=.  Malibu raises the white flag … it’s inevitable …camping in the mountains is going to happen

=.  The city council is going to ask the county to make sure it’s done without any flames … and patrolled by rangers.

=.  Rebuilding PCH … with trees … a bike lane … and a 35 mile an hour speed limit.

=.  That’s the vision showed to Malibu city council members … who told the staff to go for federal funding.

=.  And the cruise ships that pass Malibu are dumping tons of pollution.

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

Body Found At Lagoon Was A Homeless Person

Sheriffs deputies confirm that the body found it Saturday night … in the brush just east of the Malibu Lagoon… Was that of a homeless person.

Appears that the person died of a drug overdose.

No name or hometown has been released yet by the county coroner.

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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.

PCH Median Concept Shown To Council, With 35 MPH Signs, Council Gives Thumbs Up To Applying For Funds

Pacific Coast Highway may get a drastic overhaul … as the very first green light for what will be a very long process was given last night.

The city council approved plans to ask for federal infrastructure money for two projects … 

One … underground PCH power lines.

Two .,.. rebuild PCH from Cross Creek to Topanga Beach.

City public works director Rob Duboux envision major changes to PCH … a highway that was designed back in 1947 as a rural intercity roadway with a 55 mile an hour speed.

Last night … DuBoux told the Malibu city Council he invasions narrower lanes… Replacing part of the center left turn lane with three studded medians… Bicycle lanes… A total makeover

He showed the city an artist conception that included a 35 mph speed limit sign.

And DuBoux emphasized that this is just the first concept … and that the very first step is to try to tap into federal infrastructure money that is flowing to the states. 

NEWSCART A73262 PCHPLAN DUBOUX 

“The next step to after that would be to submit project applications for funding through the federal infrastructure act. Once we have that we can provide the city Council more of an update and if we have the funding from the federal government we can start the process of developing a more refined project due community outreach and see if this can go.”

One thing missing from the plan so far … what do residents along PCH think?

In the past … there has been significant opposition to making any changes whatsoever in the current street layout on PCH.

Some residents there … adamantly opposed to dividers in the center medians.

They say they need to be able to turn into their garages … and they say fire trucks and ambulances need to use the center lane. 

And more recently … city staff obtained money to improve Westward Beach Road .,. only to find that Point Dume residents opposed that.

Last night… And I was city council gave city staff the greenlight to try to get the federal funding first… and then begin the local planning process.

The city public works director says the undergrounding and street rebuilding projects might happen at the same time … so the highway only has to be torn up once. 

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Support for Radio Malibu KBUU comes from the Mark & Grether real estate group. 

Combining the talents of Tony Mark and Russell Grether … the Mark & Grether group offers concierge level service and personalized attention to buyers and sellers …  landlords and tenants … here in Malibu.

The Mark & Grether Group … a top producing team … with 35 years of experience … and over $1 billion in real estate bought and sold … from Malibu’s coastline to the canyons.

Parking Fines Hiked To $100, $200, Then $500

Parking ticket fine increases were approved by the city council last night.

City public safety director Susan Duenas says oversized vehicles … campers … are a major concern for her office and the city  public safety commission 

NEWSCART A73263 PARKING DUENAS

“Since illegal parking of oversize vehicles continues to be such a problem, both the commission and the staff believe that an escalating fine schedule for these violations of oversize vehicles may help discourage these repeat violators and encourage compliance with the ordinance.   So the recommendation is $100 for the first violation … dollars second violation $200 and then for every violation after that $500 and this is within one year period.”

That will put Malibu’s top fines way above other coastal cities … 

But city councilman Bruce Silverstein points out … other coastal cities are not in very high fire risk areas. 

And other coastal cities have more than one major access road.

So … these steep fines will be brushing up against what federal courts may consider to be unconstitutionally unreasonable.

And the fines may be so steep that a lot of people may file appeals … costing the city a lot of money.

Malibu takes in about 1.7 million dollars in parking fines a year.

But city council members say it’s not the money… It’s the public safety… behind the stiff increases.

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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.

City Council Picture Grows Even Murkier

Malibu’s city manager issue is even more cloudy than ever. 

The city council has scheduled a closed-door session for Wednesday … to evaluate the work of interim city manager Steve McClary. 

It’s not clear why this is being done again … as McClary was just given a raise and a bonus incentive to stick around a few weeks ago.

The city is still casting about … trying to find a permanent replacement for longtime city manager Reva Feldman … who was shown the door a year ago.

The search for a permanent city manager has been a fiasco … as the consultant brought in to act as head hunter suffered some medical issues .. 

Also … some preferred candidates apparently took a close look at Malibu … and then walked away from negotiations. 

