Your reporter got it absolutely wrong when he wrote that we were “told to vacate our home after a probation violation.” In fact, there was no probation violation finding by any court, despite that misinformation purposely repeated by local building officials to try to justify their wrongful conduct.
In order to “see that it is working,” they insisted that we dig up (and destroy) our septic system that has worked perfectly (pumped only four times in 20 years for maintenance purposes), since it was installed in 1983 pursuant to documented Los Angeles County Department of Health Services approval. An express exemption was granted in 1983 by the Coastal Commission for replacement of the El Nino storm damaged pre-existing system. We were unable to pay the exorbitant cost to do so and objected to such a stupid and improper demand to fix something that is not broken (especially after presentation of all of the above evidence and photographs of the original installation).
The system was most recently the subject of a March, 2001, on-site inspection and written report by licensed sanitarian Jimmy Woo of the California State Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Los Angeles Region. He found that there was no evidence of any sewage, pooling, puddling, odors, or anything improper about the system at our beachfront. That was the conclusion of an objective State Agency that has jurisdiction over all sewage treatment, both public and private, that affects water quality in our state.
The only thing that smells and stinks with respect to our system is the City of Malibu, its attorneys, and its building code enforcement staff. Like the Native Americans, the African slaves, and the Jews in Poland before us, when the whites in power want to control and get rid of individuals of another race, the first lie they spread is: “they’re unsafe and unsanitary.”
We are appealing the refusal of the judge in Beverly Hills to allow the withdrawal of no contest pleas made before discovery of evidence showing that Malibu’s Judge Mira made the express finding that we “had complied with all legal and applicable requirements” in a case claiming we were occupying our home unlawfully in 1988 when the District Attorney of Los Angeles County moved to dismiss that charge.
Ten years later the City of Malibu chose to ignore that judgment by hiring a private law firm to act as prosecutors-for-profit (and paying high hourly fees) against us, instead of honoring the District Attorney’s offices that had handled the case earlier. Remember all those citizens who wore brown bags over their heads to avoid retaliation when they came to the City Council to protest against overzealous building code enforcement? I refused to hide my face and spoke out publicly about that issue, as well as the continuing intentional neglect of our City to enforce the laws that prohibit dog-owning voters from using our beaches as a toilet for their animals.
Last, but certainly not least, your reporter failed to mention our pointing out that the City of Malibu has, during a time of war, deprived our son Joshua, in his third year at West Point who is the only native son in the history of Malibu who has ever attended a military academy, of the only home he has ever known. He is a bronze warrior trained as a war fighter and a true local hero who has who has never been acknowledged or recognized by this City. The Al Qaeda and all enemies of the United States of America would be proud of the traitors that are the council, staff and attorneys for the City of Malibu.
Sam and Nidia Birenbaum