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For Todd Hooks, late-night TV references to “beautiful downtown Burbank” aren’t very funny.
As new economic development manager for the city, Hooks is quite serious about bringing stores to downtown that can compete with big-box outlets in neighboring areas that lure customers and sales tax dollars away from Burbank.
“This is a weak element in the city there’s not really a shopping center here other than the downtown Media City Shopping Center,” he says.
Although the 1.5 million-square-foot center features stores like Macy’s, Ikea and Virgin Records, Hooks says it’s not enough.
“We need to bring the level of amenities, goods and services here that consumers are finding other places,” says Hooks, who sees himself as the liaison between the business community and City Hall.
In the process of attracting retail, Hooks hopes to add to the city’s main identity as an entertainment-industry town. “We need to diversify and we need to broaden,” he says. “We don’t want to be a one-company or one-street town.”
Hooks came to Burbank after two years with the city of San Bernardino Economic Development Agency as manager of its business development office. Before that, he was a redevelopment project manager with the city of Pomona from 1991 to 1997.
Hooks, 44, grew up in Monrovia and received his bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard. He got his master’s degree in education from UCLA and had planned to become a school principal. But after interning at two schools, he changed his mind and returned to his original interest in government and community development.
“My background is a little non-traditional,” Hooks says. “I bring a broad circle of experience, contacts and knowledge to this position.”
Jolie Gorchov
