After a long and tortuous road of lawsuits and legislative appeals, the City Council on a 4-1 vote, with Councilwoman Joan House voting no, finally dissolved the Las Tunas Geological Hazardous Abatement District.

The city originally attempted to dissolve the GHAD in 1993 after the district produced a plan for preventing erosion on Las Tunas Beach that the city deemed unacceptable. Challenging the city’s right to dissolve it, the GHAD sued the city in 1994. The trial court ruled in the city’s favor, but a court of appeal said the state law on GHADs did not permit the city to undertake the dissolution.

The city then turned to Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, who won passage of a bill that granted cities the dissolution power. But that law inadvertently breathed new life into the GHAD, at least temporarily, because of a loophole in the law that made the city assume responsibility for the district’s financial obligations.

Shortly before a council meeting during which the district would have been dissolved, the GHAD board of directors voted to treat all of the district’s expenses as loans that must be repaid. Theoretically, that meant that if the council dissolved the district, the city would have to repay members for their expenses. More than $2 million was originally set aside for the formation and the functioning of the GHAD.

The city then filed suit to force the GHAD board to rescind the resolution. Board member Lloyd Ahern said Monday that the board had recently done so.

But there may be more GHAD story to tell.

As part of the dissolution, the council ordered the GHAD to disperse funds under a lawsuit settlement with TICOR Insurance Company. Those funds were originally provided to pay for an erosion plan for Las Tunas Beach and to remove the groins that used to sit along the beach.

But Ahern said the GHAD board has no jurisdiction over the funds that remain under the settlement agreement.

“Our lawyers say we have no jurisdiction, but [the council] ordered us to do it anyway,” said Ahern.

In other matters, the council voted unanimously to install a storm water treatment facility at the Malibu Road drain, commonly known as the “mystery drain.”

The 24-inch diameter storm drain carries runoff from Malibu Road, Malibu Colony Plaza and a private golf course into Malibu Lagoon, and is considered one of the major sources of the lagoon’s pollution. The facility will treat dry-weather flows and disinfect the water before it discharges into the lagoon.

Also unanimously, the council named Harold Greene and Carl Rimple to the Native American Cultural Resources Advisory Committee.

A 29-year-old Compton man carrying an automatic handgun and wearing a ski mask last Friday walked into the Point Dume branch of Bank of America, located on Heathercliff Drive, got tellers to put an undisclosed amount of money in a bag and walked out, said authorities. About an hour later, both he and a 20-year-old accomplice, also from Compton, were caught, and by Sunday afternoon the money was found.

By Tuesday, a second alleged accomplice, a woman, had been arrested, the Lost Hills Sheriffs Station reported.

There were no customers at the bank at the 10:15 a.m. robbery, no one was injured at the scene, no shots were fired, and no deputies or civilians were injured during the pursuit, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley described the robbery as a “one-man take-over” type. In this type, the bandit uses “verbal violence,” announcing that he/she is taking over the bank, while in a “note job” robbery, only the teller(s) know the robbery is taking place, according to Bosley.

The bandit, who was described as having thick arms, sporting sideburns and a goatee, and wearing dark clothing, a ski mask and designer sunglasses, told the tellers, “This is a holdup, give me all your money.” Before leaving, he said, “Thank you,” Bosley said.

According to Capt. Bill McSweeney of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, the bandit made the announcement in a loud voice and aggressive manner, and was brandishing the gun.

The bandit fled in a silver car. A description of the car was broadcast to deputies, and they located the man driving on Kanan Dume Road toward the 101 Freeway. A short time later, he switched cars and joined his accomplice in a red compact car.

As seen on several television channels throughout the day, deputies chased the cars for more than an hour, the suspects exiting and re-entering various freeways and residential streets. The pursuit ended when the men spun into the center median on the southbound San Diego (405) Freeway at Wilshire Boulevard near Westwood, deputies said.

