Readying for a cast of thousands, the second edition of the Malibu Film Festival will take place at the end of this month–and this time not in tents alongside the Pacific Coast Highway.

The new venue for screenings of the more than 30 films chosen for the festival is the New Malibu Theatre.

Started four years ago by founder David Katz, the festival is adjusting to growing pains — shortening days, locations and other such details as parking. The first festival took place over seven days, and it was estimated by Katz that more than 5,000 people attended. This year’s festival has been shortened to three days.

“We wanted the festival to have a stronger presence,” said Katz, of the reason why it was shortened. “If shorter and sweeter is better, then that’s the way we’re going.”

Alanna Tarkington, one of several co-chairs for the event, said organizers are still working with the Malibu Lagoon State Beach, as well as with the lot at Papa Jack’s, the local skate park, to secure parking. Organizers are also looking at parking at Surfrider Beach for overflow and street parking as a last resort.

“We’re trying to make it as safe and convenient for Malibu residents as possible,” said Tarkington. “But it’s going to be an exciting event also.”

To add to the excitement, several major stars have been chosen for lifetime achievement awards.

Shirley McClaine, Charles Bronson, and, posthumously, the late Lloyd Bridges will receive lifetime awards. Jeff Bridges and his wife, Dorothy, and Lucinda Bridges Cunningham will be on hand to accept the award for Lloyd.

Arthur Hiller, screenplay writer, and director of the famed “Love Story” and the more recent “Babe” film, is slated to receive the Achievement in Arts for Directing award. B-movie maker Roger Corman will present the Corman Award for producing to Barry Spiking, who won the Oscar for producing “Deer Hunter.”

Actor Nick Nolte will receive the Achievement in Arts Award. “Titanic” director James Cameron will also be on hand to present awards.

Seven feature films, 25 short films and three documentaries have been chosen to be screened at the festival Feb. 23 through Feb. 25. Out of those, four filmmakers are from Malibu.

“Righteous Indignation” is a short film directed by Malibuite Katie Bronson, daughter of Charles Bronson. “The Rising Place” is a feature length film directed by Tom Rice, and two documentaries come from Malibu residents: “Above A Frozen Sea,” directed by Will Oxx and Dave Barlia, and “A Bitter Sweet Tale of Failure,” directed by Bara Byrnes.

“The Rising Place” stars Frances Fischer, who co-starred in “Titanic” as the mother of Kate Winslet’s character.

“It’s a very blue-ribbon style film,” said Katz. “It’s a very high quality independent film.”

An independent anonymous jury, consisting of Malibu locals, filmmakers in the industry, ranging from directors to cinematographers, selected the films. The festival audience will choose the winners of the festival. A ballot will be handed out and collected at each screening, said Katz. Each film will then be scored in separate categories.

Katz said the festival is formatted just like the Sundance and Cannes festivals. It is scheduled to coincide with the American Film Market (AFM), where all the distributors and producers come together to shop for hot new films. Malibu Film Festival organizers plan to have a shuttle service to and from the AFM.

Co-chairs for the Malibu Film Foundation are Cheree Chapman, Diane Carroll and Tarkington. Sitting on the advisory board are Cameron, Corman, Hiller and Linda Hamilton. M.G. “Mick” Mills and Angelika Katz are the directors of the foundation, and lending a helping hand is Mary Lou Blackwood, former executive vice president of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce, now with the title of director of community relations for the festival.

Tickets for screenings and other events can be purchased through Ticketmaster or the New Malibu Theatre, during box office hours.

From the inner city of Philadelphia to the pristine shores of Malibu. That’s the passage 37-year old Pastor Greg Hughes has traveled, with a few steps in between.

The newly installed senior pastor at Malibu Presbyterian is a native of Los Angeles — having been raised in suburban Newbury Park.

“I remember being brought to Malibu as a child, to play on the beach,” he says. Later, as a teenager, he recalls traveling the canyon roads to the beach to surf and still later bicycling through town.

After a 13-month search by the church’s pastor nominating committee, and a review of more than 100 candidates for the position, Hughes was chosen to lead the church.

