Letters to the Editor: Magnolia Park’s mom-and-pop shops could be threatened if rents continue to increase

City of Burbank government officials and Burbank residents, we are now in danger of losing a local treasure — Magnolia Park.

The charm and success of Magnolia Boulevard in Magnolia Park is due to the local “mom and pop” shops that form the Magnolia Boulevard Merchants Assn. Since 2012, they’ve worked hard to make Magnolia Park a destination to shop, eat and play. They created a neighborhood marketing campaign and hold events like “Ladies and Gents Night Out” and “Holiday in the Park” — all paid for from their own profits.

However, when you speak with the owners of these locally owned shops you’ll learn that over the next year or two we will face a mass exodus. It’s already started. For instance, we’ve just lost Creature Features. Why? The landlords see this success and are now astronomically raising rents. These independent shops can’t afford such increases.

These are the same landlords who voted to disband their own Magnolia Park Partnership in 2011 just to stop paying an up to 17 cents per-square-foot fee toward such marketing and events. They now want to reap the fruits of others labor.

Don’t these landlords know they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg? Is there something we can do, either legislatively or just as a community, to help keep these shops from having to move and stop Magnolia Boulevard going the way of Melrose Avenue?

Save Magnolia Park!

Jamie O’Brien Moore

Burbank