Malibuites are looking forward to the new year, back at the old year.

Jon Woodhead

Looking at the president, “For some reason, I believe these are matters that I have no control over, whether I vote or not. I do have control over matters in my personal life, and that’s the only thing I can actually focus on and make a difference in.”

Lee Kaplan

“I think the president did a good job. He was somebody who I had trust in. I think the court and legal problems he has are ridiculous for someone of that nature to be caught up in when we could use his time better running the country.”

Fred Cornett

“Good health, prosperity, and a good government. . . . We’ve been disillusioned [about the government].”

Allan Zimmerman

“To not get into any more trouble. . . . It’s been a very interesting year!”

Nancie Abbott

“My New Year’s resolution is to complete the L.A. Marathon on March 14.”

Howard Spanier

“I’m very optimistic about what the future holds for us here in Malibu. I think the outlook is bright. Growth is a part of what we are and who we are as a people. I think if [the proposed center is] carefully done, we should be excited about what it holds for us.”

Brian Gridley

“To eat more, to drink more and to take more time off . . . [and] to get out of debt.”

Last month, The Malibu Times recalled the event that dominated the lives of Malibuites at years’ end in 1993: the Topanga/Malibu fire. Here, the Times takes a look back on life in Malibu at the end of other years.

1992 (six years ago)

In December, heavy rains drenched Malibu, resulting in flooding in the central and eastern parts of the city, including areas that would burn the following year.

Las Flores Creek overflowed its banks, and the floodwaters forced the closure of Las Flores Canyon Road. Storm runoff from flood-swollen Cross Creek submerged parts of Cross Creek Road and damaged a number of homes in the Malibu Colony.

Six families who lived on Las Flores Creek sued the city of Malibu and L.A. County over construction and maintenance of Rambla Pacifico Road, which the property owners claimed diverted the flow of the creek and resulted in the repeated flooding of their homes. The city settled the case in 1998 by buying the six properties for $4.2 million. The county settled separately in 1996.

In city politics, David Carmany took over as city manager. His tenure would last until 1996, when the City Council forced him out of his job.

For entertainment in December, Malibu Cinema regulars could catch “The Bodyguard,” starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, and “The Distinguished Gentleman,” starring Eddie Murphy.

1988 (10 years ago)

In the then-ongoing battle between the county and Malibu, the county Public Works Department, in December, announced its assessment scheme for its ultimately-doomed Malibu alternative sewer plan, with an annual average assessment of $10,000 per homeowner. That proposed assessment would eventually climb to $13,000 before the plan was scrapped in 1991.

In December, 27 agents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service swooped down on Malibu, arresting 39 undocumented workers living in makeshift campsites at Point Dume Mobile Home Park, in Trancas and under the Malibu Lagoon bridge. The INS, acting on complaints from Malibu businesses and homeowners, also served notice on Malibu employers that not only could they face criminal prosecution for hiring the vagrants as day laborers but their cars could also be seized under a law making it a felony to transport illegal immigrants. Concern for the plight of day laborers led to the formation of the Labor Exchange.

In local media, publishers Arnold and Karen York celebrated their first anniversary as the new owners of The Malibu Times. The Malibu Cinema featured “Mystic Pizza,” starring an unknown actress named Julia Roberts. And in a loss for Rock ‘n’ Roll fans of all ages, Malibu resident Roy Orbison died of a heart attack in Nashville at the age of 52.

1978 (20 years ago)

On Oct. 23, fire raged in Malibu, this time at the western end of town. The Agoura fire, fed by strong Santa Ana winds, burned through the Kanan Corridor, charring huge swaths of Zuma Canyon and Malibu Park as it raced to the sea. Trancas Canyon and Broad Beach sustained the heaviest losses in the 25,000-acre firestorm. Between Mulholland Highway and Trancas and Broad Beach, 162 homes were destroyed.

As the year ended without heavy rains and without flooding in the burned-out areas, Malibuites kept their fingers crossed. The year had opened with major storms pummeling the community. Mud and rock slides closed Malibu, Topanga and Latigo Canyon roads and Kanan Road. High surf pounded homes in Malibu Colony and along Malibu Road, and the National Guard came in to assist with the sandbagging effort. Merchants in the Malibu Country Mart suffered heavy losses when storm runoff from Cross Creek flooded their shops.

One December issue of The Malibu Times featured two pages of advertisements exclusively from restaurants that today are no longer in business: The Malibu Sea Lion, The Sandcastle, Don the Beachcomber, Trancas Beach Restaurant and Straw Hat Pizza.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors accepted a bid to repair damage from a landslide on Calle del Barco, and it assessed La Costa homeowners living in a special district $10,000 to help finance the project. The county’s work apparently did not do the trick. The city of Malibu recently awarded a new contract to stabilize the same slope with a retaining wall and drainage facilities.

