Mitrice Richardson Update: Woman Released after Malibu Dinner Tab Arrest Is Still Missing

• County Board of Supervisors Offer $10,000 Reward for Information Leading to the 24-Year Old's Whereabouts

BY ANNE SOBLE

Law enforcement agencies and family members say they are still no closer to knowing the whereabouts of a 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton honor graduate last seen leaving the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lost Hills Station before dawn on Thursday, Sept. 17.
This week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors—on a motion by Second District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas—approved the offering of a $10,000 reward for information leading to the location of Mitrice Richardson of Los Angeles.
Richardson was released from the Lost Hills facility on Agoura Road two weeks ago at approximately 1:25 a.m., about five hours after she was arrested in Malibu on suspicion of defrauding an innkeeper—failing to pay for dinner—and suspicion of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana in her vehicle, according to official reports.
LASD officials said Richardson was alone at Geoffrey’s restaurant the evening of Sept. 16, ordered a steak dinner and a single alcoholic beverage, then was unable to pay the $89 bill.
The restaurant manager called sheriff’s deputies to the location and made a citizen’s arrest at about 8:30 p.m., and the woman was taken into custody.
Richardson’s 1990 Honda Civic, parked in the restaurant lot, was searched. Deputies found the marijuana and added that allegation.
Restaurant staff and sheriff’s department personnel offer markedly different descriptions of Richardson’s condition when she was taken into custody.
Geoffrey’s staffers said the woman appeared either substance-impaired or psychologically stressed, while Lost Hills reports indicate that she passed a field sobriety test and appeared lucid after being booked.
When it was determined there were no warrants against Richardson, she was told she would be released on the two counts.
According to Lost Hills Capt. Tom Martin and Lost Hills Operations Lieut. Steve Smith, the jailer on duty—Sharon Cummings—let Richardson use a station phone because the pay phone in the lobby wasn’t working.
Both men said the jailer heard Richardson speaking on the phone, but didn’t know whom she had called. When The News asked Smith whether there have been efforts to trace the numbers called, he said he wasn’t sure it has been done yet and that might be up to the Los Angeles Police Department, as the LAPD is the lead agency in the missing person investigation.
Late last week, the LAPD transferred the case from its Missing Persons Unit to the Robbery Homicide Division “because it is a larger division with more personnel and resources,” according to Detective Steve Eguchi, who with Detective Chuck Knolls, is now overseeing the investigation.
Eguchi said, “This is an ongoing investigation. We are working on this case on a daily basis...we have followed up on a number of sightings and continue to do so.”
The LAPD detective said despite the intensity of the search and rescue operation last Saturday that drew personnel and volunteers from law enforcement jurisdictions throughout the Southland (see page 13), “Any potential leads from that effort have since been eliminated.”
Eguchi said it’s hoped that widespread announcement of the county reward will provide additional impetus for someone to step forward with information that will help to find the missing woman.
Richardson is described on the LAPD blog as “African-American with brown hair and hazel eyes. The 24-year-old is five-feet-five to five-feet-six inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds.” She was last seen wearing a brown Bob Marley T-shirt and blue jeans.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detectives Knolls or Eguchi at 213-485-2531 (Robbery Homicide Division), or 213-485-5381 (Missing Persons Unit).
Richardson’s family also made a plea for information on its Web site at www.findmitrice.info, which states that the woman “suffers from mental health issues [and] deserves better treatment than the Malibu sheriff’s gave.” The family has also discussed preparing its own reward package for information about the woman from whom there has been no word for two weeks.

Malibuites Are Expected to Protest Proposed Septic Curbs

• Residents Face Several Key Issues on the Same Night at Meetings Many Miles Apart

BY ANNE SOBLE

One meeting is slated to take place in central Malibu on the Pepperdine University campus; the other takes place in a public meeting hall in Pacific Palisades; and one of the rare local school board meetings is also scheduled—all at the same time.
Malibu residents who care about the subjects of all three meetings—the possible termination of septic tank use for wastewater management; the approval of overnight public camping at five local sites; and the evisceration of district advisory committees—may find themselves in a quandary on Thursday, Oct. 1.
Possibly the biggest attention getter, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold a community meeting to discuss septic prohibition in the greater Malibu Civic Center Area on Oct. 1 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Elkins Auditorium on the Pepperdine campus.
Special parking arrangements have been made for the sizable crowd that is anticipated to attend. To get to Elkins Auditorium, enter the campus on Seaver Drive off Malibu Canyon Road.
Two parking lots are available for the auditorium. From the Smothers parking lot (shown as Lot 1 on the map), walk down the main stairs toward the fountain in the center of the campus and the auditorium will be on the right.
If Lot 1 is full, participants can use the Theme Tower parking lot (shown as Lot 2 on the map), walk up the sidewalk on Seaver Drive, through the Smothers parking lot and down the stairs to the auditorium. Also, shuttle service is supposed to be available every 20 minutes from the Theme Tower lot to the Smothers lot.
The second meeting closer to home is the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board meeting that is set for the council chambers at city hall at 5:30 p.m.
If any of the board members wonder why there isn’t a packed meeting room, perhaps someone will suggest that there might be a greater effort to learn what else is going on in Malibu and adjust schedules accordingly.
Farthest from the home front is the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy meeting (see article on page 3) that is being held in Pacific Palisades, where attendance might be predicated on there not being another major accident on Pacific Coast Highway, such as occurred on Sunday.
All three meetings involve key public policy issues for Malibu and invite resident involvement.

Coastal Commission Also in Line on Camping Issue

• Bluffs Park Look

BY BILL KOENEKER

The California Coastal Commission is expected to consider the revised findings for the Local Coastal Program amendment proposed by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy that includes overnight camping in the coastal canyons and at Bluffs Park.
The coastal panel meets this month in Oceanside. The commission had previously approved the request, which involved several last-minute revisions, including the Bluffs Park that was not a part of the original application.
The Bluffs Park is an 84-acre open space owned by the conservancy adjacent to the city’s Bluffs Park, which includes the ball fields. The ocean blufftop location is suggested as a potential alterative location for future campsites within Malibu. (See article on this page.)
“The executive director of the applicant [Joe Edmiston] agreed that the area was appropriate for camping and formally amended the proposed LCPA at the hearing to include this area,” a CCC staff report states. “The commission approved the LCPA with the revisions proposed by the staff in the staff recommendation and the addition of Malibu Bluffs Park to the overlay as proposed by the applicant.”
Coastal Commission procedures, according to a staff report, require a majority vote of the commissioners who were both on the prevailing side and who are also present at the October meeting, when the revised findings are adopted with at least three of the prevailing members voting. “Only those commissioners on the prevailing side of the commission’s action are eligible to vote on the revised findings,” the staff report goes on to state.
Commission officials have been quick to point out that the procedures undertaken during the LCPA hearing, which included a competing LCPA sought by the City of Malibu that did not include overnight camping, “differed from most LCP amendments in that an entity other than the local government itself was making the request.”
The law allows such amendments because it is the Coastal Commission’s role to apply a regional or statewide perspective to land use debates where the use in question is one greater than local significance.”
The proposed park plan approved by the coastal panel is described as an opportunity to increase access to park properties and enhance recreation, including hiking trails and campsites in Ramirez Canyon Park, Escondido Canyon Park, Corral Canyon Park and Malibu Bluffs Park.
The plan is also described as a means to increase the level of accessibility for disabled visitors at all properties and also addresses the administrative and public outreach program uses at Ramirez Canyon Park, where the SMMC is headquartered, that were issued by the Coastal Commission in 2001, but subsequently set aside in 2005 by a court order, after neighbors complained the conservancy was involved in activities not authorized by the CCC permit.
The furor by the public focused on the overnight camping issue and overshadowed the conservancy’s request for its headquarters property.

Conservancy to Outline Plans for Public Camping at Five Malibu Parkland Sites

• Draft EIR Hopes to Forestall Critics with Strong Emphasis on Fire Safety

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy will hold a public environmental scoping hearing at Temescal Gateway Park on Thursday, Oct. 1, as part of the initial study and draft environmental impact report process for its Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan, which addresses expanded public use of SMMMC holdings in Malibu, including overnight camping.
Many elements of the plan, including trail, parking and access improvements and stream restoration at the five SMMC and Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority properties in the Malibu area have been well received. However, plans for camping facilities at the five area parks—Ramirez, Escondido and Corral canyon parks, Malibu Bluffs Open Space area and at the SMMC’s Latigo Canyon trailhead site—have generated sharp criticism from residents who say they fear that camping will lead to increased wildfire risk.
The current draft includes a new parking area on Kanan Dume Road and three hike-in campsites in the meadow area at Ramirez Canyon; a new parking lot and 13 campsites (12 standard and one ADA accessible) in Escondido Canyon; a parking area, one ADA and four regular campsites at the SMMC’s Latigo property; and 14 regular and two ADA campsites at the Corral property, utilizing the existing parking lot but upgrading the existing access road to facilitate ADA use. The Bluffs Park Open Space portion of the plan includes two entrances on PCH, opposite Pepperdine University, that would require deceleration lanes, three parking lots, and 32 campsites, which would include four tent cabins and six ADA sites. While all five locations include plans for a camp host, the Bluffs Park campsite would have accommodations for two hosts.
The Corral and Bluffs Park locations are viewed by many outdoor enthusiasts as particularly desirable campground locations. Corral is adjacent to an existing private campground and a privately run restaurant facility. Planned trail improvements would connect the property with Solstice Canyon Park, Malibu Creek State Park and the Backbone Trail. The Bluffs Park site offers a central location with amenities that include the City of Malibu’s Bluff Park and nearby shops and restaurants. Both sites also offer direct beach access, a rarity in Southern California campgrounds.
Although the camping portion of the improvement plan met instant and vociferous opposition in Malibu when it was made public last year, the conservancy scored a major victor for the plan in June, when the California Coastal Commission approved, 12-0, the conservancy’s request for an amendment to the Malibu Local Coastal Plan to allow the project to proceed. At the same time, the commission unanimously denied a request by the City of Malibu to prohibit camping.
In response to the fire concerns, the camping portion of the plan now includes a number of fire safety measures, including a general fire prohibition: “No person shall make or maintain, nor aid and abet others in making or maintaining, a campfire or any other open fire in any of the park facilities covered by this plan.”
The plan also states, “Development, use restrictions, and brush maintenance for all campsites shall be carried out in accordance with the Fire Protection and Emergency Evacuation Plan,” and that “the only cooking apparatus permitted shall consist of self-contained propane stoves. No kerosene or white gas lanterns shall be permitted.”
Campers would also be required “to utilize designated cook stations (hospitality stations) provided at each approved campsite, which shall be designed of nonflammable materials and capable of being fully enclosed,” while “cold-camping apparatus such as flameless cookstoves and lanterns are preferred.”
The plan goes on to state, “Prospective campers shall be informed of the no campfire/cold camp policy upon reserving and/or registering for use of camp facilities and shall be put on notice that unauthorized use of fire-related camping and cooking apparatus specifically prohibited by the no campfire/cold camp policy will be cause for confiscation of such devices and/or expulsion of visitors from camp facilities. Signs shall be posted and camp areas will be routinely patrolled to enforce the no campfire/cold camp policy.” The plan states that violations would be punishable by fines of up to $1000.
The conservancy also outlines fire protection apparatus to be provided and maintained at all camp facilities, including, “at a minimum,” water storage tanks, a “portable and air-powered quick attack firefighting system to be provided at each camp facility for ready deployment by trained camp host, ranger, or park personnel in the event of a fire”; and portable self-contained fire extinguisher units to be provided for each cluster or group of campsites.”
Accessible by foot or wheelchair, but not by vehicles or RVs, the proposed campsites will be “carry in-carry out,” and “low-impact,” according to the draft plan, “with self-contained chemical or composting restrooms.”
The plan stipulates that overnight camping at Ramirez Canyon Park “shall be allowed by reservation only.” Overnight camping at Escondido and Corral Canyon parks, and Malibu Bluffs Open Space would be by reservation and/or by onsite registration. Boards or kiosks would be located at park entrances, to provide campers with information on campsite availability. All park facilities would be closed on high fire danger, or “red flag” days.
The scoping meeting will take place on Thursday, at 6 p.m. in Woodland Hall (adjacent to the camp store) at Temescal Gateway Park, 15601 Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. The initial study is available at the Malibu Public Library, or online at: mrca.ca.gov. Public comment is due Wednesday, Oct. 7, by 5 p.m.

