Reading about the Code Enforcer’s request for the City Council to give power to seek liens on homeowners is a chilling revelation of an existing mindset. Just the fact that they see nothing wrong with asking for that weapon disqualifies them from having that kind of authority. The City website shows that Code Enforcement has 19 pages of addresses that are in violation. Over 20 addresses are on each page.
When the vote to form a City occurred, the primary concern was to get local control and not have Malibu lose its special character. Now that the City government has settled in and policies are in place, what has been created is quite different from what was expected. When there are over 400 code violations reported by City enforcers a different way to look at is to look in a mirror and ask, ”Are we doing something wrong?“
What has developed is a “them and us” attitude. Thankfully, the City Council rejected the ordinance change but the mindset of the creators of the request is still in place.
For a brief moment, when I read what was being sought, a flash of what a police state must be like hit me. There is a real need for an internal examination of the company culture of some of the staff.
Jim Smith