Legislative Task Force on PCH Meets Locally at End of June

• Malibu’s Two State Reps Are in the Loop on Safety Issues

BY ANNE SOBLE

The longstanding state legislative Pacific Coast Highway Task Force that has successfully worked on key local traffic issues in the past is going to hold its next regular meeting in Malibu on Wednesday, June 30, from 10 a.m. to noon, according to email communications copied to the Malibu Surfside News by Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich this week.
The meeting scheduled to take place at City Hall is important because city officials think it is critical that State Senator Fran Pavley and Assemblymember Julia Brownley not only be apprised of growing PCH safety concerns, but also their aid should be enlisted if there is going to be a concerted municipal effort to bring back the California Highway Patrol to handle coast highway traffic law enforcement.
City Manager Jim Thorsen initiated contact with the task force staff to set up the meeting date.
Conley Ulich wrote interested parties, “Hopefully everyone can collaborate to come up with solutions we can start implementing sooner rather than later.”
The task force normally holds its monthly meetings in Santa Monica, but Kara Seward, who is the lead on transportation matters in Pavley’s office, and Jesse Switzer, who oversees the same issues for Brownley, acknowledged that a meeting held in Malibu could result in a much larger turnout.
This expectation is predicated on the vocal expressions of concern for PCH safety that have reverberated throughout the community in the wake of four recent fatalities.
Citizens are saying that they want to see local speeding laws enforced, which many perceive as not being done now, as well as implementation of cell phone curbs, and other efforts to increase driver attention at the wheel.
Task force meetings are usually attended by state Department of Transportation and other agency representatives, which is especially relevant since PCH is a state highway under Caltrans aegis.