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Perched high above the Pacific Ocean… overlooking Paradise Cove… Rancho Del Cielo is a partner bringing public radio to the Malibu.

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

Federal Court Further Handcuffs Police Dealings With Homeless Campers, Restricts Ticketing Of People Sleeping In Cars

Another federal court decision has been handed down that will affect how Malibu deals with people living on beaches … streets and public property.

Homeless person have a fundamental right to use sleeping bags set up homemade shelters on public property.

Yesterday … the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has expanded on its controversial “Boise” decision … 

In the 2018 on a case out of Boise … the court said that people have a fundamental right to sleep in public if there are no shelter beds available to them.

The new decision says a city cannot punish homeless people protecting themselves or their sleeping gear from the elements.

The case came from homeless persons in Grants Pass Oregon … and significantly expanded the Boise decision. 

Two judges said Grants Pass and other cities cannot prohibit simple self-protective measures for the homeless, like using blankets, pillows or cardboard boxes in an encampment.

It also said the city cannot ban homeless persons from sleeping in cars.

The judges also said cities cannot use civil fines against homeless persons either. 

It was a majority of a three-judge panel that made the ruling … one justice took great exception in his dissent.

Grants Pass could appeal the ruling to the full court … but that court has already refused to reconsider its Boise decision. 

The ruling is the law of the land in the states covered by the Ninth Circuit of the U-S Court of Appeals.

California included.

Sheriff’s deputies in Malibu have been restricted by the Boise decision … unable to cite people camping on the beaches or public property under most circumstances.

They have yet to react to yesterday’s Grants Pass homeless decision.

On Tuesday night … the city council again approved a seasonal emergency fire hazard declaration … which bans overnight sleeping in the city due to the severe fire danger it poses.

21 fires have broken out in homeless encampments in Malibu in the recent two years … including some that have spread into tinder dry brush.

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Saguaro Technology offers software development and other engineering services across the entire product life cycle…

And across several industries … including life sciences, automation, and robotics.

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Saguaro Technology of Malibu can be reached at saguarotech.net

Farmers Market Loses 80 Feet Of Library Parking Lot, Wants To Move Next To Legacy Park

The Malibu Farmers Market is getting squeezed out of the parking lot at the Malibu Civic Center.

Construction at the Malibu branch of Santa Monica College has once again moved into the parking lot near the college and the library … the longtime home of the Sunday Farmers market.

Storage bins and the trailer housing the Malibu labor Exchange are now blocking one of two parking lot entrances and eating up 80 linear feet of the former site for the market.

Debra Bianco … who runs there Farmers market … appeared before the City Council Tuesday to plea for help in getting L A County and the Santa Monica College district to move out of an area that was promised by them to the market.

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“Perhaps the county can direct the college to relocate my storage container and those other storage containers that are there, as well as the labor exchange, and perhaps put them on the chili cook off site. 

“That would help at least us to get through this weekend and perhaps next.”

Two weekends ago .. Bianco moved her vendors across the street … and set up shop next to Legacy Park.

And she would really like to relocate the Farmers Market to over there permanently.

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“We happened to go across the street a couple weeks ago to Legacy Park. 

“It was so beautiful there you should’ve seen the residents’ (comments) that we got. 

“We would only be on the outskirts of Legacy Park. We wouldn’t be on it. We would be on it (the sidewalk) just like we were two weeks ago.”

The problem is that the city accepted a deed restriction on Legacy Park … when the seller said it could only be used for parks purposes.

Bianco says her farmers Market could occupy the sidewalk along Civic Center Drive … between the street and the market.

City officials said they would work on the issue.

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Planning Department Decision Bans Malibu Film Society From Showing Movies In Malibu Church

And that brings us to another Malibu civic institution with government-caused problems … the Malibu Film Society.

Malibu’s Planning Department has effectively shut down the nonprofit group from showing movies in Malibu .. after it had been showing dozens of first-run films at Malibu churches for years.

The Malibu Film Society was set up at the request of a former city council years ago when the Malibu Cinemas movie house shut down. 

Film Society director Scott Tallal told the city council Tuesday that the popular .. widely supported film industry outlets was shUt down by the city.

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“Just over a year ago, a self-styled business competitor who doesn’t live here filed a code violation complaint concerning the Malibu Film Society. 

“Even though that lone complaint contained provably false accusations, the Planning Department basically pulled the plug on Film Society screenings here in Malibu and since then has stopped us from accepting an invitation to move to the only other suitable local venue we can find.”

