Home Blog Page 6967

A code in the head

By
13StarsManager
-
0

To the Malibu City Council:

All I know is what I read in the paper, and from what I read in the paper I am 1) strongly supportive of Jacobson’s desire to protect the present character of the neighborhood, 2) strongly opposed to Streisand’s desire to erect an out-of-character “my house is bigger than your house” structure on an unbuildable lot and 3) deeply disappointed in the people we have in both the Planning Department and the Planning Commission. Either they are honest people who just fail to realize the inappropriateness (euphemism for stupidity) of the logic they are using to make their decisions, or they are just honestly star struck and overwhelmed by some of the names they can then drop in conversations. In either case, they are just not doing the job of maintaining the character of Malibu.

The foregoing can be said with complete assurance that the developers, the moneyed mansion aspirers and the “property rights” folks will rise up in righteous fury in defense of these planning people. But using the Streisand/Zumirez Drive fiasco as an example of the decision making capability of the planning people, let’s look at what they said and what they did.

The planning director has stated that his role is to enforce a zoning code, but he apparently fails to recognize or realize that every time a variance to code has been granted, a new code has been established. And the same failure is evidenced by the members of the Malibu Planning Commission. When the chairman of the commission wanted to build a house that was not allowed by the code, the code was changed for his benefit — that is, a variance was granted based on: “All I’m asking for is the right to build to the neighborhood standards,” and, “It would be punitive for the commission to reject these plans when it had approved the similar project next door.”

The planning staff and commission do not enforce the code, they are constantly revising the code.

With reference to the Streisand affair, when the planning director says, “If you say no to the 28 feet, you have to identify why that is adverse.” He is wrong. You don’t have to identify anything other than it is not allowed by code.

And his threat that, “You are at risk if you treat her differently than someone else,” also makes me wonder what he really thinks his job to be. If no variances are granted and she is constrained to build to code, where does the risk arise? Of course, I deduce from the articles in the paper that “no variances” would mean that setbacks from the bluff edge and from the lot boundaries would make the lot unbuildable. And if that is true, again, where does the risk arise? When one buys real estate, the purchase does not carry with it an automatic variance to any or all code requirements. It is not the responsibility of either the planning department or the planning commission to revise the code as necessary to allow her to build as she wishes or to allow her to build at all if she cannot build to code.

