Armenian Developers Face Racial Harassment Over Approved Burbank Housing Project

BY GARO MANJIKIAN

BURBANK—Developers of a recently approved 40-unit condominium project in Burbank’s Rancho neighborhood have become the targets of racial harassment, even receiving a vile email referencing the Armenian Genocide. The email, received last Sunday, read: “You aren’t welcome here. This is why the fu@%ing Turks killed your families.”

“This hateful rhetoric is deeply painful and despicable,” said Garen Gozumian, a team member at Butterfly Gardens, who is the property owner and applicant for the development project. “As Armenians, we carry the legacy of 1.5 million ancestors lost in the Genocide, and to see it invoked in this way is beyond reprehensible.”

The email is part of a larger pattern of harassment that has escalated over the past three years, during which the developers have faced ongoing hostility, verbal abuse, and confrontations from members of the Burbank Rancho neighborhood.

“We’ve had to endure people screaming at us at our place of business, profanity-laced tirades in public, and even being followed out of City Hall with hateful remarks all with a similar theme—that we don’t belong here,” Gozumian added.

The 40-unit project, approved unanimously by the City Council last week, is the culmination of a lengthy process involving multiple project proposals.

The developers initially sought to collaborate with the Rancho community, offering lower-density projects with equestrian elements in deference to the neighborhood’s identity.

Despite these efforts, opposition groups pursued lawsuits and other measures to block any and all development on the site.

We entered this process with the intent to build something that complemented the community. Instead, we’ve faced years of obstruction, misinformation, and now, open racism.

The developers emphasize that the project adheres to all state and local legal requirements and will provide much-needed housing supply pursuant to California’s historic crisis. They also call on community and city leaders to denounce the racist and hostile behaviors that have surfaced during the review process.

“Hate speech and misinformation have no place in this or any community,” said Gozumian. “It’s time for Burbank leaders to step up and dispel misinformation about our motives and our integrity, which has been weaponized to incite hateful attitudes and actions. This type of behavior should never be tolerated.”