“Heaven Can Wait,” starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, played at the Malibu Cinema. The Malibu Cinema itself became a subject of controversy when reports surfaced that youngsters were smoking marijuana during the screening of surf films at the theater, and parents threatened to boycott the business.

1968 (30 years ago)

A bond measure to finance the construction of a sewer in Malibu failed in the November election. Supporters of the ballot measure blamed the loss on a flashy, “Madison Avenue” style campaign that backfired, according to reports in The Malibu Times.

In that same election, Richard Nixon carried Malibu by a 2-to-1 margin over Hubert Humphrey. A 1998 survey of Malibu voters found that 43 percent of local voters are registered Democrats, while 38 percent are registered Republicans.

The state and county announced plans to install traffic signals at Las Flores Canyon Road and Rambla Pacifico Road.

The Board of Supervisors approved new headquarters for the lifeguards at Zuma Beach, and it secured federal funding to assist with the purchase of Charmlee Ranch for public recreation space.

We can not provide readers with information on the fare at local movie houses, because the Malibu Cinema did not yet exist, and theaters in Santa Monica, at the time, did not advertise in The Malibu Times. But in a bit of street theater straight out of “Laugh-In,” a local 19-year-old man in December was arrested by what The Times called the “Fuzz” for doing yoga exercises in the nude on PCH. The man said he was trying to get closer to God.

1958 (40 years ago)

Two weeks before Christmas, fire swept through the community. This time, an 18,000-acre blaze burned between Malibu and Zuma canyons. The wildfire, which hit two weeks shy of the second anniversary of the 1956 La Costa fire, destroyed 17 homes in Corral Canyon.

Terry Waters, civil defense sector warden for Malibu, warned of the hazards of H-bomb fallout, and he advised all residents of Malibu Township to construct fallout shelters.

Mayfair Market, the first major supermarket chain in Malibu, opened its local branch in September.

The classifieds in December advertised a two-bedroom home near Malibu Colony for $29,500.

The Malibu Times reminded readers of the Trancas Riders and Ropers annual dinner, which it said would be the social event of the season. For reservations, the paper said to call Mrs. Percy Meek at GLenwood 7-2828.

On the entertainment front, movie theaters in Santa Monica in December featured “Indiscreet,” starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, and “Vertigo,” starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. In gossip, John Drew Barrymore got three days in jail for driving 90 mph on PCH.

1948 (50 years ago)

The Malibu Businessmen’s Association met to discuss whether to recommend that the Malibu Township become part of the city of Los Angeles, as a way to secure sewers, an adequate water supply and police and fire protection.

The same association petitioned the Board of Supervisors to return West PCH to its original name: Malibu Road.

The local GOP again showed its strength in November, with Thomas Dewey carrying Malibu by a 3-to-1 margin over Harry Truman.

The Malibu Community Presbyterian Church was formally dedicated in November at the old Malibu Courthouse.

The Ramirez Canyon Association formally organized in December.

Malibu La Costa Caf advertised a complete Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for $2.50.

Van Heflin starred in “Tap Roots,” which played at one of the old Santa Monica movie houses that advertised in The Malibu Times.

Facts about the registered voters polled

• 67 % have lived in Malibu 10 years or more

• Maintaining the city’s roads was the top issue picked

• Cleaning up pollution in the creek and lagoon was second

• Preparing for disasters and reducing traffic congestion tied for third

• 53 % said definitely or probably No to increased property taxes for purchase of undeveloped land

Who do the registered voters trust?

• 44% are more likely to support the measure if it was supported by their homeowners’ association

• 30% are more likely to support the measure if all five council members supported it

• 37% are less likely to support a measure if all five council members supported it

• 40% are more likely to support a measure if the Malibu Chamber of Commerce supported it.

“It’s ridiculous and I’m a Republican,” said one. “We’ve got an idiot in the White House,” huffed another. “Kenneth Starr and Larry Flynt are running the country,” exclaimed a third. “This is not about sex, it’s about a right wing takeover,” interjected a fourth. And so it went inside the tiny bar at Guido’s on Friday night, the eve of the U. S. Congress’ historic vote to impeach President William Jefferson Clinton. Here in Malibu, opinions seemed as divided as those in Washington.

The following day, after hours of angry partisan debate, the Republican majority passed two articles of impeachment against the president for lying about his affair with a former White House intern.

At Country Liquor, where C-SPAN beams in via satellite and politics is a passion, the mood was somber. “I’m sickened,” said Larry White, shaking his head. “This has nothing to do with the rule of law. It’s all about getting Bill Clinton.” Political follower Pete McKellar concurred. “This is a very dark day. It’s like an Islamic Jihad with these religious wackos taking over.”

At Pepperdine, the institution that once welcomed independent counsel Kenneth Starr, the view was much different. Constitutional law scholar Doug Kmiec says that given their divisiveness, congressional representatives did a good job of outlining government procedure.

