Joe Edmiston, head of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), a state agency that acquires and manages public parkland, appears to be escalating his conflict with Malibu’s Sycamore Park neighborhood. MRCA claims the general public has a right to use public land owned by the agency—land that is only accessible by going a half-mile through the neighborhood’s private property. The guard-gated neighborhood is saying “No way.”
MRCA is working to increase the number of visitors, running public notices in The Malibu Times two weeks in a row announcing public access to “Via Escondido Trailhead” and inviting anyone who wants to use property for “recreation and scenic enjoyment purposes” to do so as an MRCA “invitee.”
Homeowners balked, and last week this newspaper wrote a story detailing their concerns and complaints. Two days after publication, Edmiston responded.
Last Saturday, Edmiston emailed a letter to Sycamore Park attorney Nancy Goldstein, complaining about the security guards that control access to the neighborhood’s main entrance at Via Escondido Drive.
“You and your clients are on notice that you have an obligation to refrain from hindering, obstructing, harassing, or in any way adversely affecting the physical or emotional wellbeing of persons who are invitees of the MRCA and who wish to use 6118 Via Escondido Drive for the legal purposes for which it was acquired … park, recreation, open space and conservation,” he wrote.
“Because children and young persons may be affected, and should not be subjected to trauma, emotional or otherwise from your security guard … you are being put on notice,” the letter ended.
In his email, Edmiston offered no specific details of when children or anyone else had been affected by the security guards.
Goldstein said it was inappropriate for Edmiston to write any such email.
“First of all, he’s not allowed to write to me [directly] because he has his own legal representation,” the attorney said, “and I told him to communicate through his attorney regarding access rights.”
“There are so many lies and misrepresentations in his letter; I don’t know where to start,” she continued. “The legal purpose for which the park was acquired was actually water conservation, according to their application.
“Last week, he purposely set up an incident in Sycamore Park,” Goldstein said. “They’re trying to get the security guard taken away … But we do let Edmiston in, and his rangers.”
Neighborhood resident Ken Kearsley, a former Malibu mayor and city council member, reported that Edmiston has been coming around frequently, and that tensions began to boil over last week.
Last Saturday, Kearsley said there was a fire in Sycamore Park with fire trucks and sheriff’s vehicles responding, driving up the narrow streets.
“The whole scene was chaos with smoke billowing, 30-mile-per-hour winds and all the emergency vehicles,” Kearsley described. The former mayor charged Edmiston was hindering firefighting efforts—an allegation Edmiston vehemently denied.
“The road was being blocked because Joe [Edmiston] parked in the middle of the intersection. Our security guard told him, ‘Get back in your truck and move it!’”, Kearsley said. “[Edmiston] took umbrage at this and refused. He berated the poor guard and shoved his video camera into the guy’s face, and they were literally standing chest-to-chest.”
“There are many witnesses who saw [Edmiston’s] refusal to get back in the truck and move it,” Kearsley continued.
Edmiston, in telling his side of the story to The Malibu Times, wrote, “At the appropriate time—in court—the full video will be shown. And it will demonstrate that at no time was any fire truck blocked or impeded. Period. We help the Fire Department. Moreover, we have a Sheriff Department volunteer’s statement on video as well.”
He said he visits the area often and raised issue with the security guards, whom he claimed will not provide their names and official license information, which they are required to do by law.
Edmiston said he wants to subpoena them to give depositions for the upcoming trial, and claims they “denied entrance to the Via Escondido easement on multiple times to appropriately credentialed persons.” Edmiston also claims the security guards are guilty of “rough treatment.”
“All such encounters have been recorded digitally; the evidence of which will be presented in court at the appropriate time in the appropriate manner,” Edmiston wrote.