Coming back from vacation is always tough — your body comes back but your head trails far behind. It’s not like the old days when you could leave it behind for a couple of weeks. Today, the internet follows you wherever you go, which is both the blessing and the curse, because no matter where you are your work goes with you.
We were in Sacramento; then Aspen, Colorado; then Bozeman, Montana. Both Aspen and Bozeman are a mile up and, once we started hiking, I was puffing like an old railroad engine. To be in shape at sea level is not the same as being in shape a mile or two up the mountain, as I quickly found out. Aspen is a beautiful mountain town but what makes it special is the Aspen Institute, with music and lectures, and loads of talented young people coming to study for the summer. I had hopes that would happen in Malibu some day, but so far no luck. Our problem is that people are coming to Malibu whether we like it or not, and instead of trying to create something that we, the locals, could also enjoy, we always seem to be spending a lot of energy fighting a rear guard action to block something that’s already happened. [End of commercial]
Bozeman is spectacularly set in what they call the Big Sky Country — breathtaking scenery, with mountains, valleys and rivers filled with trout who do their damnedest not to get caught. Karen and I managed to fly catch a few but it wasn’t easy and it’s all catch and release up there. Bozeman is dealing with the same problem Malibu has— it’s gotten too popular. Of course what they consider traffic, we consider open range. Many of the locals are not happy about the changes, but it’s a long way from what we would call crowded. It’s strange. We live in a country built on constant change and yet most people don’t seem to like it and harken back to some earlier time when they though it was all simpler.
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Apropos of that subject — this Friday, The Malibu Times is sponsoring an all-day leadership conference for the Malibu citizenry, at City Hall. The idea was to give the candidates for council and their friends and supporters; citizens interest in running some day or being on city commissions; homeowner association presidents or officers; condo association board members and just interested citizens an opportunity to hear how our actual city government works. The first half of the day will be the city’s presentation on everything from the city council, structure of our government, the role of city departments and officials, city manager, city attorney and many more. It will touch on our relationships with other government agencies — federal, state, county and local — who also have a stake and a say in Malibu. It includes, among the many: The National Park Service, Army Corps of Engineers, California Coastal Commission, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Caltrans, State Lands Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Board, County of Los Angeles, County Beaches and Harbors, County Fire Department, LA County Sheriff’s Department, many City of Malibu Departments, and a large cluster of non-governmental agencies like Heal the Bay, Bay Keeper and Sierra Club, who all have a say in Malibu.
At lunch, we will have a political pro who will talk about elections and running for office.
In the afternoon, we will deal with specific issues around specific problems like traffic and parking; water supply, septics and the new Civic Center Sewer; environmental challenges; brush fire control and management; development and renovation of housing and commercial structures; beach erosion and replenishment, Malibu schools and our own school district and whatever else time allows.
We are not going to solve these problems on Friday. We are not going to advocate how to solve them. This is not going to be a forum for airing grievances or advocating for any particular candidate. It’s a full day informational conference, hopefully to make us better-informed citizens and voters
The conference is free and a sandwich lunch will be provided thanks to the generosity of our sponsors Frontier Communications, Pepperdine Crest Associates, Pepperdine School of Public Policy and HRL Laboratories.