Thursday, Jan. 10, was the most electrifying display of environmental extremism that I have ever seen. I have been going to Coastal Commission hearings since the late 1980’s. I have been at Commission hearings in San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco and even sent a lawyer to Eureka once. You can’t get to Eureka from here; you have to send your attorney or yourself a day early, so it is very expensive.
In all the hearings that I have attended (and that must be at least 30 and some of them as long as the one we had Thursday night), the Commission has always shown deference to the elected officials who represent the area. On Thursday, we had our county supervisor, our state assembly person, our state senator and the five elected officials of our city all requesting that there be some moderation in the plan before them. It was astounding and unprecedented that there was no consideration of those requests. Not only did they reject the requests, they ratcheted up the absurdity of their plan.
Anything that happens to us from this point forward will be our own fault. We trusted that if we were reasonable and fair, they would reciprocate. They have no intention of working with us.
Everybody in Malibu should be on the legal alert.
Lloyd Ahern