In what should come as no surprise to local merchants, the city last week reported that sales tax receipts for the first quarter of the year fell sharply from those reported for the same three-month period in the previous year.

Bad weather and road closures in January, February and March drove down the tax receipts from Malibu’s retail operations 11.8 percent over last year, according to figures released by City Manager Harry Peacock.

“Mr. El Nino had a bit of an effect, especially on the restaurant and hotel business,” said Peacock.

Tax receipts from restaurants and hotels, which accounted for 30 percent of local sales, were down 6.7 percent.

Receipts from service stations fell more than 14 percent, but were consistent with the dip in receipts across L.A. County.

Despite the tumble in sales at some types of businesses, strong sales at Malibu’s apparel and specialty shops and lumber and hardware stores pushed up receipts from those business groups.

An accounting adjustment removed Hughes market from the list of the city’s top 25 producers of sales tax receipts. (See chart.)

At the same time that sales were off at many of Malibu’s businesses, the state and much of Southern California posted gains for the first quarter. The state Board of Equalization reported sales tax receipts for the state were up 5.5 percent. Tax receipts from across Southern California averaged a 4.2 percent increase. Complete figures for L.A. County were not available.

Malibu’s Top 25 Sales Tax Receipt Producers for first quarter 1998 are:

(in alphabetical order)

AM PM Mini Mart

Charlie’s Unocal

Chevron USA

Coogie’s Beach Caf

Coral Beach Cantina

Cosentino’s

Country Club Fashions

Duke’s Malibu

Fisher Lumber

Geoffrey’s Malibu

Granita

Malibu Masonry Supply

Malibu Texaco

Marmalade

McDonald’s

Monroe’s

Pacific Coast Highway Unocal

Paul Gross and Associates

Pierview Caf & Cantina

Planet Blue

Sand Castle

Sav

• on Osco Drug Stores

Trancas Chevron

Trancas Market

Wherehouse

Source: The HdL Companies

The city’s Business Roundtable was not disbanded along with most of the city’s other study groups last month, but it was reconstituted as an advisory group to the City Council. In their new status as independent consultants, members of the roundtable are no longer appointed by the council, and they are no longer subject to the open meeting laws applicable to public officials.

The following are some of the matters the roundtable is currently working on in conjunction with the city staff:

A Visitors’ Information Center

The roundtable has this year been pushing to establish a visitors’ information center, located in the vicinity of the Civic Center. Members say the northeast corner of Webb Way and PCH is the most desirable location for such a center. That parcel, the site of the annual crche, is owned by L.A. County. Roundtable members had hoped that the county would offer to sell the property to the city for a bargain, but in an offer that was sure to go nowhere, the county said it would only sell it for its fair market value of approximately $300,000.

In the latest development, City Manager Harry Peacock told members at the roundtable’s August meeting that the county may offer to lease the parcel to the city for a nominal amount of money.

“The county staff seems receptive to a lease,” said Peacock.

If established there, the visitors’ center would be housed in a portable building. Roundtable members want the center to provide information on city businesses, like restaurants and lodging, and on parks and recreation.

Roundtable member Craig Peeples said he would contact the state parks department to see if it had any interest in jointly staffing a visitors’ center.

An Economic Plan for the city of Malibu

The city applied for, and was recently awarded, a $24,000 community development block grant from the county to prepare an economic plan for the city. If the City Council accepts the grant, the money would be used to hire a consultant to work with the roundtable to perform an economic study of the city and develop an economic plan.

Roundtable members say an economic plan for the city would identify new and alternative revenue sources for city programs and services that would preserve and enhance the quality of life in Malibu. It would also provide a long-term blueprint for the city’s fiscal future.

“The economic study will provide a deeper, wider and broader look at raising funds,” said roundtable and Chamber of Commerce member Mary Lou Blackwood.

With the grant, no additional money from the city’s general fund would be needed for the study.

A Business License Program

A subcommittee of the roundtable is studying whether to recommend that the city adopt a business license program. The subcommittee plans to recommend, at the very least, that the city take over the licensing of those businesses in Malibu currently licensed by the county — restaurants, service stations and retailers who sell liquor. Mark Olson, subcommittee chairman and past president of the Chamber of Commerce, said previously that the subcommittee is leaning towards recommending that the city, on an annual basis, charge most businesses approximately $50 for a license.

Even the suggestion of such a regulatory program generated controversy among members of the roundtable and in the community in general.

