In rebuttal to Theresa Tuchman’s letter of March 21 on page 9 of The Malibu Times “Think safety when building,” you should get the facts straight. You put your car in gear before driving, so you ought to put your mind in gear before talking.
The Forge’s dream has been way past the planning stage for 14 years. They had the county’s blessing before Malibu cityhood. Now after 10 years of redoing everything they did for the county-permits, plans, tests, etc, not counting the tens of thousands of dollars spent, and meeting with the Coastal Commission and trying to satisfy everyone, now the Coastal Commission wants to protect the trout in Solstice Creek. Take it from me, there were no trout in Solstice Creek, except in about 1960 when a bad rainwashed out an earthen dam on the lake on Fred Robert’s ranch and his private stock of trout went out to sea.
I don’t know how long you have been in Malibu, but I am sure you are Johnny Come Lately. I have seen more people killed or severely injured than most people who are here today. When I came to Malibu in 1937, there were no buildings on the ocean side where you live. A sign posted there read “For Sale $75 Per Front Foot.” Johnny Dahl’s 76 station was built where the Turkquoise Shop is now. The present location of Beau Rivage was originally a truck stop diner and I think it was the first 24-hour business in Malibu. It was built and operated by Ralph Neubert, and had 15 stools and 7 booths. He ran it from 1949 to 1962. Then it was a not-so-good Italian restaurant, followed by the Corral Beach Mexican Cantina. Art Downing sold the property to Daniel Forge who remodeled it twice, to the tune of more than two million dollars. Daniel is the only 4-5 star restaurant owner/operator in Malibu, to my knowledge. He has the most beautiful business place in town.
Many times a signal has been proposed. The trucking industry of California had kept it out of here for years, as it was at the bottom of two hills and that is a no-no for trucks, but new laws have banned trucks from our highways-that is, anything over three axles, local delivers exempt.
I came to Corral Canyon in 1937 and was burned out in 1943 while serving 5 2/1 years in the U.S. Air Force. I rebuilt in 1950, and at 91 years of age (come the 24 of April) I still work, volunteering food for the homeless for the Westside Food Bank from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., six days a week and have done so for the past 26 years.
Yes, we need a signal at Corral Canyon. Judge Issac Pacht tried the first time in 1956, but failed. The state of California puts signals where they think they are needed; not Daniel Forge or, for that matter, Union Oil, which has 40 times more traffic than Beau Rivage will ever have. The Paradise Cove signal was put in at the request of the Kissels.
As I remember, they had to pay $56,OOO of the $25O,OOO cost, the state paying the remainder. And that was a long time ago.
It is hell to have to stay home in the summertime or on the weekend because it isn’t worth the risk of getting on the highway. So while I agree that a signal is needed, how about you paying for it and I will be happy to see your name go down in history. Some people in Malibu have a Golden Rule, which states, “I have mine, the hell with you.” So maybe your motto is “I’ve got mine, so now I can tell you how to spend yours.”
Ben Kennedy