I have received two political mailers stating that I endorsed Measure S. I have never endorsed Measure S.
Measure S, the Santa Monica Community College District Special Bond, has not been adequately explained. The voters still haven’t seen the agreement between the city and the Santa Monica Community College District. The Santa Monica Community College $134 million bond measure would be used to evaluate and address capital improvement needs of the college’s master plan … and not for any other purpose. Where is the master plan?
The bond measure calls for 25,000 square feet of building in Malibu. If the classrooms held 30 students each, there could be 1,200 students on the Malibu campus at any one time. This scenario projects that only the same students would attend the classes offered here. There could be 1,200 student cars plus staff cars on the Malibu campus. This means that there would be a need of three to four acres for the parking lots. Saying that local community college would be for Malibu students is a difficult argument to make because our population is so low. This leads me to believe that the students will come from outside the city. Has there been a traffic analysis?
Measure S states it will provide field space. It does not say that it will provide ball fields. Will the field space be available to everyone because it is publicly owned? Will the students have priority on the field? Will the city of Malibu pay for policing, cleanup and insurance? Bond measure money cannot be used to buy Mr. Crummer’s property because bond proceeds cannot be used to purchase residential property.
Measure S proposes that the district conduct a comprehensive assessment of program needs prior to making improvements in Malibu. This should have been done before that measure was placed on the ballot, and before they asked to have Malibu taxpayers commit millions and millions of dollars.
Joan House