Our favorite Market’s gone now,
With all those special foods.
We miss the quality that was,
And that certain friendly mood.
And even though the sign out front,
Reminds us of the past.
The inner choice within the store
Is an unimpressive last.
How sad it is to see the change,
When it seems not for the best;
Surely, Malibu deserves something better —
Than a market like all the rest.
H. Emmett Finch
After nearly three years of studies, surveys and workshops, the City Council voted to set aside the Civic Center Specific Plan and look into other options. At a special meeting June 30, the council directed the Land Use Subcommittee, comprised of council members Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn, to come up with a vision statement that identifies what needs to be done and a time line in which to do it.
“It bypasses the whole democratic process,” said architect Ed Niles, who worked on the Civic Center Specific Plan Committee for 18 months. “One of the cornerstones of Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn has been to involve the community. This obviously circumvents that.” Niles added, “This subcommittee has no professional background and has no right telling us as a community what we have to do here. I don’t think it represents democratic government at any level.”
The Specific Plan project was launched in September 1995 when the original contract with consultants was signed. Since then, workshops, study groups and meetings have produced a draft plan that was reviewed by the Planning Commission and forwarded to the council. The council also received an alternative proposal submitted by the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth. In March, planning staff asked the council which plan it wanted to pursue. No decision was reached. “I think there are a number of constraints in there that were not adequately addressed,” said Van Horn. She listed geology, flood plain and wetlands issues as needing more study.
The Specific Plan “has become the traditional political football,” said Niles. “We have politicians who are problem makers not problem solvers. You can’t stall this thing. It’s going to end up in the courts and some judge is going to tell us what to do. Ultimately this community’s going to lose in a big way.”
Keller and Van Horn say the public is being included in the process. “Our first purpose is to identify developable property that the public might want to be used for public purposes,” said Keller, who listed possible purposes as wetlands, parks, playing fields, nature preserves or open spaces.
“We’re considering property anywhere in or adjacent to the city,” said Keller. “These are obviously sizable properties.” To acquire the property, the city must purchase it at fair market value or it must be willingly donated.
“Most of it, I think, we’ll have to purchase,” said Keller. “Eventually you have to come up with a legal fair price, but right now we’re just trying to get a rough idea of what we’re talking about.” Once an estimate is obtained, Keller said, the city will need to research other funding sources and trusts. “We have to get as much government money as we can and then go after foundations.”
Keller said the council may also consider introducing a bond referendum, which would require a two-thirds vote, and may conduct a survey, similar to one conducted last winter in which voters rejected the idea of a bond to fund public works projects. “Maybe we didn’t ask the right questions,” said Keller, who noted that in the future survey the city would be “asking questions specific enough to determine if we can get a two-third vote.” Keller said voters are not likely to see such a proposal on the November ballot. “We’re not going to rush into it.”
An Environmental Impact Report cannot be made without an actual plan. But the council did direct Ewing to oversee an Environmental Constraints Analysis. Consultants will study wetlands issues, flooding and drainage, hazardous materials, earthquakes, and cultural and biological resources. “I think we have to see what are the constraints and what are the parameters of it,” said Van Horn. “It provides a baseline of data for future projects,” said Ewing.
As for the Specific Plan, “At this point [council has] given us no further direction,” said Planning Director Craig Ewing. But no one is willing to officially sound the death knell. “I can’t say that at this point,” said Van Horn. “They may find a use for it as they work on their vision statement and their plan. They may pick it up and use it, but I’m not seeing three votes to do that right now.”
I return from a business trip and find a new shopping experience with Ralphs in Malibu. I was impressed with the new green colors and the uniforms of the checkout clerks, but standing in line, I see people getting lower prices than myself.
Join the club, the checkout girl says, and you get lower prices. I ask for the form and for the privilege of shopping at the new Ralphs and to get the lower prices I must give them my name, address, age, license number and if I’m married or single.
What is next?
I will not shop at Ralphs or any other establishment that doesn’t want my money with my pleasant smile and wants to categorize me in their computer.
Remember, if I don’t fill out the form, I don’t get lower prices.
Where is Bristol Farms?
Paul M. Billig
Iqbal was 4 years old when he was sold to a carpet maker. The little Pakistani boy knew he would have to repay his bond with his own little life if he escaped. At 10, he fled the loom and was murdered two years later. But Iqbal Masih must have lived — and died — in another world, since most of us believe slavery was abolished a century ago. The reality is that out of political correctness we don’t call it slavery anymore, we call it “bonded labor'” — though the U.N. recognizes bonded labor as the modern form of slavery. Of course, not all of the estimated 250 million children in the Global Village’s labor force share the same fate, but a huge part of that large number were born to bonded families, who keep a debt with their creditors up to five generations.
