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Stop swap

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13StarsManager
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It was indeed gratifying to see so many people attend the Malibu Parks and Recreation Master Plan Community Workshop — especially on a Saturday evening! Having a community center — central to Malibu — with all types of sports activities accessible on the same location, seemed to be the aspiration shared by all. How wonderful to think that there could be a place were one could bring their tots, teen, dog and a senior citizen!

Although most seemed oriented to sports (and Little League), it was a pleasure to witness all those who were concerned with having other sorts of activities available, including nature studies. I was unable to congratulate the gentleman who mentioned the need for environmental studies — saying how we all talk about the environment but no let’s learn what to do to preserve the environment! Thanks for that insight! Another thanks to those who realized that not all youths (or adults) are interested in sports, and remembered arts/crafts, music, nature studies, dance/drama, etc. etc. etc.!

The desire for an area where all ages could converge to either enjoy the multiple sports available or utilize one of the many meeting rooms is a worthy need, but how one goes about obtaining this dream needs deep consideration. There were many ideas on how to obtain the land necessary to build this center. I was really shocked to hear among these ideas the mention of using Charmlee as a “land swap deal.” I really don’t think many realize the precious jewel that Charmlee is, nor how to really use Charmlee. We are living in a world of quickly depleting natural resources — where various plants and animals have become an endangered species almost overnight. I’ve envisioned Malibu becoming an environmental conscious role model for the rest of California. It takes thousands of years for nature to unfold a place of beauty such as Charmlee. It only takes a short time to destroy the same place!

Although meant to be a positive input, it surprised me that the equestrians were among the group that came up with the ridiculous idea of swapping a nature preserve — Charmlee — which should be cherished as possibly being the only piece of natural land around for further generations, for a sports area! The equestrians supported the purchase of Charmlee and by the evidence of horse prints and manure on the trails, still enjoy its quiet magic. I have witnessed state-owned land being neglected — such as the Headlands at Cliffside. Putting in the wooden access and view deck may have been a great idea, but people have abused the area tremendously. Polls and fences have been knocked down, with footprints and garbage all over the stretch that has been reseeded. It’s interesting how those areas are maintained by the local citizens and are in better condition! So before taking any action, please consider carefully all the implications involved when swapping land with the state!

Having Charmlee Nature Preserve is a privilege for Malibu. I urge everyone to discover its charms for themselves. I challenge you, Ms. Walter, to put on some hiking boots and walk along one of the trails — listening, feeling and smelling nature. No need to worry about getting lost — the trails are easy to follow. Then a hike for the rest of the city employees should be organized. Perhaps then you all will realize the importance of not letting this gem slip through your fingers.

I look forward to the next workshop.

A. DeClario

Perspective customer

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13StarsManager
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A letter to Mike Matthews, the school board and community:

Although I agree that a tragedy may have been avoided at Malibu High School recently, we should keep this all in perspective. My daughter is a straight A student at your school so I believe I have some perspective in raising a good child. Not only is she an excellent student, she is an inspiration to those who know her. Morality and discipline are the difference.

I was never a good student like my daughter, in fact I may have been a bit of a trouble maker in the 1970s. One day I went hiking in the hills above my high school. I caught a rattlesnake and brought it back to school in a box. When word got out about the snake one of my teachers went to his car and pulled out a loaded .44 magnum. He found me with the snake, took it from me, threw it on the ground and shot it three times.

Nobody thought this was odd at the time and neither of us got into any trouble over this incident. The point of this letter is to give anyone a bit of perspective on how dramatically things have changed in only 25 years. As for the boy who brought the gun to Malibu High, I thank God he didn’t use it. I am not as worried as most parents because in the end he made the choice not to use the weapon. On the other hand the young man who kicked the other boy senseless as he helplessly lay on the ground does worry me, I hope the rest of you can see the difference.

