Letter: Interesting Year Ahead

I attended the first City Council meeting of 2016 on Monday night and participated in the discussion of Judge Chalfant’s decision to declare Measure R unconstitutional. City Attorney Cristi Hogin outlined her thoughts on the appeal of this decision to the council in an extraordinary session. The appeal must be done by the end of March 2016, if at all. Hogin appeared to indicate that the possibilities of success on appeal were slim and that the process could be lengthy. 

Council members asked a number of penetrating questions, including the cost of the appeal (probably not as much as the trial court effort), if a decision not to appeal would mean that the Whole Foods deal will go forward, if another party could intervene and continue the appeal if the council decided not to go forward (they could, but it would have to be done before the judge issues a final opinion on Jan. 28) and can the council attempt to legislatively fix the problems the judge found in Measure R at the same time as the appeal (they can). 

I spoke at the meeting under public comment, urging for the appeal to go forward. I emphasized that voters in the city rejected big chain stores in the Civic Center area of Malibu by a wide margin, that proponents of Measure R talked extensively with the drafters of other successful such formula ordinances before submitting it to the voters and that a number of other California cities currently have such ordinances on the books without any successful legal challenge. Was Judge Chalfant’s ruling a rogue decision, out of keeping with other such decisions in the state? I mentioned that I read his 23-page decision and did not understand how he reached it based on my reading of the facts and law as he presented in his ruling. I also pointed out that the judge has been reversed by the appellate court before. 

I also emphasized to the council that this is an election year, that three Council seats will be up for election in November with two current council members termed out and the other two council members will term out in 2018. I predicted that it is a certainty that supporters of Measures R and W will be running for these open seats.   

2016 will be an interesting year.

Edward Vaill