The Surfrider Foundation and a public advocacy group accuse Malibu of anti-beach access practices.
By Jonathan Friedman/Assistant Editor
Two council members blasted a report by the Center for Law in the Public Interest and the Surfrider Foundation that alleges Malibu “has sought to impede the public from enjoying the benefits of public beaches.” Councilmember Jeff Jennings said the 53-page report had no basis in fact. Mayor Andy Stern said it showed a lack of research on the subject by the authors. But co-author Robert Garcia, who heads the Center, a public advocacy group, said the city has made absolutely no effort to make Malibu’s beaches accessible to the public, and this is proven through the facts in the report.
The report, titled “Free the Beach! Public Access, Equal Justice, and the California Coast,” was completed in April and deals with cities in addition to Malibu, but Malibu dominates the discussion. Edward Mazzarella, the director of chapters at the Surfrider Foundation, is listed as one of the authors of the report. The report describes the public path to Broad Beach as looking “like the entrance to a garbage dump” to mislead people from thinking it accesses the beach. According to the document, “Malibu residents discreetly pass keys around to a prison-like gate with iron bars and barbed ribbon wire that blocks access to a secluded path leading to a ‘private’ beach in the so-called ‘Malibu Riviera.'” It blames the county for failing to open public paths at La Costa Beach and Carbon Beach, although it points to the recent opening of Carbon Beach at the David Geffen easement.
According to the report, a nameless mayor previously said he would not enforce the public’s right to access the beach. A document footnote said this was stated in an interview with a Coastal Commissioner. When asked by The Malibu Times which former mayor said this, Garcia said he did not know. Jennings said he believed the comment was being attributed to him, but he said it was a gross distortion of a statement he made regarding the city’s lawsuit against the Coastal Commission over the Local Coastal Program issue, and his belief that public access was not a significant issue in the suit.
Jennings said most of the document contains information that is not true. He noted the report never mentions how many people actually come to Malibu’s beaches, an omission Stern also observed.
“Malibu’s a town of 13,000 residents,” Stern said. “It is pleased to host over 15 million beach visitors per year. There is no other city in the country, and for that matter the world, with a population as small as ours that hosts so many people.”
Garcia said that was insignificant because most of the beach-goers come to Surfrider Beach, while there are many miles of Malibu coast where the public does not venture, because Malibu has made an effort to prevent people from accessing the beach.
The report states there are only 14 public access paths to the beach in Malibu. City Manager Katie Lichtig said that was not an accurate number, and the actual amount is double that.
Surfrider’s Mazzarella said the document was specifically written by Garcia and Erica Flores Baltodano from the Center. Mazzarella said he reviewed the report and added to it. But he said he supports the entire document.
“We realize that the beach environment doesn’t just consist of 40-year-old white guys,” Mazzarella said. “It’s a culturally diverse nation. People of every nationality like to recreate at the beach. And more public access to the beach is needed so that everybody can come.”
Mazzarella said the report would be used as a guide for the Surfrider Foundation for further research and work on the public access issue. He said there are no plans to sell the document or widely distribute it. Garcia said copies of the document were handed to people on Memorial Day at the celebration on Carbon Beach when the Geffen easement was opened. When asked if the document would be used as part of a greater project on the public access issue, he said the Center has been focused on the beach access issue since the fall of 2002.
The document suggests 10 ways public beach access can be maximized in Malibu and other coastal cities. They include public education campaigns to inform the public on beach access rights, media campaigns to inform the public about beach access, state legislation to support public beach access and litigation if it is deemed necessary.
No effort was made to speak with any city officials prior to the writing of the report. When asked why that was, Garcia said the Center spoke about Malibu beach access publicly to the Coastal Commission in the fall of 2002, and that was enough.
Garcia said he disagreed the report was hostile to Malibu, as suggested by Jennings. He said he would be happy to work with Malibu on the issue.
“We’ve never seen any overture with Malibu to that effect,” Garcia said. “We would be eager to sit down and work out a method for Malibu to work out [the public access issue].
The full report can be accessed at www.clipi.org