I remember when there was not a wetlands over near Maison de Ville. The Roosevelt Highway followed Malibu Road. The highway was built up when they made the highway go in its present path. The Malibu Inn was across the road from the Colony and it was the original Malibu Inn. It was the gathering spot for everyone. The pictures of the movie stars and local people were on the walls. If you didn’t find your friends you would find them at the Cottage on the highway or at Las Flores Altamari’s or the Sea Lion, but that wasn’t really a hangout.
When they built up the highway it blocked the water from flowing across to Malibu Road and created a flow into some of the houses in the Colony. The Malibu Ropers and Riders had their ring just below the Maison de Ville and there was no problem of standing water unless it was a very heavy rainfall. The water table was very high but not exposed. Give me a break, there was no lake or wetlands unless there was an unusual amount of rain.
The idea of the environmentalists calling it a wetland is ridiculous. And having the people that are saving the wetlands in Marina del Ray coming out to rally to our support should just go away.
The only thing that the City Council is accomplishing with delaying the improvement of the Civic Center is to [cause] some of the owner’s of the property to lose their land to foreclosure. If the city wants open space for playgrounds that we need badly just find a few wealthy homeowners buy the land at a fair price to pay off the land and have a lovely community center, playing fields and enjoy it. You are not going get it for nothing. Everyone has the right to their property and fair value. Too bad the people who want it for nothing to pay for it. They can afford it.
Jane Hemenez