• The Publisher’s Notebook •

Believing the City of Malibu’s PR

BY ANNE SOBLE

The newly configured Malibu City Council isn’t going to be able to catch its breath after the election. One issue that it will have to address quickly is whether it is going to keep believing its own press releases that Legacy Park is the answer to the wastewater pollution charges that have been hurled at Malibu and will continue to be reiterated in the media and in the courtroom. Current and outgoing council members keep patting themselves on the back for this project, but it does not mark the end of Malibu’s pollution concerns in the Civic Center area. Although Malibu is not to blame for all of the ills of Malibu Creek and Lagoon, the Legacy Park project, which this newspaper has questioned from the beginning, will not only not clean up the area, it could make matters worse when it fails during a major winter “water” event. Another issue that the 2008 council has to address is—despite its surfeit of self-praise for working with other public entities—that it once again is locked in confrontation with state agencies representing the public interest—that pesky concept that the city government appears loathe to acknowledge. Bridge-building is in order as Malibu’s name has become associated with irrational anti-public access policies that could ultimately result in the imposition of more intensive use than might have been the case if reason had prevailed.
Overriding even these concerns, however, is the notion that other communities in the state of California have been able to say that there are areas where development capacity has been reached. Malibu politicians refuse to do this. They allow themselves to be cowed not just by litigation, but by the threat of it. Until there is the local political courage, it is imperative that groups such as Baykeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Counsel serve as surrogate resource protectors and indirectly stand up to development interests, as well as be a voice for those in the community losing their quality of life. There is no denying that policy would be best made by local residents, but many residents will not run for office because of the local election dynamics. Time will tell whether the council now has at least one voice that will break the cycle of backroom brokering and bring greater transparency to city decision-making. If this does not happen, residents could increasingly be relegated to less importance in the municipal policy process. Even those who might never put a Malibu license plate frame on their cars will lament that it is no longer a “way of life,” but a “place to pass through.” Who wants PR like that?