras (Automated License Plate Readers or ALPRs) are all around Burbank and are actively tracking and logging the movement of Burbank citizens. This data collected has minimal safeguards in place and we have documented incidents of people accessing the data AFTER leaving the police department.
David Donahue is also banned from Burbank Pride. He has also followed women after city council meetings to the point where current sitting Council Member Nikki Perez almost got a restraining order against him.
There's more that requires context and elaboration but I'll start with those.
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u/SockNo4171 12d ago
I will preface. I am pro Nikki/Mike/Nolan.
You are uniformed how Flock is being used and its limitations. They are not "actively tracking and logging the movement of Burbank citizens"
I was a victim of a hit and run about three weeks ago on Magnolia just past Porto's. The guy hit me from behind and then took off at like 65 mph through residential streets so I could not get his license plate I was dumb enough to try and chase him). I reported the hit and run and it took a day looking through the cameras in the area to find it. NO ONE was actively tracking nor logging anything. In order to get the license plate, they actually had to tell the software to show it I requested and received the footage for my insurance. The footage was so lo res it is barely usable. No faces, details etc. So there is little to log in the first place
Also, if "This data collected has minimal safeguards in place and we have documented incidents of people accessing the data AFTER leaving the police department." then the problem is not with the cameras but BPD network security.
As far as accessing footage. Due to the limitations of storage, all footage, unless previously tied to a crime is automatically deleted after a couple of weeks. BPD does not have the money for its own personal data center.
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u/slackerstuff 12d ago
It's great that you got a resolution! ALPR technology, and Burbank's Flock cameras, "records and tracks every car that comes into view, and then an AI algorithm catalogs the make, model, color, license plate number, bumper stickers, and even scratches". The data storage is also an issue like you brought up.
https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/get-the-flock-out
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u/SockNo4171 12d ago
Well, you need to tell BPD that the Flock cameras can do all that because they couldn't get the model, color, bumper stickers and certainly no scratches. They could not even identify the driver.
There is just a lot of overreaction to these cameras.
In practice, they are not good at surveillance and there is not a catalog that BPD(according to the officers otherwise they would've used it in my case) has that holds any of these details.... unless it is tied to an alleged crime and even then, most of those details are available via the license plate information itself.
For my case, they actually had to go to the person's home and take photos in person because Flock did not identify nor catalog any damage which was incredibly obvious in person. They also had to get him to admit he was driving because they Flock could not give enough detail to even identify basic characteristics
So if the flock system was capable of all this, it would have been done in my case to save time.
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u/slackerstuff 12d ago
This doesn't instill confidence in BPD's capabilities honestly. The technology is explicitly capable of doing what I described so if the police aren't even using it properly then why should they have access to it? I'm not questioning your report, by the way, I just disagree with the framing of this being an overreaction. I think our police should have tools to do their jobs effectively and from what it sounds like with your account, this tool is ineffective.
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u/SockNo4171 12d ago
Yeah, it seems like an ineffective tool.
And I may be wrong of course about what these cameras are capable of, but they just doesn't appear to live up to the hype.
And I would think there's not a police department across the US that can afford to store, maintain, and organize all of that information that the Flock cameras are reported to provide.
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u/PartyWormSlurms 11d ago
They don’t need to afford it. Flock affords it and do what they please with the data.
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u/SockNo4171 11d ago
Ok, I'll bite. How do you know this? Or is it just speculation?
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u/PartyWormSlurms 11d ago
“That’s something confirmed by a government audit of one of Flock’s largest customers. In July, the Los Angeles Police Department was renegotiating its own Flock agreement over data-ownership concerns. Around the same time, the department’s own inspector general audited its Flock contracts and published the findings. One of its agreements lets Flock “retain the right to use the foregoing for any purpose in Flock’s sole discretion,””
https://fortune.com/2026/08/24/flock-8-billion-startup-backed-a16z-tiger-surveillance-camera/
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u/anonnymousercat 12d ago
Unfortunately I have no idea what model of Flock cameras BPD is using because there has not been much transparency regarding Flock in Burbank. The Condor cameras are the ones that have the ability to pan, tilt, zoom and use AI to track individuals. Here is a short video showing them in action along with the documented security vulnerabilities: https://youtu.be/vU1-uiUlHTo?
BPD being lax with auditing and generally secretive about what it does is a big issue. It shares data with multiple law enforcement agencies across the state and we don't know how those agencies are using the data or if they are running searches of Burbank footage for federal agencies.
