The City of Malibu held a PCH Taskforce meeting on Tuesday with City, County, and State Officials as well as Caltrans
Community members and Public Safety Commissioners Keegan Gibbs and Josh Spiegel attended Monday night’s City Council meeting to urge the council to continue to make Pacific Coast Highway safe and bring awareness to the Ghost Tire memorial they will be having for the four Pepperdine students and all the victims who have been killed on PCH since Emily Shane in 2010.
Gibbs spoke at the meeting and said he lost two friends, Keith and Tyler, on PCH, and they will be holding a memorial on Sunday morning in memory of those killed on PCH.
“Every since then, I’ve had this yearn to want to do something and when the Pepperdine tragedy happened, a great group of people led by [Sheriff’s Capt.] Jen Seetoo kind of coalesced to do something,” Gibbs said. “We’re building a memorial for all the people that have died since Emily Shane was tragically killed in 2010.”
Gibbs said to visit FixPCH.org for more information on the memorial. Fix PCH is a coalition of Malibu community members and the nonprofit road safety advocacy organization Streets Are For Everyone, working to bring about long overdue change on the Pacific Coast Highway.
City Manager Steve McClary provided an update from the Zuma Beach underpass and said Caltrans was given the green light to clear out the debris.
“Hopefully we will be seeing that back open in the near future,” McClary said.
McClary said the city is working to get the contracts approved with the California Highway Patrol by Jan. 1, 2024.
“We are working to get these contracts approved, to get these officers on patrol as soon as we can, shortly after Jan. 1, or as soon as possible,” McClary said. “CHP and the city are working very closely to secure these resources and as soon as we have those contracts ready we will bring those to the City Council for consideration.”
McClary acknowledged the speakers and said the Ghost Tire Memorial was to take place on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 14, after The Malibu Times has gone to print, but a full memorial will take place on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 10 a.m. A full story will be featured in the Nov. 23 print issue.
Malibu/Lost Hills Sgt. Chris Soderlund provided an update on the crime and traffic and said they recently held an “Operation Safe Canyons” and issued 35 citations, 25 of those were from speeding.
Soderlund said there has been an increase in accidents as well.
“Pretty much in all these crashes, speed has been a factor — people are going fast,” he said.
Soderlund said last week they pulled over a Pepperdine student who was going over 101 miles per hour and was arrested for reckless driving.
“You would think after what happened, they would know to slow down, but apparently not,” Soderlund said. “I met with the faculty and staff at Pepperdine and [they] were starting an email campaign with the faculty and staff to try to educate them on the dangers of reckless driving and to slow down on speed.
“So we are out there, we are cracking down, we’re taking a zero-tolerance approach, so I hope the people that live here and work here see us out there and we’re making a difference, because we’re out there and we’re cracking down.”
Mayor Steve Uhring thanked Soderlund and the Sheriff’s Department for its dedication to increasing enforcement on PCH.
“I live right above PCH and prior to this whole process starting Thursday and Friday, PCH was a race track all night long, that has subsided substantially,” Uhring said. “There’s still, every now and then, a car blowing up the highway, but it’s a lot less than what it was and it’s the effort you guys are putting in to doing that, these speed task force are making a difference and I appreciate you for what you’re doing.”
The council addressed the consideration of declaration of emergency regarding conditions on PCH and said they will wait until the meeting that was held the following day to make a decision.
To view the full items that were addressed during the meeting, visit the city’s website at malibucity.org/agenda center.
The following day, on Tuesday morning, the city held a special public meeting of the PCH Taskforce at Malibu City Hall with city, county, and state elected officials and Caltrans to discuss ways to address dangerous conditions on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
State Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (42nd District) chaired the meeting, and was joined by State Senator Ben Allen (24th District); Malibu Mayor Steve Uhring; LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath (3rd District); Malibu City Manager Steve McClary; Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Commanding Officer Capt. Jennifer Seetoo; Rafael Molina, Deputy District Director, Division of Traffic Operations, Caltrans District 7; and Lee Haber, Chief Safety Officer, Division of Traffic Operations, Caltrans District 7.
The PCH Taskforce is a coalition of law enforcement, traffic engineers, Caltrans officials, and local and state elected officials that work to find solutions to make PCH safer for all users, from the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica to the Ventura County line. The task force also serves to update residents on ongoing projects related to the highway. It is chaired by Irwin and Allen.
“Speeding is one of the top issues on PCH,” Horvath said. “Enough is enough, we have to take action today. We’re here, we’re here with the Malibu community.”
McClary provided an update on the projects the city has been undergoing.
“We appreciate what we’re hearing already as the commitment from our state officals and from Caltrans, but we need a commitment on a plan that will show the public that we are going to make serious changes to PCH on how it looks, feels and opporates from today,” McClary said. “I think we need to demonstrate to the public that we have a plan in place and that we’re making progress, three months, six months, a year out after this tragic incident.”
Seetoo presented the traffic and enforcement statistics they have gathered for PCH.
“This is an emergency, and we have got to come together as a community; we must come together to save lives,” she said.
Molina and Haber represented Caltrans at the meeting on Tuesday and presented the actions they have been taking since the fatal collision.
They said they have been conducting speed studies to identify where they need to focus on safety.
“Our goal is to lower the speed limit on PCH,” Haber said. “Our goal is to complete daytime and nighttime reviews by December.”
Both Horvath and Uhring asked if they were able to provide data. The Caltrans representatives said they don’t have any at the moment, but are looking to provide data by next week.
Residents who spoke asked for more enforcement on PCH and for Caltrans to begin making progress on their actions.
California Highway Patrol was at the meeting and said they have increased enforcement on PCH.
“CHP has been conducting enforcement task forces in the City of Malibu on Pacific Coast Highway to reduce speed,” California Highway Patrol West Valley Capt. Denis Ford said. “In the past month in the City of Malibu, it’s been well over 250 citations written by CHP officers on PCH. Yes, the residents have been seeing many more CHP officers in Malibu and coming the first of 2024, you’re going to see a lot of us more then too.”