Lobbying Steps Up in Intensity as MLPA Groups Offer Proposals

• Three Stakeholder Panels Provide Alternate Ways to Balance Fishing and Enviro Interests

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The third phase of the South Coast Region’s Marine Life Protection Act Initiative is drawing to a close, as the three official stakeholder groups prepare to present their final proposals to the Science Advisory Team on Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Los Angeles. Changes have been made to the Malibu portion of all three plans following last month’s work group session, as each group attempts to meet the science guidelines while accommodating fishing and conservation interests.
Work Group 1, formally Topaz group, is continuing to propose a State Marine Reserve—the highest level of protection, which prohibits any “extractive,” or fishing activity—from the BKR [Big Kelp Reef] off Latigo to Westward Beach. The proposed boundary splits the BKR, a decision described in the report as a “compromise between fishing and conservation interests.”
Also part of WG1’s proposal is a State Marine Conservation Area extending west from Westward Beach along the waters off of Zuma, Broad Beach and Lechusa. This area would permit limited fishing, including the recreational take of pelagic fin fish, spearfishing for Pacific bonito, and white sea bass, and the commercial take of market squid using a dip net, and coastal pelagic finfish using a pelagic seine. The area would also permit the harpooning of swordfish.
A cultural SMCA proposed by the Wishtoyo Foundation for Nicholas Canyon Beach that would have permitted some commercial and recreational fishing uses is no longer part of the proposal mix. “After much discussion, tribal interests indicated they prefer SMRs, which do not allow for commercial fishing uses,” the report states. WG1 opted instead to add a new cultural SMP along the Gaviota coast.
The Malibu portion of WG3’s proposal is similar to that of WG1, but it extends the proposed SMR to the west, along Zuma Beach. The Lechusa SMCA would permit the same types of limited fishing activity as the WG1 proposal. All other fishing activities would be prohibited.
WG3 describes the area from Dume to Lechusa as having “the preferred size and coastline” that encompasses two ecotypes: a submarine canyon and “all available habitats.” The report adds that the proposed Lachusa SMCA “extends west just far enough to include a full persistent kelp bed replicate, rather than combining small patches of kelp.
“Point Dume will serve a large diving, snorkeling, kayaking, paddling and wildlife viewing community,” the WG3 report concludes.
WG2, previously External Proposal A, seen by many observers as the group most closely aligned with fishing interests, did not include any protection for the Point Dume area in Round 2. It has now incorporated a SMCA with fishing restrictions similar to those in the other two proposals from Westward Beach to Lechusa, and removed its proposed Big Sycamore Cyn. SMR.
The Science Advisory Team meets on Oct. 6, 9:30 a.m., at the Radisson Hotel at Los Angeles Airport, 6225 West Century Blvd., Los Angeles. The Blue Ribbon Task Force will meet Oct. 20-22 at the Hilton Long Beach & Executive Meeting Center, 701 West Ocean Blvd. Information is available at www. dfg.ca.gov/mlpa

Laughter and So-So Sex: A Winning Combo for Malibu Actor

BY JEREMY WALKER

Spend some time with Malibuite Brad Garrett and I promise you’ll end up laughing, as I did recently on a soundstage on the Sony lot where Garrett tapes his Fox sitcom “'Til Death” before a live audience.
The show begins its fourth season this week with what Garrett calls a new “show leader,” TV veteran Don Reo, and a new character whose chemical history and general paranoia have him absolutely convinced he’s trapped inside a sitcom.
“It gives us the opportunity to stretch the truth and do what a sitcom has never done, which is to break the form open,” Garrett says. “It’s something I’ve been trying to do for a long time, and people always thought I was out of my mind. Is there a single person at home who doesn’t know they are watching a sitcom? Why can’t we make fun of that? Why can’t we try taking the magic out of something—television—that’s not really all that magical after 60 years?”
The core “sit” of this particular situation comedy for the last three seasons has been the indestructible yet—how do you say this in a family newspaper—physically uninspired marriage between middle-class Eddie and Joy Stark (Garrett and the lovely and very funny Joely Fisher).
“Like most things, with time marriage decays and gets complacent,” Garrett tells me under his breath. “When you see a 75-year-old couple holding hands, it’s so they won’t use them to hit each other. At a certain point, sex in a marriage becomes more like a favor one person does for the other.”
Also new this season: the young actress Lindsay Broad will be introduced as the Starks’ daughter who returns home with Doug (Timm Sharp) her eco-obsessed husband. Once set up in their trailer in the Starks’ back yard, Doug starts to feel particularly boxed in and drawn out as he alone hears the laughter of that live studio audience.
I meet for a few minutes with Broad and Sharp before sitting down with Garrett, who “always knows where the joke is,” Broad tells me. “He’s able to deliver a line and then sort of comment on it while the audience responds,” she says. “It’s very unique.”
Adds Sharp: “Some comedic actors can get upset by another comedic actor if, say, the other guy gets a funnier joke. Brad is the opposite. He goes out of his way to give you the joke if it’s better with you. He’s totally generous.”
I feel this immediately when I meet Garrett who, as one of the show’s executive producers, is technically the boss of everyone on the set. A lanky, warm, welcoming presence with relaxed eyes and the kind of deep masculine voice that’s probably kept him out of as much trouble as it’s made, Garrett seems like the coolest boss ever.
He tells me he lives in the Encinal Canyon area, which he admits gives him a slight bias against the eastern half of town.
“It’s wonderful real estate, there’s no question,” he deadpans, “but it's almost like not leaving the studio. Why would I sunbathe with people who don’t like me?”
I ask him about the very intimate relationship his character has with that of Joely Fisher and how the depiction of that intimacy might challenge the usually conservative standards of network TV.
“We can let it hang out on TV a little more today,” he says, which triggers a riff.
“The way we are as animals—men and women—are incredibly different. I’m not bitter, just realistic. It’s hard for me to think of any woman I’ve ever met who is not a better person than I am.”
He reminds me that he and Ray Romano do a stand-up act in Vegas that is a lot edgier than anything they ever did on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” “If you want to be roasted,” he offers, “the first five rows are a great place to be. That kind of interaction with the audience has always been my style.”
But back to those pesky network TV standards.
“They are slowly catching up with the rest of the world,” Garrett says. “I enjoy pushing the envelope, but won’t do it just for shock value. I will if it works for the character, works in the story. In Joely Fisher I found a leading lady with whom I happen to have amazing chemistry. Hopefully out of that the right words will flow.”

The new season of “’Til Death” begins this Friday at 8:30 p.m. on Fox; new episodes become available on iTunes the next day. Ray Romano and Garrett next appear together at the Mirage in Las Vegas on Friday, Oct. 9, and Saturday, Oct. 10, tickets at 1-800-963-9634. Garrett also appears intermittently

Publisher’s Notebook

• The Muddling Mystery of Mitrice Richardson•

ANNE SOBLE

Strange, baffling, puzzling, and dumfounding are just a few of the adjectives that public officials and law enforcement agency representatives use when describing the disappearance of a 24-year-old Los Angeles woman after her ostensible departure from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station at about 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17.
According to the missing person investigation now underway, Mitrice Richardson, an honor college graduate employed as an executive assistant who had just qualified for teaching credentials, was placed under citizen’s arrest at a Malibu restaurant for not being able to pay an $89 tab.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to the establishment and took her into custody on suspicion of the charge that still bears the antiquated designation of defrauding an innkeeper and, when they decided to search her vehicle, they found less than an ounce of marijuana, so added that allegation against her as well.
Officials say Richardson was transported to Lost Hills, booked and then released, reportedly without a phone, money or form of transportation, into the poorly lit industrial park area that borders on chaparral wildland and quasi-rural residential development where the station is located. She did not exit the front doors of the station, officials said, but was let out a gated side entrance by the custody assistant who had processed her booking. She has not been seen since.
The mainstream media made some mention of Richardson’s disappearance a few days later, albeit much of it with incorrect arrest and release dates. The story didn’t garner major coverage until the woman was already missing for a week.
Meanwhile, what is sometimes dubbed the “Black Blogosphere” has been rife with angry headlines along the lines of “Another Black Woman Goes Missing and Nothing Is Done” atop banner stories that criticize the restaurant and the sheriff’s department for the way they handled the situation.
The bloggers, many of whom are wary of mass media perceived as white institutions that ignore the fate of blacks and black women in particular, such as Richardson, mostly conjecture a tragic ending. Many ask whether Richardson left the Lost Hills Station at all, or may have been accosted right outside on the premises. Charges of racism, sexism and sexual orientation bias permeate their wide-ranging views.
Some other questions being asked include: Was Richardson meeting someone in Malibu? Who? Why did she appear inebriated or stressed to some people and not to others? Why, when she had a problem at the restaurant, was her great-grandmother not allowed to assist? Why did Richardson not call either of her parents during the incident? Who did she call from Lost Hills? Why haven’t the numbers been traced? Why wasn’t there more concern for her safety—alone, on foot, and with no money? Did station cameras record her departure? Why wasn’t a more aggressive search effort undertaken sooner?
As one ponders the potential for an ever expanding list of “whys,” it’s difficult to fathom how someone can disappear without a trace, and not hope that some answers will follow soon.

Restaurant Owner Speaks Out on Eminent Domain

BY BILL KOENEKER

One of the last hurdles to reintroduce steelhead trout into Solstice Creek is nearly overcome. The culvert under the Pacific Coast Highway bridge at Solstice Creek, which flows to the ocean, will be transformed into a fish ladder to allow the protected species to move between sea water and fresh water.
On Oct. 14 and 15, the California Transportation Commission will be asked to decide to adopt a resolution of necessity to acquire a portion of BeauRivage by eminent domain.
The property in question is along Pacific Coast Highway, but maps, charts and property descriptions have left property owner Daniel Forge scratching his head about how much of his property is actually involved and why bureaucrats cannot seemingly respond to his questions.
Forge said he has tried repeatedly to have Caltrans officials come out and show him with stakes and story poles exactly what is involved. He said that never happened to his satisfaction. “They won't commit themselves. I never saw proper drawings to show where everything will be,” he said.
He acknowledged he has been resisting their efforts also because he thinks the idea of spending millions of dollars on trout during the downturn of the economy is not quite right for taxpayers. “The trout will supposedly swim upstream. There will never be trout,” he added. “I don’t see the point of spending the taxpayers’ money.”
When Forge was asked if he was prepared to go to court if the state proceeds with eminent domain, he answered in the affirmative. “I am planning on going to court,” he said.
The restaurateur said he is only too well aware of how property owners have been treated by various state and federal agencies over what they consider fair market value and that of a jury, which sometimes awards property owners three to four times more that the feds or state.
Proponents of the steelhead project, which would allow the ocean going fish to find their way upstream once all the barriers are removed, say the concrete culvert under PCH must be altered including providing a fish ladder to allow the steelhead to find the deep, cool pools of Solstice Creek.
Eminent domain is usually considered the last straw for public agencies who prefer a willing seller, but Forge admits he is not one for the piecemeal approach taken by various public agencies over the last 31 years he has owned the property.
He talked about the various easements given over the years and he said he would be a willing seller for the entire property. “Why don’t they just buy the whole thing? This is my retirement. This is all I have and have worked for,” he said.
The law provides procedures for public agencies to acquire private property for public use. It currently requires that every agency which intends to condemn property must notify the owners of that property of its intention to condemn. State law provides that the power of eminent domain may be exercised to acquire property if three conditions are met: the public interest and necessity require the project; the project is planned or located in the manner that will be most compatible with the greatest public good; and the property sought to be acquired is necessary for the project, according to Caltrans documents.
The National Park Service, which has extensive holdings in Solstice Canyon, spent the last several years removing any barrier and dams in the creek.
Last year, the city undertook a major construction project when the bridge crossing Corral Canyon Road was replaced with a trout friendly crossing.
Forge said that was marred by hundreds of old growth trees being removed. That construction project also had presented its own set of problems, according to Forge.

City Breaks Ground on One Aspect of Municipal Water Program

Legacy Park Is Part of Equation

Surfboards were propped against bulldozers in an interesting juxtaposition of what could be divergent interests at Monday’s kickoff for the construction of Legacy Park, the centerpiece of the city’s $50-million-plus plan to address one aspect of water pollution in Malibu Creek and Malibu Lagoon and at Surfrider Beach.
“Legacy Park is going to act as Malibu’s environmental cleaning machine,” according to Mayor Andy Stern. “It will reduce pollution from stormwater, improve the city’s water quality, and allow residents to enjoy the health and recreation benefits of an open space area and a clean ocean” to the extent that it can, he added
Dignitaries taking part in the orchestrated “first shovel” included Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Malibu’s state Senator Fran Pavley and Malibu Assemblymember Julia Brownley.
Completion is planned for October 2010. The project will do double duty as a public park in addition to serving as a stormwater treatment facility.
In January, the city authorized funds for the design and engineering of a wastewater treatment system for the Civic Center area in response to criticism and legal prodding from environmental groups that want the city to speed up work on this aspect of local water pollution control.

Council Appears Prepared to ‘Bail Out’ Lumber Yard Developer

• Members Have Been Asked to Approve $1.5 Million Interest-Free Loan for Shopping Center

BY BILL KOENEKER

Does a bailout or proposed amendment to the ground lease with Malibu Lumber LLC, the entity that developed the city-owned Malibu Lumber Yard shopping mall, mean the center has problems?
Are the observers—including some writers of letters to the editor—who note that many of the businesses in the complex appear to have few customers, despite MLY owners’ public assertions that business is good, on target?
These questons may be part of the discussion when the Malibu City Council is asked next week to give Richard Weintraub and his partners, aka Malibu Lumber LLC, a break in paying the rent on the upscale shopping center.
The issue before the council is an amendment to the ground lease for a temporary deferral of payment of what is called the participation rent.
“There is no decrease in the total amount of participation rent the city will collect as a result of this deferral and there is no change to the base rent,” wrote Assistant City Manager Reva Feldman, in a memo to the city council.
The original terms of the agreement provide the city with a rental income stream of $925,000 a year in base rent, according to Feldman. The base rent amount increases every five years by five percent for 54 years. The city additionally receives percentage rent equal to 30 percent of the amount by which site rents exceed $2.26 million a year.
Feldman informed council members in her report that the complications from the construction of the shopping mall, especially the extra expense, and delays incurred because of the permitting process with the LA Regional Water Quality Control Board, construction costs and the downturn of the economy have all contributed to higher costs than anticipated.
“The downturn in the economy has also slowed the leasing of the site... significant expenses and unexpected delays in the completion of the project... the ongoing operations and maintenance of the Advanced Onsite Wastewater Treatment system has been nearly five times the anticipated costs,” Feldman wrote.
If one believes many of the economic pundits, the City of Malibu has decided to become a commercial landlord at a time when commercial complexes are fighting to stay alive.
The amended lease would defer payment of the participating rental payments.
The actual agreement document lays out a plan that creates what is called the “Authorized Reserve Expenditures,” an account where the deferred rent would be placed.
“Landlord has determined that, so long as the rent deferral monies are restricted to use for the Authorized Reserve Expenditures for...funding the remaining tenant improvements costs necessary to achieve full operation of the center and for funding the extraordinary and unanticipated operating costs for the waste disposal system and drip dispersal field.”
The document calls for rent deferral starting Jan. 2010 “and continuing until a maximum cumulative rent deferral of $1.5 million…tenant shall not be required to currently pay fifty per cent of any annual rental during a calendar year which is otherwise payable and is in excess of the ‘annually defined rent deferred threshold.’”
The complicated legal document goes on to elaborate on the annually defined rent deferral threshold. “[Which] shall mean an amount equal to the greater of one million dollars or the sum of one million two hundred and twenty nine thousand dollars reduced by the actual rents collected by the landlord during the calendar year at issue from the other two commercial properties financed by that certain $12,425,000 in City of Malibu Certificates of Participation 2006A and $5,155,000 in City of Malibu Certificates of Participation 2006B, for the two commercial properties commonly known as 23661 Pacific Coast Highway and 23431 Pacific Coast Highway.
That means the city’s revenue stream is guaranteed to pay back its debt. The municipality uses the rental income received from the base rent to meet a portion of the debt service for the COPs issued in 2006 for the purchase of the Chili Cook-off property, according to Feldman.
That guarantee is apparently important since Weintraub would not have to pay back the $1.5 million until 2025, and can do without any interest.
A clause in the contract would allow the LLC to pocket any of the rents during that time frame that were less that what the document calls “extraordinary returns, meaning anything over $3.5 million in a year.

