This letter was addressed to City Council and Planning Commission members.
I want you to know that I support the secondary application for the sorely needed Farmer’s Market in Malibu. I had always heard from vendors that Cornucopia charged more for bringing their produce than any of the other markets, including Calabasas and the fantastically attended Santa Monica ones. Considering these vendors come from as far away as Fresno to service our community, it would seem unfair that they be gouged, especially as it alleviates our collective time and gas to individually visit Farmer’s Markets in distant communities.
On another tack, this same situation is shadowing our rentals of city-owned buildings. I read in the paper that you want the same square foot prices that are driving all Mom and Pop businesses out of our city. Seven dollars-plus, when the price per square foot of a commercial building in aforesaid Calabasas is less than $3. Having lost the Lumber Company to rents-and God knows this one fact is similarly driving up greenhouse gases, with all the contractors leaving and entering Malibu to bring supplies across the mountain roads-we certainly need another hardware store in situ, yet the city can’t negotiate a deal because they want too much money to win a suitable tenant.
Beate Nilsen