P C H unexpected closed by the sheriff’s deputies … investigating the fatal crash two weeks ago that took the life of a pedestrian.
The city of Malibu is going after Nobu and Soho House for valet parking violations.
And malibu High School will bite the dust starting next week,
This is Malibu’s only local daily news.
It’s the Thursday edition of the news … from Radio Malibu …. 97 point 5 K B U.
Good morning Dume Drive!
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Sheriff’s traffic investigators have westbound P C H closed this morning.
They are reconstructing the crash two weeks ago that claimed the life of a woman on P C H west of Busch.
Expect traffic to be detoured up Busch … and down Merritt and Morning View … this morning.
And no … this closure was not announced in advance.
The city of Malibu is going after Nobu and Soho House over parking problems.
Both establishments are violating their city permits … not enough parking.
Parking valets at the two establishments are routinely seen driving patrons’ vehicles onto busy Pacific Coast Highway…. and parking them underneath office buildings across the highway.
Those parking spaces … under Coastal Commission permits and rules … are supposed to be made available nights and weekends for beach visitors …. not restaurant customers.
Nobu is short 10 parking places … and is supposed to use 10 spaces at thr next door Soho House.
But the shared parking lot is jammed.
To aggravate matters … the city has put Nobu on notice that it has illegally expanded its seating area into the patio at the front of the restaurant …
And the fancy seafood place has put a storage container in its parking lot … whwre cars are supposed to be parked.
That’s not allowed.
In addition to the city complaint …. residents along Billionaire’s Beach say much of the street parking on P C H is being taken up by employees of Soho House and Nobu.
That’s also against the permits for the restaurant and the club.
The alleged violations of the parking rules … at Soho House … will go before the city Planning Commissioners on Monday night.
City staff is recommending that the business be given three months to comply with the rules it accepted … when it opened a year ago.
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After 50 years … the familiar front of Malibu High School is about to disappear.
Built in sort of a 1960s “institutional moderne” style … the school will bite the dust starting very soon.
The contract for the demolition has been let … part of a major remake of the front of the school.
Barricades and fences will go up starting next week.
Take your pictures now …. the heart of the Malibu Park community will never look the same.
But no one really is lamenting the loss … kind of sad if we may say so.
Here at the radio station … the story really is the impending traffic changes.
Some locals call it … pending local traffic disaster.
With the loss of the front parking lot and student drop off … parent waiting and student loading area … Morning View Drive is destined for at least 18 months of foreseeable traffic jams.
Malibu City Hall was caught unaware of the pending traffic pattern changes.
The city manager tells us she will call the school district … and is considering using sheriffs’ deputies or members of the Volunteers On Patrol to direct traffic on P C H at Guernsey Avenue.
A large increase in traffic is going to be routed down Guernsey to get to PCH … because traffic going up Morning View will have no place to turn around at the school.
All this starts in two weeks … when people come back from Spring Break.
But the demolition at Malibu High starts next week … the fences go up Monday … take your pictures and save your memories now.
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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … 97.5 K B U. ((( time ))))
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Quite a sight last night on P C H … as workers stapled steel mesh curtains to the side of a deteriorating cliff face … high above Pacific Coast Highway in eastern Malibu.
Caltrans contractors are working overnights … to avoid major traffic impacts on the coast highway during the day.
Last night … large sheets of the steel curtain were placed u against the cliff … east of Big Rock.
The steel netting is being connected to tie rods … drilled into the rock.
Similar nets have been protecting motorists in the Point Mugu area for a decade now… with great success.
The nets are one big reason why P C H did not close during this winter’s major rainstorm.
Far fewer flat tires were observed … as opposed to past years.
In eastern Malibu … work goes from 7 p-m to 7 a-m … six nights a week … every night but Sunday night.
Ortiz Enterprises Inc. of Irvine is the contractor on the $1.3 million project.
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There’s been a delay in turning on the new traffic light on P C H … near Temescal Canyon Road in Pacific Palisades.
It was supposed to start turning red for pedestrians yesterday … but no go.
It’s a new technology … at least new fro the Westside.
The light will flash yellow until a pedestrian pushes the button to cross.
It first turns solid yellow … then solid red.
Then it starts blinking like a railroad crossing.
What does that mean?
Caltrans officials told us yesterday they plan some sort of public education program … but are confidant that plucky P C H drivers are smart enough to figure it out.
Good luck with that.
