Mayor Urges Council to Consider Purchase of Land at Point Dume

• Possible Site of City Hall, Teen/Senior Center, Library

BY BILL KOENEKER

Since the population center of Malibu is at, or near, Point Dume, would it make sense to locate more municipal services in the area?
The Malibu City Council is poised to begin that discussion when it looks at an item on next week’s agenda on whether to negotiate for the acquisition of a nearly 10-acre site in the Point Dume area.
The property is located on the land side of Pacific Coast Highway near Heathercliff Road. It is tucked in between the former Fig Tree Ranch, now known as Vital Zuman, and the Malibu Stage Company, which is housed in the old Lutheran Church.
The property is currently utilized as a plant nursery and is owned by a longtime Malibu family that is moving out of the area. The property is zoned Rural-Residential.
“The purpose of getting it into the public arena is to find out more about the wants and needs of the community,” said Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich, who emphasized “there is nothing set in stone,” but views the item as exploratory. “It might turn out to be ideal for some of the items that have been talked about by the community, including a teen center and/or senior center, satellite library, sheriff’s substation or possibly a lumber site,” she said.
The mayor indicated she hopes to convince the council it is time to discuss the feasibility of building more infrastructure in the west end of Malibu, particularly around Point Dume.
The staff report indicates the cost of a real estate appraisal and phase one environmental assessment will be about $200,000.
The property is currently listed for $4.9 million, according to the staff report. The mayor said she believed any land deal would cost less than acreage in the Civic Center area which is selling for over $2 million per acre.
If the city separates from the county library system and purchases the vacant land, municipal officials could conceivably build a new 15,000-square-foot municipal library. Money could come from $2 million set aside by the county for the city and an ongoing stream of revenue from property taxes earmarked for the library.
A similar arrangement could be worked out if a city hall would be built on the land. The city has set aside nearly $2 million from a fund earmarked for a city hall, and the revenue stream for paying back land acquisition and construction costs could come from replacing the rent the city currently pays at about $700,000 per year.
Other potential uses for the land could include building a teen center or senior center, an emergency operations center or a sheriff’s sub-station. The uses are considered a priority by city officials, but obtaining funding to acquire and develop the property for such uses might be extremely problematic. There are no cash reserves set aside for those uses and no streams of revenue to help offset paying back acquisition and construction costs.
“We could look at certificates of participation,” added the mayor, referring to money that could be borrowed from the Malibu lumber shopping center rents.

White Shark Holding Pen Is Back in Malibu Waters

• Aquarium Hopes to Capture Another Young Specimen for Temporary Display •

BY ANNE SOBLE

Small craft towed the Monterey Bay Aquarium holding pen—the first step in the live specimen tagging and acquisition phase of its White Shark Study Project—into the waters off Point Dume last week.
According to Ken Peterson, the MBA communications director, this year’s field season is from now through early September.
This involves “working with commercial fishermen who may accidentally catch young white sharks; tagging and releasing most of them in the field so we can learn where they’re traveling; and then [we’re] hoping to get a candidate or two to bring to the pen as a potential short-term (several month) exhibit animal at the aquarium,” he said.
Young sharks that are caught are placed in the holding pen for a health check and short-term acclimation to confinement. If a specimen is deemed suitable for display, it will then be trucked to Monterey and placed in the aquarium’s special shark exhibit.
As the white shark project has evolved, sharks have been released after a four-to-six month period, depending on the animal’s behavioral response to captivity.
Peterson noted, “[We’re] still tracking the last shark we released early in February, and he now is in the Sea of Cortez. He’s still—fingers crossed—doing well.”
That shark’s travels can be monitored at the Tagging of Pacific Predators web site at www. topp.org

Planning Commission to Consider Banning Pot Pharmacies in City

• Operating Restrictions Are an Option

BY BILL KOENEKER

As soon as new members of the City of Malibu Planning Commission—Jeff Jennings, John Mazza and Ed Gillespie—are sworn in on June 3, they and co-panelists Regan Schaar and Joan House will have to decide whether the city should ban pot pharmacies within its boundaries.
Originally, city officials, after enacting a moratorium, indicated they would change the zoning, or establish some kind of special zoning for the medical marijuana dispensaries, but the staff report contends there is a litany of complaints about dispensaries in other cities and recommends an outright ban.
The report offers no evidence of what has happened in Malibu since two dispensaries have been operating for the several years, but cites how other cities have encountered problems and what they have done. Some have set up special zoning, restricting dispensaries from residential areas, schools, community facilities or similar land uses.
The report states some of the alleged problems such as noise and traffic congestion could cause an increase in costs to the city, but does not say if such costs have been incurred by Malibu.
The staff report does offer an alterative to an outright ban on the pot pharmacies by suggesting the adoption of operating restrictions “that can mitigate and control secondary impacts that these businesses cause.”
The report, written by contract planner Kathleen Mallory and Assistant City Attorney Lauren Feldman, noted the commission could choose to recommend the adoption of such standards to the city council.
The report acknowledges that medical marijuana dispensaries are potentially a permitted use of land, subject to a use determination by the planning commission, similar to businesses that would dispense medicines, such as a medical clinic, pharmacy or drug store.
“Within a use determination, dispensaries could be permitted if they met minimum parking and development standards. There is no requirement for a conditional use permit,” the report adds.
A law firm representing PCH Collective, through written correspondence, is urging the planning commission to adopt a resolution “specifically approving the strictly regulated operation of one medical marijuana dispensary in the City of Malibu until current disputes between the state of California and the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency are resolved and to continue the existing moratorium and allow the operation of existing dispensaries in the City of Malibu until the adoption of an ordinance governing the operation of dispensaries within the City of Malibu.”
The Collective was the first store operating in the city limits and started business in Malibu on March 30, 2006. It has subsequently moved to a new location. Later, a second dispensary opened up.
Roger Browning of Glassman, Browning, Saltsman & Jacobs points out that both City Attorney Christi Hogin and at the time Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Jennings both said the interest was in what to do about future dispensaries and that the moratorium would not apply to existing pot pharmacies.
That apparently changed recently when PCH Collective received a notice of violation demanding it cease business.
The city received a letter from one client, who praised “the folks at Green Angel,” calling them a godsend for providing him and others with medication.
“I am 48 years old and I use medical marijuana because of a congenital arithritic condition I have, my spine is fused from my neck to my tailbone. MMJ has enabled me to cut down on my arthritis meds with the awful gastro-intestinal side effects, exponentially and curtail my need for the strong painkiller Vicodan. I medicate at home only with MMJ,” wrote Santa Monica resident Michael Alexaki, who said he comes to Malibu for his medicine and makes a day of it. “I have never seen any illegal activity around Green Angel.”
Another client, who did not wish to give out his name for publication, said he had never heard of any problems encountered near or around the pot pharmacies and wondered why the city had not provided any evidence of problems, but merely cited alleged problems in other cities.
“I don’t want to have to drive into town to get my medicine,” he complained. “So what is the big deal?”

