The 25th anniversary celebration at Monday’s City Council meeting was a well-choreographed event by Mayor Laura Rosenthal. The city took the time to recognize many of the important people who helped establish Malibu as a city and those who served as council members.
The most poignant moment for me was when Walt and Lucile Keller were recognized with the first annual community service award named in their honor. In typical fashion, they acknowledged that the credit was really due to many others.
Walt took the time to talk about the importance they originally placed on the city’s mission and vision statements. He also noted with dismay that, at times, various city councils have strayed from the guidance those statements contain. It was like having George Washington — who not only fought for independence, but helped to fashion simple statements to guide future leaders — come back to admonish council members and citizens alike to heed those important words.
Lucile suggested that the award be presented in the future to individuals who did the most to uphold the mission and vision statements of the Malibu General Plan.
All of us who live here today are the beneficiaries of the hard work done in the past by community leaders like the Kellers. There is no freeway running through Malibu, no nuclear power plant on Corral Beach and no 90,000 homes. We are fortunate, and owe it to those who have gone before to recognize the importance of these guiding directives. In particular, people in Malibu have historically done without all the conveniences of other towns in order to preserve the natural beauty and the importance of resisting suburbanization and over-commercialization.
This 25-year celebration is a great time for all of us to re-familiarize ourselves with those statements and consider them in all decisions about the future of our wonderful town. We just had Malibu’s own George Washington come back to remind us not to stray from his original guidance. We would do well to heed his words.
Rick Mullen