Council accepts plan to limit construction noise
Local contractors presented their proposal for reducing the impact of construction projects to a receptive City Council Monday. The plan, drawn up with city staff, was adopted unanimously by the council.
It includes a new “Good Neighbor Policy” that calls on contractors to limit noise and debris at construction sites, and to keep neighbors informed of the scope and duration of a project. Signs will also be posted at construction sites alerting residents of a hot-line number that they can call with complaints.
The Malibu Contractors Association prepared the policy with the Department of Building and Safety after a group of residents requested the council to impose a Saturday construction ban. But rather than enact a ban, the council asked the association to draft its own self-policing method to limit the impacts of construction activities.
The association also agreed to a cutback in the permitted hours of construction on Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Currently, construction is permitted six days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
At Monday’s meeting, association members said they will be vigilant in enforcing the new Good Neighbor rules, so the issue of a Saturday construction ban does not resurface.
Scott Halley said he will personally visit job sites to educate contractors who are playing their radios too loud or not keeping a site clean.
“We’re going to say, ‘Hey dude, you’re going to wreck it for everybody,’ ” he said.
In other matters, the council approved a franchise agreement with Metricom, Inc. to install radio transmitters for high-speed Internet services.
The shoebox-sized transmitters will sit atop approximately 140 telephone and utility poles, and will power the system for Malibu subscribers, providing a wireless alternative to telephone modems that require telephone connections.
Metricom plans to have the system up and running by the end of the year. Basic service for subscribers will cost $29.95 a month.
The council also appointed the following members to the Malibu Economic Plan Advisory Committee. Each council member was permitted to name three appointments.
Councilman Harry Barovsky chose John Wall, Jannis Swerman and Mary Lou Blackwood;
Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Van Horn chose Sam Kaplan, John Musante and Ozzie Silna ;
Councilwoman Joan House chose Rich Davis and Bill Niles, third member to be determined;
Councilman Tom Hasse chose Sherman Baylin and Grant Adamson, third member to be determined; and
Mayor Walt Keller chose Marshall Thompson, Tom Lubisich and Sandra Stafford.
A place to put their cans
I read with shock and disbelief the article in last week’s Malibu Times concerning the lack of any recycling plan at Pepperdine University. It is incredible to understand why Pepperdine currently has no such plan.
With all the forward-thinking academics on campus, one would think they would have been at the forefront of implementing some sort of campus-wide recycling plan long ago with not only the environment in mind but the community of which they are a part. I applaud the students of the university’s Environmental Law Society, who obviously possess an admirable social conscience. It is time for law school dean Richardson Lynn, the university’s executive vice president Andrew Benton and the other powers-that-be at Pepperdine to establish and put into effect a recycling plan without further delay.
Kathy Penner
Mission control
Although I appreciate the coverage of my attendance at the Albert Schweitzer International Conference, the reference to Schweitzer as a missionary doctor is a grievous error but a label often ascribed to him, despite his more vast accomplishments. A missionary’s goal is diametrically opposed to Schweitzer’s philosophy of Reverence for Life.
Schweitzer had earned four doctorate degrees: in music, philosophy, theology, all earned before the age of 30. He was world eminent as an organist, musicologist and philosopher before earning his fourth degree in medicine at the age of 38.
He was a theological radical and had to promise the Paris Missionary Society that he would not preach when he went to Africa in 1913 under their auspices as a medical doctor.
Among the criticisms of Schweitzer was that he did not modernize the hospital or change tribal customs. Reverence for Life means respect for others and Schweitzer told me he was in Africa as a guest and not to induce European ways.
Schweitzer was influenced by Eastern philosophies, particularly Jainism and Buddhism. Many religions claim him but he appealed to me as an agnostic humanitarian with an ethical devotion to Reverence for Life. Anything that preserves, enriches, heals life, is good. That which destroys or intrudes on life is bad.
I have interviewed missionaries for various articles in Gabon, Addis Ababa, Gondar, Israel, Germany, England, Japan and the United States. Some were sincere and provided helpful goods and services. But like a TV commercial, they were selling something and the bottom line was to convert people to Christianity, often with the threat that people were damned if they didn’t. I oppose this arrogant cultural intrusion as I’m certain Schweitzer would.