The City Council has asked the roundtable to complete its study by the end of October.

As the cracks in the asphalt on Corral Canyon Road continue to shift and widen each day and workers make near-constant repairs, geologists are trying to find a stable place to move the road. “It’s not getting worse, but it’s not getting any better,” said Malibu’s Public Works Director John Clement. “If we can move the road about 50 feet to the west, it should be, we believe, geotechnically stable.”

Winter storms activated two ancient landslides that lie beneath the road. Clement said one of those slides appears to have stabilized, but the other is active, and about 500 feet of the road must be moved.

“It looks fairly stable,” Clement said. But he quickly added that the new location could also be sitting on an even larger ancient slide, which some believe some runs beneath both slides. “If it’s down there, what’s the likelihood of it moving?” In addition, Clement said an earthquake fault runs through the property and he said he wants to “make sure that won’t cause any trouble.”

Hopes are a geotechnical investigation, being conducted right now by Bing Yen and Associates, will provide some answers. “We’re drilling borings and trenches to determine if there’s an ancient landslide,” said Mike Phipps, senior geologist for Bing Yen and Associates.

The Malibu Coast Fault Zone is located about 100 yards south of the

realignment area. Previous movement along the fault could have caused nearby ground to be fractured or sheared. “It just means that it’s been compressed and strained and the rock yields to the forces of nature,” said Phipps. “So far the conditions are as we anticipated. Conditions of being near the fault zone are pretty evident in the field. The rocks are pretty smashed up.

“Planes of weakness may be exposed. We’re looking for those and we’re looking at the geometry of the plane — to see whether they dip into the hill or out of the hill,” said Phipps. “The new road will have cut slopes and we need to be sure those are going to be stable. We don’t want to build a slope in there and have it fail under the road.” Phipps said there are measures that may need to be taken in order to make the land stable. “There’s conventional grading techniques that can be implemented if necessary.”

If the geotechnical report comes back favorably, the next hurdle will be acquiring the property, which is currently owned by L.A. City Water and Power. “It could be an actual purchase,” said Clement. “I’m hoping for a dollar. Or it could be some kind of permanent easement.

Clement added, “Everybody at Water and Power that we’re dealing with is very friendly and we have very good jurisdictional cooperation at this time.”

Clement said the California Coastal Commission agreed, after visiting the site, to give the city an emergency grading permit. “Obviously it’s a critical project,” Clement said.

Support appears to be coming from Los Angeles County as well. “We do have encouragement from Zev Yaroslavsky’s office to assist us in any way possible when we get to that point,” Clement said. “We have 200 homes that could be stranded if that road does collapse.”

Phipps estimated that the lab testing and reports should be completed within the next few weeks.

Clement said he can’t estimate how long negotiations will take but said that actual construction should take only a couple of weeks and would likely cost about $200,000. “Ideally, there will be no disruption of traffic,” he said.

Just when falling rocks at Las Flores seemed to have finally discouraged even the most steadfast Z traffic (Valley commuters who zig through Malibu to avoid the 101-to-405 crush), a rash of traffic light malfunctions kept PCH royally clogged most of last week.

It’s enough to turn Malibu into a whole town of telecommuters.

The morning dash for the desks Friday became a crawl when the stop light at Porto Marina (between Coastline and Sunset) went out at about 7:30 a.m. bringing traffic to a screeching halt.

Commuters whipped out their cell phones and bombarded Caltrans with complaints, but to no avail. One commuter said he was told to call the Sheriff’s Department because “it’s their responsibility to put a patrolman there to direct traffic.”

At that point on PCH, however, jurisdiction belongs to LAPD.

Actually, the stretch between Malibu city limits and the McClure Tunnel is divided among LAPD, CHP and SMPD. How’s that for sharing your pain?

Another Caltrans representative said Caltrans had alerted LAPD at 7:44 a.m., but LAPD had elected not to send an officer to the scene. The official word from Caltrans Media Relations Chief Margie Tiritilli, issued by fax Friday afternoon, was: “A traffic signal pole was knocked down during an accident. The signal went on flash during this period. The signal operation was restored this morning. A new pole will be installed Saturday.”

“There ought to be some level of responsibility for that. It happens all the time,” said commuter Mike Minder, via cell phone to The Malibu Times from his place in the traffic line. “It’s 9:57 and the signal just started working. My wife went into town two hours ago, at 7:30. There was a guy alongside me moving with traffic in a Caltrans truck and he said it wasn’t his work. The thing that’s so frustrating is that nobody would own it.”