E. C. Spevak

Dolphin Winners 1990-1998

By
13StarsManager
-
0

Caggiano, Mike 1990

Keller, Walt 1990

Merrick, Judge John 1990

Sheridan, Monsignor John 1990

Van Horn, Carolyn 1990

Wan, Larry & Sara 1990

Zeitsoff, Missy 1990

Mauro, Capt. Don 1990

Cairns, Pat 1990

Edmiston, Joe 1990

Harris, Dr. Jeff 1990

Reynolds, Dr. Susan 1990

Vogler, Maggie 1990

Bloomfield, Ron 1991

Fulton, Ann 1991

Hope, Bob 1991

Jennings, Jeff 1991

Pepperdine Volunteers 1991

Radefield, Paul 1991

Russell, Sandy 1991

Templeman, Reeves & Reta 1991

Banducci, Sandi 1992

Baskin, Harvey 1992

Bateman, Dr. Scott 1992

Benatar, Pat 1992

Blackwood, Mary Lou 1992

Chesterfield, Richard 1992

Crummer, Roy 1992

Demby, Beryl 1992

Frampton, Mary 1992

Keller, Lucile 1992

L.A. Co. Lifeguards, L.A. Co. Fire, L.A. Co. Sheriffs 1992

Weisman, Fred R. 1992

Wolpert, Russ 1992

Barrett, Diane 1993

Brosnan, Pierce 1993

Cooper, Marty 1993

Goldman, Ron 1993

Kouba, Matt 1993

Lemond, Rob 1993

Schlossberg, Carl 1993

Shapiro, Renny 1993

Taki, Beverly 1993

Worth, Rev. David 1993

York, Arnold & Karen 1993

Cameron, Barbara 1994

Charlie Brown’s Malibu Sea Lion 1994

D’Angelo, Maria 1994

Dobyns, Tom 1994

Friends of the Malibu Library 1994

Hove, Faye 1994

Kamath, Mary Kaye 1994

Moore, Lt. Mike 1994

Ryan, Pat 1994

Wagner, Wende 1994

Willson, Shirley 1995

Pierson, Lt. Jim 1995

Spanier, Howard 1995

O’Brien, Doug 1995

Kennedy, Ben 1995

Drobnick, Lou 1995

Hays, Gretchen 1995

Herson, Rabbi Benjamin 1995

Kilday, Ruth Taylor 1995

Loo, Mona 1995

Fakehany, Tom 1996

Foster, David 1996

Jarvis, JoAnna 1996

Kramer, Jeff 1996

Matthews, Mike 1996

Payne, Anne 1996

Stevens, Agnes 1996

Konheim, Lyn & Perenchio, John; Malibu Bay Company 1996

Cott, Phil 1997

Glass, Betty 1997

Grisanti, Sara 1997

Yarnell, Kathryn 1997

O’Connor, Terry 1997

Soloway, Natalie 1997

Dmytryk, Rebecca 1997

Marowitz, Charles 1997

Coatsworth, Honey 1997

Ford, Lee 1997

Hayes, Ronn 1997

Peacock, Rev. Larry 1997

Baldwin, Diane 1998

Ball, Mark 1998

Harlow, John 1998

Maginnis, Jeanette 1998

Stotsenberg, Ed & Dorothy 1998

Sunderland, Maud-Ann 1998

Stern, Laure 1998

Spooner, Paul 1998

Swerman, Jannis 1998

Goldschneider, Alan 1998

Beach tax facts

By
13StarsManager
-
0

Your Dec. 23 article [“City gets wetlands package in exchange for warehouse variance”] reporting on the City Council’s proposed 10 percent parking tax on beach lots was inaccurate.

First, while I did join my four colleagues in voting to place the measure on the April 11, 2000 ballot, I stated at the time I was not endorsing the measure itself.

Second, the council did not designate me to write the argument in favor of the measure, especially given my comment stated above. Nor did the council designate me to write the argument in favor of how such parking tax revenue should be used if passed by the voters.

Thank you for the opportunity to correct the record.

Tom Hasse,

city councilmember

French lessons for the millennium

By
13StarsManager
-
0

This year, my niece and nephew-in-law and their 6-month-old baby traveled from France to join the California part of the family for the holidays. After talking with them about everything from what is perceived here as French fanaticism about food to socialized medicine, I realized there are some huge misconceptions here concerning French culture.

The French, who piqued the Clinton administration by refusing to import our genetically altered foods and dairy products produced with bovine growth hormone and antibiotics, have a whole different idea about food than we do.

To the average French person, eating food is the way of celebrating every event. It’s at the heart of who they are. They have higher expectations than Jacques dans la Boite.

In Paris, they go into Mac Donahlde primarily to use the restrooms (deemed more commodious than those in the average French bistro). Meals, even quick lunches, are not bought through a window or eaten in cars. The supermarche sells organic fruits and vegetables packaged in plastic (there’s an anomaly here), but the greengrocers proudly sell peaches arranged in rows, front row for today, back row for tomorrow.

Farmers are using fewer chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the result is safer produce and cleaner water. “We see now fish are sensitive to that,” my nephew, Dominique, says. “In the Seine, some species we thought were extinct have come back.”

France, which decades ago had a severe paper shortage, has learned to conserve le papier. Public toilettes have electric blowers (nuclear power has replaced fossil fuels) to dry the hands and tiny slivers of papier de la toilette similar to that found in this country only in rural gas stations.

There are no French tree huggers because les forts are well managed. No need to call on the spotted owl to protect them. For every tree harvested, dozens are planted. Greenpeace is active there but concerns itself more with fishing and ocean protection.

To Americans, who are lucky to get a two-week vacation, the French seem to be toujours en vacance. Erin, my niece, who studied in France during her sophomore year at Notre Dame, then returned years later to marry the son of the family with whom she had lived in Angiers, explained, “I arrived with my Puritan work ethic intact, and now it’s gone. I thought they were lazy, always talking about their five-week vacations. Then I realized what’s going on. It’s not negative, it’s positive. That’s family time. In all the years I was growing up here, we only had one family vacation. The French pack up and go off as a family somewhere every year. It’s the opportunity to get away from work responsibilities and get back to their real values. That’s a luxury that can’t be replaced. That’s why the family ties are so strong.”