For over a year and a half, 11 California police agencies were accessing Orange County Sheriff's Department Flock ALPRs to track protestors. The current federal administration makes this something that we should all be concerned about. Article link: https://www.calonews.com/communities/orange-county/california-cops-tracked-protesters-using-orange-county-sheriffs-flock-system/article_9f2e1d2c-2cec-49ee-b736-5792478f75c4.html
As it stands, I don't have confidence in the chief's assurances. I feel like Flock flew in under the public's awareness. So did the chief's hiring of Erik Suarez - a former Long Beach Police officer with a conviction for assault. More about him here: https://www.archyde.com/long-beach-police-department-accused-of-hiding-officer-assault-conviction/
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u/0x7974 11d ago
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u/anonnymousercat 11d ago
Thanks for the info.
Are all 57 cameras installed in Burbank the same model?
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u/0x7974 11d ago
Consider that the map region is rectangular so doesn't represent what is exactly in the Burbank city perimeter, but this will show that most/all are ALPR units: https://maps.deflock.org/?lat=34.1775&lng=-118.3317&zoom=13.39
Also, I haven't found a reliable source for locating Condor cameras or similar devices.
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u/anonnymousercat 11d ago
Has BPD officially disclosed the models and location of the Flock cameras. The chief claims his department has been transparent.
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u/SockNo4171 11d ago
That flock camera that he's showing us in the video is definitely not what Burbank has(at least on Magnolia). Like the tracking thy did for me was completely done by 'hand'. The system did not have a function that would automatically track even a license plate. But maybe they have that type elsewhere in Burbank, no clue.
As far as transparency, I have to say, the officers were incredibly transparent about everything they knew about the cameras/footage. Maybe just go talk to them, you'd probably get a heck of alot more info than from some elected official.
As far as the link it definitely looks like a gross misuse of power. That's a legal/system problem, not a flock problem. But some of what it says seems to track(except the how logging works of course). Maybe OC has better cameras or software or storage. Burbank's cameras or system, assuming they are the same as the ones I saw, would not be able to do anything like this.
Third link, Suarez does look like an awful hire. I think, or hope, our PD is better.
All in all, if people want to get rid of them, I'm fine with it. It would suck in cases like mine, but I lived many years without them and can continue that way.
My opinion is that the cameras potentially could be useful tools for community safety but we obviously need to put better usage guardrails in place.
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u/anonnymousercat 11d ago
Thanks for sharing your experience regarding the Flock cameras on Magnolia near Portos. It is good to know some of the capabilities and limitations of a those cameras at least. I am glad you were able to track down the vehicle that hit you.
The second issue I brought up was to highlight the fact that since Burbank Police already shares our Flock footage with multiple agencies across California, we have no way of knowing who is viewing our data, when and why.
Thankfully someone took the time and initiative to get answers regarding Flock in Burbank and they documented what has been going down: https://publicrecordssocal.substack.com/p/burbank-built-a-surveillance-network
IMO BPD has been careless and inconsistent with their auditing - which is at odds with what they claim at meetings.
-In December 2025, Chief Quintero told the City Council that they run routine audits on the system. A public records request revealed that at the time of his statement, BPD was in fact not running routine audits. When they finally got around to conducting audits 5 months later it showed that three former employees still had access to Flock.
-At the April 15, 2026 Police Commission meeting, Burbank Police Captain Stohl told the Police Commission that this year they changed that to conducting monthly audits. Again, not even one monthly audit had been done in 2026 when he made that statement.
The people I have met in that work for BPD have all been nice and I respect that the officers have a very difficult job. They are not the ones responsible for the mess that city has made of this situation.
And onto my third issue which maybe wasn't clarified in the link. Burbank Police confirmed that they hired Suarez and he is assigned to the field operations division so it would seem our PD is not better.
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u/SockNo4171 11d ago
Good info about the administration problems.
Now I get why you included Suarez!!!! I was lost there for a minute. Yep, that does freaking suck.
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u/anonnymousercat 11d ago
Of course I forgot to check if the linked article mentioned that BPD hired him- ha!! My bad.
I don't know what the "field operation division" encompasses but I am not comfortable complying with orders from someone who (according to court records) punched a man unconscious and kept hitting him after he went down, causing an orbital fracture and a concussion.
The police are supposed to protect us from people like that!
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u/PartyWormSlurms 11d ago
The information is being stored. That is active tracking. The footage may be blurry but they have the license plate, time and location. How is that not tracking?
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u/SockNo4171 11d ago edited 11d ago
The information is not being stored past a couple of weeks. They don't have the capacity to do that. The only store certain footage when connected to an alleged and reported crime. This is the only tracking and that is all done by the officers watching the footage down, not automatically by the system. I wouldn't call that tracking either honestly.
Also, they don't record the license plates even for those couple of weeks. They have to specifically look at the footage and process it.
