50 Additional Deputies In Malibu Over Holiday – Restaurants Can Reopen In Ventura County

The L A County sheriff’s department will send 50 additional deputies to Malibu this holiday weekend ….

This … as Malibu’s mayor says she is disappointed by the lack of response to beach crowds.

Karen Farrer told the Malibu Rotary Club yesterday that LA County’s Beach reopening last weekend ….

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“… did not go well in my estimation.

“and it was predictable. The county opened the beaches for active recreation which nobody paid attention to that unless you consider sitting and getting at 10 active recreation I don’t.

“Anyway they did not open any of the parking lots or the restrooms so it was a disaster.”

The Malibu mayor says this city was a ignored over and over again last weekend … as residents called city officials to complain they could not get the sheriffs office to respond to beach overcrowding or other incidents.

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“We have been in all kinds of phone calls and emails meetings “Communications of every kind with Lost Hills with the County Department of Public Health … with the lifeguards the sheriff … with supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s office.”

Ferrer says there will be an addition of 50 sheriff deputies shifts over the holiday weekend.

We are guessing … about half of those we’re previously scheduled … as the beach team was scheduled to rev up as of next Saturday.

That’s the half million dollars worth of cops that the city of Malibu brings in every year.

The beach team was born two decades ago when teenage gangs from the valley staked out turf at Zuma Beach.

LA County refused to send more deputies … the city of Malibu has been paying for the beach team ever since.

The extra deputies were spotted training in the parking lot at Zuma earlier this week.

Malibu’s mayor says she was disappointed at the way deputies handle the huge crowds last weekend.

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“It was very clear the sheriff is not enforcing masks and social distancing. It was kind of disheartening to see that they made an order from the county that the chefs are considering at best suggestion. And maybe with good reason … they were so outnumbered.”

In Los Angeles … county supervisors say they are aiming to reopen most L A County businesses … and modify the stay-at-home order … by the Fourth of July weekend.

The chairwoman of the County Board of Supervisors … Kathleen Barger … says the county is changing the rules as more is learned about COVID-19.

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“When we first put into place safer at home there was a lot we didn’t know about COVID-19.

“And we’ve learned a lot since then.

“And that’s why in the beginning we weren’t requiring facemasks … but then that was put into play.

“The goal was not to kill businesses.

“The goal was to slow the infection rate.

“And as we have been able to lift the infections … we are doing that.”

But why pick July 4th … came the question.

Is that just for patriotism’s sake or will the science and the epidemiology just happened to converge on the Fourth of July?

Barger was asked that yesterday and says … the July 4th date is not random … and could slide.

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“This is based on our (business) sectors and what they are telling us in terms of need.

“And small businesses have been in disproportionally impacted.

“Many of them are not sure whether they’re going to come out of this and be able to reopen.

“So it is a sense of urgency on my part to move as quickly as possible with the sector recommendations … understanding the public health is going to drive that discussion and provide the parameters as to how each sector is going to reopen.”

Kathleen Berger chairwoman of the Los Angeles county Board of Supervisors.