And … no … the light is not tied in or synchronized with the signals just to the north … at Bel Air Bay Company or the light one block away … at Temescal Canyon Road.
Caltrans says they are looking into synchronizing the signals between Malibu and Santa Monica.
We note as an aside that the traffic lights were first installed on P C H in 1929 …
And P C H is the only major street in either Los Angeles or Santa Monica that are not synchronized.
Caltrans says national studies show that these type of pedestrian traffic lights do not increase rear end crashes … so they don’t expect more crashes because of this new signal.
But left unsaid by Caltrans … crashes do increase when traffic lights are too close together … particularly if they are not synchronized.
Our prediction .. being very very careful down there is a very food idea.
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A record number of whales off the California coast were snagged by crab pots … killing some of them.
That’s according to information released this week by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
And wildlife adovcates are pointing the finger at what they say are too many crab traps in Monterey Bay.
While whale entanglements are reported up and down the coast, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has recently seen the highest number of entanglements.
“Whales are suffering slow, painful deaths because there are too many crab traps in Monterey Bay,” said Catherine Kilduff of the Center for Biological Diversity. “When whales get tangled up in traps, they can die of starvation or dehydration. After seeing this problem reach a record level, California has to reduce the number of traps and issue emergency closures as needed to protect these beautiful animals.”
More than 71 separate cases of whale entanglements were reported last year off California, Oregon and Washington. That tops record-breaking totals in 2014 and 2015.
Of those, the commercial California Dungeness crab fishery was responsible for 22 confirmed whale entanglements out of the total of 29 where fishing-gear type could be identified. Dungeness traps entangled blue and humpback whales and an orca, and crab traps were reported on entangled whales in Canada and Mexico.
Entangled whales can carry traps and buoys hundreds of miles on their migrations, but these burdens sap them of strength, interfere with breathing, feeding and reproducing, and cause infected wounds. That can lead to starvation, dehydration and slow death.
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Well … yesterday was the California Tsunami Emergency Alert System test in Malibu.
We passed.
But as this is Tsunami Awareness Week in California … KBUU is talking with seismologists about the danger of seiche waves and tsunamis.
Experts say an Indonesia style wall of water is very unlikely here … but localized waves have been known to wash ashore in the Santa Monica Bay and are possible,
Eric Boldt at the National Weather Service says malibu is vulnerable … and residents should be alert that when a very strong local quake hits … it’s time to move immediately to high ground.
Don’t wait for someone to tell you to evacuate … walk to high ground as fast as you can.
CART 77208 BOLDT :34 QQQ: HOW STORNG THE EARTHQUAKE WAS.
“Correct — that’s your natural indicator that an earthquake may have generated a tsunami, and you only have a few minutes to get away from the ocean if a tsunami has bene generated.
“Move away from t he ocean.
“So It could be quite a crazy situation given that an earthquake can cause a tsunami.
“People need to think about that the need to move away fromt he ocean.
that could only be a matter of a few blocks, at the most.
“It depends on where they are located and how strong the earthquake was.”
That’s Eric Boldt at the national Weather Service alert center.
Tsunamis are not something to scare you … but you should be aware of where you would go … head for high ground immediately after a big local earthquake.
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Traffic …
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Weather for the Malibu ….
It will be (((( 67 )))) degrees today on the beach … (((( 76 )))) inland.
Strong Santa Anas … 30 miles an hour on the beach … ((( 45 )))) miles per hour this afternoon in the mountains today .
Sunset tonight is at (((( 7:12 )))).
After that … expect it to be ((( very windy )))) tonight … a low of (((( 52 )))) on the beach … down to (((( 50 )))) in the canyons.
Wind gusts up to 55 miles an hour in the mountains.
Tomorrow should be (((( very windy … again … wind gusts to 55 miles an hour in the mountains )))).
Right now … it’s (((( 61 )))) at Trancas.
(((( 66 )))) in upper Malibu Canyon.
And it’s (((( 68 ))) at Civic center Los Angeles.
In the ocean … it’s (((( 58 )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.
The lifeguards say the waves today are (((( 3 to 4 )))) feet high ….
(((( Easing WNW/NW swell-mix. Small SSW swell.))))
Those are (((( fair )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.
((((( High tide is at 12:02.
Low tide at 5:43.
The major high tide of the day is 5.4 feet at one minute before midnight. ))))
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Our KBU Newswire is posted at midmorning at the Malibu Times dot com.
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