Kmiec agrees with Republicans who say the case is based on lying, not sex. “It is more than your garden variety perjury case,” he explains. “There are allegations that he lied under oath. That is a very serious matter.” The law professor adds that “further lies and untruths told during the investigation cannot be tolerated by the chief law enforcement officer.”

With the president’s approval ratings soaring past 70 percent, many Americans were baffled that their representatives ignored the will of the people. Why did so many go against public opinion? The short answer is — they can. Technically, the United States is a republic, and the majority does not always rule. “We elect individuals to exercise their judgment over public questions,” says Kmiec. “It is not direct democracy.”

Even so, Kmiec has harsh words for the role of the independent counsel which was not envisioned by the framers of the constitution. “My criticism is not aimed at Starr but at the process,” the scholar says. “From the beginning, the threshold for this investigation has been ridiculously low.” For that reason, Kmiec believes that the independent counsel statue will be repealed or radically narrowed before it is set to expire in 1999.

Barring a compromise, a trial in the Senate will begin in early next year. If the president is convicted, he would leave office and Al Gore would take over immediately. Should anything happen to Gore, the house speaker (previously Newt Gingrich) would become president followed by Senate pro tempore Strom Thurmond.

How history views the $56 million spectacle remains to be seen. Some say the process was poisoned. Others say it prevailed. In any event, the presidential impeachment left Americans with few heroes to laud — except perhaps themselves. As Kmiec sees it, “the people of the United States were very prudent and slow to judge. Even in light of misconduct they abhor, they did not rush to judgment and I give the country a lot of credit for that.”

While the results of a recent poll indicate that most Malibu voters are not willing to finance wetlands restoration and the purchase of parks through higher property taxes, the same survey also found a slim majority of the local electorate supports the city acquiring open space and ball fields through a development agreement. Under such an agreement, the city would approve a proposed commercial development in exchange for a donation of vacant land from the developer.

The city commissioned the telephone poll — which was conducted over a five-day period last month by the polling firm Godbe & Associates — to test support for a $30 million bond measure the City Council had planned for next year’s ballot. The measure, if passed, would have financed the purchase of parkland and ball fields and the restoration of wetlands.

But because only a small percentage of those surveyed said they would be willing to face a hike in property taxes to secure more open space, the council dropped its plans for the bond measure.

According to the results of the poll, only 20 percent of the registered voters questioned said they would “definitely” support the bond measure, while 19 percent said they “probably” would. But weighed against the 42 percent questioned who said they would “definitely vote no” and the 11 percent who would “probably vote no,” the bond measure would have very little chance of passage, especially because it requires the approval of two-thirds of voters.

While the City Council was most keenly interested in testing support for a bond measure with the poll, the council also approved a question for the survey regarding a possible development agreement between the city and a developer.

Councilman Tom Hasse, who will likely hold a key vote should a development agreement come before the council, said in an interview last week that a development agreement might be a way for the city to get more parks and ball fields. “But the devil is in the details,” he said.

The question on the poll asked respondents whether they would support or oppose a development agreement that “could allow the property owner the legal right to develop their property at a higher density and/or speed approval of the project in return for providing a public benefit such as property for sports fields or the construction of a community center.”

Of those surveyed, 24 percent said they would “strongly support” such an agreement between the city and a developer, while 27 percent said they would “somewhat support” such an agreement.

The slim majority, 51 percent, who would support such an agreement, Hasse said, probably based their support on the option that permitted a speedier approval of the developer’s project, rather than the option that permitted the property owner to develop at a higher density.

He said that after years of opposition to large commercial development, he doubted the sentiments of the community had changed.

“In 1998, and in four out of five city elections, the candidates who won specifically campaigned on a slow-growth platform,” he said.

Hasse said he would personally not support a development agreement that provided a bonus density to developers, but he would consider one that included an expedited permit process.

“But there would have to be some preservation of open space,” he said.

In February, the Malibu Bay Company proposed a development agreement with the city that provided for a donation of land in return for the right to develop its properties throughout Malibu. The offer is currently stalled before the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee.

Mayor Pro Tem Walt Keller, a member of the subcommittee, said recently that the Bay Company’s offer was “too vague. They never say anything definitive.” He also said he did not like that the Bay Company’s offer was contingent on the city approving development on all its properties. The company owns the Chili Cook-Off site, as well as properties at Trancas and on Point Dume.

David Resnick, of the Bay Company, said he was “encouraged” by Hasse’s remarks. Resnick said he would like to see a senior or community center and ball fields incorporated into a development agreement with the city, but he declined to address other, more controversial provisions, such as bonus density, that the Bay Company may place on the table.

“[That] will get worked out in the future,” he said. Meanwhile, he said, “We’re waiting for the city to give direction.”