On Saturday, March 2, 2002, the L.A. Times took it upon itself to expose the universality of Jerry Perenchio’s distribution of political largesse: a process otherwise known as covering all sides of the political spectrum. The article made clear that Mr. Perenchio’s donations brought him access and privilege, especially when it came to the development of the properties owned by his Malibu Bay Company. While it made for a fun read, buried near the end of the article were a pair of statements about the development of the Perenchio properties which ought to make us all sit up and take notice:
“The city’s deal with the Malibu Bay Company allows for commercial and residential development, while the (Coastal) commission’s local coastal program is more limited: It emphasizes visitor uses.”
“This is not a Malibu issue. This is a state issue,” said Steve Uhring, president of the Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy. “The Coastal Commission’s charter is to protect the coast. If the Coastal Commission can’t protect the environment in Malibu, who is going to?”
Not so subtly, the Commission is simply telling us that it, in the name of the state, is taking over control of Malibu as far as development and planning are concerned. The very arrogance of the position is apparent. We in Malibu cannot be trusted to be steward of our own environment. As should be clear from the article, the Commission is now about to tell us what to do and when they get through, Malibu will just be another Laguna Beach with less than half of the road infrastructure and the same amount of visitor serving (read that “clogging”) amenities.
We know that the toadies appointed to the Commission by our elected leaders will not alter course and, as a result, unless we want the prophecy to come true, we must either act politically or rely on the judiciary. Every political contribution to those who have appointed the members of this commission insures that the only entity which can protect our way of life is the court. Our quality of life is not a partisan political issue; there are Democrats, Republicans and, I dare say, a whole host of others who will be directly impacted by the Local Coastal Plan which is going to be visited upon us. Other than for the chair of the commission, ESHAs seem to know no partisan differentiation. (See Ted Vaill’s letter in the Feb. 20 Times.)
It’s time we shine a light on those in our community who are supporting the very politicians who enacted AB988. Want to see it yourself? Go to http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov. You will be surprised at what you will find. In fact, you may also be disgusted.
As matters stand right now, unless the current crop of denizens of Sacramento are made to feel the heat and change their tunes or are thrown out of office, we can all start figuring out where we want the cotton candy stand, the merry-go-round, at least 20 more motels and a couple dozen beach concessions.
Go ahead. Give your money to those yahoos! After all, even Hiam Saban and Eli Broad might wake up when the highway traffic prevents them from getting onto the coast highway. But I’ll bet you that for a few hundred thousand in the right place, they could even get coastal permit for their own helipad.
Todd M. Sloan