Marcia Hanscom hit the mark by asking the question, “If the owner of the Malibu Bay Company is able to spend more than $1 million (so far!) hedging his bets on the governor’s race, is he also spending money inside Malibu? Based on the single-issue focus of Tom Hasse and Beverly Taki, on the MBC agreement, the spotlight should be on the potential for bias. When it comes to what will happen to almost all the undeveloped land that’s left in the city, Malibu needs a dispassionate and skillful evaluation of the development agreement.
But this will not occur if candidates have already made up their minds before the Environmental Impact Report is completed and discussed. Unfortunately, this appears to be the approach taken by Hasse and Taki. Every action of Hasse is designed to pass the deal he orchestrated behind closed doors. His personal ego and not the “lack of specificity” was the only reason he (along with the nasty group from my favorite cafe) fanatically led the opposition which defeated the Parks Bond that would have been wonderful for all the citizens of Malibu. Otherwise, why does he vote to put the bond on the ballot and then change his mind when he figured out the community center and ballfields we would buy might take the wind out of the MBC agreement’s sails?
Ms. Taki is following Mr. Hasse’s lead by acting like a walking commercial for the development agreement at every opportunity. At our Point Dume Candidate’s Forum, she promised the agreement would result in less commercial development than would otherwise be built in Malibu. Really! How does she know until the EIR is finished? Tom Hasse selfishly made up his mind before having the EIR facts, and now he is apparently training Beverly Taki to continue selling the MBC’s agenda.
Bob Gillespie