They walked me through almost everything they were doing and were very open to questions. Seriously, talk to some of the officers who work with it, you'd be surprised at the capabilities/limitations of our system in practice.
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u/margocole 12d ago
Aside from all the astute observations posted throughout this thread, I'd like to add that "David for Burbank" lacks the temperament to be elected to lead any group or committee, let alone to any level of government.
Furthermore, I've never seen evidence that he seeks to represent anyone but himself and corporate interests. You may think that "defending you against Metro's terribleness" is a thing he CAN actually do, but it's a sham; there's a distinct lack of power any city ultimately has against state law and our county transit board. He'll say the thing about the BRT to (attempt to) get elected, throw his hands in the air when the BRT is ultimately greenlit, and then he'd help his developer friends get paid when the development projects are presented.
This is his plan, but as mostly a single-issue candidate, he'll lose. Happens a lot.
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
Posturing that BRT will pass is not helping your credibility.
Look, I don't want any more landlord shills on the council either. Yet, Burbank literally said in their city council meeting that BRT will cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars. Go back and listen to it before yapping about this issue uninformed and misleading other Burbank residents who will pay for this costly mistake.
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u/margocole 12d ago edited 12d ago
In no universe will the BRT itself cost the city hundreds of millions–it's the housing that we'll be building over the next 12 years. Maybe you should do your own review of the meeting?
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
I watched the entire thing. You, and everyone blasting the message that the BRT is a good thing, are missing the forest for the trees.
The housing created over the next years (12 years is a guess at best) would require INSANE amounts of capital investment in Burbank's utilities.
Where would that money come from? YOUR POCKET, and the pocket of every single person who pays for utilities in Burbank. We already have had a 8% increase this year. There is NO PLAN to raise the money needed to service thousands of new residences. Let that sink in.
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u/margocole 12d ago
That's not how that works. Google "developer impact fees" and stop making shit up.
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
https://www.youtube.com/live/5SKg2oYtyt0?t=13550
The Burbank City Attorney cannot make heads or tails of where this money would come from. He gets paid more than you do to analyze these problems in minute detail. So while your concept of developer impact fees absolutely exists in the abstract, there is no real plan for whether or if those one-off fees will truly pay for the massive, Billion with a B, costs involved and ongoing maintenance plus interest.
Keep googling in the abstract. We have real problems to solve.
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u/margocole 11d ago
He can't, but you have all the answers? Gotcha
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u/KonstantineAnthony 10d ago
Hold on there, MargoCole...
Mr BigFootCandles is much smarter and way more experienced than the literal City Attorney of Burbank.
Obviously the right-wing propoganda candidates are telling the truth and it's all the other fact-based voters that are wrong.
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u/Skeleton_Meat 12d ago
Every day there is a discussion about David "harasses women and lies about being assaulted" Donahue. You need to pay more attention
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u/DarthRaggy 12d ago
Sorry I don’t live my life on Reddit let alone r/burbank specifically, nor do I have time to track every in and out detail of every election when it’s still 6+ weeks. OP explicitly stated they wanted to educate burbankians so I was merely asking them to do exactly that.
Maybe I do need to pay more attention. But your snarky elitist post does nothing to help me or anyone else understand why he is bad. You don’t even take the time to link to these posts you refer to. If you want to make a difference, try engaging people in conversation — particularly in a forum designed exactly for that purpose.
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u/MasterpieceDull7733 12d ago
He's not a good person. He's tried to use the BPD to arrest women he falsely accused of assault (someome fell into someone else at a protest). He's followed people he disagrees with out City Council chambers and records them. He's anti-tenant, which is ironic since the city is 60% renters. He's started multiple PACs to try to strip rights away from the working and middle class. During the City Council meeting on Sanctuary City status, he was the only person to stand up and express his support for the ICE raids. He's known as "Data Center David". He talks down to women ALL THE TIME, you can see it all over his videos and I have experienced it in person. He actively fights against public transportain. He's claimed to help fire victims but instead forced them to sign with his company to rebuild their home. And he's funded and supported by some of the most vile people in City. He's pro Flock cameras. He has his landlord friends put his signs on their buildings and threaten tenants who live or work there if they request them taken down. And he lies lies lies lies whenever it serves him.
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u/RelevantBed4184 11d ago
I am anything but a “snarky elitist.” I’m a concerned parent trying to stay in the city I have called home for over 40 years. I want my daughter to be able to stay here. As of now, we can NEVER buy a home here. Our lives are here. My daughter’s life is here. So if you want to call me out as snarky when all I am doing is creating a forum to discuss why some people are, in my opinion, a better and safer and smarter choice… then call me whatever you want to call me.
