What just happened in Malibu? Let’s be really clear about what just happened here and why many are furious. One group in Malibu decided that they wanted a lighted football field. Because it was something that they thought was important, they felt that they had the right to take whatever they wanted from their neighbors in order to make it happen.
What did they take? They took what Realtors have estimated to be $40,0000,000 in market value from their neighbors’ houses. They took what the Malibu Charter and City Plan had promised, dark skies and a rural quality of life.
They took it from neighbors, some of whom lived in Malibu long before Malibu was a city or had a school. They took it despite a promise in writing that the neighbors would never have to worry about these things being snatched away. They took it even though there were alternatives available that gave them what they wanted without causing the devastation.
They knew what their neighbors wanted and waited to the last minute to tell their neighbors the extent of their plans, and then rushed the taking through the city at 2 a.m.
They have justified their taking by saying it’s “for the kids,” the neighbors are just being “selfish” or “tough, you live by a school.” These are still just fundamental ways of saying that I refuse to treat your wants as if they are as important as mine. the result is still a taking.
There are those that say, so what. It’s not my neighborhood, it’s not my fight. They are not upset on principle because either they don’t see the principle or it doesn’t feel like the principle affects them. But beware, the precedent is now set. Next time it might be your $40,000,000, your quality of life, your neighborhood that someone decides to pillage for the “greater good.”
Todd Kesselman