The Malibu City Council sent back the Civic Center Design and Guidelines Monday night for more review by the public and the Planning Commission. The design and guidelines met strong opposition at the last Planning Commission commission on March 5..

The design and guidelines were on the City Council’s agenda to be reviewed, discussed and voted on Monday evening. However, the council chose to send the controversial issue back to the Planning Commission with no public comment.

The design and guidelines have been a huge issue in Malibu, with some residents, including Pat Healy, of the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth, and others saying that the reason Malibu became a city in the first place was to curb such development.

The council also split down the middle, with a 3-2 vote in favor of renewing the contract for Jim Dantona, a lobbyist with the firm Government Impact.

Dantona, Malibu’s lobbyist since 1999, has encountered opposition from councilmembers Sharon Barovsky and Ken Kearsley. Barovsky and Kearsley have felt left in the dark in regards to Dantona’s actions in Sacramento. At its last meeting, the council decided to renew Dantona’s contract until the next council meeting.

Dantona’s performance has been questioned in the past, with Barovsky saying, “I don’t think the city is getting its bang for the buck, and this money can be spent elsewhere.”

For instance, Dantona didn’t know that Assembly bills 988 and 885 were going to be passed. AB988 took away the city’s ability to write its own local coastal plan and gave it to the Coastal Commission. AB885 shifted regulatory control of on-site sewage treatment systems away from the city.

Councilmember Jeff Jennings, the swing vote, was the author of a motion to renew Dantona’s contract until the end of the legislative session in Sacramento, which usually ends in October. Jennings’ motion passed 3-2, with Hasse and Mayor Pro Tem Joan House voting for it, and Barovsky and Kearsley voting against it.

In other news, the Parks and Recreation Commission sent a proposal for the Las Flores Canyon Park community center to the council. The proposal met with strong opposition, with residents commenting that there hadn’t been adequate prior notice.

The council moved to bump the proposal to the April 9 agenda for more review and public comments. The council directed staff to meet with homeowners associations in eastern Malibu, and to invite the associations to the April meeting for comment.

During public comments on the proposal, one citizen complained that if residents wanted to build a home on that property, they wouldn’t have a “snowflake’s chance in hell of getting the proposed home through the Planning Commission and City Council.”

Residents were concerned because, as one put it, “A landscape architect was the one that drew up the park proposal, not an environmental ecologist.” The proposed park is on a flood plain.

A proposed revision in bus service around Point Dume also met with fierce opposition at the council meeting. A grant is pending that would add parking lots and propane tanks, and presumably increase traffic.

One resident said, “Why are we pandering to the tourists, and not taking into consideration what the residents around Point Dume want?”

Art Henry, the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s transportation planning manager, said, “This schedule will provide an increase in service to the city and a reduction of trips through Point Dume. The overall number of buses passing through Point Dume will be reduced by 26 percent.”

In other actions at Monday night’s meeting, the Flood Mitigation Plan was continued until the next meeting, and the council urged residents whose safety is threatened to call the sheriff. The council also passed an ordinance to prohibit overnight parking between midnight and 5 a.m. across the street from City Hall, starting next week.

Malibu Road dispute reaches the council

By Sylvie Belmond/Staff Writer

A long-standing, rancorous dispute between Malibu Road neighbors Sam and Nidia Birenbaum and a number of their neighbors, including Steve Karsh, who owns the adjacent property, erupted in public Monday night at the City Council meeting during the public comment period. Several speakers charged that the Birenbaums are intimidating and stalking them. They said they are followed and threatened when they walk their dogs in the neighborhood.

The conflict between the neighbors has a long history of civil and criminal court actions and numerous sheriff’s reports. Over the past few years it appears to have escalated, with many lawsuits, counterclaims and restraining orders between some neighbors.

On Monday, a group of about 10 Malibu Road residents, who said they also represented other neighbors too fearful to come forward, asked the council for help.

“We came to ask if you can do anything to protect our basic human rights,” said Lupe Learner. Another neighbor said in a trembling voice that a vehicle driven by one of the Birenbaums had swerved toward her, and that the driver had screamed at her as she walked her dog.

Sam Birenbaum, reached by telephone, said he wasn’t at the council meeting but if that’s what was said, “Somebody is making up stories about stalking and swerving.”

The Birenbaums’ alleged code violations were also raised by residents, who said they have complained numerous times to the city about a malfunctioning septic system that lets untreated sewage flow directly onto the beach.

Vic Peterson, a city building and safety official, said, “We do have an open code-enforcement case on this site . . . but we also have pending lawsuits against the city and code-enforcement personnel,” filed by the property owner against the city.

Peterson said that staff was told by prior city attorneys to get compliance rather than demolish the property, because demolition would be at the city’s expense.

