Proponents say it is needed to support community college education. Opponents have several arguments, including that most people getting a Santa Monica College education do not live in Malibu or Santa Monica.
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
Santa Monica College District residents are in dispute regarding the necessity and ramifications of a $295 million bond measure on Tuesday’s ballot. Also, its potential support for Malibu High School is not specified.
College officials say the money generated from the passage of Measure AA, which requires 55 percent voter support for approval, would be used in Santa Monica for the replacement of buildings for math and science, a career opportunity center, enhanced media and technology programs, modernized energy programs and a replacement of Corsair Stadium. A portion of the money would also go toward “providing college-level educational and library improvements at Malibu High School.”
The bond measure has the support of nearly the entire Malibu City Council, with the exception of Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich. She told The Malibu Times in July that the unspent money from the 2004 voter-approved $135 million Measure S college bond should be used before the college asks for more. Twenty-five million dollars of Measure S is dedicated to Malibu. So far, $5 million has been used for the Legacy Park project. Conley Ulich could not be reached for comment for this story.
“I don’t have a problem spending money on schools,” said City Councilmember Jefferson Wagner, who signed a ballot argument supporting Measure AA. “My simple position is that anything that we can retrieve at our end of the educational area in Malibu/Santa Monica is a benefit to us.”
Phil Hendricks, an 18-year SMC employee currently on leave, is heading the campaign against Measure AA, called Bond Fatigue.
“I’ve worked closely with the people making decisions and it has become clear to me that they don’t know what they’re doing or how to spend money wisely,” Hendricks said.
He said the buildings that would be replaced by the passage of Measure AA should have been replaced with funds from earlier voter-approved bonds if they were seriously deficient. Also, Hendricks said overly aggressive recruiting strategies by SMC have created the need for expansion to the detriment of the Sunset Park and Pico neighborhoods, which surround the campus. Eighty percent of SMC students are from outside of Malibu and Santa Monica, he said. (According to a school official, 500 of the school’s students come from Malibu each year. Concrete proof of this has never been provided.).
Measure AA opponent Tom Fakehany, a Malibu resident, said he has a problem with Santa Monica and Malibu money supporting students who mostly come from areas outside both cities. Fakehany said he is doubly concerned with the prospect of a satellite campus in Malibu that was proposed for the 2004 bond. He said this would dramatically impact the traffic situation and bring a large amount of outsiders into the city.
SMC high-ranking official Don Girard said, in addition to providing needed services for SMC, Measure AA would also create a joint-venture between the college and Malibu High, allowing improvement to the school’s library and the possibility of SMC students using it as well if there were to be a satellite campus in Malibu.
“At this point, [school and district officials] are continuing to refine what they need,” Girard said. “[SMC wants] to provide for other educational improvements that are reasonably related to the support of college students and to make use of the site for study or instruction.”
However, Malibu High librarian Joe DiMercurio said it is unclear to school officials if Measure AA would provide improvements for the high school.
“We had talked to SMC about the joint use of the library, but it never went anywhere,” DiMercurio said. “There have been no concrete plans, offers or indications from SMC on whether they would use the facilities.”
DiMercurio pointed out how a $268 million bond approved by voters in 2006 for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is already providing funding for the expansion of the library.
Meanwhile, there still remains $20 million to be used in Malibu from the college bond approved in 2004. That money is supposed to be dedicated to the purchase of land for and construction of an SMC campus in this city. A process is underway to determine what the facility should be like and what types of classes it should offer, Girard said.
Polling places
To find out where to vote, go to www.lavote.net or call 562.462.2748.
€ Duke’s Restaurant, 21150 PCH
€ Residence, 20252 Inland Lane
€ Malibu West Swim Club, 30756 PCH
€ Malibu High School, 30215 Morning View Dr.
€ Malibu United Methodist Church, 30128 Morning View Dr.
€ Malibu Public Library, 23519 Civic Center Way
€ Fire Camp No. 8, 1960 Rambla Pacifico
€ Malibu Bluffs Park, 24250 PCH
€ Residence, 18361 Clifftop Way
€ Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, 6955 Fernhill Dr. *
€ BeauRivage Restaurant, 26025 PCH *
€ Residence, 2032 Corral Canyon Rd. *
*Subject to Change