BURBANK A FINALIST FOR BUSINESS AWARD.

Byline: BEN JAURON Staff Writer

Burbank is one of five finalists for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.'s first-ever ``Eddy'' award, given to the county's most business-friendly city, the corporation announced Wednesday.

Burbank is competing against El Segundo, Lancaster, Long Beach and Santa Clarita for the award, which a panel of judges will announce Oct. 5.

``I don't want to be too optimistic, but I think our chances are excellent, and we're a competitor to be reckoned with,'' Burbank Mayor Todd Campbell said. ``It's always an honor to be considered, but it's not surprising in my view that Burbank is a finalist because of the hard work of our staff and the Chamber of Commerce.''

To qualify, the LAEDC sent applications to all 88 cities in the county. While some were impressive, others -- like the city of Los Angeles itself -- didn't bother to submit.

``Burbank does a lot of things right,'' said Jack Kyser, the LAEDC's senior vice president and chief economist. ``It was very competitive to get these final five. Burbank put together an attractive package, and some cities didn't even fill out the application.''

The LAEDC selected Burbank as a finalist because of its commitment to supplying high-capacity fiber optics to businesses and free Wi-Fi service downtown. Also, Burbank has no city income tax, no gross-receipts tax and competitive utility-user taxes. The city also actively markets its services to key decision-makers and major corporations, the LAEDC said.

``A lot of cities seem really not to care about business,'' Kyser said. ``In business, time is money, and a lot of cities don't seem to understand that.''

ben.jauron(at)dailynews.com

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