• Malibu real estate, and all of 90265, soared, according to reports—the average sales price in the past year topped $6 million for the 250 homes sold. That number was pulled upward by the staggering number of sales.
• Malibu children led hundreds in a march through Malibu against gun violence in response to the shooting at Marjorie Stoneham Douglas High School shooting in Oakland, Fla., in which 17 were killed.
• Six present and former coastal commissioners were sued in San Diego County charging that they broke the law by not fully disclosing the private meetings and conversations held with applicants for projects; the plaintiffs asked for $22 million in fines. The court agreed there had been violations but levied fines of only $60,000. However, the question of the $1 million in attorney’s fees is still in litigation.
• The long-time feeding of the homeless at Malibu Methodist Church in western Malibu, which had been stopped Nov. 2017 at the suggestion of the City of Malibu—causing a national uproar at the time, amidst charges of “heartless Malibu”—has finally found a new home. The city and county worked out a deal to resume the dinners in the Civic Center area at the old County Courthouse
• Pepperdine President Andrew K. Benton, who has led the institution since 2000—making him the longest-serving leader—announced he would be stepping down and retiring at the end of this academic year.
• Malibu’s bid to split off from Santa Monica and form our own Malibu Unified School District moved a step closer to fruition, but now the hard bargaining about how much alimony Malibu is going to have to pay really began in earnest and the opening round seemed to say the old unified school district wanted revenue sharing (aka alimony) for the next 50 years. Malibu is considering its counter.
