1845
Empire Avenue, Burbank, CA 91504
818-729-5300
April 20, 2022
Via E-mail ([email protected])
Public Works Engineering Divis
ion
City of Burbank
Re: Street Name Change to Estrella Way
Dear Public Works Team:
I am writing on behalf of Estrella Media, Inc., following up on my prior letter dated September 16, 2020, in which we requested that the City of Burbank consider changing the name of our street from “old” Empire Avenue to Estrella Way. As a result of improvements in the area, our small stretch of road, which connects Wilson Avenue to Victory Place, now runs parallel to the “new” Empire Avenue, but it is not connected to and can no longer be accessed from “new” Empire. As a result, it is highly confusing for this small road to continue to carry the same name. Changing the street name to Estrella Way would help avoid confusion – we have had numerous visitors and delivery drivers who have had difficulty finding us because they were traveling on new Empire, searching in vain for our address.
We are renewing our request in light of the construction that is currently taking place to install a traffic light at the intersection of “old” Empire and Victory Place. It seems like this would be an ideal opportunity to make our requested change as well.
We are aware of and would, of course, be willing to pay any fee associated with this change. If there are competing requests or applications from other parties, it bears mentioning that Estrella Media would be the only property to suffer an address change.
If another request is granted instead of Estrella Media’s, would the City or the other applicant compensate Estrella Media for the expenses associated with our resulting change of address? This would obviously be a non-issue for us if our request is granted.
The street name change would not benefit Estrella Media from a promotions or marketing perspective. It is not a major thoroughfare, and it would be accessed primarily by visitors and employees of Estrella Media. The word Estrella simply means “star” in Spanish, and it would remain a viable and attractive street name even if Estrella Media were to change its name or cease doing business.
Attachment 3
Public Works Engineering Division
City of Burbank
April 20, 2022
We are the only business on this stretch of road, so we will be the only entity that will experience a change of address, as mentioned. If our request i s granted, we would
propose changing our main address from 1845 Empire Avenue to 1 Estrella Way, but we defer to the City on any numbering conventions that it may like to use. Our neighbor, 24-hour Fitness, has direct access to the “new” Empire Avenue, so it should be unaffected by the proposed change.
Estrella Media was founded in 1987 and has been a long-time resident of and contributor to the City of Burbank. We are a Spanish-language media company, with television, radio, and digital broadcast operations, including the EstrellaTV national television network and the Don Cheto national radio network. We occupy several buildings in the City of Burbank, including our own productions studios, and we produce thousands of hours of content here every year. We employee hundreds of employees at our Burbank locations, and we are looking to expand our workforce and business offerings, which serve the Hispanic and Latino communities in Burbank, Los Angeles, Southern California, and throughout the country. We are rapidly expanding from the broadcast space to the digital space, and we intend to be at the forefront of the digital media explosion for the Spanish-speaking community.
We hope you recognize the benefits of the proposed name change, and we would be happy to discuss this with you further. Please let me know if any further action is necessary on our part. Thank you for your consideration.
Regards,
Arya Towfighi
EVP, General Counsel
Cc: Daniel Rynn, City Engineer ([email protected])
Attachment 3 - Page 2