Jim Ludwig, chair of the committee, made the following statement in a press release: “Greg was selected because he scored very high on all the four basic criteria: competence, compatibility, chemistry and character.”

Hughes earned a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from Westmont College in Santa Barbara and his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, with a concentration in preaching.

His previous position was as pastor in Los Alamitos, near Long Beach, where he served for 10 years. His ministry began as a young life director for high school students in West Windsor, New Jersey. He then worked in Philadelphia on a youth project run by Tony Campolo, who was later a presidential advisor to President Clinton. The goal of the Evangelistic Association for the Promotion of Education program was to help children in the inner city with special tutoring programs and special events to help keep them away from a destructive life style.

The son of a Presbyterian pastor, Hughes is a family man. He and his wife, Kay, have been married for 10 years and have a 10-month-old son, Jake.

Though Malibu may seem like a perfect paradise to some, there are some challenges Hughes may face.

“Even though Malibu residents live in a very affluent community,” he observes, “affluence is no guarantee that one’s life will be happy.

“Marriages breaking up and children using drugs are two problems that still are here, despite the affluence,” he says.

“I see as the challenge for both children and adults as finding meaning and purpose in our lives,” says Hughes. “I hope to teach our parishioners to give back, to be able to help people less fortunate.”

More than 600 people attend Malibu Presbyterian Sunday services. Having grown up in a community where there was what he calls “a real neighborhood feel,” Hughes says he hopes Malibu will be the same way. “I am eager to get to know the people,” he says.

He is especially interested in improving the participation of college-age youngsters, noting the congregation already includes about 200 young people.

“More community participation will be a goal,” says Hughes.

Among the community activities will be fundraisers to cover special needs and emergencies.

Malibuites wanting to store furniture or other items while out-of-town, moving or remodeling their homes, usually have the burden of driving at least nine miles, to Santa Monica, or further, to the Valley.

Well, soon, residents will have to look no further than west Malibu. A state-of-the-art storage facility will open for business in town this spring.

After dealing with bureaucratic processes, longtime Malibu resident Isaac Shachory, along with sons Rafael and Max, is opening Malibu Sky Self Storage at 28909 PCH, just east of Kanan Road, in April.

“It took us four years from the day we started to get this far,” said Rafael Shachory. “The county and the Coastal Commission were both very costly and demanding. The city squeezed us the hardest, making it almost unprofitable to build.”

But the Shachory family persisted because they felt the demand was there. “Malibu is a dense residential community with no real storage for miles,” said Rafael. “The response since we started building is great. The calls come in almost daily, all looking to reserve space.” With construction not yet completed, about a quarter of the facility is already leased, he said.

Part of the battle with obtaining permits, according to Rafael, was that the agencies were worried small businessmen, operating out of their homes, would use the storage space for parking inventory, and then go to the facility several times a day to get new items, to stock goods or to mail to mail-order customers. “We won’t allow people to operate a business out of their storage space,” said Rafael.

The family, which also operates storage facilties in Burbank and Hollywood, said the Malibu facility, consisting of four separate buildings, will have larger storage spaces than the other facilities, some up to 1,000 square feet, and some with 18-foot tall ceilings. Several spaces will be equipped with individual alarms. Each building will be temperature controlled–different items needing different temperatures. For instance, wine collectors may want to store their wine in a 55-degree building.

In addition, there will be safety vaults for valuables, such as fine art or antiques.

Isaac Shachory plans to have 100 storage spaces available, but that number may vary, until each renter makes their needs known. Landscaping calls for a wide variety of indigenous plants covering 13,000 square feet. The buildings will be finished in stucco, in Spanish style with tile roofs.

“We have almost an acre of land and yet the amount devoted to storage space is small–roughly 25 percent,” said Rafael. “With the prohibitions on how little of our land we could use, this project might not have been feasable until we did a study and realized that Malibuites are willing to pay a higher price than normal to have their goods stored close to home.”

