Those expecting an old-fashioned Malibu tar and feathering may have been surprised Monday when the specter of real-world violence appeared at Monday’s city council meeting.
Following a weekend of outrage over nationally broadcast reports that representatives from the City of Malibu ordered Malibu United Methodist Church to halt its weekly dinners for the homeless community, more than 100 concerned residents turned up to city council to voice their concerns over the alleged decree.
The reports came following an informal meeting on Monday, Nov. 6, where some in attendance seemed to believe the city was asking for the weekly dinners to be halted just in time for Thanksgiving.
A short explanation from Mayor Skylar Peak—wherein he specified suspending the dinners was a “suggestion” and outlined the reasoning behind it—seemed to be acceptable to the audience, who went on to voice concerns over the issue of homelessness in the community and encouraged ongoing support for homeless individuals residing within Malibu.
What they were not expecting, perhaps, was to be chastened by reports of death threats issued against members of the Malibu City Council and staff members.
“All of us … here have gotten calls from all around the country,” Council Member Laura Rosenthal somberly told the audience Monday, pointing out there were “more than usual” sheriff’s deputies in attendance at the regularly scheduled council meeting. “I had to take my phone number off the city website … Some of the emails you wouldn’t want them to go to anybody you know.”
Rosenthal did not go into detail, but Mayor Pro Tem Rick Mullen did.
“We all got the letter from the guy who asked me ‘do I want to get shot in the back of the head or between the eyes,’” Mullen recounted.
“Your calls to the larger press have consequences,” Rosenthal told the audience.
At the start of the hearing, Peak apologized to the audience before providing his clarification.
“We want to bring people together to help provide services—that was the only goal of that meeting, it remained the only goal of that meeting,” Peak said. “The fact that was taken and mischaracterized after … I did say that maybe we should stop doing that feeding in a residential neighborhood. We receive numerous complaints. In that meeting there was absolutely no concrete determination we should cease that.
“I just want to apologize if there was any miscommunication there,” he added. “Some people at that meeting took those comments to other people who contacted the media who came out with a story that I don’t think at all represented the facts of that meeting.”
In fact, only Peak and Mullen were present at last week’s informal meeting—in accordance with Brown Act regulations. Because there was no quorum, no official decision from council could have been legally made.
About 48 hours after the meeting, the story began popping up on TV news, followed by articles in blogs and newspapers across the country.
So what inspired the suggestion?
Mullen read off several complaints he had received from community members outlining violent and threatening behavior from some homeless people living in Malibu, specifically around the Ralphs Center. Only last month, sheriff’s officials responded to a home in Malibu after a woman awoke to find a naked homeless man in her bedroom.
According to estimates, about 180 homeless individuals reside in Malibu currently.
Lt. Jim Royal of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station provided a detailed report on crime statistics for Malibu, including numbers that show a trend in calls related to members of the homeless community. These calls peaked in 2016 with 903, growing every year since 2011 (when 246 such calls were reported). However, Royal’s report also indicated the number of serious crimes such as rape, robbery, homicide, thefts and arson had remained relatively steady year-to-year since 2001—though certain crimes, such as car break-ins, appeared to rise consistently with growing homeless populations.
“We’re happy with the numbers in general of crime statistics in Malibu,” Royal described. “There’s a lot of rumor out there’s a lot of innuendo of an explosion of crime.”
Later in the hearing, Royal clarified his feelings about the perceived uptick in crime due to homeless people.
“I just want to make clear that many, many homeless people are perfectly harmless, charming and don’t cause us any trouble,” Royal said. “There is a subset … of persons that are extremely mentally ill, have extreme alcohol drug problems, some are just criminals, but many, many aren’t … but that percentage is fairly constant over any group.
“We support services to the homeless,” he continued. “We are asking for everyone to engage in the wisest way we can do that without compounding these public safety problems.”
The city is now working on ways to spend two grants totalling about $80,000, both set aside specifically for planning how to deal with homeless issues in town—meaning the money cannot be used to provide services.
“One is a city planning grant for $50,000 and the other is a regional planning grant for $30,000 for our council,” Public Safety Manager Susan Dueñas specified. Dueñas said staff has “already identified a really great facilitator” as part of that funding.
