October
• In what seemed like a bizarre accident that was later determined to be a suicide, a white male in his 40s, who was a passenger in a helicopter flying about a mile from the Malibu Pier, suddenly jumped out to his death. The coroner determined death was from multiple traumatic injuries.
• A major art show was mounted in City Hall, a collection of 60 sketches of prominent Malibuites, commissioned by The Malibu Times from artist Johanna Spinks over the last six years. The show started on Oct. 6 and runs until Jan 12.
• Singer, writer and rock legend Tom Petty died at age 66 after just finishing an exhaustive 40th Anniversary Tour. In addition to his Grammy Awards and many other firsts, Petty was part of the legendary group the Traveling Wilburys, with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and fellow Malibuites Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison.
• The Steve Soboroff Whole Foods project finally broke ground after a long multi-year battle against the City of Malibu and many its voters who passed a ballot measure to try and stop it. The legal case challenging the blocking of the development went through a series of legal challenges all the way to the California Supreme Court before the development was allowed to proceed.
• Another long legal battle concluded, involving the Malibu Township Council, a small anti-development group who tried to get the land swap of Bluffs Park for Charmlee Park set aside with claims that that the city violated the open meeting and public records laws. The courts disagreed, except for one minor issue.Â
• The costs of the Broad Beach sand replacement project, which will be paid for by the property owners on Broad Beach, have been steadily climbing as the Coastal Commission and other governmental entities have thrown various obstacles in their way. The original costs, which were estimated at about $20 million, have grown to about $55-60 million per decade and some of the property owners have balked—and some filed lawsuits.
