I am responding to an article in last week’s Malibu Times regarding the proposed Trancas Canyon Park. I truly do not believe that the article hits hard enough on the issues. What has really happened is that two Parks and Recreation Commission members, Madonna Slattery and Doug O’Brien, have attempted to reverse a decision rendered by a consensus building process, in favor of their own selfish baseball related agenda and in a very undemocratic manner. Ostensibly they have ignored the recommendation of a community based workshop that had a consensus built regarding the design of the park that was balanced and fair. Furthermore it seems that Pamela Conley Ulich is now leaning towards supporting Slattery and O’Brien, albeit it in a very subtle and politically correct manner.
The comments that Doug O’Brien made in the article that “there are no playing fields here” is simply not true. However, the Little League has use of Bluffs Park. The comment that league play proponents think that the Bluffs Park is “congested” is also illogical since Bluffs Park is no where near a residential area and there are no homeowners negatively affected by play. This is the opposite in Trancas Canyon where residents would be negatively impacted by a park with league play due to increased traffic and noise.
I have lived on Trancas Canyon for ten years. It is a busy and dangerous street with cars driving at high speeds at all hours. Even though this is the case, many kids, including mine, use the canyon. We already limit our kids’ use of the canyon due to worries about safety.
I invite people who are interested in this issue to drive up Trancas Canyon, look at the proposed site and decide if it is logical to have a ball field with league play there. It should be very obvious, based on where it is and how many houses surround it, that this makes no sense whatsoever.
I feel that Slattery and O’Brien should be removed as public servants since they are obviously incapable of representing anyone other than themselves and have utter disregard for anyone who is not a baseball enthusiast. I would also suggest that Pamela Conley Ulich demonstrate that she is in concert with her constituency by voting with the workshop recommendation by adopting plan B.
Matt Borenzweig