France developed its socialized medicine without the divisive debate that sunk Hillary Clinton’s more modest proposal. The doctors are not controlled by HMO efficiency and profit motives. There is no problem about doctors limiting time spent with patients. There is no French phrase like the almighty franc. “Erin’s prenatal care and delivery was so incredibly humane,” her mother says. The average hospital stay is five days. Erin had a private room and the baby was in the room most of the time. “They won’t let you go home until the baby is gaining weight, nursing properly and everything is fine.” Tell that to our ill-prepared teen mothers who are kicked out the day after delivery, ready or not. And it has already been decided that in the coming year everyone, regardless of whether they have a job or not, will be covered under their social security program.

Have the French given up any freedoms for all these benefits? Dominique, a Paris policeman, says, “Non.” They have the right to bear arms, but “Only hunters and criminals have them.” All guns are registered. People may use them for hunting and at shooting clubs, target, skeet etc. People do not keep arms for self-protection. The police carry guns but have no more right to use them than the average citizen. The law says you can only shoot someone who is threatening you with a gun. Police cannot shoot a fleeing suspect. There is no French equivalent for “Stop or I’ll shoot.”

While our Supreme Court prepares to revisit the Miranda decision, the French, in the land of libert, egalit, fraternit, have no such protection. You will not hear French TV cops spouting, “You have the right to remain silent … .” Dominique says, “We present ourselves as police officers and our reason for arresting them. “Mettez les mains en l’air” — the French equivalent of “Stick ’em up” — is used only for dangerous suspects. Livre de garde vue is as close as they come to, “Book em, Danno.”

At the police station, the perp is given a written document of his rights by the Officer Police Judiciary, a sort of liaison between the police and the district attorney. The perp may be detained for 20 hours without an attorney, whose job is only to see the prisoner is fed and cared for properly, not to protect him from incriminating himself during interrogation.

For all of that, Erin says, the streets and le metro are safe. “There’s pickpockets and purse snatchers, and sometimes people on the trains doing drugs, but I’ve never feared for my person.” That is because there is very little gratuitous violence. They want your money, but they don’t want to hurt you.

There are no drive-by shootings, although in some quarters, Dominique says, groups of young teens sometimes burn cars.

And morality is viewed differently. Erin said at first she was shocked by what she saw on TV. “They use naked ladies to sell yogurt.” Dominique explains it’s a difference in culture. “Bare breasts do not shock a Frenchman.” Women sunbathe au naturel on their balconies, on the beaches, and no one is offended. In Malibu, you would be arrested. Allez les mains! Book ’em, Danno.

May through August

By
13StarsManager
-
0

May 1999

In a close call for two local daycare center operators and the children who attend those centers, the Planning Commission bowed to a room full of angry parents and unanimously agreed the Wonder Years Day Care Center on Point Dume and the Garden of Childhood in Malibu Park could remain open. Ewing had earlier strictly applied the Zoning Code and turned down the application for the 12-child facilities. “I’m a literalist when it comes to the zoning code,” he said.

The issue was whether parking requirements for businesses apply to residential day care centers. It took a room full of parents with toddlers in tow to unanimously convince the commission it did not.

The Sierra Club held a meeting to drum up support for the tearing down of Rindge Dam. The100-foot-tall dam, located up Malibu Creek, has been in place for the better part of this century. The environmentalists hope tearing down the dam will restore the habitat of the Southern Steelhead trout.

As they have in the past, the proponents of taking down the dam met the opposition of Ron Rindge, for whose grandmother May the dam is named, as well as several residents of Sierra Retreat who feared removing the dam might create a flooding problem in their neighborhood below. State Parks would allocate $1.5 for a feasibility study.

In a move that surprised many, the City Council turned out to be party animals after all and unanimously turned down a proposal that would have sharply limited the size and frequency of parties that residents may have in their homes each year. The Planning Commission had recommended a limit to residents of two parties a year of no more then 50 people, and they wanted locals to obtain temporary use permits for some events. Many complained of governmental overreaching, and the idea died a quick death.

Two local surfers, Simon Kennedy, 50, and Ian Hickman, 36, committed suicide in the parking lot at the top of Corral Canyon. One was found slumped down in the seat of a van and the other was lying in a beach chair. Both had died of gunshot wounds, and two weapons were found.