Coastal to Act on Light Fight at Its Meeting

• MHS Night Games

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Malibu High School’s request for a permit to allow temporary field lighting for the school’s football program is on the agenda for the October California Coastal Commission meeting in Oceanside on Oct. 8.
The coastal agency will hear a request by the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District for a Coastal Development Permit amendment to allow temporary night lighting of the football stadium for a maximum of 16 nights (eight practices and eight games), or 62 hours per year, including potential playoffs.
According to the application, team practices would be scheduled for “select” Thursday nights, running until approximately 7:30 p.m. Football games would take place on Friday nights until approximately 10:30 p.m.
A special condition was imposed on the Malibu campus as part of its 1999 CDP prohibiting permanent or temporary athletic field lighting. For the past six years, the district has operated lights in violation of that condition.
Commission staff proposed replacing the special condition banning lights with one that would permit limited use of temporary lighting.
The revised special condition would require the lights to be “promptly removed at the end of the season.” The five 53-foot-high portable light standards would require “Total Light Control (TLC) visors affixed to each light fixture to direct light downward and reduce light spill and glare.” Electricity would be provided by two 50 kW diesel-powered generators.
The special condition stipulates that “Any proposed changes to the approved plan shall be reported to the Executive Director. No changes to the approved plan shall occur without a Commission amendment to this coastal development permit unless the Executive Director determines that no amendment is legally required.”
The staff report states that “Because the lights are temporary, no construction will be required and the lights will be put in place at the beginning and removed at the end of each football season.” It concludes that the lights as described in the application would not negatively impact the environment. Staff recommend approval for the project, although the commission is requiring the school district to make two additional studies; a “viewpoint luminescence” study and “additional analysis and diagrams for the biological report.” The board of education, at its Sept. 17 meeting, approved general funds for both new studies.
Residents of the Malibu Park neighborhood have hotly contested the district’s statement that only “a few members of the public have asked questions and raised concerns over the duration of the use of the football lighting, but no member of the public has ever made a formal complaint in writing to the District.” A 16-page petition and 12 letters, including one by a well-known biologist, opposing the plan accompany the staff report. Apparently the commission did not receive any letters supporting the plan.
“Upon examination of the District’s evidence, the Executive Director has determined that the new information makes it clear that the condition can be modified without in any way compromising the intended effect of the Commission’s lighting condition,” the report concludes. “Accordingly, the Executive Director accepted this amendment. As conditioned, the Commission finds the proposed project consistent with the visual-scenic resource protection policies of the Malibu LCP.”

Young Woman Is Reported Missing after Unpaid Malibu Meal Leads to Her Being Booked at Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station

• Released at 1:25 a.m. Ostensibly Alone and on Foot in Desolate Area

BY ANNE SOBLE

Law enforcement agencies and family members seek information that could lead to the location of a 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate who was last seen leaving the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lost Hills Station early last Thursday morning.
Mitrice Richardson of Los Angeles was released from the Lost Hills facility on Agoura Road at about 1:25 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, about five hours after she was arrested in Malibu on suspicion of defrauding an innkeeper (failing to pay for dinner) and possessing less than one ounce of marijuana in her vehicle, said Lost Hills Captain Thomas Martin.
According to Martin, Richardson was alone at Geoffrey’s restaurant on Wednesday, ordered dinner and a beverage, then indicated that she was not able to pay the $89 bill.
Martin said the restaurant manager called sheriff’s deputies to the location and made a citizen’s arrest at 8:30 p.m., after which the woman was taken into custody.
Richardson’s vehicle, a 1990 Honda Civic, which deputies searched in the restaurant parking lot, remained there until Geoffrey’s had it removed from the premises by Malibu Towing, according to Martin.
The Lost Hills captain said the woman was transported to the station and booked. He said the jailer (an unidentified female officer) gave her a telephone that she reportedly could use to call whomever she wanted.
Martin said the jailer heard Richardson speaking on the phone, but didn’t know whom she had called.
“Because the jailer was concerned”—the woman was clad in a knit shirt and jeans and nighttime temperatures can drop—Martin said Richardson was informed that she had the option “of remaining at the station and spending the night in a locked cell.”
When asked why the cell would be locked since the woman was being released on her own recognizance, Martin said. “This is a sheriff’s station…a jail…it’s not a hotel. We have prisoners here.”
Martin challenges assertions being made by family members that Richardson was in no condition to be sent out on foot into an industrial park area with open fields, minimal lighting and no public transportation. He said the jailer who processed the missing woman indicated that “she was not intoxicated...she was lucid.”
The captain also noted that Richardson could have remained in the “well lit and safe lobby” until daybreak, or she could have contacted someone to provide transportation. Family members dispute the nature of communication exchanges with station personnel regarding this.
Martin emphasized, “We are dealing with an adult here...24 years old. We can only do so much.” He reiterated, “We’re not a hotel, we don’t have [public] accommodations.”
When it was noted that there are precedents for deputies driving persons back to their vehicles or homes—the Mel Gibson incident among them—Martin said, “If she’d asked [us], we probably would have done it.”
However, Jeff Peterson, the owner of Geoffrey’s, while being careful not to directly challenge the jailer’s assessment that Richardson was “lucid” when she was released, emphasized that the reason the sheriff’s deputies were called “was less about the $89 unpaid dinner tab than it was due to concern about the woman’s mental state and public safety.”
Peterson, who was not at the restaurant when the incident occurred and did not want to name the manager who made the citizen’s arrest, said, “This was an issue of safety first. Our biggest concern was her getting into her car and driving away and...endangering others. We felt she needed professional help.”
The restaurant owner said that everyone who encountered Richardson described her as “a sweet person.” He said she was in the restaurant alone and spent time chatting with people at other tables. He noted that she ordered a steak and had one alcoholic beverage, then told the waiter that people at another table were covering her check.
There is some dispute over whether the restaurant was willing to accept a telephone payment from a relative for the tab, about which Peterson again stated that “this was not about the money.”
When the missing person’s report was filed, Martin said sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement personnel conducted a major search of the area around the station and adjacent communities on Saturday but came up empty. Martin said, “This is really unfortunate…the whole thing is puzzling to me.”
Martin also said he is “disappointed that [family members] are making statements that are not fair [and] are misinformation.” He bristles at the notion that anyone might think that Richardson would have been treated differently if she were white, dressed differently, a local resident or someone who was well known.
The City of Los Angeles Police Department is now the lead agency on the missing person’s report because Richardson’s address is in the city.
Richardson is described on the LAPD blog as “African-American with brown hair and hazel eyes. The 24-year-old is five-feet-five to five-feet-six inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds. She was last seen wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans.”
Richardson graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2008 with a degree in psychology. She was a resident assistant at that campus until 2007 and then moved to South Central Los Angeles to live with her great-grandmother, with whom she may have spoken by telephone during the incident.
LAPD announcements ask anyone with information about Richardson’s whereabouts, or anyone who was at Geoffrey’s during the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 16, to call the LAPD Missing Persons Unit, Detective Kristin Merrill, at 213-485-5381. After-hours or on weekends, calls can be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247).
Merrill and other members of the Missing Persons Unit were at Lost Hills and in the surrounding area most of Tuesday looking for anything that might provide a clue to Richardson’s whereabouts.
Merrill told the Malibu Surfside News late Tuesday, “We are working hard on this. We received the information from the sheriff’s department Friday night and ran with it. We are following up on every lead.”
“Anyone who might have been in the area could have seen something important.” she said.
In addition to using the above telephone numbers, persons with information can text “crimes” with a cell phone, or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with “LAPD.” Tipsters may remain anonymous.

MUG SHOT—Questions are being raised about the condition Mitrice Richardson was in when she was released without transportation in the relatively isolated area around the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station last week. This is the LASD photo from her booking on Sept. 16.
FLYER PHOTO—This more composed and adult looking photo of Richardson is the one used on an LAPD missing person’s flyer. She is described as being very close to her extended family and not the type of person to not make contact for as long a period of time as a week.

Steelhead Trout Decline Still Mystifies Fish Experts

BY BILL KOENEKER

Scientists are still puzzling over the sudden decline of the steelhead population in Malibu Creek this summer, but may be closing in on an answer, while research and study continues.
Rosi Dagit, a senior conservation biologist for the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, said that a plan of action was agreed upon at a technical advisory meeting two weeks ago and the study is continuing based on the recommendation of a group of researchers and scientists.
“We agreed to collect samples, collect carcasses to be shipped off to a lab, to continue to monitor the water quality,” she said.
Any attempts to explain the die-off of the protected species and all other underwater critters are complicated because it must include an explanation for all other fish species that also suffered dieback, including crayfish, considered a very hearty species.
“We have ruled out chemical pollutants because of the toxicology tests we conducted,” Dagit said.
To add to the complex and complicated scenario, the die-off only took place in a certain section of the creek “There is no die-off above the Rindge Dam,” she added.
Scientists began looking at the low dissolved oxygen in the water and the high water temperatures. “There is also a high percentage of the growth of algae. We don’t and won’t have some of those test results back until October,” Dagit said.
Dagit and her colleagues are currently collecting algae samples because of a current theory concerning the algae.
She said the decomposing algae contain what are called halogens, what she called a “suite of chlorine components.”
The biologist said the algae release the chlorine compounds in the water. “That is a real problem for anything living in the water,” she said.
Dagit said the National Marine Fisheries Service has arranged for the algae samples to be sent off to a lab. “We are taking samples from three locations for three weeks to see if it is the problem,” she said.
The crayfish carcasses are being sent off to another lab in Sacramento.
The past year’s decline, recalled Dagit, is much like the die-off in 2006. Besides the steelhead, the heartier populations also died off, including catfish, carp, crayfish and others.
By 2008, there were 1300 trout in the creek. There are less than 250 today, according to Dagit, who indicated there is no extensive data for die-off in 2006 to draw any conclusions.
That makes efforts this year all the more important. “It has been pretty impressive how the scientific community and water quality folks have come together. They have been very helpful and offered a cooperative effort,” Dagit added.

Reflections of a Remarkable Malibuite

BY JEREMY WALKER

I never met Henry Gibson, the phenomenal actor and longtime Malibu resident who passed away here last week at the age of 73, but I first took note of his great talent in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia,” the best movie about Southern California since “Chinatown.”
In “Magnolia,” Gibson played a jaded, quietly homosexual barfly who can barely tolerate William H. Macy’s character, a former child quiz-show star on his way to emotional collapse in a dimly lit lounge somewhere deep in the San Fernando valley. Raising both an eyebrow and a cordial glass of amber liquid, Gibson’s character seems to sense the breakdown coming, yet does nothing whatsoever to prevent it.
“Magnolia” drew a slew of critical praise, much of it comparing Anderson to a filmmaker with deep Malibu ties, Robert Altman, who had turned to Gibson for “The Long Goodbye” and then to open his 1975 masterpiece, “Nashville.” In that movie Gibson played an intensely patriotic country and western performer absolutely straight, proclaiming in song that “We [the USA] must be doing something right to last 200 years.”
Thanks to Gibson’s steely conviction, you immediately knew you were watching a movie that was about to break every rule in the book.
Talking this week with Gibson’s son Jim, I’m reminded that the veteran character actor was actually best known for making people laugh as a fixture on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” a job that followed guest spots on hit shows like “F Troop” and “Bewitched.”
Jim Gibson and I attended Malibu Park Junior High at the dawn of the ’80s, meaning we missed “Laugh-In” and its pop-culture mushroom cloud. What had hit us square in our pre-adolescent jaws: the feature animated version of “Charlotte’s Web” featuring Henry Gibson’s voice as Wilbur the kindly pig. Years later, Jim tells me, his father would once again become hugely popular with the stroller set by playing an evil leprechaun in the 2001 Disney Channel movie “Luck of the Irish.”
A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences since the ’70s, Henry Gibson “was most proud” of his work in “Nashville,” Jim says; it was the performance that brought both a Golden Globe nomination and a Best Supporting Actor prize from the National Society of Film Critics. While the senior Gibson wasn’t that interested in prizes and awards, he was deeply honored when Paul Thomas Anderson wrote that part in “Magnolia” specifically for him and then overtly courted Gibson to play it.
Jim also shares that his father remained a working actor until quite recently, shooting a recurring role on the hit TV show “Boston Legal” up until December of 2008.
Residents of the Latigo beach area, Gibson and his wife Lois, who passed away in May of 2007, were not the type to go out to dinner a lot but were active in local events and charities and known to everyone at local businesses. Gibson served often as a celebrity auctioneer at the Malibu Public Library’s annual fundraiser, which is why, Jim tells me, he and his brothers designated Friends of the Malibu Library as the recipient of any tributes in lieu of flowers.
Like their father, Jim and his brothers have made their way into the movie business. Jon Gibson is a business affairs executive at Universal Pictures, while Charles Gibson is a director and two-time Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor.
A screenwriter, Jim penned the feature adaptation of Donald Goines’ violent urban novel “Never Die Alone” starring rapper DMX and released by Fox Searchlight in 2004. How a Malibu kid so compellingly connected with Goines’ haunting vision of a gangster beyond redemption is something of a mystery. Not mysterious at all: the huge smile that lights up Jim’s face when he shares the memory of arranging for his father to appear in an un-credited cameo in the very last scene of the movie.
“That was my proudest moment,” Jim says.

