Yesterday, I opened a forwarded letter from the City of Malibu for a $36 Alarm Permit Renewal for my home lost in the November fire.
It is inconceivable that a city, which knows it has to work the hardest it has ever worked in gaining the trust and confidence of a community severely disenchanted by its incompetence, can continue to be so disconnected.Â
Malibu experienced its worst tragedy in living memory, losing 463 homes, and yet this seismic shift apparently hasn’t shifted the carelessness of an ineffective administration that defied its own orders and ruled over disaster, chaos and mismanagement during the fires. If due care isn’t taken over the small things, what hope do we have for a streamlined city restructure?
Now, more than ever, leadership needs to demonstrate it is in touch with its residents. That it is listening. That it values us in rebuilding this precious and robust community. To rebuild our homes, restore our community and regain trust in our city, we must be reassured that old, stale ways are changing. Â
Receiving a puerile invoice for an alarm renewal when my former home languishes in rubble is distasteful in the extreme. A few steps could have been taken to go above and beyond bureaucratic automation, to ensure the $36 invoices are sent to homes that are still standing. And those grieving their intangible loss are not desensitized again by the city’s carelessness.
Andrea Tennant