Schweitzer’s legacy is his inspiration to others who have opened hospitals and perform good deeds all over the world in the spirit of Reverence for Life, who accept people where they are for themselves. The bottom line is to accept and do good, not convert someone to satisfy a personal agenda.
That is why Schweitzer was a great humanitarian, not a missionary doctor.
Donald M. Desfor, Ph.D.
Granita celebrates Hollywood at home
Gems fit for a queen dangled from necklines, yards of taffeta bustled from bottoms and wisps of chiffon fluttered in the breeze. As the sun began to set, the stars were ready to shine, making their pilgrimage to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for the 71st Annual Academy Awards. The limos lined up while a breathless battalion of entertainment crews got ready to fawn and gush over red carpet arrivals.
Here at home, those who couldn’t make it to the Super Bowl of movie making held their own Oscar bash at Granita. They started early Sunday evening watching the spectacle from big screen TVs while sipping champagne and savoring Wolfgang Puck pizzas.
Jannis Swerman, a Swifty Lazar veteran from Spago, presided over the party, the third annual at this location. “It’s become a real neighborhood event,” she said. “It’s just a fun evening for everyone.”
Between bites of smoked salmon galette and observations like “What’s up with that hairdo?” they marked their ballots and argued for their favorites. Deirdre Higgins made a case for “Elizabeth” while casting her votes. “I thought it was so romantic, and the cinematography was incredible,” she said. “Saving Private Ryan” was the top choice for Bob Christiansen. “It affected me more than any other movie,” he explained. “It was like being there.”
The room burst into applause at the mention of local nominees like Ed Harris, who was up for best supporting actor in the “Truman Show.” Harris went home empty handed, with the Oscar going to James Coburn for “Affliction.”
Nick Nolte lost out to Roberto Benigni. Nolte did not get the gold for best actor but described a win by co-star Coburn as “the next best thing.”
Unlike last year when James Cameron’s “Titanic” sailed off with just about everything in sight, this year’s tally turned out to be a real grab bag. For the first time in a decade, the film that won best director (Steven Spielberg) failed to win best picture (“Shakespeare in Love”).
Oscar watchers laughed and cheered during the program’s most memorable moments — notably, when actor Benigni stole the show. After winning best foreign film, he bounced over chairs and hopped to the stage like an adorable, over-animated bunny. His film, “Life is Beautiful,” snagged three awards including best actor and best dramatic score. Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” won five statues, but “Shakespeare in Love” conquered all with seven little gold men.
The greatest fashion show on earth yielded few flops with not much in the way of tennis-shoe-and-tuxedo or Barbie-does-burlesque combinations. The stars disappointed critics by showing up in tasteful, high-glamour gowns and elegant up-dos.
All except host Whoopi Goldberg, who pranced out in comic interpretations of best costume design.
She kicked off with Queen Elizabeth, vowing to return her gown to Elton John and huffing that she “hadn’t taken her dress off this many times” since her first audition.
After the four-hour show and parties featuring everyone from Monica Lewinsky to Jesse “the body” Ventura, the stars went to their cars and got ready to hang up their Halstons for another year.
Even though the night honored few hometown heroes, the guests at Granita enjoyed a jolly good time. Most have been around long enough to know that Oscar can be unpredictable. Every year, one man’s disappointment is another man’s triumph. Or, as Benigni would say, “It’s tragedy, it’s joy, it’s a lot like life.”
Why a Hogin hunt?
It appears that certain council members are trying to intimidate and harass the very capable Ms. Hogin into leaving. She is ethical. She is fiscally responsible. She is a role model. Many of us support her and do not condone our council’s decision to spend over $400 an hour to blatantly go after her.
While it is certainly within their rights to hire and fire the three positions noted, it is reprehensible to conduct a witch hunt — which this is starting to look like. What exactly is she being accused of?
Enough already.
Karen Gray
Where will the children play?
Friends who grew up in my neighborhood, Big Rock, tell me when they were in elementary school they descended the cliff to PCH, strolled across it and bought loads of candy for a dollar at a market long gone. They then hitchhiked through Malibu visiting friends and frolicked unsupervised until dark.