After more than a year of work and deliberation, the Planning Commission came up with a hillside ordinance that just about asked to take control of everything on the landside of Malibu. Even the City Council balked at passing an ordinance that would have given the Planning Commission as much control as it wanted. It wanted approval rights on house shape, color, lighting, windows, skylights, and trim. Objections were raised to the commissioners becoming arbiters of style, taste and even color of the houses, and questions were raised about whether earth tones meant no white walls and no red roofs, as some commissioners wanted.

Malibu prosecutors filed a five-count misdemeanor criminal complaint against O’Neill and a political action committee called Road Worriers for violations of the Malibu Municipal Code Campaign Finance Ordinance in connection with the April 1998 council race. Ultimately, the complaint was thrown out by a Superior Court judge in Santa Monica because the city had waited too long before acting and the Statute of Limitations on the offenses had run. The city did not appeal the decision.

June 1999

Forty to 50 teachers from Malibu hit the picket lines outside the SM-MUSD board meeting, along with 250 teachers from Santa Monica, to protest the breakdown in contract negotiations. The district, which had enjoyed 12 years of labor relations peace, apparently stumbled a bit when it granted administrators a raise of between 9.5 to 12 percent and then balked at going over 5.75 percent for teachers and 3 percent for substitutes. The matter quickly settled.

Rev. David Worth, pastor of Malibu Presbyterian Church and longtime community leader, left after 23 years. He returned to the church in Illinois where he first began his career, and where he and his wife were married and his children baptized.

Hogin resigned with a total termination package amounting to $227,000. There were varying interpretations as to what the payout meant. The Keller-Van Horn-Hasse group said her leaving and the payment had nothing to do with the campaign finance investigation and lawsuit (which a judge later threw out of court). Councilwoman Joan House had a different view: “If we offer the staff two years pay to leave, I suspect there would be a mass exodus. The amount of money we are using to pay off our city attorney is shameful…”

Actor Robert Downey Jr., whose on-again, off-again battle with drug addiction since age 10 had been the subject of tabloid headlines for years, admitted to Malibu Municipal Court Judge Lawrence Mira he had relapsed into drug usage. Mira immediately revoked his bail and returned him to custody.

The Malibu Bay Company, owned by both the Perenchio family and the Konheim family, had a change of ownership. In a friendly buyout, the Perenchios bought out the Konheim family interests.

July 1999

Annually, Worth magazine ranks the 250 richest towns in America based upon median home prices. This year’s list was once again top heavy with California cities — 13 of the top 20. Malibu finished 54th overall. It seems, however, by counting only single-family homes, Malibu would have been in 23rd place, with a median of $825,000.

The California Regional Water Quality Control Board had been after the city of Malibu to find out whether the city was contributing to the pollution in Malibu Lagoon. The city reluctantly agreed to spend $68,000 on a study of its septic systems but expressed some reservation that the RWQCB already had its mind made up. Hasse told the RWQCB, “Every time we get together, the thing I hear coming from you is the conclusion is already reached … that you just don’t like septic systems and you’re going to continue to study and study and study until you find evidence that septic systems are polluting.”

The first six months of Malibu homes sales in 1999 saw a stunning movement and evaporation of the low end of the Malibu market. Beachfront homes for less than $1 million and landside home for less than $600,000 disappeared from the inventory.

A burgeoning enrollment at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School and the school’s need for more space meant a pink slip was going out to a number of activities that leased space in the Community Center, forcing it to leave or cut back on the amount of space used. The longtime tenants at risk included yoga classes, the Children’s Creative Workshop and the Seniors Club.

August 1999

FEMA announced it was giving the city of Malibu a $150,000 study grant to examine the possibility of flood mitigation in the Civic Center area. Then, it dropped a bombshell and said one of the options for reducing the risk of flood damage in the Civic Center was to restore at least part of the Civic Center’s presumed status as a wetland and then perhaps to tear down some existing development. Segel, president of the Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy, concurred and said, “If we had our druthers, we’d make it all open space.”