Morality and discipline for all intents and purposes cannot be taught without religion. Religion cannot be taught in school, so everyone shrugs their shoulders and hope draconian punishment and expulsion works. This only works for the smart kids. No amount of punishment works for a troubled or slow child. So many parents are afraid or incapable of teaching their children morality and discipline that we have to take this young man away from his family for years, take away much of his future and pay for his care in prison while he learns to hate society. All of this because he broke a law that theoretically was supposed to be a constitutionally protected right that our founding fathers thought most everyone would have the moral discipline to honor.

Steven Bard

Celebrity newlyweds to build blufftop cottage

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13StarsManager
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James Brolin and Barbra Streisand won the approval of the Malibu Planning Commission Monday to build their new two-story residence on a bluff in Point Dume.

By some estimates, the 28-foot-high house on Zumirez Drive contains a total space of 11,000 square feet, including a detached garage and two basements. The structure will be set back 75 feet from the bluff’s edge. The beach below the bluff is the only one in Point Dume owned by residents of the neighboring street. Neighbors spoke of the danger of landslides and sloughing — problems associated with existing groundwater or excessive irrigation.

Ordinarily, development on blufftop property must be kept 100 feet from coastal scrub. Absent a variance, most of the lot would have been rendered unbuildable.

Architect Robert Schachtman said the basement is needed to store Streisand’s show-business memorabilia. He said the house will sit on caissons and the basements will be excavated without heavy equipment. He also outlined a narrowing of the house that took place in planning and a move toward the streetside of the lot.

Neighbors warned the project is simply too large. Some claimed Streisand may have some commercial or business purpose for the structure.

The plans include demolition of an existing, much smaller home on the site. The plans also include the construction of a new, 6,420-square-foot home with a 4,246-square-foot basement and a new, detached, 429-square-foot garage with a 400-square-foot basement. The new home replaces one that sits within 49 feet of the edge of the bluff.

At a sparsely attended meeting, the commissioners voted 3-1 to approve the project. They accepted assurances from city staffers that the bluff was sufficiently stable to hold the structure. A handful of neighbors claimed the city had failed to give proper notice of the meeting. They testified the typical home in the neighborhood is 3,000 square feet and the new “mansion” will be out of character. City staff described the issue as one of height, and said the structure conforms to its neighbors at 28 feet. The vote to approve included a requirement the house use earth-tone materials to disguise its bulk.

Commissioner Ken Kearsley cast the sole dissenting vote, saying the “well has been poisoned” by the staff’s flawed report. He claimed the staff erred in analyzing the neighborhood to include bluffside areas as far as two miles away, while discounting the immediate neighborhood of smaller ranch homes. “Celebrities come and go and their compounds remain,” he said, paraphrasing a quote concerning celebrity walls in Malibu. The quote is attributed to fellow commissioner Ed Lipnick, who is vacationing in Italy.

Eric Jacobson, the owner of a neighboring property, testified the site is already the smallest lot on the street and it will contain the most house in terms of height and bulk. He warned the city planners ignored the “relaxed rural character” of the street and granted significant variances, including a 26 percent reduction in the size of the front and side yards. He called for changes in the plan including “less excavation and less risk” to the beach.

“I worry about mansions going up one by one and having it look like Orange County,” said neighbor Gayle Tyerman, who lives across from the property. Calling for a deed restriction securing a commitment to a residential purpose, she claimed it was common knowledge the applicant’s last home was used as a site for film editing. “This applicant’s history precedes her,” she said.

Commissioner Jo Ruggles dismissed Kearsley’s criticism of the staff as “grandstanding” — an apparent allusion to his race for City Council in the April 2000 election. She questioned whether special conditions should be attached to this home application, rather than change the zoning code prospectively to deal with underlying problems.

