KBUU NewsScript: Massive Contagion Avoided At MHS – Malibu Inn Hotel Not Dead Yet – Mazza Must Resign, Colleague Demands – County Board Members ‘Biased’ Against Malibu School District

=.   A major contagion is avoided at Malibu High … as 94 kids are turned away due to positive Covid tests.

=.  The school principal says only 4 kids with positive tests attended classes in the last week.

=.  The proposed motel set into a cliff near Malibu Pier may be on top of a major earthquake fault.

=.  Yet the planning commission hasn’t killed it … yet.

=.  Fists fly … over the Zoom screen … as one planning commissioner demands that another resign.

=.  Two Santa Monica boosters are on the committee that could veto a Malibu school district.

=.  Two Malibu council members say that;’s not fair … two two should remove themselves.

====

KBUU NEWS AIRED 7:30AM WED JAN 12 – POSTED 11:10AM WED JAN 12

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

====

About ten percent of the Malibu High and Malibu Middle schools student body and employees have tested positive for Coronavirus in the last 10 days.

But the school district’s mandatory PCR testing has kept all but four of those potentially infectious people off campus.

High school; principal Patrick Miller says the districts protocol of requiring a negative PCR culture test before admitting anyone to the campus is working.

NEWSCART A73018 98KIDS PM start of winter break.

“The latest numbers that we’ve heard from Malibu High School – as of now – is that from the start of winter break until now have identified 98 student cases. All but four of those students have been kept away from the campus at all times. There’s been additional four staff cases that have been identified since the start of winter break.”

Santa Monica Malibu schools are one of the only two school districts in L A County to be using PCR tests for entry to campus.  

That’s out of 80 school districts in the county.

Miller told parents in a video yesterday that learning and school activities can continue … because the PCR tests are providing insight into which people need to be isolated.

NEWSCART A73019  98KIDS PM daily screening process

“Our reentry testing is what led to those 94 cases never getting to campus and we appreciate all your cooperation with our additional measures including our daily screening process.”

The school principal said this is the bottom line … don’t send a kid with sniffles to school.

NEWSCART A73017 98KIDS SNIFFLES please don’t send them to school

“Obviously the most important part with all of this: it doesn’t matter how long the quarantine is it doesn’t matter the screening process. If your child is experiencing cold or flu symptoms, in anyway, please! Do not send them to school! please don’t send them to school. I don’t care if their test was negative on Tuesday, I don’t care if their test at home was negative. If your child is experiencing any symptoms, please do not send them to school!”

Malibu High principal Patrick Miller.

====

Malibu’s city Council has apparently selected a new city manager.  And it might be safe to go out on a limb and bet on the current acting city manager… Steve McClary… to get the job.

Last Monday night … McClary appointed a new assistant city manager.

And he sounded very confidant in the job.

And during the meeting … city council members said the selection process was going smoothly.

This … despite rancorous political disputes during the meeting.

City Council has scheduled a special city Council meeting for Thursday at 2 PM behind closed doors. 

Plus they could always surprise us and hire someone else…we’ll keep you posted.

====

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.

===

A proposed four story motel across the street from there Malibu Pier was -not- killed by the planning Commission last night … but out sure looks like it is on the do not resuscitate list.

The proposed Malibu Inn Hotel drew a litany of complaints from the Planning Commission.

This … after residents lined up to oppose the project as Miami Beach in Malibu. 

Major questions were raised about an earthquake fault … which runs along the cliff very close to the proposed 53 foot high retaining wall.

That got the attention of Planning commissioner Kraig Hill

NEWSCART A73022 HOTEL KH a lot of uncertainty.

“This project involves a 50 foot retaining wall directly under a major earthquake fault. Te argument that no one realized it was such an active fault in an area of liquefaction isn’t going to help if the project is built and collapses potentially precipitating the kind of major landslide that could close PCH for weeks. So there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

Other questions were raised about whether the proposed Malibu Inn Motel should be required to tie in to the sewer system serving the Malibu Civic Center.

The sire sits right on the boundary of th sewer district.

The proposed hotel requires for variances from city zoning rules… And variances under the law can only be granted if they are necessary for some sort of development… Any sort of development on the project.

