Reader’s version of Arnold’s editorial

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I believe your “From the Publisher” article this past week, about the courts’ ability to right-the-wrong by pacifying those that wish to stop the acrimony, is a must read. I have one small suggestion that would make this editorial more meaningful to those trying to decide how to vote in November. To that end, I have used your statement and simply replaced the wetlands alternative with the sewage treatment plant alternative being proposed by the City Council. I think your readers will agree, this version more accurately describes the option facing the City of Malibu.

Arnold’s editorial with my edits:

My own sense is that no sizable project, no matter what it is, can ever be approved in the coastal zone unless you have 20 years and millions of dollars. Let’s just flip the coin over in the Civic Center. The City Council and the Malibu Bay Company propose that the new commercial development in the Civic Center be anchored by a sewage treatment plant in the Civic Center. They think that a wastewater sewage treatment plant is a more environmentally sensitive alternative. Well, it might be environmentally sensitive to them, but to others it’s going to look like a major multi-year construction project. Large trucks taking out earth to dig holes for the treatment plant, the sewage pipes and underground water storage tanks that will be required. Major changes in the hydrology of the area, changing the salinity, affecting the flora and fauna, and all of the septic systems and the surf. Sound, traffic, vibrations. Where is it all going to go? To court of course, and probably for the rest of our natural lives.

Bob Purvey