After reading your editorial regarding the dam in Malibu Canyon it came to mind that if the dam is demolished the remains would make an ideal foundation for an “on-site” cannery. The boutique cannery would give our youth meaningful local employment while taming the fish infestation that would inevitably occur upon the demise of the dam and would also provide wonderful locally spawned gourmet cat chow for our pets.
Jack Singleton
Since the teenager in Isle Vista intentionally ran down and killed those four people and the 15-year-old shot his classmates at Santee High School I’ve seen a lot of headlines such as, “Parents Ask, Why?” “School Officials Search for Answers” and “Why So Many Troubled Teens?” Allow me to enlighten an apparently benighted world with a short list of reasons.
1. Listen to the music. Hate, sex, anger, violence, intolerance and no rhythm to boot. Not very uplifting or enriching. When all the sludge settles to the bottom Hollywood gives awards for the most perverse.
2. Indiscriminate abortion. If you don’t think wholesale destruction of the unborn cheapens everyone’s life then you’re way too far gone yourself.
3. T.V. One look at the mind-numbing, spiritually vacuous garbage Hollywood spews over our children and I’m amazed children aren’t hurling themselves over cliffs in lemming-like droves.
4. Both parents working long hours trying to stay afloat in our “wonderful” economy. It now takes two wage-earners to obtain the same standard of living that one did a generation ago. The way the “real” cost of living is going up it’s only going to get worse and that doesn’t leave a lot of time for parenting.
5. Corrupt politicians as role models for children. The media has made sound bites, appearance, soothing words and theatrics more important in the election process than honor, wisdom, fidelity to duty, substance, and common sense. The public demands glib mediocrity and we certainly get it.
6. Video games where kids can actually practice murdering their neighbors and classmates.
7. Religion shoved into the dark corners of our society, no public displays. Treat God kind of like pornography: you can believe, but keep it to yourselves.
8. Divorce. Kids need security. They need to know vows and promises actually mean something permanent and sacred. Parents need to work at marriage, not merely change partners when the glow wears off. We owe it to our kids to try harder.
9. Stop making “supervision” and “discipline” dirty words. We tried it Dr. Spock’s way. It’s time to give our grandfathers’ methods another look. How many body piercings, tattoos, hair color changes, scrapes with the law or school authorities, drug and alcohol episodes, fights, teen pregnancies and other destructive activities will it take for us to admit that, just maybe, we’re a little too permissive?
10.Take the car keys away. Nobody drives until they graduate from high school or turn 18. I think you might see a decline in gang shootings, drunken driving, teen pregnancy, teenage driving deaths, drug and alcohol use, cruising and the drop-out rate, not to mention pollution reduction, lowered dependence on foreign oil and less traffic congestion. Another benefit might be that parents would actually spend more time with their teenagers if they couldn’t simply just toss the car keys at them.
11. Movies. Can anyone defend the stuporous, vile crap Hollywood churns out in the name of “entertainment”? As they say when referring to computers, “Crap in, crap out.” The same thing is obviously true with young and impressionable minds.
12. Drugs, prescription and otherwise. When we think of drug pushers and kids a picture comes to mind of sleek cars with tinted windows and teenagers crowded about and leaning into and passing cash through partially opened windows. But what of the drugs that are delivered to our children in gleaming offices and medical centers throughout the country? Do hundreds of thousands of our young people truly need drugs to cope? Or perhaps is it simply easier for parents and teachers to cope with kids who are drugged? I think we need to reevaluate the rampant use of prescription medications on children and send those who purvey street drugs to our children away to some unpleasant place for a long time.
Now the obvious question is, “Do we really not know why our children are troubled or do we merely pretend we don’t because the solutions aren’t easy?”
Richard Schaefer
Probably any parent of a teenager who has seen the Oscar-nominated film “Traffic” has been disturbed by the portrayal of affluent teenagers free-basing drugs and having sex. Most adult viewers are not sure if this is an accurate picture of teenage culture today, or a provocative Hollywood exaggeration.
A group of teenagers at Cross Creek Mall were asked their opinion of their peers’ depiction in the film. Their response was a unanimous, “It’s not true.”