SMMUSD Superintendent Moving On

• School Board Scurries to Fill Surprise Job Vacancy

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, which has been rocked by two major controversies recently, may be facing a new round of upheaval, as Superintendent Dianne Talarico, who has served for just two years, may soon be leaving to take a position in Northern California.
SMMUSD board member Kathy Wisnicki, the lone Malibuite on the board, confirmed the report widely circulating in Santa Monica that Talarico has received an offer from a small K-8 school system in the Bay Area with about 2500 students.
Wisnicki indicated that the deal is not yet signed, and that official confirmation would not come until sometime next week.
Talarico had held a position in the San Francisco school district for nearly two decades. The move would allow Talarico to join her husband, also an educator, who has been located in Northern California during the time that Talarico has been with the SMMUSD.
Talarico replaced John Deasy as superintendent in 2006. She had previously served as superintendent in her home town of Canton, Ohio, where she was credited with decreasing high school dropout rates, and helping to secure grant and tax monies.
Talarico, however, was an unknown when she arrived in this district. The teachers union complained that they had not been included in the selection process. State
Assemblymember Julia Brownley, who was then a school board member, stated at the time that “this was our first ever departure from having a hiring process that was open and collaborative.”
According to the board, no good candidates would consent to being interviewed by the SMMUSD consultants if their names were made public.
A number of Malibu activists lobbied at the time for the selection of former Malibu High School principal Mike Matthews, who is now Assistant Supervisor.
Wisnicki assured the Malibu Surfside News that the board is already “determining how to move forward” with the process of choosing a new superintendent. “Last time we started late,” she said, indicating that this time there would be more opportunity to examine the options and involve the community.
Wisnicki said that education consultant Jim Brown of Leadership Associates, an executive search firm, is scheduled to meet with the board to help develop a timeline.
Wisnicki said she thinks the board will act swiftly to appoint an interim superintendent, but that a permanent appointment will not be made until after the November school board elections. A special board meeting will be held when Talarico’s Northern California appointment is confirmed, possibly as early as Wednesday.
The interim superintendent will have to deal with the continuing fallout of the special education controversy and the Lincoln Middle School sexual harassment allegations, as well as the apparent divide that continues to widen between the Malibu and Santa Monica halves of the district.

• The Publisher’s Notebook •

Malibu Paparazzi and State Law: Signing Up

BY ANNE SOBLE

It was a sure-fire headline grabber and sound-bite provider to announce to the media that the City of Malibu is going to do something about the local pap-packs. The spotlight swiveled in response to a flashy name, especially when replete with innuendo, but it’s fair to ask whether anything will come from this short-lived frenzy. In the interim, one Malibu commercial center is taking an aggressive stance on the paparazzi by emphasizing that existing laws will be enforced. Without fanfare, and maybe that’s what’s really going on here, a sign was posted that states that if these laws are broken, the parties who are found guilty will face triple damages. The Brits have already used the legal system to levy hefty fines against paparazzi, most notably in the recent case won by Hugh Grant. Sizable “invasion of privacy” damages speak loudly and make the cost of being a stalkerazzi prohibitive for most of the unaccredited freelancers hoping for a money shot. Reliance on existing laws and publicizing an intent to enforce them, including the California Anti-Paparazzi Act, is an indication that these businesses want to protect their patrons. Any restaurant or other kind of commercial establishment that is tired of being an exploitation venue can do the same, unless, of course, they are really just pretending to not want all the attention and free publicity.
The Anti-Paparazzi Act criminalizes trespass “in order to physically invade the privacy of the plaintiff with the intent to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression of the plaintiff engaging in a personal or familial activity and the physical invasion occurs in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person.” A person can also be found liable for violating “a reasonable expectation of privacy.” Although there is debate over what constitutes privacy, the law targets all torts, whatever the source—the media cannot commit torts in the news gathering process. That notwithstanding, what constitutes media is in the throes of a technological and cultural revolution. The channels for sharing facts and ideas are no longer as clearly defined as they once were. That’s why First Amendment rights are more important than ever. Everyone is a potential news gatherer. Witness the roles of cellphones in the dissemination of information at times of emergencies, such as tornados, floods and fires. There are those who fear a journalistic free-for-all, but then there also was a time when those in power didn’t want the masses to learn to read or write.

Mayor Urges Council to Consider Purchase of Land at Point Dume

• Possible Site of City Hall, Teen/Senior Center, Library

BY BILL KOENEKER

Since the population center of Malibu is at, or near, Point Dume, would it make sense to locate more municipal services in the area?
The Malibu City Council is poised to begin that discussion when it looks at an item on next week’s agenda on whether to negotiate for the acquisition of a nearly 10-acre site in the Point Dume area.
The property is located on the land side of Pacific Coast Highway near Heathercliff Road. It is tucked in between the former Fig Tree Ranch, now known as Vital Zuman, and the Malibu Stage Company, which is housed in the old Lutheran Church.
The property is currently utilized as a plant nursery and is owned by a longtime Malibu family that is moving out of the area. The property is zoned Rural-Residential.
“The purpose of getting it into the public arena is to find out more about the wants and needs of the community,” said Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich, who emphasized “there is nothing set in stone,” but views the item as exploratory. “It might turn out to be ideal for some of the items that have been talked about by the community, including a teen center and/or senior center, satellite library, sheriff’s substation or possibly a lumber site,” she said.
The mayor indicated she hopes to convince the council it is time to discuss the feasibility of building more infrastructure in the west end of Malibu, particularly around Point Dume.
The staff report indicates the cost of a real estate appraisal and phase one environmental assessment will be about $200,000.
The property is currently listed for $4.9 million, according to the staff report. The mayor said she believed any land deal would cost less than acreage in the Civic Center area which is selling for over $2 million per acre.
If the city separates from the county library system and purchases the vacant land, municipal officials could conceivably build a new 15,000-square-foot municipal library. Money could come from $2 million set aside by the county for the city and an ongoing stream of revenue from property taxes earmarked for the library.
A similar arrangement could be worked out if a city hall would be built on the land. The city has set aside nearly $2 million from a fund earmarked for a city hall, and the revenue stream for paying back land acquisition and construction costs could come from replacing the rent the city currently pays at about $700,000 per year.
Other potential uses for the land could include building a teen center or senior center, an emergency operations center or a sheriff’s sub-station. The uses are considered a priority by city officials, but obtaining funding to acquire and develop the property for such uses might be extremely problematic. There are no cash reserves set aside for those uses and no streams of revenue to help offset paying back acquisition and construction costs.
“We could look at certificates of participation,” added the mayor, referring to money that could be borrowed from the Malibu lumber shopping center rents.

