For several months now, a coalition of individuals representing groups with diverse interests, often at odds with each other, have been meeting and working together to find common ground and to formulate the beginning of a campaign to pass a bond measure in November.

After several months of working together, the Bond Measure Coalition, for want of a better name, presented to the city council on Monday night some ballot language that it feels represents the desires of a large majority of Malibu residents and voters. And we hope the city council will adopt it or something very close to it and present it to the community at large in a special election in November.

The Bond Measure Coalition members know that the proposed $15 million bond, if passed, won’t get everything for everyone, but they think that if it passes, it will get a great deal of what most of the people in Malibu believe is important for this community.

It emphasizes the purchase of land in Malibu for parks, playing fields, a community center and open areas that protect natural habitat and limit the sprawl and traffic involved with building out 100% of presently developable commercial land.

A recent Los Angeles Times editorial (“Deep Pockets for Nature,” May 12, 2001, Section B, page 12) commends cities like Monrovia, whose residents recently passed a $10 million property tax to buy land. Monrovia will now give agencies such as the Wildlife Conservation Board for $11 million more in grants “to preserve wild mountain land near the city, as development and sprawl chip away at what remains of it. But Monrovia deserves special consideration for its willingness to put up its own share of funds before going to Sacramento for help.”

This is exactly how the coalition hopes the City of Malibu will be perceived to potential grantors in Sacramento and elsewhere should the bond measure pass by the required two-thirds vote in November.

In order to provide direction to the future city council to make their task easier and reflective of community needs and desires, the coalition is now working on a comprehensive report that will identify the scope and specific projects that could be funded by the bond.

Furthermore, in the next few months, the coalition will test this ballot language through a random survey of likely voters. It will raise money to run a campaign, line up endorsements, provide speakers to community groups, and do one or two mailings in the fall.

The coalition welcomes support and participation from the community as well as honest and constructive criticism from all individuals and interests.

For more information on the Bond Measure Coalition, e-mail: malibumona@earthlink.net.

Mona Loo

I read Bob Carmichael’s letter about the death of his beloved puppy due to speeders on Fernhill Drive. My neighbors and I on Broad Beach Road are going to meet with Bob. We have a horrendous speedway here – probably worse than Fernhill because Broad Beach Road runs parallel to Pacific Coast Highway and drivers tend not to slow down when they exit PCH and enter Broad Beach Road. We have the added hazard of entrances for Public Beach Access. Folks are getting in and out of their cars, unloading kayaks and surfboards, changing clothes, while drivers are whizzing by at 55 mph.

Perhaps by banding together we neighbors can get better solutions for both Fernhill and Broad Beach before anyone else – puppy or person – gets killed.

Jo Giese

On behalf of the American Land Conservancy I would like to respond to some issues raised in your article of 9 May (“Lower Topanga tenants told to go”).

ALC is a non-profit organization whose mission is the preservation of land and water throughout the United States. ALC does not seek to own land. Rather, its strategy is to option environmentally sensitive lands that public agencies wish to acquire, arrange appraisals, surveys, toxic assessments, and the other pre-sale requirements and then transfer the land to local, state or federal agencies for conservation. We specialize in complex and difficult transactions. In ten years of operation we have closed projects around the nation totaling over 100,000 acres, including 43 projects in California totaling nearly 9,000 acres.

ALC’s Board of Directors and Counselors includes such prominent conservationists as Martin Litton, Brock Evans, Paul N. “Pete” McCloskey, Jr., and Stewart Udall among others. The late David Brower, the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club was a long time member of ALC’s Board of Counselors.

It should come as little surprise to most tenants and neighbors of the Topanga property that ALC and LAACO are attempting to transfer this magnificent land to public ownership for the benefit of future generations. LAACO has investigated this option since the mid 70’s and nearly completed a sale through ALC in 1990.

The American Land Conservancy has not ordered any tenants to leave the lower Topanga Canyon property. We have hired a well-respected consultant, Pacific Relocation Consultants, to develop a relocation plan for all tenants in accordance with state law. This plan must be approved by the state before being implemented.

A resident quoted in the article, Carol Winter, said it best “…. we are human beings and I want all the legal rights for the people, especially the elderly.” We absolutely agree. With the cooperation of the current owner, LAACO Ltd., we are developing the relocation plan in order to protect the rights of the tenants to receive relocation benefits.