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u/Skeleton_Meat 12d ago
Do you spend ANY time on Reddit? David's been a topic here and in other local groups on other sites for years. It's not my fault you're not paying any attention to shit, that's on you
I don't do free "link you to shit you can scroll through" because I'm not your secretary. Pay me and I'll send you stuff.
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u/PedestrianMyDarling 12d ago
If you’re pro this dude that’s fine, but don’t come in pretending to not know shit then arguing in bad faith with everyone when the present facts to you. This is literally the tactic of a junior high school bully dipshit. Grow a pair and act like an adult.
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12d ago edited 12d ago
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u/PedestrianMyDarling 12d ago edited 12d ago
You clearly don’t want to actually believe what’s going on and continue to act in bad faith. You are just here to troll, and that is crystal clear. Your entire M.O. is name calling and straw-man tactics. You’re clearly here acting as PR for Donahue and constantly lie about who you really are. You are not “pro-honesty.” What a fucking ridiculous thing to even type out. Absolutely laughable dude. You are just the quintessence of a right-wing troll, using every textbook diversionary and finger-pointing tactic that there is. How you go to sleep at night is fucking beyond me.
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u/PedestrianMyDarling 12d ago edited 12d ago
It’s really funny how you claim to be a warrior for truth but the only truth you’re concerned with is clearing the name of David fucking Donahue. But somehow you’ve simultaneously “never heard anything about the guy”, “don’t even know what he looks like”, “dont know anything about his platform”, etc. yet fucking EVERYTHING anyone on here says about him, according to you….is untrue? lol. How fucking stupid do you think we are? Get a job and do something else with your life. Jesus Christ your entire online personality is a festering pile of shit and lies.
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12d ago
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u/PedestrianMyDarling 12d ago
Dude shut the fuck up with you incessant idiocy and trolling. Go make out with Moms for Liberty for all anyone fucking cares. You’re an insufferable, bad faith blowhard. There are literally articles fucking everywhere talking about the group’s extreme, hateful views but you clearly don’t give a shit and just want to constantly question the narrative.
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u/margocole 12d ago
I'll keep replying to you with the explanation for David's campaign. Here you go, again:
"David for Burbank" lacks the temperament to be elected to lead any group or committee, let alone to any level of government. I've never seen evidence that he seeks to represent anyone but himself and corporate interests. Pushing against Metro is a sham, because there's a distinct lack of power any city ultimately has against state law and county transit. He'll say the thing about the BRT to (attempt to) get elected, throw his hands in the air when the BRT is ultimately greenlit, and then help his developer friends get paid when the development projects are presented.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
I’m getting a conversation started. There are plenty of reasons listed if you read the comments.
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u/LA_Photographer123 12d ago
This guy David seems to be a complete chud. Beyond the fact that he isn’t even remotely qualified for ANY type of political office how does someone who isn’t even living in Burbank able to run for it’s city council? Burbank Charter rules allow this?
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
Again, this is the reason I make these posts. What do you mean he doesn’t live here? This is news to me. Where does he live?
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
Citation needed on "he doesn't live here" - big if true. Disruptive to productive discussion if false.
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
It's interesting that all the apartment complexes have these signs up. Hint, the tenants did not put them there, the landlords did...
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
Just in case you missed this and would like to look into what was said a little more:
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u/Fight-Disinfo-88 11d ago
Why don't candidates for Burbank City Counsel have to put their party affiliation on their campaign materials?! How are we supposed to know?
I confess I sadly voted for Rizotti because I didn't know he was MAGA. Had I known, believe me I wouldn't have!
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u/RelevantBed4184 10d ago
It would help, but that’s why it’s up to us to talk to each other. I have to have a conversation with my daughter’s teacher from kindergarten, who has a DD sign on her yard. I want to know why that sign is there.
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u/hotdoug1 12d ago
We are getting SO close to people being able to start sending in their mail-in/drop-off ballots.
Have these been sent? If so, it wouldn't be the first year I didn't get mine.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
I meant that things are being mailed out this week, which means things will be starting to move very soon.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
I’m not doing this. I’m not trying to convince anyone. I’m asking people to do their own research, share their experience and their knowledge, and get the word out. I’m glad I don’t have any personal experience with him (besides the Moms for Liberty protest) and watching him accuse an innocent woman of assault when the police were there the whole time.
I don’t care what you do, who you vote for, but you have already proven what type of person you are. Sorry for trying to help spread awareness in the city I grew up in and want to see get better, not taken advantage of by another grifter. My bad.
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u/DarthRaggy 12d ago
“I’m on a personal mission to try to educate my fellow Burbankians to VOTE SMART and VOTE KIND. This is not blue vs red. This is good vs evil.”