Downey’s string finally ran out, and an obviously exasperated Mira sentenced the Academy Award nominee to three years in prison for violating the terms of probation on drugs and weapons charges. “It’s like I’ve got a shotgun in my mouth, my finger on the trigger and I like the taste of gun metal,” said Downey, describing his addiction to drugs.

What had been a relatively crisis-free year changed suddenly when a landslide near Tuna Canyon in eastern Malibu fractured the 30-inch watermain that brings Malibu its fresh, drinkable water. The woefully inadequate storage tanks spaced out over Malibu, which together hold only a 24-hour supply of water, quickly began emptying, and water taps in certain areas of Malibu began to run dry. After the repair of the broken main, it took almost a week to refill all the storage tanks.

1999 in review – January through April

By
13StarsManager
-
0

As the year opened, Walt Keller was sworn in as mayor. It was his third time since 1991, when the city incorporated.

Mayors Past

March 1991 Walt Keller

September 1991 Larry Wan

April 1992 Walt Keller

April 1993 Carolyn Van Horn

April 1994 Jeff Kramer

April 1995 Joan House

April 1996 John Harlow

April 1997 Jeff Jennings

April 1998 Joan House

January 1999 Walt Keller

The 1998 Malibu Times Dolphin Awards for outstanding contribution to the city were given to:

Mark Ball

Diane Baldwin

John Harlow

Jeanette Maginnis

Laure Stern

Ed & Dorothy Stotsenberg

Maude-Ann Sunderland

Destination Malibu and its leaders:

Paul Spooner, Duke’s Malibu

Jannis Swerman, Granita

Alan Goldschneider, Malibu Beach Inn

A Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School district report indicated the Malibu public school population has exploded since 1990. From a low of 1000 students, there are now more than 2000 children in local public schools, which also now includes a high school. Malibu High has 1200 students. Point Dume Elementary School (now called the Marine Science School), which closed in 1980 for lack of students and then turned into the Malibu Community Center, now has more than 200 students. The other elementary schools, Webster and Juan Cabrillo, now each have more than 400 students.

“Don’t plan on a look-at- me house, because that’s not what’s going to get approved,” said Planning Director Craig Ewing, reflecting the overall majority sentiment of the Malibu Planning Commission. Several commissioners wanted to bring most of Malibu under their jurisdiction with a slope ordinance and then limit the homes to those they liked. This seemed to mean the right color house, the right color roof, the approved kind of landscaping and a politically correct architectural style. They even took a shot at limiting the amount of light emitting from each house, but even some of their fellow commissioners balked at that bit of overreaching.

A longtime battle perking just below the surface broke into the open when the California Department of Parks and Recreation, which owns Bluffs Park, where the Malibu Little League ballfields are located, announced,”The fields will eventually have to find a new home.” The statement by Russ Guiney, district superintendent, was apparently designed to nip in the bud any thoughts the city might have about acquiring Bluffs Park permanently.

A 52-year-old Trancas-area woman was arrested for drunk driving on PCH. The sheriff’s report disclosed she had a blood alcohol reading of .33 percent, more than four times the legal limit. Apparently, earlier in the afternoon, she had consumed three gallons of wine.

The Planning Commission decided to let a road repair and paving service remain at the Trancas shopping center after several residents, claiming it was an essential service, came forward to support the business. It seems the city fathers, in their infinite wisdom, had not zoned any part of Malibu for light industrial usage, and neighbors were fearful that during storms or other times of need, outside contractors would not be able to get to Malibu to maintain the many private roads.

The City Council broke down and decided to accept a $24,000 grant from Los Angeles County to fund an economic plan study for Malibu.

February 1999

The City Council Land Use Subcommittee, looking for land for a senior citizens center, heard the hard news from a local Realtor. Average lots of an acre were going for $500,000 in the Point Dume area and for a commercial zoned acre more like $875,000 per acre, which meant the land the Malibu Bay Company was offering for the center was probably worth a million, and the total seven acres they had put on the table in the Trancas area for ballfields and such was worth $6.1 million. So far, the city hadn’t responded, but rumors persisted that there were quiet negotiations underway.

Even though restaurants were still among the top 25 sales tax receipt producers in third quarter 1998, they were hard hit by the landslide and repair at PCH and Las Flores Canyon, which slowed traffic and discouraged many casual restaurant visitors over the prime summer months.