The first suspect, Myron Keith Edwards, 29, was booked Friday at the Lost Hills Sheriffs Station on charges of armed robbery and evading arrest. The second suspect, James Franklin Johnson III, 20, was transported to a local hospital for treatment for injuries sustained in the spin out.

Late Sunday afternoon, deputies recovered the bag used in the robbery in bushes near the 1300 block of La Granada Drive, Thousand Oaks. The bag contained the ski mask, a loaded handgun and money.

The female accomplice allegedly drove the red car to Malibu and drove away the silver car, said Sgt. Tom Garagliano of the Lost Hills Station.

The long-awaited rehabilitation of Malibu Pier, closed for several years now, may finally be on its way to becoming a reality.

The California Department of Parks and Recreation, owners of the pier and the ones paying the $657,991 tab for this first phase of the renovation, gathered many of the involved players — state, county, city, contractors and press — together for a preconstruction meeting Monday to give the project its final “go” date. The 20-plus people meeting in the conference room of the Michael Landon Center came to work out the final details, review the contract and permits, anticipate problems and attempt to head them off before they occur.

They chose as the official starting date Oct. 27, although they’ve already begun the preconstruction set up. With the final exchange of the signed contracts, they can now begin ordering supplies like the creosote-soaked, epoxy-wrapped pilings that will replace missing and damaged pilings. The contract requires the project be completed within 120 calendar days of the start date, and there is a liquidated damages penalty (somewhat like a fine) of $500 per day for every day after Oct. 27 the project is not completed.

The completion, however, could be permissibly delayed by bad weather and any unforeseen changes.

Although there is no certainty, the contractor, Bruce Darian of Darian Construction, a Malibu contractor, who is joint venturing this project with Accent Builders, and Malibu City Manager Harry Peacock thought a more probable completion date, based upon their past experience, would be about six months.

The state will have an onsite inspector at the pier every working day. Construction is currently scheduled for Mondays through Fridays but, if necessary, could include Saturdays to make the schedule.

During construction, the parking lot adjacent to the pier will be closed to the public, although construction crews will be able to park there, space permitting. If there is not enough space for the construction workers. they will be shuttled in so there is minimal loss of street parking.

Part of the parking area will be used for workshops and material storage. The public will not be permitted entry to the construction area until the project is completed.

Because of potential noise from pile driving, working hours for the pile driving are restricted, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and noise restrictions will be imposed.

There will also be a full-time uniformed security guard on the pier.

The lifeguard station, for the Baywatch boat, will continue to operate off the end of the pier.

Phase 1 of the project includes the fixing of the underside of the pier, the pilings, the planking on the pier and the understructure areas on the landward side, next to the highway. Phase 2, at the seaward end, cannot be started until Phase 1 is finished, which ensures that the pier is structurally sound and workers can bring heavy equipment onto the seaward end .

When finished, the pier will look the same as before but will be usable. Phase 2 and Phase 3, the renovation of the former Alice’s Restaurant space, are contingent upon the availability of money, an additional roughly $3.5 to $4 million dollars. The source of that money might be the state, the county and the city. The total project, if done in one continuous stream, has been roughly estimated at 2-1/2 years from beginning to end.

The City Council Monday handed voters a chance to make big changes in the local electoral system by agreeing to place a term-limits measure on the April 2000 ballot.

Most council members found themselves between a rock and a hard place as they considered the outlines of the ballot measure, which was sponsored by Councilman Tom Hasse.

If the council members had refused to place the measure on the ballot, the voters may have held it against them because such a decision would have deprived the electorate of the opportunity to vote on the issue. But by agreeing to place the initiative before voters, the members of the council have probably cut short their political lives in Malibu, if the success of term-limits measures in other cities is any guide. According to the advocacy group, U.S. Term Limits, virtually everywhere voters are given the chance, they overwhelmingly pass measures limiting the terms of city officials.

Still, term limits is not the hot political issue it was a few years ago, and whether it can always win the support of the majority of voters remains to be seen.