School District Deficit Is Growing

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Budget woes continue to plague the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District as the pro-jected deficit swells. Teachers and classified employees ranging from custodians to cafeteria workers packed the district office at the Sept. 17 board of education to protest potential plans for layoffs in the spring and challenge the district’s un-audited actual financial report findings.
Lisa Bartoli, a fourth grade teacher at Franklin Elementary, called the prospect of pay cuts and the loss of medical benefits unacceptable. “My confidence is shaken,” she told the board of education. “We work hard every day to provide for students [you need to] put a face not just on me but on all of my colleagues.”
“For ten years we’ve walked hand in hand with this community and been partners with you to build what we think is an exemplary school district,” Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association president Harry Keily told the board. “I recall when we had less than $1 million in reserve. Now that exceeds $29 million. That’s an extraordinary amount for a district of this size,” he said, expressing frustration that the district is unwilling to tap that reserve to prevent layoffs and pay cuts but that the unrestricted reserve is used to pay for independent contractors and consultants.
Keily accused the district of reducing the amount of money spent in the classroom to just 57 percent of each dollar, down, he said, by six percent from the previous year. He criticized the district for “rejecting out of hand” negotiations in July, and blasted the board for approving the use of unrestricted funds for outside contractors and consultants.
“You should not be passing items for independent contractors. You keep approving them and you’ll be laying off teachers in the spring. We expect to be treated with dignity and respect in difficult times.”
Chancy Jones, a security officer at John Adams Middle School, also had harsh words for the board. “Classified employees [are going to be] asked to take a two percent pay cut. We need you to keep in mind that what we do for you in 104 percent and we expect the same from you,” she said.
“If any of you want to walk in any of our shoes—dozens of classified [personnel] and teachers, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, security. We work long hours for low wages. Benefits keep us in our jobs. I urge you to keep your trained and expert staff here.”
The district’s chief financial officer Jan Maez had a different perspective on the perceived $29 million reserve, describing the number as an anomaly generated by a variety of one-time only changes, ranging from state budgeting to federal stimulus money.
“If we continue spending [at the current rate] there will be no reserves by the middle of 2010-11,” she said. “The size of our problem is $12.5 million,” Maez said. “The deficit is increasing steadily.”
“Clearly no organization or family can spend more than it takes in,” Keily replied. “If what we’re hearing is accurate, and we don’t dispute that, why hasn’t the district placed a moratorium on outside contracts and consultants?” He asked. “$20 thousand here, $20 thousand there, the next thing you know is you’ve spent millions. That may be justified in good times, but not now.”
“If, in fact, we’re looking at layoffs in the spring that will be a lot of work. It costs money,” Keily warned. He proposed that the district develop instead an “irrevocable” early retirement plan to “take some stress off of the system. We believe there are really good arguments that it should be explored now.”
Maez was less sanguine, and warned that there are no easy solutions to the budget crisis and that more cuts will be inevitable. However, she reported that the steady, district-wide decline in students has leveled out, possibly in part due to an increase in the number of permits available to out-of-district students, including the children of both cities employees.
The board voted to approve the financial report but postponed voting on anther controversial issue, a proposal to restructure the district’s advisory committee structure, limiting the number of committee members and imposing term limits. The proposal, which generated considerable public outcry, especially amongst members of the Special Education DAC, with some speakers accusing district superintendent Tim Cuneo of attempting to “take control of the process,” was moved to the Oct. 1 meeting, in Malibu.

City Hopes New Data Will Slow RWQCB Push for Septic Ban

• Major Public Meeting on Oct. 1

BY BILL KOENEKER

The City of Malibu appears to be readying a full-court press with alternative scientific data to challenge currently held assumptions about the nature of pollution in Malibu Creek and Lagoon in time to try to derail possible implementation of a proposed Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board septic system prohibition for mid-Malibu in November.
It has not been announced whether this new data will be available at the second community meeting on the proposed septic ban in the Civic Center area and surrounding residential communities set for Thursday, Oct. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Elkins auditorium at Pepperdine University. RWQCB staff indicated they wanted to have another community meeting at night for those who work or cannot attend daytime meetings.
The meetings are a preview of the public hearing scheduled for Nov. 5 in downtown Los Angeles—at which time some preliminary data is expected to be presented as part of testimony requesting a delay—where the state agency’s board is expected to take action on the proposed prohibition, which could begin immediately for new construction and go into effect within five years for existing septic and wastewater systems. The only exception is zero discharge systems.
The community meetings are considered an opportunity for the public “to assist the board with its deliberations,” and provide the staff an opportunity to hear from the public with comments and questions.
Stakeholders and other interested individuals can comment on the proposed prohibition by attending the community meeting, submitting written comments for the board or providing oral testimony during the board meeting in November.
The proposed prohibition attracted more attention after it was learned the septic ban’s boundaries include the residential neighborhoods of Sweetwater Mesa, Serra Retreat, Malibu Colony, Malibu Road, Malibu Knolls and Winter Canyon, including the schools, churches and condos. The prohibition applies to all commercial, residential and public properties.
The staff of the RWQCB issued a revised technical memo, one of many that is about pathogens in wastewater that is in hydraulic connection with beaches and is described as representing a source of impairment for water contact recreation.
Now that Malibu has prepared its own studies, City Manager Jim Thorsen announced in a press release, “We have asked the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to place its proposed prohibition on onsite wastewater treatment systems on hold until it has all the information from these studies to be certain it achieves the goals we all share; protecting the public’s health and improving water quality.” said City Manager Jim Thorsen. The five new studies of Malibu water quality are expected to be completed in the next six to nine months.
The RWQCB staff report concludes that Malibu Creek, lagoon and nearby beaches with one million visitors per year are a major destination for swimmers, surfers and other beachgoers who are in contact with the water. The board has previously designated those waters for water contact recreation, meaning standards should be set using the best available science at levels that “will protect human health.”
“As determined by the regional board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, surface waters in the Malibu Creek Civic Center area are impaired for water contact recreation and consistently have failed to meet state health and water quality standards to protect swimmers and surfers in contact with the water. Repeated failures to meet standards set to protect public health have resulted in a poor water quality reputation for Surfrider Beach,” the report states.
The report examined the hydraulic connection of discharges from on-site wastewater dischargers through groundwater to nearby surface waters.
The RWQCB staff evaluated more than 8000 samples of wastewater effluent, underlying or nearby groundwater and surface waters.
“Staff determined that pathogens from wastewaters likely migrate to surface waters and that consistent with data supporting the designations of impairments, and threaten human health. This conclusion is based on our analysis of the indicator bacteria, bacterium entercoccus. The levels of this bacterium do not meet standards protective of human health.
“Staff also determined that risks of infectious disease from water contact recreation were elevated at beaches in the Malibu Civic Center based on work by Haile et al,” the report goes on to state. “Staff also reviewed numerous studies, previous studies and found conclusions from these other studies to be consistent with staff’s determination of impairment to the beneficial use of water contact recreation.”
However, the city commissioned research undertaken this past summer by the United State Geological Survey that focused on groundwater transport of pathogens to the ocean and reached different preliminary conclusions based on some sophisticated research using radioisotopes and DNA samples.
The researchers maintain that they can then identify the exact kinds of pathogens in the water and also determine whether human-based pathogens have moved into the water at the beaches and lagoon by the same hy-draulics as stipulated by RWQCB staff.
Without discussion, the Malibu City Council this week approved $120,000 for the study by the USGS researchers to “provide scientific assistance in preparing the city’s response to comments with regard to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s proposed prohibition.”
The allocation will also allow the USGS to provide additional studies and groundwater data and to prepare a presentation of previously collected data at the Headwaters to Ocean Conference in Long Beach in October.
Thorsen also told council members the city was planning its own workshop before the board hearing in November.

Cornucopia Granted Market Permit

• Planning Commission Votes 3-to-1 for Local Group

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Cornucopia Foundation received a long-sought Conditional Use Permit to operate a farmers market at the end of a lengthy, loud and unruly planning commission meeting. The four commissioners (Regan Schaar was absent) opted to hear permit applications from both Cornucopia and Raw Inspirations, a nonprofit company that runs 15 farmers markets throughout the Southland, at the same meeting.
After hearing nearly three hours of public comment, frequently punctuated with reminders to the audience to remain quiet and be respectful, the commission voted 3 to 1 to endorse Cornucopia as Malibu’s sole farmers market. Commissioner Jeff Jennings cast the lone dissenting vote. “There is no doubt in my mind that Raw Inspiration would produce a better market,” Jennings said.
“I believe the voice of Malibu has been heard,” Commission Chair Ed Gillespie said, indicating the packed chamber. I think Cornucopia will do a fine job.”
“Cornucopia has proven in the past that they can convert a market into a public benefit, Vice Chair John Mazza said, making the motion to approve the CUP.
Staff will return with a resolution at the next commission meeting. Cornucopia must still navigate one last hurdle, a permit from Los Angeles County, which owns the Civic Center property.
Cornucopia is proposing a Sunday market that will operate between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. with a 65- to 35-percent ratio of produce booths to food vendors, arts and crafts.
Cornucopia applicants Remy O’Neill and Debra Bianco stated that the market will include space for Malibu businesses and residents who wish to sell backyard crops of fruits or vegetables.
If the Los Angeles County permit is approved, a starting date for the market will be announced.

Small West Malibu Fire Is Extinguished Quickly

BY BILL KOENEKER

A small brush fire that erupted Tuesday at around 11 a.m. near Dume Motorway at Kanan Dume Road was quickly snuffed out in minutes, according to authorities.
Witnesses could see a parade of equipment move up Kanan, as everyone in the vicinity unsuccessfully searched for signs of smoke.
“We had lots of resources,” said Marie Grycan, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, vast amount of equipment that was dispatched to the scene.
Grycan said the small fire was contained to a 100-foot by 200-foot patch of brush. Fire fighters said they have not been able to determine the cause of the fire.
Taking no chances, there were seven engines immediately dispatched to the scene, three patrols, and water tender, according to a LACFD report.
Grycan said two helicopters and both super scoopers were also sent to the scene, but were quickly canceled when it was clear ground crews had a handle on the small blaze.
The fire was stopped at the top of the ridge, according to Grycan, not far from where it could have threatened a single-family home.

City View Protection Task Force Minority Issues Its Own Report

• Fundamental Differences Specifically Outlined

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu city officials recently received the minority report prepared by several members of the retired View Preservation Task Force who were vociferous critics of the majority’s stance.
The minority report has a dire warning for the members of the community who voted in a previous election on whether the city should study and enact a view preservation ordinance.
“Unfortunately, if the draft ordinance proposed by the majority of the members of the task force is implemented, it could potentially change the nature of our community, converting it from a place of rustic beauty with diverse neighborhoods to the manicured look and feel of a managed community. The majority document ignores the obligations of the Malibu General Plan to protect only against ‘unreasonable loss of views.’ And substitutes protection and restoration of any view. This is a serious change in the law, which could completely alter the community balance, which has made the unique and peaceful community it is today,” the report states.
The minority report offers a summary of recommendations and discusses issues that minority members insist require further study.
The report also critiques the majority document line by line and makes further recommendations based on that line by line analysis,
One of the recommendations in the 20-page report is what set the minority members apart from the majority from the get-go.
The minority view is that the ordinance should create a “private action” between homeowners, and the city would have no decision-making or enforcement authority.
One of other recommendations is that any proposed ordinance put in place should balance the value of trees and foliage with the value of views and adequately compensate the foliage owner for loss of trees and other foliage.
The report concludes that the task force was not able to fully determine the environmental impact of a citywide view ordinance that could create unanticipated encumbrances.
The minority report charges that the actual costs of the majority recomendations were never determined and the impact on privacy, security and aesthetics of a citywide law were never fully studied, among other issues.

Approval of Trancas Park Contract Leads to Bickering among Council Members over Implementation

• Grading Could Be an Issue If Rainy Season Starts

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council was poised to approve a $2.7 million construction contract for the improvements at Trancas Canyon Park when debate erupted about some terms of the contract. The council on a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich dissenting, awarded the contract to Environmental Construction, Inc.
A spokesperson for the Santa Monica Baykeeper said there was a provision in the contract that is in contradiction to the Local Coastal Program about grading in the rainy season and requested language be modified.
Patt Healy, reading from a letter from the Malibu West Homeowners Association, also pointed out the same contract language was problematic concerning the LCP.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich wanted to know how the city could exempt itself from LCP conditions that prohibit grading in the rainy season.
City Manager Jim Thorsen said he did not think it was a problem since the grading is expected to start on Oct. 1 and be finished in 30 days by Nov. 1, the official start of the rainy season.
Thorsen went on to explain that exemptions can and have been made when an applicant files an erosion control plan.
“There is no grading in the rainy season except if an appellant submits an erosion control plan,” he said.
Conley Ulich, who is the council’s critic of the park plans, said, “We are creating a park in the rainy season for kids to not play [regulation] games. It is wrong. Why rush this? I will vote against it and hope nothing goes wrong and there is no rainy season.”
Councilmember Sharon Barovsky said she saw no reason to not go forward. Barovsky talked about how construction costs are way down because of the economy and there is no better time to build.
Councilmember John Sibert agreed. “We don’t know what costs will be in four to five months,” he added.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner concurred and asked Thorsen if he was confident about the contractor’s promise of 30 days for the grading.
The city is currently embroiled in litigation over the city council’s approval of the permits and entitlements.
The Malibu Township Council filed suit absent the city challenging the permits and is currently in settlement talks with the city attorney.
City Attorney Christi Hogin has explained how the city can proceed with the construction while the matter is being litigated because there is no injunction against building the park.
There was a hint of one of the points currently being discussed in the settlement talks when Wagner talked about how MTC is insisting on some kind of ironclad condition that the practice fields remain for practice only and are not developed for regulation play.

