Rain To Taper Off – Who Is The Next Malibu Mayor? – Planning Dept Performs Way Below Its Own Goals – State Declares Malibu Is ‘Underserved Community’

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

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Rain To Taper Off this Morning

Showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue this morning.

A heavy downpour hit the Malibu at about 5 a-m.

We got about a half inch of rain in an hour here at Trancas.

Over the weekend … gentle rain fell. 

A few rocks came down on Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

And the traffic signals on PCH at Morning View Drive went out …. Then came back on to flash red all day and Ito the evening.

As for today … this second wave of storms will be less gentle than what we had all weekend … with spotty heavy showers and maybe thunderstorms.

Te weekend soaker dropped as much as five inches of rain in the mountains above Malibu…. with just under an inch accumulated over the last three days on the beaches.

For this morning … there is an 80 percent chance for more rain. 

The storm will clear by this afternoon … and the days are predicted to be cloudy at times but no rain. 

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Support for Radio Malibu KBUU comes from the Mark and Grether Real Estate Group.

Combining the talents of Tony Mark and Russell Grether…

The Mark and Grether Group offers concierge-level service… personalized attention… to buyers and sellers… landlords and tenants … here in Malibu.

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LA Has A New Mayor, Malibu City Council Mayoral Plans Not In Agenda

So. .. Los Angeles has a new mayor.

Who is going to be Malibu’s mayor?

That’s a good question.

Malibu’s city Council sets tonight… With two new city council members apparently sworn in. But selecting a mayor is not on the agenda.

Last time Malibu’s city council picked one of themselves to be mayor … there was all kids of drama and nastiness.

Usually … the city council candidate getting the largest number of votes gets selected by the five council members to be mayor.

Not last time. 

The bitter 3 to 2 split on the city council led to the majority rejecting that unofficial policy.

Bruce Silverstein wanted the job … but Karen Farrer … Paul Grisanti and Mikke Pierson said he was too divisive.

Farrer and Pierson leave the city council …. Tonight.

And the final results show that they will be replaced by two people who have not … in the past … been Silverstein supporters.

Joining Grisanti in what may be a new majority bloc are Doug Stewart and Marianne Riggins.

Will they vote for Silverstein too be mayor???

We will see what happens tonight at 6:30.

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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. 

The tap room at Trancas Country Market is open…

And the Malibu Brewing Company is serving its Oktoberfest fest beer … a traditional lager with notes of toffee … moderate malt flavors and delicate hops.

A chef prepared menu to enjoy on the patio or inside.

Malibu Brewing Company Malibu California

Planning Dept Says It Is Missing Its Own Service Benchmarks Much Of The Time

A new city of Malibu report provides shocking details about the planning department’s failure to provide adequate levels of service.

This comes as no surprise to anyone trying to build or rebuild … the city staff is under water. 

According to a city report filed last week … the planning department is unable to review applications in a timely manner. 

For example … the city wants to be able to turn around an application with some sort of preliminary response within 30 days … at least 75 percent of the time. 

Right now … only 35 percent of the applications are answered within a most.

Applications for solar installations are supposed to be approved within one day … under most circumstances.

Only 28 percent of this eprojects are getting one day responses. 

Requests for over the counter permits … for interior remodels, minor exterior remodel, and minor exterior site improvements are supposed to get an answer within 30 days.

Only 17 percent of the applications are being answered within a month. 

And zero percent of the Administrative Plan Reviews that were submitted recently got a decision back within 30 days.

Not one out of the 11 filed. 

City planning director Richard Mollica says he knows this is not acceptable. 

He is planning to evaluate the Department’s resources.

He tells the city council he wasnts to coordinate better with other city departments.

And he wants to set up a database to better track projects.

In other words … the Planning Department is broken … its staff knows it … and they plan to fix things.

The city council will get a status update on all this today. 

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A coffee barista … the locals’ place to find entry level surfboards for a grom … or a handshaped blade for a pro. 

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City To Get Rosy Budget Report Tonight, Overnight Lodging Tax Is Lucrative

Much better news will be coming to the city council.

Malibu’s city budget is doing better than expected…. much better.

Assistant city manager Joseph Toney says Malibu socked away 15 million dollars in surplus money this past fiscal year. 

Property tax revenue are up … 345,000 dollars above the projected amount.  

But the big surprise was the amount of revenue from short term vacation rentals.

Assistant city manager Joseph Toney gave the good news to a city council subcommittee yesterday,

BJT. 

“TOT came in much better than expected .. both TOT private and TOT hotels motels … much better than expected.

“There was an increase in travel, and also the increase rof ate that went into effect on January 1 of 2021.

“And we also had assumed in our numbers that the hosted rental ordinance would go into effect, but that was not approved by the California Coast Commission, so that continued to bring in increased revenue.”

Did you catch that?
Malibu’s B and B tax revenue is up … because the Coastal Commission rejected the city’s proposed short term rental ordinance.

As you might recall … the city had proposed requiring a host to be present overnight at homes or condos rented out to vacationers.