“A lot of people [teens] smoke weed and drink at parties. But if there are hard drugs, it is hidden,” they said.
However, on ABC’s “Nightline” this week, Ted Koppel explores the reality of what was depicted in the movie. And, according to Monday night’s episode, the film was right on target in the portrayal of the drug trade and use by teens across the country. Three teens interviewed, who were all in drug rehab, said that drugs were prevalent in their upscale Midwest community. They also said that buying drugs was easier than buying alcohol.
The group at Cross Creek agreed that they did not feel ignored or alienated at school or at home, as was portrayed by the girl in “Traffic.” “A lot of people care about you,” one girl offered. The consensus was that kids with “serious” drug problems were probably getting private counseling.
However, the use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs and premature sexual involvement are the concern of Malibu middle and high school administrators, counselors and teachers and of a variety of related services such as the Smart Moves program at the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center. Smart Moves is a national program to help children avoid the four major perils of adolescence — drugs, alcohol, tobacco and premature sexual involvement.
Laure Stern, president of the board of directors of the Malibu Foundation for Youth and Families, which supports Smart Moves, said, “There has always been a need for this type of program here, and anyone who thinks we don’t have a problem with these issues in Malibu must be in total denial.”
“It’s hard for parents to see the world through their child’s eyes,” said Irene Ramos, Malibu middle school assistant principal. “Parents need to realize that their children are much more exposed to drugs, alcohol and violence than we were. When [parents] find out their children are involved in these types of activities, they are usually shocked.
“Peer pressure is so great. Most kids are ill-prepared to handle it and most parents don’t know how to talk about these subjects. We really need to get involved. We have the authority to teach kids how to read and write but as a society, we have to do more. Eminem for example. Look at what they are being exposed to,” Ramos grimaced.
School counselor Nancy Pallathena agreed, “It’s hard to grow up now. All schools have illegal substances on campus and not many kids are caught. A lot is going on that we are not aware of. Our roles are limited. Kids are getting through school as best they can, but everything is so fast. And now we all know what the costs are for not paying attention.”
Students turn to school counselors Pallathena and her colleague Luke Sferra for help or else reveal their neediness by their behavior, but Pallathena regrets that she does not have enough time for all of them.
“What we need is another counselor. Six hundred kids each is too many. We are under-staffed in this district. There is a lot of talk about the value of programs, but unless you dedicate money along with the talk, you are not going to succeed.”
One privately funded program is the unannounced appearance of drug-sniffing Labrador retriever Pounce. He, or a stand-in, comes every few weeks or once a month.
“The kids don’t like it,” Pallathena offered, “and only occasionally has he alerted us to a problem, but I do think it is a deterrent.”
According to Tess Hudson, Student Council president, students have “adjusted” to Pounce. “When the dog first came it was a big ‘to do,’ but now we just take it as a matter of course.”
However, drug-sniffing dogs have created controversy at a middle school in Santa Paula. Parents are outraged and say that the searches violate students’ privacy rights.
In addition to the dog, the school campus is “policed” by security personnel Teresa Wallace and Milton Greene. Wallace knows the students well and they know her. She tries to be everywhere.
“We want to make it safe,” she said. “The last thing we want to do is to catch someone.” Her mantra is, “Prevention, prevention, prevention.”
There are other drug-combating and self-esteem programs in progress. Volunteer counselors come to the campus from Jewish Family Service, the Action Program in Santa Monica holds group sessions, and ninth- and tenth-graders all participate in Student Council, which aims to develop listening skills, verbal expression and self-empowerment.
With Smart Moves, 10 high school students are leaders and mentors for middle school participants. For about eight weeks, the group will explore the perils of drugs, alcohol and premature sexual involvement. Stern fervently champions the national program along with club directors Scott Robinson and Stacey Gray. A new group will be formed after spring vacation.
The ultimate goal of Smart Moves at the Teen Center and of school administrators and faculty at Malibu Middle and High School seems to be the same — to keep kids in school so they can learn, and to give them the strength to resist negative influences so they can become positive members of the community.
