February
• The winners of The Malibu Times 2016 Dolphin Awards, selected for extraordinary public service, were announced.
- Patt Healy A longtime environmental activist and dedicated preservationist, Healy has spent endless hours over the 26 years we have been a city in pursuit of slow growth.
- Malibu Task Force on Homelessness (MTFH) The MTFH was founded by a team of eight concerned citizens by raising money to hire professionals. As of February, they’ve raised $300,000 and provided help and direction to many homeless who now are receiving treatment and places to live.
- Ryan Sawtelle Then a Pepperdine student, he came up with the idea and execute what is now the iconic display of flags on the Pepperdine campus alongside PCH, featuring one flag for everyone who died on 9/11. Since graduating, Ryan has founded the White Heart Foundation to assist severely wounded American veterans.
- Lily Castro / Lily’s Cafe A longtime Malibu business owner, Castro has given generous and consistent support to all of the Malibu events and charities over many years, and provided a second homes for many of Malibu’s Romeos (Retired Old Men Eating Out) much to the relief of their spouses.
- Dillon Eisman A youth Dolphin, Eisman is a student leader at Malibu High School, where He is three times class president and the founding president of the schools Gay/Straight Alliance, now one of the largest clubs on campus.
- Ife Houzell Houzell is a youth Dolphin whose 300 hours of volunteer work, membership in the Leaders in Training Program, and working as an intern at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School as leader of their Glee Club, earned her the award.
- John Sibert Finishing an eight-year stint as council member and mayor, Sibert brought to the job his broad experience in academia, business and science and always an intelligence and sureness.
- Fran Pavley Pavley has represented Malibu in both the Assembly and State Senate for many years, during which she has become a virtual environmental rock star, getting things passed that cooler heads said couldn’t be done against the energy lobbies.
- Mike Mulligan This widely admired, 20-year coach at Malibu High School swimming and water polo was recently named California Coach of the Year, and sets an example as a mentor to generations of young swimmers.
- Joan House The longest serving member of the Malibu City Council, House received a certificate since she already received a Dolphin when she retired last time, and we only give one Dolphin per customer.
• PCH, which is always treacherous and often deadly, is beginning to get the attention it deserves and funds from LA County ballot measures R & M have provided funds to improve the highway. Malibu’s share from Measure R will be $38.3 million. The money will fund at least a dozen improvements on PCH and the top priority is to upgrade and interconnect the 12 traffic signals between Topanga Canyon Boulevard to John Tyler Drive, near Pepperdine.
• It’s nice to be loved but Airbnb has listed Malibu as a top “hotspot” for short-term renters and some in Malibu are accepting that bouquet with some skepticism. The city is currently trying to work out a set of rules for short-term renters to see if it can push back on some of the landlords and visitors who seem to have no manners.
• The Rindge Dam, which has sat across Malibu Creek since 1926, has been a high priority removal project for the Army Corps of Engineers and California State Parks officials, although they each seem to have their own plan. The draft environmental feasibility report just released (sort of like an EIR) has been in the works since 2013 and, over time, the removal cost has grown to $160 million. It has now begun to reach the point where the decision makers might have to decide if the project is really environmentally important enough to spend that kind of money, or alternatively, just a great big boondoggle.
• The Adamson House, built in 1929 and badly in need of repairs, has struggled to find a board of directors and a leader to help stabilize what has historically been a difficult restoration and repair project of the historic structure. They have just elected Martha Juede as their fourth president in the last two years to head the Adamson House Foundation Board of Directors with hopes that this will do it.