Council to select new mayor
The City Council will hold its reorganization meeting on Monday at which it will select a new mayor and mayor pro tem. By tradition, the council rotates the position every year, so it is expected Andy Stern will be chosen as mayor and Jeff Jennings will be picked to be mayor pro tem. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Samohi violence leads to school lockdown
A large number of fights took place at Santa Monica High School on Friday during lunch hour. According to the online Santa Monica newspaper, The Lookout, the fights were racially motivated. The violence led to the gates of the school being closed while police officials from Santa Monica and nearby cities surrounded the campus. Students were later led out of the school in small groups.
Malibu resident Kelsie Lewis-Bubert, a ninth-grader at Samohi, said she saw one student throw a trashcan at another. She said several students stood around and applauded the violence.
“It was real sad to see people cheer them on,” Lewis-Bubert said.
According to The Lookout, 12 students were suspended for participating in the violence.
Planning manager approval appealed
Community activist John Mazza appealed the planning manager’s approval of a coastal development permit for the construction of a second story addition to a home on Debutts Terrace. Mazza argued that the project should have gone before the entire Planning Commission rather than be limited to approval by the planning manager because the home is on a ridgeline and the project does not strictly follow the ridgeline standards of the Malibu Local Coastal Program’s Local Implementation Plan. This means the applicant must seek a variance, which cannot be granted through the administrative approval process.
Mazza had raised this concern at the April 4 Planning Commission meeting when Planning Manager Mike Teruya reported to the commission that he had approved the project. If a majority of the commission had voted to do so, the project could have automatically been sent before the commission at a future meeting for a full review. But only Commissioner Pete Anthony requested that. Therefore, Mazza needed to appeal the project for there to be a full commission review.
At the April 4 meeting, Teruya did not challenge Mazza’s interpretation of the rules. Rather, he said the application was for “a very small” project and would not affect the surrounding area.
Chumash Day returns
Chumash Day will take place on Saturday and Sunday at Malibu Bluffs Park, located at 24250 Pacific Coast Highway. The event will include powwows, dancers, hoop dancing, native foods, Native American arts and crafts, music, story telling and children’s activities. The festivities are free and are scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 317.1364.
Topanga Canyon reopens
Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Pacific Coast Highway and Grandview Drive reopened Monday. A $1.2 million repair project, involving construction of a 180-foot retaining wall and rebuilding Topanga Canyon Boulevard, was undertaken to repair storm damage that occurred in January.
Malibu near tsunami inundation zone
According to a report in Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times, Malibu is located near a tsunami danger zone. The Point Dume hazard zone has offshore walls that show signs of having failed in the past. According to the report, a big earthquake in the area could lead to a tsunami as a result of undersea landslides in the Point Dume zone and other nearby zones.
Malibu man convicted of attempted murder
According to The Daily Breeze, 21-year-old Tyler Jones Lord was found guilty Friday in a Torrance Superior Court of trying to kill his friend in a Ranchos Palos Verdes garage. Lord lived in San Pedro at the time, but is from Malibu. He was also convicted on two counts of assault with a firearm for aiming a gun at two others.
The Daily Breeze reported that anger over allegedly stolen marijuana smoking pipes led to the crimes.
March to protest rape
The fifth annual “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event will take place at 12 p.m. on Saturday at Sherman Oaks Galleria, located at 15301 Ventura Blvd. Hundreds of men
will walk a mile in women’s shoes on Ventura Boulevard to protest rape, followed by men, women and children.
Registration is at 10:00 a.m. There will also be entertainment and other festivities. The proceeds will benefit Valley Trauma Center, the sexual assault crisis center for the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. Call 818.756.5335 ext. 230 for more information or register online at www.walkamileinhershoes.org.