Today, my children still hike the mountain trails and play in the tide pools. I want to give my children the best nature has to offer. However, I also want to provide them with the character building life lessons one derives from team sports.
Child experts assert that children who are engaged in quality after-school sports programs are least likely to engage in criminal and sexual behavior and most likely to succeed in academics. Most youth sex and crime occur in the hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.. Some 70 percent of families with children have two working parents, so after-school hours are often spent in day care, at home alone or in supervised sports activities.
Children live in Malibu. That is a fact. Apparently, it is a sad fact to some. Perhaps they are merely sad that children cannot be raised as they were in the old days. Today’s parents are sad about that, too. However, if we tried it, we would endanger their lives. We cannot even let our children go alone into a public restroom, for fear they will be molested and/or have their throats slit.
Some think parents who desire both natural, wild places and recreational parks should move. Trust me, you don’t want us to move. We are the foundation and the leaders of Malibu. Some have lived here since birth. Some moved here recently. Either way, without us, this town would come to a standstill.
We are mothers who ferry local elderly to the doctor and grocery. We cook for sick neighbors. We parents run the schools; we volunteer in classrooms, fund raise and found community service programs to teach our children how to care for their fellow man and our environment. We train children and adults in sports, drama, painting. We fill the churches and operate their outreach programs. We found and operate nonprofits for local and national causes. We own and staff the local businesses that provide necessary services to the people who live here. We donate things from our businesses to local charities. Those Malibu Dolphin Award winners? Many are parents with children who play sports.
We mothers and fathers voted slow growth, look with dismay at the giant compounds and high walls, and loathe the idea of more shopping malls and the traffic they’ll bring. We wish the state would give us Bluffs Park, but it wants to restore the land and make it available to all for hiking. We don’t disagree; we just wish we could still have ball fields somewhere. Some wish for a combination bird sanctuary/wetlands/natural sewage leach field — and ball park — where the Malibu Bay Company wants to put a shopping center. We wish the company would just go away and donate all its land to Malibu.
Yet, there is no legal way around the fact our land is so expensive only developers can afford to own it. To cover costs and make a profit, they develop, not preserve. We, The People, could have solved our problems by floating a bond and authorizing the city to buy out the developers on our behalf. However, the majority spoke through a survey and said that though they like nature, they don’t like it enough to actually spend any of their own money to preserve it. Plan B seems to be to stall and end up in court, where the city would lose the battle to shut down the company, though if it is lucky, it might force the company to build a few less stores. The new land trust does not have the money to buy the land. Even if it did, the developers don’t want to sell and they don’t have to sell to a private entity.
Presently, Malibu Bay Company is willing to give 12 acres to the children in exchange for the city approving their plans and foregoing expensive litigation. These plans, we understand, conform with the requirements in the community-created General Plan. We should look carefully at this deal to be sure it is really in our best interests as well as the developer’s. We should listen, learn and work together to avoid permanent mistakes.
I wonder, though, after observing some Malibuites’ poor sportsmanship, if there are those who should join a team sport before engaging in further dialogue about our community’ s future. It seems some may need to build the character necessary to play nicely with others, to learn all team members must be included, to work towards a common goal with people who are different, to understand you just cannot pick up the team ball and go home if things aren’t going your way and/or insist you are the only one who gets to use the field when there are lots of children who also wish to play. Maybe we all need children’s parks after all. Friends, would you like to play? Our future depends upon it.
Deirdre Roney
Students seek to bring recycling to Pepperdine
Over the past year, some Pepperdine students have set out to change the university’s ways. They’re on a crusade to bring recycling to the campus.
While recycling is fairly workaday in modern American life, the university has never implemented a comprehensive campus recycling program. And that means that pounds and pounds of recyclable trash produced by the 7,900-student body population – like Diet Coke cans, Snapple Iced Tea bottles and student newspapers – head to a designated landfill.
A group of undergraduates last year started a letter-writing campaign to university administrators asking them to implement a recycling program. Students from the law school’s Environmental Law Society proposed a recycling plan complete with information on the size and placement of recycling bins. One member, Ban Alwardi, a second-year law student, placed a prototype bin for aluminum cans in the law school cafeteria that she said most law students seem to use. The cans are recycled by cafeteria employees.
