From the Publisher
As we get closer to Election Day and a final decision on Measure M, I know there are a number of you who have some lingering questions about the proposed Malibu Bay Company Development Agreement. People have asked me about it, so I’ll try and take you through my reasoning process and why I decided to support Measure M.
Who should you trust?
I believe Malibu’s current City Council is reasonably good. They work hard, they’re conscientious, they’re well educated and most have been around long enough that they are experienced as community leaders. Most of them were elected overwhelmingly. Additionally, several have previously served on the Planning Commission. They unanimously believe this is a decent deal, and they unanimously voted in favor of it. To listen to the opposition, you’d almost have to believe the council unanimously decided to sell out, which is ludicrous.
Think back. Several ran against each other in the past. Several come out of the No Growth or very slow growth movement and suddenly they’re being accused of being a developer’s toady. The accusation is silly. We spend a lot of time, energy and money to elect people to represent us. Have we suddenly decided they’re not worthy of trust because they’re doing what we paid them to do, which is to make a decision? We just kicked out a governor because of his chronic inability to make a tough decision. As far as I can see, this council has had the guts to make a tough decision knowing full well that some people would hate it.
This deal was negotiated long and hard over several years and with several different councils. The reason they entered into a negotiation was it was clear that, ultimately, the Civic Center was going to be developed. It’s in the center of our town, it’s zoned for commercial development in our General Plan (which you may recall took several years to pass and went through a long, contentious public process) and it’s privately owned. Clearly, it is better to see it developed with an integrated plan, some esthetic considerations so it looks nice, and to have it provide some amenities like parks and open space. The alternative is to sit tight, do nothing and wait for people to come in with plans parcel-by-parcel.
Maybe we just should stonewall it?
Several people have said to me they know it’s going to be developed, but later is better than sooner so why not just stonewall it? Why not make them fight for every foot of development. Many developers will say it isn’t worth the fight. Many might think to themselves who needs this aggravation and simply to put their plans back in the drawer for another 10 years. They believe if they can kill Measure M it might not stop it, but it may very well slow it down. It’s the hardball theory.
The trouble with the hardball theory is it comes with a bunch of negatives. For one thing it’s very expensive because there are a great deal of legal fees. Secondly, you end up in battles with other governmental agencies like the Regional Water Quality Control Board and other state agencies, and the county. That was our previous city history and it didn’t work very well. We fought with everyone and spent a fortune doing it, which is why we don’t have a community center, a city hall, a hotel, an emergency room, a dog park or permanent dedicated open space. We spent a substantial amount of our dollars on warfare, and frequently warfare with people with much bigger budgets than ours.
Let me give you a specific example of how it works. We have a serious sewage problem in the creek, the lagoon and at the Civic Center, and the state wants to clean it up. State officials are currently sitting tight to see if we vote for Measure M, which includes a major water cleanup element that many of them see as the best way to go. If we turn it down, the state will find an alternative to clean local waters. Make no mistake about it. That would mean we probably would get a sewer rammed down our throats.
The truth is, the state does not like septic systems, believes they don’t work very well, and, most of all, doesn’t trust us to take charge of our own lives and see that they’re properly maintained. If we turn down Measure M, it’s going to be exactly like what happened before. When we couldn’t agree on a Malibu Local Coastal Plan, the Legislature took it out of our hands. That’s exactly why we ended up with AB 988, which took the Malibu Local Coastal Plan and handed it to the California Coastal Commission. We ended up with a plan we all hate and we’re in litigation now. Let’s not go back to that.
Should we be afraid of change?
Many people tend to believe that any change is going to be for the worse. If we allow anything, our quality of life is going to worsen. I submit this is a very pessimistic view and frequently wrong. For example, take the shopping center in the center of Malibu, with the big sand pile and the swings, where John’s Garden is located. At one time, many years ago, that was a worn out sleazy motel. Fred Segal bought it, renovated it, and then later Koss Realty added to that renovation, and now we have a wonderful space we all enjoy. I took my kids to those swings and someday I hope to take my grandchildren there, if my sons ever get off the stick and get to work. Imagine if it were still that sleazy old motel and you wanted to renovate it today to build the current shopping center. There would be screaming and picketing. Martin Sheen would be out there lying down in front of the bulldozers. They’d be talking about that sleazy old motel as if it was some sort of national historic landmark. I can see the ads in The Malibu Times now. It’s not that I’m against people spending large amounts of money in the Times for political ads. It’s just that sometimes you actually have to read the ads to see if they make sense.
So to wrap it up, I’m for Measure M. I think it’s a fair deal. I think it’s a reasonable deal. We, the people of Malibu, get something. They, the developers, get something. I know the thought the developer gets something is anathema to some, but that’s the way deals are made. If it all goes one way, there is no deal. What’s most important is we bring this to a conclusion and move on, and not spend the rest of our natural lives fighting, waiting for the perfect deal, because it never can happen.