(The following letter was sent to Mayor Tom Hasse.) I am a Malibu resident who drives to work each morning along the Pacific Coast Highway heading towards downtown Los Angeles. For several months during the year it is very dark as I make my way to work.
I’d like to point out a problem that I am sure will one day cause a major accident if it has not already, that is the trash trucks that collect trash on the PCH. All these homes located on the beach have trash pickup early in the morning. These trash trucks are blocking the slow lane of the Coast Highway. As you drive around the curves, many times they are stopped in your lane and you cannot see them until the last minute.
On many occasions I have had near accidents. I have also seen other motorists slamming on their brakes.
I would offer solutions to this problem:
1. Have the trash pick-up on weekends when the traffic is not so heavy.
2. Require the trash company to have an escort vehicle with flashing lights in back of the truck that is picking up the trash. It would be like a police car so that people coming around the curves can see the lights and avoid smashing into a trash truck.
3. Have the trash picked up during daylight hours when people can see the standing vehicles.
I would invite a response back from you on this situation. I have discussed this with many of my neighbors and we all feel the same way. The problem needs to be resolved as soon as possible.
Sandy Shadrow
The City of Malibu has decided not to trade a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $384,000 for a General Fund Grant at approximately 60 cents on the dollar.
Instead, the city has been granted an extension of their March 31 deadline to come up with a plan on how to spend existing grant funds.
However, one problem faced by the city is the restrictiveness of the grant, which allocates CDBG funds to cities with populations under 50,000 or unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County. The grants are for the purpose of improving the quality of life for people of low and moderate incomes, which Malibu qualifies for because of its high population of senior citizens.
“Senior citizens are presumed to be low- and moderate-income according to HUD [Department of Housing and Urban Development], based on [the fact] that many are on a limited income,” said Linda Jenkins, a manager with the Community Development Commission that administers the grants.
However, only 15 percent of CDBG funding can be spent on community services, such as senior meal programs, family violence intervention services or youth recreation programs. The majority of funding can be used for infrastructure improvements, which include construction of community centers or modifications of public spaces to make them handicap accessible.
The city is hoping to apply the funds toward building a senior citizen center, according to Julia James, city administrative service director.
But, “[the] problem is that property is very expensive,” said James. “[And] building a new facility is time-consuming; the city had not had enough resources, staff and time to devote to this project.”
Councilmember Jeff Jennings, who also sits on the administration and finance subcommittee, said that the funds have not been spent yet because the city has been “accumulating the money against the tide of the time needed to construct the senior center.”
On an annual basis, Malibu receives $84,000 under the CDBG program. The city can borrow up to approximately 16 times against the annual allocation on a variable interest rate, around 5.5 percent, said Jenkins.
Jenkins said they have not received a formal application from the City of Malibu for a request to borrow extra funds. She did say that city staff did meet with the commission two years ago, but has not heard back from the city since.
One issue the city was contending with then, as now, was where to find the property to purchase, said Terry Gonzalez, director of CDBG programs.
Thank you for reminding us of our blessings and promoting a reality-based outlook on life.
Randall Antonson
Opinion/By Pam Linn
Doctors who have relied on Food and Drug Administration approval and recommendations in prescribing new drugs for their patients got a major wake-up call Sunday. A front page story in The Los Angeles Times reported the FDA approved Warner-Lambert’s diabetes drug Rezulin over warnings, by its own medical officers, of liver toxicity.
We are not talking here about common side effects noted in TV advertising of popular prescription drugs: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea unpleasant, but not life threatening. Just the body’s way of saying, “Stop! You’re poisoning me!” We are talking about liver failure. When your liver fails you can get seriously dead. Rezulin is not a life-saving drug. All it does is lower blood-sugar levels in diabetes patients, and there are already more than half a dozen drugs on the market that do that without the risks.
So why would Warner-Lambert downplay the incidence of liver damage to patients in its clinical trials? Well, $2.1 billion in sales sounds like a pretty good incentive. That’s what the drug earned during the three years before it was withdrawn last spring. And only after it was suspected in 391 deaths, including dozens involving liver damage.
The bigger question is why the FDA would disregard the evidence, even removing its own doctor from the review process.