Listed alphabetically

AM PM Mini Mart

Hughes Market

BeauRivage

Malibu Masonry Supply

Becker Surfboards

Marmalade

Charlie’s Unocal

McDonalds

Coogies Beach Cafe Moonshadows

Coral Beach Cantina

PCH Unocal

Cosentinos

Pier View Cafe

Duke’s Malibu

Sav

  • on Drug

Fisher Lumber

Taverna Tony

Geoffrey’s Malibu

Theodore

Granita

Trancas Chevron

HRL Laboratories

Trancas Market

Hughes Aircraft

The City Council met in closed session for the fifth time to evaluate the job performance of City Attorney Christi Hogin, and rumors were flying. The most persistent seemed to be about a move by Keller, Carolyn Van Horn and Tom Hasse to push her into resigning. This raised speculation they wanted to put the city investigation into alleged campaign violations by Remy O’Neill into less aggressive hands. Hogin, made of sterner stuff, gave no indication she intended to quit.

In a sign of shifting political winds and the growing strength in the Malibu political process of families with children, the council unanimously agreed to consider negotiating with Malibu Bay Company for a development rights agreement. The Bay Company wanted to develop its properties in the Civic Center, Point Dume and Trancas areas, and the city was looking for acreage for ballfields and civic improvements like a community center and senior citizens center.

Malibu Realtor Brady Westwater was hot on the trail of Los Angeles writer Mike Davis, whose books “City of Quartz” and “Ecology of Fear” made Davis a worldwide literary celebrity for his bleak, apocalyptic view of Los Angeles. Brady, a leader in the revisionist movement challenging many of Davis’ facts, began to get coverage in the major newspapers and magazines and forced a new look at Davis’ works.

March 1999

The first annual Malibu Film Festival kicked off with a gala party at the Malibu Castle, overlooking the Civic Center. The gala was given by the castle’s new owner, Lilly Lawrence, and was complete with trumpeters and celebrities ranging from Gary Sinise to Mr. Blackwell. The festival honored director John Frankenheimer (“The Manchurian Candidate”) with a Lifetime Achievement Award. It screened entries from independent producers and directors from all over the world in a makeshift festival tent set up on Malibu Lagoon State Beach. Planning immediately began for the sequel.

Malibu political activist Gil Segel, under investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) for alleged campaign violations, was apparently undaunted and launched a new environmental group called the Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy, whose stated purpose was to acquire land for environmental purposes. It was looking at the Civic Center.

The unanimous City Council decision to open negotiations with Malibu Bay Company that might include trading land for development rights in the Civic Center and at Trancas was almost scuttled when Councilmembers Keller and Van Horn had a change of heart. Hasse, who had been pushing the negotiations, stuck to his guns and was able to convince Councilmembers House and Harry Barovsky to go along, so the negotiations were apparently still a go. An ad hoc committee of Hasse and House were to begin meeting with the Bay Company.

While denying they were trying to push Hogin out of her job, the council majority, Keller-Van Horn-Hasse, hired an employment law, sexual harassment and wrongful termination legal specialist from the tony law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to advise them, at the startling rate of $420 per hour.

Webster Elementary School turned the big 50 and looked not very different from when it opened its doors in 1949 to 120 students, a teaching staff of four and six classrooms.

As part of its investigation into possible campaign finance violations during the last City Council race, the FPPC subpoenaed financial records and donor lists from Segel and his Citizens Group, who promptly filed a motion in court to block the subpoenas. Their attorney, Brad Hertz, charged, “The issuance of the subpoenas is in violation of the rights of Malibu citizens, who have never injected themselves into the political campaign process.”

April 1999

After fits and starts, the Bluffs Park playing fields, which had undergone a highly controversial renovation and several rain delays, were ready for the start of Little League season. Even with the fields back in service, there was a shortage of playing fields, and the softball diamonds at Malibu High School were recruited into service. The soccer teams split their play, with half the games at Bluffs Park and half at the high school, if the fields were available.

A 7:30 a.m. blast at Tivoli Cove Condominiums, caused by a leak from a gas fireplace, blew out large windows in two units and narrowly missed some residents. Fortunately in one condo, a family who had moved in only two days before were sleeping on futons because their furniture hadn’t yet arrived from storage. “When gas is leaking, it doesn’t take much of a spark — a light switch, a heater switching on or off, even static electricity,” to ignite the gas, said Fire Capt. Don Schwaiger.

