The proponents of “P” have governed the City of Malibu ever since the city was created. But until they lost control of the City Council last April, they never raised this questionable plan to subvert the authority of the legally elected officials of our city. Now, suddenly, they want us to believe that “P” is necessary to preserve our way of life. They apparently were comfortable with our representative form of government as long as they controlled the office-holders. So now why do they want to turn over the decision-making authority of our city to mob rule?
Their scary proposal is to turn over the legal authority of the City Council and all the state and local commissions to a popular vote after the property owner has obtained all the approvals needed to develop his land. Imagine what would have happened 40 years ago if the citizens of certain southern cities would have had the “Right to Vote” to keep black children out of their public schools, or their state universities.
Now, I know that analogy is going to offend some sincere supporters of “P.” But look at the process that they propose.
Their spokesmen say that all the developer has to do is convince the public that the project is worthy. Well, not so long ago, the architect for one of the developers built a beautifully detailed scale model of his project and tried to show it to the public at the Civic Center. A goon squad supporter of P showed up to demolish the exhibit with a bucket of filth. Then the P people mailed an expensive video tape to every residence in Malibu showing huge computer-generated skyscrapers shooting up out of the ground in the Civic Center.
These media-savvy people know that the general public can not possibly judge the detailed distinctions of commercial development. But, under their plan, we will be empowered to vote down a decent project for any reason whatsoever; because we prefer Spanish style architecture versus a New England village, if we don’t like the property owner’s ethnicity or political party, or maybe because we will fall for another heart-wrenching TV commercial featuring a lovely Malibu family pleading with us to save their lifestyle.
Why are they doing this? The P people state that they want to stop development of the Civic Center in order to reduce traffic on PCH. How many of us would gladly forego trips to Santa Monica and keep out of the way of the gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing SUVs if there were just a few shops in Malibu where one could buy a book, or a battery for a wristwatch, or clothes that don’t sport designer logos, or see a movie that isn’t intended for the 14 to 21-year-olds. How would our lifestyle be harmed if we had decent emergency health care service in Malibu, instead of having to send injured and dying residents on a 24-mile ambulance ride to Santa Monica?
In the years that they controlled the City Council, they spent millions of taxpayer dollars on legal expenses to fight developers and builders — usually losing. They opposed a developer who wanted to build a senior citizen residence which would allow the elderly to walk to shops and doctors’ offices instead of driving up and down PCH. And in all the years they ran the city, did they build one park or playground for our children?
C’mon, they lost control of this city last April in the most one-sided defeat in election history. Don’t let them take over again in this desperate and shabby perversion of our cherished system of government.
Bob Rubenstein