As Malibu residents prepared to cast their votes on Tuesday, arguments for and against the open-land bond, Measure K, came to the finish line, with some dirt flying between the two sides.
Last week, Councilmember Tom Hasse abruptly switched sides and joined the opposition. He even called potential voters on Tuesday, encouraging them to vote against Measure K.
Hasse and Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy (MCLC) President Steve Uhring, who supports the bond, vehemently disagree on the bond’s merits, and brought their quarrel to the public arena when they exchanged words in letters to the editor that were published last week in local newspapers.
Opponents have declared the language of the $15 million bond, which would be used to buy land for parks, playing fields and perhaps to build a community center as well as others items, not specific enough. Supporters say everyone will benefit from it.
In a letter to the editor to The Malibu Times last week, Uhring called Hasse a liar.
Uhring said Hasse contradicted himself, first suggesting that two property owners in the Civic Center would consider selling land to the city in his February 2001 Mayor’s Report, and then saying there are no willing sellers.
Land in the Civic Center area has long since been a target for purchase not only by bond supporters, but also by the MCLC for wetlands.
Hasse faxed a letter to 1,000 households in Malibu, responding to the allegations by Uhring. “Once again the politics of personal destruction rears its ugly head,” began Hasse in his letter.
Hasse said that Uhring failed to note that he used the word “consider” in his February 2001 Mayor’s Report when referring to Pepperdine University and Malibu resident Tosh Yamaguchi possibly selling to the city. Furthermore, it was in the context of a possible development agreement with the city, having nothing to do with the bond.
And in his March 2001 Mayor’s report, Hasse states: “I can tell you from my two-year experience on the City Council’s ad hoc negotiating committee, that none of the six property owners who own 99 percent of all the remaining vacant commercially zoned property in Malibu are willing sellers.”
Hasse, in his letter to residents this week, said he was “quite alarmed” when he learned Uhring became a member of the bond steering committee.
The MCLC is an organization whose stated goal is to buy property in the Civic Center for restoration of wetlands, he said. That is where the organization would want to spend the bond measure money.
It is no secret that the MCLC wants to acquire land in the Civic Center to reduce some of the construction that could take place there, said Uhring. However, he said the MCLC does not plan to petition to use any of the bond funds to achieve that goal. Instead, the organization is raising funds independently for the wetlands, according to a letter to the editor from the MCLC published a few months ago.
Hasse initially supported the bond, and even helped to create Measure O, the precursor to Measure K, approved by voters last year.
Hasse then became hesitant about the measure when opposition emerged on the basis that the bond language was vague. Opponents do not want to give $15 million to the City Council without specific designations as to where the money should go.
“I don’t understand why he changed position,” said Councilmember Sharon Barovsky about Hasse’s decision to switch sides. “We voted 5-0 for that bond and that language.”
Barovsky, speaking about the Hasse/Uhring feud, said she wants to stay focused on the issue.
“If the bond passes, the council has set its priorities,” said Barovsky, “and it will stick with those, no matter what or where personal animosities lie. I, for one, intend to stick to it [the priorities].”