John Burton rightly blasts Sara Wan in Coastal Commish power play
From the Publisher / Arnold G. York
Jan. 20. Lord Acton’s dictum that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” applies to kings, princes, governors and senators, and even to those who consider themselves above being corrupted because they serve a higher purpose. That includes the members of the California Coastal Commission. We were reminded of the old adage recently when Sara Wan of Malibu, in a surprise vote by her fellow commissioners, was appointed chair of the Coastal Commission. She served as chair once before.
The word was that another member of the commission, Vice Chair Mary Shallenberger, a friend and close ally of Wan, was due to become the chair. Shallenberger previously had been the environmental deputy for former state Senate Leader John Burton and, as such, had handled several appointments to the Coastal Commission.
One of those appointments was Wan.
Wan was never an easy appointment for a politician. She has many fans in the environmental movement, but she has also made many enemies along the way.
Anyone who has ever sat through a commission meeting and watched Wan juggle the lineup of speakers so that causes she favors came up early and the opposition usually put off to the end of the meeting couldn’t help but come away with a feeling that they had been railroaded.
Most politicians try to hide their power, but not Wan. She loves power and loves people knowing that she has power. She delights in rubbing everyone’s nose in her power and wants you to know that she’s doing it. That’s just one of the reasons why Wan is detested by many, especially in Malibu.
I don’t yet know the details of how she maneuvered the chairmanship again, but she obviously had to have double-crossed her friend and ally Shallenberger.
I heard that Shallenberger was furious. There is nothing worse than being betrayed by a friend. But this time Wan may have overplayed her hand, because she also has clearly alienated Shallenberger’s former boss, Burton.
The mercurial, profane and canny Burton is a former everything-Assemblyman, state Senator, congressman and leader of the state Senate. Currently he’s the chair of the California Democratic Party-a powerful position in a blue state where all the statewide elected are Democrats.
Although he’s officially retired, he has many friends and remains politically active. He is also one of the blunter human beings on the planet. In fact, he’s famous, or rather infamous, for his artistic profanity, particularly his variations on the use of the f— word.
The other day he sent Wan a letter expressing his dismay at her conduct in snatching the chair of the commission from Shallenberger. I could paraphrase what he said, but I couldn’t do him justice so we’re reprinting the entire letter. The Jan. 13 missive is short, to the point, particularly pithy and definitely in the John Burton idiom:
“Dear Sara,
I just recently heard the news from the Coastal Commission whereby you screwed Mary Shallenberger out of the Chair of the Commission in order to gain it yourself.
What makes me write this letter is that I know exactly how often Mary championed your membership on the Coastal Commission when it was under attack. When each time I reappointed you, I was under extreme pressure to appoint someone else. Mary constantly fought for you, citing your experience and integrity as a member of the commission.
“I’m sure you haven’t lost any of your experience, but in my mind and minds of others you have lost your integrity. You should clearly be ashamed of yourself.
“No need to respond to this because I have no need to hear any of your rationalizing bullshit on this issue.”
(Signed) John Burton
The strangest part of all this is that Wan is up for reappointment this spring. The new leader of the senate, Darryl Steinberg of Sacramento, is the appointing authority. Wan, after 16 years on the commission, is apparently of the opinion that she is indestructible, and in her lust for power and control has thrown caution to the wind.
I suspect Wan may get caught up in a windstorm.
Money talks, governmental agencies walk
From the Publisher / Arnold G. York
May 12. There are many things happening in Malibu these days so it’s time for a quick tour of the highs and the lows.
First, the big fight about the Malibu Lagoon restoration or destruction, depending on whom you listen to, is being settled like many of Malibu’s major battles-in a courtroom. After listening to all of the ranting and ravings I still can’t decide if it’s a good and environmentally sound project that will improve the lagoon, or just a boondoggle because there is a bunch of bond money available and there are many itchy palms trying to get a piece of it. You don’t get any bond money unless there is a project, which immediately raises my skepticism antennae. I’d feel much better about the project if they weren’t tearing out the little bridge that gives people access to the beach. However, despite all the environmental brouhaha, that doesn’t seem to be a major issue for most of the environmentalists. I guess money trumps everything else.
Along those lines, the people behind what everyone calls “The Edge” development, seem to have worked out a deal with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which is the state agency run by Joe Edmiston. The Conservancy was opposed to the project, which would have built five architecturally interesting luxury homes up in the hills not far from the Civic Center. But the Conservancy soon found its reasons for opposing it weren’t as profound as they thought when the project’s developers came up with $1 million or so to ameliorate the environmental pain, and they’ve withdrawn their opposition. Some people have charged that the deal doesn’t pass the smell test. I don’t have any problem with the project, which puts the five homes on five quite large pieces of land, but I’m wondering what the California Coastal Commission is going to do when the project goes back to them. Do they get another million also, or have they unofficially signed off on the project already? Time alone will tell.
There is a bigger issue involved in all these fees and environmental offsets or donations of developer funds to make up for so-called environmental damages caused by a project. We all know that we are going through some very tight budget times, which leaves many state, county and local agencies scrambling for dollars just to keep themselves afloat. Raising money through developers and developments is a time-honored method of raising dollars for civic improvements. It’s been used to pay for new schools, roads and parks. The problem is trying to decide what’s a good a project and what’s not, and does money impact that analysis. It also has led to charges from some that it’s a way for governmental agencies to shake down applicants to donate public easements and trails and such because if you don’t go along with the program, you don’t get your permits. On a whole, it works reasonably well when the developers are large and well moneyed, and hire expensive talent to represent them. It doesn’t work so well when it’s little Joe Homeowner and he doesn’t have big bucks to fight the agencies. In that situation, the agency simply dictates that this is the way it is, take it or leave it.