Years ago we used to get mad at the FDA for taking so long to approve drugs that had been in use all over Europe. The agency seemed to spend a lot of its resources picking on the little guys. Like a small company that manufactured the best yucca supplement for arthritic animals. Dogs and horses with painful, stiff joints were taking yucca and running and jumping pain free. And nobody was dying. Still, the agency nitpicked about labeling claims and wound up putting the company out of business and even threatened to jail the owner. Come on. Talk about a misuse of power.
About 10 years ago, comfrey tea was yanked from health food store shelves after two cases of liver failure were reported in people who drank several quarts a day. Even though those cases were linked to a shipment of the herb that was reportedly contaminated by pesticides, comfrey disappeared, probably forever.
Now, it was my experience that comfrey was an exceptionally effective herb, useful in healing ulcers. I used to grow my own comfrey, dry the leaves and brew them into a strong tea, which I strained and chilled. There was nothing better for healing deep wounds and scrapes. And I’ve had gophers eat away the entire root system of a comfrey plant (they’re huge) without experiencing liver failure, though I wouldn’t have minded if the marauding rodents had expired.
Anyway, the whole focus of the FDA changed radically during the past decade. Once known for the glacial pace of its approval process, the agency yielded to pressure from drug companies to speed up approval for experimental AIDS drugs. Safety is, I suppose, less of a concern for someone suffering from a terminal disease. Congress also leaned on the FDA to work with drug manufacturers to make new medicines available. Even President Clinton reportedly urged the FDA to treat the drug industry as “partners not adversaries.”
The role reversal had an almost immediate effect. In 1988, for example, only 4 percent of new drugs worldwide were approved first by the FDA. By 1998, that number shot up to 66 percent. During the same period, approval rates for industry applications jumped from about 60 percent to 80 percent. Could they all be that safe and effective?
Dumping its safety-first approach, the FDA became the last to withdraw seven hastily approved drugs after European authorities banned them. These were not needed to save lives, but they produced life-threatening reactions like liver and heart damage: Lotronex for irritable bowel syndrome, the diet pill Redux, antibiotic Raxar, blood pressure medication Posicor, pain killer Duract, the heartburn remedy Propulsid, and Rezulin. Do people really need to risk death from liver and heart failure to lose weight or relieve heartburn?
Documents, internal memos and e-mails between the FDA and Warner-Lambert, obtained by Times reporter David Willman, and depositions in several lawsuits against the drug company, tell a sordid tale, one that suggests political meddling in the approval process, abuse of power by the agency, obfuscation and falsifying clinical trials by the drug companies and maybe collusion.
And who pays? Taxpayers, doctors and patients. Some pay with their lives.
Doctors who have relied on Food and Drug Administration approval and recommendations in prescribing new drugs for their patients got a major wake-up call Sunday. A front page story in The Los Angeles Times reported the FDA approved Warner-Lambert’s diabetes drug Rezulin over warnings, by its own medical officers, of liver toxicity.
We are not talking here about common side effects noted in TV advertising of popular prescription drugs: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea — unpleasant, but not life threatening. Just the body’s way of saying, “Stop! You’re poisoning me!” We are talking about liver failure. When your liver fails you can get seriously dead. Rezulin is not a life-saving drug. All it does is lower blood-sugar levels in diabetes patients, and there are already more than half a dozen drugs on the market that do that without the risks.
So why would Warner-Lambert downplay the incidence of liver damage to patients in its clinical trials? Well, $2.1 billion in sales sounds like a pretty good incentive. That’s what the drug earned during the three years before it was withdrawn last spring. And only after it was suspected in 391 deaths, including dozens involving liver damage.
The bigger question is why the FDA would disregard the evidence, even removing its own doctor from the review process.
Years ago we used to get mad at the FDA for taking so long to approve drugs that had been in use all over Europe. The agency seemed to spend a lot of its resources picking on the little guys. Like a small company that manufactured the best yucca supplement for arthritic animals. Dogs and horses with painful, stiff joints were taking yucca and running and jumping pain free. And nobody was dying. Still, the agency nitpicked about labeling claims and wound up putting the company out of business and even threatened to jail the owner. Come on. Talk about a misuse of power.
