Camping Remains a Hot Button Issue in SMMC Proposal to Increase Public Access

• Several Dozen Malibu Speakers Focus on Fire Danger

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

More than a hundred angry Malibu residents packed the auditorium at Webster Elementary school to hear more than two dozen speakers address the Environmental Impact Report for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s controversial Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan that includes trail connections and improvements, increased ADA access and camping at SMMC properties in Ramirez, Escondido, Latigo, and Corral canyons, and at Bluffs Park Open Space above Malibu Road.
The SMMC may have underestimated public interest in the issue—an October scoping session in Pacific Palisades attracted only a handful of participants—but observers criticized the physical set up for the meeting, which placed some members of the SMMC board—including Executive Director Joe Edmiston—with their backs to the audience. Less than a third of the room was allocated to the standing-room-only crowd, and a large area of empty space off to one side that could easily have accommodated the overflow was inaccessible.
The two dozen speakers included two city council members, three city council candidates, many residents of areas that burned in the 2007 Corral Fire, and representatives from numerous homeowners associations and organizations, all seemingly united in opposition to the SMMC camping plan.
Fire danger and public safety were the primary concern of almost all of the speakers, although the majority were supportive of the project’s proposed trail improvements. Plans to place campsites in Latigo and Escondido canyons continued to attract the highest level of criticism.
Many speakers told the SMMC board that they had not yet had time to completely review the massive EIR document, which is thousands of pages long.
Joyce Parker-Bozylinsk, the planning manager for the City of Malibu, stated that city staff believe the EIR is inconsistent with the city’s certified Local Coastal Program. “We disagree with conclusions reached in [the section pertaining to development in Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area]. We [also] have concerns and disagreements with the findings as it relates to fire safety. We will be putting our comments into writing and submitting them to you,” she told the board.
“I’m sure you are all aware of the six campers who were lost last week,” Malibu Park resident and public safety commission member Susan Tellem said. “They put a campfire in Newton Canyon and no one saw it. This presents a real danger. People trying to get warm in a cold canyon.” Tellem also raised concerns over the SMMC’s contention that the improvement projects would have a less than significant impact on the environment. “‘Less than significant impact’ is hard to explain when you take a pristine area and put grading, parking, fire shelters, sheds, and so on,” she said. “This cannot be less than significant. Just dragging this stuff in is significant.”
“Trails going in is a good idea,” Corral Canyon resident Brian Weiss said, “but I’m worried about the potential impact of fire. Camping between Corral and Latigo is reasonable. It’s the hike-in camps I have problems with. The problem isn’t responsible people, it’s when irresponsible people show up. My concern is supervision.” Weiss asked that the SMMC work with Corral residents to find reasonable solutions.
“I want to talk about not the EIR but your process,” city council candidate Lou La Monte told the board, speaking as president of the Big Rock HOA. “You’re in danger of becoming a behemoth who doesn’t listen to people. We are one of the most environmentally friendly cities. This Conservancy has alienated neighborhoods just because of the process. Malibu residents are as ready and able of mounting battles as you are. I urge you to reach out to the residents of Malibu. We all live in the Santa Monica Mountains and we deserve that respect.”
“I’m an avid camper and equestrian, Malibu Park resident and city council candidate Steve Scheinkman said. This project is not in the backyard where I sleep at night but backyard where I spend a lot of time. It puts a lot of people at risk of losing their homes, their property and their lives. There is no budget for enforcement and no guarantee that it will be enforced. I ride my horse on these trails. It’s really insulting to say to these people who have lost their homes to fire that it’s safe, to think that everybody is going to camp by the rules, to think they’re not going to get lost, not light a fire like what happened last week. It’s common sense. “
“When you read the EIR, there are two things that stand out that scare the people of Malibu: fire and public safety,” planning commissioner and city council candidate John Mazza said.
“Your report says 90 percent of fires are caused by people. The 10,000 gallon water tank [planned for one campsite] is like pouring a Dixie cup on a wildfire,” Mazza continued. “In 1994, fire burned all of these proposed campsites. We want trails, we can work together to get trails, but we are putting a small amount of campsites in a highly dangerous area. If you can burn to the beach in eight minutes, you have an evacuation issue that you have not considered. The people of Malibu don’t want to fight you, but there are hundreds of millions of dollars in property at risk.”
“You’re supposed to be protecting the parks. Burning them up doesn’t qualify,” Malibu Township Council representative Lucile Keller said. “The SMMC plan is totally deficient in commitment to provide rangers. A walk through these campsites once a day will not be enough to enforce violations,” “It’s totally inadequate. No needs assessment has been provided. We’ve asked for it repeatedly. There are 1300 camping sites already [in Malibu]. If more sites are needed they should be placed at Leo Carrillo. The state has admitted that it does not have enough rangers. If a fire starts in one of these parks, it could reach residents in two minutes. The whole area is in an area of highest fire danger. There is no guarantee that users of campsites will be knowledgeable or responsible.”
“You don’t have a full understanding of what we deal with in Malibu,” another member of the Corral Fire Safety Alliance stated at the end of public comment, summing up the views of many of the speakers. “We want trail access, we support that. This is about fire safety. In Corral Canyon we have one way in and one way out. You are essentially blocking our only way out. People will die and it will be on your hands. We support trail expansion, we do not support camping.”
The comment period for the Environmental Impact Report for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan will remain open until March 22. Written comments can be submitted via email to eircomments@smmc.ca.gov. The EIR document is available at the Malibu Library or online at www.smmc.ca.gov

Engineers Still Investigating Cause of Latest Rambla Landslide

• Tentative Assessment Focuses on Possible Impact of Private Downslope Grading in the Area

BY BILL KOENEKER

A landslide and subsequent failure of Rambla Pacifico Road that occurred on Feb. 5 between Azurelee Drive and Las Flores Canyon Road is being tentatively attributed to a work crew performing grading work below the roadway for a driveway and residence, according to Los Angeles County authorities.
“It is difficult to assess. It is currently still under investigation,” according to John Kelly, who is the deputy director for the county Public Works Department, which oversees the unincorporated area of Malibu where the slide is located.
The road collapsed and is completely closed. The impact to hillside residents is minimal since it does not block homeowners going south to Pacific Coast Highway, but provides an impediment to about 20 residences south of the slide who are going northward and must detour. However, the road provides an alternative route during disasters. The roadway is expected to be repaired by June, according to Kelly.
The public works spokesperson said the private party is expected to complete slide remediation and restoration and offer a fix for the road.
“Our first order of business is to deal with the slope failure. [The owner] is submitting plans to repair it,” Kelly said.
The construction crew was grading into the hillside in what is called a “back cut,” which is believed to have ultimately caused the failure, Kelly said.
The permit allowed 26,000 cubic yards of grading. There is still no estimate of how much slide material was involved, explained Kelly, who said the California Coastal Commission is also involved in overseeing the restoration. The applicant had permits from the county and the coastal agency.
The public works spokesperson said it no longer seems feasible that the water main was leaking and contributed to the problem as initially reported. The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District’s water main was under the road. The slide took the pipe with it and a bypass line had to be installed.
“All I can really say is the exact cause is being investigated,” said Kelly, when pressed to explain why leakage had tentatively been ruled out.

Council OKs $7 Million More in Debt for Work on the New City Hall

• Two Candidates Tried to Hold Reins on Spending for Plans They Said Need More Vetting

BY BILL KOENEKER

Despite the urging by two council candidates on the April 13 ballot to either forego moving forward or revising plans, the Malibu City Council this week gave the go-ahead to the latest cost estimates for the remodeling of the new city hall and approved the indebtedness of $7 million to make the $5 million improvements.
The additional $2 million is to fund a debt service reserve fund, capitalized interest on the certificates of participation for three years and the costs of issuing the certificates. A portion of the certificates will be taxable debt.
Council hopeful Mike Sidley told members they should wait on taking on any more debt and let the reconstituted council after the election decide.
“I urge you to delay until the April election,” said Sidley, who added, “You should wait and see what happens to decide what we really need to spend money on.”
The council candidate said the Civic Center septic prohibition might cost the city as much as $56 million and that could be a deciding factor if the city was forced to take on more debt.
However, council members were quick to point out that the $56 million price tag referred to the costs that an assessment district might have to pay for a sewage treatment facility in the Civic Center area recommended by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The city would not incur debt or be required to pay for such a public works project.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich did get City Manager Jim Thorsen, who was explaining where the $56 million price tag came from, to acknowledge that the new city hall is in the septic prohibition area and would probably be part of any assessment district and obliged to pay into the district.
“That would be a utility bill,” said Thorsen.
Councilmember John Sibert, explaining his actions in response to Sidley’s challenge, said he was elected to make decisions and not to defer them. “This has nothing to do with April,” he said.
Earlier in the evening, the staff had delivered a new report estimating the cost of improvements to the new city hall.
Council members were told the latest preliminary construction estimate, which at one time was $1.1 million has skyrocketed to $4.6 million. The latest figure represents the preliminary costs for optional improvements at over $1.3 million.
The estimate was broken down by exterior site, building and interior elements, as well as base costs and optional costs. Elements that could be attributable to a sustainable design were indicated for council consideration.
Council hopeful Steve Scheinkman said he believes the council should call for a sustainability study, which could take a month, but could result in savings in the long run.
Mayor Sharon Barovsky said that sustainability concern is why the council chose LPA. Inc. “We choose this architect because of their sustainability [reputation],” she said.
Seven of the candidates took part in a tour conducted by Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich last week (see page 13), which meant that they had an opportunity to go through the complex and look at plan specifics.
Scheinkman also raised the issue of mildew—a whitish fungal coating, or mold—in parts of the city building. This was the first public reference to the presence of mildew in the new city hall.
Assistant City Manager and Administrative Services Director Reva Feldman said that city officials are aware of the mildew.
“There is mildew. But it is leaking from [interior] plants. The smell is there, but [the mildew] is not throughout the building,” she said.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner said he was prepared to support the report with a proviso. He said he wanted LEED silver certified (green building) interiors that would add $150,000 to the costs.
Other members agreed and the report was then approved by all five council members.
However, there was a dissenting voice when it came time to approve the issuance of the $7 million in certificates of participation to finance the improvements.
Conley Ulich, who had urged the council to wait until firmer numbers were in place, complained there are still only estimates for the city hall improvements and not a budget.
“We still don’t know [the actual costs],” she said as she cast a no vote.

