Seventeen years ago, my son had allergies. His doctor said, “Move him to the beach.” We looked for a home in Malibu. The first thing I did was subscribe to The Malibu Times, thinking I might get insight on the community. Kanan Road was closed because a portion of the road had collapsed. I was amazed that such a heavenly, beautiful place, where you could literally see dolphins and whales right offshore, where there was such incredible beauty was still available.
I was born in Los Angeles and I went to college in Santa Barbara, where beachfront property was in the millions, even back in the ‘70s. Yet, in The Malibu Times, I read page after page of people complaining. Always complaining! Now, each week, I read The Malibu Times, and still people are complaining.
I want to express gratitude. First, thank you to the City of Malibu employees. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you to field all those questions, and deal with the big egos, people who insist on building a ten thousand foot mansion for a Saudi Prince.
If there were no controls, no Coastal Commission, Malibu would look like Miami Beach, with high rises lining the beach. Imagine the traffic. Imagine the pollution. I’m sad that there are no more mom and pop stores but we have the City of Malibu to thank that it doesn’t look like Maxfield’s, Planet Blue and Marriott all the way up to Trancas. Count your blessings.
R.P. Smith