The term-limits initiative proposed for Malibu voters would limit council members to two four-year terms. Such measures cannot legally be applied retroactively, so the limits on holding office would start to take effect with those council members elected next April.

In proposing the measure, Hasse said he was trying to implement a council resolution from 1992 that imposed term limits on the council. While Hasse won the support of Mayor Pro Tem Harry Barovsky and Councilwoman Joan House to submit the issue to voters, none of his colleagues echoed his support for the concept of term limits.

“I have a philosophic problem with term limits,” Barovksy said. “We are going to be losing a superb assemblywoman, Sheila Kuehl, because of term limits and [West Los Angeles] is going to be losing a fine assemblyman, [Wally] Knox, because of term limits.”

Mayor Carolyn Van Horn, who supported the 1992 council resolution requiring term limits, said she has changed her mind on the issue after watching it take its effect on the state legislature.

“I have seen how it played out … [in Sacramento] … and it has its downsides,” said Van Horn. “What you have is the staff and lobbyists are running it … they have the institutional memory … and there’s a lot lost in the learning curve [with] the new people coming in.”

Councilman Walt Keller, who lost a re-election bid in 1994, said term limits at the municipal level are unnecessary because City Council members do not have a lock on their jobs the way politicians at higher levels do.

“In a town like ours, I feel people can provide a term limit for any elected official any time they want to,” said Keller. “They don’t need an ordinance … requiring it.”

But House and Barovksy concluded that issue should be left for the voters to decide, and they provided the support necessary for the measure to win a place on the next ballot.

“I’m certainly not stating my opinion whether I’ll be supporting this particular item at the ballot box,” said House. “But I do support taking it to the people to give them an opportunity to make their voices heard.”

Just weeks into its fall semester, Pepperdine University is mired in debate over its mission and merits, with students divided on how they are perceived by the rest of the world.

The school was featured in a nine-page (four photo, five text) article in the September issue of Los Angeles Magazine titled, “And God Created Pepperdine,” and suggesting the school was suffering an “identity crisis.”

Student reaction was swift and predominantly negative, with The Graphic running as its lead story Aug. 30, “‘Identity Crisis’ at Pepperdine?” Also, two opinion pieces, one semi-pro and one con, both labeled the article “biased” and “dishonest and shallow,” respectively.

The administration took a softer line. “We’re a little puzzled that the magazine wanted to do the article they did,” said Talmage Campbell, Pepperdine’s director of public information. “It had more interest among the journalism students because it’s a major magazine and it reflected on the school. I didn’t think it was bad. From a certain point of view, it’s fairly accurate.”

The strongest criticism came, as is often the case, not from the text of the article, which was by many accounts well researched and balanced, but from headlines, decks and pullout quotes that played up the negative to entice readers into the story.

The deck reads, “It’s an earthly paradise high above Malibu: bible-quoting jocks, virgin sorority sisters, a world-class volleyball team. It even has a decent law school. So why can’t Pepperdine U get any respect?” and is clearly designed to hook readers, who might otherwise pass over a college story with no binge drinking, hazing deaths or rampant rebellion. The cover teased the story with, “Inside the Weird World of Pepperdine,” obviously to sell copies, ignite the buzz and stir up a little “controversy,” which it did.

The meat of the article, however, gives statistics on tuition rates among undergraduate universities — contrasting Pepperdine’s tuition, room and board of about $30,080 a year with UCLA at $3,863 for California residents (almost $10,000 more for nonresidents) plus $7,285 for room and board. This, along with a 1997 survey that found 38 percent of freshmen came from families with incomes in excess of $100,000 a year, the article says, may explain BMWs in the parking lots, fashion wardrobes and the perception that all students are rich.

But the article also allows that 75 percent of students receive some form of financial aid, and the school’s “14 NCAA Division 1 sports teams benefit from some 85 athletic scholarships doled out each year.”

Malibu residents also observe many students who drive compact 4x4s and used pickups to their off-campus jobs in local restaurants and coffee bars.