The investigation by the FPPC into the circumstances of the 1998 City Council election took a sudden, unexpected turn with the introduction of the name of megastar and Point Dume resident Barbra Streisand into the controversy.

According to court documents, Segel, a friend and former business associate of Streisand, had obtained a $1000 contribution from the star before the last election, which was allegedly used to purchase five full-page, anonymous ads in the Malibu Surfside News. Attorneys for Segel and the group known as Malibu Citizens for Less Traffic on PCH maintained it was an educational, issue-oriented advocacy group and therefore entitled to keep donors’ names secret, and not bound by Malibu’s $100 campaign limit.

The city’s proposal for a passenger shuttle, an attempt to make peace with the California Coastal Commission, which cited the city for installing “No Parking” signs on Birdview and placing boulders that block access to the Point Dume headlands park, was roundly opposed by local residents at the council meeting.

The council was trying to eliminate parking on Birdview. The passenger shuttle, which would have run 4.9 miles up to the headlands and back, was seen by the neighbors as overkill, and the proposal was cut back significantly. No one was sure if that would satisfy the Coastal Commission and get it to back off its enforcement action against the city.

Realtor Rick Wallace reported the hot market of 1997-1998 continued into this year. The market, which first heated up in spring 1997, kept at a torrid pace for 18 months, with prices rising at about 1 percent per month. The market seemed to rest the last few months of 1998, but a hot economy, a shortage of property and low interest rates had their impact. Prices were once again rising, and sales were brisk.

Unnatural selection

By
13StarsManager
-
0

Without a whimper, on Tuesday last, our august City Council sat back as Councilwoman Van Horn brazenly announced that her choice for representation on the committee to select a new city attorney was Gilbert Segel. If you recall, Gilbert Segel has been under investigation by our prior city attorney and the FPPC for “educational” ads his group (Malibu Citizens for Less Traffic on Pacific Coast Highway) sponsored in the last Malibu election. Some thought the ads were grossly “political.” The city attorney and FPPC investigated and a lawsuit has been filed. Apparently, without benefit of the courts, the eminent Councilwoman Van Horn has decided that Mr. Segel has done no wrong. Or perhaps, an attorney selected by Mr. Segel will have a more expansive view of proper matter for educational advertising.

I call on Councilwoman Van Horn to withdraw her nomination while a cloud of impropriety hangs on her nominee’s head. Alternately, Mr. Segel could refuse to accept the committee assignment.

C.W. Carson

Stating the case

By
13StarsManager
-
0

Arnold York’s editorial “Deja vu All Over Again” [March 4] regarding the ball fields doesn’t really tell the complete story. When he says that the state and Little League worked out a deal to allow the ball fields to stay for a while and then move to Bluffs Park, he forgets to add that that move was also a temporary solution. This was quite clear at the time to all parties concerned and was spelled out in the operating agreement and the coast permit.

Subsequently, since the city’s incorporation, it has also been periodically reminded of this. Unfortunately, it appears that the only action the city has chosen to take is to covet Bluffs Park rather than find its own facility. At election time people running for City Council have also found it convenient to criticize the state rather than do the more difficult work of finding local fields.

Last year the city finally said it would look for its own facility and the state agreed to certain temporary improvements at the park. Then in January the city abruptly changed course and returned to the old scenario of trying to acquire land that the state does not wish to transfer. This is the moment that changed a long standing cooperative effort, and the city, not the state precipitated it.

State Parks has been consistent, open and honest in dealing with the city and community in stating our position on temporary use of the area. Last year we took the initiative in approaching the school district to look for alternative sites. This is something the city should have done a long time ago. Now they are actually going to talk to some landowners about the possibility of acquiring land for local recreational use.

What’s the best Mr. York can make of this? In his editorial discussing the temporary ball fields, he says, “We’d like to hear from anyone else who remembers this old battle.” So, while people involved in PARCS and the council search for solutions, the leadership we get from the Times is to dredge up the past. I suppose that will make good ink for a couple of weeks and let people vent. It is a lot easier than addressing the true issue that Malibu must face, and that is that the city must find recreational facilities of its own.

