=. A temporary car impound lot is approved for Point Dume.
=. Steve Uhring switches his vote ,… says there is no alternative to the urgency clause.
=. A shooting … a driver’s left window is blasted out on the 10 freeway at La Cienega.
=. A hiccup in the plan to hire Steve McClary as city manager.
=. And the cost council is unable to agree on hiring a city attorney as well.
=. And it’s hard to believe … but the voting has started for election 2022.

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This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the Tuesday edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting.

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Pt Dume Tow Yard Gets Its 4th Vote, Impact Minimalized By Backers

A temporary holding area for towed away cars … next to the post office parking lot on Point Dume … was approved by the city council last night.

It was a 4 to 1 vote … with Steve Uhring switching his vote to yes … in order to let the sheriff’s office tow cars starting in 35 days.

The swing vote on the matter … Steve Uhring … basically held his nose to vote yes.

NEWSCART A73388 TOWLOT UHRING 1111

“For all those people who have written me and said ‘Steve you’re supposed to be taking care of the environment’ environment I’m going to apologize ahead of time.”

Without that yes vote … the tow away lot would not go into effect until after the summer tourist season.
Only a few Malibu residents testified against the plan last night…. at Malibu City Hall.  Former Malibu Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich lives right down the street.

NEWSCART A73389 TOWLOT ULICH

“You have a parking lot here at City Hall .

“Why in God’s name are you going to destroy a place which is my entrance to my home?? And it’s wrong.

“You should be proactive – yes – we can actually boot.

“I talked to them today … with Chris and Doug … thank you for your service … I appreciate the time in two years and everyone that’s put in here … but you can pass an ordinance so you could boot.

“I think when people see the boot it might be a little bit more influenced by they may be more influenced by that because they see they could be booted.”

But … as has been explained patiently over and over again by Public Safety Commission members … the city hall parking lot doesn’t work for flatbed tow trucks to unload cars in.

There’s not enough room.

Current Malibu city council member Karen Farrer also lives right down the street from the Point Dume tow yard.

NEWSCART A73365 TOWYARD FERRER

“Many, many areas were explored and found to be less feasible than this one.
“Let’s just have a reminder this is for the summer only … it’s weekends only… it’s daytime only … no cars stay there overnight.
“That’s not what’s going out on social media … I can tell you that from the letters I’ve gotten from people when I write back and let them know the facts they’re like ‘oh wow that’s different never mind.’ “

Last night … Public Safety Commission members pushed hard for the Point Dume tow yard … essentially … a parking lot wedged in between a canyon … and the post office loading docks.

NEWSCART A733 TOWYARD PUBSAFECOM

CHRIS FROST: “I’ve looked at every site that had a possibility of working in Malibu and this is what we come to it this point. The subject has been misrepresented in social media … you know … this isn’t a salvage yard … it isn’t really even a tow yard. This is a daytime drop site”

DOUG STEWART: “We are not talking about an excessive number of days .. we’re talking about 35 or so. If we pick 20 a day up that would be 700 tows. That’s 700 blocked fire hydrants … blocked driveways … locked intersections … blocked streets … traffic accidents. You know the drill … you know who we need.”

JOSH SPIEGEL: “By having this tow yard, we will have those additional resources here rather than the tow trucks out in Thousand Oaks or Calabasas wherever they are. So this tow operations is very very important.”

Chris Frost … Doug Stewart … Josh Speigel … speaking in favor of the Point Dume tow yard.

There was no outpouring of opposition last night at there city council meeting …but the emails and social media posts had been flying,
That left the the swing vote on the city council to Steve Uhring … he had to pick a side.

NEWSCART A73387  TOWYARD UHRING 222

“I got more conflicting information on this topic can you shake a stick at …you know. So I look at this right now as saying, look, this is an experiment.
“It’s an experiment to tell us if this is going to work.
“It’s an experiment to tell us how many cars we’re gonna have to tow.
“It’s an experiment to tell us if towing these cars is it going to send a message to the people who are coming here that maybe they should park in places where they should’t park.”

Bruce Silverstein … the lone vote against the tow yard … he said he remained convinced that you cannot compromise on an issue like this.

He reads the community on the point as opposed to the tow yard.

And Silverstein didn’t go down without a fight.  He tried to amend the plan so that … in one year .,. if there was a vote to extend the use of the lot … all five city council members would have to vote yes.

That would in effect give Silverstein future veto power over the future decision of the other four city council members … two of whom have not been elected yet.

The city attorney told Silverstein … no … that would not be legal.

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Gridlock At City Hall: New Contract For New City Manager Tabled At Last Minute

You may have thought Malibu has a permanent city manager …

You might be wrong.

Steve McClary was offered the job two weeks ago … on a 4 to 1 vote by the city council … But the final deal was subject to reaching agreement on some contract terms..

That was supposed to have been wrapped up last night.

It wasn’t.