School District Threatens to Cut 92 Staffers and All Elementary Music

• Parents Say Actions Are Pressure for Yes Vote on Tax

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District Board of Education was blasted by representatives of the teachers union and arts and music advocates at its Feb. 18 meeting for a layoff plan that would cut $7.3 million from the budget by letting go of 15 percent of the district’s certificated staff—92 employees, including teachers, counselors and nurses—and completely eliminating the elementary school music program.
The self-described financially strapped Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District says it is facing a $14 million deficit.
The resolution contained a depressing litany of certificated staff reductions: three nurses, seven counselors, eight math and science teachers, two physical education instructors, 10 music teachers—encompassing the entire grade school music program, and 42 elementary school instructors, among others.
Harry Keilly, the president of the Santa Monica Malibu Classroom Teachers Association, was quick to point out that there are no administrative positions on the list. “15 percent of the membership of teachers union has skin in the game. We don’t see the administrative side having any skin in the game,” Keilly said. ”The association opposes each and every one of the layoffs.”
Arts and music advocates also cried foul, criticizing the board’s decision to tie the fate of the elementary music program to the success or failure of the May 25 parcel tax initiative. One speaker questioned whether the program will be spared even if the measure passes. Others stressed the importance of music as a core subject.
“It’s not only important, it’s essential,” said one parent. “We will lose too much by cutting these programs.”
“It’s very important to our children, Not fluff. It’s part of core curriculum,” said another, stressing that the cuts to the music program will have the greatest impact on the district’s poorest students whose parents do not have the option of placing them in different schools or providing private music lessons.
“The secondary music program would suffer irreparable damage at the middle school level [if the program is eliminated] said a third.
The cuts may not end up being as dire as predicted, because under state law the district is required to issue pink slips no later than March 15 and long before the state budget is finalized. If the state, which provides 70 percent of school funding comes through with more money than anticipated, some positions will be reinstated, according to school district superintendent Tim Cuneo.
The district is also counting on it’s May 25 parcel tax initiative to raise additional funds, although the measure, if it receives the required two-thirds vote, will offset less than half of the district’s projected deficit.
However, additional layoffs could still be on the horizon, and Cuneo stated that the district will be looking at reductions to the administrative staff.
A special early retirement incentive could offer a less traumatic alternative for up to 28 district teachers, but would do little to improve conditions for students facing larger class sizes and cuts to programs.
The board agreed to postpone voting on the layoffs until March 4, after boardmember Oscar de la Torre raised concerns. “It would be more beneficial to postpone the vote,” de la Torre said. “We’re contemplating making some very serious reductions. We can make some irreparable harm if we send this message out. Some of our employees might start looking for other opportunities just by putting this out.”
Ironically, the school district just announced this week that Santa Monica High School music students Emily Wong and Matthew Van Pelt, concertmaster and principal violist of the Santa Monica High School Symphony Orchestra, respectively, have successfully auditioned for and have been accepted to the 2010 National High School Honor Orchestra.

TV Pilot’s Producer Tries to Allay Parent Concerns

• Says Program with MHS Students Will Be ‘Innocent’

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

A flurry of critical emails between Malibu High School parents who are concerned about a possible reality TV show that might present a slanted perspective on Malibu teens prompted the producer of a pilot program being made on spec to respond.
Lexi von der Leith told the Malibu Surfside News that parents who expressed those concerns last week “should not worry.”
“We haven’t even started shooting the show,” von der Leith told The News. “My partner and I both grew up in Malibu and want to make a great show about how wonderful going to high school was in Malibu.”
Von der Leith, a professional surfer who grew up in Malibu and attended MHS and Pepperdine University, says she envisions the show as a Malibu version of the popular 2004 MTV reality show “Laguna Beach,” which revolved around the lives of Orange County high school students.
However, that show came in for its share of criticism for explicit sexuality and profanity, as well as being embroiled in the debate surrounding nearly all so-called reality programming, that it actually was often scripted. The wealthy teens in the O.C. spent much of their time shopping and partying.
However, von der Leith said of her proposed series, “It’s a girl drama, but [it’s] innocent, no drinking or anything.” She said, “The production company, along with all the producers, want people to watch the show and remember how fun high school was.”
Von der Leith confirmed that auditions have taken place, and that there are 10 prospective student-actors, although she said that the final number is expected to be reduced to seven—four girls and three boys.
“We’ve been in contact with the parents,” von der Leith said. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt these kids. We aren’t exploiting them. We have a great group of kids together, and I don’t want people getting scared that we’re taking advantage of them. These kids are like brothers and sisters to me, and I’m protective of them.”
Von der Leith explained that she plans to pitch the program to MTV once all of the pieces are in place, but that nothing has been signed yet.
“I hope that we can do a project that warms people’s hearts,” she said.

Publisher’s Notebook

• Impasse Between Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Is Not a Solution •

ANNE SOBLE

Each and every Malibuite understands the fears of the local residents who packed Monday night’s meeting of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy on its Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan. Many of us have personally experienced what they have gone through. I have endured multiple evacuations of not only family members, but also horses, burros and llamas from corrals ringed with flames, in addition to the usual menageries of dogs, cats, geese, ducks and other critters during the last two decades. Every wildfire is a frightening and humbling experience. We all want to do everything we can to try to prevent having to go through it again, even though we know that likelihood is high.
No one should deride or wag fingers at residents concerned about wildfire, especially those who have lost their homes and cannot bear to think of that happening again. But neither can anyone expect to unreasonably obstruct public agencies from making lands paid for by the public available to that public. None of us want to be told we are trying to keep those whose taxes paid for the open spaces that make our own lives so special from opportunities to enjoy outdoor recreation, especially in a faltering economy when these lands may be among the few joys still to be had. But it is also not unreasonable to insist that public holdings that are open to the public be adequately monitored, not just for the safety of those who live here, but for the safety of the visitors who venture out into these holdings.
Recently we saw how easy it is for lost hikers to remain lost, if they do not take the precaution of alerting others to their outdoor plans in advance. Tho
se hikers were in precarious circumstances until they were stumbled upon by accident. That is why the best locations for public facilities are those that are readily accessible in emergencies. It is not by chance that Leo Carrillo is one of the state’s most popular and safest campgrounds. It is located on the coast, close to a county fire station, patrolled by law enforcement and well staffed by rangers. Leo Carrillo draws families, boy and girl scout troops, and visitors from around the world. The camp registry is a living example of “we are the world.”
Instead of speaking past each other, as is too often the case, a committee of residents and city representatives might be formed that could meet with SMMC officials and explore options that address not only the very real fear of wildfire, but also the benefits to the public and to Malibu’s international image that could follow an agreement that results in more public campsites. If positive thinking doesn’t occur, the loggerheads will continue in meeting rooms, then progress to the courtroom, where the needs of the public will likely prevail unfettered.

Judge Denies Nearly a Million Dollars in Penalties to California Coastal Commission over Malibu Stairways

• Controversial Case Involves an Enforcement Action on Property in the Encinal Bluffs Area

BY BILL KOENEKER

The California Coastal Commission missed out on a million dollars in civil fines and penalties that a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge refused to award the state agency over a highly controversial decision requiring a Malibu homeowner to build two stairways over a sea stack-like promontory below their bluff top home.
The property owners, the court ruled, should not be penalized for unpermitted development that was already present on their property when they purchased it. They were required to remove a gate, a stairway on a coastal bluff going down to the beach and a lawn that was growing on top of the promontory.
The commission had ordered Graeme and Brenda Revell to build the million dollar staircases that were part of a condition of approval in 1980 for a previous owner to build the house that the Revells purchased years later in 2004. The house was built, but the staircases were never constructed.
The matter was taken to court by the Revells after the commission insisted they pay the current costs of the staircases, but the Revells would only agree to pay what it would have cost the developer had he done the same work in the 1980s.
The coastal panel then slapped the homeowners with notices of violations of the Coastal Act, cease and desist orders, and non-compliance of CCC conditions.
In 2007, Judge David Yaffee issued what could be called a split decision, with the judge ruling that the Revells were obligated to furnish the stairways, but in lieu of that could meet their obligations with a monetary assessment. The CCC had earlier rejected that offer.
The Coastal Commission was told that it could neither order, nor require geological reports for the stairways that could turn out to be more expensive than the stairway themselves.
Finally, Yaffe ordered that nothing in the writ could prohibit the CCC from changing the design of the stairways to meet current ground conditions
Meanwhile, the Coastal Commission, through the state Attorney General’s office, filed a cross complaint seeking over a million dollars in civil penalties.
The Revells’ attorney, Alan Robert Block, a former commission attorney, said, “The Coastal Commission’s decision to take this case to trial reflects how poorly the commission has been managed for the past several years.”
A decision was rendered on the cross complaint this month by Judge Mark Mooney.
“Thus, Judge Yaffe’s order contemplated that the monetary contribution required of the Revells to build the accessway would be based upon the plans as approved by the commission in Aug. 1986. The costs attributable to any reasonable changes to those plans were not to increase the cost of or burden to the Revells. The plan submitted by the commission represents a substantial increase in cost from the plan originally approved. The court therefore finds that the Revells may discharge their obligation under special condition two by tendering to the commission the sum of $50,000,” Mooney wrote in his ruling.
Block revealed that the Revells had previously offered $500,000 to settle with the commission. Block said the deputy attorney-general assigned to the case recommended the settlement. However, the Coastal Commission rejected that offer, according to Block, and that legal counsel was subsequently removed from the case.
“At a time when the state is in dire financial straits, the commission has squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funds, on a worthless bridge from nowhere to nowhere,” said Block. “This was bureaucratic waste and mismanagement in the extreme.”
When considering the civil penalties sought by the Coastal Commission, Mooney wrote in his 13-page opinion, “When the court considers the nature, circumstance, extent and gravity of the violation, the Revells’ conduct warrants the imposition of only minimal civil liability. The Revells did nothing more than purchase property upon which an unpermitted development was already present. They did not put in the landscaping, irrigation system, metal fence, locked gate or wooden stairs. Indeed, this unpermitted development may well have been present for more than 20 years before the Revells purchased that property. The fact that the commission did absolutely nothing regarding these unpermitted improvements, despite receiving complaints as far back as 1983, speaks volumes as to the low level the commission placed on the gravity of the violation.” Mooney concluded.
The judge then ruled that the court found the Revells to be the prevailing party and awarded court costs against the commission.

Mitrice Richardson’s Family Members Hope to Get Some High-Tech Assistance in Search Effort

• There’s No Letup in Their Effort to Keep the Missing Woman in the Public Eye

BY ANNE SOBLE

Family members of 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton honors graduate, Mitrice Richardson, who now has been missing for almost six months, are excited that new search efforts may be undertaken, but express frustration on other fronts related to the case of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station’s release of the woman who has not been seen since last Sept. 17.
The unusual specifics of Mitrice Richardson’s booking on two field-citable counts, the issue of her mental state, the impounding of her car with her purse and cell phone inside, her pre-dawn release and subsequent disappearance, and her family’s allegations that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department personnel have evidence—including videotapes—that they are not releasing, are the subject of a series of weekly articles that have appeared in the Malibu Surfside News (www.malibusurfsidenews.com).
The missing woman’s mother, Latice Sutton, and other family members and friends are hopeful that approval soon will be granted for the next LASD—and City of Los Angeles Police Department, the lead agency in what is still a missing person case—search to be assisted by a drone from San Diego State University’s Immersive Visualization Center, the Viz Center. The drone is a small unmanned aircraft that takes high resolution video and photos.
According to Charles Croft, a videographer who has been working with the mother’s family, “the [Viz Center] drone has the capability of going down into canyons and can search better than any helicopter. It is not affected by winds as much and can fly extremely low to obtain very high resolution, close-up images and video.”
Croft said the drone, also known as a “bird.” has already been used in a number of missing person searches, and law enforcement “and the drone people are set to use the aircraft soon.” He added, “The drone has discovered people and [skeletal] remains in about seven different instances when large searches failed.”
FRUSTRATION
Sutton expresses frustration that there has been no effort yet to get a petition with over 5000 signatures to Washington, D.C, to try to involve the FBI and possibly the U.S. Department of Justice.
The missing woman’s mother said she is unable to get any information from Change.org, the Web group that hosted the petition drive. Sutton said, “A lot of people worked really hard to get the signatures, and they are asking why there has been no action in getting the petition to the FBI.”
PROGRAM
The Friends Group of Pasadena (The Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women) plans a public conference on March 17 at the Pasadena Public Library from 6 to 8 p.m. to discuss nighttime custody release policies.
Among the panelists are Ronda Hampton, the psychologist who was Richardson’s college mentor and a family friend; LASD’s chief of field operations for the region that includes Malibu, Neal Tyler; and Deputy Chief Attorney Benjamin Jones of the Office of Independent Review, which has yet to announce the results of its investigation of Lost Hills procedures in the Richardson case that Sheriff Lee Baca has publicly stated was handled “by the book.” For conference specifics, see www.thefriendsgroup.org
INFORMATION
For general information about Richardson and public search updates, see Latice Sutton’s website at www. findmitrice.info; the father Michael Richardson’s website at www.bring mitricehome.org; contact Dr. Ronda Hampton at 951-660-8031; or LAPD Homicide Lt. Charles Knolls and LAPD Detective Steven Eguchi at 213-486-6900.