Of course no plan can ameliorate all the disruption relocation will cause. However, the plan will provide financial and other assistance that tenants are ordinarily not legally entitled to receive. In fact, if the property were sold for private and not public use, the current tenants would not be eligible for relocation benefits.

A few tenants apparently believe that the sale to ALC really masks a future real estate development on a portion of the property near PCH. ALC has no such plans. When we purchase the Topanga Canyon property, we will immediately transfer the property to state ownership. ALC is a non-profit 501c(3) charitable organization; we work on the slimmest of margins and seek only to recover our costs of doing business.

Public acquisition of lower Topanga Canyon and its restoration as part of California’s natural heritage is a unique opportunity to provide truly priceless benefits to future generations.

Harriet Burgess, President

I thank your paper for its efforts to deliver an unbiased view.

In last week’s article about our Lower Topanga community (“Lower Topanga tenants told to go”) there were two statements regarding the use of California taxpayers money which should be corrected.

On the front page of the article, it says that “The ALC has optioned to buy the property for $43 million with the goal of donating it to State Parks.” The ALC in fact has no intention of donating the land but intends to sell the property to State Parks. If this deal went through, the State Parks Dept. would use the $40 million of taxpayers money raised by Prop. 12 last year to purchase the land.

Although the ALC is set up as a non-profit conservancy, it would be better characterized as a real estate broker for the state.

With an annual operating budget of $2 million, the head of the ALC, Harriet Burgess, says that if she does her job well, she turns a 25 percent profit (Seattle Times 10/29/98).

The second statement is a quote by State Parks officials saying that “If the State Parks acquires the land with tenants then they become liable for relocation and then it (relocation costs) will be paid for with tax money.” This implies that if a private company like the ALC purchased the land, the state could avoid its obligations under relocation laws, including relocation costs. This is just not so – any time land is purchased for the state, whoever buys the land is responsible for complying with legal guidelines created by the government for exactly this set of circumstances.

Further, we find it unconscionable that the first step in what is undoubtedly a long process would be to evict the tenants. We see what has happened at the foot of Topanga and PCH where a gas station used to reside on LAACO property. It has sat abandoned for months and is now the type of eyesore with gang graffiti and fences that we all moved here to Malibu to avoid in the first place.

Is this to be the fate of our community while years of studies and plans are made? One does not have to look far to see that this process takes time.

Up Topanga Canyon lies Trippet Ranch, sold to the state in 1970, it was not designated as a park until four years later, and the only change that happened there was the addition of a parking lot. Original residences remain with renters on the property to this day.

In Crystal Cove, State Parks purchased land in 1976, but it wasn’t until 1982 that a park plan was even approved. In a similar economic climate to today, no funds were available to do anything and 25 years later, no park plan has yet to be implemented (the original tenants have remained on the land to this day).

The tenants and businesses of this community are not against the idea of a state park in Lower Topanga. We occupy less then 3% of the acquisition and believe that there is a fair compromise where families and businesses, which have resided here for decades will not be evicted by the end of the year as threatened by the American Land Conservancy.

Don Hassid

Lower Topanga Community Association

At night we all see him hiding in his black and white SUV somewhere on PCH. He is the jolly, happy hunter who patrols the PCH for speeders and other traffic violators. He is always pleasant, and he is always professional. When he exits his vehicle, and he approaches your vehicle, you see a pleasant, friendly man in green. He makes all of us proud of the fact that he wears the badge and protects us in Malibu.

Deputy Christopher Bryan rarely loses a case in court. I have seen him testify in the Malibu courthouse and he is credible, professional and, above all else, always courteous to the court and to the alleged traffic violator.

Deputy Bryan played football at UCLA in his youth, and he still looks like a football player at 6’8″ with a solid build.

When Deputy Bryan is not wearing the badge on duty, there is another side to him. During the daytime, while his wife is working, he raises their young child. He doesn’t need his badge or gun when he feeds his youngster, changes the diaper of his youngster, burps the youngster, all to be deputy dad at home during the day.

So for all of you who have had the pleasure of interfacing with Deputy Bryan in our wonderful Malibu community, take an opportunity to look behind the badge. There is a lot more to this man than meets the eye. The Malibu City Council should give serious thought to recognizing his dual achievements as both deputy dad and Deputy Bryan. We all admire him and we wish him well in both of his full-time jobs.

I feel that all the citizens of Malibu have a St. Christopher medal around their necks when Deputy Christopher is on duty.

Pat Maginnis