Not to be the eternal pessimist but 750K, three-quarters of a million dollars, to further “green” the median on PCH. To add a “calming effect … and make PCH safer?!”
I mean when you think of the bad press Malibu gets it is usually for paparazzi brawls on the beach, “NIMBY-ism” and of course water that is toxic. Not unsightly medians.
I can think of a few better things to request donated funds for.
For a start, Adopt-A-Highway cleaning. When the tour buses carrying the star-gawkers through our town and down PCH look out at the land and xeriscape do you think they say to themselves, “Hmm, Malibu nice, but the medians, ahh not so much.” No. They see garbage strewn along the highway. It looks like a landfill in some places.
For $150 a month, a contractor will pick up and bag trash twice a month along any un-adopted stretch of highway. Adopting, herein lays the problem. I am navigating the onion of bureaucracy that is the Caltrans program to adopt a stretch I previously held in another name to my own. I will clean it myself, again. Meanwhile, the highway fills with trash. Trash that eventually makes its way into the ocean and on the beach. So why not seek funding to help the city adopt and pay to have the remaining open stretches of PCH adopted and cleaned? Then all 27 miles of scenic beauty can be trash free. Contact me, I’ll be happy to help with this.
Which takes me to another option. If you want to help make PCH safer (best of luck to you), how about using the funds you will collect to pay for more law enforcement? Perhaps if the cops actually enforced some of the good laws that are already on the books, such as anti-cell phone and texting while driving, the message will get across. I know this isn’t a “green effort” but the Malibu Green Machine stated that their median project would have a “calming” effect and make PCH safer. The state is leaving much money on the table by not enforcing these laws. I don’t know if adding cops will ensure this, but it won’t hurt.
And lastly, a while back I pitched a plan to the Malibu City Council, along with a very progressive-minded business, to start a recycling program at all Los Angeles County beaches and parks. They went for it but it fell through because our investors backed out last minute. We couldn’t find anyone else willing to invest in manufacturing the recycling receptacles to be placed at the beaches. It was a real shame. It would have extended to all public transit routes as well. In fact we had Amtrak on board as well as Metro.
The $750,000, what the Malibu Green Machine is asking for, would have jump started this program and had real impact. We couldn’t get it.
Sadly, they will.
Robert Pousman