Real Malibu

BY BILL KOENEKER

While it was not on the agenda, the Malibu City Council this week discussed at length the litigation between the city and the Malibu Township Council over Trancas Canyon Park and held out an olive branch to the Malibu West Homeowners Association, which is not a party to the litigation but is providing funding to the MTC.
Frank Angel, the MTC attorney, weighed in this week on the litigation, which has gotten increasingly complex because of the HOA, which is not represented by Angel, but has played an increasingly larger role in seeking a settlement.
Angel told the Malibu Surfside News that documents were filed last month in the case that “conclusively [prove] that the 1989 [Coastal Development Permit] cited by the [Environmental Impact Report for Trancas Park] was in fact a CDP for development on another property.”
Angel said when confronted with these documents, “The city now admits the CDP was not issued for any development on the park property. In other words, it is now indisputable that in certifying the EIR the city council falsely claimed that under a [Local Implementation Plan] exemption it may develop the dog park in [an] ESHA. This is a serious misrepresentation, as it served as the basis (isn’t pretext the better word?) for destroying ESHA on public property.”
At the council meeting, City Attorney Christi Hogin, for the first time, acknowledged the dog park could be in jeopardy if the court ruled against the city.
“If the court is persuaded, either to eliminate the dog park or do more environmental review, in no way would the outcome [of that action] eliminate league play,” Hogin told the council.
The city attorney was also referring to the apparent sole issue, no league play, that the HOA wants resolved through settlement talks.
Hogin went on to explain, “We were not sued by the HOA, the MTC filed the lawsuit. With significant changes to the park design, we believed we had reached an agreement with MTC. But then the settlement never consummated. We offered to record the condition of no league play. That’s were we were. Some residents want more security [about no league play]. That is tougher to do. We have resisted giving property rights to certain groups,” the city attorney said.
The MTC attorney elaborated on what many might consider the “smoking gun,” in MTC’s lawsuit, and that may suggest why the council was seemingly willing to agree to settlement talks with the HOA and MTC.
Angel insisted the city is simply changing its tune concerning the legal battle over the dog park. “Now we’re told there was no ESHA in the dog park. The problem with that claim is it’s false, too,” he said.
Angel pointed out the section in the EIR where the city itself states, “The mapped ESHA also extends partially onto the portion of the site proposed for a dog/picnic area. However pursuant to Section 4.4.4.d of the city’s LCP Local Implementation Plan, the park site and adjacent areas are not subject to the plan’s ESHA policies. (see discussion below under Regulatory Setting).”
The MTC attorney noted the city premises its new claim that the CSS on the dog park site is not ESHA on the discussion in the 1989 CDP staff report, which was based on the 1986 county LUP. “The city knows full well, however, that the 1986 LUP is no longer applicable. Since 2002, we have a new LCP, like it or not,” he added.
“We would like to resolve this,” said Councilmember Andy Stern to Mark Goss, the treasurer of the HOA, who had brought the matter to the attention of the council.
Goss told the council he was not in favor of the litigation and had voted against it. “Let’s come together and focus on league play. Let’s set the lawsuit aside and enjoy the park,” Goss said.
After the council members had spoken, Goss was asked what he and the board wanted. “My request is the board members and MTC meet with the council and the city attorney. Keep it as small as possible,” he said. The council concurred.