Rafael said they expect clientele to consist of artists storing work, divorced couples storing furniture until they can find new accomodations and homeowners storing furniture while their homes are being built or remodeled.

While Malibu’s revenues have not drastically increased or decreased for the first half of the fiscal year 2000-2001, the city’s expenses may exceed expectations, according to a quarterly review report presented to council on Jan. 23.

Julia James, Administrative Services director, drafted preliminary projections indicating the city may spend approximately $200,000 more than it envisioned at the beginning of the year.

The city generated $12.5 million in general funds last year, but this income may be harder to maintain in coming years because the state has changed the format by which it calculates what to give to the city.

Motor vehicle registration license fees and state gas tax income will be cut in half.

Current reserves total $4 million and the city hopes to put $500,000 in at the end of the year.

Unplanned Expenditures

• Malibu is sued more often than other cities of comparable size and the city’s expenses on legal counsel are projected to exceed budgeted expectations as a result.

“Malibu has above average amount of litigiousness and I wish this was not the case,” said Mayor Tom Hasse, in a later interview.

There are 14 ongoing cases right now. To reduce costs from the city attorney’s budget, James said some functions will be transferred to the city clerk.

• Aside from legal expenses, the city also underbudgeted expenses for the Film Permit Consultant. Kim Collin-Nielson’s fees exceeded projections because of an increased workload.

• The city is currently paying two city manager salaries because it has arrangements with the former city manager, Marilyn Leuck, and current manager Christi Hogin at the same time.

Environmental Building and Safety Department

• Vic Peterson, head of the Building and Safety Department, reported that as of Dec. 31, 2000, there were 386 open code enforcement cases.

The vast majority, 181, exist because people built or modified structures without a permit. Forty one of the cases are inactive pending receipt of further complaints.

Seventy cases have been monitored for inspections and 38 are in the planning process, meaning that the property owner has submitted a planning application and is in the process for correction of the violation.

Ten cases are pending property owners’ attention, and 12 are inactive pending resolution of task force issues.

• Requests to review and obtain planning records have increased in the last year and City Hall lacks space for people to do so, said Peterson.

• There are 38 new development projects in the city.

But this number does not represent the true scope of development that is going on and it does not give an idea of the city’s actual growth, explained Peterson, because it does not include remodels and additions. These items increase the size of the community as well, said Peterson.

• There were 695 building permits issued in 1995 and this number has gone up to more than 1,000 last year.

• A Waste Water Management System plan will be delivered to the council in February.

Law enforcement

• Traffic collisions rose from 110 to 143, up by 30 percent, from last year.

• There was one traffic death in 2000. This number is already matched in 2001 since a person died on PCH in January, (The Topanga intersection is not counted because it is outside of city limits).

• Response time for emergencies was 6.6 minutes and 20.8 for routine.

• A DUI enforcement officer gave out 850 hazardous citations with 107 arrests in 2000.

• While Capt. John O’Brien said rumors about evicting the city operations from City Hall were unfounded when he spoke to the council recently, Lt. Thom Bradstock updated council about the sheriff’s plans to move back to Malibu. The Sheriff’s Department does have a long-term goal to move back into the facilities by the end of 2003.

The department plans to begin by moving into the county-operated Public Works’ equipment facilities so they can have access to a fueling station.

Public Works Department

• The city spent $19,916,000 on natural disasters in the past 8 years; FEMA reimbursed $16,030,102 of that amount.

The remaining $4 million were not considered reimbusable because they included the reconstruction of the Las Flores Canyon Bridge after the 1993 fire, which was considered a betterment by FEMA, and landslide repairs that are not funded unless the landslide is first abated.

Also, there were two projects on Malibu Road and Malibu Canyon Road that were denied because the streets were eligible for Federal Highway Administration funds.

Another unreimbursed loss for the city included a waiver in permit fees for people who re-built their homes after the 1993 fire, costing $600,000 to the city.

• The new Traffic Information Emergency Radio System is almost complete.

• Rambla Pacifico homeowners are in the process of forming an association to privately finance and reconstruct Rambla Pacifico Road.