Little League Season Opens Feb. 27

Malibu Little League is celebrating the opening day of the 2010 season on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Bluffs Park, and the community is invited to attend.
A Malibu tradition for 55 years, the free event offers a wide range of activities for children of all ages, including a climbing wall, inflatable jumpers, and baseball and softball games.
Organizers have invited Webster Elementary School principal Phil Cott to throw out the first ball.
Food, including kettle corn and ice cream, will be available. A free shuttle will be running throughout the day from the parking lot at Webster school to Bluffs Park.
Games begin at 8 a.m. The opening ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. www.malibulittleleague.org

Malibu Voters Get Their First Opportunity to See All City Council Candidates at One Time

• Panelists from Chamber and Realty Board Lead Q and A

BY ANNE SOBLE

Dueling Web sites are up and running, lists of supporters are being touted, the mailings have started to arrive, and signs are cropping up on front lawns throughout the community—all are clear indications that the race for the two open city council seats on the April 13 ballot has begun in earnest.
City of Malibu registered voters will have their first chance to see and hear all 10 council candidates in the same venue, answering questions at a forum jointly sponsored by the Malibu Chamber of Commerce and the Malibu Association of Realtors that is scheduled for Thursday, March 4, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Hughes Research Labs Auditorium.
In their announcement of the forum, the two groups noted that the field of 10 candidates seeking one of the two council seats “is very important for the future of Malibu, and the leadership decisions are critical to the future of the city and business community.”
The free event is open to the public. All 10 candidates are currently expected to take part.
A panel composed of members of both organizations will ask questions that are viewed as “important” to business and real estate interests, “whose common goal is to serve the community we all share.”
The forum will be recorded for future airing on the municipal cable television channel. Both the chamber and the realty board are also considering the endorsement of candidates “based on the results of the forum.”
The 2010 city council campaign was off and running as soon as the 10 individuals were certified as candidates. Some city government watchers, however, are saying, not entirely tongue-in- cheek, that the 2010 campaign began two years ago, if not earlier.
The more aggressive and well funded candidates have started major door-to-door campaigning and are using social networking sites to send upbeat messages to supporters, fence-sitters and even some opponents.
Coffees are starting to jockey for position on local calendars, as campaign momentum shifts into high gear.
The 10 candidates met last week with Malibu officials, including the city manager, the city attorney and most department heads. They were given a cram course in Local Government 101: how city government works in general and the role of each agency and its staff in detail.

Council Takes on New City Hall Design

• More Money Has to Be Borrowed to Pay for the Changes

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council is expected to take another stab at how to finance the improvements required to turn the new city hall complex into a functional office building for staff, while at the same time offering money-making public amenities, such as a theater and recording studio.
The council will be told that the preliminary construction estimate will remain the same at $3,755,000. That is the same estimate that was used by the staff at the previous meeting when the council discussed the matter. At that time, the council directed the staff to see if they could trim that estimate to lower the costs. The staff was also directed to return to the council with further details on those preliminary costs.
LPA Inc., the city’s architect, will present the design and estimate costs to the council.
At the same time, the city council is expected to make the final decision on incurring another $7 million of indebtedness to finance the makeover of the new city hall in the form of certificates of deposit.
“Pursuant to the lease/purchase agreement, the city will covenant with the owners of the certificates to annually budget and appropriate from the city’s general fund sufficient funds to make all lease payments pursuant to the lease purchase agreement. The city will issue an amount not to exceed $7 million of certificates, which will generate up to $5 million in proceeds for the City hall improvements. Certificates proceeds will also fund a debt service reserve fund, capitalized interest with respect to the certificates for three years and pay costs of issuing the certificates,” wrote Assistant City Manager and Administrative Services Director Riva Feldman, in a staff report.
Feldman will tell the council the annual lease payment associated with the certificates will be about $480,000.
The council and the architect agreed that in constructing the building there should be space for a senior center, emergency operations center and community theater.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, who has been the lone outspoken critic of using COPs to finance the improvements, wants the council to explore the feasibility of forming an Ad Hoc Committee for New City Hall Cost-Saving Options.
Conley Ulich has repeatedly expressed concern that the city council is not being given time for sound decision making.

Crummer Field Project Is Ok’d by Members of the California Coastal Commission

• Deal Has $2 Million ‘Price Tag’

BY BILL KOENEKER

The California Coastal Commission approved a five-home subdivision and two acres of open space proposed for a 24-acre blufftop parcel, historically known as Crummer Field, but only when the developer agreed to kick in $2 million as a “mitigation fee.”
The coastal panel made its decision last week, when it met in Oceanside to consider the application on the mid-Malibu land that is currently zoned commercial visitor- serving.
The City of Malibu had requested that a proposed development agreement that included a public ball field in exchange for the five-home subdivision be included in its Local Costal Program Amendment, which sought to modify the requirements of the planned development land use designation of the LCP to allow for a mix of residential and recreational use, instead of commercial visitor-serving uses on the vacant parcel adjacent to Bluffs Park.
However, the commission agreed with its staff and denied the city’s LCPA request and approved the proposal with a number of modifications, including the mitigation fee for changing the zoning from the commercial visitor-serving, which coastal planners successfully argued is so valuable that if it is retired, there should be offsets to compensate for the change. The coastal staff had sought a $750,000 mitigation fee, but a majority of the commissioners said they considered that amount “ludicrous.”
The owner of the site, Richard Ackerman, who agreed to the $2 million fee, had approached the city several years ago about subdividing the parcel into eight new lots and developing the site with five new single-family homes with a private road in the eastern portion of the property and dedicating the westernmost two acres of the site to the city to expand the adjacent city-owned park with an additional baseball field and 35 parking spaces.
An Environmental Impact Report was then completed and the city and developer unsuccessfully approached the commission with the LCPA.
However, the commission staff, after identifying what they called potential public projects in the area that are in need of funding to implement affordable visitor-serving accommodations, such as the former Topanga Ranch Motel that is owned by the state, which is considering rehabilitation, decided the loss of the commercial visitor-serving zoning should then require compensation by having the developer pay an in-lieu fee for the motel makeover.
However, at the meeting, CCC staff modified the condition and indicated that it wanted more flexibility, saying the money could go to a non-profit or private agency, which has a “shovel-ready” project for affordable overnight accommodations available.
The decision is not unlike another approval that the Coastal Commission granted a developer near the County Line where a small residential subdivision was planned and asked to meet similar conditions.
The commission required the developer to donate an in-lieu fee for possible upgrades, such as cabins for popular Leo Carrillo State Park to allow for additional overnight visitor-serving accommodations.
Some commissioners used that as an example of why Ackerman should pay more because of the amount the developer had to pay for the County Line project.
Meanwhile, city officials say it is not clear if the commission approved the ball field or an open space with a passive activity restriction.

Open Planning Panel Seat Set to Be Filled at Next Council Meeting

• Election Could Result in New Faces

BY BILL KOENEKER

A new planning commissioner is expected to be appointed next week at the regular Malibu City Council meeting to fill the vacancy that resulted when Commissioner Regan Schaar announced her resignation on Feb. 2
A notice of the unexpected vacancy for the planning commission appointment was posted on Feb 3, and the appointment is earmarked to go to another Point Dume resident Roohl Stack.
“She is a longtime activist in the community,” said Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, who confirmed that Stack will be her appointee. “She has great business acumen and education.”
Schaar had toyed with the idea of running for one of the two vacant city council seats in the April election. She had pulled nominating papers, but decided not to return them.
Persistent rumors about a run-in with another council member prompted Conley Ulich to publicly state that Schaar’s decision was not caused “by another council member,” but the result of personal reasons.
In a letter to the editor a week before her resignation, Schaar wrote that her interest in possibly running for a council seat was “focused on bringing back civility and professionalism to the Malibu City Council. Increasingly, it became more embarrassing to watch the mean-spirited behavior at the city council meeting.”
Conley Ulich praised Schaar’s work on the planning commission. “I am very grateful for Regan. She has given her blood, sweat and tears. She did a great job. She understood the need for a specific plan for the Civic Center,” the council member said, adding that she expected to see Schaar return to civic duty.
Stack was the treasurer for Conley Ulich’s successful run for a council seat in 2008 and has professional experience with various financial institutions and software companies.
“While working at Oracle and Treasury Services. Inc. I worked with implementation teams where group discussion and consensus were important to finishing any project. Additionally, I believe that clear communication is important to achieving success in any endeavor,” the panel applicant wrote.
“Beside making informed decisions on residential and commercial building projects that are good for Malibu environmentally, socially and economically…the changing demographic of our community also requires the planning commission to ensure that all of the residents needs are met,” Stack said.
The face of the planning commission may change much more after April when two of the termed-out council members’ appointments will probably be replaced.
Planning Chair Ed Gillespie, who was appointed by Mayor Sharon Barovsky, will leave if he is successful in his bid for a city council seat. Councilmember Andy Stern’s appointment, former Councilmember Joan House, may also be replaced upon Stern’s departure.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner’s appointment, city council candidate John Mazza, will go if he is elected to the council.
That might lead to a majority or more of new panelists in the weeks after April 13.

School Board to Disclose Latest Collective Bargaining Agreement and Its Impact on Budget Issues

• District Cannot Call May Tax Vote an ‘Emergency’ Measure But Gives No Explanation of Why Not

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

At its Feb. 18 meeting in Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District board of education, struggling to cope with a $14 million deficit, will discuss the terms of a collective bargaining agreement contract tentatively reached with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 99 and the district covering the period beginning July 1, 2008, and ending June 30, 2010, according to the meeting agenda.
The agreement includes a complex array of what are represented as cost-saving measures, ranging from a five-day reduction in the school year for the next two years—anticipated to save the district $2 million per year, to early retirement incentives for district employees.
The proposed agreement still needs to be ratified by the unions that represent district teachers and employees. SEIU’s membership vote is expected to be completed before March 4, 2010.
Salaries would be frozen as part of the agreement, but health and welfare benefits would not be touched, according to a staff report.
The plan counts on passage of a $198 per property parcel tax in May. If the tax fails to pass, negotiations would have to be reopened, and additional layoffs are predicted.
Administrators are also reportedly taking cuts. Superintendent Tim Cuneo, who has been under fire recently for receiving one of the highest salaries in the area for his past, has stated that he will be affected by the proposed furlough days, which will result in cutting approximately six days of pay and approximately $5000 in benefits from his $220,000 salary.
At the same meeting, the board of education is scheduled to discuss removing the word “emergency” from the language of the proposed parcel tax measure. Instead, the measure will be called “a special temporary tax,” rather than an emergency tax.