BY ANNE SOBLE

It’s getting to be increasingly difficult for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to cast aspersions on local media that have kept a spotlight on the Mitrice Richardson case, as the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station’s treatment of the woman who has now been missing for 10 weeks is steadily attracting mainstream attention from coast to coast.
From articles to editorials, questions are being raised about the way Richardson was placed under citizen’s arrest, booked on two misdemeanor counts, and then released from Lost Hills at 12:25 a.m. on Sept. 17 with no money, cell phone or means of transportation in what is essentially an isolated industrial area. The specifics of the case, well known to Malibu Surfside News readers, are now becoming familiar on a broader scale, provoking expressions of public concern that range from racism to gender and sexual bias.
Thanksgiving is expected to be an extremely trying time for family members of the missing 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton honors graduate. In addition to a complete lack of contact, Richardson has not accessed her credit cards or checking account funds. Alleged sightings of the black, five-foot-five, slightly built woman, clad when last seen in a T-shirt, jeans and possibly a hat, have not led anywhere. Field searches, rallies and flyer distribution have been ongoing since a missing person report was filed.
This Saturday, Nov. 28, a “Bike Ride and Rally for Mitrice Richardson” will make a 65-mile loop from Marina Del Rey to Malibu via Pacific Coast Highway, then take Malibu Canyon Road to Highway 101 to the 110 Freeway to South Los Angeles.
Over 100 riders, including members of two dozen African-American motorcycle clubs, volunteers, friends, and family are expected to take part. For more information, email mvrichardson@bringmitricehome.org
The online activist group—change.org—has now collected 3020 signatures toward its goal of 5000 signers of a petition urging state and federal officials to initiate a federal investigation and bring the FBI in on the Richardson case. The text of the petition can be found at the website: www.change.org
Anyone with information related to the missing woman can contact the family at www.findmitrice.info or Ronda Hampton at 951-660-8031, Michael Richardson at 310-283-4717, or LAPD Detective Chuck Knolls (Homicide-Robbery) at 213-485-2531.

BY ANNE SOBLE

As a week of strong Santa Ana winds and high fire danger was being forecast for the Malibu area, several hundred Corral Canyon residents and guests gathered last Sunday to observe the second anniversary of the Corral Fire that irrevocably changed many of their lives.
Coordinated by the Corral Canyon Safety Alliance, the neighborhood held the private event to reflect on what has transpired since flames broke out in the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 24, 2007.
Even though the alleged perpetrators of the inferno that claimed 53 homes and damaged 35 others, as well as killed many domestic animals when it destroyed 4900 acres, are still wending their way through the judicial system, residents are making progress with rebuilding, even as many of them complain about the slow pace of the wheels of justice.
The gathering at BeauRivage also was an opportunity to express gratitude to public officials who have assisted residents—most of whom are located in unincorporated Malibu in the Los Angeles County Third Supervisorial District.
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky; his field deputies Susan Nissman and Cynthia Scott; and Sheriff’s Captain Tom Martin were presented the first Corral Canyon Community Service Awards “in recognition of their outstanding commitment to Corral Canyon and the fire victims since the fire.”
Residents honored Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman, who is retiring in March, with the Freeman Award, “named in his honor in recognition and appreciation of his exceptional leadership, fearless honesty and devoted public service to the citizens of Los Angeles and in particular, the residents of Corral Canyon.”
These awards will be ongoing.
CALFIRE LITIGATION
The residents might have had more cause to believe that those who start wildfires, whether accidentally or maliciously, will be deterred if it had been announced before this Monday that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection filed a $7.7 million civil cost recovery action against William Thomas Coppock, Brian Alan Anderson, Brian Franks, Eric Matthew Ullman, and Dean Allen Lavorante, the five men who allegedly started the Corral Fire in Malibu State Park,
Saying it spent at least $7,728,362 fighting the blaze. CalFire seeks damages for negligence and violations of the Health and Safety Code, according to the agency’s public information officer, Daniel Berlant.

BY BILL KOENEKER

The initial round of meetings on the proposed Santa Monica Mountains Community Wildfire Protection Plan between residents and agency members to draft site specific plans for various neighborhoods has wrapped up, according to organizers.
More meetings are planned for 2010, when a large forum to review all of the maps created to date will be held on Jan. 9.
The next set of meetings, including the large workshop, are designed to allow those residents who were unable to attend the meetings in October and November an opportunity to add their input.
During the past sessions, since October, participants were encouraged to take part in a series of mapping and a brainstorming exercises dealing with a particular geography, vegetation cover and neighborhood concerns in their region.
Details for the upcoming meetings can be found at tinyurl. com/SMMCWPP.
The Jan. 9 forum will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. in the multi-purpose room at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School.
The second series of meetings will be focused on Malibu’s western beach communities, central beach neighborhoods, eastern beach areas, Point Dume, Corral Canyon, Liberty Canyon/Lost Hills and Calabasas.
Malibu and mountain residents can now access an online mapping exercise similar to the exercise offered at the community forums. Residents can download it from the project website at forevergreenforestry.com/SMMCWPP Maps.html.
The website contains a simple survey form and map to print, which participants can use to mark up. The form and map can then be mailed in or scanned and submitted by email.
The project website also contains a new page of fire safety information for residents of the Santa Monicas, including much of the information shared at the public meetings.
Organizers say one of the biggest differences between this forum and others is the public is directing the information. The advantage is that agencies are taking that local knowledge and applying science in order to come up with the best possible site-specific plans for living with wildfire.
“The public is supportive because this process involves them and they contribute to finding solutions,” states a press release issued by organizers.
Agencies participating in the protection plan include Los Angeles and Ventura County Fire Departments, City of Malibu, National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Fire Safe Council and the U.S. Forest Service.
The draft document will be available for public review in April 2010, and the final plan is expected in June 2010.