The city also lost its assistant city manager.

And last night … the temporary interim city manager announced that a candidate has been given an offer of a job… as the permanent assistant city manager.

And now … the city council will evaluate the interim city manager’s work performance Wednesday.

What does that mean???

Like they said in the movie … “it’s Malibu … Jake.”

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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.

City Council Appears To Accept Inevitable: Camping On Trails Above City

Malibu city council members seem to be accepting the inevitable ….camping is going to happen in the hills above Malibu …

The battle is now shifting to fighting the Coastal Commission staff request’s… for the county to water down a proposed ordinance that would allow it.

Last night… And I was city council agreed with a recommendation from former city Councilmember Rick Mullen … 

The city council adopted his proposal last night to back off simply saying “no camping.”
Mullen and his Ramirez Canyon neighbors led the campaign 19 years ago … that knocked out the first set of rules that would have opened up camping in the tinder dry brush above Malibu.

Last night… The city Council agreed with Mullen… as it formulated a game plan to take to the LA County supervisors in a week.

The Coastal Commission is trying to get around a court decision that Rick Mullen and his neighborhood group won … a court decision that camping in environment sensitive habitat areas is against the  state Coastal Act. 

But the coastal commission staff is asking the Board of Supervisors not only to allow camping … but to allow the MRCA or other parks agencies great latitude in determining where camping can happen.

Mullen last night said the camping plan put forth by the county .,.. as bad as it is … is better than  what the coastal commission staff is seeking.

NEWSCART A73261 CAMPING MULLEN 

“I really think that’s the best we can help for from the sport is easy visors meeting is that the county just keep the regulations that it has an  ordinance in place and to not approve the modifications.”

While other residents last night urged the city to fight fight fight against camping period … the council last night voted to oppose the Coastal Commission changes … to the county’s proposed ordinance that will allow camping … just not as much camping as the Coastal Commission wants. 

NEWSCART A73260 CAMPING GRISANTI 

“I will definitely be watching that meeting and attending and testifying in favor of having supervision and no camping on red flag days … and please stay out of the ESHA.”

That is somewhat of a while flag from Malibu … an acknowledgment that the LA County board of supervisors is going to approve camping… 

And that the county’s plan for campsites is better for Malibu … than what is envisioned by Coastal staff and the MRCA.

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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

Amazon Says No Delivery Van Fleet On PCH, For Now

Amazon says … don’t worry Malibu.

The new warehouse at the end of PCH will -not- be sending fleets of grey vans through Malibu.

The warehouse is the size of 40 football fields … two stories tall. 

It was approved by the City of Oxnard without any discussion on traffic impacts to Malibu. 

PCH would be a logical route fro Amazon vans to use to reach western Los Angeles.

The company now says … no vans will be loaded in Oxnard. 

Packages will all go into large trucks … for transfer to vans somewhere in Los Angeles … and then be delivered to customers.

State law prohibits any trucks with more than 3 axles from using Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu … unless they are making local deliveries. 

An Amazon spokesperson told KBUU the news yesterday … she is not sure where package is delivered to Malibu locations will be loaded onto vans.

Santa Barbara Accuses Cruise Ships Of Polluting Air And Sea

Passenger cruise ships are frequently visible on the Malibu coastal Horizon… as Santa Barbara is increasingly becoming a popular port of call.

And they are dumping sewage and burning garbage at sea.

The Santa Barbara channel keeper organization put out a press release… saying that cruise ships bobbing in the Santa Barbara harbor have sometimes gotten grades of F for the air and water quality problems they generate,

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper says many of the ships slated to arrive at Santa Barbara through May have been given D or F grades in the annual survey conducted by Friends of the Earth.

The Santa Barbara Independent newspaper says the City of Santa Barbara asks each ship’s captain to sign an agreement to respect “no discharge” guidelines regarding pollution within 12 nautical miles of shore.

But there is no enforcement of that … once the ships are in the open ocean.

Channelkeeper says ships treat their human sewage on board before discharging it into the ocean …. but tons of water from laundry, shower, and bilge water get dumped into the ocean.

Trash is burned in on-board incinerators … and tons of oil are burned by the ships population and electric generation equipment. 

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is now actually sending little boats out to meet the ocean liners as they arrive in Santa Barbara … to ask them not to burn or dump in port.

They are also asking the ship’s captains to slow to 11 miles per hour … to avoid striking whales.

Of course … it stands to logic that if cruise ships are not burning or discharging waste while in port … they may be doing that while sailing between ports.  

Like the ports of San Pedro and Santa Barbara … as seen off the coast of Malibu. 

This article is based on reporting in the Santa Barbara Independent. 

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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