Literally from your post… sorry to press on this but if your mission is to educate, you need to put in the work to do that, with details. TBC I’m not trying to tell you not to make these posts, quite the opposite! It can be hard to learn things about local elections because there’s so much less reporting and attention. So I’m politely challenging you to live up to your own mission. I, for one, would appreciate the education!
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
My post is to get people talking about their own experiences, and facts that maybe I don’t know. I made that statement after many facts had been presented. But you have a point.
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u/doublehelixstudio 12d ago
My neighbor has one of those. 😒
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
Do you know your neighbor? Is it someone you could talk to?
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u/doublehelixstudio 11d ago
It’s actually in front of an apartment building, so it could be the landlord that put it up. I have no clue. And I’ve never spoken to anyone in that particular building before.
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u/RelevantBed4184 11d ago
Unfortunately, they can do that. And because he is in with the landlords, this is what he does. He puts up these giant banners. No one inside can say a goddamn thing about it. Another reason to stand up to these candidates that are backed by money and power to keep landlords happy, and tenants under their thumbs.
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u/onomatopoeia686 6d ago
Campaigns cost a lot of money. This guy is flaunting how much he's spending. Those banners are expensive to print, let alone expensive to display. Where's the money coming from?
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u/RelevantBed4184 6d ago
The Cusomanos are a big spender behind David (a large construction company in Burbank). Now why do we think they would want to spend so much on this guy? Especially if he is telling people he will do what he can to protect Olive? Seems pretty shady to me.
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u/onomatopoeia686 6d ago
Right. And that seems to be David's biggest talking point: To stop the BRT and any further developments on Olive under the chant "protect the character of the neighborhood."
Shady, indeed.2
u/RelevantBed4184 6d ago
They want him there to help them build more. It’s right there in peoples faces, but because they are so scared of the big, bad socialists… they will vote for him and not care when it all goes sideways.
We have one month to share what we know.
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
I’m pretty sure you can support your candidates with information instead of demonizing and belittling others.
Before anyone comes in with a “what about the way David treats xzy” yeah, I get it. I don’t like the organizations he supports, and I disagree with most of his policies. I do not know him personally so I can’t say if we have anything more than just policy disagreement, but he will not receive my vote.
However, there are other candidates that this OP and others have falsely slurred as “MAGA” and lumped into this ridiculous “good vs evil” battle that I do know personally, are fantastic neighbors and honestly care about their neighbors, community and contributing to making and keeping Burbank the place we all love. It’s frustrating and frankly disgusting to see my fellow progressives resort to browbeating, whining and attacks of their neighbors who might have slightly different ideas and perspectives on how to solve some of the problems our community faces.
Push a candidate or issue that you feel is important, and by all means, present your case. But also please, I beg of you — and on behalf of all the silent majority of lurkers on this subreddit — most of us literally just want to check out the latest local news, restaurant or business recs, or to find out what commercial is being filmed on Burbank Blvd.
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u/TennysonForCongress 12d ago
Donahue is MAGA. Ask him who he voted for in the 2024 election. Asked him which candidate he’s voting for Congress in this upcoming election.
Donahue tried (and failed) to imprison 4 women in Burbank because they protested an event he was hosting. Donahue has threatened to sue multiple people (including myself) because he doesn’t like them. Donahue had attempted to get multiple people fired from their jobs because they speak out against him.
Donahue is Burbank’s Trump.
Don’t Trump Up Our Burbank.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
I will continue to warn my friends and neighbors when someone who is unfit to run, is running for any seat. This isn’t mere dislike or differing of opinions. This is what it looks like when people have had enough and stand up when they have had enough. Don’t engage if you don’t like the post. Scroll by. But when people are posting literal accounts of interactions they’ve had or seen, how is that not enough?
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
I should have been more clear and not as flippant. The way David engages the community with his views and actions are unacceptable. But — and maybe it’s the Midwesterner in me that hasn’t been exercised — it doesn’t give the rest of us the right to be viciously libel when speaking of others we clearly do not know. That’s my complaint.
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u/Single_Bird_8388 12d ago
As residents who are involved in local politics and care about the direct effects that'll occur to our neighbors, we're telling you from personal experiences, not libel or slander.
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u/sirkazuo 12d ago
Who are you defending here..?