Sheriff’s Department Says CHP Data Ranks PCH Death Toll High

Coronor’s Toxicology Report in Last Month’s Teen Fatality Says Alcohol Was Primary Factor

BY HANS LAETZ

Malibu’s roads are the deadliest among similarly sized cities in California, according to a California Highway Patrol breakdown released recently.
That news came the same week as an autopsy report that showed a blood alcohol content of .18 for the Conejo Valley 17-year-old who was killed in a single-vehicle rollover crash in western Malibu April 9.
Cody James Murphy, 17, and four friends had gone to Hollywood and Santa Monica on a school night, and were heading home to Newbury Park via Malibu after partying. They had finished off a large bottle of Jägermeister, a potent herbal liqueur heavily marketed to young people.
That blood-alcohol level was “an extremely high level of intoxication for a teenager, most of whom would have passed out before reaching it,” said Sgt. Philip Brooks at the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station. “It shows that this young man had built up a tolerance for alcohol.”
The April 9 fatality is perhaps typical of those that have elevated Malibu to the number one ranking for the number of people killed in traffic crashes among California cities with between 10,000 and 25,000 residents, Brooks said.
“People passing through seems to be the major problem,” he said, as Malibu’s few bars have generated some arrests but no drunken driving fatalities.
Malibu is also number one for the number of victims killed or hurt in crashes caused by young adults who had been drinking, and ranks just behind a central California farming town for the largest number of overall alcohol-related crashes.
The statistics were generated by the CHP from 2005 data, and are based on the number of vehicle-miles traveled. And Brooks notes that Malibu ranks very high “because nearly every mile traveled in Malibu is on a major highway, and there is comparatively little city street mileage here.”
Last month’s wreck’s autopsy results showed Murphy had a trace amount of marijuana residue in his blood as the Subaru he was driving with four friends onboard cartwheeled down Pacific Coast Highway west of Trancas Canyon Road late in the night.
A 17-year-old girl in the back seat, who received what were described as severe brain injuries, was released from UCLA Hospital earlier this month. Brooks said doctors have told sheriff’s investigators the girl “has no lasting or permanent damage other than a scar on her skull.” Her name has not been released.
Witnesses said the girl had just finished vomiting out the car’s window, and hit her head against the car door repeatedly as Murphy lost control at 90 miles an hour and the car went up an embankment and rolled end-over-end.
“That may have been why her injuries were so severe,” Brooks said.
Two other juvenile boys in the back seat both broke their hips. A front seat passenger escaped with a cut head, only he and Murphy had been wearing seat belts.
Because the only possible criminal defendant in the crash is dead, Brooks said the case is closed. “There is no way to prove who furnished the alcohol or marijuana to the driver,” Brooks said.
Sheriff’s deputies already expend considerable efforts patrolling PCH for drunk drivers, and have some of the highest arrest rates in the county. But residents and city officials have chafed at other enforcement efforts.
A routine weekend DUI roadblock turned ugly last spring when residents barraged city officials with late-night phone calls about a traffic backup, which turned out to have been caused by malfunctioning traffic signals right next to the traffic stop. City officials called the sheriff’s headquarters at 8 p.m. and demanded that the blockade be removed.
Brooks, the longtime traffic office head at the local sheriff’s station, noted that graduation and prom season is an especially hazardous time for teen drinking and crashes.
“Parents need to be aware there is a strong possibility their children may either consume alcohol or be with other kids who do,” Brooks said. “Children should have a complete understanding that they are not to get into a car under those conditions, and parents should have a contract that they will come and pick up the teen if the circumstances warrant it, no questions asked,” he said.
The wrecked Subaru Impreza is being obtained by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department for use as a trailerable exhibit to take to high schools at graduation time, Brooks said.

Pair Who Lit Original Corral Bonfire Get Arraignment Delay

• Cases Continue on Separate Tracks

BY HANS LAETZ

Arraignment for two Culver City men accused of setting the disastrous Corral Canyon fire last fall has been postponed for the third time.
The appointment of a new deputy prosecutor on the case prompted both sides to request a continuation on the case until July 11. At that time, bail will be reviewed and a date for a preliminary hearing, where the charges will be laid out in public, will be set.
Dean Allan Lavorante was 19, and Eric Matthew Ullman was 18 last year, when they allegedly started a small bonfire inside a “rave cave” where Corral Canyon Road dead-ends in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Three Los Angeles men, portrayed by Lavorante and Ullman’s attorneys as “toughs,” arrived at the cave and kicked the Culver City teens and their girlfriends out. The trio then reportedly got drunk and kicked burning logs down a cliff into surrounding brush as hot Santa Ana winds whipped through the area on the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Those men, Brian Allen Anderson, then 23, William Thomas Coppock, then 23, and Brian David Franks, then 27, face a preliminary hearing date-setting on June 10.
Last Friday, Commissioner Michael Kellogg granted Lavorante permission to leave California briefly. He is working on a commercial fishing boat that will leave the state’s waters this summer, said his attorney, Mark Werksman.
Attorneys estimate that $450 million worth of property at 53 houses, as well as numerous outbuildings and vehicles, went up in flames in the eight hours after the bonfire was set.
All five defendants have entered not guilty pleas, and there is the possibility of three or more separate court proceedings if any or all of the five men testify against each other, attorneys said.

