If you didn’t have a chance to get there this weekend, you missed a wonderful time at the Malibu Kiwanis Chili Cook-Off. It was three days and four nights of happy crowds, and they raised a hunk of money for all of the local charities. The Malibu Times had a booth this year complete with props, so check out pages A8 and A9 in this issue to see our “Faces of the Kiwanis Club Chili Cook-Off.”
One thing was absolutely clear, and that is we, the citizens, the city and Caltrans have to do something about the intersection at PCH and Cross Creek Road. The westerly traffic was backed up to Big Rock, and if we’re ever going to build anything in the Civic Center, we have to fix the traffic bottlenecks.
People have also started asking me about Measure R, the Reiner Chain Store Initiative, and I can’t give you an answer yet because I don’t have one. I haven’t made up my own mind and first I want to hear what the proponents and the opponents have to say before making a recommendation. I can tell you it’s going to get very hot by election time and there are very strong emotions going both ways. One of the problems I see is that we may be taking too narrow a view of the problem. I don’t yet know if Measure R is the right answer or if it will accomplish what people want it to accomplish, which in the main is keep our small-town feel and encourage local businesses that are part of the community. I can understand the frustration when many of these national chains don’t participate in the community and when asked for a $100 contribution for a charity fundraiser, they insist they have to clear it with corporate headquarters in New York first.
The other part of that equation is that many people are very unrealistic. If we don’t build any additional new commercial space, people start bidding for the existing space and no “mom and pop” shops can afford to bid. I understand Malibu is very desirable and there is a large demand for space in this town. We have created an artificial shortage of retail space and that forces prices up. If we are going to maintain our business base, the city is going to have to get creative and come up with some new solutions that work. So far, the city has been very passive. Maybe we need a city enterprise zone. Maybe we need commercial rent control. I certainly don’t know the answer, but I think we should consider everything.
Another privacy battle is brewing and the FBI is crawling all over the internet trying to figure out who leaked nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence. But how would the Bureau know which are the real Jennifer Lawrence nude photos and which might be photoshopped fakes? I suspect that they are going to have to carefully check the evidence first, which means asking her for all the genuine nude photographs. And just to be absolutely certain, probably then check Jennifer for any telltale scars, tattoos or marks. I would imagine that this is going to be a very popular detail at the Bureau. One could speculate that if you don’t want nude pictures of yourself showing up on the internet, you might not want to take any nude pictures at all. However, she is an actress, and if anyone is going to profit from her nude photos it should be her and not some slimy website that we all visit. I hope that she doesn’t harbor any political ambitions either. Ashley Judd was thinking of running for the US Senate against Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, but her film career showing her running around in her altogether sort of knocked her out of the political picture. Actually, I thought she should have challenged Mitch McConnell to run around in his altogether and then let the citizens of Kentucky just choose. I don’t think it would have even been close.
In conclusion, I would caution all young actresses about putting out nude pictures of themselves, because someday your grandchild is going to look you up on the internet and say, “Wow grandma, you were really hot.”