AUGUST
• The winner of the The Malibu Times “Best Dog of Summer” contest was Yago, a friendly seven-year-old white Swiss Shepard, picked from among 50 applicants whose owners each thought they had the best.
• The battle over PCBs in Malibu classrooms has been going on in the press and in the courtrooms for several years and city council finally decided to step into the fray and began to consider legal action against the district. What seemed to upset them most was the millions the district spent in defending the lawsuits — money that, if applied in remediation, might have already moved toward solving the problems.
• Ten-year Malibu Parks and Recreation Director Bob Stallings passed away from an illness that he had been battling for the last year. During his tenure, Malibu added several parks and recreation facilities.
• A number of Malibu residencies had been hit by mail thefts, package thefts and check thefts and the city recommended residents take outgoing mail directly to the post office, at least temporarily. Mail theft apparently falls into the jurisdictional chasm between the LA County Sheriff’s Department, which all made multiple arrest already, and the US Postal Service, which has created some confusion and delays.
• Gladstone’s Restaurant, a fixture on the Malibu coast since 1972, is coming to the end of its run in 2017. It was once one of the highest grossing restaurants in the state and the county and a constant cash cow for both. The county is now looking for a new lessee to tear it down and build a new facility with the sweetener of a new 40-year lease instead of the old 20-year lease.
• The Malibu Times and the City of Malibu ran a free “nuts and bolts” seminar at City Hall to give all of the six candidates running for city council an overview of both the mechanics of the city and the politics and rules for running in an election.
