We’ve have been through another City Council meeting where Joe Edmiston has asked us for the impossible-overnight camping with fire, euphemistically called “cold camping”-in our fragile box canyons and neighborhoods.
Peter Douglas, head of the CCC, has gone on record with The Malibu Times saying Malibu could save everyone’s time, energy and money by dropping that idea-of opposing SMMC. That said, perhaps Douglas should read his own Coastal Act. In section 30253, which refers to new development, it says: “Minimization of adverse impacts-New development shall: Minimize risks to life and property in areas of high fire hazard.” I guess Edmiston and Douglas both missed this one.
But hold onto your hats, because the worst is yet to come. Edmiston has a paragraph on the very last page of his 44 Parks Enhancement manifesto submitted to our city that makes my blood run cold.
“Nothing herein, including trip limitations, shall operate to limit or restrict access to Ramirez Canyon Park as sovereign property of the State of California at any time and by any means whatsoever, by any of the following: The governor or any civil executive officer as provided in Government Code Sec. 1001; any member of the California National Guard or the State Militia; any firefighter of any public agency; any peace officer, any emergency medical technician or paramedic whether employed by a public agency or not, any member of the Legislature or staffs thereof, any member of the Bureau of State Audits, the Secretary for Resources or any employee thereof, any member of the California Coastal Commission or staff thereof, any person appointed pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 33200 or 33213, or person appointed pursuant to Section 5.0 of the Joint Powers Agreement between the Conejo Recreation and Parks District, the Rancho Simi Recreation and Parks District, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.”
Wow. The fight has just begun.
Susan M. Tellem