The article also traces the school’s Christian roots — founded in South Central L.A. by George Pepperdine, “a zealous member of the Church of Christ, a loosely organized group of 18,000 churches with a credo similar to that of Southern Baptists” — that relocated to Malibu in 1972. Its reputation as a right-wing refuge, enhanced when independent counsel Kenneth Starr was offered a dean’s position in the law and public policy schools (which he later declined), has been fodder for satirists, the article points out.

So, nobody disputes any of this. It’s just that students object to the way facts were presented as blurring the line between perception and reality.

And while the school may seem to be at a crossroads, with President David Davenport set to retire next year, the article states, “Christianity is still at the core of the University’s curriculum.” All students must attend 14 religious convocations (for credit) every semester and undergraduates must take three mandatory religion courses.

But facts are just the facts, ma’am, and don’t make very exciting copy, so catchy quotes from some students, mostly grads or dropouts, were played up. That seems to have gotten everyone’s attention.

In a basically pro column in The Graphic, Mark Ross said, “While the article is slanted against Pepperdine, its points are important and need to be examined.” Among them, Ross acknowledges the campus is populated by women but dominated by men, from student leaders to faculty. “Can anyone imagine President Davenport being replaced by a woman?” He adds, “Ethics and humanities teach the equality of all humankind, but women just won the right to pass the Communion tray in church.”

Andrea Alejandro’s column attacked author Jeanne Fay for including so many negative quotes from disgruntled former students, while ignoring the majority of students involved in volunteering and community service.

The Graphic is seeking more student opinions to be published in future editions

They gathered under the name “Malibu Economic Plan Subcommittee,” but some may be more interested in agendas other than economic.

Although economic plans are generally linked to growth and development, members of a public advisory committee spoke out at last Thursday’s meeting at City Hall in favor of a more nostalgic view — a pristine environment and wild, natural beauty.

Marshall R.B. Thompson, a member of the 15-person committee, spoke of the need to preserve “natural state open space.” In addition to parkland, he said, the goal should be to keep the physical state of the land the same as when the Chumash roamed the California coast.

As for a robust economy, Thompson appeared to express the views of the group when he declared: “I do not want to see auto dealers, Macy’s, Fashion Island. I’m opposed to that to my toenails!”

Thompson forecast a world in 15 years in which most retail activity takes place on the Internet. Suggesting that only the beach life is an eternal reality for Malibu, he scored the presence of millions of visitors as an ongoing burden: “Squeeze the hell out of … beachgoers coming to devour our community.”

Sandra Stafford said she wanted Malibu to “stay as it is” and to continue to be “a nice place to live.” But she added, “We don’t want Malibu to go broke.”

Members of the group expressed strong support for a surcharge on parking for the 9 million yearly visitors, even though such an initiative was recently defeated by the voters.

Jannis Swerman, manager of Granita, tempered the anti-outsider sentiment with the observation that half her patrons drive into Malibu.

Mary Lou Blackwood called for a market survey to probe the extent to which Malibuites shop elsewhere. Ozzie Silna said the local community would never support the building of a mammoth shopping center. The question, he said, is whether Malibu invites outsiders to leave their dollars here and in the process degrades the quality of life.

The committee worked on a draft that cited the need to “preserve or enhance the quality of life of area residents” consistent with the city’s General Plan. The plan, adopted in 1995, calls for the “sacrifice of urban and suburban conveniences in order to protect the environment … lifestyle … and the rural characteristics” of the community.

The draft asks the consultant to address who the community serves, the goods and services that are available locally, who buys or uses them, and the goods and services that are not found locally. The draft asks how economically self-sufficient Malibu should be, as well as what additional goods and services are needed to cope with emergencies.

The draft directs the consultant to address a broad range of issues, including roads and mass transit, low-income housing for workers, high performance communications ability, and additional services such as auto repair shops and a farmer’s market.

The city of Malibu is expected to announce this month the hiring of a consultant to prepare an economic plan for the next 15 years. The cost of the project, to be completed within 60 days, is $24,000.