Although she cast a vote to approve, Commissioner Charleen Kabrin questioned whether the house will add to groundwater problems. She claimed, based on her observations on the day of the hearing, water seeps from the bluff onto the beach below and the source is uncertain. She questioned whether the approval should be delayed pending additional study on whether the seepage or “daylighting” stems from excessive irrigation, or from groundwater. The “gut level concern,” she said, is that seepage encourages vegetation to grow along the sides of the bluff, thereby undermining its stability. “I’m uncomfortable without knowing more. I need to know that this was considered.”

Planning Chair Andrew Stern said no one can argue a water problem stems from this one property. “I have to rely on the professionals,” he said, endorsing the staff reports.

City planner Craig Ewing warned of “unequal treatment” to these applicants and said policy changes should be effected through zone text amendments.

Kearsley discounted concerns about the basement, and said for purposes of the Planning Commission’s inquiry, if you can’t see the basement, it’s as if it’s not there.”

Glenn Michitsch, an assistant to the city’s planning director, pegged the new home at 6795 square feet. He said the average figure for blufftop residences was 5,337 square feet and therefore “close enough that the neighborhood character has been preserved.”

Tivoli condos get early morning drenching

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13StarsManager
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At 2:30 a.m. last Thursday, a 10-wheeler dump truck, carrying a load of ground asphalt from a Caltrans construction site, wreaked havoc on the residents of Tivoli Cove Condominiums, a large, oceanfront condo development just north of Corral Canyon.

The truck, on Pacific Coast Highway headed toward Santa Monica, drifted into the shoulder, for reasons unknown, and went over the edge of the road, spun around and broke a 12-inch water main, which began disgorging roughly 5000 gallons per minute down the hillside.

Many residents were awakened by several loud bangs, and then the building shaking. As described by Courtney Shane, 22, a Santa Monica College student, and a 2-1/2-year resident of the complex, living in a condo close to PCH, “At first it sounded like an earthquake or a large tree falling. There were several loud thumps and then a final crash.” Later, when she walked the scene, she said she could see where the truck had jumped the curb, laying down skid marks, hit and tore up a pole with a 3-1/2-foot concrete base, hit and broke open the water main, hit a second pole, then the bushes and a fence and a tree, knocking over the tree, its progress halted by another tree.

The break in the 12-inch water main, which is the principal water supply to western Malibu, sent a geyser 55-60 feet into the air, and then the water ran rapidly straight downhill into the complex, filling up some of the condominiums with water and then spilling over into the garages below. Emergency 911 calls brought emergency fire and sheriff’s help but the water shut-off people didn’t arrive for several hours. It was roughly 7:30 a.m. before the water was finally shut off and the repairs could begin.

In the interim, water came through the walls, down the hill and stairs, and into the common areas, overflowing the pool and the Jacuzzi and filling some condos and common area with water that was ankle to calf deep, and spilling over into the garages and down the multibuilding, multilevel condominium project. Some occupants desperately tried to move out their belongings to higher levels in their multilevel condos and to barricade the door opening but the volume of water soon overwhelmed them, despite their best efforts.

The damage could have been worse, but according to Tivoli Cove Home Owners Association President Judi Holden, she said at the meeting that she’s grateful to the fire department for working so tirelessly to shore up the Tivoli Cove area with sandbags. “God bless the Fire Department,” said Holden, noting firefighters had just returned from Pacific Palisades battling a blaze hours earlier.

At a meeting Saturday, following the Thursday episode, 20 residents met with city officials and the Red Cross to work out a plan to manage the event. Damages were roughly guestimated at $1 million plus, and that figure was expected by many to climb significantly higher as the full extent of the event was unearthed.

At the Saturday meeting, city Emergency Services Coordinator Hap Holmwood said they were looking into why it took five hours to get an emergency waterworks crew to turn off the water after the calls had been made to the County DPW Hotline.

Brightening the day

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13StarsManager
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It is with great pleasure that I thank Pepperdine University’s Volunteer Center for the amazing help offered to our school and many others.

On “Step Forward Day,” over 15 students, as well as Crest Associates staff and administrators, showed up early on a Saturday morning smiling and willing to clean, paint, weed and help organize, as needed, for a new school year.

