Last Saturday I attended a Candidate Forum sponsored by UCLA at Santa Monica College regarding the new 50th Assembly District. Julia Brownley (termed out) now represents much of this district in the old 41st A.D. The new district includes the cities of Agoura Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and these parts of LA: Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Westwood, and Hancock Park, among others.
The candidates are: Democrats Torie Osborn, who lives in Santa Monica; Betsy Butler, currently representing a district to the south of the 50th, who represents 1.7% of the district; and Richard Bloom, currently Mayor of Santa Monica; and Republican Brad Torgan from West Hollywood.
I asked the candidates the following question: “Now that the Malibu City Council and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party have decided to oppose the destruction of the Malibu Lagoon scheduled to begin on June 1, what is your position on this issue?” Here are their responses:
Torie Osborn opposes it and is proud that the Malibu City Council had taken a position against the project, and wants to take another look at and evaluate the most up-to-date science regarding the project;
Betsy Butler supports the Lagoon destruction and believes in the science that led to the decision to proceed with the destruction.
Richard Bloom, as a member of the Coastal Commission and as chair of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, voted for and supports the destruction of the Lagoon 100% and will give the go-ahead for the bulldozers to roll across it.
Brad Torgan supports the Lagoon destruction, and the conclusions of the old EIR justifying it.
So for Malibu, the positions are clear.
Ted Vaill