The City of Malibu hosted a Town Hall meeting last week to listen to the concerns of our Malibu community regarding commercial development. We are grateful to our Mayor John Sibert and Jefferson Wagner that our City Council is listening. We’re not billionaires or multi-millionaires. Our 8 to 5 jobs are not to push through huge developments and buy up land. We haven’t gone to small group discussions with the players in our city for years, pushing our points. We are people who live here, raised children here, hope to live out our lives here and love Malibu down to our cores.
We have no vested financial gain in this effort. We simply want to leave something for the next generation besides expensive chain-store strip malls and concrete. We’re asking the City to put into policy a fair, balanced and intelligent plan for the future of Malibu as other cities have done. A plan that helps the small businesses in our town succeed, that brings in the diversity that this community needs. A plan that does not kick out one existing chain store or even preclude another from coming in. In fact, these are plans that other cities have found highly increases and protects the success of small local business. That’s the entire point. We’re well informed citizens, asking our city to create a clear plan for a livable future of Malibu that includes the vision of this community and not just that of the bank accounts of developers.
This community is up against a powerful machine. Businesses which excel at and focus on commercial development here and elsewhere. There is an extremely wealthy, influential group in Malibu including several of the world’s billionaires. After the Town Hall meeting, the question of whether developers are hearing the Malibu community clearly remains unanswered. A Malibu policy to plan out a future for commercial development has failed to be moved forward multiple times at City Hall. Development is moving rapidly. The new Trancas developers arrived and their first action was to attempt to evict a beloved Malibu garden center. The timetable for Malibu to have a solid commercial plan is very late and ticking down quickly.
This City needs to stand up and do what’s right. A city is not supposed to favor only those with the biggest wallet and the most sway at City Hall. That’s not what we teach our kids. It’s supposed to favor living ethically with integrity and working as a community to do what’s right for the people who live here and visit. We’re heartened to see city representatives moving forward with this worthy goal and remain hopeful that the developers and our local chamber will join with the efforts of this community.
Carla McCloskey
Jae Flora-Katz
Julie Eamer
Kerry Beth Daly