Dear Editor,
The Malibu City Council will be appointing a Parks and Recreation Commissioner on March 14. An older woman is being replaced by a younger man, in a city where male commissioners greatly outnumber female commissioners. We have two commissions with no women on them at all, and one with just one woman. As far as I can remember, the city council itself has never had more than two women serving at the same time. Council members Karen Farrer, Bruce Silverstein, and Steve Uhring have each appointed two women, Mikke Pierson and Mayor Paul Grissanti do not have any female commissioners.
Commission members serve at the pleasure of the council member who appoints them and can be replaced for any reason, but it would be nice if we could keep equality and balance in mind when making appointments. Obviously, that isn’t always possible—the pool of available candidates is limited and our commissions are unpaid volunteer positions that take a lot of time, further limiting the pool of potential commissioners. I know that all of our council members strive to appoint the people they feel will carry out their vision on the city’s commissions, but equal representation benefits everyone.
I would like to thank Georgia Goldfarb for her stellar work on the Parks and Recreation Commission. She has been a steadfast champion for the environmental health of Malibu’s unique parks and open space and for the city’s Earth Friendly Management program, which our commission oversees. She also chaired the commission through the challenges of online meetings during COVID-19 with grace and fairness. She will be missed.
March is Women’s History Month. It sounds like our community could use the reminder.
Suzanne Guldimann
Malibu Park and Recreation Commissioner