• The Publisher’s Notebook •

Sticky Solutions

BY ANNE SOBLE

Pacific Coast Highway is Malibu’s lifeline, the pathway that connects all of our homes to the community and to places of work and play. Those of us who not only live here, but also have businesses and work here, find ourselves on the roadway upwards of a half dozen times a day, even when we are conserving energy as the cost of gasoline spirals ever higher. But five-dollars-or-more-a-gallon gasoline isn’t going to change the nature of the coast route, either for those who live and work here, the beachgoers who come to bask in the rarified Malibu sunshine, the commuters from the San Fernando Valley who work on the Westside, or the travelers through Malibu going home to the exploding communities in Ventura County. We can’t seem to alter being driven by a manic sense of saving time that triggers speeding, changing lanes unsafely, and taking the wheel when we’re tired or ill. We rush to beat traffic signals, even though the cars we’ve passed will catch up several lights later. Some drivers refuse to signal lane changes, perhaps they think it improves their mileage. As for drivers on cell phones, even ones that are “hands free,” most are too distracted to know what’s going on around them. Then there are the DUIs. As long as alcohol is an acceptable teen initiation into adulthood and a response to many of adult life’s social, psychological and sexual woes, drunk driving will claim lives.
This dreary litany is an acknowledgment of the holiday weekend ahead. Even if the weather is May Gray, thousands will pour into the area in search of sun, fun and the Malibu mystique, which has as many definitions as there are definers. Memorial Day is the unofficial kick-off of summer at the shore, despite what all the calendars say. As the public flocks to local beaches, even more cars will join the lines of vehicles snaking along the PCH. Although traffic jams may actually mean fewer high-speed traffic fatalities, traffic writeups will accumulate. In the 1980s, the Malibu Surfside News undertook a community project with the help of the then General Telephone Company and held a contest for the best eco-friendly (and completely removable) bumper sticker urging safe driving on Pacific Coast Highway. This is what the winner looked like. It graced cars all over Malibu. The recent run of accidents indicates it may be time to think about another bumper sticker to be given free to all locals and as many visitors as possible. Does anyone care? Any ideas out there? Can anything be said in a half dozen words or less that might help to cut the roadway carnage? Perhaps we could go for a week without having to report a serious crash on PCH, then a month, then a year. It’s possible.

Council to Discuss Rent Hikes for City’s Commercial Holdings

• Municipal Officials May Indirectly Impact Market Forces Throughout the Community

BY BILL KOENEKER

An agenda item on next week’s Malibu City Council meeting opens a window on the world of the city’s finances now that it is a landlord in the Civic Center area, now sometimes called “the Rodeo Drive of Malibu.”
The municipal staff wants to talk to the council members about a lease agreement with a tenant at the commercial property located at Webb Way and Pacific Coast Highway.
The annual rent currently being collected from the property leased by Coldwell Banker is $337,000. The city took over the existing lease agreement when it purchased the Chili Cook-off property in 2006, according to a staff report.
The city uses the rent collected from the three commercial properties located at the edges of Legacy Park, the former Cook-off site, to meet the debt service for the certificates of participation issued to purchase the 19 vacant acres and commercial buildings.
The real estate firm is currently paying $5.83 per square foot. The building consists of 4848 square feet, and there are about 22 marked parking spaces.
That’s contrasted with Malibu Coast Animal Hospital for which the city will get $7.37 per square foot in 2009. That property includes a 2711-square-foot building with about 14 parking spaces.
Next year, the city will collect $925,000 a year in base rent, plus an additional amount in what is called participation rent for the 30,331-square-foot Malibu Lumber shopping center, plus gain in the $10 million in improvements.
The staff is asking the council if it wants to extend the lease at the current rate, plus an increase equal to the consumer price index? Extend the lease agreement with a 10 percent base rent increase plus CPI? Establish a base rent amount at the same rate as the animal hospital? Seek a new tenant? Or re-develop the site with the same square footage, and issue a long-term lease to a new tenant?
The staff recommends extending the term of the current lease for a one-year term with the option of an additional year with an increase the first year of ten percent and CPI increases. In 2009, the rent would be $6.40 per square foot, or $371,000 annually.
City officials found out that rent amounts vary in the Civic Center. Banks are paying from a range of $6.30 to $9.17 per square foot, with an average amount of $7.80. The average amount for office space is about $6.80, with a range of rates from $5.20 to $9.35. Rent amounts for commercial retail space have ranged recently to as high as $22 per square foot, with an average of about $12. The city’s shopping center at the old Malibu lumber yard site is reportedly charging $15, and possibly higher.
As the city becomes a major player in the commercial rental market in the Civic Center, it may force rents upward in its zeal to realize a revenue stream for itself, and pave the way for other commercial landlords to do the same.
While council members lament what is happening in the retail sector, the city may have unwittingly become the mightiest force in shaping that market in an upward trend.

Two Jackson Pollock Paintings Damaged in Corral Canyon Fire

• Malibu Art Collector Explores Possible Restoration •

BY ANNE SOBLE

What could potentially may be one of the major art losses in years was made public this week when it was announced that two Jackson Pollock paintings owned by Malibu art collector Gene Ewing were seriously damaged in last November’s Corral Canyon wildfire.
According to an announcement by her attorneys, Ewing purchased the paintings—“Drips on White” and “Drips on Black”—in 1952 for $800 each when she was an “18-year-old art student with an inheritance.” She reportedly spotted the Pollock works at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City and “knew she had to have them.”
Ewing is quoted as saying it “took her at least 20 more trips to get up the nerve to make the purchase, since $800 was a lot of money in those days.” She says she still has the original receipt from the transaction. Ewing also had the paintings analyzed and authenticated by an expert several years ago.
The paintings were reportedly never shown in a museum or gallery. They, along with several other valuable artworks and most of Ewing’s possessions, were subjected to the full force of the post-Thanksgiving Day firestorm.
The announcement holds out hope that some restoration of the two Pollocks is possible, indicating that “nearly one-third of each painting was completely destroyed, and the rest of the paintings were damaged by the heat and soot.”
The paintings were not insured because the premiums would reportedly “have been millions of dollars a year.” Ewing says she wants “people to know that there were more than houses lost in the Corral Canyon fire, there were valuable and sentimental works of art that will never be replaced.”
Ewing is one of the property owners who have filed a claim against the State Parks Department (on whose land the fire was started) through attorneys Devitt & Chelberg for $350 million dollars.
She is also among those seeking a court order requiring installation of a gate to close off access to the notorious mountain partying spot where illegal bonfires are often built.
Ewing, who formerly headed a clothing empire named after her, recently survived a major battle with cancer. She says she is now ready to return to the front line on behalf of wildfire prevention, adding, “They say you can’t beat City Hall, but if I beat cancer, I can sure as hell try.”

PHOTOS

MAJOR LOSS—Shown photographed in a former setting, Jackson Pollock’s “Drips on Black” and “Drips on White” were severely damaged in the Corral Canyon wildfire last Nov. 23. The owner of the burned paintings is exploring the possibility of restoring them with atomic oxygen restoration techniques and other technology. The extent of the damage to “Drips on Black” is evident in a recent photo of that artwork.

