Arnold G. York
The Coming Election
We’re into another Malibu city council election cycle, and I’m looking for the candidates to start talking about real issues and not the usual drivel I’ve come to expect from these contests. For years our elections have seemed to be all about rival claims of ‘I’m greener than you.’ I don’t think that’s going to cut it anymore because we’ve got some real changes underway in this town; some good, some bad and some I’m not so sure about yet
For one thing, Malibu real estate has skyrocketed in value and the impact of the increases have spread out like ripples in a pond, producing all sorts of effects.
There are many longtime residents sitting with a great deal of equity in their homes and not a heck of a lot of income in their retirement. I suspect there will be a population turnover, and there are many new residents coming in who will have paid a great deal of money for their homes and expect to see the city provide services. Since these new people are younger, with young children, their first concern will be the schools, the nursery schools, child care, and perhaps a community center and an improvement in our library. The city and the candidates have got to be thinking and talking about our city’s role in providing young families and children what they need. That takes vision-and money.
There is an older part of the population that’s being forced out because it’s becoming too expensive for them. I know that some of them would like to move into a granny cottage on their property and rent out the main house, yet the city does everything it can to discourage those second units. It’s time we rethought this type of policy and begin to actively encourage those second units, not only for the seniors but also as a source of housing for students and people who work in Malibu. We also could use some retirement facilities near the Civic Center so people could live close to services, be able to walk around, and continue to participate in the community and stay with their friends.
We’re going to have 20 acres in the center of the city at the old Chili Cook-Off site as a central park. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have something beautiful and significant. We ought to be talking to world-class landscape/park architects, perhaps even holding a world-wide competition for the best design. Having just seen ‘Spamalot,’ I can see the fight over the park degenerating into a Monty Python-like battle over the shrubbery if we’re not proactive. We can’t afford to squander this opportunity.
Some years back, right after we became a city, we passed a number of very restrictive development rules to control growth. The rules worked, in part, but there are many things they produced that we didn’t want. For one thing, we didn’t want to create a traffic jam every weekend in the Civic Center not enough parking space. It’s time to think about some parking structures as part of the Civic Center development. They don’t have to be big ugly things. Maybe they could be partially underground. Maybe there is another parking solution.
Most of all we, slammed down a lid on commercial development, and were pretty much able to stop it cold. Well, guess what? Commercial rental rates have exploded, and people are bidding for space. All sorts of high-end retailers are coming in, and all sorts of mom and pops are being forced out. If we want to save those community-serving businesses, we have to take a good look at our zoning laws and work to keep those small businesses here, or in five years they’re all going to be gone.
We also need to do something about our septic system problems, particularly in the Civic Center. Our current rules have opted for the most expensive of all possible solutions, a lot-by-lot management of our septic problems. It’s expensive and silly. We need to be talking about neighborhood package plants and other alternatives, or each one of us is going to spend a fortune to keep our homes and businesses up to code.
We do have other wonderful opportunities and accomplishments. Besides buying the Chili Cook-Off site, this current council has been able to buy Bluffs Park (so the ball fields will never have to move) and Las Flores Canyon Park. The odds against successfully doing this were overwhelming, but they’ve managed. Now it’s time for the next phase and that’s what the candidates should be talking about.
P.S. I know there are many local neighborhood issues we’d like to hear about. Send us your letters. Point out what needs changing or fixing. Point out what’s working fine and needs to be left alone. We’d like to hear from you.