Silverstein and Malibu Mayor Uhring back proposal to bypass state and other agencies for safety remedies
Malibu City Councilmember Bruce Silverstein is urging city officials to add a report he wrote on reducing dangerous conditions on Pacific Coast Highway as an agenda item at the next council meeting Jan. 8. The report titled “A Proposal to Reduce the Danger of PCH in Malibu” offers multiple suggestions for city staff to explore traffic calming and safety measures under local authority and to implement actions as soon as possible.
Some of the suggestions include multiple electronic signs warning: “Danger Ahead,” “Proceed with Caution,” “Reduce Speed,” “Speed Checked by Radar,” and similar signage; additional decoy law enforcement along PCH; temporary stoplights; temporary and removable speed bumps; additional use of K rail; lane closures; and prohibiting U-turns.
Silverstein indicated he wants to open the conversation publicly about what steps the city should take.
“I want to force that conversation and hopefully come up with at least two, three, or four things the city council will agree on to have an actual impact rather than just words,” he said.
With Silverstein’s urging, the City Council adopted a declaration of local emergency, the first step in taking local control to address an emergency that doesn’t exist in the ordinary course of government.
“I pushed the City Council to adopt that, but unfortunately I had wanted the initial declaration to set forth action items the city could undertake to start dealing with the emergency and the city council was only willing to adopt a declaration that is largely ceremonial,” the councilmember said.
At subsequent council meetings Silverstein has advocated for “putting some muscle on the declaration and directing city staff to take action in making PCH safer.” He has so far been unable to get three votes agreeing, with only Mayor Steve Uhring backing the agenda item.
In a letter to the community, Silverstein wrote: “As promised, Senator Ben Allen, Assembly member Jacqui Irwin and County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath have pressed Caltrans to take swift and effective action to make PCH in Malibu safe (or at least safer). Despite meaningful efforts by these elected state and county representatives, the help provided and proposed by Caltrans thus far has been largely cosmetic and is unlikely to have meaningful impact. To put it bluntly, Caltrans’ actions and proposals amount to little more than putting lipstick on a pig.”
Some of the objections raised to the City Council implementing its own safety measures under the local emergency declaration include the possibility they would be meaningless if the L.A. Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol will not enforce them, questioning the authority of Malibu to calm traffic on PCH without the authorization of Caltrans, or that it opens the city up to liability.
Silverstein, who is an attorney, doesn’t agree. He wrote: “The only way to find out for certain whether Malibu has the authority to make PCH safer without Caltrans’ approval is for Malibu to do so and let the chips fall where they may. If Caltrans should challenge Malibu’s authority to take such action, the California Courts will determine the extent of Malibu’s authority pursuant to the California Government Code. If Malibu should prevail in such litigation, we will have performed a great service to the community. If Malibu should lose such litigation, Malibu will have incurred attorneys’ fees defending its efforts to protect the community, but the risk of liability is remote because the California Government Code provides Malibu with immunity from liability for the discretionary actions it takes pursuant to the Local Emergency Declaration — even actions that would otherwise fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of Caltrans.
“Moreover, without regard to the outcome of the litigation, we will have done our level best to protect the community, and the press will have a field day covering Caltrans’ interference with Malibu’s efforts to make PCH safe — which may, itself, be a reason for Caltrans refraining from challenging our actions. If so, Malibu will have succeeded in changing the currently unsafe dynamic without the feared resistance by Caltrans.”
The father of one of the Pepperdine students killed on PCH in October supports Silverstein’s call for implementing safety measures quickly.
Barry Stewart, father of victim Peyton Stewart, called the proposals in the agenda item request, “true corrective measures to make PCH Malibu safer.”
Stewart added his own list of suggestions after consulting with “a number of traffic safety experts, LASD members, and Malibu residents.” Those suggestions include permanent medians or barriers, increasing speeding fines, speed cameras with automated ticketing, and reducing the speed limit to 35 mph in the four-mile stretch of PCH near the Oct. 17 accident site where a significant majority of accidents and deaths have occurred. According to Stewart, the four-mile drive at 35 mph takes only 90 seconds longer than the same drive at 45 mph.
In an email, Stewart wrote, “I believe these measures balance the legitimate need of law-abiding drivers to proceed efficiently, with the need to minimize traffic injuries and deaths. I suspect some of these measures may be implemented unilaterally by Malibu under the emergency measures provision. Some will require cooperation of Caltrans and the state legislature.”
The Malibu Times reached out to Councilmembers Marianne Riggins, Paul Grisanti and Doug Stewart. Riggins responded with a reminder of the CHP’s return to Malibu and indicated she is eager to work with other elected government officials. Grisanti and Stewart both indicated they would consider the details of any measures and “try to do what’s best for Malibu.”
Stewart, however, added his concern over liability the city could face if it implements its own traffic safety measures bypassing Caltrans or any other governmental body.
“I’m hoping on Jan. 22, we can introduce, not trying to initiate things on our own, but to as quickly as possible update the 2015 PCH Safety Study to have a professional objective review and we can sit down with Caltrans and the county to fix the open items that haven’t been completed plus new identified items,” he said. “That to me is the right step.”