Preliminary Hearing Date for City Staffer Charged in Fatal Hit-and-Run Is Continued

BY BILL KOENEKER

City of Malibu employee Robert S. Sanchez, the man accused in a fatal hit-and- run on Pacific Coast Highway, was in court last week when the hearing date to set a preliminary hearing date was continued to March 11, according to the district attorney’s office.
Sanchez, who is out on $100,000 bail, is charged with hitting two bicyclists, who were participating in an organized ride on PCH last July, killing Rodrigo “Rod” Armas, 45, and injuring his son Christian, 14, while driving under the influence.
Sanchez has pled not guilty to three counts, which include gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence, and failure to stop after an accident involving an injury.
According to law enforcement reports, Sanchez allegedly fled the scene of the accident and was subsequently found hiding, at which point, he was picked up and taken into custody.
Sanchez is a records clerk in the planning department of the City of Malibu.

Publisher’s Notebook

• Mountains Mettle •

ANNE SOBLE

Tuesday’s news about the rescue of six hikers and a dog in the Zuma Trail area provided an example of local search and rescue work at its best. When someone is known to be in a specific area in an established time frame, crews not only will nearly always find their subjects but can bring them out of the toughest circumstances swiftly and safely. That’s a far cry from needle-in-a-haystack searches where there are no specific clues as to location and time for a missing subject. The Santa Monica Mountains are like an archipelago of volcano craters in that someone or something can disappear in an area of tall and thick chaparral and remain unseen until stumbled upon, most often by accident, when a hiker cuts through terrain that may have been untrod by humans for weeks, months, or even years.
This became evident when the Malibu Mountain Rescue Team, looking for two missing hikers and their dog, encountered four other hikers in distress that no one knew were out there. These four had built a campfire, an act of reckless disregard if there had not been sufficient rain recently, and no one knows how long they might have had to endure the elements until they were sighted. This is why immediate response is critical whenever someone is reported missing anywhere in the mountains. Waiting one day, two days, or a week, geometrically increases the odds of search failure. Someone who might have entered a hollow for protection, or fallen onto the canyon bottom, could be passed over repeatedly and not be found until the rescue effort becomes one of recovery, a distinction that portends the ominous.
All of the hikers in the Tuesday morning rescues had gone into areas where they had to be helicoptered out. The chopper crew of Air Rescue Five is awesome to watch as it maneuvers the craft in spaces that defy possibility and positions gurneys and lines in ways that make Cirque du Soleil routines look like backyard monkey bar climbing. At least the hikers had all adhered to the cardinal rule of not going into the backcountry alone. However much one might seek solitary communion with nature, the buddy system is imperative for those who plan to leave established trails and venture into the extraordinary wilderness of the Malibu hinterlands.
One can park at a trailhead and find a personal Pandora, but to do so without a companion and having left word as to general time and location of departure is to invite unnecessary danger that could even put canyon trekkers beyond the reach of rescue teams as adept as the local ones. But accidents can happen despite due caution and preparedness. When these mishaps occur, there is the assurance of knowing that there are trained personnel who have the ability to take on the Malibu mountains on their terms

Change of Command at Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station

• New Captain Has Diverse Professional Background and a Mean ‘Jump Shot’

BY ANNE SOBLE

A changing of the guard took place at Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station this month with the former station head, Captain Tom Martin, being promoted to the rank of commander and reassigned to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s downtown headquarters, and recently promoted Captain Joseph H. Stephen, a 25-year LASD veteran, taking over the local station’s helm.
The Lost Hills Station provides the City of Malibu with contract traffic and general law enforcement, covers unincorporated Malibu as part of its countywide law enforcement responsibilities, and provides contract enforcement services to Agoura Hills, Calabasas and other adjacent communities.
Commander Martin, who had held the top job at Lost Hills since 2003, is the new head of the LASD’s detective operations, including homicide and the major crimes unit.
Martin is going to be accorded the City of Malibu’s highest honor, a Malibu tile, at next Monday’s city council meeting.
Marking his return to Lost Hills, Captain Joseph Stephen began his career with the LASD in May 1984 as an “off-the-streeter” at the Hall of Justice Jail, at the same time that he became a member of Class 224 at the Sheriff’s Training Academy.
His first assignment after graduation with the rank of sheriff’s deputy was the Biscaluz Center Jail. Other assignments as a deputy included the Marina del Rey Station, where he was a field training officer, detective and watch deputy.
In 2000, Stephen was promoted to the rank of sergeant and assigned to the Century and Compton Stations.
Captain Stephen was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 2005. He then held assignments at Malibu/Lost Hills Station, Recruit Training Unit, Community College Bureau and was assigned to the office of Undersheriff Larry Waldie until he was promoted to captain this year and tapped for the top Lost Hills post.
Stephen attended Cerritos College from 1978 to 1980 and Texas Christian University from 1980 to 1983, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice.
The new Lost Hills captain received a full athletic scholarship in basketball to Texas Christian and participated in the 1982 National Invitational Tournament.
In 2004, Captain Stephen attended Long Beach State University and received a Master of Arts degree in Emergency Management. He graduated from the Sherman Block Supervisors Leadership Institute the same year.
Stephen resides in Northridge. In his free time, he says that he and his wife of 16 years, Sheila, enjoy family and friends. Stephen also enjoys basketball and football—college and professional, reading and physical fitness training.
LOST HILLS HELM—Captain Joseph H. Stephen assumed command of the sheriff’s station responsible for the greater Malibu area on Feb. 1. He has busy during his first first weeks on the job meeting with local officials and other community representatives.

Public Input Sought on SMMC Plan with Overnight Camping

• Joint Meeting Set for Malibu

BY BILL KOENEKER

A joint meeting of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, its advisory committee and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority is scheduled for next Monday night at the same time as the Malibu City Council meeting.
The public meeting starts at 7:30 p,m., at Webster Elementary School, where the public is invited to speak on the draft Environmental Impact Report for what is called the Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan Public Works Plan.
The proposal ignited controversy when residents learned the plan includes overnight camping.
The period between 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. has been set aside for public testimony. No public testimony will be taken after 9:45 p.m., according to a SMMC public notice.
Speaker times will be adjusted to accommodate everyone wishing to speak.
The EIR’s introduction describes the Malibu coastal zone as some of the most scenic shoreline and desirable beach areas in Southern California
“Views to varying and extraordinary coastline features and to open mountain lands that abruptly ascend from the coastline exhibit a striking visual and natural quality unique to the Malibu coastal areas. In addition to picturesque beach area and scenic vistas, the Santa Monica Mountains area…contain an extensive network of trails connecting thousands of acres of coastal and inland parklands traversing federal, state, county and city parklands.”
The area of public resources consequently offer millions of people, who live next door in the megapolis, a range of recreational opportunities, resulting in a “renowned destination area for millions of visitors annually.”
Incremental development over the past 25 years has created a loss of coastal recreation opportunities and represents a “significant adverse impact to the availability of public access and recreation in Malibu.”
The SMMC and MRCA states its role is to preserve, acquire and enhance lands and natural resources for the benefit of the environment, public enjoyment and education.
The proposed plan focuses on both upland and shoreline recreation and parks areas, according to the EIR’s introduction.
“The plan includes recreational land (parkland and trail corridors) located between Zuma/Trancas Canyon, a unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, to the Malibu Bluffs Open Space (one of the alternative sites where overnight camping is planned).
“The proposed plan is intended to provide policies and implementation actions to complete trail connections for the Coastal Slope Trail and other connector trails through the plan area, which includes trail connections from Zuma/ Trancas canyons to Ramirez Canyon and Escondido Canyon Park, through Solstice Canyon Park, and finally Corral Canyon Park. The plan further provides for completing the Beach to Backbone Trail, which includes a continuous trail corridor through Corral Canyon from Dan Blocker County Beach to the Santa Monica Mountains ridgeline in Malibu Creek State Park, and improving additional Beach to Bluffs trails at the Malibu Bluffs Open Space area.
“The plan identifies specific public access, recreational facility and program improvements for the five park properties in the plan area owned by the SMMC and the MRCA. The proposed improvements generally include parking, camp areas and associated support facilities within existing park boundaries and trail improvements to support existing recreational demand and to facilitate an increased level of accessibility for visitors,” the EIR states.
The plan is available on the SMMC website at www.smmc.ca.gov as well as the MRCA website at www.mrca.ca.gov.
Written comments will be accepted through March 22 at 5 p.m. Comments can be submitted via e-mail to EIRcomments@smmc.ca.gov
The final EIR will include all comments received, as well as the SMMC/MRCA responses to those comments.

Living in Nature’s Backyard Requires Coexisting with Coyotes

• Big Rock Residents Learn How to Deal with Four-Footed Neighbors

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

A coyote encounter that recently resulted in the death of a small dog was the catalyst for a presentation on coexisting with coyotes sponsored by the Big Rock Homeowners Association and hosted by Big Rock residents Jewelene Simpson and her daughter Koral.
“It’s depressing and horrible,” said the owner of the miniature dog that was reportedly killed in a daylight attack. “I love all animals but this is not necessarily the coyote’s territory. We were here a lot longer,” she said. “We’re trapped in our own house because these animals have rein.”
Valley Wildlife Center director Brenda Varvarigos was invited to address area residents on finding ways for the community to improve coyote-human relations in the canyon community. Varvarigos’s organization rescues and rehabilitates approximately 2000 wild animals a year, ranging from songbirds to coyotes and bobcats.
“Everything deserves a second chance, I am hoping to help all of you coexist,” she told the packed room, raising her voice to speak over a few people in the back calling for coyote extermination.
Varvarigos began her presentation with some coyote facts, stating for starters that the wild canines are not as large as many people think, averaging just 20-45 pounds. “Their fur makes them look bigger than they are,’ she said.
They may not be big, but they are extremely fast. According to Varvarigos, coyotes can run an amazing 40 mph. A healthy coyote can clear a six-foot fence.
“Coyotes have strong family bonds,” Vavarigos told the audience. “They mate for life and are monogamous. They mate in February and March—that’s why they’ve been so active lately. They don’t howl when they are making a kill, they howl to communicate with each other.”
Vavarigos explained that females give birth in April and May. “They look for pre-made structures to den, they’ll use crawl-spaces under outbuildings and even houses. They are most active at dawn and dusk but can be active at any time of the day,” she said
Coyotes, intelligent and omnivorous, have adapted well to loss of habitat and human activities, taking advantage of man-made shelter and foraging opportunities, including garbage cans, backyard orchards, compost piles, pet food and, unfortunately on occasion, pets and livestock.
“Coyotes are not going away,” Varvarigos stated. “They have an important job to do. They keep the rodent population under control. They provide an important buffer between humans and vermin-born diseases like the plague.
“We’ve encroached on their habitat but we’ve also created an ideal environment, adding garbage, compost and small pets to the menu. They are opportunistic hunters and can’t differentiate between pet and prey, your pet is exactly the same to them as a rabbit or a rodent. They don’t know the difference.”
Asked by a member of the audience why “nuisance coyotes” can’t be shot, Varvarigos explained that the wild canines are protected by state law, and that there is a $7000 fine for harming an animal.
“Even if you were to shoot a coyote, another will fill its place,” she elaborated. “Coyotes regulate their own populations based on food supply. They live here. They are here to stay. There are no longer any wild areas left for them.”
“If you move to, or live in an area frequented by coyotes, it is your responsibility to afford protection for all of your domestic and companion animals,” Varvarigos said. “Dogs have owners who are responsible for them. Coyotes don’t, but they do have a job, and that’s controlling rodents.”
According to Varvarigos, coyotes are shy by nature. Most problems occur when humans feed coyotes, causing them to lose their fear of people. Several audience members concurred that some area residents have been feeding coyotes.
“There have been less than 300 coyotes attacks in the known history of California,” Varvarigos told the audience. “There are more than 300 lethal domestic dog attacks [here] a year. What is happening here is not a coyote problem, it’s a people problem. You need to talk to the neighbors who are providing food.”
“It’s illegal to feed coyotes, or any wildlife, except for birds,” Varvarigos explained. “Coyotes prey on deer. If you attract the deer you will attract coyotes and possibly even mountain lions.”
Varvarigos recommends that pets be fed inside if possible. If pets must be fed outside, she suggests removing all uneaten pet food promptly and keeping feeding areas clean—something that will also help eliminate visits from skunks and raccoons.
Omnivorous coyotes are also attracted to human food, trash and fruit trees. Varvarigos suggests picking up fallen fruit, cleaning BBQ grills and securing trash containers. “People often report seeing raccoons licking the BBQ grill, but coyotes will do it, too, and coyotes learn which night is trash night.”
According to Varvarigos, good fences really do make good neighbors. A six-foot fence with an inexpensive roller bar, or roll guard, at the top can keep out not only coyotes but also raccoons and can help keep cats in. Motion sensing lights and sprinklers can also help deter coyotes.
Varvarigos strongly recommends keeping cats and small dogs indoors, allowing them outside only under strict supervision. She cautioned that, in addition to coyotes, small pets can fall prey to other predators like free-roaming dogs and great-horned owls. “Never leave small pets unattended. This means at all hours. They are not safe in your backyard.”
She also encourages dog owners to make sure female dogs are spayed. “Coyotes are attracted to all other canines in heat. They have an amazing sense of smell—40 times more sensitive than a bloodhound.”
Dogs should always be walked on a leash. Their humans should carry noisemakers like a whistle, an air horn, or a can with pennies or rocks in it, and walk with a stick, or an umbrella.
“If you do encounter a coyote, scare it,” Varvarigos said. “Jump up and down, scream at it, wave your jacket, stick, umbrella. Let it know you’re scary. They need to be afraid of humans. Problems only happen when coyotes lose their instinctive fear of us.”
Laurel Canyon resident Skip Haynes also attended the meeting, to tell the neighborhood about his own coyote experience,
Haynes recently worked with Valley Wildlife Care to track down and rescue a coyote that was suffering from severe sarcoptic mange, a skin condition thought to be aggravated by rodenticides that compromise the coyote’s immune system. Haynes’s coyote was lucky. She is being treated and has a good prognosis.
“Educating the neighborhood brought the community together,” Haynes said. “The most effective thing is to learn about the animal. Everybody in my neighborhood knows how to deal with coyotes now. We’ve learned to live with them.”
More information on coexisting with coyotes, including a link to the manufacturer of humane coyote-proof fence rollers and advice on a wide range of wildlife issues is available online at www.valleywildlifecare.com

