Last week’s excellent coverage in this newspaper of the City Council’s Jan, 13 meeting highlighted the Malibu 2020 Vision Project. I would like to add that this project is the result of a year’s work, largely at no cost to the city, of a dedicated team of five people. These people have generously given their time and considerable expertise in long-range planning in hopes of gaining a future for Malibu representing the wishes of a majority of residents.
The team consists of Margaret Shultz, Bill Miller, Bill Schwarz, Amir Mahini and myself altogether representing more than 130 years of Malibu residency.
Moreover, these people were selected based on their avowed objectivity toward a very complex project as well as their planning expertise. The team should only be the vehicle for achieving a vision for what this city should strive to become over the next 20 years. We will be looking for five more members to fill out the team providing the council agrees to accept the project.
The goals of the 2020 Vision Project are to:
1. Control the future of Malibu, rather than letting the future control us.
2. Provide an educational tool for the entire community.
3. Gain broad consensus while minimizing the divisive nature of previous issues.
4. Offer a process that attracts people who have not been heavily involved in Malibu city affairs.
The project, even with the great amount of pro bono help by the team, will require funding by the city. Some of this may be defrayed by the use of graduate student labor from UCLA, USC, Northridge and Pepperdine. We will also be looking for grant funding to help. But most importantly, we will need the support of this community to make such a forward looking vision a success. There will be more news later about the project.
If anyone would like to receive a copy of our Jan. 13 presentation through e-mail, and has a copy of Microsoft’s PowerPoint please let me know at rkd@perfdev.com and I will send you a copy.
Rich Davis