The story is tragic, and so are the lives of millions of children working in hazardous conditions all over the world. The children will now have a group of 11 award-winning photojournalists as spokespersons. These professionals in capturing the motion of life are about to hoist their sails, and their journey will bring them to places like the ones Iqbal used to work in. Their mission: to tell the world it is possible to change the way things are — before Iqbal’s fate sweeps his teen workmates’ plight under the rug.
The project, kicked off June 20 during a workshop in Malibu, reflects the dream Julia Dean, 43, a photographer and writer based in Venice, envisioned after witnessing a scene on a train in India. She did not capture the scene on film, but the impression remained alive inside of her.
“I had seen children working, but the one that really got me was this little boy,” Dean said. “He jumped in the train all by himself, holding a handmade broom. Soon he got upon his hands and knees and started sweeping around people’s feet, looking up and putting his hand out from time to time for a little change. And he went like that for miles and miles and miles, from train car to train car, until he changed trains and went back the other way.”
This incident wrapped Dean in a daydreaming obsession and led her to launch her project in an attempt to wrap up the century with the spirit of photographer Lewis Heine, who helped eradicate child labor in the United States in the beginning of the century. “Our objective is to educate people about the issue through visual documentation, to prompt action against abusive child labor and to applaud humanitarian efforts that are creating positive change,” Dean said. The journey’s diaries will take shape in a book, a documentary and a traveling exhibit, sponsored by UNICEF, which will tour the United States starting in New York in spring 1999 and will extend through the year 2000.
Dean picked four of her best collaborative photographers: Judy Warren, a ’94 Pulitzer winner for a series on violent rights abuses against women all over the world for the Dallas Morning News; Joel Sartore of National Geographic, a Pulitzer finalist; and Al Schaben of the Los Angeles Times, an NPPA winner; and Jon Warren, a Seattle-based photojournalist with three books published and a remarkable reputation in international editorial and documentary photography. Then she set up an international contest to reach the 11 photographers goal (mirroring Heine’s early century team composed of 11 photographers). The contest’s jury included three first-rank picture editors, Larry Armstrong with the Los Angeles Times, Kathy Ryan with the New York Times Sunday Magazine and Bert Fox, who is also the project’s director of photography, with National Geographic magazine. Out of 120 professional entries, five photographers with astounding backgrounds were selected, and out of 25 student entries, Brian Finke, a promising photographer from Brooklyn, who loves to befriend those who live in the fringe. The 11 photographers are a showcase of international awards, including 1997 Pulitzer winner Clarence Williams of the Los Angeles Times, several World Press Photo first prizes and Robert F. Kennedy award winners.
Two experienced reporters will gather and edit the work done in the field by a local reporter, sometimes going to the field themselves. They also have remarkable backgrounds: Sarah Bachman, of the San Jose Mercury News, is currently working on a book “Child Labor and the Global Economy” and on a curriculum for U.S. schools on child labor; and Nick Fleming is author of the book “In Strictest Confidence” and was UPI’s lead writer during the U.S. invasion of Grenada.
Social Concern
Beyond their talent, these individuals share a commitment to bringing awareness of the effects of the global economy in developing countries, letting us know what is happening underneath those stones we sometimes hesitate to lift — often because our own interests are at stake.
It is not easy work. They face all kinds of harassment by government forces in countries under conflict, and their ethics are questioned at home, including accusations of falsifying the pictures when these not only show minors working on the spot but also clearly highlight the logos of well-known Western brands. Awards and recognition cannot bring peace of mind to French photographer Marie Dorigny, 38, whose book “Les Enfants de L’ombre” (Children of the Shadows) received the UNICEF award in 1993. “Sometimes the images come back to me as flashbacks, and I keep having nightmares for weeks,” she said. Dorigny’s reportage on child labor for Life magazine in 1996 pointed a finger at American companies that employ minors at their Pakistani factories. She insists, “Child labor is not a social problem, child labor is a pure economic problem.”
Francesco Zizola, 35, an Italian photographer whose work for two years with the street children in Brazil materialized in the book “Ruas,” is a recipient of the University of Rome prize. Zizola also worked on the Brazilian slave children. “That experience was like a huge life workshop,” he said. “It was the need of finding the meaning of life which took me there.” In the frame of a personal 9-year project called “Heirs of 2000,” Zizola toured the most vulnerable corners of the world.
