After the Burbank City Council started requiring vehicles parked in the Starlight Estates area between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. to be permitted, some signs have suggested loitering and noise issues have decreased.
Roughly a month after the Burbank City Council instituted permit-only parking in Starlight Estates after residents complained about speeding and loitering there, the situation seems to have improved.
According to the Burbank Police Department, the number of citations in the area fell from 48 in June to 38 last month as of July 28 as the parking policy took hold. The total number of police activities in the area also declined. In June there were 191 activities, compared with 132 as of late July.
Calls for service in Starlight Estates also dropped by more than 28% as of July 28.
Sako Semizyan, who has lived in Starlight Estates for roughly 15 years, said there are “not as many [issues]. It did help a lot.”
At the problem’s worst, the noise from cars with modified mufflers speeding down the road kept him from sleeping. It was a complaint many neighbors took to the police earlier this year. Their extra patrols helped for a while, but when the situation got worse, residents approached the City Council, which voted on June 30 to install permit-only parking in the area.
Now, circular permits hang from the rearview mirrors of many — though not all — of the cars parked on Starlight Circle, Vista Ridge, Valley View Crest and part of Bel Aire Drive. Drivers who lack permits yet park on those streets between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday risk a fine.
Nonetheless, Semizyan said, nodding to a non-permitted car parked nearby down the street, some drivers from outside the neighborhood keep coming.
Starlight Estates is a popular spot for friends and couples who want a view of the glistening lights of Burbank, particularly when the sun is setting. But residents have complained of drivers speeding through the hilly areas or loitering after dark. Some said at a City Council meeting in June that they had found drug paraphernalia left behind by drivers.
Most of the drivers to whom police issued citations for parking and traffic violations were younger than 30, according to a report submitted to the council before the permit-only parking was implemented. Most were also not Burbank residents.