An informed source at City Hall, who requested anonymity, told Minder that if LAPD had sent out a traffic officer, the officer would have had a key to the box on the traffic light pole and that often all they need to do is reset a switch. Minder said he was told maintenance of the traffic lights is performed under a contract between Caltrans and private companies. “Apparently, whoever has the contract now isn’t doing anything,” Minder said.

Tiritilli, however, said that traffic light maintenance is not contracted out.

Another Malibu commuter, Andy Cohen, was trying to get to Beverly Hills for an 8 a.m. meeting (ordinarily a 35-minute drive) and left at 7:20 a.m. He said he got there at 8:45 because the traffic was backed up before Topanga. “The Porto Marina light was blinking red in all directions, and there was no traffic officer in sight,” Cohen said. He added that he saw no evidence of a crash or downed pole. He also talked to Caltrans from his cell phone. “Margie wasn’t there, I was told to call the emergency number. They told me, ‘We just got the report at 8:30 and we’re sending someone.’ Someone else at Caltrans said, ‘We don’t do that.'”

Commuters say the lights at Porto Marina and Coastline malfunction so often that it has become an expected impediment to the drive, in the same way that the lane restriction at Las Flores adds about 10 minutes to the weekday commute but as much as an hour with weekend beach traffic. Cohen says the afternoon commute is much slower than the morning drive, probably because more people return home at the same time while their morning destination times are more spread out.

Tiritilli said Tuesday, “If motorists call 213-897-4867, the public information line at Caltrans, we take the location and what’s going on, then we call traffic engineers to report the signal out and to please call us back. The engineer, who is a Caltrans employee assigned to that area, is sometimes on patrol there, and he’s the first to see the problem; sometimes a motorist alerts us. Every signal cabinet or controller [on the pole] has a record of when it was repaired and the adjustments made to it,” she said.

Sheriff’s traffic deputies in Malibu do carry keys to the boxes, Tiritilli said. “The reason we gave them the keys is so they can reset a light, but they aren’t trained to do any kind of a repair.”

For 7-year-old Wyatt Meyer it was a bad ending to a good day. He and his friend Kostya Marowitz had just returned from a trip to town last week when disaster struck.

“I had taken Kostya with us to the Tar Pits, and when we got back, his mom was to meet us at the 76 station at Corral Canyon,” said Patricia Hill-Meyer. “While we were waiting for her, the boys jumped up on this big rock and then climbed about five feet above it. Then he screamed.”

Wyatt said he had been bitten and said he heard a rattle. Kostya said he saw the snake but that it was black, and he didn’t hear the rattle.

“I was standing about 50 feet away. I saw something dirt-colored moving in the dry grass, but I didn’t see that it was a snake,” Hill-Meyer said. “Then blood was running down his leg — he had on shorts, tennis shoes and socks — he was bitten in the back of the calf. We headed to Urgent Care. They cleaned the blood off and looked for the puncture wounds.”

By this time, Wyatt was beginning to think he might die, and fear was producing another set of symptoms. “He had heard that it would go to his heart and kill him. He was so terrified that he was hyperventilating,” Hill-Meyer said. Then the doctors saw throbbing under his bottom lip at the corners (signs of what they called particulating) so they called for the helicopter to take him to UCLA.

“By the time we got to UCLA, they were waiting for us,” Hill-Meyer said. “Dr. Jonathan Feldman, assistant professor of pediatrics, was in the ER, and there was a snake specialist who was heading the ER for the week. We couldn’t help much because we hadn’t seen the snake.”

Doctors gave Wyatt morphine and benedryl, but they wanted to wait before giving antivenin because of possible allergic reactions.

“We watched for more than an hour,” Hill-Meyer said. “It [the area of swelling] was slowly getting bigger and so they decided to give the antivenin about 9 o’clock, every 10 minutes a small amount.

Wyatt’s parents stayed with him through the night in a room in the pediatric wing. “In the morning, he was able to walk enough to get around and we all went home, but Dr. Feldman said we still have to watch for a reaction to the antivenin.”

His mother says Wyatt doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. “His friends all called. It was helpful to talk about it for awhile, but now it’s enough.”

“At least I was there,” Hill-Meyer said. “I’m almost always working. That I could be there for him, this was a blessing.”