City Council Bans Plastic Bags within Local Boundaries

• Coalition of Young People and Environmentalists Issue Call for Swift Action

BY BILL KOENEKER

Urged on by high profile environmentalists and local youngsters, the Malibu City Council this week unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance banning plastic shopping bags.
Kelly Meyer, who was followed by the students from the Boys and Girls Club calling themselves the green teens, talked about the global plastic problems, while Sarah Abramson, the director of coastal resources at Heal the Bay told the council about the impacts of plastic shopping bags on the marine environment.
Last October, in what many consider his first campaign appearance, then Planning Commissioner John Sibert, now city council member, had urged the council to explore banning the use of petroleum-based plastic and noncompostable bags in Malibu.
Long before that, Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich had urged a ban on the plastic shopping bags when the council was considering a ban on Styrofoam take-out products. At that time, a majority of that council indicated they were not ready to take on both battles.
A city staff report prepared by Jennifer Voccola, the city’s environmental program coordinator, noted the plastic shopping bags “have been found to significantly contribute to litter and have negative impacts on the environment.
Due to their lightweight and inflatable characteristics they can become windblown fouling local creeks, the ocean and storm drain system,” she said.
“Plastic bags pose a particular problem for wildlife, especially bird and aquatic life that mistake the bags for food and as a result—starving—or suffocate in the bag. Plastic bags are also known to smother plants,” she added. “Plastics are a scourge on our environment.”
The Malibu students talked about how much plastic is now in the environment and how long it takes to decompose.
Meyer said, “We know a lot of you are on board. Plastic is a huge problem. Join us in banning all plastic bags,” she added.
A debate ensued about what to do about paper bags and how just banning plastic bags might clean up the immediate environment, but ultimately create landfill problems because paper generates so much more waste.
Mark Gold, the executive director of Heal the Bay, told council members no one in the U.S. has done it yet, but Santa Monica is looking into charging a fee for paper bags. “If we move everybody from plastics to paper, we are trading one problem for another,” he said.
However, other council members did not want to take that action after Conley Ulich made a motion to direct staff to study a fee for paper bags. Council members balked, saying it would take time from the staff for other priority matters.
There were some representatives from the plastics industry urging the council to not take any action at this time. Echoing somewhat the sentiments of Gold, they argued that the ban would do nothing to solve the solid waste problem and in the long run could exacerbate it.
Council members were told the ban would not go into complete effect for a year to allow business owners to make the transition.

Corral Wildfire Damage Totals Jump Fivefold as Lawsuit Gels

BY BILL KOENEKER

Claims of more than $450 million in property damage from the Corral Canyon fire last November have been filed, according to a local attorney consolidating the cases.
Malibu attorney James Devitt said the initial estimates of damage put at around $100 million have been greatly surpassed.
“The reason the claims in these cases have escalated is due to the fact that much more than homes were burned in this fire. Many homeowners or tenants in Corral and Latigo Canyon[s] had valuable artworks and other irreplaceable media lost,” he noted, in a press release issued to the local media.
Devitt cited as an example a record producer who lost numerous irreplaceable master recordings as well as very expensive instruments and equipment. The producer has worked for such artists as Avril Lavigne and Pink.
The producer Butch Walker was living in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea’s house.
Some of the most discouraging news, though, comes from residents who believed they could reuse their foundations. They have since found out is not altogether true. In many cases that seems to be the exception and not the rule, some would-be builders insist.
New foundations will likely mean new geology reports and new engineering approvals totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Devitt.
In the media missive, the Malibu attorney maintains that 80 percent of the homeowners and tenants with major damages have already retained his firm along with two other law firms.
However, the statute of limitations for filing government claims will expire on May 24, 2008.
If any damaged party does not file by that date, they will be barred from recovery since this is considered a “mass action and not a “class action,” according to Devitt.
Besides the monetary damages, the lawsuits will be seeking a court order to force the state Department of Parks and Recreation to install a gate on Corral Canyon Road in an attempt to prevent partygoers from going to the “rave cave” at night.
Devitt stated no other government entities would be sued since “they are
protected by governmental immunities or previous case law.”
However, he insists, State Parks knew about the “rave cave,” for the past 20 years, but refused to take action by installing a gate or taking other security measures.
“Because of that failure and the state failure to hire enough park rangers or cut the brush around the cave area, the situation was exasperated [sic]. It is outrageous that State Park’s refuses to address the situation since it would be so simple and inexpensive to install a gate and have a ranger lock it at sunset.”

Everyone Is Invited to Join in the S. M. Mountains BioBlitz

It is called a BioBlitz—a 24-hour inventory of all living organisms in a given area. This year the event is taking place in the Santa Monica Mountains on May 30 and 31 from noon until noon.
The Santa Monica Mountains BioBlitz, part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom, is being put together by National Geographic and the National Park Service in collaboration with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the California State Parks agency.
Teams of naturalists, scientists and volunteers will comb the park’s 150,000 acres, observing and recording as many species as possible. The public is invited to participate. Nearly 80 experts have committed to take part in the endeavor and about 1000 school children are expected to get their first taste of what environmental field work is about.
The NPS and National Geographic are planning a series of ten annual events around the country to publicize the activities, which are expected to provide important data about this area.
Last year, the society hosted the Rock Creek Park BioBlitz in Washington D.C. After 24 hours of combing the urban park, the participants found 666 species, plus several more that have not yet been identified.
Paramount Ranch has been designated the base camp where participants can check in and many festivities are planned.
At the camp, people can watch scientists doing round-the-clock research to identify and document species collected in the field.
Additional activities throughout the day and night at base camp include talks by experts, displays and demonstrations, entertainment and children’s activities.
Inventories are being staged simultaneously at five additional field stations where pre-registered participants can meet. Areas selected for their varied ecological conditions include Griffith Park, King Gillette Ranch, Leo Carrillo State Park, Malibu Pier and Lagoon and Topanga State Park.
Activities include exploring tidepools, catching butterflies with nets, searching for hidden wildflowers in the canyons and observing and catching owls with nets at night.
The term BioBlitz was coined by a NPS naturalist during the first such event in Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in 1996. Since then the events have been sponsored by different agencies across the country.
BioBlitz attempts to establish a degree of biodiversity in a defined area or park. Consequently, the event must take place over a full 24-hour period since different organisms are likely to be found at different times of the day and night.
Following the species count, NPS is sponsoring what is being called the Celebrate BioDiversity Festival on Saturday, May 31, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. with music, including the Banana Slug String Band, talks, displays and an opportunity to speak with the scientists and watch them at work.

