PCH Closed By Suicide, As Homeless Person Cast Self In Front Of Tanker Truck

Desperation and tragedy this morning on Pacific Coast Highway.

A person living on the streets of Malibu cast their body in front of a truck that had delivered gasoline, an act of suicide that ended in instant death.

PCH was closed at the landmark big sycamore tree, across from the Shell gas station, for 4-1/2 hours.

No name was immediately available, as the person’s family was being notified.

Storm Timing and Totals: The KBUU Predictions

Going out on a limb here:  What time will the rain hit???

About 1:30 tomorrow morning … with heavy rain all morning. 

How much rain will we get???

2 inches on the coast Saturday.   Another 1 inch Sunday.

Will it be raining at sunrise Easter Sunday???

Maybe… clearing skies are possibly … but scattered thunderstorms will still be moving in … to possibly drench the easter bunny.

More on the storms later in this newscast.

 

Look For Details On Financial Aspects Of School District Divorce Soon

Agreement on specific terms for the creation of a new Malibu Unified School District may be at hand.

A source close to the talks with Santa Monica says terms of the deal are just about ready to be rolled out to the voters of Malibu.

City council members met with city lawyers for two hours this week.

Santa Monica school board members have endorsed letting Malibu go … but the sticky negotiations are over the massive amount of property tax that Malibu sends to Santa Monica every year.

Santa Monica has vowed to protect school children there from any cuts in services as a result of letting Malibu … and its tax money … form a separate school district.

Taxpayers in Malibu may be asked to vote to approve a continuance of a parcel tax … a current tax of 346 dollars per property per year … 

But Malibu district backers point out that this is a continuation of an existing tax … not a new one. 

And senior citizens are allowed to exempt themselves from paying it.

Details will probably be announced by the city council in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.

 

SCE Asks For New 67-Foot-High Power Pole At Malibu’s Scenic Entrance

Southern California Edison has plans to replace two old power poles… install a new pole and cables across Malibu Canyon Road … and update a tangle of wires … at a major Malibu crash hot spot. 

Malibu Canyon Road … at the top of the hill near the HRL Research Lab … the scene of frequent car crashes.

SCE says the existing poles … more than 40 years old … are deteriorated. 

They hold up a 64-thousand volt transmission line … installed in 1957.

The existing pole at the curve is 52 feet high … SCE wants to replace it with a 66 foot high pole.

The sideways pull on the power lines is so strong … that Edison wants to install  guy wires across Malibu Canyon Road … to be held up by a new pole on the north side of the road. 

Why so high???

Edison says it’s to reduce the risk of the poles burning in brush fires.

That raises a big question… actually … a series of them.

Three miles of wooden poles to the north … up Malibu Canyon .. were replaced with metal poles.

This was a part of the settlement over weak wooden poles … which failed in a windstorm 17 years ago … causing the half billion dollar Malibu Canyon Fire. 

If the power poles have to be replaced … why replace them with a 66 foot high wooden pole??

The power lines in question include transmission lines … the lines that bring power into Malibu form the outside world.

Undergri9unding transmission lines is not cheap … but of evertherr was a place to consider it … the summit of Malibu canyon Road in Malibu would be the place to do it.

It is a dangerous curve.

The road makes a sharp curve there … the city his about to widen the road and cut the hilltop down.

Plus… Malibu Canyon Road is a designated scenic highway … those poles are arguably the ugliest in Malibu. 

The matter goes before the Malibu Planning Commission next Monday.

 

CPUC Proposes ‘Reallocating’ Electric Rates, With a $25 Monthly Connection Charge

A massive battle is shaping up in California over how much electric customers have to pay… and how that is calculated.

The State of California plans to charge every California household 25 dollars a month to connect to the electrical grid … and then pay a reduced rate for actual electrical consumption.

And Malibu’s state assembly member has already introduced a bill that would make this proposed increase dead on arrival.

The proposal comes from the California Public Utilities Commission … the CPUC.

Two years ago … the state legislature quietly passed a bill requiring a fixed charge for connecting to the power grid … with wealthy ratepayers paying more … and low income ratepayers paying less.

But this would make most peoples bills skyrocket … a Malibu homeowner using very little electricity might see a monthly connection charge of 73 to 128 dollars per month.

Te California Public Utilities commission… the CPUC … on Wednesday proposed a new billing structre.

They say it would simply reallocate how existing costs are shared among customers.

A usage rate … the price customers pay for a unit of electricity … that would vary according to the time of day.

And a flat rate .. a charge to connect to the grid.

The CPUC process a flat rate of  $24.15 per month

The state assembly member who represents Malibu is Jaqui Irwin .. and she has been campaigning for a much lower flat rate.

RATES IRWIN 1 

“I don’t think any of us are really opposed to a flat fee … we just want to make sure it is set at the right amount. “

Irwin’s prop[osal would cap the monthly connection fee at a much lower amount … 5 dollars a month for low income repairs rate payers… $10 a month for everyone else.

One rate design expert said the proposed CPUC charge both creates a disincentive for conserving energy at home and worsens the value of rooftop solar customers, significantly damaging the return on investment.

Not surprisingly …  Edison and California’s other two large investor-owned utilities favor the CPUC plan.

The power companies, of course, stand to profit from an energy mix that includes less customer-sited solar and less electricity conservation. 

California’s residents have taken a beating from investor-owned utility companies and the CPUC over the past year.  The Commission cut solar export compensation … kneecapping the state’s once-thriving solar industry and leading to nearly 20,000 jobs lost.

The CPUC then shut down the emerging community solar market … which offered a pathway for renters and those with unsuitable rooftops for solar to save on electricity bills by paying for solar installations at distant sites.