This was a great gesture of Malibu hospitality for a newly arrived principal and a wonderful boost, which benefited almost 300 students and their 14 grateful teachers.

Cynthia Gray

principal

Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School

Another perspective

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13StarsManager
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Re: gun and bomb incidents, week of Oct. 4-8

Dear Malibu High School parents,

Last time we met in this auditorium, we met about sexual education. Violence and illicit sex are virtually the same issue because they both emanate from hatred, as do drug and alcohol indulgence. I work on a weekly basis with young and old that are self-admittedly infected with hatred, and I have heard repeated testimony for years that these four are symptoms are of the same.

Our society is riddled with hatred. Our marriages, friendships, and business relationships are ruled by secret and open judgment. Rarely do you see a discerning person that can stand still and talk about problems without becoming self-righteously emotional. Emotion clouds the ability to see things as they are and renders one helpless in making the right decisions.

Children are not born haters. They learn this from their environment — predominantly their parents. A few impatient moments (evidence of hatred) can implant themselves in a child and he or she soon learns to hate. The slightest pressures from anywhere — school, to get grades; sports, to excel; peer pressure, to live up to peer expectations — can cause a child to hate. Any signs of impatience, anger, frustration or upset are signs that something is gravely wrong, now. It must be addressed with love, patience, and understanding, for as long as it takes to resolve it — sometimes months or years.

The measure of a parent’s love is to what lengths he or she will go to attend to their child. A parent must face his or her responsibility to become the person that he or she is ultimately meant to be. Divorce, affairs, alcoholism and drugs are not options because children see clearly at age 6 the hypocrisy of a parent’s actions and this, in itself, carries deep hatred in a child.

We have become a society of mutated human beings. We were not meant to function as haters of one another. Disease, mental illness and premature death are side effects of this behavior. We must investigate hatred — as the ultimate cause of all problems — as a group, identify it, learn as adults how to deal with it and, in turn, teach our children. But instead of discerning hatred and merely observing it, we deal with it by hating back. By not hating back, by withholding your emotional reaction, you expose the hater for what he really is.

The school is the last bastion of protection for each child. The protection is as good as its weakest link (the child with the most hate). I brought the hatred issue to Mr. Matthews’ attention two years ago. He acknowledged the problem but has done little to effectively deal with it. Wisdom is the ability to see what’s down the road and act on it. I heard very little last Tuesday night that led me to believe that the Malibu High administration has an understanding about the cause and resolution to this problem. I believe that the above is evidence that I have an understanding of the problem. I am prepared to bring experts to the Governance Council and the school to deal with it effectively.

Forrest Stewart

"Let them eat cake"

By
13StarsManager
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Are we politicizing our children when we expect they’ll be able to go to school safely?

Are we politicizing our children when we expect them to be able to learn in an atmosphere where there aren’t any guns present?

Are we politicizing our children when we expect them to have a school and a place to be able to go after school — a park, a community center, a skateboard park — or to be able to take part in a recreation program where there is an adult present and some supervision?

All of those things are part of what government does — education, public safety, recreation facilities and community support. Sometimes government does it alone, sometimes it does it in tandem with other agencies, but its job is to provide leadership to the community, or why bother to have it. Do we really need someone just to cut a ribbon at the opening of a boutique, or to introduce at a service club, who then spends all of his or her time and energy and all of our money and staff resources on just one thing, land use?

Well, I read Anne Soble’s editorial in last week’s Surfside News, and I disagree and disagree vehemently. It’s not just her opinion I disagree with, it’s more than that. It’s an attitude shared by several on the City Council and some in the community that the only purpose of our government is to control land use, and nothing else has any importance.

Let me point out what’s been happening in our community in the last decade. In 1990, we had roughly 1000 kids in our schools, while today we have more than 2000. There are more than 2000 kids involved in sports and not enough fields to play on, in fact not enough of anything. The schools are bursting at the seams. New families are moving in every day.