Mitrice Richardson Disappearance Prompts Public Policy Forum

• Police Nighttime Custody Release Policies to Be Explored

BY ANNE SOBLE

Family members of the 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton honor graduate, Mitrice Richardson, who now has been missing for over five months, continue wrangling with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department over information related to the Lost Hills Station’s release of the woman who has not been seen since the morning of Sept. 17.
The unusual specifics of Mitrice Richardson’s booking on two field-citable counts, the issue of her mental stability, her subsequent disappearance, and family allegations that LASD personnel know more than they are divulging, are the subject of over a dozen articles in the Malibu Surfside News (www. malibusurfsidenews.com).
Concern that a woman exhibiting signs of mental illness would be released at 12:35 a.m., alone and on foot from Lost Hills, with her purse and cell phone left in her impounded vehicle in Malibu, has begun generating public interest in whether there is a need to reassess current police guidelines for nighttime custodial releases.
A forum on this topic is being hosted by the Friends Group/Friends of the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women on March 17. See the public notice on page 5 of this week’s issue for time, place and other specifics.
Among the panelists are Ronda Hampton, the psychologist who was Richardson’s college mentor and a family friend; LASD’s chief of field operations for the region that includes Malibu, Neal Tyler (Tyler was present when family members met with Sheriff Lee Baca); and Deputy Chief Attorney Benjamin Jones of the Office of Independent Review (the body with oversight on LASD practices], which has yet to rule on Lost Hills and the Richardson case that Sheriff Baca has publicly stated was handled “by the book.”

Reality TV Rumor Stirs Up Hornet’s Nest at MHS

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

An unsubstantiated rumor that MTV is planning a new “reality” TV show about Malibu High School has spread like wildfire, stirring up controversy in the MHS community.
The Current, MHS’s student newspaper, touched off the firestorm with a report that approximately 40 MHS students auditioned for the alleged show in December, and that callbacks and the start of filming would be imminent.
Parents immediately began raising concerns over privacy for their children and the issue of whether the cash-strapped school district, which is currently facing layoffs and furloughs due to a state financial crisis that has generated a $12 million deficit, would receive money for the project. Others expressed fears that the purported show could damage the school’s academic standing and image
Parent fears may have been premature. The article extensively quotes a freshman student purported to have auditioned for the hypothetical show, but does not cite an official source for the story. MHS Principal Mark Kelly stated in a phone interview with the Malibu Surfside News that neither the school nor the district has been contact by MTV for permission to film.
“You know as much as I do,” Kelly said. “They can’t film without permission, and I know that the district office has not received a filming request from any network.
MTV publicist AJ Sarcione also told The News that he was unfamiliar with the alleged series. “It’s not us,” he said, after checking with MTV development. “It could be any one of various independent video productions, but it isn’t MTV.”
MHS has already been featured in a six-part MTV series called “School of Surf,” which aired in December and January and is currently available on the Internet. Kelly confirmed that MTV received official permission from the district to film the series that focused on members of the MHS surf team competing with a rival team from the East Coast.
Exterior shots of the MHS campus were used in the show, together with the school’s name, but filming took place at external sites.
High school-themed series have proved to be a highly successful formula for MTV, which currently produces “The Jersey Shore,” “16 and Pregnant,” “My Life as Liz,”
The MHS series rumor may prove to be a teapot-sized tempest, but prospective participants in any reality show are warned to carefully examine contracts and liability issues before signing away their rights.

‘No-Discharge’ Permit Issued by RWQCB to Impact La Paz Project

• Action Is the First Taken by the Regional Board

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board last week approved a staff recommendation to issue a no-discharge permit for the proposed La Paz office and retail complex approved by the City of Malibu.
RWQCB staff member Elizabeth Erickson acknowledged it is the first time the board has issued a no discharge order.
Erickson explained that the action is in anticipation of another hearing successfully sought before the state board by La Paz representatives who maintain that their application for a zero discharge permit was automatically approved because of the permit streamlining act.
The State Water Resources Control Board is expected to hear the La Paz submittal on the streamline permit later. No date has been set.
The LARWQCB has placed the entire Civic Center area under a septic system prohibition on all new development and has decided that La Paz is no exception.
However, La Paz, the City of Malibu and others argue the prohibition is not in effect because it has to be approved by the state board, which has not yet acted on the matter. La Paz contends, therefore, that the regional board is acting prematurely.
Environmental groups also weighed in on last week’s decision, siding with the board and suggesting as did the RWQCB staff that La Paz cannot ensure that the treated wastewater would not result in violations of water quality standards.
“The La Paz project’s wastewater discharge will impact impaired water bodies with imposed TMDLs…the Regional Board must prohibit the wastewater discharge from La Paz,” wrote the Santa Monica Baykeeper. “The Regional Board was justified in demanding from La Paz specific technical information to demonstrate the proposed no-net discharge wastewater treatment system will in fact result in no impact on the Malibu Valley groundwater basin.”
La Paz has argued with the RWQCB staff and before the Regional Board last week that it had provided all of the technical information required by the staff.
The RWQCB staff successfully argued that La Paz never provided the additional evidence demonstrating the successful operation of landscape irrigation to confirm Las Paz’s evapotranspiration model and additional analysis of wastewater treatment systems and associated groundwater discharge.”
Heal the Bay was more direct about how the no-discharge order should apply to La Paz in relation to the Civic Center prohibition. “In general we are supportive of this order and believe it is necessary and consistent. However, the language of the order should not give the discharger the false impression that a new report of waste discharge might be acceptable and thereby allow a waiver from the prohibition requirements,” wrote Mark Gold, the president of Heal the Bay.
The Heal the Bay letter talks about how the exceptions to the prohibition are “narrow and do not apply to the applicant.”
However, the tentative order of the prohibition included an exemption for zero discharge wastewater systems, but was taken out of the final order at the last minute with the explanation to the board that neither the RWQCB nor the city could adequately monitor such a complicated system.
Heal the Bay suggested the board’s order left a door open for La Paz to file another report giving the RWQCB the info it needed in the form of engineering reports for its originally sought permit.
“Regional Board should go further and not even consider future applications submitted for this project until the Civic Center has a centralized water recycling facility in place,” the Heal the Bay letter concluded.

Relay Race through All of Malibu Is Vetoed by City

• Concerns for East End Prevail

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council finally met a running race it did not like and unanimously refused to approve a relay race that would have had runners racing on the inland side of the eastern section of Pacific Coast Highway at night.
Called the 2010 Southern California Ragnar Relay Race, the competition scheduled for April 23 and 24 would start in Santa Barbara on Friday and end on Saturday in Dana Point. The race was to have spanned 180 miles through four counties and numerous cities. It hit a roadblock in Malibu when council members said they cringed at the planned route through eastern Malibu.
Members were joined by council candidate Steve Scheinkman, who also criticized the race, and urged the council to not approve it.
“I am a runner on the streets in Malibu. I probably run 2000 miles per year. I would not run this race. There are not wide enough paths on the shoulders. It is too dark. There are cars parked. It is not a safe race. I ask you to turn this down,” Scheinkman said.
Race officials were on hand to assure the council they could make the race safe. They said all runners would have headlamps while running against traffic. They vowed that cars parked in their no-parking zones would be towed. Race organizers said they conduct at least a dozen races across the country each year. They expected 200 runners for this race.
“This is an attractive nuisance,” said resident Ryan Embre, who said Friday night was out of the question on PCH among other criticisms he aimed at the race.
Then it was the council’s turn to comment.
“Councilmember Andy Stern asked one of the organizers. “Do you honestly believe that running against traffic with cars just inches away going 50 to 60 miles per hour is safe?” The answer was yes if the race organizers could employ their version of traffic control.
Stern said he could not believe what he was looking at. “It is so incredibly unsafe. I voted for [races at] the north end that ended at Zuma. If someone tried to design an unsafe race this is it,” he said.
Councilmember John Sibert wondered about the liability and the litigation that might follow if some mishap occurred.
City Attorney Christi Hogin said the city would not be liable, but would get sued.
Sibert said the traffic during early Friday night is bumper to bumper so that it would be moving slowly. “It is a great program I just can’t see it going through eastern Malibu. The residents are the ones who park their cars on PCH,” he added.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, who said it took the organizers a “lot of courage to come here,” suggested the race officials think of an alternative such as moving the race along Mulholland Highway. She also suggested the racers could proceed to Bluffs Park, where they either could be dispatched by shuttle out of town to Santa Monica or they could pick up paddleboards and race on the water skirting the problems on the east end of Malibu. “I doesn’t look like you are going to get any support,” she said.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner said he endorsed the shuttle from the Bluffs Park to the outskirts of Malibu. He said since he lives in that area of eastern Malibu he knows how scary the roadway is at night, even in an automobile. “Just using that part of the highway at night is scary. I can’t see supporting this,” he said.
Mayor Sharon Barovsky talked about how the area in eastern Malibu has had many traffic collisions and at least two deaths recently. “I don’t even want to drive through that part of town. I can’t support this. I support races on the west end of town. This ‘town’ will be up in arms,” the mayor said, ignoring the contention that residents in western Malibu are no more appreciative of having their main roadway blocked on a Saturday than eastern Malibuites are.
Barovsky was also concerned about making no parking zones on PCH where residents park and then towing their vehicles during the race event, which also doesn’t deter the council from placing events on the west end.

