Burbank City Panels Include Few Latinos

BURBANK —  For Gus Corona, it all hit home with the word wetback.

Before that, the Burbank electrician viewed his role on a city advisory committee in the same way as the other 14 members. Like the others, he was intent on helping the city find ways to deliver city services more efficiently.

Then it happened.

During a discussion on the idea of contracting out city gardening services, a committee member who also sits on the Burbank Police Commission used the term wetback.

And with that, Gus Corona’s presence on the committee suddenly took on a different meaning.

“I was the only minority on the committee,” he recalled. “Others were offended, but it was really up to me to stand up against it.”

The controversy that followed--which included a string of denials, accusations and counter accusations--ultimately ended with the commissioner apologizing.

But for members of the Latino community, the ordeal underscored a larger problem that they say has existed in Burbank for years: the near invisibility of Latinos in city government.

“When we look at the composition of Burbank governmental bodies, we do not see a reflection of the true ethnic makeup of the city,” reads a letter a group of Latino residents sent to the City Council at the height of the controversy. “We see instead a government that is closed off to us, one in which we have very little voice in the decision-making.”

Those in Burbank’s Latino community and others say the numbers speak for themselves:

Latinos make up more than 22% of the city’s population and nearly 38% of the students in the Burbank Unified School District. An estimated 8.6% of Burbank’s registered voters are Latino.

Yet, a review of the city’s appointments to boards, commissions and committees revealed that fewer than 1% of those appointed to serve have Spanish surnames. No statistics are kept on the ethnicity of commission members, but city officials agree that relatively few Latinos are appointed.

Although the boards and commissions are strictly advisory, some panels, such as the Planning Board, handle weighty issues and the non-paid posts are recognized as key points of entry for future mayors and council members.

“It’s not just a steppingstone; it’s a training ground,” said Joseph Cerrell, a political consultant and political science professor at the University of Southern California. “A little hands-on experience is valuable. What better way to learn about your municipal government than by being part of it?”

Critics argue that the practice of not appointing Latinos has, in effect, excluded an entire community from an important step in the road to political leadership.

“I think that if they did appoint some Hispanics to boards and commissions it would give us somebody to look to as far as leadership,” Corona said. “Basically, we in the Hispanic community don’t have anybody to really speak to as far as government goes--somebody that we could turn to who could understand where we’re coming from.”

While Burbank officials acknowledge that the disparity exists, they argue that it is a consequence of the Latino community’s lack of participation, not the city’s discrimination against them.

“No one is intentionally or purposefully doing anything but to try and encourage people of all backgrounds to serve,” said Robert Bowne, a city councilman and former mayor. “But they have to take a step as well. There’s some responsibility that comes with citizenship. The first step is to show interest, to fill out applications and to become involved.”

The disparity also highlights what some see as larger problems with the appointment process--problems that make the system unfair not only to minorities but to anyone who is not politically connected, critics say.

“Being on a board or commission is basically who you know and not what you know,” former Councilman Tim Murphy said. “Very qualified people have been rejected simply because they don’t know anybody. It’s basically partisan politics and a spoils system.”

The deadline for applying for boards and commissions is Tuesday and the council, with three new members, will make its appointments May 18. But it will do so within a framework that some in Burbank question.

Theoretically, the process is simple. The city maintains at least 17 permanent boards, commissions and committees that run the spectrum of city issues, from the Police Commission to the Art in Public Places Committee.

Each year, the city clerk creates a list of all appointments, indicating those about to expire and posts it at City Hall and in public libraries. Press releases are sent to local newspapers, and this year Burbank’s cable channel also aired spots about the openings.

Residents file their applications with the city clerk’s office and are sometimes interviewed by council members privately or by phone.

When making an appointment, current and past council members said they looked at an applicant’s qualifications and experience, as well as traits such as enthusiasm, creativity and interest in the city.

Mayor George Battey said he also was concerned about balancing the boards with women and people from different areas of the city and ethnic backgrounds.

“Ethnicity has never been an issue with me,” Bowne said. “What I’ve been concerned about is qualifications.”

But Howard said qualifications sometimes have taken a back seat to friendship, with council members appointing acquaintances or people who held appointments before.

“I think that there’s probably a germ of truth in that statement that people who are not well-known are sometimes overlooked,” Bowne said. “That’s in the nature of things. People tend to vote and support those people they have some familiarity with.”

At a designated meeting, the council then votes and the candidates who garner three votes are appointed to four-year terms. The only requirements are that the applicant reside in Burbank and be an elector of the city.

But this was not the way Councilman Tim Murphy ended up on the Park and Recreation Board in 1987. Nor was this system at work in 1991, when former Councilwoman Howard watched many of her appointees removed from office before their terms expired.

Murphy, who ended a single council term this month, said he didn’t even know about the Park and Recreation Board until his friend, Michael Hastings, was elected to the City Council and asked him to serve.

“Nothing was more of a surprise for me,” Murphy said. “I was drafted. There’s no other word that quite fits. I wasn’t interested. You’re supposed to fill out an application. I didn’t. I had no idea of what a Parks and Recreation Board was and what its duties were.”

Hastings said he sought out Murphy because he was a “diamond in the rough,” someone who had not been involved in city government but had the qualifications.

In 1991, the City Council did something unprecedented--just after Howard lost a reelection bid.

All members of boards and commissions, regardless of whether their terms were up, were told to resubmit applications. The council said it wanted to bring in “new blood.” Some of those who served before were reappointed. Many were not.

“It was a way for the council to take all the people who supported me or who were close to me and get rid of these people,” Howard said.

These days, some City Hall watchers refer to that Tuesday night in 1991 as “The Purge,” or the “Tuesday Night Massacre.”

But some in the Latino community argue that the incident demonstrates that the political partisanship has dominated City Hall for years, and has left a devastating imprint on the Latino community.

Joe Garcia, who has lived for 21 years in Burbank, co-wrote the letter sent to the Burbank City Council in February during the controversy over the slur. The letter called on the council to publicly denounce the commissioner, remove him from city commissions and asked for a review of Burbank’s policies regarding appointments to boards, commissions and committees. The City Council did not act on any of the demands.

Marla Martinez, who has lived nearly all her life in Burbank, is part of the 1%. An attorney who is member of the Landlord-Tenant Commission, she said the basic appointment process in Burbank “is probably a fair process. The question is, ‘Do a lot of people in the community know that this is the way its done?’ ”

Latinos in Burbank Race and Ethnicity Citywide White: 68.8% Latino: 22.6% Asian-Pacific Islander: 6.4% Black: 1.6% All Other: 0.6% Ethnic and Racial Distribution of Students in the Burbank Unified School District White: 51.2% Latino: 37.6% Asian-Pacific Islander: 6% Black: 2.8% Filipino-American: 2.2% American Indian: 0.2% Source: Burbank Unified School District; The U.S. Census, 1990