Last week your paper published a letter from Anne Hoffman in which she accused the leaders of Malibu CAN of having “the fundamental world view of many of its members that the Coastal Commission should decide our land use instead of the people who live here” and “… accusing” Malibu residents of being bad environmentalists and wanting to keep the public out of Malibu beaches.” I am a proud member of Malibu CAN and have spent countless hours and driven hundreds of miles to attend Coastal Commission hearings and testify on behalf of myself and Malibu Riviera One in opposition to the Coastal Commission’s faulty plan and its plans to turn Malibu into a tourist destination.
Proposition M is a plan that will do just that. There is no guarantee of a city park. If Malibu comes up with the $25 million in three years, a doubtful proposition, we will get a sewage treatment plant that will allow the Coastal Commission’s plan for massive development in the civic center area. If we do not come up with the money, we get a more massive development including an amphitheater and Cineplex on the corner of Cross Creek Road and PCH. The sewers will allow up to one million square feet of commercial development, which is the equivalent of seven Colony Shopping Centers.
The City Council has granted variance after variance to increase development in Malibu and they are the ones that cannot be trusted to maintain Malibu as a place that is primarily for the residents. If Proposition M passes, it will be reviewed by the Coastal Commission and its agenda will be gladly followed by the developers since they can make more money on cineplexes and tourist traps. If Proposition M passes, it will grant the developers the right to build what they want for 20 years, and we will have nothing to say about it.
Malibu CAN has a vision to keep Malibu semi-rural and to create a central park in Malibu. What Malibu CAN opposes is the wholesale selling out of our future to commercial development.
John Mazza