Coastal had problems with that .. and offered to negotiate with the city on some other way to address the city’;s concerns about unattended B and B rentals.

That didn’t happen … to the number of B and B stays did not decrease … and revenues were up.

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Based in Malibu … Saguaro Technology offers software development and other engineering services across the entire product life cycle… and across several industries.

Life sciences, automation, robotics.

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It May Take Weeks To Find P-22 In Hollywood Hills

So last week we reported that P-22 .. the world famous Hollywood mountain lion… Was being tracked by his radio collar.

But not so fast.

The National Park Service’s radio collar does not exactly send out a continuous signal that rangers can home in on.

It chirps once in a while.

P-22 is getting old .. and has been attacking small dogs on leash in the Hollywood area.

Experts say it could be that P-22 is not able to track down deer and eat them anymore … and is now turning to chihuahuas as easy prey.

Wildlife officials tell the L A Times they are -not- going to use packs of dogs to chase P-22 

into a tree or to corner it.

The mountain lion lives amongst houses and busy streets. 

Not to mention … near several T V stations with live T V cameras on helicopters.

One biologist tells the LA Times the last thing they want … quoting now. … is an O.J. Simpson freeway chase happening with P-22.

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Mad Interior Art dot com … from Milan to Malibu … supporters of Radio Malibu. … KBUU.

State Declares Malibu To Be ‘Disadvantaged Community’ To Get Road Repaired

The California Transportation Commission last week approved $1 billion for 93 new walking and biking projects for disadvantaged communities across the state.

And guess what?

Malibu is a disadvantaged community… according to Caltrans.

One of the approved projects … yet another PCH preservation project.

This one is in Ventura County … near Deer Creek Road.

1-point-4 million dollars was approved for yet another project to restore another wave damaged rock slope … just east of the big slope restoration project underway at La Jolla Cove.

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For 8 years … Rancho del Cielo has been a partner to public radio in the Malibu.

SMMUSD To Send Home Extra Covid Test As New Year’s Assignment

This is the last week of school before winter vacation.

And the district is urging parents to send their kids to school wearing face masks. 

Not just Covid … but RSV and the flu are spreading.

Kids will be sent home with an extra Covid test this week … 

That’s for them to take the day before school starts in January.

That would be Monday January Third for elementary kids … Tuesday the 4th for middle and high school students

School superintendent Ben Drati last weekend mailed out a plea for everyone on campus to wear masks.

He says masks are a great way to slow the spread of all respiratory viruses, not just COVID. Masks are strongly recommended by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or ages two and up.…

But they are only required in classrooms where at least one kid has tested positive and contagious before the test.

One classroom at Malibu Elementary Schools on Point Dume is under mask requirements. 

The schools are also asking parents to keep their kids home if one of them gets sick. 

Even if kids test negative for COVID-19, everyone should stay home if they have any symptoms of a common cold.

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Give A Deputy A Toy Tomorrow At Costco

Local sheriff’s deputies will be collecting toys for kids tomorrow.

They will be stationed at the Costco in Westlake Village.

You can bring new unwrapped toys or other gifts for families who have less …

The deputies will be up there from 10am to 2 pm … at the Costco just north of the 101 Freeway at Lindero Canyon Road.

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La Nina Is Getting Offset By Strong Jet Wave Over Asia

Getting back to the weather …. Remember La Niña?
We are supposed to be in the third year of la Nina … which means dry weather for Southern California.

Usually.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that La Niña is still there … and so is its drying effect.

But something else is pushing storms into California. 

That something else is called the Pacific-North American Oscillation — or PNA.

The jet stream coming off East Asia hits the pacific OCean and forms a PNA pattern. 

These are measurements of strong fluctuations in the strength and location of the East Asian jet stream.

It’s positive right now … that means it’s stronger than usual and is pushing low pressure systems and storms out of Alaska and towards us.

This signal is in sharp contrast to the La Niña pattern that’s conversely kept Southern California on the drier side.

How long will the positive PNA offset the la Nina?
At least through the end of the month … according to long range forecasts. 

In other words …. More storms are headed our way.

And while the Los Angeles area has seen slightly above average precipitation over the past two months … California as a whole is still lagging behind its historic average.

The central part of the state is still experiencing widespread drought conditions.

Reservoir levels across California are still quite low, though they’ll rise as the snowpack melts. A good bit of snow has fallen in the Sierra Nevada.

4 feet of snow in 48 hours near Donner Pass.

Mammoth Mountain reported that more than 30 inches of snow fell over the weekend.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.

The Malibu Foundation underwrote the KBUU solar panels and batteries at the transmitter … which keeps KBUU’s FM transmitting on 99.1 during storms and blackouts… 24 seven… on clean renewable Malibu sunshine.

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You can hear the news live every morning until 9:30 on KBUU.

FM 99.1 in western Malibu.  Also: streaming at www.radiomalibu.net

Between 10 and 2 … you can hear the newscast playback loop on KBU2. That’s on FM 99.1 HD2 in your car, or streaming at s7.viastreaming.net/6500

If humanly possible, the KBUU NewsScript is usually published at around midday at www.radiomalibu.net