SMMUSD board selects leaders
At its Dec. 9 meeting, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education selected Emily Bloomfield to serve as president. Bloomfield spent the past year as vice president of the board. She was elected to the board in 2002. Also at the meeting, Julia Brownley was selected to serve as vice president. Brownley has been on the board since 1998.
Santa Monica College appoints interim president
The Santa Monica College Board of Trustees voted unanimously Dec. 6 to appoint Thomas J. Donner as the college’s interim president. He will replace Piedad Robertson after her resignation becomes effective on Jan. 31. Donner, who currently works as the college’s executive vice president of business and administration, was recommended by Robertson to serve as her temporary replacement. Donner also served as interim SMC president from October 1994 to June 1995 prior to Robertson’s hiring.
Robertson announced her resignation last month. She has accepted a position as president of the Education Commission of the States, a Denver-based education policy think tank.
According to SMC officials, the search for a permanent president could take up to a year.
LNG goes on the offensive
According to the Dec. 13 issue of the Los Angeles Times, liquefied natural gas advocates have hired the public relations firm that helped Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger win the 2003 gubernatorial campaign and bond measure and initiative campaigns he led in 2004. Navigators, headed by Mike Murphy, will work to convince Californians that LNG is a safe and reliable form of energy that will be necessary as fuel conservation becomes more of an issue in the coming years.
Six LNG terminals have been proposed for installation off the coast of California, including two near Malibu. The Malibu City Council passed a resolution in the summer against LNG terminals, calling them a health risk. LNG opponents have said the terminals are a target for terrorism, and an explosion of one due to a terrorist attack or an accident would bring disaster consequences to the area.
Joseph Lyons, an energy lobbyist with the California Manufacturers and Technology Association told the Los Angeles Times that the selection of Navigators to lead the pro-LNG campaign has nothing to do with its close relationship with the governor.
Earlier this month, hearings took place in Oxnard and Malibu on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the LNG facility proposed to be built by Australian-based BHP Billiton 14 miles off the coast of Oxnard, about 15 miles north of Malibu. More than 100 people showed up for the Malibu hearing, with most of the speakers voicing opposition to the proposal. Proponents said the facility would bring jobs to Australia and California, as well as provide a better energy source.
Meeting to discuss wastewater plant proposal
Questa Engineering will host a meeting on Thursday to take public comment on the best place in Malibu for the construction of a wastewater/stormwater treatment facility. The Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy is expected to make a presentation on alternative sites for a facility. Questa will take the public comments and then conduct research on the issue, which will eventually be encompassed into a report that will be presented to the city sometime next year.
City officials have said that a wastewater/stormwater treatment facility will help to clean the city’s polluted watershed. Questa has been assigned to determine where the best location is for such a facility. There are currently four property owners offering to sell various lands in Malibu to the city. Most of them are located in the Civic Center area. The city has $25 million that it received from the passage of November’s college bond measure, although Santa Monica College has an equal say in what happens with that money. Mayor Sharon Barovsky and Mayor Pro Tem Andy Stern are expected to go to Sacramento early next year to seek clean water grant money. In addition, political activist Ozzie Silna has said he is seeking out private donations to help buy the Chili Cook-Off site, the 20-acre property stretching along Pacific Coast Highway from Webb Way to Cross Creek Road.
Thursday’s meeting will take place at City Hall from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Schwarzenegger appointee takes over Coastal Commission
The California Coastal Commission elected Commissioner Meg Caldwell on Dec. 8 to head the state agency. Caldwell, director of Stanford’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program, was appointed to the commission by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this year.
Also last week, two new commissioners officially took their seats on the 12-member panel. Santa Barbara City Councilman Dan Secord took his position as a Schwarzenegger appointee and former senate leader John Burton’s environmental staff member Mary K. Shallenberger joined the commission as a Burton appointee. Although Burton is leaving the Senate this month due to term limits, Shallenberger will serve a full four-year term on the commission under new rules adopted by the state Legislature last year.
Going to extremes
The Malibu ocean experienced extreme tides on Saturday morning, according to Los Angeles County Lifeguard officials.
Los Angeles County Lifeguard Capt. Nick Steers said on Saturday morning there was a seven-foot high tide and in the afternoon there was a -1.5 low tide. Steers said this only happens a few times a year. The high tide covered most of the sand at Surfrider Beach.
Santa Monica stores accused of overcharging
The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office has accused six area stores of charging customers more than the posted price on items in their stores. According to the officials, the stores were accused of charging at least one dollar higher than the posted price on one or more items in a random inspection by county inspectors. The accused stores are Borders, Bebe, Carlton Cards, Video and Audio Center, Second Spin and Gap.
The city has filed misdemeanor charges against the six stores. According to the city, each violation carries a maximum fine of $1,000. A store that is convicted must post a notice of violation in its window for 60 days.
The six stores were arraigned at the Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec. 8.
New stem cell committee to meet
California Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly will host the first meeting of the oversight panel governing stem cell research in California on Friday at UC San Francisco. The 27 appointed members of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee will meet to select a chairperson and vice chairperson and discuss appointing a president to lead the new California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was created after the California voters’ Nov. 2 approval of Proposition 71, the $3 billion stem cell research bond.
Proposition 71 called for the formation of the institute, overseen by the ICOC, to direct the stem cell research funding. Members of the ICOC include five representatives of California universities, five representatives of nonprofit research institutions, five representatives of commercial life sciences entities and 12 representatives of disease advocacy groups.
Opponents of Proposition 71 argued that the ICOC is structurally flawed because it lacks any members who have no vested interest in stem cell research. They said this would prevent the ICOC from doing unbiased oversight.
Real estate company to help homeless children
This weekend, Malibu Area Realty will hold a parking lot sale of blown-art glass and wrought iron decorative accessories to benefit homeless children in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The sale will take place on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in front of the real estate office at 21221 Pacific Coast Highway.