About 10 years ago, comfrey tea was yanked from health food store shelves after two cases of liver failure were reported in people who drank several quarts a day. Even though those cases were linked to a shipment of the herb that was reportedly contaminated by pesticides, comfrey disappeared, probably forever.
Now, it was my experience that comfrey was an exceptionally effective herb, useful in healing ulcers. I used to grow my own comfrey, dry the leaves and brew them into a strong tea, which I strained and chilled. There was nothing better for healing deep wounds and scrapes. And I’ve had gophers eat away the entire root system of a comfrey plant (they’re huge) without experiencing liver failure, though I wouldn’t have minded if the marauding rodents had expired.
Anyway, the whole focus of the FDA changed radically during the past decade. Once known for the glacial pace of its approval process, the agency yielded to pressure from drug companies to speed up approval for experimental AIDS drugs. Safety is, I suppose, less of a concern for someone suffering from a terminal disease. Congress also leaned on the FDA to work with drug manufacturers to make new medicines available. Even President Clinton reportedly urged the FDA to treat the drug industry as “partners not adversaries.”
The role reversal had an almost immediate effect. In 1988, for example, only 4 percent of new drugs worldwide were approved first by the FDA. By 1998, that number shot up to 66 percent. During the same period, approval rates for industry applications jumped from about 60 percent to 80 percent. Could they all be that safe and effective?
Dumping its safety-first approach, the FDA became the last to withdraw seven hastily approved drugs after European authorities banned them. These were not needed to save lives, but they produced life-threatening reactions like liver and heart damage: Lotronex for irritable bowel syndrome, the diet pill Redux, antibiotic Raxar, blood pressure medication Posicor, pain killer Duract, the heartburn remedy Propulsid, and Rezulin. Do people really need to risk death from liver and heart failure to lose weight or relieve heartburn?
Documents, internal memos and e-mails between the FDA and Warner-Lambert, obtained by Times reporter David Willman, and depositions in several lawsuits against the drug company, tell a sordid tale, one that suggests political meddling in the approval process, abuse of power by the agency, obfuscation and falsifying clinical trials by the drug companies and maybe collusion.
And who pays? Taxpayers, doctors and patients. Some pay with their lives.
I would like to dispute and correct your reported information regarding the teams at Malibu High.
Many of the players have a long history of playing on AYSO and CLUB soccer teams. They are dedicated, enthused and well trained. Malibu may have a small population of students; however, they are not short of players.
The Varsity team had an adequate number of players to provide for injuries and absence. The Junior Varsity team had a large number of players, willing to train and play for present competition and future Varsity placement. The Junior Varsity team, indeed, folded. Not for lack of players, but for lack of coaching and cohesion. Early in the season, when the varsity team experienced a reduction of players, Junior Varsity players were taken to fill Varsity positions. This left the Junior Varsity team with a reduction in players, and more importantly, a reduced enthusiasm and team spirit. The Junior Varsity players, who were taken to play Varsity positions, left the JV team without commitment and spirit for their school. The JV team was given a coach without soccer experience, and who did not schedule regular practice for the team. The JV team was committed to playing and winning their division, however, the coaching staff left the team. The JV team was stripped of their best players, in order to benefit the Varsity team and the Varsity winning streak. The Junior Varsity team has enormous strength and spirit. Many of their players competed on the Southern California AYSO finals in Bakersfield. The decision to strip the JV team of their players and their team spirit effectively eliminated an upcoming generation of players who will continue the winning spirit of the Malibu High Soccer Team.
Malibu High Administration must commit to upcoming Junior Varsity teams in all divisions and sports, if Malibu High is to maintain a reputation of sports expertise. To report that the Junior Varsity team was eliminated due to lack of enrollment is inaccurate. The team was reduced due to lack of coaching commitment and the draft of junior players to the Varsity team.
Please correct your reporting to reflect the accurate spirit of these boys. The boys reported for practice and games on a consistent basis. They were committed to competing and winning for their school. They were not given the support from the Malibu High administration, which they needed in order to complete the season.
Gail S. Copley
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.