• The Publisher’s Notebook •

Starr-Struck in Malibu

BY ANNE SOBLE

The Malibu City Council is reluctant to take on rude and noisy motorcyclists but not rude and noisy paparazzi. The symbiotic relationship of those in the celebrity spotlight who want the pap-packs at their film or clothing line openings but not around them during casual hair days is a complex subject in its own right, but the council should think long and hard about tinkering with the First Amendment, especially if it is going to let the tinkering be done by someone with the Constitutional approach that made Clintwinskygate a major paparazzi event of the twenty-first century, if not the greatest political paparazzi event of all time. Ken Starr singlehandedly (no pun intended) helped create a sea change in the public discourse on human sexuality. That could have made him a liberal but for the content of that discourse. The announcement that Starr might be engaged by the city council allowed the media to link Malibu and Clintwinskygate ad nauseum. Interestingly, the possible involvement of the American Civil Liberties Union in a project to explore ways to curtail paparazzi behavior didn’t even rate major media mention. Starr’s potential engagement has created a stir among some in the journalism community because they fear that Starr not only would like to curb the paparazzi, the so-called “bad boys” of the media, but all members of the media. They think he shares the Karl Rovian approach that the media should be manipulated, if not muzzled. In addition, I’ve asked the mayor whether she should be the person negotiating a city project with the dean of the law school she teaches at. She says too little money is involved to constitute a conflict of interest, but he’s still her boss.
In a similar vein, I am puzzled that the media describes the drafting of paparazzi controls as a done deal and doesn’t even acknowledge the role of the rest of the city council in the process. Personally, I’m counting on the ACLU and other First Amendment advocates to join me in protecting the rights of all media, from the humblest blogger to the surliest paparazzo, because freedom of speech and the press is indivisible. You allow it to be taken from some, and it becomes easier to take from all. Soon politicians will start demanding that photographers only be allowed to shoot them from their “good” side. Seriously though, the media has responsibilities and guidelines. Unsafe driving, jostling passersby, harassing children, and physically or emotionally abusing anyone are wrong. But Sheriff Baca and Chief Bratton are correct that there are adequate laws on the books to address this kind of behavior. We don’t need to be Starr-struck because some people are star-struck.

Radiocarbon Dating of Malibu Artifacts Confirms Importance of Farpoint Site

• National Science Foundation and Smithsonian Officials Are Among Those Urging Preservation and Additional Archaeological Research at Point Dume Property •


BY ANNE SOBLE

Archaeologist Gary Stickel announced at a recent lecture at the Malibu Public Library that a stone spearhead, or point, found at a local construction site by a Native American project monitor in 2005 has been established as an artifact from the oldest archaeological find in the City of Malibu.
Radiocarbon dating of mussel shell fragments from the site that was provided gratis by the National Science Foundation at the Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Laboratory at the University of Arizona dates them to 9074 BP (Before Present).
The shells would have been brought to the site, Dr. Stickel says, by the area’s prehistoric inhabitants, ancestors of the Chumash, the earliest recorded Native Americans who inhabited much of the immediate coastal area, including Malibu.
The archaeologist and his research associate, James Flaherty, indicate that the shell samples were found above the level where the spearhead, believed to be a Clovis era artifact, representing the “oldest identifiable culture in the New World,” was found. The date that Clovis people might have occupied the site has not been established, but proponents of their presence think they could have inhabited Malibu from 12,500 to 11,000 years ago.
Stickel says that Edgar Perez’s find of the spearhead, unearthed during construction work on private property on Point Dume, is “a major archaeological discovery of almost unlimited significance.”
The ebullient archaeologist, who dispenses copies of a letter confirming his role as an archaeological consultant for the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” the way other PhDs provide CVs, says the Farpoint site, as the property is known, “keeps yielding new secrets that are important” to learning about the people who lived in Malibu 9000 and more years ago.
Stickel says, “There is vital additional work to be done at the site.” The current property owner prohibits further excavation, but Stickel hopes to raise the funds to acquire the site and permanently protect it. He adds, “Additional excavation could provide human teeth or bone material that could [corroborate] theories of human habitation.”
Dennis Stanford, the chief archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution and a Clovis era expert, says Farpoint is a “site of national significance and requires interdisciplinary research and protection.”
A growing chorus of archaeological voices supports additional exploration of the site that some say could hold the key to where the people who inhabited the western coastal areas originated.
Stickel has urged the public to take greater interest in the find and rally behind the call for more research. He is critical of what he describes as a lack of interest by Malibu municipal officials in local archaeology. Farpoint’s champion says, “Unfortunately, the City of Malibu is not following the recommendations of Dr. Stanford and has done nothing to protect and preserve this special site.”

City of Malibu Explores Legal Options for Curbing Paparazzi

• Law Creating Personal Safety Buffer Zones Is under Consideration

BY ANNE SOBLE

While other cities have floundered in efforts to curb what is viewed as aggressive and invasive behavior by photographers who target celebrities, the City of Malibu is preparing to enter the legal fray.
The photographers, most of whom are freelance, are usually dubbed paparazzi, the plural of paparazzo (from the name of a character in the Fellini film “La Dolce Vita”).
They have come under increased public fire for engaging in unsafe behavior in public places, such as reckless driving and jostling people who block their shots.
At its quarterly goal-setting meeting last week, the city council approved efforts to frame a measure to address creation of “safety buffer zones” or other ways to protect people from endangerment or harassment.
Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said the city’s approach could be to engage outside independent counsel that reflects all sides of the U.S. Constitutional issues “to draft and defend” an ordinance.
Conley Ulich said Ken Starr, dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law and the former Independent Counsel in the Clinton impeachment effort, who is currently representing Blackwater Security on alleged atrocities in Iraq, and Nadine Strossen, the president of the American Civil Liberties Union, have expressed interest in working on this at no charge to the city.
The pairing of these constitutional extremes (the ACLU recently published “Revisiting Our Rights”—a First Amendment treatise) prompted some raised eyebrows in the chambers.
Testifying on behalf of curbs on the paparazzi was Jolene Dodson, the self-described “celebrity assistant” for Pierce Brosnan. She relayed how Brosnan was eating lunch with a friend in a Malibu establishment a day earlier when “he was attacked by [paparazzi] who surrounded him.”
Dodson said Brosnan had to call the police. She said that establishments should hire security guards to protect people from paparazzi, then added, “We think the restaurant owners encourage [paparazzi]” to get publicity.
Mayor pro tem Andy Stern said, “It is certainly a threat.” The council unanimously agreed to make this a priority issue and ask City Attorney Christi Hogin to meet with these experts to see what ensues. Council members said they want any arrangements in writing.
City Manager Jim Thorsen reminded council members that First Amendment clashes have derailed most of the attempts to curb the paparazzi so far, adding with regard to Conley Ulich’s statement that the experts’ work would be “free” that there would be hidden staff time costs associated with any legislation that might be proposed.
The city manager indicated that his main concern is that whoever drafts a paparazzi regulation measure for Malibu “should agree to take on the [legal] defense of it.”