Anne seems to think that it’s just not the job of government to provide for these kids. She writes, “Local government is increasingly being asked to assume some of the tasks that families and private groups once militantly fought to keep out of the public sector.” I assume she means we simply should send our children to private schools, or build our own parks and send our kids off to camp every day so they won’t get in the way. Then, she and her friends can get down to the serious business of government, like land use and development, which somehow also means dictating the colors of our house, the height of our trees and the wattage of our outside lighting.

Well, I don’t think those citizens who are concerned about our schools, or lack of community center, or places for the seniors to go, or absence of recreation and parks facilities are, as Anne describes it, people “asking” the public sector instead of “doing” for themselves and their own children.

This is our town, our government and our tax dollars. If we can’t tell our council what we want and expect, what the hell do we need them for?

Despite what Anne may believe, I don’t see the government dispensing largess when it spends our money, the stewardship of which is entrusted to it to spend in our interest. I’ll be damned if any of us should have to go to our government, hat in hand, to say, “Please sir, may I have more soup?”

Council OKs term limits initiative

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13StarsManager
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With the April 2000 election approaching, the City Council last week revisited term limits and campaign financing, issues that topped the agenda and seemed to provoke the most partisan debates.

The council agreed 3-2 to place on the ballot a term limits measure, previously introduced by Councilman Tom Hasse. The measure will allow voters to resolve whether elected officials should be limited to two terms totaling eight years.

Hasse said it would not apply retroactively to sitting members of the council. He explained that the measure fulfills one of the promises he made during his campaign for the council, and he said the issue was not intended to target any of his colleagues: “I’m sorry that this debate has been taken personally by some people. It was not meant to be personal.”

Harry Barovsky announced his opposition to term limits, but cast the deciding vote, along with Hasse and Councilwoman Joan House, to place the matter on the April 2000 ballot. He said he strenuously objects to the underlying measure and will campaign actively against it. “The electorate in Malibu is not stupid,” said Barovsky. “Let the people decide … exercise their intelligence.”

Mayor Carolyn Van Horn denounced the proposal as arbitrary and said it would lead to chaos — adding to the difficulty in convincing capable people to serve in city government. She warned that those who favor a clean sweep ignore the fact that change must be gradual and linked with history and continuity. She concluded the measure would feed the public’s negative attitude toward public service.

Councilman Walt Keller said he tried not to take the debate personally but took offense at a reference in the ordinance to a class of career politicians. He said the measure is both insulting and unnecessary, and will serve only as a distraction for the voters.

Most of the comments during the debate related to language lifted from a statute enacted by the city of Dana Point. A preamble declared, “Increased concentration of political power in the hands of incumbent representatives has made our electoral system less free, less competitive and less representative.” The draft ordinance also said an unfair advantage in favor of incumbents “discourages qualified candidates from seeking public office and creates a class of career politicians.” The measure asserted that career politicians become “representatives of the bureaucracy.”

Before the vote, Barovsky stripped what he described as “the offending verbiage” and dictated new language stating that no person shall be elected for more than two consecutive four-year terms. House urged the word “consecutive” be dropped, and Barovsky agreed. The two terms could then be separated by any number of years. The two-term threshold would then trigger a lifetime ban.

Hasse stated because terms to the council are staggered, the measure would never lead to a clean sweep. There would always be continuity, with “veterans serving with new blood,” he said. Addressing the new language, he said the measure would not apply to someone appointed to fill a vacancy on the council.

The split within the council emerged again on a draft of changes to Malibu’s campaign regulations, contained in Article II, Chapter 10 of the city code. Hasse maintained the contribution disclosure features have worked well. He acknowledged that candidates who spend the most money were often not among the top vote getters. The problem, he said, is how to regulate those committees not under the control of a candidate.