Plans to Utilize Theater and Studio at New City Hall Encounter Delay

• Equipment Ownership Disputed

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council was asked this week to delay a directive to the staff to issue a request for a proposal for media management services at the new city hall.
“We are asking you to remove it from the agenda,” said City Manager Jim Thorsen, who said after a sound testing at the former media center staff wanted to make some modifications to the RFP.
Malibu city officials have laid out detailed plans about how they intend to utilize the media equipment, including recording studio equipment left behind in the old performing arts center building that is owned by the city and is being readied for a new city hall.
However, the Malibu Surfside News has learned there has been a claim made on the soundboard in the recording studio, described as the main component required of any studio.
Mary Devine Scott through her attorney has made a claim that the board belongs to her.
“We were there at the bankruptcy preceding the city’s sale. The city told the judge they would deal with it later,” said Art Carvalho, who represents Scott.
The attorney said he and his client have submitted a claim and the evidence for the $284,000 purchase of the board.
Carvalho said he and his client did not know the city intended to retain the recording studio and believed it would be easy to retrieve the board. “Now we learn they want to operate a recording studio. We thought it was going to be a city hall,” he said.
“The city intends to leave portions of the performing arts center, including the theater and recording studio with the remainder of the building to be redesigned as a functional city hall,” wrote Assistant City Manager Reva Feldman, in a staff report to council members. Feldman indicated the city could generate up to a $100,000 in revenue.
The fee schedule was adopted this week by the council and is proposed for current uses until an agreement can be reached for media management services, and then a revised fee schedule will be brought before the council, according to city officials.
Fees range from use of the recording studio for $5000, the theater for $4500 including additional costs for rehearsals, the banquet room for 200 guests for $7000 to various prices for motion picture filming, still shoot filming, kitchen, wardrobe room and encore room charges.

Second Pot Pharmacy Seeks City Permit OK

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council is scheduled to hear an appeal on Oct. 12 of a planning commission decision that denied a permit for a second pot pharmacy in Malibu.
Green Angel Collective, which is operated by Linda Parsley on property owned by Douglas Himmelfarb, was denied the permits and entitlements by the commission, which insisted it could not grant permits to a medical marijuana dispensary, which is located within a 1000 feet of a park.
The commissioners found that there was no way around interpreting the law on a 1000-foot radius because of the language of the city’s ordinance.
The applicant has argued the planning panel failed to apply the clear intent of Ordinance 328 as it relates to determining the proximity of the leasehold to what they contend is the reopening of Las Flores Canyon Creek Park.
“The planning commission improperly found that Las Flores Creek Park had been opened or rebuilt as a park subsequent to the applicant’s opening and operating a medical marijuana collective and improperly denied the application for a variance,” wrote the applicant in the appeal of the matter.
Planners, the commission and the assistant city attorney all argued that a variance for a change of use was forbidden by state law. Rather, they suggested, the applicant should attempt to have the zoning law changed and suggested the process by seeking a zone text amendment.

Publisher’s Notebook

• The PUC Called It Right from Malibu’s Point of View •

ANNE SOBLE

The state Public Utilities Commission last week soundly rejected San Diego Gas & Electric Company’s plan to cut electricity to large segments of San Diego residential areas when the weather bodes ill in terms of serious wildfire potential.
The PUC said the utility didn’t prove the benefits of its plan to cut power to thousands of homes and businesses in strong winds to prevent downed lines from igniting a wildfire. Electrical systems would stop immediately or soon thereafter, including medical devices, electric gates, water pumps, telephone systems, radios and televisions, garage door openers, traffic lights, and that’s just the beginning of the list.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to reject the SDG&E plan without future consideration. The utility didn’t take the adverse decision lightly. As an aside, SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, which had an even worse week in Sacramento, but don’t worry, we’re not going to go there unless we find some kind of Malibu connection down the road.
Had the PUC decided in favor of the SDG&E plan, it would have set a precedent for similar action in other communities where power poles have started wildfires, such as Malibu. Imagine our community if someone threw a switch cutting all local power just because Santa Ana winds were howling—no communication, no lights, possibly no water or other basic necessities. If wildfire did strike, we wouldn’t even be able to leave the lights on in our evacuated homes, which is what firefighters prefer so they can find structures in the smoke.
SDG&E asked for authority to cut off power during wind speeds as low as 30 mph, but that would have been untenable in Malibu. Last year, count the number of days when Santa Anas roared at speeds greater than 30 mph; the total was double digits.
In 2008, SDG&E posted a profit of $70 million, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier, on revenue of $631 million. Utilities are supposed to invest in infrastructure. Perhaps the PUC’s next move should be to explore ways to encourage utilities to replace more wood poles with steel ones and face up to the cost of moving lines underground where feasible.
Instead, it is likely that SDG&E, as well as other utilities, will seek rate increases, using as impetus that insurance premiums increased after the fires and all costs have to be passed on to the ratepayers. These increases will probably be approved.
Malibuites should be grateful that San Diegans in the communities that would have lost electricity fiercely opposed SDG&E’s proposal because it means that Malibuites may not have to wage a similar battle in the foreseeable future.

South Coast MLPA Initiative Stakeholders Prepare for Final Phase

• Point Dume Marine Protected Area Plan Continues to Generate Debate in Round Three

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The South Coast Study Region’s Marine Life Protection Act Initiative process moved an-other step forward last week, as the South Coast Regional Stakeholder Group met at a Los Angeles Airport hotel for a two-day work session to finalize Round 3 Marine Protected Area propos-als.
The MLPA, a state law that was passed in 1999, requires California’s marine protected area system to be redesigned to better protect marine life, habitats and ecosystems, using the best available science.
Whether the waters off of Point Dume should become a Marine Protected Area, and how much of that area could potentially receive the highest level of protection, continued to be a hotly debated issue in the third round of SCRSG deliberations.
Only three of the initial seven proposals—Topaz, External A and Lapis 1-have advanced to the final stage. Renamed work groups 1, 2 and 3, the three proposals, or arrays, provided a starting point for the final round of deliberations.
Proposals 1 and 3 both incorporate an MPA in the Point Dume area, Proposal 2 does not.
Proposal 1 recommends that the area from Paradise Cove to the edge of Westward Beach should be a State Marine Reserve, which offers the highest level of protection, prohibiting all extractive, or fishing, activities. Proposal 1 would also designate the waters off of Zuma a State Marine Con-servation Area, which would permit limited commercial fishing for species like urchins or squid, but prohibit other extractive activities.
As part of this plan, an additional SMCA is proposed for the waters off of Deer Creek, with a smaller SMCA at Nicholas Canyon that would be managed in partnership with Chumash representatives and would allow traditional forms of recreational fishing.
Proposal 3 recommends extending the Point Dume SMR to include Zuma and placing an additional SMCA off of Broad Beach, up to Lachusa.
Proposal 2 bypasses Point Dume, opting for SMRs in the vicinity of Malibu Lagoon State Beach and up the coast at Big Sycamore Canyon.
The public was invited to comment at the SCRSG work session meeting, but the actual group discussions were not videotaped or open to public input, in the interest of encouraging open dialog between stakeholder group members.
All of the final proposals must at the minimum meet a complex series of scientific guidelines, although MLPAI officials have stated repeatedly that public comment also carries weight in the process. Malibuites with a range of concerns made the trek to LAX to speak at the event.
A representative from the Wishtoyo Foundation spoke during public comment in support of the proposed Chumash co-managed MPA at Nicholas Beach. “Chumash stewardship would have a tremendous cultural benefit,” Scott Weiner stated.
“I have here just under 200 signatures,” Point Dume resident and SMR supporter Linda Gibbs said, presenting a petition that endorses a compromise between proposals 1 and 3. “Point Dume is a very diverse ecosystem,” she said. “If we’re going to have MPAs, they have to be where they do the most good.”
Paradise Cove resident and kayak angler Teri Scott spoke out against the proposals that would make the cove part of the Point Dume SMR and place it off limits for fishing. She de-scribed Paradise Cove as a community of teachers, firemen and maintenance workers who de-pend on marine resources. “We fish for our food,” Scott said. “Keep Paradise Cove open. There are many, many opponents of work group 1 and 3.”
“We would like to offer a compromise,” another Point Dume resident, Nicole McGinley, said. She endorsed an MPA from Westward Beach to the Paradise Cove Pier, but suggested that it should remain open to non-motorized fishing. She also suggested that the waters between the Paradise Cove Pier and Latigo should be designated a limited take area.
“[We have] watched you struggle with trade-offs,” Heal the Bay staff scientist Charlotte Stevenson told the SCRSG. She requested that the group remain focused on the science guidelines as they hammer out the final proposals. “You’ve had a tough job, taking everything into account. Use the science.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, the Science Advisory Team will review the SCRSG's proposals. The meeting will take place at the Radisson Hotel at LAX, 6225 West Century Blvd. in Los Angeles, starting at 9:30 a.m.
On Oct. 20-22, the Blue Ribbon Task Force and the SCRSG will meet to discuss the final proposals at the Long Beach Hilton, 701 West Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. More information about the meetings and the MPLA process is available on the Department of Fish and Game Website at: www.dfg.ca.gov

Malibu Schools Are All Spruced Up for Their Close-Ups

• Many Unsung Heroes Worked Behind the Scenes So Campuses Would Be Ready

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The weather is hot and sunny, the ocean warm and inviting, but it’s time for Malibu’s students to pack up the beach gear and dust off the text books and notebooks, as the 2009-2010 school year gets underway at Malibu’s public and private schools.
“I actually like school,” one Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School student told the Malibu Surfside News, “So it’s OK.”
Students at Our Lady of Malibu Catholic School have already transitioned into fall routine. Classes at the parochial elementary and middle school started last Wednesday. In the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District public schools, classes started Wednesday, Sept. 9.
At Webster, Malibu’s largest elementary school, teachers are adapting to larger class sizes. “Our teachers have to adjust to having a few more students because of budget cuts,” Webster principal Phil Cott told The News. “We’ve been working hard to make sure classrooms will have enough supplies, chairs, desks and equipment.”
“We have two soon-to-be-completed model technology classrooms that will be ready for students within the next two months,” Cott said. “I’m excited about that. Students will have eight laptops and a Smart Board, the teachers are getting special training. Every school in the district will be getting two rooms equipped with the new technology as part of Measure BB.”
Webster parents, students, school personnel and community volunteers have worked to erase all signs of fire damage on the grounds of the Webster campus from the 2007 Canyon Fire. This fall, after two years of bureaucratic red tape, the rebuilding process for a classroom that was destroyed in the blaze will finally be complete. Cott anticipates that the room will be ready for its teacher and a new class in October.
Teachers, staff and administrators at Cabrillo Elementary, Malibu’s westernmost grade school, are also working to minimize the effect of the budget crisis on students. “
“We’re doing the best we can under the current budget constraints,” Juan Cabrillo principal Barry Yates said. “Because of cutbacks we had to lose two teachers. Our enrollment hasn’t dropped but our class size went up. We’re starting the year with full enrollment, which is a situation that we haven’t been in before.” The school is now in what Yates described as overflow mode, meaning there may not be room for additional students.
Yates said the cutbacks are an added burden on the school’s PTA, which has been scrambling to raise funds to keep programs in place.
The school is getting more aggressive at raising money and has created the Dolphin Club to be a PTA fundraising arm.
Steve Soboroff, former Malibu shopping center owner and Los Angeles activist has donated $10,000 to the group.
The Dolphin Club has a fundraising goal of $350,000. A mailer will be sent to all Malibu residents asking for “contributions, of any amount, to help support programs that are vital to the success of Cabrillo students.”
Yates said, “We are extremely grateful for the generous contribution of Mr. Soboroff, who recognizes the need for the community to come forward and support our school. We are optimistic that others in the Malibu community, whether they are alumni, neighbors, or friends of Cabrillo, will give their support and help us to continue to provide a top notch education for the children in Malibu.”
More information is available at the Dolphin Club Website at juancabrillodolphinclub@yahoo.com
“Districtwide enrollment is where we anticipated it to be,” Tim Cuneo, SMMUSD superintendent of schools, told The News. “We’re well prepared for school opening. We’ve been making sure classes are ready.” Cuneo said that district teachers have had special education and language arts training over the summer and that student achievement in literature and math continues to be a goal.
Cuneo cautioned that the budget deficit will continue to be a serious concern. “I’m very proud that any reduction was done through attrition not layoffs this year, but we’re still facing a $10 million deficit. We’re going to have to look at it carefully. I don’t want to lose staff and cut programs. I’ve been in districts before where programs were cut. It’s hard to build back later.”
Cuneo also expressed optimism. “Our students have performed very well [on state testing],” Cuneo said. “We’ve been seeing steady growth.”
At Malibu High School, last-minute repairs are being made to classrooms damaged by a fire in one of the science labs. Flood damage caused by a faulty air conditioning unit in the band practice room and instrument storage area is also being repaired. Otherwise, school officials say the campus is ready to welcome back students.
Officials also say that traffic and parking improvements on Morning View Drive in Malibu Park, including crossing guards provided by the City of Malibu, should help to reduce the level of chaos that usually accompanies the start of the school year at MHS and Juan Cabrillo schools.
Malibu’s youngest scholars are also heading back to school. At Malibu Meth-odist Nursery School the first day of class on Tuesday was marred by a small tragedy —the death of a beloved pet chicken. A weasel is the suspected culprit, or possibly a snake. “It’s sad but real,” Kay Gabbard, the school’s director, said. “[The children are] figuring out how to say goodbye.”
“We’ve been here all summer,” Gabbard said. “But we’re looking forward to welcoming new kids who have moved here from out of state and welcoming back all of our returning children.
At the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue, sustainability and the environment are important focuses.
“Our rooms now have natural materials,” MJCS assistant director of education Lauren Abramowitz told The News. “And 90 percent of our artwork is made with recycled materials. We also have a recycling program. We’ll be planting our fall vegetables in the garden here and looking forward to eating them.”