“I volunteer to pay for it,” shouted someone from the audience. People applauded enthusiastically.

In the past, the Birenbaums have charged that the city staff wrongfully enforced city codes based on ethnic discrimination against their family.

Now that the dispute has expanded, the Birenbaums say neighbors’ dogs defecate on the beach and road.

Residents say they are continually harassed by the Birenbaums about that. The Birenbaums have made a video of dogs on the beach and are showing it on Nidia Birenbaum’s cable public-access show, “Cookie Cutter.” Sam Birenbaum said to The Malibu Times that they “produced the program to educate the community about this problem and some neighbors don’t like that.” He says he suspects “they’re making up lies to retaliate against [us] for reporting the news.”

The council told residents at the meeting that it could not take action on the matter. However, they asked Peterson to update them on the matter of code enforcement.

Councilman Jeff Jennings said that it isn’t the council’s job to apply the law to any individual. “It is our function to set the policy but it is not our function to move or shift the law,” he said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Thom Bradstock explained residents’ options, saying they should report their concerns about the possible stalking and harassment to the Sheriff’s Department. Swerving a vehicle toward someone has more serious consequences, he added.

While Mayor Pro Tem Joan House recommended that the city begin procedures on the code enforcement, her suggestion was not seconded by other councilmembers.

Councilman Ken Kearsley agreed that these events were condemnable; however, he said, the council cannot take action on the dog matter.

Councilwoman Sharon Barovsky said she was sorry to see what her neighbors were going through, but she did not recommend any action be taken by the council.

Steve Karsh was asked to comment but chose not to speak to The Malibu Times.

Two hot-button issues in the Malibu pier restoration project, one of the state’s most costly projects, are the location of on-site parking and what the pier’s retail spaces will be used for.

An architect, whose firm is formulating design renovations for the Malibu Pier, floated sketches and proposals before the community and City of Malibu workers last week. Henry Rhetta, vice president of the architect firm Durrant Group Inc., stressed at the March 7 meeting that public comments are welcome because the city has not yet endorsed his firm’s ideas.

Renovations of the pier are now in Phase 2, with construction for Phase 3 slated to begin in September. There will be no construction from June to September, to allow public access to the pier for sport-fishing and other recreational uses.

“The parking is going to be a major issue. There’s been questions of whether we should have a remote parking lot with a shuttle service,” said Rhetta. Historically, he said, overflow parking was provided in the vacant lot next to the Malibu Inn.

To help alleviate parking congestion and to draw further attention to the pier, the California Department of Parks and Recreation is researching what it would take to implement an interpretive shuttle bus tour with the pier as one stop.

Another concern was that of the pier’s exit and entrance from the Pacific Coast Highway. Two options were presented at the meeting — a traffic light versus a driveway just south of the pier; either could be the entrance or exit. A traffic study is to be completed by a traffic engineer, who will be hired as a consultant to the project.

But, all that aside, what city officials and the public seem to agree on is restoring the pier to its 1945 condition. A $90,000 annual sinking fund will pay for pier maintenance each year, said Rhetta.

The total cost of the pier renovation will run $5 million, with $2.8 million coming from the County of Los Angeles Prop A funds and $800,000 from the City of Malibu, and the rest from the state.

“Everyone agrees that the pier should be brought back to a fishing site — not this carnival, a potpourri of different things going on,” he said.

Each storefront at the pier will be provided with design guidelines for their signage to assist them in maintaining the historic atmosphere. The former Alice’s restaurant will be operated by a city-approved master concessionaire, and renovated into a fine-dining restaurant for brunch, lunch or dinner.

“Our ultimate goal is to identify a concessionaire by the end of this calendar year. We’re looking for somebody who can come in and run all aspects of the pier,” said Hayden Sohm, area superintendent of the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

“It’s not [going to be] a Denny’s. It’s going to be something of a nicer restaurant,” said Rhetta.

He cautioned against putting the bar area on the upper level of the restaurant, since it might violate the Americans With Disabilities Act, and a chair lift would cost about $30,000.

Rhetta reported that Durrant will study how to provide accessibility to the lower levels of the bait shop. Currently, 150 square feet are allocated for the bait shop, but the owner of the bait shop indicated at the meeting that he will likely need 300 square feet.

The public can send comments about the pier to Hayden Sohm at 39996 PCH, Malibu, Calif., 90265 or Russ Dingman at 1925 Las Virgenes Canyon, Calabasas, Calif., 91302.

It’s no secret that Malibu has a significant population of entertainment industry residents. What this means, however, is that the New Malibu Theater plays a vital role in film screenings for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members, whose votes determine who captures the coveted statuettes.

