I’m insulted by Tom Hasse’s suggestion that I and the rest of the dozen Malibu Coalition for Parks and Land Bond Committee members were “agents” of any particular council member. The record needs to be set straight that the accomplished community activists who supported the bond do not have “programmable” minds and indeed were driven by what motivates most volunteers — a strong desire to help their community.
Mr. Hasse’s fingerpointing is just one more tactical diversion designed to keep people from recognizing that Malibu faces a serious problem of future commercial overdevelopment and that we’re destined to hold the dubious distinction of being the only community in the region lacking a single city-owned improvement for children, adults and seniors. Malibu does not even own a place to put a child on a swing.
Ultimately, his efforts will do little to thwart the will of the majority of Malibuites (62 percent) who recognized that investing in city parks is preferable to having “maximum commercial development.”
The fact is that Sharon Barovsky along with Mayor House, Ken Kearsley and Jeff Jennings extended the Bond Committee respect and encouragement and every measure of autonomy to achieve the formidable task of creating the bond measure and developing an information campaign to explain it. They should all be given a medal for their tireless efforts to persuade their constituents that purchasing public land is essential if we are to preserve our quality of life in Malibu.
Bonds often need to be presented more than once to the public before voters get all the correct information and they learn to discern their own self interest from the web spun by special interests. I’m quite sure that next time a few more voters will reject the shortsighted idea that the commercial overdevelopment of Malibu is preferable to owning public parks.
Anne Hoffman