Local Drug Store Will Be Primary Tenant in City-Owned Building on PCH

• Council Rejects Call for Lumberyard

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council, at its meeting this week, unanimously approved an agreement with Super Care Drugs, Inc. for a 10-year lease for a 3000-square-foot space in the city-owned building located at 23661 Pacific Coast Highway.
At the meeting, council candidate Mike Sidley asked council members to the strike the deal, saying the community needs a lumber and hardware store more than another drug store. Sidley suggested the need for a lumberyard is so great that he could endorse a rent subsidy for that kind of retail operation.
That gave council members a chance to explain why they had agreed upon Super Care.
Besides choosing a local business, they said the arrangement provides a rental income stream to the city, which members said is very important.
Mayor Sharon Barovksy explained that the local business’s lease was up and, if no new quarters were found, one of the oldest locally-owned operations would be leaving Malibu.
The mayor chastised Sidley for his criticism of the Malibu Lumber Yard deferred loan, while the candidate is now calling for a subsidy for a private business.
“That is a gift of public funds. We can’t do that,” she said, adding that there might be room for a lumberyard or hardware store in the proposed La Paz development.
Super Care is expected to open within six months or no later than Aug. 8, according to a staff report.
The fixed minimum lease will initially start at $144,000 per year and, by the tenth year, the rent will run at $182,416 per year.
The total square footage of the building is 4848 square feet.
Councilmember John Sibert said the city went out of its way to solicit an Anawalt store or a Do-It-Center. “We could not come up with the numbers. I would like to see one too,” he said.
Councilmember Andy Stern also took Sidley to task for suggesting a rent subsidy. “I know you were against the Lumber Yard deal, saying we were giving away money. Now you are asking us to give away money,” said Stern, adding that Super Care met the criteria of the city in terms of being a previously established business and being able to allow the city to take in enough revenue to meet the city’s needs. “A lumberyard doesn’t work,” he said.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner confirmed the municipality’s efforts to find a lumber/hardware business for the building. “We took a lot longer trying to get a lumberyard,” said Wagner, offering an explanation for why the building has been vacant for nearly one year. “We just could not make it happen,” Wagner added.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich addressed how a development agreement with the La Paz project might possibly help place a lumberyard. “It is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole,” she said.
The staff report indicates the city is continuing to seek a tenant for the remaining 1848 square feet in the PCH building, and the staff will bring another tenant back to the council for a final agreement.
The mayor acknowledged the council had met earlier in closed session to discuss another tenant. “Super Care is taking up about half the building. The other half will probably be with what used to be Mail Boxes, Etc. [and is now Malibu Business and Shipping Center], if we can offer them a place to stay.”
No reportable action was taken to finalize the deal, according to City Attorney Christi Hogin.
At one time, several hardware stores had offered bids on the building and the city was also considering renting it out to several other applicants, including the developers of the Malibu Lumber Yard as a mini-mall.
In other action, Sidley was better able to influence the council when he asked members to put on the agenda a resolution endorsing the vote for a $198 parcel tax sought by the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District.
“There are dire predictions if we do not pass the $198 tax. It is incumbent upon the city to show support,” he said.
The mayor spoke to the question. “I would like to address Mr. Sidley’s request to agendize it,” she said.
City Manager Jim Thorsen said the earliest available agenda would be for the first meeting in March. Everyone concurred.

School Board Approves a $198 ‘Emergency’ Parcel Tax that Will Be Only Item on May Ballot

• Costlier Special Mail-In Ballot Is Viewed as a Way to Greatly Improve the Measure’s Chance for Passage

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board of education has voted to approve a special mail-in election on May 25 for a new $198 per property “emergency” parcel tax to help offset the district’s rapidly growing deficit. The decision was made at a special meeting in Santa Monica on Feb. 1, which has not been made available on video or the Internet.
The board established an Emergency/Temporary Parcel Tax Renewal Feasibility Committee in August of 2009, to examine the plan to use a parcel tax to offset all or a portion of the district’s budget deficit, which is expected to exceed $14 million in 2010-11, due to the state’s projected $21 billion deficit. According to district staff, Santa Monica and Malibu schools will continue to face a “shortage of adequate funding to the district” for at least the next five years.
At its Jan. 14, meeting, the board accepted the recommendations from the committee to proceed with the parcel tax plan, despite what has been described as “lukewarm” response from the community, following a telephone poll conducted by the board.
The committee determined that $225 would be the maximum amount voters would be willing to approve. However, after discussion, the board opted to lower the amount to $198, in an attempt to make the measure more palatable to Santa Monica residents, who constitute the majority of the district’s voters and whose recession woes include escalating foreclosure and unemployment rates. District property owners already pay an existing, permanent $346 tax per parcel.
The new tax will require a two-thirds vote in order to pass. The board has opted not to place the measure on the June general election ballot but issue a separate, mail-in election, gambling that the added expense of the special election will be offset by increased odds that the measure will pass.
Program cuts, teacher layoffs, class size increases and even a five-day reduction in the school year are anticipated, regardless of whether the new tax passes.
Advocates for the measure say it would lessen the impact and help save programs like high school sports, and the services of security officers, nurses and librarians. However, the $5.7 million that could potentially be raised by the tax is less than half of the projected shortfall.
According to a district staff report, “This local funding measure will not alleviate the need to make some budget cuts for 2010-2011, [but] these revenues are critically necessary to protect our community’s excellent schools, prevent widespread layoffs of teachers and other personnel, maintain reasonable class size, protect academic achievement in math, science, technology, arts, music, and reading programs, and sustain school libraries.
The district’s next step will be to form a committee to promote the measure.
In Santa Monica, the proposed tax has already come under fire for not distinguishing between commercial and residential property owners. Critics say that, despite a proposed exemption for seniors, the burden will be unfairly placed on homeowners and small property owners, who will pay the same amount as commercial properties.
The staff report states “an emergency parcel tax is the only new revenue source that has the potential to provide immediate budget relief on a scale that would prevent serious harm to local public education.”
Whether the district’s voters view the crisis in the same light remains to be seen. In Malibu, the parcel measure is anticipated to be a campaign issue in the April 13 Malibu City Council election, as some in the community have begun questioning why the district is spending an extra $200,000-plus for the separate mail-in ballot if district funds are so tight.

‘One Book One City’ Celebrates Malibu History

• Participants to Read Recent Works by Two Longtime Locals

This week, the Malibu City Council proclaimed that March 20 through April 20 is “One Book One City” month in Malibu‚
This year’s reading selections engage the OBOC participants in the living history of Malibu, with works by local authors and longtime residents Dorothy Stotsenberg and Marian Hall.
Stotsenberg’s personal memoir “My Fifty Years in Malibu” is a personal reflection on life in the community from its rustic beginnings to a full-fledged vibrant community.
Hall’s book “Malibu—California’s Most Famous Seaside Community” is a more pictorial perspective on the Malibu more familiar to the outside world.
When announcing the 2010 book choices, the OBOC committee said, “Both works are full of local color, interesting anecdotes, historical information and beautiful photographs. They are books that can be enjoyed by all who are interested in Malibu’s beauty and rich past.”
Along with an ongoing photographic tour of Malibu history that will be featured all month in the Malibu Library, a Celebration of Malibu History event will be held on March 27 at Pepperdine University, in the Payson Library at 2 p.m.
The books’s authors will give talks at the celebration. Longtime award-winning Malibu photographer Nick Rodionoff, who contributed to Hall’s book, will also be on the program.
Continuing again this year will be a writing contest sponsored by the Diesel bookstore that is centered on the themes of the books and expected to draw on the entrants’ inspiration by Malibu itself.
There will be awards for the best fiction/poetry and best non-fiction entries in youth and adult categories. Entries should be submitted to Diesel by May 15. The winners will be announced at the closing celebration.
For more information contact: 310-456-6438 or 1b1c-bu.com

Rambla Pacifico Is Closed by Landslide

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Rambla Pacifico’s Fire Camp 8 is back in the news. This time it’s because the road to the fire department facility and residences in the area has collapsed due to a landslide.
“Rambla Pacifico is closed but Las Flores is open, and residents can still get through,” LACFD officials at Camp 8 confirmed.
Initial reports blame a broken water main for the collapse, but some residents allege an ambitious grading project on the property above the road might have contributed to the problem.
“The county gave a major grading permit right at the landslide,” one resident told the Malibu Surfside News. “The road is completely gone. I don’t see how [the county is] going to fix it.” The area with the slide is in unincorporated Malibu.
Some of the area’s residents stirred up a media maelstrom recently over a proposal to enlarge Camp 8 to temporarily house 80 inmate firefighters who were displaced when the Mount Gleason facility was destroyed in the Station Fire.
The resident outcry led to the proposal being removed from consideration. The inmate firefighters are slated to go to Camp Holston in Big Tujunga Canyon.
The Rambla Pacifico road collapse is currently under investigation. County engineers will be assessing the cause, the potential for recurrence and whether repairs are feasible.
The area has a long history of geologic instability, with major slides on Las Flores, Rambla Pacifico, Schueren, Tuna Canyon and Topanga Canyon roads in recent years.

Updated Malibu Housing Element Is Almost Ready for State Review Process

• Affordable Housing Provision Remains Issue

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council was informed this week it is once again time for Malibu’s General Plan Housing Element to be updated and the completed document reviewed for state certification.
The state requires that the city’s housing element be updated and certified every eight years. The exercise always seems academic to many people in Malibu until the issue of affordable housing rears its head.
Council members were told Monday night that based on the current numbers of various agencies, the city must accommodate 115 very low housing units, 73 low, 79 moderate and 174 above moderate income households through June 30, 2014.
John Douglas, the consultant hired by the city to assist in the preparation of the updated housing element, told council members the city does not have to build out that housing but must show it has created specific zoning designations to accommodate such numbers.
The updated element must be certified by the state’s Housing Community Development agency. HCD reviews the update, makes comments and determines if it is consistent with state laws and accommodates the targeted number of units which total 441.
If the update fails to meet HCD’s requirements, the city may revise the update to incorporate HCD’s changes.
“However, if the Housing Element is adopted without HCD’s changes, or if the plan fails to be updated at all, the city would be regarded as noncompliant,” wrote the city’s planning manager Joyce Parker-Bozylinski.
Failure to adopt a HCD compliant Housing Element could result in the loss of eligibility of some funds, an increase in exposure to legal challenge and the potential loss of local control of the planning and development process, according to current state law.
The status of Malibu’s Housing Element revealed that the element was adopted as part of the city’s General Plan in 1995, has been amended twice and has not been certified by HCD or comprehensively updated since its adoption.
“The objective of the Housing Element update is to obtain certification from HCD. Obtaining certification by the HCD is important because a certified Housing Element is presumed to be legally valid and in substantial conformance with state laws,” added Parker, in her staff report.
Douglas explained state law requires cities to demonstrate that their land use plans and regulations could accommodate the type and amount of housing identified in the agency numbers, but there is no penalty for not achieving the allocations.

