Mayor Andy Stern does know what Trancas Park will look like, and if “they” knew what “they” were talking about “they” would, too. Six “before and after” color photo renderings of the park project are located on the city Web site, agenda item 4B – Part 7, for the meeting scheduled Monday, Feb. 23.
Conveniently hiding behind a facade of “caring for the environment and animals,” the Malibu West residents fighting to “save our ridge” are not concerned about anything else but their view. Their letter to the editor in last week’s paper not only makes it sound like the city is developing a 300-room hotel but also that the city did a bad job in planning, designing and permitting it.
For 10 years, 18 public workshops, countless city meetings, the city staff, council members, geologists, planners and architects have worked tirelessly on this project. The residents of Malibu asked for a small community park with a much needed dog park, tot lot and practice field. It was designed to be an “outdoor classroom” where everyone, even dogs, could come and enjoy, with no league games or events, and that’s just what the city has permitted for Trancas Park.
The park is not destroying the land, it’s enhancing it. What is wrong with 28 feet of grading? The dirt will be relocated to the field (smaller than a baseball diamond) to level it. A smaller park just isn’t acceptable; it’s already small. Are bats more important than our dogs? Besides, there are plenty of caves for the bats to relocate to. Don’t the dogs and children of this community deserve a place too?
Should the personal agenda of a dozen residents be allowed to interfere with the completion of a well-designed, beautiful, safe, educational, recreational place for the entire community?
Justine Petretti