• A completed flood mitigation plan is expected to go before City Council in March.

• A prototype stormceptor system, which takes trash out and treats water before it enters the lagoon east of Malibu Colony and Malibu Road, has been running during storms.

Purizer, the company that installed the system free of charge, plans to start running it 24 hours a day.

• Flood drains in the Big Rock and Las Flores Canyon areas will be enlarged, but Public Works will wait before work begins. It needs to coordinate efforts with Caltrans, which is responsible for the drain pipes under PCH.

Recreation Department

• While Malibu High football fields are unavailable, the demand for ball fields creates a crunch in field space, reported Paul Adams, Parks and Recreation director.

• The skate park on Civic Center Way is nearing completion. The upgraded facility will have drinking fountains, a public phone, vending machines and newly surfaced ramps. Additonally, a local artist volunteered to paint artwork for the park.

• The department continues to have high staff turnover. Marilyn Stern, Recreation Supervisor, moved to San Diego, leaving the position vacant.

Planning Department

• Barry Hogan, planning director, said the department is working on streamlining the planning process, which has historically been lengthy and complicated for property owners.

• A Civic Center design draft guideline will be ready for City Council on Feb 26.

• The housing element, a statement of the city’s current and future housing needs and expectations to meet all income levels in the area, will come before the council on Feb. 12 for final approval.

• Four Geographic Information Systems proposals are ready.

• A consultant was hired to work on the zoning ordinance.

Following months of discord, the Malibu High School cheerleading squad looks to start anew with the hiring of head coach Mary Perry.

Perry’s 14 years of professional cheerleading and choreographing experience include cheerleading with the Oakland Raiders and seven years of coaching throughout the Los Angeles area.

The hiring of Perry follows the December firing of former cheerleading coaches Celia Whiteford and Barbara Mills.

Mills and Whiteford were fired by Malibu High School principal Mike Matthews after it was reported the coaches were allegedly permitting mistreatment of MHS cheerleader Sarah Ysordia, who is legally blind and partially deaf.

The alleged mistreatment of Ysordia was brought to the attention of the administration by an MHS student, unrelated to the cheerleading squad, who allegedly overheard negative comments made by the coaches and other cheerleaders about Ysordia. What exactly was said by the squad or reported by the student is unclear.

Principal Matthews said it was more than one incident that led to the termination of the coaches, not just what may have happened with Ysordia.

“It was not just one issue, but several issues dating back to a year,” said Matthews, in an earlier interview for a local paper.

Mills and Whiteford, who were unavailable for an interview, have been coaching at MHS for the last 3 years, with this season having each of their daughters, seniors Allison Mills and Cat Whiteford, co-coach the team.

The firing of the two coaches came as a surprise, said Allison Mills.

“We had no warning. For the last three years, Mr. Matthews has only been complimentary of the team,” said Allison.

“I loved this girl. I pushed her to be good,” said Celia Whiteford, in a previously published interview.

Ysordia granted a full interview to the MHS school paper; however, the school district asked that the story not be published. She declined to be interviewed for The Malibu Times.

This is not the first time the cheerleading squad has had problems. Last year, in February, the entire cheerleading squad was cut in half when the Junior Varsity team quit. Members of the JV team say they quit because of poor leadership, as well as other problems with the coaches and the rest of the squad.

Matthews and Brian Banducci, MHS athletics director, were made aware of the problems by the cheerleaders’ parents.

Banducci said the cheerleading team’s problems were not athletic ones.

“There was some kind of misunderstanding,” said Banducci. “If someone doesn’t want to be apart of a team, then that is their decision.”

Since the firing, according to Matthews, the cheerleading squad has appealed to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s Superintendent, Neil Schmidt.

Matthews said he is legally restricted from saying anything further on the matter.

The 2000-2001 cheerleading season has by now come to a close. Perry plans to have cheerleading workshops this March, in search of cheerleaders who will make up next year’s squad. Perry said she does not plan to dwell on the past, and instead looks toward the future.

“I said I would be glad to take this job if I can move forward, and not backward,” explained Perry.