Family Members of Mitrice Richardson Ask Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Captain for Tapes of Missing Woman

• Letter Seeks Added ‘Clarification’ on Whether Other Evidence Is Being Withheld

BY ANNE SOBLE

Family members of 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton honor graduate Mitrice Richardson, who now has been missing for over five months, wrote Captain Tom Martin this week, the outgoing head of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, seeking information about videos of her that he said he possesses.
Existence of the videotapes was disclosed at a meeting between these family members, Captain Martin, other Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials, and Sheriff Lee Baca in the sheriff’s office on Jan. 6.
The saga of Richardson’s mysterious disappearance has been chronicled at length in the Malibu Surfside News, including her family’s assertion that Lost Hills Station personnel are responsible for the young black woman not having been seen or heard from since the morning of last Sept. 17.
The letter signers: Richardson’s mother Latice Sutton, her aunt Lauren Sutton, her college mentor Ronda Hampton and family friend Charles Croft, are critical of the station’s handling of the Richardson’s arrest and release following a dispute over nonpayment of a restaurant check because they believe she was in a state of extreme mental duress, if not illness, when the incident occurred on the evening of Sept. 16.
They believe Richardson should have been held for a “5150” medical evaluation, instead of being released at 12:25 a.m. the next morning alone, on foot, with no money or cell phone (her purse and phone were placed in her impounded vehicle) in the isolated industrial area where the station is located.
In the letter, the four signers wrote: “We would like to follow up with you [because] we are concerned with the fact that the video of Mitrice in the “booking cage” was not revealed to the family, friends and possibly other law enforcement agencies involved in the search for Mitrice.”
They note, “What is most disturbing is that the video was withheld from the family, even after strongly expressing a desire to view any video footage of Mitrice;” and they add, “The [initial] denial of the video makes us suspicious as to what other critical pieces of information are being withheld from the family.”
The letter requests that Captain Martin, “Please contact us regarding some of our concerns—maybe some clarification on these issues will ease our minds.”
Additional information about the mother’s family’s search efforts can be found at www.findmitrice.info

Rock Revetment Work Now Underway on Broad Beach

• Homeowners Hope Emergency Project Is First Step to Resolution of Concerns

BY BILL KOENEKER

While huge trucks and cranes assisted by workers brought in 33,000 tons of rock to protect the multi-million dollar homes at Broad Beach this week from the encroaching ocean, the Trancas Property Owners Association issued a press release and its officers talked to the media.
The TPOA has obtained emergency permits from various agencies, including the City of Malibu and the California Coastal Commission, to place a rock revetment along approximately 4100 linear feet of Broad Beach on the ocean side of 77 homes. The emergency work should be completed by April 30 of this year.
The entire project is expected to cost $20 million and is described as the largest privately funded beach restoration project in United States history.
The ultimate long-range goal of the homeowners would be a restored dune system and a much wider dry and sandy beach area for public use.
Zan Marquis, acting co-chair of the TPOA’s beach restoration committee, explained how all of the parts came together to try to meld an emergency project into a long-term solution.
The homeowners got a briefing from their geological consultants based on recent studies that sand replenishment would be feasible on Broad Beach without groins. “The rate of sand loss would be about 60,000 cubic yards per year if about 600,000 cubic yards were deposited on the beach. That loss is considered acceptable. We did not know that until November,” Marquis said.
That information was critical to the homeowners and would become the basis for any long-term solution.
“Everybody hates groins, the public, the homeowners and the Coastal Commission,” he said. “What we are proposing is restoration of the dunes and a wide beach, plus agreement about public access along the replenished beach, except for a privacy buffer directly below the dunes.”
The access solution would be what Marquis called a universal public access, so that the confusing areas of lateral public accesses would be reconfigured.
“We told the coastal agency we want to negotiate a universal public access, instead of the checkerboard system we currently have,” he said.
Marquis said the homeowners group talked to CCC staff and executive director Peter Douglas about their proposal and got a preliminary green light.
The TPOA still needs much more detailed information about where the sand would come from, such as by dredging, and document the costs.
This nourishment would be required about every seven years, according to Marquis, who said the homeowners are also willing to form a Geological Hazard Abatement District. “There is widespread homeowner support, which is important since we would have to vote on that,” he added.
Marquis said the long-term solution offers many advantages. “The sand bags were failing and were causing downstream erosion. The sand replenishment would ultimately provide sand for Zuma Beach since its movement is down coast,” he said.
Even though riprap takes the shock of a wave, “no one wants walls of rock, including the homeowners,” said Marquis.
According to Marquis, several months ago, homeowners realized a long-term plan was gelling that was born out of need to take action on an emergency basis, a revetment was feasible, the sand replenishment would work and a solution was at hand. “We could replenish the sand and put it over the rocks,” he said, restoring the sand dunes and creating a wider, dry sand beach.
Marquis said the Coastal Commission would have to approve the permit along with other agencies.
However, questions remain unanswered about whether the temporary revetment will become a permanent one. Marquis said any long-term solution would require a permanent revetment, not the temporary one currently being placed on the beach.
Another question is whether the beach protection measure is located on private or public land.
“To the best of my knowledge, it is all private,” Marquis said.
However, a letter from the California Coastal Commission staff suggests the state agency may think otherwise.
That determination was the basis for the coastal agency becoming involved in issuing the emergency permit.
Marquis said the TPOA agreed to submit to the CCC for an emergency permit because ultimately the matter could end up in front of the coastal panel.
The city initially issued a permit for the emergency work in December, but the Coastal Commission staff indicated that jurisdictional issues were involved.
The CCC staff wrote about the rock revetment saying it had “determined” some, or all of a new rock revetment proposed by TPOA would “clearly be located seaward of the ambulatory mean high tide line,” and within the commission’s jurisdiction.
“Thus, construction of the temporary rock revetment, as proposed, would require an emergency coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission,” wrote Steve Hudson, district manager for the coastal agency.

City Finally Gets Tenant for Its Vacant Building at PCH and Webb Way

• Local Business Takes 10-Year Lease

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting next week is expected to approve a lease agreement with Super Care Drugs, Inc. for a 10-year lease agreement for a 3000-square-foot space in the building located at 23661 Pacific Coast Highway.
Besides providing expanded quarters for a local business, the arrangement promises a steady rental income stream to the city. The new store is expected to open in about six months, or no later than Aug. 8, according to a staff report.
The fixed minimum lease will initially start at $144,000 per year, and by the tenth year the rent will run at $182,416 per year.
The total square footage of the site is 4848 square feet. The staff report indicates the city is continuing to seek a tenant for the remaining 1848 square feet and the staff will bring back to the council another tenant for a final agreement on the package.
The council is scheduled to meet in closed session to consider an application from Malibu Business and Shipping Center for the additional space.
The building has been vacant for a year as city officials considered who might rent the high-profile structure located on the corner of PCH and Webb Way that was first constructed to house Malibu offices for a bank. The current economic climate in Malibu was another factor in the timetable.
At one time, several hardware stores had presented bids, and the city also was considering renting the building out to several other applicants, including the developers of the Malibu Lumberyard, to use the site for a mini-shopping center.

Lone Council Member Raises Questions about Municipal (Over)Borrowing Practices

• Consideration of Issuing More COPs Now on the Table

BY BILL KOENEKER

Having borrowed money in the form of certificates of participation for Legacy Park, the purchase of the new City Hall, and possibly more for improvements to the new municipal headquarters, the municipality will be required to pay back nearly $62 million over the life of the borrowed funds, the Malibu City Council was told at a special quarterly meeting last week.
The information was revealed when Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich asked the city’s bond consultants what would be the final cost of all the borrowed money when it was paid off in about 30 years.
In what sounded like the same dialogue now going on in Sacramento and Washington, DC, Conley Ulich, who voted not to explore borrowing any more money, said she was worried about the spending policies of the current city council.
The majority of the members countered that there is a revenue stream to pay back the COPs and that no money to meet the indebtedness will come from the general fund or the taxpayers in the form of increased obligations.
The agenda item before the council was the cost of construction for the new city hall, which is currently estimated at $3.7 million. The total price tag was expected to be presented to the council in March. The city currently has $1.1 million in its designated reserve fund for city hall acquisition.
The Administration and Finance council subcommittee comprised of Mayor Sharon Barovsky and Councilmember John Sibert, suggested that money be rolled over to a facilities deferred maintenance fund, and that the city issue $5 million in COPs even though the current project estimate is $3.7 million. They agreed with the reasoning that if other problems arise during the remodeling, the funds would be available; if not, the balance could be used for a capital improvement, as noted in the staff report.
Conley Ulich persistently question the timing and the need for the extra borrowing that would amount to a total of $6.9 million.
Barovsky and Sibert countered that the time is better now because money is cheaper than it might be in the future.
They tried to assuage Conley Ulich’s concerns by stressing that the council was not going to approve the money this week, but was merely starting the process for issuing the COPs.
A majority of the council argued that the current credit rating the city just received would be beneficial to the process of obtaining more money.
The council was told that if the city used money from its undesignated fund reserve, which will be $7.7 million by the end of June 3, 2010, the fund would drop to $4 million. That is about half of the $8 million the fund should contain, according to city policy.
That amount is dangerously low, according to the consultants, who told the council that it could lose its excellent credit rating if something like that should happen.
Most cities comparable to Malibu have a reserve much higher than that—usually about 100 percent of their total budget—to serve as a rainy day fund, rather than the city’s stated goal of $8 million, which is less than 50 percent of the annual budget.
Conley unsuccessfully questioned why the city could not find out what the city hall renovation costs would be before proceeding with obtaining financing.
Barovsky said the city would pay a lot more for funding in the future than now.
Some council members and the staff also talked about how once the city was moved into its new offices, the old city hall would be subleased.
“I don’t feel comfortable issuing more debt. I think we should try to do more with less. I just won’t approve this,” Conley Ulich said.
The council voted 4-1, with Conley Ulich dissenting, to direct staff to prepare the document for the 2010 COPs.

Labor Exchange Pleads ‘Dire Financial Straits’

• Extra Funding Needed to Replace Executive Director

BY BILL KOENEKER

When the Malibu City Council last week was considering turning over nearly $12,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to the Malibu Community Day Labor Exchange, they were told the program needed money in the form of immediate emergency funding now in order to stay afloat. The CDBG funds are not available until the start of the next fiscal year.
At a special meeting two days later, the council agreed to dig into its coffers and pay out the requested additional $10,000, but agreed it would reduce its general fund grant program by that amount.
The council also learned the DLE’s current executive director Mona Loo is resigning the post.
“We are in financial straits. Part of it is my fault. I am resigning and we need to find someone to share the responsibility,” she said.
Loo said the Labor Exchange is a small operation. She said there is only one paid employee. All others, including Loo, are volunteers. The program needed the emergency funding to get through the beginning of this new year, according to Loo, who said there is a fundraiser planned in March, but money is needed to help organize the fundraiser.
“I will continue to work as a volunteer, but not as executive director. I will be living in Malibu part-time,” Loo explained.
Mayor Sharon Barovsky acknowledged that the exchange has failed to address the day worker issues in a citywide fashion, and its only apparent success is in the Civic Center area.
“I’ve seen the situation at Point Dume and I’ve seen the situation at Trancas. I don’t want to see the [same] situation in mid-Malibu,” said the mayor, who was referring to the daily congregation of day laborers at locations in the west end of the city.
When the agenda item came up at the special meeting, council members did not address the mayor’s concerns about the limited success or apparent failure of the program at the west end.

