Concerning the so-called Malibu Lumber Yard opening in a few weeks, the last thing Malibu residents need is an upscale boutique shopping center. What we really need is a real lumberyard and hardware store that caters to the needs of every Malibu tax-paying citizen.
The old Malibu Lumber not only provided essentials for real-life, day-to-day necessities, but also provided a place to obtain emergency gear in a time of disaster. If an earthquake or a torrential winter rainstorm closed off the canyons, where would we go for emergency items? We used to go to a real Malibu lumberyard. How many high-end clothing stores and boutiques will help us out in a time of crisis? These new stores may help out tourists who are prevented from getting to the beach because of weekend traffic on PCH, but they do little for what Malibu residents really need.
How many longtime local businesses have been put out of business due to the tripling of lease rates that only national or international corporations can afford to subsidize at a loss every month? How many more commercial spaces will continue to stay empty and unaffordable? I am very disappointed that the City Council cares more about attracting tourist dollars than the needs of the Malibu residents.
The City Council could have made it feasible for a real lumberyard and hardware store to replace the old one but we were sold out to the highest bidder. Sold out, so we can attract more tourist dollars, more traffic congestion, and more of a strain on the already over-stressed stinky, sensitive ground water situation to become a shopping mall destination in an already overcrowded, transient environment.
It seems there are powerful forces working together that want Malibu to mirror Rodeo Drive. I am sure that most of us who moved here valued clear ocean views and native landscapes over the latest in modern commercial architecture. But here it is, urban blight, biting at our heels.
Steve Woods