The last time this came up before the city council … two members suggested that the Malibu Film Society move in to the Malibu City Hall chambers.

Tallal says the movie studios that lend out the movies will not accept such a sub-par solution.

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“Council Chambers and other spaces at City Hall just won’t work. 

“I spent two years as a part of the Malibu Arts Task Force, which among other things searched out every available venue in Malibu.

“Very few meet the standards that studios require in order to show their films. 

“Council chambers and other rooms at City Hall are not among them.”

Tallal told the city council that the Planning Department is now requiring Temporary Use Permits to show movies in church halls … which were never required all those years that movies were shown at the Jewish Community Center and Synagogue.

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“Exactly what good are any regulations and decisions that actually work against the interest of our committee? 

“We have a successful well-established nonprofit organization with universal film industry support to bring movies back to Malibu. 

“We have a relocation that’s happy to host them and neighbors who don’t have any concerns about this at all.”

Malibu Film Society director Scott Tallal. 

Given the decision by the city’s Planning Director to suddenly change his interpretation of the permit process … the Malibu Film Society is banned in Malibu.

It can only show films outside the city..

City officials did not immediately address Tallal’s complaint at Tuesday’s city council meeting. 

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U-2 Musician Reportedly Looking To Sell Mountaintop Where Court Blocked His 5 Houses, Above Malibu Pier

It looks like a U-2 musician is giving up on his plans to build five luxury houses on top of a ridge overlooking Malibu Pier.

The Edge … real name David Evans … is quietly trying to sell the three lots he has owned for years … where he had fought and fought and fought to build his subdivision carved into the side and top of the ridges.

This was a major battle at the Coastal Commission four years ago … then a court battle that the U-2 musician took all the way to the California Supreme Court. 

He lost … the courts ruled that the Coastal Commission did not ave the right to approve the project.

That coastal Commission decision was racked by scandal … with all sorts of conflict of interests reported by the LA Times.

Evans lost his battle in 2019 … and now is reportedly quietly trying to sell

Malibu land activist Patt Healy has asked the city council to campaign in Sacramento for a public purchase of the three mountaintop parcels owned by The Edge.

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“All of these parts are continuous to national Park service land and they are very valuable because of their habitat values and as permanent open space. Acquisition funding will come from the state. 

“When acquired the properties will become part of the national park service holdings if they are excepted by them, otherwise they will be held by the state parks or MRCA.”

Two of the parcels are int he City of Malibu … totaling 378 acres. 

A third parcel is in county jurisdiction … 152 acres there.

State purchase of the ridge line above Surfrider beach should be a high priority … Patt Healy urged before the city council last Tuesday.

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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 Malibu Brewing Company Tap Room is now open at Trancas Country Market and they look forward to welcoming you in for an elevated every day dining experience.

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Malibu Brewing Company, Malibu, California.

Iskanders To Host 2-Year-Anniversary Vigil For Death Of Their Sons At Hands Of Alleged Drunken Driver Rebecca Grossman

A family over the hill that lost their two little boys in front of their eyes to an alleged drunk driver will hold a public vigil today.

The sad story of the Iskander boys has generated a lot of publicity in Malibu.

Four children and their parents were crossing a street in Westlake Village two years ago when a pair of high performance race cars came roaring down the street.

At the wheels … a West Hills socialite in one … and a retired baseball player in the other.

The parents yanked two kids out of the way.

Mark and Jacob Iskander were run down … they died on the street.

Their mother … Nancy Iskander … has been very public about her grief.

She is holding public vigil in Westlake Village this afternoon.

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“There aren’t any words to describe how I feel about the support of the community. “There will be a lot of singing, a lot of speeches, a lot of memories of Mark and Jacob.

“We are going to release some white doves, it will be a happy day full of peace.”

Nancy Iskander was speaking with KCLU radio in Thousand Oaks.

The driver of the car that hit the boys is free on bail … facing a murder trial.

Rebecca Grossman reportedly sped away from the crosswalk … and drunkenly asked if her car was OK when sheriff’s deputies found her a half mile away.

The car had sensed the traffic crash and turned itself off.

Grossman denies the charges.

The public remembrance ceremony for Mark and Jacob Iskander is billed as a thank you to the community for keeping the issue alive.

It will be at Three Springs Park in Westlake Village from 4 to 6pm today (Thursday Sept 29).

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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