Santa Monica College Returns to Malibu after 20-Year Hiatus

• Classes Seen as First Step on Road to a Permanent Facility to Serve District Students

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

After more than 20 years, Santa Monica College has announced a pilot program to once again offer credit classes in Malibu. The program, designed to help the college plan a permanent campus in the Malibu Civic Center, is a requirement from a 2004 bond measure, that included funds for a Malibu satellite campus.
The pilot program will offer six general education classes in art, English, geography, photography and psychology. The classes will be held at Webster Elementary School on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, in the late afternoon and evening.
“We’re very pleased to be returning to Malibu with an offering of credit classes,” SMC President Chui L. Tsang stated in a press release. “This pilot program will help us determine the demand for courses and the best way to serve the Malibu community.”
While this is the first time in 20 years that SMC will offer credit classes in Malibu, the campus has provided dual enrollment classes for students at Malibu High School, and a limited number of noncredit courses through Emeritus College, a program for older adults, which have been described as “disappointing” by some seniors.
Longtime residents still talk about SMC’s community class offerings in the 1970s. The previous program included language, art and history and a one-of-a-kind offering called the Malibu Class, which explored the sociological and natural history of the area.
SMC has been working to reinstitute an educational program in Malibu since 2004, when Santa Monica-Malibu voters approved a $135 million bond measure that included $25 million for an instructional facility in the community.
The college is reportedly working with the City of Malibu and the County of Los Angeles to acquire land for the planned instructional center.
Spring semester classes begin Feb. 16. Information about the Malibu course offerings is now available online at: www.smc.edu.

Family Members of Mitrice Richardson Say Many Questions Remain Unanswered after Recent Meeting with Sheriff Baca

• Lost Hills Station Undergoes Change of Command: Connection to the Missing Person Case Is Denied

BY ANNE SOBLE

The mother, aunt and college mentor of Mitrice Richardson, as well as a videographer who has been filming rallies and other events related to the case of the 24-year-old Watts woman who now has been missing for 20 weeks, recently met with Sheriff Lee Baca for an update.
Richardson’s mother, Latice Sutton; her aunt, Lauren Sutton; the psychologist who oversaw her college fieldwork, Ronda Hampton; and Los Angeles filmmaker Charles Croft met in Baca’s office three weeks ago for over an hour. All four said they have been grappling with their ongoing concerns before deciding to make them public.
Mitrice Richardson is the Cal State Fullerton honors graduate who medical experts now think was experiencing a mental breakdown when she began acting bizarrely and said she could not pay a Malibu dinner tab on Sept. 16.
Richardson’s family has been unequivocally critical of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s role and holds it responsible for their daughter’s well-being after she was transported to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station.
Public criticism has also increased of Lost Hills’ release of the young black woman at 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 into the isolated industrial area. Richardson was alone, on foot, inadequately attired for cold weather, and without money or her cell phone, which had been placed in her impounded car, according to deputies, at her request.
Richardson was booked on two misdemeanor counts after being placed under citizen’s arrest the evening of Sept. 16 by personnel at Geoffrey’s restaurant for the one count of not paying her $89.51 dinner check.
Family members have said they were told by Lost Hills that the restaurant’s manager insisted that the woman be taken to Lost Hills for booking.
In addition, Captain Tom Martin of Lost Hills previously told the Malibu Surfside News that restaurant staff also requested that Richardson’s car be towed from their lot.
Richardson’s odd speech and behavior were described by people at the restaurant as “crazy,” but at Lost Hills, LASD personnel said that she was lucid and they had no reason to detain her. The News’ requests to interview those who transported or booked her have all been denied.
The second count was for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana found when deputies searched her vehicle, allegedly with Richardson’s permission, before impounding it,.
The four participants in the Jan. 6 meeting, which was also attended by Martin and other LASD officials, including Steve Whitmore, the spokesperson for the department, brought a detailed list of questions with them, which they say were either answered only in part, or not at all.
UNDISCLOSED TAPES
Of major significance at the meeting, the four learned from what they all described as a “red-faced” Captain Martin that he was not forthright about there not being “any videotapes” of the missing woman at Lost Hills, and his previous assertions that there are only live-feed cameras at Lost Hills were inaccurate.
Martin told Baca that he has tapes “in his desk” of Richardson in the “booking cage” and other video/audio, some of which may be from the restaurant.
Croft said they were told that the tapes could not be made available to them until the tapes have been edited “to protect” other people. He said Martin did not clarify whether this is because of the presence of other inmates (which it is believed there were none at the time), or because of the civilian jailer who processed Richardson. The jailer, Sharon Cummings, declined a request by The News to be interviewed or to provide a photograph.
LOST HILLS CHANGE
It was at this point in the meeting that Baca announced that Captain Tom Martin is being promoted to commander and will be replaced by an aide to Undersheriff Larry Waldie, Lt. Joseph H. Stephen Jr., who is being promoted to captain. LASD spokesperson Whitmore told The News this week that the change is “imminent.”
Stephen will be the first black officer to head the Lost Hills operation. When asked if the change was related in any way to the Mitrice Richardson case, Whitmore said, “This is a rotation of promotions [that has been] in the works for some time.”

UPDATE
Latice Sutton indicated that Sheriff Baca told the family “to face the fact your daughter is not with you,” and added, “She has gone to a better place.” The mother and aunt both said they question the appropriateness of the comments, but Whitmore said the sheriff’s words “were an expression of the sheriff’s compassion for the family.”
All four are adamant that during the meeting, Baca said, “She should never have been released with no means.” Whitmore said his recollections are different from those being expressed, but he said he could not elaborate further because family members have filed a legal claim that is expected to lead to a lawsuit. Whitmore said he can no longer comment specifically on aspects of the case that may be litigated.
The four participants also quote Baca as saying, “When you think about it, it’s the jailer’s fault [Richardson] was let go.” However, Whitmore said that isn’t what he recalls being said.
When asked if the arresting officers are going to be investigated, Baca is quoted by the four as saying “so much time has passed,” and it could be “uncomfortable and embarrassing” for them. The mother is also asking for staff time cards, shift change information and other documentation.
The three women said they perceived the session as marked by “insensitivity,” in that the mother and aunt think department officials were confused about who each of them is. Sutton said it was so obvious that she told them, “I get the impression that you don’t know my name.”
The family members said the meeting with Baca confirmed why it is “so critical to convince U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to initiate a federal investigation,” which is what the family has demanded from the beginning.
UPCOMING
Because Richardson, a beauty contest finalist, was planning to compete in the upcoming Miss Fullerton Pageant, she is going to be honored at that event on Feb. 6.
The Friends Group of Pasadena plans a conference on March 17, what will be the six-month anniversary of Richardson’s disappearance if she is not found, to discuss nighttime custody release policies. Hampton will be on the panel. A representative of the LASD may take part.
For more information, see Latice Sutton’s website at www.findmitrice.info, the father Michael Richardson’s site at www.bring mitricehome.org, or contact Dr. Ronda Hampton at 951-660-8031, or LAPD Homicide Lt. Charles Knolls or Detective Steven Eguchi at 213-486-6900. The LAPD is the lead agency on the missing person case.

Travesty: A Symbol of the American West Is Now under Seige

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Time is rapidly running out for America’s last wild horses. The Bureau of Land Management, which is charged with protecting and maintaining the wild horse population in the American West, is engaged in a brutal extermination campaign to eliminate wild horses and burros from public lands. That’s the message of Malibu director and cinematographer James Kleinert’s latest documentary film, “Disappointment Valley: A Modern Day Western,” which is screening on Feb. 8 and 11 at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Kleinert, who has spent the last several years dividing his time between Malibu and various parts of the West, told the Malibu Surfside News that he became interested in the plight of the wild horse while filming his award-winning 2006 documentary film “Spirit Riders,” which followed an American Indian peace movement begun by the Lakota Nation as they made their historical horse-back ride to Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
“‘Spirit Riders’ shows how American Indians have reclaimed their sacred way of life through reconnecting with the horse,” Klienert says, adding that the project also provided him with the opportunity to connect with the horses. Together with wild horse activist and actor Viggo Mortensen, Kleinert made two short films about the wild mustangs. The feature-length “Disappointment Valley” was his next step. The film’s release is timely, coming at what many see as the eleventh hour for the wild horse.
Wild horse advocates have blasted federal land managers this week after 26 mustangs died and 50 more suffered serious injuries last week in a government roundup on the range north of Reno. The roundup is part of an immediate plan to remove 2500 of the wild horses, and a long term plan to eliminate 12,000 wild horses and burros this year.
According to Kleinert, many of the wild horses will be transported to Mexico and brutally slaughtered for meat. Others will be euthanized, or kept at federal holding facilities notorious for overcrowding and inhumane treatment.
The film, shot in high definition, provides an opportunity to observe the magnificent horses in the wild, but also provides an expose on the treatment the animals receive at the hands of the BLM’s so called expert horse handlers, and the appalling conditions at the Mexican slaughter houses that, according to Klienert, are the final destination of many of the horses.
The documentary examines the origins and effects of the 2004 “Burns Bill,” which Kleinert says has gutted the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, clearing the way for removal and slaughter of American wild horses.
“Disappointment Valley,” which includes interviews with Jim Baca, former director of the BLM under the Clinton Administration; Congressmember Raul M. Grijalva; wild horse advocates Michael Blake, Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, and Malibuite Daryl Hannah; as well as a wide range of scientific experts, animal rights activists and environmentalists, also explores the current impacts on western public lands by oil, gas, mining and corporate cattle grazing.
Kleinert points to the proposed $3 billion Ruby Natural Gas Pipeline that, if it is approved this spring, would cut through some of the most remote and pristine areas of Nevada’s wild horse territory, as one of the reasons the BLM is anxious to eliminate the horse population.
“I hope this film will not only educate viewers about the disturbing, massive removal of our horses but inspire change to the future of these precious animals,” Kleinert told the Malibu Surfside News.
Kleinert compares the west to the African Serengeti, and says that mining is a major threat to the area. “An area of publicly owned land equal to 15 Yellowstones has already been leased to oil and gas,” Kleinert says, adding that uranium mining is also a serious concern. “When these industries are finished, they leave a wasteland where nothing can live,” he says, adding that the BLM’s official position that horses are starving to death on the range is a falsehood. “The only horses that have starved in recent years are the ones the BLM rounded up and forgot to remove from the holding pens,” Kleinert says, providing images of the desiccated remains of mares and foals in an abandoned government pen.
“This is a real life “Avatar” story,” Kleinert says, referring to James Cameron’s record-breaking film that deals with a mining company prepared to commit genocide for financial gain. “It’s happening right here, in our country. The public is not being told. 30,000 horses will be killed and that includes healthy animals. The BLM is managing the wild horse to extinction.”
According to Kleinert, the future looks bleak for the last wild horses. “Obama has to issue an executive order to stop the roundups. That’s the only way of stopping this,” he says, although he adds that a Senate Bill, S 1579, called the Roam Act, may hold some hope.
Kleinert encourages interested individuals to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to support the Roam Act, stop the sale of wild horses for slaughter, and call for a congressional investigation of the BLM.
Kleinert can be contacted at jameskleinert@mac .com, Footage from “Disappointment Valley” can be viewed at www.americanwildhorse.com.
Information on the Santa Barbara Film Festival is available at www.sbfilmfestival.org