As a Malibu surfer trying consistently, since 1992, to get the pollution in our crown jewel, Surfrider Beach, cleaned up, first by joining the Sen. Gary Hart “Discussion Group,” then the Malibu Creek Watershed Committee, then initiating the Lagoon Task Force in 1995, and the “Save the Malibu” event in 1997, I have learned a lot and encountered many obstacles, inducing me to produce a group of TV documentaries on the subject to help educate the community at large.
I learned a long time ago that the main obstacle to clean water is and still remains Jerry Perenchio and his Malibu Bay Company (MBC). This media mogul, self-proclaimed environmentalist and largest commercial land developer in Malibu, is trying to get the biggest bang for his buck and I don’t blame him for that. However, he has used his remarkable propaganda machine to obscure the facts and has convinced a few in leadership positions in our city to support his efforts, despite the fact that he is willfully polluting the lagoon and surf zone and plans to continue the practice with his proposed treatment plant and Development Agreement.
Yes, the MBC, the City Council and a few of their vocal supporters want you to believe that they will clean up the Malibu Lagoon with their sewage treatment plant, but it won’t! The sewage treatment plant is solely to accommodate additional commercial development, which will create more traffic congestion, more run-offs, and more pollution (think major flood or storm).
Yes, we Malibu residents fighting to preserve what’s left of Malibu’s rural character and way of life want to acquire the Chili Cook-Off property and turn it into a real safe people park that will safely accommodate a major storm and prevent further pollution. However, the Perenchio propaganda machine, which includes a gaggle of greedy, whining, short-sighted realtors and their cronies, would have you believe these good residents are members of “Malibu can’t, not Malibu can.” And they represent Malibu?
The Malibu Bay Company needs to “clean up” its act and fix the problems with its defective waste disposal system of the Colony Shopping Center by putting a package plant on their property next to the northwest corner of the Ralphs market on their vacant five-acre parcel, and stop transporting their “stinky” problem across the highway to Winter Canyon. Perhaps another package plant or two could be placed in geologically more stable areas upland of the flood plain to service the Cross Creek and Country Marts and any other sustainable developments planned for the area.
It is mind-boggling to suggest that one sewage treatment plant in the center of the floodplain, which is criss-crossed with earthquake faults and subject to liquefaction, including a massive network of waste transport pipes, is a good idea. The residents are not idiots, and many have tried to convince the city council to negotiate a better arrangement, to no avail. Council member Jennings appeared open to hear alternative views, and Ozzie Silna was prepared to deliver one, but was rebuffed.
Bob Purvey