The strategic plan would involve residents in planning for the future of Malibu. The council votes to draft a resolution in support of terminated Ralphs employees.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to The Malibu Times
A group, called the Malibu 2020 Vision Team, presented its proposal to the City Council Monday night for the creation of a long-range strategic plan for the city. Team Chairman Rich Davis said the process would be citizen-driven.
“We’re not asking the City Council to do a lot on this,” he said. “We’re certainly not asking the city management to do an awful lot on this. But this would be a citizen-led effort, a citizen-led activity that should pay benefits for future generations to come.”
The 2020 Vision project would be a multi-year effort, with the goal to create a guide for long-range city planning. A 10-member leadership team would head the process, with five of them appointed by the City Council. Davis said it is important that the people selected be new to the Malibu political scene. Mayor Jeff Jennings agreed with that idea.
“This is a great concept if it gets new faces and new blood into city politics, if it works,” he said. “If it ends up with the same 25 people who have been getting involved in city politics from the beginning, then I would consider it a failure.”
Davis first approached the City Council with the idea of creating a strategic plan in November of 2000. The following November, the council granted $25,000 to Davis and the people he selected to form his team to do preliminary research.
Davis said what the team has done so far is the first phase of what would be a three-phase process. The bulk of the work would take place during the second phase. This would be a one- to two-year period in which citizen input would be gathered on what should be included in the plan through a series of workshops and community events. Davis said he hoped the process would involve as many as 2,000 people, although he admitted that is an ideal number. The third phase is the writing and eventual implementation of the plan, which would need to be approved by the City Council. The Vision Team said the estimated cost for the project is $325,000, although they stressed it probably would be much lower.
Jennings said a long-term strategic plan is important for Malibu, commenting that people should just imagine what the city would look like in 20 years without one. But he added that he didn’t know how much ability the city had to create one, since it is limited by the authority of the California Coastal Commission. “We’re going to have problems getting through with any kind of a plan that is not consistent with the plan laid out by the Coastal Act,” he said. “So I wonder how much practical room for maneuver the city has.”
Councilmember Sharon Barovsky agreed with Jennings. She said the city would not know how much self-determination it has with planning until its various lawsuits regarding the Coastal Commission- mandated Malibu Local Coastal Program (LCP) have been settled. The city is currently fighting to retain the ability to draft its own coastal program. She suggested the council should wait until the court decisions are final, before taking on a task like the Vision Plan.
Davis said the city’s situation gives even more reason for why a citizen-driven strategic plan is necessary. He said if they do not have something like this, then Malibu’s future will be left to outside forces.
At a future meeting the council will hear from other cities’ representatives. The Vision Team will also come up with specific financial figures and a couple alternative plans as well. Then the council will vote on whether to adopt the project.
Malibu continues working on LCP
While the Coastal Commission Malibu LCP is up in the air because of various lawsuits brought against the commission, the council continued with its Local Coastal Program modification process. The council has now completed half of the process, with three more sessions remaining.
Council voices support for fired Ralphs cashiers
During the council items session of the meeting, Joan House spoke about the recent controversy at Ralphs grocery store involving the two employees who were fired for selling alcohol to underage Pepperdine students. She disagreed with the decision, saying the punishment did not fit the crime.
Last November, two Ralphs cashiers, Harry McDermott and Nancy Cicatelli, had their jobs terminated after selling alcohol to three Pepperdine students. Many people in Malibu were outraged following the news, and McDermott and Cicatelli have received a great deal of support from the community.
The council voted 3 to 1 (Councilmember Andy Stern was not at the meeting), to draft a resolution in support of the workers. The dissenting vote came from Jennings. He said he sympathizes with those involved in the situation, but added this is not a council matter. Barovsky said the resolution should be written to specify the council does not approve of underage drinking, only that it supports the people who lost their jobs.
The council meets again on Jan. 27.