View Ordinance Is City’s Priority

• Council Members Detail Objectives for 2008-2009

BY BILL KOENEKER

Responding to an overwhelming vote on the April ballot in favor of municipal action to legislate view protection, the new Malibu City Council last week unanimously agreed to make this its top goal.
Voters, by a 60 percent margin in an advisory measure, recommended that the council approve a view preservation ordinance.
“The people spoke, it should be our number one priority,” said Councilmember Andy Stern.
“I was shocked at the outcome. I thought there would be more opposition,” said Councilmember Sharon Barovsky, who had asked to have the council put the measure on the ballot. “They have spoken very clearly. I support this as a top priority. The 63 percent approval is pretty overwhelming.”
Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said she believed drafting the measure would be a long process.
Planning and building department head Vic Peterson agreed about the timeline. “There will be nothing easy about the view ordinance. Please do not call it a tree ordinance. Based on the experience of an ordinance [for the Malibu Country Estates], we thought it would be easy. That we could use the existing ordinance of another city, but it took two- and-half years. There was a lot of disagreement [about implementation]. This will not be an easy process. We will have to [comply] with California Environmental Quality Act. It will cost money,” he said.
Peterson told council members the staff’s view of what might work is crafting a citywide ordinance—his reference to MCE is about a view protection law that was created last year solely for that neighborhood—that would be successful by planners devising overlay districts for the various neighborhoods. “The issues are going to be different. If we go to different [neighborhoods] we can do that, but it won’t happen in 100 days,” Peterson added.
Other council members agreed about view protection having top billing after there was a discussion about other issues and where they would be placed on the council’s list of goals and objectives for the upcoming year.
Members also discussed where to rank Civic Center planning. The mayor is adamant about the municipality developing a plan for the Civic Center.
Council members discussed whether it would have to be a specific plan because of the time and requirements. They agreed upon some kind of planning device other than a specific plan after the mayor and other officials approach Civic Center property owners about what they see for the future.
Other priorities include developing objectives leading to approval for grey water usage for household use, especially landscape irrigation. Members also agreed to keep on the top ten list developing green building standards.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner said the city needs to work on a gray water ordinance.
Councilmember John Sibert, talking about green building standards, said the city needs to get folks to deal with the technologies, but not necessarily to dictate to them. “So we don’t tell them how to do it, we tell them what outcome we want. Everybody else is writing prescriptions,” he said.
The council also wants to keep as a top goal a successful approach to curbing motorcycle noise.
Former Councilmember Ken Kearsley and Dennis Torres talked about a new and different approach taken by other cities and states.
Torres said the noise is caused by custom mufflers installed by bikers who take off the manufacturer’s muffler and how that could be stopped.
He explained that some governments have crafted a law that has withstood two challenges to the Supreme Court. “Manufactures must put an EPA stamp on the bikes’ mufflers. The local law requires that the EPA stamp must be on the muffler. You do not have to measure noise. The word will get out. If no stamp, then stay out of Malibu. The previous efforts by Malibu have failed. There were 70 percent of the citations that were rejected by the court. Just cross off Denver’s name [on the law] and put in Malibu’s,” he added.
Council members seemed encouraged by the information and agreed to put motorcycle noise abatement on the list.
In other action, the council agreed to direct the city’s lobbyist to work on convincing the state Department of Transportation to stripe Pacific Coast Highway from Trancas Canyon Road westward for a bike lane, directed staff to utilize funds raised at Malipalooza for the playground at Bluffs Park and endorsed the 1Sky Mother’s Day event by proposing to create a mural about the need to promote climate change.

SMMUSD Board Fires Deputy Supervisor in Charge of Special Ed Despite Protests

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

A standing-room-only crowd packed the Malibu City Council Chambers at the May 1 Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District board meeting. Teachers, parents and students had come en mass to speak out for the district’s embattled special education program and to defend Tim Walker, the deputy superintendent who managed the district’s special education services.
Board president Oscar de la Torre announced at the start of the public session that a settlement agreement of $193,000 had been reached on a vote of six in favor and one abstention. Walker’s name was not mentioned, but word that Walker had been terminated as a result of the recently published Lou Barber report on special education in the district had already spread before the meeting began.
Walker was not present. He is alleged to have been instructed not to appear, but he did not lack defenders. For over an hour speakers from Malibu schools and Franklin Elementary in Santa Monica argued passionately in his defense.
The common theme running through the public comments was the feeling that the Barber report was incomplete. Parents and teachers complained that negative experiences of Santa Monica parents were taken into account but positive experiences of Malibu parents and those from Franklin had not been included.
A lengthy standing ovation followed the presentation of the first speaker from the opposition, prompting board Vice President Jose Escarce to try to curtail applause. His request was ignored.
“Our department has been falsely represented by the Barber report, as well as members of the community,” said Franklin Elementary School special day class teacher Nathan Garden, who called Walker the “backbone of the special education department,” who “continually moves us in the right direction.” Garden stated that, “It is important that we have the chance to make our voices be heard before our skill level and our devotion to children and our commitment is further questioned. In our professional capacity each of us is more than just a teacher.”
Danny Sills, a sixth grader, and the son of Malibu resident and special education activist Laureen Sills, said “I don’t know why everyone is mad.” His mother discussed how she felt when she signed her son’s Individualized Education Plan agreement. “I could have signed that contract with a pen that sang,” she said. Adding that she hated to see the board use Walker as a scapegoat.
Rex Lewis-Clark, 12, stated that “In my special education class I learned so many things. I’ve learned ‘cannot do’ is not acceptable.” His mother, Cathleen Lewis-Clark, said that with her son, who is blind and has learning disabilities, but who also has a tremendous gift for music, “it’s not about thinking out of the box, it’s about throwing the box away.” And that in Malibu’s special education programs “all his needs were met.” “The support he has gotten allows me to send Rex out without worrying. With peace of mind,” she said. Rex’s story has been so successful that mother and son have become professional speakers and their experiences have been profiled on 60 Minutes.
Tiana Fazio, another Malibu student, explained that she has had “a great experience in Malibu. I know I will do even better.” Her mother, Teresa Fazio, spoke in angry defense of Walker. “If you think by firing Tim Walker all your problems will be solved, you’re going to be very disappointed,” she said.
Franklin Psychologist Meredith Abrams, speaking on behalf of the staff psychologists, summed up the concerns expressed by all of the speakers by saying that special education had been “misrepresented by the Barber report.” She demanded “a kid-first focus, and increased staff moral.”
Because the matter was not on the agenda, board members were limited to individual comments and were unable to discuss the matter without violating the Brown Act. This led to angry comments from the audience. One woman shouted that the board’s action was comparable to that of George W. Bush in the cover-up over the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Boardmember Kathy Wisnicki stated that parents have approached her to ask why their positive comments were not included in the Barber report. Boardmember Ralph Mechur pointed out that “The report didn’t say everything was wrong, far from it,” and that audits “exist to point out the problems.” de la Torre’s statement that “The board is here to listen,” was met with an angry cry of "then you haven't been listening at all,” from the audience.
And that was the feeling of the teachers and parents after the comment period ended. “They aren’t listening to us. We aren’t being heard.” A view that echoes that of the Santa Monica parents who spoke from the other side of the issue at the recent Santa Monica City Council meeting.