Legacy Park Proceeds Despite Litigation

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu city officials are gearing up for a first-rate photo opportunity, when council members and county and other dignitaries will gather for a groundbreaking ceremony at Legacy Park on Sept. 21.
Armed with shovels, the folks in business attire will symbolically turn over the first scoop of dirt.
City Manager Jim Thorsen confirmed that actual construction on the site will have started the week before with some preliminary and preparatory work. Crews are scheduled to start excavation right after the ceremony.
The photo opportunity and construction are starting despite a lawsuit filed by the Santa Monica Baykeeper that challenges the city’s approval of the permits and entitlements for the improvements at the Civic Center park, which features components for a storm water treatment facility and other park amenities.
City Attorney Christi Hogin explained there is no injunction stopping the city from proceeding with the park improvements, and she said she doubted whether Baykeeper could get one.
“There is nothing preventing us from moving forward. The plaintiff would have to show it is in the public interest to stop going forward,” said Hogin, who indicated the park itself and the improvements are a public benefit. “We are not doing any harm to the environment,” she added.
Both the city attorney and the city manager said the municipality is working toward a settlement with Baykeeper.
Hogin said, if for some reason the Baykeeper got the ear of the court, the environmental organization might win a judgment for additional environmental review based on the California Environmental Quality Act.
In the worst-case scenario, the court could force the city to spend more money for that additional review, according to Hogin.
Tom Ford, the executive director of the Baykeeper, said it was way beyond the point of trying to get an injunction, but he did agree the group and the city are still in the midst of settlement talks.
Ford said the organization had its experts look at the park and the hydrology of the Civic Center and reached a different conclusion than the city.
“We still maintain the contention that Legacy Park, as designed, will fall short of protecting Malibu Lagoon, Creek and Surfrider Beach. Our wish is the city understand this as well as us,” Ford added.
Ford said he disagrees with Hogin’s conclusion about what the court could do, but said the goal of the Baykeeper is not going to court, but education. “We rarely do end up in court,” he said.

Some School Bells Also Toll for Ill Septic Tanks

• District Takes Emergency Action

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Sept. 9 was the first day of the new school year, and as Malibu’s public school students returned to class, the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District is racing to repair ailing and unsafe septic system facilities at two area campuses.
At its Aug. 19 meeting, the board of education passed an emergency resolution that “allowed public bidding without advertising and further allowed staff to enter into a contract with the low bidder,” for two problem systems—one at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School and one at Malibu High School.
The process usually requires that the bid request be published in the local media to allow for the maximum number of bids. However, because the situation at both locations constitutes what the resolution calls an emergency condition, immediate repairs are required “to permit the continuance of existing school classes or to avoid danger to life and property,” the resolution states.
According to the district, investigations have revealed that the on-site wastewater treatment system at Pt. Dume Elementary School is “inoperable, almost to the point of being filled to capacity, causing a potential overflow problem. In addition, the tank ceiling is collapsing.” At MHS, the top of the tank in a septic system located under the basketball courts is also in danger of collapse.
Bids for the project were due Aug. 20, the day after the resolution passed. The staff report states that “District staff provided a job walk and publicly bid the project [but] no bids were received due to the very quick turnaround time for bid submittals.”
A 24-hour extension on the deadline resulted in bids from two contractors. However, the first company was described as “non-responsive,” and the second apparently failed to obtain bonding. The staff report states that the district then contacted a bonded general contractor, Los Angeles-based Jenn-Matt, Inc., to provide the scope of work for the project. Jenn-Matt has provided services to the district in the past, most recently in 2008, when the firm was hired to renovate the organ chamber at Barnum Hall on the campus of Santa Monica High School. The repairs are anticipated to cost $172,755, up from the initial estimated cost of $148,460. They will be financed by deferred maintenance funds.
Three other Malibu septic system issues were also on the agenda for the Sept. 3 board of education.
Staff recommended that the board contract with the consultant firm Topanga Underground for “additional septic system investigation services at Malibu High School for the Measure BB program in the amount of $22,000, for a total contract amount of $383,686.”
Topanga Underground also received a contract for “additional septic system investigation services at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School for the Measure BB program in the amount of $18,000.” The company will oversee “additional monitoring services for water flow usage and effluent demand at the site while school is in session.” Monitoring will also continue during winter break.
Topanga Underground will continue to provide similar services at Webster Elementary, which was one of numerous Civic Center area properties cited by the Regional Water Quality and Control Board earlier this year. Staff recommended that the board approve an additional $14,000 for ongoing septic system investigation at Webster, including monitoring water flow usage at the site while children are present.
A district representative told the Malibu Surfside News that the district takes its water quality responsibilities seriously and that staff is taking a proactive approach to dealing with the issue.

Council Subcommittee Considers Some New Remodeling Regulations

• Proposal to Thwart Many Attempts to Subvert Process

BY BILL KOENEKER

Lawmakers often jest they write the laws just for others to find the loopholes. That is apparently what has happened with the city’s partial demolition, remodeling and additions regulations.
The city’s Zoning Ordinance Revision and Code Enforcement Subcommittee or ZORACES heard this week all about how loopholes have been found by developers who attempt to build entire new homes under the old rules.
“These projects have resulted in significant demolition and construction activities outside of the scope of work allowed by the Local Coastal Program for a remodel,” a staff report stated.
However, after hearing comments from the public, the subcommittee decided to send the matter back to staff for further consideration in light of the green building rules either in place or soon to take hold in Malibu. ZORACES is made up of city councilmembers John Sibert and Jefferson Wagner.
It is the law of unintended consequences subcommittee members hope to skirt. “The fear was that [proposed recommendations] would be defined in a way to make it difficult for energy saving projects,” said the city’s associate planner Richard Mollica.
Council subcommittee members had been previously told that some clever builders had made the matter problematic on several other levels.
The LCP allows a project to be processed as a remodel and “maintain existing nonconformities so long as at least 50 percent of the exterior walls remain in place. Otherwise, the structure is considered a replacement structure pursuant to LCP Local Implementation Plan... and must be brought into conformance with the current policies and standards of the LCP. [For example] the structure loses any existing, legal non-conformities such as setbacks, height, square footage and must comply with current requirements,” Mollica added in his memo to ZORACES.
When a project is approved, it contains an explicit scope of approved work, Mollica explained: “In the event that a project exceeds what was approved, the project violates the permit and frequently results in excessive time and cost for city staff, the applicant and property owner to rectify the situation,” Mollica said, in his staff report.
“Furthermore, if the unapproved work removes more than 50 percent of the nonconforming existing structure, resulting in a replacement structure, the project may not comply with current zoning ordinances. This results in after-the-fact approvals, demolition permits and other necessary entitlements,” Mollica added.
Another problem of the LCP, according to the planner, is it does not establish specifically how to calculate the 50 percent threshold for exterior walls.
“It does not establish specifically how to calculate the 50 percent, nor does the municipal code,” he noted.
Is it a remodel or does the proposal constitute a replacement structure? “For instance, the LCP does not discuss how to calculate exterior walls in a multi-story structure, when there are impacts to wall segments resulting from roofline and or foundation alterations or how to value changes to windows and doors,” wrote Mollica.
“To better distinguish between remodels and replacement structures, improve efficiency through the planning review process and increase project transparency, staff proposes to clarify submittal requirements, procedures and thresholds guidelines for projects involving partial demolitions, remodels or additions,” Mollica wrote.
The staff proposal states, “A structure shall be considered a replacement structure, and forfeit any legal non-conforming status, if more than 50 percent of the linear footage of exterior walls are removed and or replaced. Such structures shall be brought into conformance with the current policies and standards of the LCP and be processed as a coastal development permit.”
The policy guidelines go on to technically define what kind of wall materials are counted or not counted against the 50 percent and what also constitutes removal of exterior walls.
The specifications outline how to measure doors and windows and other types of construction that would be deemed to constitute a replacement.

City Council Poised to Retain Theater and Recording Studio

• Staff Recommends Current Fees for Immediate Bookings

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu city officials have laid out detailed plans about how they intend to utilize the media equipment left behind in the old performing arts center building that is owned by the city and is being readied for a new City Hall.
The city council is being asked to direct the staff to issue a request for a proposal for media management services at the new City Hall. At the same time, the municipal staff has prepared a fee schedule for use of the facilities including the theater, recording studio and banquet facilities.
“The city intends to leave portions of the performing arts center, including the theater and recording studio, with the remainder of the building to be redesigned as a functional city hall,” wrote Assistant City Manager Reva Feldman, in a staff report to council members. Feldman indicated the city could generate up to a $100,000 in revenue.
The media manager services would include the oversight of the recording studio and theater.
The city is currently working with an architectural firm for a redesign of the rest of the building’s space for offices.
“In the meantime, there have been multiple requests for use of the building in its current state,” added Feldman.
The fee schedule is proposed for current uses until an agreement can be reached for media management services, and then a revised fee schedule will be brought before the council, according to Feldman.
Fees range from use of the recording studio for $5000, the theater for $4500 including additional costs for rehearsals, the banquet room for 200 guests for $7000. Prices vary for motion picture filming, still shoot filming, kitchen, wardrobe room and encore room charges.
In its RFP, the city notes the facility is a “state-of-the-art media center designed to attract high-end recording and performance artists.”
The city wants the media company to “market and manage the media center, recording studio and performance theater.”
In other action, the council is being asked to give the go-ahead for the city manager to execute a contract with the low bidder for the construction of the Trancas Canyon Park. No additional information was available as the Malibu Surfside News went to press.
The city is still embroiled in litigation with the Malibu Township Council over the municipality’s approvals of the permits for the park which includes a playing field, dog park and other amenities. There is no injunction that stops the city from proceeding with its actions.
Also on tap, the council is being asked to approve a proposed law that would make it illegal for anyone to make, reproduce, manufacture, display or use the city seal or logo or design or any design resembling the city seal or logo. The violators would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
The government code allows that cities can have such a logo or seal. “Many cities adopt an ordinance regulating the use of the city seal and logo so that if some one were to misuse them, the city could impose criminal penalties upon that party,” wrote City Clerk Lisa Pope, in a staff report. “Adopting such an ordinance would make the city seal and logo property of the City of Malibu and would allow the city clerk to be their custodian.”
The city council is also scheduled to hear an appeal of a planning commission decision denying an ocean bluff top staircase to the beach. The proposed staircase is 110 feet long, three feet wide and would be located within a five-foot wide pedestrian easement.
Planners indicate the Local Coastal Program and its Land Use Plan do not allow for either a pedestrian access or staircase on the ocean bluff. The city biologist also made a determination that the project cannot be approved for LCP conformance as submitted.
The applicant, through his attorney, has argued the denial amounts to a taking. Planners counter that a taking does not occur “simply because a government action deprives an owner of previously available property rights.”
“Denial of the application to construct a private staircase on a bluff face does not in any way interfere with the existing uses on the subject properties,” a planner wrote in the staff report.

Convenience Store Expansion and New Eatery on Agenda

• Two Permits Go to Planning for West and East Ends

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu Planning Commission is being asked to approve permits for two separate businesses located at opposite ends of Malibu at its meeting on Oct. 6.
Sacha and Shanza Fahhati, the franchise owners of a new Subway, are asking for a conditional use permit to allow the sandwich restaurant to open at Point Dume Village.
Plans call for opening the sandwich shop at the former location of the Dume Room.
Planning officials indicated that given that neither the existing location nor the needs of the new store would produce any “significant adverse effects on the environment and is therefore exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act.” It would be the second Subway to open in Malibu.
Also on the commission agenda is an application for the expansion of an existing 24-hour service station/convenience store owned by First Oaks Oil, LLC which is scheduled to go before the commission at the same October meeting.
The request for the store located at 23387 Pacific Coast Highway is to allow for the 1397-square-foot expansion and interior remodel of an existing 24-hour convenience store, which sells alcohol. The plan includes the removal of three covered service bays, new landscaping, a new enclosed Healy tank, lighting and changes to the existing structure’s facade.
Besides a coastal permit, the applicant is seeking two conditional use permits for the operation of a service station that includes a 24-hour convenience store with attached hand carwash that will operate between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. and the addition of more than 500 square feet to a commercial structure.
Planners determined there would be no significant adverse effects and indicated the proposal was also given a “categorical exemption.”
“The application requests a conditional use permit for a convenience store which sells beer and wine and proposes the interior remodel of the existing gas station and various site improvements,” a planning notice states.
Staff reports are not yet available for public scrutiny. The reports are generally made available 10 days or sooner before the hearing date.

Publisher’s Notebook

• A Meritorious Malibu Market •

ANNE SOBLE

The planning commission is slated to take a look at two permit applications for a farmers market in Malibu next Tuesday. This has been the subject of a major public relations campaign replete with letters galore (alas, most too repetitive), but we have obliged many of them.
Unfortunately, however, the discussion is beginning to harden into a “whose side are you on” mentality. People have told me that they are told that they have to write letters and attend hearings, or risk being labeled a “traitor” to old Malibu, or to something called the “true Malibu.”
At first, I tried to downplay these concerns, as this is a small town and there are more important matters for people to focus on. We have high wildfire danger, school issues, traffic problems and a troubled ocean to protect. People should be utilizing their energy and talents for causes like these that have long-term impact.
A decision about the farmers market is a vote about the best use of public property for something that should benefit the greatest number of people. It’s not about personal entitlement. Nor is a market a reward for one’s past good deeds in the community. Hopefully, deeds were done because they were deemed important in their own right, not as bargaining chips for subsequent business transactions. Isn’t enough of that already impacting Malibu’s business scene?
Malibu deserves a market on a par with the wonderful ones in Thousand Oaks and Pacific Palisades. The planning commissioners’ sole concern should be with who can provide that.
Unfortunately, my recollections of the former local market don’t even approximate the glowing pictures painted by many of the letter writers, but perhaps that is because my views aren’t affected by politics or personalities.
I don’t go to a farmers market, especially one held on a Sunday—my personal and home refuge day—to while away the time. I just want the best and biggest assortment of fresh, preferably organically grown, produce—especially the exotic things no supermarkets carry. If there are ethnic cuisines being cooked to my liking and hand-baked goods for sale, all the better. I will fill my special market cart to the brim and contentedly depart, guaranteeing some wonderful family dining and having supported small local growers. If the planning panelists can give me this, the brickbats will have to fly elsewhere.

