City Hall Roundup: Road Objections Denied By Coastal – Dume Speed Humps, Strong Mayor On Agenda –

LATE WORD:  The California Coastal Commission today unanimously rejected a retired attorney from Malibu’s arguments against widening Civic Center Way.

Bruce Silverstein had argued that the road could not be reconstructed for pedestrian and bicycle safety … and a hilltop curve removed.  He said the road was too close to an environmentally-sensitive marsh.

By a 12-0 vote … the commissioners said the road project could go ahead because it will be built in the same footprint as the old road … which was built in 1950.

The Commission thanked the City of Malibu for preparing a road project that will assist people on foot and bicycles … along the coast.

Silverstein still has a pending coastal appeal on the large piece of flat land that was coated with cement powder a year ago by Southern California Edison.

The city gave an emergency permit to allow the electric company to park trucks there … after the Woolsey Fire.  Edison coated the dirt with cement powder illegally … and the city says it wants the resulting illegal concrete hauled off.

But Silverstein and environmental activist Patt Healy appealed the original emergency permit to the Coastal Commission.  They said the emergency permit encroached on the same marshland down by Civic Center Way … a contention that seems about as valid as the road improvement objection.

The city says Edison can’t be ordered to remove the dirt until the appeal is settled.  A decision  on that is expected this fall.

—- From earlier:—-

A gigantic number of newsworthy matters goes before the Malibu city council on Monday.

Among them … the city council will discuss the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s use of force policy.

The sheriff is the hired police department in Malibu … for almost 10 million dollars a year.

And the council will consider authorizing the Mayor to send a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Alex Villanueva regarding the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s use of force policy.

Also on the agenda for the computer meeting Monday night:

Installing speed humps on Dume Drive and on Fernhill Drive .. on Point Dume … as more and more residents are reluctantly concluding that speeding cars are a growing problem.

And if all goes to custom … on Monday night mayor Karen Farrer will pass the gavel … as council member Mikke Pierson will rotate into the mayor’s position.

Malibu’s city council usually rotates the mayor’s job between elected city council members.

Possibly changing the way the way that that happens … and the way we elect city council members … is also on the agenda Monday.

Malibu voters night be asked if we want to change from voting at large … with every voter deciding on all five city council seats …to voting by district …

And that might include asking residents if we want to elect a strong mayor … in effect electing a politician to run city hall on a day to day basis.

Up until last week … it looked like the city would be forced to adopt some sort of voting by district.

But that was officially deflated yesterday … when the state Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the city of Santa Monica …

The court rejected a Malibu law firm’s claim that citywide elections diluted to power of Latinos to elect council members.

The Court of Appeal ruled that is there aren’t that many minorities to begin with … how can they be discriminated against by citywide voting???

The final decision in that case was filed yesterday … a big defeat for Malibu lawyer Kevin Shenkman.

So … the need for Malibu to make changes to the current voting system … has just flown out the window.