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board seemingly made it official when it made an announcement last week about the septic ban issued for the Civic Center and surrounding area.
“On Nov. 5, 2009, the regional board adopted the resolution to prohibit on-site wastewater disposal systems (septic systems) in the Malibu Civic Center area. The prohibition applies to all dischargers in the Civic Center area, including commercial and industrial facilities, public facilities and residences. New septic discharges are no longer allowed and existing commercial and industrial dischargers and public facilities must cease discharge by November 2015 and residences by November 2019,” the notice emailed to stakeholders and posted on the RWQCB website stated.
However, Malibu city officials say not so fast. “The action the regional board took is not final. We do not want people to think it is the law of the land,” said City Attorney Christi Hogin. “It is like a cloud on a [property] title. You can’t be in violation of anything yet.”
Hogin was referring to what city officials believe is the tentative action of the regional board concerning a septic ban, which must be approved by the state board.
Earlier, City Manager Jim Thorsen had explained the state board may approve the ban, or it may send it back to the regional board with conditions.
Thorsen said the timetable is uncertain, as the state board could take up to several months to set a meeting date. “They assured me there would be a hearing. They need a complete record of the regional board hearing,” he said.
Hogin agreed, “I think there will a hearing. The written submissions will be 30 days in advance.”
The city attorney said the state board hearing is unlike an appeal hearing most Malibuites are familiar with. “It is not the case in the state board hearings. Either they accept the regional board’s action or reject it with comments,” she said. “We can’t so much pitch our plan.”
There was no more talk about suing the state panel, unlike at the last city council meeting when Mayor Sharon Barovsky vowed to take the matter to court.
Nor was there a showdown after Councilmember Jefferson Wagner had disagreed with the mayor on litigating the matter in several publications. Wagner did issue a nearly three-page position statement outlining his take on wastewater issues and the criticism it generated.
The matter was on the agenda, because the staff wanted direction on several ongoing projects.
However, the council at first took time to talk some more about their reactions to what had happened at the regional board meeting.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich complained about how the board’s staff would not enter into the record actual evidence she presented.
Hogin said she found that interesting. “It is inexplicable. That is one of the things a court would look at. It is not procedurally correct,” the city attorney noted.
Thorsen had sought direction because he and the staff plus consultants would be getting ready to address the state board and wanted to know how money should be spent on existing studies and programs.
The council discussed whether work should continue on the Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Civic Center wastewater treatment facility.
Councilmember John Sibert said since the EIR is in the early stage, work should continue. “I think we should move forward. We can pull the plug [if need be],” he said.
The council unanimously concurred.
The council also unanimously agreed to direct the city manager to continue to work with a task force of stakeholders he has met with and the council also voted without dissent to use money left over from technical assistance fees earmarked for the past regional board meeting for the state board hearing.
The regional board notice offers further details about the past hearing and the process. Interested individuals seeking further details can go to: www.waterboards.ca.gov./losangeles/water issues/programs/basin plan/index.shtml.
The presentation given at the board hearing is available and the map delineating the prohibition area is also online.
The resolution for the prohibition and the certification of the environmental staff report with substitute environmental documentation is posted along with a notice of determination stating that the transcript of the hearing will be posted when it is available. The technical staff reports and memos are also online.
The septic ban is technically considered an amendment to the agency’s Water Quality Control Plan known as the Los Angeles Regional Basin Plan for the Coastal Watersheds of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
The basin plan, according to the RWQCB, “is designed to preserve and enhance water quality and protect the beneficial uses of all regional waters. The basin plan designates beneficial uses for surface and groundwaters, sets narrative and numerical objectives that must be attainted or maintained to protect the designated beneficial uses and conforms to the state’s antidegradation policy and describes the implementation programs to protect all waters in the region.”
In addition, the basin plan incorporates by reference all applicable state and regional board plans and policies and other pertinent water quality policies and regulations. Those policies and regulations of other agencies are referenced in the various sections of the board’s basin plan.