Russ Guiney,

Angeles District superintendent,

California State Parks

Whose agenda is it, anyway?

By
13StarsManager
-
0

I do not know what City Communications Policy you wrote about last week in your editorial, but it was not the one I authored and the City Council unanimously adopted on May 24.

Contrary to your editorial, the policy I authored does not “gag” anyone. In fact, regarding news media inquiries, it merely memorializes the current practice that has been in operation for over two years. As the city’s chief administrative officer, the city manager may delegate responding to news media inquiries to his staff or contractors, which he has done throughout his two-year tenure. The policy does not require, as your editorial suggested, that department directors (e.g. the public works director, the planning director, etc.) must run to the city manager for permission to respond each time they get a call from the news media. It is a standing delegation of authority that has worked well for over two years. The City Council recognized that fact and formally adopted it as city policy. I have never heard you object to this policy prior to my putting it down on paper two weeks ago.

As for city commissions, committees and advisory boards, the policy directs staff to refer news media inquiries about advisory body business received at City Hall to the chair of the advisory body that is the subject of the inquiry. It does not “gag” the news media from calling other commissioners or “gag” other commissioners from talking to the news media. Again, this policy formally memorializes the current practice.

As to the City Council “personally” seeking to control information flow to the media — in this town? Get real. The communications policy merely reflects the division of labor in Malibu’s city government (policy making: City Council; policy recommending: city staff and advisory bodies; policy implementation: city staff, contractors and consultants) and directs the staff to direct news media inquiries to the appropriate party. It doesn’t direct the news media to do a thing. Last time I checked, the news media were not a part of the city government.

Finally, five more misstatements of fact contained in your editorial need to be corrected. First, the city manager, not the City Council, determines the placement of items on our agenda based on the Council’s Rules of Procedure and Decorum. (I rewrote that resolution last year, too, so you may want to quickly glance at it and distort it beyond all recognition in your next editorial. On second thought, why should you actually start reading city reports, now? Facts just seem to get in the way of your agenda.) Second, the city clerk, not the City Council, makes the copies of council materials available for the public and the press (i.e., any sinister conspiracy to deprive Arnold York of City Council agenda materials goes far beyond the five council members and could be, in fact, a plot involving everyone at City Hall. But honestly, Arnold, you should stop bashing our decent, hardworking city staff. Not everyone is really out to get you). Fourth, a policy (as opposed to an ordinance) does not come back for a second reading. And fifth, your accusation that I slipped my four colleagues a “mickey” to secure their support for this policy is beyond bizarre. It took me two days to find out that “mickey” wasn’t a who but a what — ’30s lingo for a fuzzy-headed drug. This fact would explain your last few editorials, of course.

Oliver Stone sends his best.

Tom Hasse

city councilmember

Beauty of standards

By
13StarsManager
-
0

Ms. Sindell writes about her laments for the loss of Malibu’s eclectic character, and how we now have dictators of taste telling us how our houses should look. Has she noticed how much the current look-alike “in crowd” is affecting the look of Malibu? Expansive seas of Mediterranean houses with red tile roofs greet your eyes as you approach Malibu from Kanan Dume Road, and everywhere else. Profitable, but hardly “eclectic.”

What will we have when the trendy Malibu groupie decides that this is no longer in vogue but is as passe as lip liner and yesterdays’ hemlines and the proper status symbol is back to Craftsman, Tudor or possibly even “cozy?” Maybe energy-squandering, two-story ceilings will be too hard to keep warm. Could the price of water or electricity bother those who have more money than substance or common sense? Is style that important? To paraphrase Rick Wallace’s newspaper article — For some of us, living in Malibu is a trophy, a symbol of the achievement of success.

How sad that the elusive quality of life that Malibu offers is so challenged by a progressive “new moneyed” style of life where biggest is best, while the naive or self-interested driven are whining about “property rights.” How refreshing that a like-minded spirit in the same edition of the paper can be moved to poetry to proclaim appreciation for the simple joys of life Malibu can offer, but which will become subordinate to fame, grandeur and glory if all this continues.

Sadly, too, maybe the fiercely independent Malibu spirit needs to find room for some controls, before nothing is left but a memory for those privileged enough by opportunity and time to remember.

Tara Schwartz

1...6,9666,9676,968...7,113Page 6,967 of 7,113