Some photojournalists have to open their souls before focusing their cameras. “I had to tell Theodora my darkest secrets if I wanted to be there,” said Williams when asked how he got Theodora’s family photographed for his Times documentary about children of crack-addicted parents. Others spend years looking for grants to finance their projects before gaining international recognition.
Ernesto Bazan wanted to document the lives of refugees in the world “after the lights shut down and the media is no longer interested because there has not been any massacre.” Bazan could not find any funding for the project, so he went to Cuba and fell in love with the island. Cuba brought him a rosary of major prizes, among them the Dorothea Lang prize, established in the name of one of the noted photographers who participated in the Depression-era photographic project headed by Heine.
“I don’t call myself a photojournalist,” said Gigi Cohen, a young woman of Ecuadorian origin raised in Brooklyn, currently working on a book about prisoners on death row. “I prefer to call myself a social documentary photographer. My work has a less-restricted time frame than that of a photojournalist. It is about the issue, not only about what is news today.”
Jon Warren is a Seattle-based globe trotter whose childlike face deludes you if you think he knows nothing about life. Warren has covered stories in more than 50 countries, from the handloom weaving in Bangladesh to the Mennonites in Bolivia and the homeless in Los Angeles. He is an avid photojournalist and has published three photography books.
Their assignments were revealed during the Malibu workshop. For periods of 30 days and throughout 1999, the photographers will follow the footsteps of 10-year-old girls as they get lost in the red light trails; they’ll bend their backs among the peasants’ children; they will share a joke with kid soldiers; they will try to capture an S.O.S. from enslaved domestics; they will get coal black with miners; and, after gathering the echoes of the chained little lives all around the world, including Latino kids’ pursuit of El Dorado in our backyard, they will tell the world with pictures, not only of the hazardous and strenuous jobs but also of those projects working in the shadows to free one child at a time.
The project is sponsored by New York-based NGO Media for International Development, UNICEF, the United National Association, the National Consumers League, the International Labor Rights Fund and the International Labor Office in Geneva, among others. To help with the project, send your tax-deductible donations to: JD & Associates, 1265 Electric Ave., Venice, CA 90291. Phone/Fax: (310) 581-9523.
Our City Council will be facing a moment of truth Monday.
Actually, it’s council members Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn who are on the hot seat. They must vote Yes or No authorizing the hiring of an independent counsel to assist City Attorney Christi Hogin in her inquiry into campaign law violations in the last City Council election.
The campaign violation allegations are against some supporters of Tom Hasse, many of whom are also the supporters of Keller and Van Horn. Because this investigation grows out of his election campaign and concerns several of his supporters, Hasse rightly recused himself from both the debate and the decision, leaving the four council members to decide. It also created a problem: Because it takes three votes to take action, either Keller or Van Horn must go along or the council is deadlocked 2-2. At the last council meeting, both House and Barovsky agreed with the city attorney and wanted an independent council hired to assist in the investigation. Keller and Van Horn raised a number of questions and reservations and appeared opposed to the hiring. The final decision was put off to Monday’s council meeting.
Hiring an outside attorney is not unusual. The city does it all the time because it frequently needs a lawyer with special expertise. In fact, at the same council meeting where they balked at hiring an independent council for the campaign investigation, they agreed to hire an outside attorney for eminent domain matters. The arguments against the hiring of the special counsel are, in my opinion, pure politics, obvious to every one at the council meeting. It’s politics — with a twist.
Normally, questions of politics are decided at the ballot box, with one large exception: when it involves an investigation of a possible crime. This is an investigation to decide if a crime (campaign law violations) has been committed and, if so, to prosecute those violations.
In connection with a possible violation of law, the city attorney and the City Council have totally different responsibilities and legal obligations.
A city council can pass laws, like campaign laws, to make certain things a crime. Once the council has made a law and it’s been signed, the council’s function is over. The council does not decide if the law has been violated. That begins with the prosecutor, and in the city of Malibu that’s the city attorney– Christi Hogin decides whether or not to file a criminal complaint, and if she does, it becomes “People of the State of California vs. Someone.” City Council members not only have no right to try to influence that decision but if they tried to obstruct the prosecution, that could become a separate crime called “obstruction of justice.”
You begin to get a sense of how dicey this could get.
If Keller and Van Horn hold firm and refuse to fund the help that the city attorney is asking, is that a legitimate political decision, or are they trying to derail the investigation, and is that an obstruction of justice?
