Opposition made clear

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    I have received several calls from friends and members of the Malibu Township Council (“MTC”) asking me if I, as a member of the Board of Directors of the MTC, had any part in the preparation of the MTC “position paper” published in The Surfside News August 31, 2000 edition. The “position paper” purports to “demonstrate how the city attorney’s concerns about the Right to Vote Initiative (“Initiative”) can be addressed . . .”

    I neither participated in the preparation of the “position paper” nor do I agree with its contents or opinions or the MTC’s decision to support the Initiative. I have made my opposition to the Initiative quite clear. I believe it is full of potential state law violations, as well as constitutionally questionable. Further, it will be the source of endless lawsuits and place the City in the position of defending indefensible lawsuits in which it has no confidence or belief, and in so doing, squandering tax money in payment of attorney’s fees and exposing itself to hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages all of which could be better spent on the acquisition of land for the development of parks and a community center and cleaning up Malibu’s creeks and lagoons.

    Ironically, even if the Initiative survives its many legal infirmities and challenges (which I doubt), it could very well result in piecemeal commercial development almost as large, in the aggregate, as the Initiative’s proponents are allegedly seeking to avoid, but with no benefit to Malibu and totally inconsistent with any sensible master plan for our community or specific plan for the Civic Center. Instead of promoting development that is responsive to the demands of the voters and the City Council, the Initiative will transfer control out of the hands of the City Council and the voters and turn it over to the developers who will be the only beneficiaries.

    A. David Kagon