Former Malibu Education Activist Dies at Santa Barbara Residence

• Mary Kay Kamath Played Key Role in School Change

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Longtime community activist and former Malibu resident Mary Kay Kamath has died at her home in Santa Barbara, following a long illness.
Kamath is remembered by many in the community for her passionate commitment to local public school issues. She served multiple terms on the board of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in the 1980s and ’90s.
One of the first Malibu residents to be elected to a seat on the board of education, she said she stayed on the board so Malibu would continue to have a voice.
During the enrollment decline in the 1980s, Kamath was a supporter of the plan to close Point Dume Elementary School, the school her own children had attended, a decision that rankled many Malibu residents. The school was closed at the end of the 1983 school year, and remained closed for a decade.
However, Kamath was also an advocate for the formation of Malibu High School, incurring the wrath of Santa Monica residents, who felt that the district could not afford another high school during a time of budget cutbacks, with her view that the district could support the separate Malibu school, and that Santa Monica would not lose anything in the process. MHS opened in 1992.
“She was always involved with children,” Mary Kay’s husband, Sanjiv Kamath, told the Malibu Surfside News. “All of our children went to the Malibu schools, and she went also, to help in the classrooms and the PTA. That led to the school board. She meant everything to our family.”
Kamath also served on the board of directors for the Point Dume Community Services Board. In 1996 she ran unsuccessfully for a seat on Malibu City Council.
Sanjiv Kamath continued to commute part time to Hughes Laboratories, but the Kamath family moved to Santa Barbara in 1999, where both Mary Kay and her husband were active with the Santa Barbara Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers.
“Mary Kay believed one’s interest was best served by doing the right thing rather than the convenient thing,” Malibuite and longtime friend Connie Jenkins wrote in a letter to the Malibu Surfside News.
Family members said that there would be no formal memorial service. It was added that those wishing to act in her memory could make a donation to the charity of their choice.
“She felt that donations to charity would be a better use of money than anything else,” Sanjiv Kamath told The News.

The Full Moon Helps Illuminate Malibu’s Wildest Night Life

• Charmlee Wilderness Park Walks Offer an Opportunity for After-Hours Exploration

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The promise of a brief respite from the hot weather and a rising harvest moon, colored golden and magnified to enormous size by the smoke of distant wildfires, enticed more than 30 walkers to the City of Malibu’s Charmlee Wilderness Park for a full moon hike last Saturday.
It was a diverse group comprised of high school and college students, families with small children, seniors, and everything in between. Energetic hikers had the option of taking a longer loop trail through the park. Those who wished to go at a more leisurely pace could opt to take just the first half of the walk, a two-mile round-trip to a viewpoint overlooking the ocean and back.
“We sometimes get as many as 60 hikers,” Sandy Glover, the Charmlee naturalist who led the walk, told the Malibu Surfside News. She indicated that the number of animals observed seems to decrease proportionately to the number of people on the hike and the amount of noise they generate, but not always.
As latecomers straggled in, the group assembled at the park’s nature center, where displays of live reptiles—including the center’s rattlesnake—spiders and an assortment of stuffed owls and insects offered a chance to examine some of the creatures that might be encountered on the walk. In fact, participants encountered a rattlesnake on the trail just minutes after setting out.
“Snakes like the warmth,” Glover explained. “They’re out at night this time of year because the ground stays warm. Unfortunately, that’s why you often see them dead by the road. They come out for the warmth and drivers don’t see them.”
Snakes weren’t the only park inhabitants taking advantage of the warm night. A red-tailed hawk was riding the warm air currents, the moonlight allowing it to extend its hunting hours into the evening.
Fresh coyote scat, the hoof prints of a deer crossing over the dusty footprints of the day’s hikers and a wing feather from a great horned owl were evidence of other unseen presences.
Glover says she was leading a large group once, when a gray fox dashed across the trail, through the middle of the hikers. “They were extremely surprised,” she said. On another occa-sion, hikers were treated to the sight of a long-tailed weasel, one of the area’s shyest residents, hunting in the moonlight. “The have this funny way of moving, half hopping, half bounding,” Glover said. “It looked like a dance.”
Tarantulas and scorpions are also frequently observed. The much-maligned local giant spider, which can reach a size of six inches, is actually quite gentle and non-aggressive, Glover said. The scorpion, however, can deliver an extremely painful sting.
Members of this particular group were in high spirits and more concerned with zombies than scorpions, although the naturalist assured them, with a straight face, that zombie attacks were, in fact, uncommon.
Once the chatter died down, one of the most conspicuous things on the walk was the silence. It was possible to hear the wind crossing the meadow, and the rustle of a mouse in the brush.
The view from the ridge overlooking the sea drew gasps from some. The coast stretching to Point Dume lay below, with the moon, higher now, and silver, lighting up the sea. Off in the distance, the lights of the Palos Verdes peninsula glittered through the haze. The constellation Scorpio and the planet Jupiter, bright even in the moonlight, completed the view.
Participants in the longer walk were treated to a welcome breath of chill air on the walk back, many degrees colder than the ambient temperature. The phenomenon, generated by the mountainous terrain, is called nocturnal cold air drainage.
“We had one walk last year in the fog,” Glover said. “It was so thick we couldn't see the moon and we had to rely on flashlights.” On another occasion, a Santa Ana materialized suddenly with gale-force winds. “It’s always a new experience,” Glover said. “For many people, it’s their first experience of being out in nature at night.”
Next month’s full moon falls on a Saturday, Oct. 3. Charmlee Wilderness Park full moon walks are free, but there is a $4 parking fee and reservations are required. Sturdy shoes, a flashlight and a walking stick are recommended. FI: 310-317-1364.

RWQCB Staff Says Polluted Waters Prod Septic Prohibition

• City Indicates It Is Going to Try to Put Brakes on Any Effort to Prohibit On-Site Septics

BY BILL KOENEKER

Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board staff and members of the Malibu community met this week at Pepperdine University to talk for the first time about the proposed septic prohibition for the Civic Center commercial area and surrounding residential neighborhoods.
Another community workshop is tentatively planned for Oct. 1, a month before the public hearing before the board that is scheduled for Nov. 5.
At first, the RWQCB chief of the groundwater and landfill section, Wendy Phillips, who along with other staff members had given a presentation outlining the reasons for the prohibition and possible alternatives, deferred stating what might be the consequences, if the prohibition is ignored or a potential five-year timetable is not met.
When Phillips was asked the question again, she indicated that the board has the ability to impose fines of $10,000 per day (the print edition article erroneously stated a higher amount).
But she then said, “I don’t think [that] in five years, we will start penalties.”
Phillips also noted that the water board does not have the authority to impose a solution on any other agency or entity. It can only impose the prohibition.
Boundary maps show the prohibition area includes not only the Civic Center area, but also residential areas, including Malibu Colony, Malibu Road, Sweetwater Mesa, Serra Retreat area and Winter Canyon.
The ban would apply immediately to all new development and, in five years, to all existing commercial, residential and public properties.
The rationale for the septic ban is the widespread nature of the pollution that requires a comprehensive approach. The ban would include all septic systems, even advanced alternative wastewater discharge systems. The only exemption is a zero discharge system.
The reasons discussed include a polluted lagoon; polluted beaches; polluted groundwater; noncompliance by dischargers, meaning homeowners; and property owners in the Civic Center, and continued reliance on the hauling away of raw sewage.
When Malibu municipal officials were given an opportunity to speak, City Manager Jim Thorsen talked about the city’s scientific basis for pursuing stormwater treatment facilities and then moving on to build a Civic Center wastewater treatment plant. He said the city is committed to clean water and is prepared to spend $50 million.
“There is emerging data that cleaning up stormwater should be first. There are significant findings to ensure our action will improve and clean the water for human health,” he said.
Thorsen also discussed why the city believes the prohibition is premature and urged the board to reconsider the ban.
“We believe the proposed prohibition should be placed on hold until all the [pending] studies are done,” added the city manager, who had previously cited several studies that counter some of the data of the RWQCB staff.
During public comment, planning commissioner and former councilmember Jeff Jennings said he was disappointed the city staff and the RWQCB staff are not meeting on a regular basis as they had in the past.
“You are not aware of what the city is doing, and the city is not aware of many of the things the RWQCB is doing,” he said.
Jennings took the RWQCB staff to task for any rationale that Civic Center groundwater could be a potential source of drinking water. He said, “Some of the evidence is lawyer-driven, such as providing a source of drinking water. There is seawater intrusion. That is not scientific data.”
Malibu resident Paul Shoop said that ultimately a sewer hook-up could improve the value of his home and vacant property he owns in the Civic Center, but called the prohibition and five-year timeline “draconian.” He wanted to know how he could then use his property
Shoop said he did not think all of the information was in about how water at the lagoon and beach are polluted and wondered if the state agency had looked at the big picture. “Let’s figure out what we know,” he said.
He stated he thought the reason the lagoon was so polluted was because of its expansion and how much more water sits in the lagoon.
Shoop said he does not believe there has been any analysis of the expansion of the lagoon and its impact on pollution levels.
He also questioned why the boundary line did not include the commercial strip along Pacific Coast Highway east of the Malibu Pier.
Phillips said it was up to the community and the public to tell the board if five years is too short a time. She said the agency is not interested in red-tagging properties, if the prohibition ends without implementation of an alterative means of waste disposal.
The head of the Santa Monica Baykeeper, Tom Ford, said there are a lot of people who support the prohibition and that he found the evidence “totally compelling.” Ford said the five-year time limit is enough time.
Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, said the time for studies is over. “Is Surfrider safe for swimming? No. Nobody here thinks so. Human pathogens have been found in the lagoon. Everybody knows it is a problem. The conditions are unacceptable for humans and resources,” he said.
Gold stressed that Malibu and inland cities have had years to comply. “But now we are saying it is time to comply,” he said.
Gold advised the board staff to make a better case why so many residential properties are included in the prohibition boundary and suggested the commercial strip on PCH east of the pier should be included.
“We support [a goal of] 2014. We know 2012 is not going to happen,” added Gold, who said the Civic Center plant should be a water recycling facility.
Serra Retreat resident Holly Cumberland provided another picture for the board staff. “Everybody has septic systems. They did exactly what they were told to do. Are any of you in the same financial situation?” she asked.
Phillips said the agency has been able to facilitate funding and financing and did so for another prohibition area in Oxnard.
Another comment was received from Randal Horton, who is a spokesperson for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which operates the Tapia sewage treatment plant located just upstream in Malibu Canyon.
“I thought we did not have a dog in this fight. No one called us about Tapia as potential solution. I’m not here to address this. There are lots of issues, and I have to agree with the city manager, you have a lot more studies coming. It might be worth it to visit those studies,” he said.
Orton was responding to Phillips’ discussion about the alternatives to solving the prohibition, such as a sewer line to Los Angeles, or a sewer line to Tapia, as an alternative to Malibu’s own plant.
Some of the harshest criticism came from former shopping center owner Steve Soboroff.
Soboroff said the board staff is “way out of line,” and making the process impossible. He said positive reinforcement and constant communication are required. He also took issue with what he said was a comment that stated categorically that onsite systems don’t work. Soboroff added he thought it would not be good for the process to say, “We have to penalize you and call you bad boys.”
“The way to do this is communication. We all want the same thing,” he said.
Another resident, Rick Margolis, said he wants to know why no distinction is made between a 60-year-old septic system and a new $150,000 on-site wastewater treatment facility that has just been built. “Everybody is lumped together,” he said.

Newest White Shark in Captivity Eats for First Time This Week

• Aquarium Expects Labor Day Throngs to Visit the Closely Monitored Malibu Catch

BY ANNE SOBLE

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has placed a fifth young great white shark on exhibit after bringing her from Malibu to Monterey last Wednesday in the 3000-gallon mobile transport unit dubbed the “finnebago” —a trip shrouded in the kind of secrecy normally reserved for rock stars and heads of state who cause uncontrollable media frenzies.
The five-foot, three-inch, 79.8- pound female white was caught Aug. 12 with the help of a spotter plane and a commercial fishing crew using a purse seine net. She was quickly transferred to the 4-million-gallon ocean holding pen off the local coast, where she remained for almost two weeks.
Aquarium staff said they observed the juvenile shark swimming comfortably and feeding in the pen nearly a dozen times before she was brought to Monterey and placed in the million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit.
However, the young shark did not feed for seven days. On Tuesday afternoon, Ken Peterson, the communications director for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, announced that “after passing on numerous earlier feeding opportunities, the white shark ate 444 grams (just under a pound) of fresh Pacific mackerel off of a feeding pole. In addition to feeding, she struck at two other baits, but did not consume them.” He said these are “all good signs, as far as our husbandry team is concerned.”
In addition to mackerel, the white is being offered salmon. Peterson added, “Our staff will continue feeding efforts this afternoon, and resume again early Wednesday morning.”
This close monitoring is important because the fourth shark put on display in 2008 during the Labor Day holiday, also a young female, but smaller, ate only once during her stay at the aquarium. She was released after 11 days because of concern for her well-being.
All four sharks previously kept at the aquarium were tagged and tracked after their release. The one released last year after the briefest stay remained in waters near the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara. Data from her tag, and observations from a local fisherman who later accidentally caught and released her, showed she was doing well. Her tag subsequently dislodged early and there was no further information.
Collectively, the four sharks previously exhibited at the aquarium have been seen by more than two million people. Although dispute continues over keeping these animals in captivity, since 2002, the aquarium says because of this record attendance, it has been able to allocate more than $1 million toward field studies of adult and juvenile white sharks.
Data from young white sharks tagged since the field project began in 2002 have been published in the scientific press and document the use of California waters, including those off Malibu, as “white shark nurseries.”
Those interested in following the adventures of the newest white on exhibit can visit the MBA blog that is updated daily at: http://www.montereybayaquarium.typepad.com.

