In 1776, Colonial Citizen Soldiers made it clear to King George III that citizens have the right to decide their own destiny. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness belonged to local decision NOT to absentee management.
Despite this, in 2000, the state passed Law AB988, which took away the right of Malibu citizens to decide their own Local Coastal Plan and gave it to the State’s California Coastal Commission. Thus, the wisdom of local people, who know this land best, was not consulted.
I can hear you saying, “So what! I live in a place where all the building permits were approved years ago. What harm can come to me?” Just listen. A lady in Malibu applied for a permit to expand her home. Simple, right? Not so. Instead of receiving the necessary permit, the Commission ordered her to tear up her pride and joy, her roses, and replant with native sage or chaparral; plants which, by the way, fuel the fires that have come close to destroying Malibu in the past.
Or take the citizen who wants to paint his house. Another painless procedure, right? No. The 13 sample colors he submitted didn’t jive with the Coastal Commission’s new code of color: dark shades of grey, green or brown (no white).
You don’t even have to apply for a permit. Just be the one against whom a possible violation is reported by a possible person. For the past four years, my friends, the Rubinroits have been nibbled to death by the Commission seeking to find this rumored wrong. The Rubinroits have been asked to re-permit everything. And, even when nothing was found out of the ordinary, the Commission said the Rubinroits needed to take out their children’s sport court and sandbox.
This doesn’t just affect a few families. The Commission is also targeting our one-and-only Bluffs Park. Is eager to take out our only ballpark, removing the entire area from the use of children, community and region. The new plan? To replant all six acres with flammable sage and chaparral.
The Coastal Commission. It sounds harmless. In fact, it sounds helpful actually. But instead, it is an organization which, like King George III, insists on running our lives from afar, infringing on our property, style, family life, our existence in this city.
History teaches us over and over again. The government is not your friend. A Democratic government, at any level, is your servant. And when citizens relax and forget, we have opened the door to tyranny. Then, we must once more fight for our rights.
Georgianna McBurney