“Our goal is to have recycling on the whole campus, but we started locally,” she said.
Paul Kamoroff, also a second-year law student and president of the Environmental Law Society, said he showed the recycling proposal to a law school dean who he said did not appear enthusiastic.
The dean, Steve Potts, said while he would like to see the university recycle, the law school cannot act on its own, and he referred further questions to the university administration.
Pepperdine has a white-paper recycling program, but the campus has yet to branch out to more “sophisticated” recycling, said the university’s Executive Vice President, Andrew Benton, who recently agreed to meet with a group of undergraduates to discuss the issue.
“This is one of those things that turns on the initiative of people,” he said.
Benton said the university’s current trash hauler removes recyclables from the trash. But students say that only 20 percent of the recyclable trash is reclaimed and that segregating recyclabes into bins is far more effective in reducing solid landfill waste.
Kamoroff said he is “disheartened” by the lack of a comprehensive recycling program, especially because undergraduate students are required to live on campus through their junior year, all the while producing recyclable trash.
“Pepperdine is a little city amongst itself,” he said.
Still, Kamoroff said, he is not surprised that the university does not have broad-based recycling. He thinks that because the concept of recycling originated with liberal environmentalists, the conservative university shies away from the practice.
“The idea of being conservative is to move slowly,” he said.
But in the end, comprehensive recycling at Pepperdine is, in all likelihood, inevitable. California law set a timetable for reduction of solid landfill waste. By 2000, Pepperdine must reduce its solid waste by 50 percent or face fines of $10,000 a day. Local agencies — in this case, Los Angeles County, since Pepperdine is not within the city limits of Malibu — are responsible for enforcing the law.
Trial And Error
You should have known, Bill, it would all go wrong
‘Cause you snapped when Monica snapped her thong
We assumed that you lied
When they brought you to trial
But it turned out to be Starr
Whom we grew to revile
Most of us felt that he hadn’t oughter
Force Marsha to testify against her daughter
Livingston stepped down when it was hinted
That he was going to be Larry Flynted
Henry Hyde, claimed in his confession
That the affair in his forties was a youthful transgression
House Managers waxed eloquent as they got into gear
They quoted the Bible and William Shakespeare
What do I tell my children (was Bono’s zinger)
They were probably at home watching Jerry Springer
Dr. Laura moralized and lived to regret
Those pictures of her on the Internet
Larry King interviewed Paula Jones
Katherine Wiley and the rest their clones
Who was the benefactor do you suppose
Who paid for Paula Jones’ new nose?
There were some in the media who did resort
To repeating quotes from The Drudge Report
When Tripp said “I’m you.” I looked ’round to see
I couldn’t resist “Are you talkin’ to me?”
Some called us Americans morally broke
Most considered their assessment a hypocritical joke
We people objected to this personal intrusion
And so the trial limped to a foregone conclusion!
Geraldine Forer Spagnoli
A Lott to learn
I am quoting from an ad on the op-ed page of The New York Times for March 12, 1999. The ad is sponsored by Citizens for Tolerance, 955 Massachusetts Ave, #151, Cambridge, MA. 02139.
“. . . [T]he U.S. Senate has known about the ties between Majority Leader Trent Lott and a white supremacist organization called the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC). . . .[F]or 90 days the senate has remained silent.
When the national press first linked Mr. Lott to CCC, Lott claimed he had “no firsthand knowledge” of the group’s beliefs. But the Washington Post and The New York Times caught him in a lie when the newspapers documented a long-term relationship between Mr. Lott and the CCC. That relationship has included meetings in Mr. Lott’s congressional office, photo opportunities with CCC leaders and the appearance of Mr. Lott’s columns in the organization’s publications, and repeated speaking engagements before the council.
“. . .[A] complaint is being filed with the Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics, calling for a full investigation into the ties between the Senate Majority Leader and the council.”
If you would like more information, you can dial Internet and visit www.Trent Tel the Truth.” You can also urge our California senators to file a complaint with the committee by calling the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Please join me in seeking the truth.
Zane Meckler