Architect Lester Tobias argued last night that a smaller hotel could be built on the site … meaning the variances might not all be necessary.

Again …. Commission chair Kraig Hill.

NEWSCART A73023 HOTEL KHJM 

HILL: “There are alternative projects that could be done on the site for possibly none of these variances I don’t know but certainly not as many as has been asked for.”

MAZZA: “And I also wonder how you can have a an above ground garage be subterranean?”

The staff will have to do some research on this claims … and the matter will come back before the Planning Commission on April 4th.

The research will take two months … Planning Director Richard Mollica said nearly half of the Planning Department staff has resigned for one reason or another.

====

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.

====

Last nigh’ts planning commission meeting was on the zoom computers… So no physical punches could be thrown. That didn’t stop verbal punches from flying. Planning commissioner Dennis Smith demanded that fellow planning commissioner John Maza resign.

The reason?

Mazza was interviewed by the cities independent attorneys investigating charges made in the Jefferson Wagner affidavit.

 And Maza made a bunch of charges about city staff… accusing them of taking bribes and looking the other way for politically influential Malibu residence.

Mazza made a lot of charges… and the independent investigators found them to be unsubstantiated. 

Mazza promised to supply evidence to the independent investigators… And never got back to them. Last night Smith said Maza shouldn’t work with city staff.

NEWSCART A73021 RESIGN DS anymore [SLAM] thank you

“There’s no reason in the world that he should be on the commission after insulting staff the way that he did in the Jefferson Wagner affidavit. There’s no reason for him to continue to be on the commission if he harbors those feelings about staff that he feels it’s OK to insult them like that. No more. You don’t deserve to be on this commission anymore [SLAM] thank you.”

‘Mazza replied.

NEWSCART A73020 RESIGN JM did to Jefferson

“OK … I am not going to resign.  Nowhere did I come even close to what the council did to Jefferson…”

That would be Jefferson Wagner … the former city councilman who was found by the city’s outside investigators to be an inaccurate source of allegations. 

The Wagner Affidavit investigation … as you recall … has resulted in an independent law team concluding that the allegations made by Wagner … and by association Mazza … were false … and that the sources were not credible.

All this has driven a huge schism into city government … with supporters of city councilman Bruce Silverstein saying that the affidavit investigation was sloppy … not thorough… and  doesn’t prove anything.

====

Two Malibu city council members are demanding that two Santa Monica educators should remove themselves from the committee that gets to make a yes or no vote on an independent Malibu School District.

Karen Farrer and Mikke Person argue “it should be a no-brainer that Barry Snell and Ralph Mechur” have serious … fatal conflicts of interest.

Snell is a member of the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization.

And Snell has already once tried for a vote to kill the Malibu effort … a vote that failed.

Mechur has just been appointed to the board.

Both have longtime Santa Monica school board connections.

Snell has a leadership role with two advocacy organizations in Santa Monica that have actively and publicly opposed Malibu’s petition.

Mechur was an active member of the Santa Monica School Board while the board was opposing Malibu. 

Mechiur has also testified against Malibu before the committee last year … the committee that he has just been appointed to.

There malibu council members sat that the County Committee’s rules prohibit real or perceived conflicts of interest .

Quoting from Farrer and Pierson:

NEWSCART A73024 SNELLMECHUR the city’s selection

“By violating these rules, the Committee and its conflicted members rob Malibu and its children and families of their due process.

“The decision to recuse is entirely up to the discretion of those with the conflict, but we trust that anyone with a sense of fairness will agree and encourage Snell and Mechur to honorably step aside when it is time to decide the fate of the City’s petition.”

We’ve asked Snell and Mechur for comment … yesterday … and we have not received a response. 

===

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

====

Unused prescription drugs are a danger to the environment.

If thrown in the trash … they can leak into the groundwater and cause all kinds of problems.

Tomorrow morning … Thursday … from 8 to 11… the local sheriff’s office will be collecting unused and expired medication … for safe disposal.

Drugs will be collected by a team at Malibu City Hall Thursday from 8 in the morning until 11.

No reservations are required. 

====

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 .

===

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