I’m a volunteer with "Yes on Malibu," a grassroots group. I’ve been on the side of slow growth from the beginning of cityhood and I’m backing M primarily because it gives us what I believe is the first, last and only chance to purchase the Chili Cook-Off property and protect it from development in perpetuity as well as providing great amenities for the entire city and its constituencies with most of the cost borne by state bond fund grants and the Malibu Bay Company.

If ever there was a situation that fit the term “strike while the iron is hot,” it is now. One could go a step further and say strike while the iron is here, because chances are this opportunity to purchase the Chili Cook-Off property will never come again. I would go to the bank on that. Perenchio will sell his properties if M fails. And any new owner/developer is not buying the Chili Cook-Off to turn around and become a willing seller to the city of Malibu. He is buying to develop and has the legal right to do so no matter what the opponents of M say.

No deal is going to be perfect. But No on M is just that – no deal, no Chili Cook-Off, no amenities, no new urgent care center, no $2.5 million endowment to use for ball fields and the Urgent Care center, five years of work and negotiation down the tubes. I believe Measure M is nothing less than the best deal we’ve had from the largest land owner in Malibu In my opinion it will be the best plan that will ever come before us because it is the only plan that includes our chance to buy the Chili Cook-Off site and take it out of development forever.

Mona Loo