I have tremendous amount of respect for the mayor (Andy Stern). I know he has a progressive mindset and is leading efforts in the city government to reform past narrow-minded and archaic policies. However, some of the comments he made in response to my letter validate the previous observations I made regarding serious issues of social and aesthetic decay and the ineffective way in which the city has historically handled these issues.
The Trancas Canyon area has, for years, been in a state of deterioration due mainly to the large number of transient people that congregate in the area. I have had many conversations with the sheriffs about this over the years concerning why they do not enforce loitering and public nuisance laws. Their response has been that the city does not want to enforce these laws. They have also asked the homeowners here to make clear to the city that this is what we want. That apparently has had a recent positive effect.
The issue of day laborers is not as simple to solve as the mayor suggests. It is obvious that people will not stop hiring day laborers and day laborers, in general, will not consistently use the Labor Exchange. Therefore, the best way to prevent this issue from getting worse is to enforce laws that preclude this activity both toward the people who hire the day laborers and the day laborers themselves. The police must be empowered to do their jobs and enforce the law. There must be a fair way to enforce the laws in a manner that allows day laborers to find work and, if they cannot, force them to vacate the areas where they congregate after prime work hours.
Your comments regarding the center medians and landowners show me that the city has had poor relationships with landowners and other government agencies. There should be incentives for fair development of already existing vacant buildings and we should have a good enough relationship with Caltrans and other agencies to enable us to keep our neighborhoods beautiful. So far, this progress is not visible.
I volunteer in the community on many levels. If the city relies on volunteers to perform basic services, then maybe my argument that we are in over our heads is correct. Malibu Green Machine sounds like a great grass roots effort to help some of the aesthetic issues.
Matt Borenzweig