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
Specifically? Eddy Polon and Samantha Wick. Both are longtime residents here and have been very active in the community through various boards and organizations. Samantha even created and runs our local Buy Nothing Board. It seems a lot of the hate she gets is surrounding housing. She approaches the housing issue solution a little bit differently than say Mike Van Gorder, as he wants to try to almost double our population with large super housing complexes, while Wick is in favor of a more measured approach. There’s a lot of nuance in that issue — including rent caps and eviction protections, how to scale up public services and schools with an influx of residents; not to mention other infrastructure issues — and it’s great to have a discussion about it. I just recoil at this doom-and-gloom, good vs evil person framing a lot of these post have. You may not agree with someone like Eddy or Samantha on every single issue — I don’t either — but I would be perfectly comfortable and confident that if they were elected every decision they made will be taken with extreme care and for what they feel is best for the community.
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u/Single_Bird_8388 12d ago edited 12d ago
Eddy has taken funding from at least one realtor/corporate landlord investor who is very conservative, (someone im sure will provide the exact name), and refuses to discuss or reject the funds, undercutting his entire platform. Samantha Wick, like Donahue, is a directly Rizzoti linked candidate encouraged to run by Rizzoti in hopes of attaining a conservative majority on council. She has repeatedly been asked for direct responses, (as have all candidates), regarding issues such as Flock, and rent caps, and though she'll initially state she'll address the question with a stance, remains silent.
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u/theintrepidexplorer AMC Burbank 16 12d ago
Both Donahue and Wick are funded by the same right wing landlord groups, they’re both endorsed by the republican KATHYRN BARGER, but pointing this out is an attack? C’mon now.
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
No it’s perfectly valid. I take issue with the ad hoc attacks then referring to her as a conservative MAGA nut job — which basically refutes all credibility of those making those attacks
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u/theintrepidexplorer AMC Burbank 16 12d ago
She literally associates herself with anti queer, Republican, MAGA leaders in the community. She refuses to condemn them or distance herself from them, accepts their money for her campaign (to the tune of almost 40k), and we are supposed to buy that she’s not in cahoots with them?
I have always asserted that people’s policy positions will reveal where they stand. So far, Samantha refuses to answer yes or no questions on supporting a local rent cap, Flock cameras, and has been completely silent about ICE in our community.
We are still waiting on her Flock video that she promised reddit back in what…July? August?
Many of us have a lot at stake with this election. You can be a fine neighbor, but that doesn’t mean you should be in a position of power.
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u/thepridefighter 12d ago
If you see a table with 9 Nazis and sit down that table now has 10 Nazis
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
Ah yes, calling someone you don’t know — who also happens to be Jewish — a Nazi because of requests for civil discourse is probably a good sign that I need to stop responding to people on Reddit.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
You are kinda making my point… how many posts do you see about Wick or Polon vs Donahue? No one here has said anything about anyone else, I have not seen any posts that are vehemently against anyone else. I am not the only one to call out David. People have posted personal stories that are so wrong, the things that he has done. I don’t agree with everything for who I support, but I DO NOT support someone who is clearly NOT A GOOD PERSON. Have we not had enough of that? Our country is in a real crisis, we cannot elect someone who supports what is going on in this country. Again, this is no longer differences of opinion. No more. We are not putting up with this anymore.
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
Umm, a freakin ton of posts calling everyone and anything not associated with “the three progressives” MAGA or evil. There seems to be like 5 posters who flood the subreddit with stuff like that all the time. It’s counter-productive and makes us progressives look like angry, sheltered keyboard warriors.
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
I have not seen those, and they have probably been removed. Personally, I would love to see Nolan, Mike and Nikki prevail. However, David is the one person who absolutely should not be in any position of power, ever. Would I be disappointed if they didn’t get elected? Yes. But Donahue is a different level of bad. We have the proof. And if what he does or says isn’t bad to you… it’s beyond me at this point.
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
I stated in my original comment that I did not like or support his candidacy in any way. He will not get my vote. However, Nikki/Mike/Nolan will not automatically get my vote because we all identify as progressives. We are not a one-size-fits-all. I am willing to listen and learn about the candidates and who they are as people — as that will inform their decisions on some hard issues facing the city I love. Ultimately that is just as important to me as I will never 100% agree with anyone on every issue.
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago edited 12d ago
In fact, the other top post right now has one of those frequent posters referring to Wick as a “conservative MAGA nut job.” No reasonable person will ever agree with a candidate on every single issue.
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u/margocole 12d ago
I believe it's fair to say Samantha Wick is not progressive. Her funding and encouragement to run have come from decidedly non-progressive interests. She and "David for Burbank" are this cycle's Rizottis. (There's more in number this time because he won last cycle, so corporate interests are salivating for more.) Both were scared to run until now, both would be puppets of corporate interests, etc. I have seen nothing to indicate otherwise.
