As chair of Yes on M in this last election, I have held my response to study and to evaluate the outcome of the vote. I, all my life, have been a fighter for the right of the Citizen Voter to control the destiny of the community and the country. That is the foundation of democracy and what it is all about. This was not a victory for the Nay group and it was not a slap in the face for the Council, as has been said. Any suggestion as to either is an insult to the voter and an attempt to rewrite Malibu history.
The Council did its job of listening to the Planning Commission’s total unanimous No vote. At that point it could have either voted No or do what it did. The Council got the best re-negotiation possible and spent their time in the campaign explaining it to the public. Remember, it was the Council that was one of the main supporters of that earlier Measure which provided that should the Council say Yes to this agreement, the citizens would have the final judgement of Yes, No, or not voting.
I’m proud to be a citizen in Malibu. We citizens are a model for the whole country. And we turned down what we were not sure of primarily by not voting. The vote was low. Some of the unsureness got reflected in the No vote. This is a wake up call for all of us. This doesn’t mean the Council should stand back and quit trying. Quite the opposite. Our city still wants those amenities. My hat is off to those five elected people as they wrestle with other ways to get them. I also give them great credit for including the No on M people in that effort. It certainly will show the voters who has Malibu’s best interests at heart and who are only nay sayers and destroyers. This community belongs to its citizens not to special interest groups.
Georgianna McBurney