What do you consider the theme of your candidacy?
I think the theme of my candidacy surrounds what is going to be the Malibu of the future and how we get there. I think the character of Malibu needs to remain intact in terms of it being a rural beach town community. Malibu is center stage to the world where trends are set. There’s a lot of influential people. I think we need to be environmental leaders.
I think that’s one thing and it’s our job — my job to listen to the residents of Malibu, not project my views on it but hear them and hear the things that concern them most. As we look forward into the future I think it’s our responsibility to be stewards of our community and environment and also to leave Malibu a better place for the future generations.
Your track record shows you’re mindful of environmental issues. Do you have a plan for what environmental goals you’d want to accomplish in your next term?
Yeah. I would like to see our city budget fiscal year 2017 to implement a solar power system that puts City Hall in the 100 percent carbon neutral. While a lot of our power here comes from natural gas, which is probably better than coal or oil for that matter, I do believe that we should have solar on our city. We should even look at expanding it into our parks and the new wastewater treatment system that’s going online.
Other environmental issues are expanding the polystyrene ban. I would love to see us have an entire fleet of vehicles at city hall be electric by 2020. I think that would be a really positive statement. I will work with, if I’m re-elected, to see that that happens.
I want us to try to work with the state to ban the use of pesticides in coastal areas, especially in places where our storm water runs into the ocean. There’s a grave effect that those kind of things can have on our natural habitat and that includes our marine areas, our wildlife and wilderness areas and also all of that ESHA and H1 areas that surround a lot of our homes.
You know, yes we’re in Los Angeles County, but we’re also in one of the most rural parts of the county. I think there’s different policies that we can implement that other places will look at.
I’m proud to say we don’t have plastic bags in our community and we’re one of the first cities to do that. The council before me did that. I give them accolades all the time about that.
You’ve formed the slate. Most supporters are concerned about preserving Malibu but the extent that people are willing to go to preserve Malibu varies a bit. What’s your vision for stemming the flow of visitor traffic to Malibu?
Malibu receives millions of visitors every year. It’s a lot more than some of the other coastal towns and we have both the positive and negative effects of that. Positive effects being that maybe our real estate values are high, people understand the beauty of Malibu and Malibu is put on a very high pedestal in terms of a lifestyle, but the negative effects that come with that are the amount of traffic that we have. Sometimes people that don’t always have the same respect for the mountains and the wildlife and the beaches that we, as stewards of our community, might like. But there’s the term “co-exist” so we do have to co exist.
No one of the council is going to have the power to cut off PCH. That’s not going to happen, but what we can do is make it safer. We can work on traffic signalization which will improve traffic flow. We can work on providing good and adequate signage so that people know where to go, working with Beaches & Harbors to get people in and out of the parking lot safely, working with our Sheriff’s to patrol our communities and our highway and we have to make our residents feel safe at home. I think most of them do but I do know there’s been a little bit of an uptick in small crime. We need to allocate resources to that. Those are the kinds of things that we need to do to make Malibu stay a safe place to be and a great place to raise a family.
You’re in a unique position because you’re currently on the council and have worked with the current council and have done a lot of things with them but now you’re running with this slate who has this mentality against the council. How do you feel about your current position of where you line up on that issue?
I don’t always necessarily think that there’s sides. It doesn’t really resonate with me because I’ve worked with Lou, Laura, John and Joan for the last four years and I do believe that — I think that you do have to vet everyone. What I really mean by that is that — if I’m listening to 200 people that come in from my community that are residents that live here, I ought to be listening to them. That’s my job. I put a lot of value on that. And yes, I have a very open mind when I look at things.
That’s sort of where I differentiate from anyone. Maybe not that I differentiate but the way that I am is that I listen to people. I don’t think that there’s a one size fits all to any one of the things that come before the council. That’s why there’s five people that sit up there. Even Rick, Jefferson and I independently make our own decisions about things.
What do you think is the best case scenario for Malibu in 20 years?
The best case for Malibu in 20 years would probably be a scenario where we have put a lot of traffic mitigation and improvements in place. We’ve completed a lot of the water district improvements. We’ve put forth programs for different communities to underground power lines; I think that can ensure a lot of the fire safety. You know — Wow, 20 years? For all we know, none of us are driving vehicles and everything is automated. Maybe you only need one lane on PCH then, I don’t know [laughs]. I think we can become a lot more sustainable in terms of how our electricity is generated and the building materials that we use. There’s a lot of different things. Those are some of them.