Even if they vote No, is the city attorney obligated to use whatever resources are necessary to complete the investigation, whether the council supports her or not?
If they refuse but the city attorney goes ahead anyway and gets the help she needs, can they fire her for exceeding her authority?
Since Hasse has recused himself in any decision concerning the investigation, can he participate in any debate or vote about the retention or firing of the city attorney, as she is involved in the investigation?
If they fire the city attorney or even threaten it, is that an obstruction of justice and a crime?
There are certainly historical antecedents. Richard Nixon fired several independent counsels in the well-known “Saturday Night Massacre,” which ultimately ended up in his resignation.
All this doesn’t mean anyone is necessarily guilty of anything. The city attorney could complete her investigation and decide that no one has committed a crime. But in the course of that investigation, she might have to interview Hasse, Keller or Van Horn as possible witnesses, which could be one of the reasons Hogin wants to bring in independent counsel.
Alternatively, she could decide to file a criminal complaint and then prosecute it herself or bring in a special prosecutor, which seems most probable. Ultimately, the question of whether or not a crime has been committed is up to a judge or jury to decide and not a prosecutor or city council. But the investigation process and a trial, of course, has all sorts of political fallout, whether in Washington D.C. or Malibu, which is probably why it fascinates us all.
Whatever the decision Monday, this confrontation will not end at that City Council meeting. Of that we can be sure.
Litigation involving six families who owned land alongside Las Flores Creek, the county of Los Angeles and, later, the city has been going on for a number of years.
In September 1996, the county settled with the plaintiffs, over the opposition of the city, for a reported $2 million, plus a guaranty the plaintiffs would get another $3 million if they could not recover it from anyone else, namely the city of Malibu. At that time, the city and its insurance carriers argued the city was not liable for something the county had created years before Malibu incorporated, and they refused to settle or contribute in any significant way. The county settled its portion of the case and the Superior Court approved the settlement over the city’s objection. The plaintiffs then continued with their lawsuit against the city.
Subsequent events and an appellate court decision proved the city and its insurance carriers’ gamble wrong.
Repeated flooding of the properties along Las Flores Creek — February 1992, December 1992, March 1993, January through March 1994 and January through March 1995 — made the properties worthless, according to the plaintiffs. The flooding occurred after Malibu had become a city, and the plaintiffs maintained the city bore some of the responsibility. The flooding had been caused by the eastward movement of the Rambla Pacifico landslide into Las Flores Creek, which, during rainy years, pushed the creek over into the homes along the eastern side of the creekbed. Although the original problem dated back to the 1920s and 1930s when Rambla Pacifico was first built, and although the road has been closed since 1978, the slide is still moving, in some years as much as eight feet. According to the appellate court decision, the city assumed a portion of the responsibility when it became a city.
Moments before he fell under the wheel of an L.A. County Lifeguard truck, 2-year-old Kevin Aban briefly returned to the lunch supplies his family brought along on its outing to Santa Monica Beach, according to court testimony. He snatched more bread for the seagulls who had become his fast friends that summer afternoon two years ago. With the snacks in his hands, Kevin resumed chasing and feeding the gulls.
Lifeguard Lt. Conrad Liberty did not see a little boy running on the sand. In fact, he did not see anyone in his path as he drove towards the Santa Monica Pier.
Liberty testified that he heard a “thump.” He stopped his truck, stepped out, and looked back to see Kevin lying face down in the sand, said Anthony Dain, attorney for the Aban family in its wrongful death lawsuit against the county and the lifeguard, now pending in the courtroom of Malibu Superior Court Judge James A. Albrecht.
Kevin’s parents, Ricardo and Janeth Aban, say in their $3 million suit that the county should have posted signs informing beachgoers that lifeguard trucks drive on the sand, because the Abans, who do not frequent the beach, did not know that they did.
The Abans also argue that the county should have required Liberty to send out warning sounds as he drove down the beach.
Janeth Aban had brought her four children to the beach with her that day, along with her sister-in-law, her mother, her cousin and nieces and nephews. Aban’s back was to Kevin when he was hit by the truck, according to testimony.
“Janeth Aban’s one concern for Kevin was keeping him from the water,” Dain said in his opening statement to the jury. Because they were sitting not far from a lifeguard tower, she was not worried about Kevin playing behind her, he said.
The county’s attorney, Marc Wodin, claimed in his opening statement that Kevin was 55 feet from the family blanket when he was hit by the truck, and that his mother’s negligence led to his death.
The case may go to the jury by the end of the week.