Flammable Tree Ban Studied

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu’s Public Safety Commission is poised to discuss an ordinance or policy about a ban on flammable trees at its meeting this week after The Malibu Surfside News went to press.
The panel was scheduled to talk about fire hazards related to particular trees and make a recommendation to the city council to consider whether to ban the planting of high fire risk vegetation.
The discussion builds on current policy that all new development must receive approval from the city biologist for any plants or landscaping to be installed.
The city’s current law, according to a staff report, does not specify trees that are or are not permitted within the city.
“However, the city biologist stated he does not allow pepper trees, eucalyptus or fruiting olives due to their invasive nature. Otherwise, nearly all other plants or trees are allowed within the irrigated zones. He stated further that the city allows, and even encourages, the planting of any locally native tree species,” the staff report adds.
The panelists were given a list developed by fire officials of native, fire resistant plants and trees that are recommended for fire-safe landscaping, as well as plants to avoid due to their flammability.
Fire officials strongly urge that the flammable plants and trees not be used near homes or structures and suggests that property owners consider replacing them with more fire resistant species, according to the staff report.
The list of plants to avoid are mostly nonnative and are “highly flammable.” Fire officials suggest that if these plants are already growing on one’s property, they should be considered for removal and replacement with more fire-resistant plants.
Some of the more commonly seen plants in Malibu on the “avoid” list are acacia, bougainvillea, cedar, pampas grass, cypress, eucalyptus, New Zealand flax, spruce, juniper, pine, fountain grass and all ornamental grasses.
Some natives to avoid are chamise, California sagebrush, buckwheat and large manzanitas.
Some of the plants described as having high fire resistance are agave species, dudleya species and sedum species.

Malibu COPs Are Success

• Devices Sell Out within One Hour

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu city officials announced this week that the certificates of participation issued for the new City Hall sold within an hour at interest rates low enough to save taxpayers an estimated $3 million over the life of the financing.
The city, according to a press release, sold the nearly $20 million in COPs to finance the purchase and renovation of the recently acquired building.
“The high demand for these securities is recognition of the City of Malibu’s strong credit rating and diligent financial management,” said Mayor Andy Stern, in the official statement. “Many of the top 100 municipal bond investment funds placed orders for the certificates of participation for the new City Hall, as did specialized money managers and individuals retail investors throughout the state. We are gratified by these votes of confidence in the management of our city.”
Municipal officials said before the sale, Stone & Youngberg, the city’s underwriter for the securities, had estimated the city’s annual payments to investors in the COPs would be $1.41 million. Stern said the high demand for the COPs drove down the interest rates the city will have to pay.
He said the lower interest will save the city about $100,000 annually, or about $3 million over the 30-year life of the COPs.
Prior to the sale of the securities, the city had been given an AAA credit rating by Standard & Poor’s and an AA+ bond rating, its highest possible rating for the general appropriations lease financing used to purchase and renovate the new City Hall.
The city has been renting space in the existing City Hall and jumped at the chance to purchase the building next to it when it went on the auction block.
The city closed escrow on the new building on July 13 and sold the COPs on Aug. 20.
The city used its own funds to pay for the foreclosed property purchased at the auction and will ultimately use its annual rent savings of close to a million dollars per month to pay back the COPs.
The deal was acted upon swiftly, without controversy or litigation, and the entire city council and staff were praised for completing the transaction in record time.

GPS Is the Key to ‘Caching’ in on Malibu’s Hidden Treasures

• New NPS Program Uses Satellite Navigation to Educate and Entertain Visitors

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

It’s called geocaching. Ever since global positioning system technology became available to the public in 2000, this high-tech scavenger hunt game, which uses a combination of Internet, GPS and hiking skills, has been growing in popularity at an exponential rate.
The game of geocaching is said to have been invented just three days after the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it would no longer scramble the satellite navigation system information that makes GPS possible. Today, there are millions of geocachers worldwide. There are an estimated 70,000 caches in California. An Internet search turns up nearly 4000 sites just in the vicinity of Malibu, most of them in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Geocaching enthusiasts say the game teaches valuable navigation and map reading skills—the activity is a popular activity for families with children—but most just enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and it can be a real thrill. Most geocaches are readily accessible, but some are hidden in locations that may require advanced hiking or climbing skills. Websites provide geocachers with forums to learn about new caches and share their experiences.
Lately, the National Park Service has joined in the game, offering free public GPS workshops and its own set of geocaches.
NPS ranger Mike Theune is working to develop a series of what are called earthcaches in the local parks. Most caches consist of a small waterproof container that holds a logbook for finders to sign. Many also contain trinkets as a reward—geocachers, operating on the honor system, take an item and leave another in its place. There are also virtual caches, consisting of something interesting that might otherwise have escaped notice, like a survey marker, benchmark, or even a view.
Earthcaches offer information on what Theune, whose training is in geology, describes as interesting and unique geologic features rather than trinkets. The logbook exists online rather than in situ, and participants can take an interactive online quiz and see how much they learned about each site.
There are now four official earthcaches in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and Theune told the Malibu Surfside News that he hopes to expand the program to include cultural and ecological sites, in addition to more geology related caches.
Theune’s NPS caches don’t require any off-trail exploration to find, but it helps to be observant. Keen eyes, are in fact, one major benefit of the geocaching phenomenon, according to Theune. Geocachers often report maintenance issues and suspicious activity like abandoned vehicles or vandalism.
The coordinates for the newest earthcache, which made its public debut during a walk led by Theune on Aug. 29, reveal the location of an ancient undersea landslide that is now high in the mountains near Castro Crest. The cache’s name “A Turbulent Time in History” offers a clue to what visitors ought to be looking for. Additional information on the earthcaches, including en-crypted clues that have to be decoded using a cipher, can be found on the Internet.
But it’s not all fun and games, according to Theune. The NPS is kept busy removing illegal cache sites from federal lands. The SMMNRA is a checkerboard of federal, state and private lands, which further complicates the issue. “What is legal in some areas is not legal in others,” Theune told the participants in the GPS talk during the walk to the first of two geocaches—a physical cache located on state parklands, where caches are permitted.
“The problem with physical caches is that they can cause damage to cultural or natural resources,” Theune explained, as the walk’s novice GPS users inadvertently blundered through manzanita and yucca plants in pursuit of their goal. He recounted an unfortunate incident involving a geocacher who buried a cache under a clump of endangered plants. The plants died.
Unauthorized caches in the local mountains have apparently also led to complications involving poison oak, rattlesnakes and falls. “You wouldn’t believe how many people can’t recognize poison oak,” Theune said.
While thousands of geocaching enthusiasts are presumably prowling the hills in search of hidden treasure, many would-be GPS users find the units bewilderingly complex. At another recent hike, one participant was treated to a scenic tour of the entire perimeter of a Malibu area park before her GPS unit triumphantly announced, “You have arrived,” miles from the park entrance she was trying to reach.
“GPS knows where you are by satellite triangulation,” Theune explained. “It keeps track of minutes of longitude and degrees of latitude.” He added that in some ways the device is more like a clock than a computer.
“It’s a sort of space-age descendant of the marine clock designed by John Harrison in 1730 to keep track of longitude,” one of the walkers volunteered.
Longitude, measured in hours, minutes and seconds, is an angular measurement ranging from 0° at the Prime Meridian to +180° eastward and -180° westward. Latitude provides the location north or south of the equator. Together, they can be used to pinpoint an exact location anywhere on earth.
However, in order to use latitude and longitude to calculate its location, a GPS unit has to receive signals from at least three satellites. The process is called trilateration. It only works while the unit is in motion—Theune recommends circling around—and it cannot determine direction.
“That’s the first downfall of GPS,” Theune said. “It’s handy. It tells you where you are, but not what direction you’re going. They don’t have an integrated compass, although the technology is improving all the time.”
The second problem with GPS, Theune explained, is that it points to the most direct route to the entered coordinates, not necessarily the best or safest. Good judgment is required, whether the GPS unit is being used in a vehicle or out on a trail.
Theune stresses that a GPS unit is only a tool and not always a completely reliable one, since it depends on satellite reception that is not always available and a computer and battery system that can experience glitches.
Operator error can also be a serious problem. Theune reminded the walk participants that co-ordinates to destinations are only useful when they are entered accurately. All the GPS horror stories about people misdirected hundreds of miles, or driving off the road or off a cliff, that have become the stuff of urban legend, unfortunately have some basis in fact.
“When we’re on a rescue, the GPS is great,” Theune told The News. “It lets us send accurate coordinates if, for instance, we need a helicopter in to airlift a victim, but we still need to hike in and back out, and when you’re in the back country, it helps to have a map. I always carry a compass and a map.”
Information on the NPS’s SMMNRA earthcache program is available at www. samo.nps.gov. The next GPS walk is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20, at Paramount Ranch.

Film Festival Focuses on the Issue of Animal Welfare

• New Event Offers a Reprieve from Onslaught of Blockbuster Flicks Playing This Summer

BY JEREMY WALKER

I was talking last week about horror movies with a colleague who knows more than a thing or two about why we love them, and why they make money, as did the top two films at box office just now, “The Final Destination” and Rob Zombie’s critically pilloried sequel to his re-make of “Halloween.” These are the kinds of films that are usually dismissed by critics, causing distributors to render their barbs irrelevant by not holding advance screenings to begin with.
In my mind, this behavior is about as mature—but also just as emotionally prudent—as breaking up with a girlfriend before she can break up with you.
This colleague, whom I won’t name because we are connected by the most tangential of business ties, observed that horror is “almost perennially popular, but the degree of ardor among fans tends to ebb and flow.”
My friend went on to argue that because Hollywood has given us “a slew of competently made remakes and branded properties designed to score singles and doubles, not home runs” that the audiences will soon start craving more original fare.
He could just as easily be talking about an increasingly available brand of inexpensive comedy, a mini-glut sparked by the success of smart, soulful comedies like Jason Reitman’s “Thank You For Smoking” and “Juno” and gross-out bromances from the Judd Apatow factory.
Case in point: a movie I’m glad got made but I fear will be dismissed by critics and audiences, a workplace comedy called “Extract” that cleverly opens this Labor Day weekend and was written and directed by Malibu’s own Mike Judge.
On TV, Judge is a genius of the working class; his MTV show “Beavis and Butthead” and Fox sitcom “King of the Hill” are, well, if not modern-day classics, at least much smarter than their characters appear to be. On the big screen, Judge made a teensy Jennifer Aniston movie called “Office Space” that gained huge cult status on DVD.
His new film benefits greatly from the presence of its star, Jason Bateman, as the founder of a flavor extract business who hires a very dumb pool boy to screw his wife, played by Kristen Wiig. His clingy neighbor is played by David Koechner; his no-nonsense foreman at the factory is J.K. Simmons; an hirsute Ben Affleck does a fine turn as a druggy bartender. All of these folks made me laugh.
But they also started me thinking about comedy as a kind of insular club: Bateman, Koechner and Simmons are regular Reitman players; when it comes to movies, Wiig is perhaps the most terminally underused supporting actress of all time (yet no single performer has brightened up “Saturday Night Live” to the degree she has since the late Gilda Radner).
Judge is a talented guy working with a talented cast, but not only has his film been released in what is traditionally a dumping ground for the mediocre, the difficult-to-sell and the just plain bad, he did himself no favors by putting a weird title on his picture that makes me think more about a trip to the dentist (no offense, Dr. Niebergall) than a trip to the movie house.
* * *
If you want to escape what may be excruciating Labor Day crowds, a new event in Santa Monica may be worth your time. The Blue Planet Film Fest, a unique Animal-Welfare/ Environmental Film Festival and Forum, will be held there Sept. 4-7. The mission of the non-profit festival is to screen films that raise mainstream awareness about saving the earth and ending the suffering of animals at human hands. Tickets are specially priced at $6.50; kids, student and seniors tickets are just $5.50.
Mira Tweti, the Festival’s executive director, is quoted in a press release saying, “Blue Planet will be more than an entertaining weekend. We’re going to provide both a visual and visceral experience with interactive, hands-on events to connect with attendees on an emotional level, and motivate them to action.”
Friday, Sept. 3 may be a good day to bring the children. Feature films on animal issues and two live afternoon events with pelicans and parrots will follow a morning of marine wildlife films; audience members will then be invited to participate in a beach-release of rehabbed waterfowl from the International Bird Research and Rescue Center. Lunch will be served in the carousel on the Santa Monica Pier afterwards. All you need to know is at www.BluePlanetFilmFest.com

Publisher’s Notebook

• Wildfire’s Silent Survivors •

ANNE SOBLE

When wildfires strike, those of us who have been through the experience are all “neighbors,” no matter how far away the flames may be. As the current infernos claim more than 130,000 acres and homes fall despite the valiant efforts of air and land crews, there is a sense of human kinship that ignores geographical boundaries. Wildfire forges a bond based on primordial instincts of survival tempered with the need for cooperation in the face of overwhelming natural force.
The extent of the loss of lives and property is a numbing commentary on the impact of wildfire that eschews statistical comparisons. Any wildfire that one personally experiences is the worst. All of us voice compassion for those who suffer losses, most especially for the families of firefighters who live daily with the knowledge of the danger that their loved ones face.
Most of us, however, never fully comprehend the extent of the loss of wildlife in a fire of the magnitude of this week’s blazes. There are rarely cameras to record what usually occurs out of sight and sound as huge swaths of animal habitat are swallowed by flames.
The crew at Valley Wildlife Care, one of the local rescue groups on call with area fire departments, points out that fast moving animals, such as cougars, coyotes, bobcats, deer and birds able to fly have the best chance to escape to safety. But as one mountain lion cub sadly illustrated this week, escape may mean that animals run onto a freeway and are killed by traffic.
Slow moving animals, such as opossums, rabbits and most ground rodents have less of a chance. If burrowing isn’t possible, they simply cannot outrun wildfire.
Though normally nocturnal, this opossum was spotted walking down an evacuated street in broad daylight, disoriented and suffering from smoke inhalation. Some of his fur was singed by flames. A firefighter picked him up and wrapped him in his tarp. Many more animals were not so fortunate.
A resident in another fire zone spotted this baby opossum covered with ash and huddled under her doormat as she was evacuating. She picked him up and put him in a grocery bag. He is recovering in an incubator and expected to make it.
Although common sense is the first rule, and one should always keep in mind that a frightened wild animal might bite in self defense, it is possible to save many wildlife fire victims. For this reason, many animal rescue volunteers pack gloves, towels and boxes in their vehicles whenever black smoke fills the sky.