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

As California’s budget woes continue to deepen, the fourth annual State of Our Schools presentations, held at Malibu High School on Nov. 17 and at Santa Monica High School on Nov. 18, struck a grim note.
The event, co-sponsored by the district, the council of PTA and the political action committee Community for Excellent Public Schools, was created to showcase the district’s “accomplishments and challenges,” according to the CEPS web page.
This year, teachers and students shared inspirational stories; talented young musicians performed; and district officials presented impressive achievement statistics and anecdotes about the success of district alumni.
Samohi graduate Randy Bresnik, classmate of many Malibu students in the 1980s, made not just the state of the schools report but the international news this week for his series of three spacewalks at the International Space Station; but even that event was overshadowed by an increasingly dire budget deficit crisis.
“This fourth annual presentation felt like a wake—in advance,” former PTA president Rebecca Kennerly wrote on the CEPS blog. “If deficit spending remains unchanged, the district will have a negative fund balance by the end of 2010-11.”
The district’s operating deficit is expected to reach at least $10 million this year.
“We can’t depend on Sacramento,” was the message delivered by district superintendent Tim Cuneo at the event in Santa Monica. “SMMUSD receives nearly three-quarters of its operating revenue from the state and yet and the new Pew study found California, ‘on the brink of insolvency,’” Cuneo stated during his address.
It wasn’t all bad news. Cuneo’s presentation included statistics that show the district’s pass rate far exceeding state and national levels. The district continues to show steady improvement on high school exit exams and English language arts and math passage rates, despite deteriorating funding.
According to the superintendent’s presentation, state funding for the district has dropped from approximately $5880 per student in 2007-08 to 2004-05 levels of $5029. District students receive an additional $2257 per student from sources that include parcel tax measures and money from the cities of Malibu and Santa Monica.
That additional community-based funding, together with what Kennerly describes as “careful fiscal management,” has helped deflect some of the impact of the state budget crisis, but not for long, according to Cuneo, because 72 percent of district revenues come directly from Sacramento.
“When the state economy is in the tank, so are we,” Cuneo said. “If we don’t make changes in our expenditures, we won’t be able to survive.”
The superintendent outlined what he described as “proactive steps” currently underway in the district, including $4.5 million in budget cuts for the 2009-10 budget, strategy meetings by the financial oversight committee and the superintendent’s budget advisory committee and plans.
Cuneo also discussed the progress of the district’s advisory committee organized to study the feasibility of a emergency temporary parcel tax, and reported that district officials are engaged in labor negotiations with union leaders and administrators over pay and benefit reductions, but spring layoffs are anticipated to be an inevitable consequence of the ongoing crisis.
Cuneo himself recently came under fire from the local teachers union and district parents, when a survey revealed that he is one of the highest paid school superintendents in the county.
Cuneo, who relocated from Northern California in July of 2008 to accept the post of interim superintendent and was soon selected to fill the post full time, receives a $220,000 base salary, a $38,000 housing allowance and a $12,000 car and cell phone stipend, a contract that the board of education defends as fair compensation based on Cuneo’s performance.
Pam Brady, past president of the California PTA and a former member of the SMMUSD board, also focused on Sacramento when she delivered the State of Our Schools keynote address.
Brady accused state legislators of attempting to “balance the state’s budget woes on the backs of California’s children” and called on parents to keep fighting the gridlock in Sacramento. “[Sacramento needs to] understand that to build California and to be strong again, we need to invest in our children,” the Malibuite said.
Everyone seemed to agree that the best defense of education was strong offence. “Advocacy is the only game in town—and we had all better start playing as hard as we can,” Kennerly wrote, following the event.
More information is available online at www.smmusd.org or on the CEPS blog at http://excellentpublicschools.blogspot.com/