Being a bit of a policy wonk and equally curious about how well our system really works, Capitol Weekly, our Sacramento newspaper, is hosting an all-day, non-partisan, hopefully unbiased, conference on the California Coastal Commission, June 23, in Sacramento (check out capitolweekly.net for details and registration information). Strangely, considering the power and the impact of the California Coastal Commission, there has been little oversight of the agency by the Legislature, which first created the Commission in 1976 when a young governor named Jerry Brown was in office. We figured it was time to take a look. This lack of legislative oversight is not unique to the Coastal Commission. These days, particularly with term limits, the Legislature tends to turn much of the everyday business of the government over to the state agencies without much systematic oversight. In the future, we intend to hold conferences on a number of topics that impact both state and local areas like public pensions, retirement rules and funding for prisons, schools and the courts.
Lastly, locally it looks like the Trancas Gardens Nursery got a reprieve due to community involvement, but sooner or later the city is going to have to address that fact that our commercial real estate is becoming so expensive that local stores have to leave because they can’t pay the rents. If the city wants to preserve the modestly priced retail base, it is going to have to become a great deal more creative or, in time, we’ll lose most of that modest base.
Along the PCH
Rick Wallace
May 19. Where can I get me a cop car dummy? My very own? One with sunglasses?
The state of California has about 1,000 historical landmarks. Two are in Malibu. Can you guess where they are? They are noted below. But first: Another landmark is in Pacific Palisades along the PCH and it was once a very impressive site. Located next to the large lifeguard headquarters on Will Rogers Beach, one half mile east of Temescal, is a large boulder and plaque, marked No. 881, commemorating Los Angeles Long Wharf. It was a wooden pier that stretched nearly a mile out to sea. It was the longest wooden pier in the world, at 4,720 feet. It was constructed in 1893 by Southern Pacific Railroad to serve as Los Angeles’ primary port. A few years later, San Pedro was selected as the official port of L.A. The long wharf lost business and was torn down. Now, there is no trace of it, but the marker.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Malibu, according to www.weather.com, was 104 degrees on Sept. 26, 1963. The lowest temp ever was on March 21, 1952, at 33 degrees. It has never been freezing here. One only one other date did it ever reach 100 degrees. That was on Nov. 1, of all dates, in 1966. On average, the warmest month is September; the coolest is January. If you add in the mountains and look for records in the area that covers the 90265 ZIP code, there was a 116-degree temp recorded on Aug. 24, 1985, and an 18-degree reading on Feb. 6, 1989.
You can add your contact info on the Malibu city Web site to be updated on emergencies. Might be a good idea. See the bottom of city Web site at www.malibucity.org and click on the emergency notifications tab.
Still waiting to see the very first person ever to be sitting, relaxing and reading on a Legacy Park bench that faces PCH.
The first jail ever in Malibu was in 1933 at the La Costa courthouse. Moonshadows’ original name was Canfield’s Big Rock Cafe. The first traffic light ever in Malibu, besides at Topanga in 1951, was at Webb Way in 1955. The original phone prefix in Malibu was 456. Malibu’s first newspaper was called the Malibu Bugle, in 1942. For most of the coastline, the depth of the water is only about 50 feet for the first half-mile out. When you enter the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica heading toward Malibu, you face more south than north.
Have you been to the top of the mountain? Did you know you could get to the top of the mountain with just a 1.5-mile hike? The highest point in all the Santa Monica Mountains is Sandstone Point, at 3,111 feet elevation. It is located just inside the Ventura County Line. You can hike to it just a mile and a half off the road. Look it up, along with Boney Mountain, on the Internet. You will find there is a place to park along Yerba Buena Road, about a mile east of the Circle X Ranch. At the top, the views are amazing. Be warned the ascent is steep, but don’t stop until you find a monument marker and there is no higher place to go.
Now that environmentalists control everyone and everything, let’s review the big stories of the past three years: 2009 – Environmentalists not happy with Trancas Park; 2010 – Environmentalists sue to stop Legacy Park; 2011 – Environmentalists against the improvement of Lagoon park.
At least in the lagoon fight, it is environmentalist extremists versus environmentalist zealots. So they all get to see what it is like.
I wish the statue of the little girl that has been reading by herself for the past 20 years in the Colony Plaza outside Starbucks could meet the statue of the little boy who has been playing in the sand by himself the past 10 months on the north end of Legacy Park.
It may be true that Ronald McDonald, Jack-in-the-Box and Colonel Sanders all do business here in Malibu, but only one of them actually lives here, among the dozens of other huge celebrities: Jack.
The two historical landmarks in Malibu? One is the Adamson House, site No. 966, the Spanish Revival Colonial home at Surfrider Beach, built in 1929 and featuring the decorative ceramic tiles produced by the Malibu Potteries Company, in existence from 1926-1932. And site No. 965 is the Headlands of Point Dume, named by explorer George Vancouver in 1793 after his friend, Father Francisco Dumetz of the Mission San Buenaventura up north. It is the western terminus of the Santa Monica Bay.
Sometimes it is worth remembering the reason we chose to live in Malibu. Besides the proximity to Los Angeles and Hollywood, and besides its beauty, ultimately it is the shoreline that draws us here. With a hundred places to access it, that thin strip of sand represents the most spiritual place on earth. It is at the beach that we walk and almost surely find serenity, whether alone or with others, in good times and in bad. After all, there is no other place where the land, sea and air converge at such an apex … The land mass stretches 3,000 miles in one direction all the way to Nova Scotia. The sea stretches 8,000 miles to the Philippines. The coastline virtually runs the entire width of the globe. And the air stretches to the heavens. No wonder a person can feel a spiritual unity with all existence at such a place. We have it here in Malibu.