Jennings joins in

    0
    112

    Recent events that we never before associated with our town have brought us a pointed reminder. A gun in school, a bomb scare, walls covered with graffiti, all tell us that even as we turn the century’s corner, the pressures and ills of the decade just passing will not give Malibu a free ride. As the parent of three teen-age boys, and through my involvement in Malibu H.S. governance process, I have had a close-up view of the effects of these pressures on some of our children and I am convinced that there is an opportunity for the city of Malibu to play a positive and affirmative role in meeting these challenges.

    I look back on the four years I spent on the Malibu City Council as one of the most gratifying and satisfying, and at the same time, most frustrating experiences of my life. It was an experience I left with a sense of unfinished business. That is why I’ve decided once again to become a candidate for a City Council seat.

    My hope is that I will be able to help bring together a deeply divided City Council so that we can direct our energy toward the challenges of the coming century. What is the most effective way to help guide and protect our children? How will we provide for our seniors? Will we unite to prevent over development of this fragile environment without giving in to paranoia? Can we work effectively with county, state and federal agencies to address our common problems?

    The recent political history of Malibu is not particularly encouraging. The tactics of division, of personal attack, of scripted letters to the editor, of unattributed ads, have not helped to solve our problems. They’ve simply driven many good people out of the political process altogether. It’s time to change that history. The past must be left behind. Our choices are not between young and old, between the environment and city facilities, between traffic and no traffic, between ballfields and hiking trails. Our choice is whether we face the future with optimism and the certainty that the quality of our lives can be sustained and enhanced or whether we constantly look back over our collective shoulder and mourn the passing of a bygone yesterday.

    I pledge to commit myself to helping our town and all its citizens find our path into the new century and that is why I am running.

    Jeff Jennings