We are embarking on a voyage of discovery as the 20/20 citizen planning will map our future direction. Some people ask why. “We created a perfectly good general vision plan in the early nineties.” That is a legitimate question. For it was the pioneer that led to this step. After World War II, the increase of human knowledge zoomed us into the computer age, flight age, space age. Now human knowledge increases by 100% each five years, soaring us into an age of living change and somersaulting our lives into inconceivable contradictions and possibilities. For example, in the early nineties our traffic was primarily generated from and to Malibu by citizens, not as a time shortcut from the clogged 101. As the population soared in every place else but Malibu, the freeway choked until today the smart drivers use the canyons to get to the Malibu PCH which is on its way to becoming bumper to bumper. The ten year demographic predictions are grim, predicting from 100% to 160% population growth in the areas surrounding us in Los Angeles and Ventura. Our traffic problem is not locally caused, and it will take a plan and committed citizen backing to bring pressure on the State and Cal Trans and neighboring cities to deal with this hydra-headed problem. What does this plan do? It gives local neighborhoods a way to work together, articulate their problems and define their directions in the neighborhood and for the city. It is a way to give the council a broad based understanding of the citizens’ wisdom and direction. It provides an ongoing cohesive citizen base. Such a plan demands by the times in which we live to be evaluated every two years by the council and ongoing citizen groups. Our democracy is based on the local citizen voice. When the local voice is no longer heard, democracy is on its way to extinction. It is up to us whether we create the future or are victims, dragged helpless into the future.
Georgianna McBurney