January
• The California Coastal Commission ran into trouble when it ran out of money in June 2016 and couldn’t pay it’s payroll, rent and other expenses. It got a temporary loan from the California Department of Finance but that came with strings—a detailed audit by the department to try and figure out what went wrong. They found that their billing procedures were not working well and bills were slow going out (sometimes 60 days or later) and the money was even slower coming back, in some places almost a year to get reimbursed.
• The Malibu weather, which had been dry as a bone, finally came around to see a shift around New Year’s Day. Rain began falling hard, but there was also a downside to the rain—the much-needed water caused mudslides, falling rocks and traffic accidents.
• The sailing world saw three Malibu kids—the Janov brothers—who began to make their mark as up and comers in sailing competitions. The brothers, Ryan (16), Grant (14) and Jordan (10), all compete in their own categories.
• The city council race is over and the winning slate of Skylar Peak, Rick Mullen and Jefferson Wagner now has a working majority. They showed their newly-earned clout over the appointments of council members to certain, more important council committees. The new majority gave a little bit on some of the appointments but made it clear they had their own agenda and they weren’t going to wait long.Â
• Trump got elected and inaugurated and it was clear, from the thousands and thousands of protestors who showed up at the LA Women’s March held downtown—including a slew of Malibuites and Malibu celebrities, that many did not intend to forgive or forget.