ANNE SOBLE

Gratitude benefits the giver and the receiver alike. Its expression is a reflection of our connectedness to those who are most meaningful to us, as well as a way to acknowledge those who affect our lives, even if we don’t know them personally and relate to them only in the abstract.
It’s become the norm that Malibuites will spend Thanksgiving on wildfire alert whenever Santa Ana winds are blowing. The National Weather Service says this week’s winds are moderate—in the 20-30 mph range, about a third of what ripped the community’s midsection asunder in 2007—but the uneasiness in palpable. Local Smokey Bear signs say fire danger is “very high.”
The Los Angeles County Fire Department has extra crews and equipment on duty in Malibu. Five additional patrols and two water tenders are on site; a helicopter is at Camp 8 during the day; and the rest of the fire department’s helicopter fleet, the two SuperScoopers and an Erickson Air Crane helitanker, are all on standby. Firefighting personnel know that their holiday plans can be interrupted on a moment’s notice if there is a call to action.
It rarely takes very long for this same sense of heightened alert during Santa Ana winds to be hardwired into a Malibu resident’s circuitry. But this wildfire readiness syndrome in no way detracts from the joy of the Thanksgiving holiday and the sense of gratitude we have for the bounty that is our good fortune. Indeed, it enhances them.
The first Thanksgiving was about gratitude for triumphing over adversity. Residents still recovering from the fire ravages of 2007 understand that well. As Malibuites give thanks in 2009, they should acknowledge the role that nature plays in their lives, even when it calls for them to face adversity.

It’s an eerie sight, but it isn’t the lights of a phantom city or evidence of a military exercise or alien invasion, instead it’s the light boats of the squid fleet, close into shore this year at County Line, in pursuit of market squid.
According to the NOAA Fisheries Service, demand for market squid, Loligo opalescens, has escalated dramatically since the 1980s, making this small mollusk the most valuable fishery in the state.
California Department of Fish and Game marine biologist Dale Sweetnam is an expert on squid. He told the Malibu Surfside News in a phone interview that market squid usually spawn in large numbers off of the Channel Islands. “This year, for some reason, the squid want to be at the mainland,” Sweetnam said. “A lot of it depends on water temperatures.”
Asked if El Niño is a factor, Sweetnam replied, “We have an El Niño, but it’s not extreme, we haven’t been seeing red crab, or other tropical species migrating here. When it is extreme, the squid go away. Because it’s mild the fisheries are doing very well.”
According to Sweetnam, market squid live for less than a year—usually just six to eight months. The fact that they completely replace their entire population annually may help the squid to rebound from severe El Niño years or other environmental impacts.
“Unlike other fish species, market squid are not bound to a specific spawning location, but can spawn wherever conditions permit,” Sweetnam said. “These squid are very prolific when the conditions are right.”
In addition to water temperature, those conditions include nutrients, and water of a depth of 240-360 feet with a soft or sandy surface at the bottom. Sweetnam explained that the squid are harvested during spawning. Lights are used to attract the curious cephalopods. Nets are then deployed to scoop them out of the water.
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration statistics, almost all market squid are caught off the coast of California. In 2008, 84 million pounds were harvested by U.S. Commercial fisheries. Most are frozen and shipped to Asia, but some of the catch goes directly to fish markets or is sold as bait.
“It’s really weird to be surrounded not by water but by a sea of millions of squid,” a former squid fisher told The News. “They watch you with those eyes. They also squeak. If you don’t take adequate precautions they’ll clog your engine, all your pumps. It’s like something from a science fiction movie.”
According to NOAA, “many aspects of the life history of market squid remain unknown,” making research and conservation planning vitally important.
Sweetnam told The News that the DFG sets a total catch limit of 118,000 tons annually, to ensure that overfishing doesn’t occur, although current biomass is one of the things scientists still haven’t ascertained. Fishing is not permitted on weekends to “give the squid a break.”
The squid, Sweetnam says, are an important food source for a wide variety of marine organisms, including fish, birds and marine mammals, as well as an increasingly valuable harvest for humans.