The local theater is a favorite among industry players both for its proximity and for its willingness to hold special screenings. For instance, Malibu resident and actor Ed Harris presented his directorial debut, “Pollack,” at the theater, and director Anthony Minghella appeared here for a question-and-answer session after a showing of his 1996 film, “The English Patient.” This year, the theater also held screenings for the Malibu Film Festival.

Aware of its unique relationship with the industry, the theater’s owner, Wallace Theaters Corp. of Portland, Ore., welcomes Academy screenings and reportedly spends more time evaluating films for Malibu than for the rest of its more than 70 theaters in 10 states.

“The Malibu Theater on average presents over 75 films per year,” said former theater manager, now theater owner, David L. Lyons, 39. “Rarely do we miss a quality film. On occasion, we present independent, foreign and documentary films. Distributors want their films at our theater because of the high concentration of industry residents and solid attendance, given the size of the town. Typically, we have [shown] every film that gets nominated, including foreign nominees.”

Exposure to the right film at the right time in Malibu may indeed impact Oscar voting, suggested Lyons, vice president of worldwide marketing and advertising for Wallace Theaters. With the 1999 Best Film winner, “Shakespeare in Love,” Lyons said he noticed “an unusually high number of Academy sign-ins for the film. I suspect that the balloting was extremely close [with ‘Private Ryan’]. It is likely that those who voted for Best Picture may have done so because it was available for viewing at our theater.”

Do distributors pressure the theater to run their films in Malibu? “I receive significant interest to book films at Christmas and in the month of January from all studios that feel their film has a shot at an Oscar,” said Lyons. “All of the emphasis with respect to getting a film booked is placed before the nominations are announced. Studios understand that getting the nomination is critical, and to do that, their films have to be seen in December and January.”

But competition among distributors to get their films booked at the prized theater is only part of the story. Industry heavyweights bring their own brand of pressure to bear as well.

“I remember one situation where a star who was also the director of a major Thanksgiving release peered into our lobby to see if her poster was on display,” Lyons recalled. “When she did not see it, she rushed into the lobby with her boxer and was very concerned. The next day the theater received an abundance of poster, trailers and cardboard displays.”

Malibu resident Ed Harris, director, star and producer of the film “Pollock,” made an appearance at the New Malibu Theater Friday night for a special screening of his film.

Harris was nominated for an Oscar for his role as artist Jackson Pollock. His co-star Marcia Gay Harden was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the artist Lee Krasner, who married Pollock and whom many believe was an impelling force behind Pollock’s success as a painter.

After the screening, Harris waited patiently in the lobby, head down, to enter the theater. He answered questions from an appreciative audience, who gave him a standing ovation.

Harris describes the journey of making the film as a “long saga” that started in 1986 when his father sent him a biography of Pollock with the artist’s photo on the cover. His father said he, Harris, resembled him.

In the early ’90s, Harris himself started painting in mixed media. Of his work in the film, Harris said, “I wasn’t trying to mimic him, I was just trying to understand what it’s like to be a painter.”

An artist painted all the pre-drip paintings used in the film, deconstructing them, particularly a mural that he is seen painting in the beginning of the film, allowing the actor to follow guidelines. Harris said that in other shots, especially while executing the “drip” paintings, he was just “trying to paint a picture I liked.”

Answering a question about what was the most painful part of portraying Pollack, Harris said that it was “painful making the movie” itself “because it was really hard. Low budget, long hours, everyone was working for peanuts.”

A continuing pain for Harris is the “running around [publicizing the film] to make up the money spent.”

Deciding what part of the painter’s life to focus on was another difficulty for Harris.

“There’s an awful lot of information available,” he said. “It’s a two-hour film. [I ] got rid of what wasn’t important, winnowing away to what was my particular vision.”

As for the preparation for the part of Pollack, Harris said, “The solitude, isolation, the deep fears” that Pollack suffered from — “being truthful with that” was painful.

“He had the emotional maturity of a 14-year-old. He was an outsider,” explained Harris. “Then he found this thing, a way to express himself. He was desperate for recognition and approval, yet opened himself up to ridicule.”

Many actors play despicable characters (Hannibal Lecter comes to mind) and portray personalities that are not even close to their own. However, Harris said, “I wouldn’t have done the film if I hadn’t been drawn to him.

“There’s a part of him I like a great deal,” said Harris. “I have a great empathy for him. There’s a part of him that was intolerable. People fled from him. He was mean, so unhappy.”

But “the guy tried, pushed through a lot, [but] what painting is worth a life?” said Harris, referring to a girl’s death that Pollack caused, in addition to his own.

As for switching careers, Harris said he decided to direct this film because he didn’t want anyone who had a different vision to direct it. He said that if something came up again that caught his imagination, he would consider directing again.