The city’s interim city attorney … John Cotti … made the now familiar type of announcement at last night’s city council meeting.

NEWSCART A73370 CITYMGR JOHN COTTI

“We are going to table Item 6A relating to the employment agreement with Mr. McClary at this time and bring that item back at your next ro subsequent meeting.

“Some of the terms of the potential employment agreement need to be explored.”

We do not know why the agenda item ,,., to sign a contract with McClary … was pulled from the meeting last night.

Also yesterday… There was a last minute item added to the city Council agenda… About possibly hiring a city attorney.

John Cotti has been acting as interim city attorney since Christi Hogan retired 17 months ago. True to form… the city Council met but took no action.

And on a unanimous … 5 to nothing vote last night … the city council rejected a proposed pair of oceanfront houses on the bluffs west of Encinal Canyon Road.

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Labor Exchange Feted For 29 Years Of Providing Dignity And Help

For 29 years … Malibu has had a labor exchange at the Civic Center.

A place for day workers to wait for jobs … to get a meal … to get English lessons … to avoid standing on the street corners … trying to find work to feed their families.

Oscar Mondragon has run the nonprofit … in a trailer at the Civic Center … for nearly 30 years.

Last night … a grateful city council gave him a ceremonial tile.

And Mondragon thanked Malibu.

NEWSCART A73366 MONDRAGON this beautiful city.

“It was a team effort by a lot of people. But when you have an organization like ours that is a nonprofit … nobody making money … and you have seen thousands of workers that have gotten something out of it … and you saw the city also then you can you feel real part of this beautiful city.”

Oscar Mondragon … who runs the Malibu Labor Exchange … and has for 29 years now.

The Malibu Labor Exchange offers a place for men and women to seek shelter as they seek work …. and offers Malibu residents a place to hire qualified workers in a dignified manner.

It’s at the Malibu Civic Center … next to the new library building.
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Driver’s Side Window Blasted Out By Bullet At LA Cienega/10

Police in midtown Los Angeles are investigating a car shooting on the 10 Freeway.

A woman traveling towards the beach had a window … apparently shot out … right next to her head.

She told the California Highway Patrol she believes a bullet was fired from another vehicle into her car …

This happened near the La Cienega exit … westbound … at around 3 AM.

She did not appear to be injured.

The CHP is investigating.

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2022 Voting Starts

Voting has begun for the 2022 primary elections here in California.

And the two major races in Malibu are for county seats.

The field is wide open in the race to replace Sheila Kuehl ….. as there county supervisor representing 2 million people in the western end of LA County

The hometown favorite is Henry Stern ,., a Malibu native now serving in the state senate …

But the race is for a seat that stretches from Malibu to West Hollywood.

Two other major candidates have emerged … State Sen.Bob Hertzberg of the San Fernando Valley and West Hollywood City Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath.

And there is a handful of candidates vying for the opportunity to topple Alex Villanueva as the elected sheriff.

Former Long Beach police chief Robert Luna.

Retired LAX police chief Cecil Rhambo,

Former sheriff’s commander Eli Vera.

The former interim Chief of Police for the city of Santa Paula … Matt Rodriguez.

In the primary election… Alex Villanueva is sort of running against himself.  Assuming Villanueva doesn’t reach a 50% majority vote… the top ranking other candidate to face him in the general election.

Malibu has been moved into a new Congressional district … and that means we will see Brad Sherman on the ballot.

Again.

Sherman was Malibu’s congressman until we got shifted to a South Bay district years ago,

Sherman has been in Congress since 1997.
He’s picked up a handful of Democrats trying to unseat him in the primary … in the heavily blue congressional district.

Balllots are in the mail now.Support for KBUU radio… For eight years now… Has come from Rancho Del Cielo. Perched high above the Pacific Ocean and overlooking Paradise Cove… Rancho Del Cielo is a partner bringing public radio to the Malibu.
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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Brewing Company.
Malibu Brewing Company is a locally owned craft brewery, proudly supporting our community, and local public radio.
Just released: a limited, holiday-spiced Winter Ale …  a perfect fireside companion.
It makes a special gift for the beer-lovers on your list.
Find Malibu Brewing Company premium craft beer in select retailers, or order direct at brew malibu dot com
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Support for KBUU Radio also comes the the Malibu Association of Realtors.
When choosing someone to represent you when you buy … sell or rent a house … local knowledge is very important.
Malibu zoning rules … Coastal Commission rules …
Members of the Malibu Association of Realtors are local experts.
The Malibu Association of Realtors … supporters of our local community … and supporters of local radio 99.1 KBUU.
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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu.
Support for KBUU’s radio covers from Orbit Homes Inc.
Prefabricated homes are the future of construction. Easy to get permits. Fast to build and install. Cost effective … little construction waste.
In Malibu, Orbit Homes has a showroom between City Hall and the Malibu racquet club.
Fire victims can check them out in person … and visit them on the web at www.orbithomes.us .
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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.
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