Friends seek help in finding missing woman
Two friends of Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared after being released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station last Friday morning, were in Malibu on Tuesday posting missing person flyers, seeking help from anyone with information that could lead to the 24-year-old’s whereabouts.
Witnesses said Richardson, of Los Angeles, was intoxicated and unable to pay her $89 bill at Geoffrey’s restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu about 10 p.m. Thursday.
Richardson was taken by deputies to the Malibu/Lost Hills station and booked on suspicion of not paying for the meal and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore told the Los Angeles Times.
Richardson was released about 1:25 a.m. Friday, alone and without transportation in the Agoura area, family members and friends said. They say she has not contacted the family or been seen by them since. Her parents filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department. Richardson’s friends say they do not know why she was in Malibu alone, and that the behavior she exhibited at the restaurant is not characteristic of the young woman.
Richardson is black, 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds. She has brown, curly hair and hazel eyes, and was last seen wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans, police said.
According to the flyer made by her family, Richardson has tattoos on her lower abdomen and behind her neck.
Police urge anyone with information on her whereabouts to call the LAPD’s Missing Persons Unit at 213.485.5381, or 877.LAPD.24.7 after business hours or on weekends.
Malibu Lumber seeks rent deferment
The city council at its Sept. 29 meeting will vote whether to defer a portion of rental income it receives from the Malibu Lumber Yard mall owners. Malibu Lumber LLC, of which the principals are locals Richard Weintraub and Richard Sperber, has asked for the deferral in rent due unexpected construction costs and delays caused by complications with the Regional Water Quality Board, according to the city council agenda. In addition, ongoing costs to maintain its onsite wastewater treatment facility are five times higher than expected and the downturn in the economy has affected the ability to lease sites at the mall. City staff has recommended that the city manager amend Malibu Lumber LLC’s ground lease to reflect the rent deferment.
Viewshed ordinance up for review
The Malibu City Council will review the Draft View Restoration and Preservation Ordinance at its Sept. 29 meeting and dismiss the Viewshed Protection Task Force that was created to draft the ordinance.
Voters in April of 2008 had voted to approve the creation of an ordinance that would require the removal or trimming of landscaping in order to restore and maintain primary views from private homes. The task force, which was created June of last year, has held 19 meetings during the past year to draft such an ordinance and submitted the final draft to the council for review. A minority report, prepared by two task force members, has also been submitted to the council for review.
Planning staff in a consistency analysis has determined that the proposed ordinance conflicts with the Malibu Municipal Code and the Local Coastal Program in the following areas: the ordinance seeks to provide two primary view corridors at one residence, one for structures and another for landscaping; it seeks to remove the existing View Restoration and Preservation Ordinance for the Malibu Country Estates; it establishes a “pre-existing primary view”; and results in potential impacts to LCP-protected native trees.
The city hired Coleen Berg of Choice Mediation as a consultant to facilitate the Task Force’s efforts. Berg worked on mediating the implementation of the City of Palos Verdes View Protection Ordinance. Her recommendations will be reviewed by the council, which will then decided whether to direct staff to make general corrections to the draft ordinance; accept the ordinance as is; adopt the minority report as part of the draft ordinance; or direct staff to draft an entirely new ordinance.
Coastal staff approves Malibu High field lights
California Coastal Commission staff has recommended the approval of an amendment that would allow up to five, 53-foot high portable athletic field lights to be used for night football games and practice at Malibu High School. The commission will vote on the issue at its Oct. 8 meeting in Oceanside.
The night light use, if approved, would be limited to 16 evenings throughout the football season, September through December.
Previously, the commission had banned night light use at the school because of environmental concerns.
Point Dume restaurant prepares to close
Point Dume Chinese Restaurant will be leaving the Point Dume Village Sept. 30 because “We cannot afford it [the rent] and the landlord doesn’t want to extend our lease,” owner Wai Chun Tam said Monday in a telephone interview.
Tam said the restaurant would eventually relocate, but that it would not do so in Malibu.
“We are sorry for our customers,” he said.
-Olivia Damavandi and Laura Tate