City Wants to Ban Pot Pharmacies

• Moratorium Now Exists on Opening New Facilities

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu city officials will attempt to ban medical marijuana dispensaries by amending the municipality’s code. The planning commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter on Tuesday, June 3.
The city has dealt with the pot pharmacy issue by calling a moratorium on new facilities. There are several outlets in town. City officials say there are no regulations governing their operation.
Planners have crafted a zone text amendment to the city’s code “to clarify the definitions with the zoning ordinance to exclude medical marijuana dispensaries as permitted uses within any zoning designation within the City of Malibu.”
The medical marijuana facilities are still considered illegal by the federal government and in the last year, the feds have successfully shut down several storefronts.
The pot pharmacies are considered by some to be dangerous establishments that can attract undesirable elements because of the large amounts of cannabis and cash that are kept on the premises.
The city council on June 26, 2006 approved an interim urgency ordinance that established a 45-day moratorium on the establishment of any new medical marijuana dispensaries. The measure was extended on Aug. 21, 2006 and extended again last year.
At the time the moratorium was approved, council members were told the staff was researching the possibility of permit requirements, siting criteria, operational regulations and determining if the operation of the dispensaries could be safe and allowable. However, that appears to have gone up in smoke. Municipal officials were not immediately available for comment.
There are other problems city officials have to deal with, including how to ensure that the dispensary is offering “medicine” from a legal source.
Likewise, there are conflicts between the federal and state laws.
In 1996, state voters enacted Prop 215, allowing individuals to grow and use marijuana for personal medical purposes on a physician’s recommendation. In 2003, the state lawmakers adopted a medical marijuana program. However, the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal laws prevailed, prohibiting the possession of marijuana for personal use.
Federal agencies have repeatedly denounced the state’s attempts to legalize the herb for medical purposes and have repeatedly taken law enforcement action.

Pavilions Is Coming

Crews Put on Finishing Touches

BY BILL KOENEKER

The sign for the new Pavilions market is now in place. The roof-top beacon lights up the night sky, alerting Malibu residents that the community’s newest full-service-plus supermarket will soon be opening at Point Dume Village, the commercial center formerly known as Point Dume Plaza.As with so many Malibu construction projects, delays were inevitable. Some were due to Mother Nature, such as weather impacts; others due to the complexities of the permitting process. Yet more to the decision to give the center a fresh new look.Those who take a peek inside can see the new shelves, counters and checkstands. They can note where bakery goods will be sold, the location of the floral shop and the location of the fourth Malibu Starbucks—this one with a fireplace and artwork on the walls.Signs also advise that Pavilions of Malibu is now hiring and a list of the available positions is posted on a website.The listing of jobs includes cooks, bakers and cake decorators, which should mean a sizable baked goods and foods section.Service deli clerks are sought to slice meats and cheeses, and make sandwiches and package salads. The call has also gone out for meat and seafood clerks, floral clerks and the usual retinue of cashiers, baggers, stockers, bookkeepers and clerks needed to operate a market.All that is needed now is an opening date. The management company and the owner deferred to Von’s spokespersons, who were not immediately available for comment.When the announcement was first made about Pavilions coming to Malibu, company spokespersons said the store would be a state-of-the-art, showcase store much like one recently opened in Santa Barbara. Until the store’s opening date is announced, Malibuites will just have to keep looking in the windows and thinking “soon.”

• The Publisher’s Notebook •

Malibu Schools and Transparency

BY ANNE SOBLE

This week’s arrest of an alleged child molester at one of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified public schools has diverted critical attention away from the issues that took center stage following the dismissal of the district’s top administrator for special education services last week. I am still exploring the morass of information related to this complex and emotionally charged set of circumstances. It comes replete with its own festering rumor mill, alleging everything from conflicts of interest, political power plays, and financial trade-offs to inappropriate personal relationships. What is most puzzling is the seemingly virtual dichotomy of perspective between Malibu parents who spoke up for the special ed program and the Santa Monica parents who felt short-changed and abused by being required to sign confidentiality agreements. The apparent rigidness of the geographical demarcation mitigates against random causality.
What is at work here? Did Malibuites not have to sign confidentiality agreements? If they did, didn’t that concern them? Were there no Malibu families dissatisfied with special education services? Did Malibuites get disproportionate special ed benefits? Was a reason for confidentiality agreements in the first place so Santa Monicans wouldn’t find out about possible favoritism? If there was favoritism, some people might counter that why should Malibuites care if they were reaping program benefits? That’s not only unethical, it’s short-sighted. The use of deceit and manipulation is double-edged. Santa Monica children might lose out in one area, but Malibu children—perhaps the high achievers?—might be shortchanged in some other area. If everything is kept secret, who knows?
The superintendent said she accepts responsibility for the special education blowup, but her “oodles of work” comment for not wanting to hear from more parents at the Santa Monica City Council meeting two weeks ago belies appreciation of the need to publicly talk this school system crisis through. Parents were asked to sign gag orders in order to secure services for their children, and they now want everything about this to be brought out in the open. If Malibu acquiescence was bought with favoritism, this is a local issue of importance. Secrecy has no place in a public policy process. Would the then school board president who argued on behalf of secret transactions do the same for the details of homeowner group negotiations, development agreements, or the provision of municipal services? Transparency and accountability are critical components of fairness and equity in government and in life. After the school district deals with the case of the teacher under arrest, it has to get back to the special education debacle and make it right.

Three Injured in Morning Crash on PCH

By Hans Laetz

Three people were injured Friday morning when their speeding car on Pacific Coast Highway crashed into the back of a garbage truck that had just turned onto the highway at Decker Canyon Road.
Deputies estimate the car was traveling southeast faster than 70 miles an hour. The truck driver, turning left from the stop sign at the bottom of Decker, told deputies he saw the car, but thought it was traveling at the speed limit, giving him room to enter the highway.
The truck turned into the left lane, and then proceeded to move over. The car driver, a woman, tried to swerve but smacked into the truck hard, deputies said.
Two of the three people in the vehicle were air-evacuated to UCLA, and the third was taken there by ground ambulance. Airbags in the front of the crumpled sedan had deployed, saving their lives, deputies said.
Paramedics said all of the injuries appeared to be moderate, but the trio was helicoptered out because of the severity of the blunt force impact, as evidenced by the engine block that was shoved above the dashboard radio in the car.
The truck driver was not hurt.
PCH was closed for about 30 minutes until 9 a.m. while the helicopter landed on the roadway.