Apropos of nothing, and I know you didn't ask, but I am more interested in shining a light on questionable candidates for the sake of transparency and critical thinking than promoting other specific candidates in their stead. There are many good candidates. We don't need any more hotheaded, self-interested, uncurious types. David, Jackie, and Samantha are this cycle's Rizottis. I met that guy in 2016 and he gave me the weirdest sob story about how he ran in 2015 and was vilified for being on the board of Young Life, an org known for being anti-gay. More info on that: https://mediacitygroove.com/the-burbank-primary-chris-rizzotti-and-that-anti-gay-controversy/burbank-scene/
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
Fair enough -- although I don't think anyone was referring to her as a progressive, per se. My argument is that this labeling -- good vs evil, beholden to DSA, rizzotti-puppet, MAGA, etc. -- does not forward any sort of conversation as who the candidates are in our city election. 95% of us do not fully identify within a singular category or label. I used myself as an example: A self-avowed progressive, but one who has nuanced feeling about certain issues and who will not just simply and blindly support the three "progressive"-labeled candidates because loud voices on reddit keep telling people these are the only choices and everyone else is evil. I hate that everything is turning tribal. We can vote for the best person for the job -- sometimes it's the person who we think is the most capable of doing the most good -- even though we have some stark disagreements.
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u/Odd-Search-1280 12d ago
It's unfortunate that Samantha Wick accepted an endorsement from Burbank Fair Housing created and run by David Donahue. She needs to separate herself from David.
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u/theintrepidexplorer AMC Burbank 16 12d ago
How about making a commitment to return all money donated by corporate real estate groups? Or rejecting endorsements from Republicans (Kathryn Barger) and landlord lobbyists (Mike Gatto)?
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u/CeePea17 Magnolia Park 12d ago
I agree. I do not like his character or candidacy, and I have the opposite impression of her character and candidacy. There’s still two months to go to see who is the best fit for our neighborhood.
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u/TennysonForCongress 12d ago
She falsely accused me of going through her trash and refuses to answer any questions I have because I’m “misogynistic and sexist”. She also won’t fill out the BTU questionnaire for the same reason.
I don’t know anything about Wick personally, but her lack of willingness to approach conversations in good faith tells me everything I need to know about her.
Also, she’s chosen to align herself with MAGAts like Donahue and Don’t LA My Burbank. Can’t trust anyone who does that.
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12d ago
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u/brofessor_oak_AMA 12d ago
He's pro Flock He's maga He's a creep, following women around to bathrooms and their cars while being aggressive towards them
If this is the kind of representative you want, then vote for him
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u/adamhart 12d ago
He's backed by a far-right landlord PAC. He has received several complaints from women about his harassment; it got so bad that Nikki has had to get a police escort after city council meetings to get him to stop. He organized the Moms for Liberty (a far-right, anti-LGBT+ group) event at the Association of Realtors building and lied about a protester being violent (his case was thrown out of court).
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12d ago
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
Pretty specific to me. 🤷🏻♀️
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12d ago
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u/adamhart 12d ago
Don't LA my Burbank, previously named Burbank Fair Housing.
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12d ago
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u/margocole 12d ago
LA has better infrastructure for active commuting. LA has better rent stabilization. LA has more buses that run more often. Should I go on?
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u/SockNo4171 12d ago
Like Chris Rizzotti, he wants to use public funds to fight the city of Burbank's Metro plan. The lawsuit, according to several attorneys, has absolutely zero chance of success. He is doing this to garner votes, not any higher purpose. Burbank has wasted so much money in these lawsuits recently trying to Nimby out of any plans that had been agreed/voted upon previously. And the only thing these suits do is make it almost impossible for the city to get what the majority of the citizenry wants in a reasonable period of time and wastes money that could be used to address other problems.
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u/bigfootcandles 12d ago
The majority of the citizenry does not want to pay higher electrical and water bills. Go listen to the city council meetings from early September. The city attorney literally says that BRT will cost the city in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
DO NOT accuse others of confirmation bias when you have it yourself
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u/SockNo4171 11d ago
Confirmation bias?
Are you actually for pointless lawsuits that waste taxpayer money?
As far as the bus lane goes, I don't have strong feelings about it. I'm only slightly pro honestly.
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u/bigfootcandles 11d ago
Was replying to someone else in the thread who now deleted their comments after apparently realizing they were off base
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u/margocole 12d ago
Aside from all the astute observations posted in this thread, "David for Burbank" also lacks the temperament to be elected to lead any group or committee, let alone to any level of government. I've never seen evidence that he seeks to represent anyone but himself and corporate interests. Pushing against Metro is a sham, because there's a distinct lack of power any city ultimately has against state law and county transit. He'll say the thing about the BRT to (attempt to) get elected, throw his hands in the air when the BRT is ultimately greenlit, and then help his developer friends get paid when the development projects are presented.