Barovsky said it was not possible to fashion a law to cover all contingencies. He called the city’s past effort to enforce the statute a debacle that cost in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. He asked that the measure be shelved or that it be made simple. He suggested the electorate will learn “to separate the wheat from the chaff.”

House called for a “code of ethics.” But Keller declared, “We can’t legislate ethics and morality.”

Acting city attorney Richard Terzian, noting some overlap with California state law, observed that in-kind contributions, such as hosting a barbecue for a political candidate, are reportable under the state requirements. He noted the possibility that the council might consider having no statute at all.

Barovsky said he did not want to see another citizen forced to spend $45,000 to mount a defense to charges under the law. House remarked that some of the proposal is too complex, but Hasse warned that simplicity won’t solve the problems. He insisted the council must be prudent and keep those aspects of current law that are working.

The members agreed to give Terzian another chance to draft a “red-lined” version to be brought back to the council in two weeks and to be listed as “old business.” At one point in the debate, Barovsky quipped that he would not be running for office again without first speaking with his psychiatrist.

And yet another

By
13StarsManager
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Last week at Malibu High there was a gun incident and a bomb scare all in one week. A Town Hall meeting was called at Malibu High School to discuss the incidents. The administration and the Sheriff’s Department laid the blame for the incident on a Friday night party at the beach that allegedly involved drugs and alcohol.

For years in Malibu, we have seen the likes of the no-growth Neanderthal mentality espoused by the likes of Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn. Now the chickens have come home to roost.

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking to a Walnut city councilman named Larry Waldie. He proudly told me that his city built a teen center, a senior citizen center and a community center in their community. What has our City Council done since cityhood came to Malibu? They have let the pier lie idle for approximately three years because of all their infighting on how to develop it. They have thwarted the development of the Civic Center. In the process, they have forced Malibu residents to go to movie theaters in Agoura, Thousand Oaks and Santa Monica. They have likewise forced Malibu residents to shop outside of Malibu.

We need a teen center in Malibu. We need a functioning pier to give our young folks something to do. We need a senior citizens center where our senior citizens can socialize.

There is nothing wrong with having a bowling alley, an ice skating rink, amusement rides on the pier and other activities for our teen-agers to become involved in our community.

I hope everyone in Malibu will think about the incident at Malibu High, and the lack of activities for our young people to engage in, when City Council elections come around next year. For too long our total focus in Malibu has been to thwart growth and to stabilize rents at the mobile home parks in Malibu. We have totally ignored the wishes, the desires and the interests of our young people in Malibu. Let us spend some time on the needs of our young people in our community before we have other incidents.

J. Patrick Maginnis

We like Mike

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13StarsManager
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I am disheartened by some of the latest editorials and letters to the editor. It is so easy to criticize and blame people. We forget about being thankful for all the good they do, how much they serve and sacrifice for others. One of the people I am speaking about is Mike Matthews. I don’t know Mr. Matthews personally, but I feel like I know him very well because I see who he is and what he does, not only through my own eyes, but through the eyes of my children. Mike Matthews is a man they admire and respect and think is doing an amazing job. They are not alone in this opinion. All of their friends who are students at Malibu High School feel the same way. I am sure the serious incidents that happened at school last week will bring another barrage of complaints and letters to the editor asking why Mike Matthews isn’t out there searching every student for weapons or personally installing metal detectors at the entrance of classrooms. I know I am not alone in realizing what a great job Mike Matthews is doing. I hope I am not alone in thanking him for it. Mr. Matthews, I don’t want you out directing traffic or frisking students as they enter the school. I want you just where you are, in the classroom and in the school, teaching and inspiring my children. If you happen to hear a horn honk at 5 a.m. when you are in your office correcting voluminous essays from your students, giving immediate response to parents’ concerns and questions, going over building plans, or only dealing with the thousands of details in the administration of our school, it’s just a thankful mother driving to work knowing her children are in the best hands possible with you at Malibu High School.

Carla McCloskey

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