We are so thankful in Malibu West to John Sibert, Pamela Conley-Ulich and Jefferson Wagner for hearing our voices Monday night, and voting to give us one more chance for a public workshop to address the deepest issues with the Trancas Park design, such as saving our hills, while hopefully reducing the $3.7 million dollar cost of the proposed park. Once a new park design is approved that factors in neighborhood concerns, this will also spare the city from an impending lawsuit.
I want to say something about the neighbor against neighbor rhetoric out there. Most of us are only experiencing the stress of trying to find a resolution that will be amenable to the great majority, giving most people most of what is important in a park, and sparing most people what is most important about their neighborhood.
When I telephoned every number in the Malibu West phone directory, and spoke with 200 people in over 150 households, I only discovered 12 households that wanted the park to go forward as originally planned. Most others, including some who had previously signed petitions for a park, felt the grading was too aggressive. Though I, too, feel strongly that the approved design is too invasive to our neighborhood, I have no animosity toward these people who would have the park go forward as originally planned. Some of them I know personally and am deeply fond of. I hope now we can all move forward without the divisive rhetoric.
Lynn Norton