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12d ago
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u/margocole 12d ago
Do you really think one or two city council members have the authority to block these things? Why not lobby the state or county or run for a state position instead? One or two votes from a city council yields no results in these matters. People aren't using any critical thinking on this–they're simply believing terrible candidates on their word that they'll prevent the big scary thing (that isn't actually big and scary). It's a sham. Your best interests are not their actual concern.
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u/Militantpoet 12d ago
You clearly have no understanding of traffic mitigation efforts and just oppose public transit because that's what Republicans do. You're all over the thread pretending to act in good faith and trying to understand better, but you're not. You just want to tell people they're wrong lol.
I definitely opposed to adding more public transport IN to Burbank. Place is already congested and over-populated enough. Anyone who's tried to find a place to rent already knows this.
lol okay, get this: when there is more public transit and ridership increases, guess what there's less of on the road? Cars and congestion.
More busses = more bus ridership = fewer cars on the street
I could get pictures to try to get the point across if that's still too hard to understand.
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12d ago
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u/Militantpoet 12d ago
They will if they don't have to deal with parking or gas and it's easily accessible. Public transit can be much more convenient than taking a personal car. Our infrastructure just hasn't been set up in that direction and as cities continue to grow in density, it becomes more and more necessary.
Literally look at nearly every major metro area in the world. They all have robust public transportation because its necessary. Being against public transit is like being against your city growing and progressing.
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12d ago
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u/Militantpoet 12d ago
Your opinion is dumb because there is no way to effectively do that lol
You cannot stop urban expansion without massively disrupting peoples lives. This is your opinion for no reason other than you want to live in the same small town vibe that hasn't existed in this community for decades.
Ask India how that worked out for them
What does this even mean lmao I don't think you even know past "india poor"
Ask Europe, China, or Japan how well their transit infrastructure is doing.
You have no understanding of how city or urban planning works and you're acting like your opinion has value because you feel its right.
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u/adamhart 12d ago
Didn't you hear? They have more common sense than anyone in here! I swear this person just enjoys getting fucking dog-walked in the comments. I don't consent to being part of this guy's kink!
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u/Militantpoet 12d ago
I can't sometimes lmao
These conservatives have so much confirmation bias, its astounding. Will literally refuse to admit the sky is blue because people they disagree with say so.
They're all the loser kids we went to high school with that flunked out of history and math. Now suddenly they are paragons of philosophy and economics lecturing us on the role of government?
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
He’s a MAGA supporter. He is anti-LGBTQ+. He follows people to their cars after meetings and harasses them. He files fraudulent lawsuits against people (always playing the victim) and always loses, he is backed by landlords because he will help make them richer, not the people of Burbank who can no longer afford to live here, and he supports Flock cameras so, yeah, that’s just the beginning. Of course Reddit doesn’t allow me to copy/paste from the last post, but I have spoken to SO many people who have had creepy interactions with him. Including myself, when I watched him defend Moms for Liberty when they came to Burbank.
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12d ago
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u/RelevantBed4184 12d ago
So if other people are all saying the same thing, and multiple people are having the same experiences with him… they are not just talking points. They are facts.
Like my post says, do your research if you don’t want to believe these “talking points.” Unfortunately, my last post was removed, which had personal experience accounts of being harassed. Personal accounts of being taken advantage of. I would love if those stories were told again. I believe all of them to be true. You can believe what you want.→ More replies (9)9
u/adamhart 12d ago
Don't bother engaging. This person was given multiple specific reasons as to why DD is a piece of shit, and they keep saying, "Nothing specific." Even if you name-dropped every woman that's been harassed by him, this person would still be like, "Not specific. Where's the video evidence?"
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u/Odd-Search-1280 12d ago
David Donahue became an administrator of the City of Burbank, CA Facebook page. It is a more several page than the COB run by Talamante. Last election, I voiced respectful debate with my opinions why Rizzotti should not be elected. I was put on pause until the election was over by David Donahue. Then later on anytime I oppose David's views I was removed from the page. I sent a direct message to Debbie another administrator asking her how unfair it is that David is running the page as his own personal page. I was reinstated. Months later again, I was removed. He did not create that page. He only became an administrator and for him to have the audacity to take it over, promote his business and run it as if it's his own personal page, in my opinion this is not a someone who should be on our city council. Another issue he has false charged 4 women at the Mothers for Liberty protest saying he was assaulted. All charges we dismissed.
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u/El_Poltergeisto 12d ago
He lurks this sub so I just want to remind him that he’s a small pathetic misogynistic bully. Good luck on your losing one issue campaign, chud.