PCH Traffic Light Fails And Causes Disaster, Same Story In Malibu Canyon

It seems like the traffic light electricians in the Malibu area are having a bad week.

Malibu Canyon Road reopened this afternoon  … but the traffic light failed at Piuma … causing a colossal traffic jame heading north.

And Malibu’s brand new traffic light at the city’s east end .. failed this morning and caused a massive traffic jam out there.

The speed limit has been dropped to 35 at the every eastern end of the city … where Tuna Canyon Road dumps out onto Pacific Coast Highway.

People would have loved to hit 35.

Traffic inched through the intersection until a Caltrans contractor could get out there and reset the thing this afternoon.

Normally an isolated back road… with very little traffic… Tuna Canyon has been inundated with cars, seeking an escape valve from the San Fernando Valley and Topanga canyon.

It’s a one-way downhill… southbound… And the stop sign was a big problem getting out onto the highway.

Last Friday… Caltrans brought out a series of trailers with traffic lights on them.

If you’re counting … that’s traffic light 21 on PCH in the city of Malibu.

We don’t have an update yet this morning… On the status of the landslide along Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

At last report… Caltrans engineers have yet to come up to stabilize the cliff above the road… About 2 miles north of Pacific Coast Highway.

That long term closure remains in effect… At least for the next two weeks.

Geologists reopened Malibu Canyon Road today .. after the tunnel was closed by a landslide Sunday afternoon.

The traffic light at the north end of the closure… Piuma Road… failed. Northbound traffic was delayed by a half hour.

That part of the Santa Monica Mountains got almost 2 inches of rain over the weekend.

Down on the coast… About 3/4 of an inch of rain fell on the beaches.

 

We Figure Out 4 More Tenants At Cross Creek Ranch

We’re learning more about the tenants in the gigantic new shopping center … about to open in downtown Malibu.

We’re already reported on the two restaurants proposed inside the the gigantic new Cross Creek shopping center.

Clark’s Oyster Bar and Pura Vida Miami are on the menu tonight at the Coastal Commission for the permits tonight.

Several chain stores are planning to move into the new shopping center. 

Kith .. an apparel store.

Kith Treats … a candy and t shirt store.

Le Labo .. fragrances and stinky stuff.

And Ray-Ban .. sunglasses.

The new Cross Creek shopping center has exemptions from the city’s chain store ordinance … based on a city council decision from 2008.

Before the Planning Commission tonight … Clark’s Oyster Bar’s request for a 24 hundred square feet dining area. 

The kitchen open until 1 in the morning Friday … Saturday and Sunday nights. 

Just around the corner … opposite the library … Pura Vida Miami has pulled a permit request.

Pura Vida Miami is described as a health-conscious South Florida restaurant chain.

At just under 13 hundred square feet …. it will be about half the size of its neighboring oyster bar.

The new Cross Creek Ranch shopping center has city permits for 10 thousand square feet of dining areas. … meaning there is room for about four more similarly sized dining areas at the new project.

Coastal Commission Researching Putting The Brakes On Drastic Rocket Launch Increase Up The Coast

The SpaceX rocket launches up the coast have raised major questions at the California Coastal Commission.

Without doing any environmental studies … or getting any permits … SpaceX has dramatically increased the number of rocket launches from the rocket base next to the ocean … at Vandenberg Space Force Base. 

Last week … the Coastal Commission voted to take a closer look at the ever-growing number of rocket launches.

Mandy Sackett … form the Surfrider Foundation … says increased rocket launches in Florida .. Texas and California are closing beaches frequently.

70236 ROCKETS SURFRIDER MANDY SACKET

“Commercial launches at Vandenberg are expected to contribute to hundreds of thousands of pounds of debris into the ocean in the coming years. Thousands of tons of carbon dioxide and other noxious gases into the atmosphere.

“The historic data on marine life impacts does not inform the effects of the more frequent launches. The launches are extremely loud and destructive, and these activities are adjacent to the Vandenberg State Marine Reserve.”

Residents from as far away as Ventura County say they are not getting warned about the loud rocket launches … which are shaking their homes. 

Renee Roth lives in Ojai. 

70235 ROCKETS RENEE ROTH

“The windows rattle, and then we shake, and you know it’s like we’re going through an earthquake.

“And we all know how unsettling an earthquake is, right?

“And when those earthquakes happen on a regular frequency that we have no idea when or how or what is happening, it is really disturbing.”

Vandenberg used to launch 6 rockets a year … now Space X and other rocket companies are asking for as many as 110 rockets per year.

The Coastal Commission has already asked the U S Space Force … why Space X should have an exemption from California’s coastal protection laws?

Federal law says the state does not control land use on federal land … or by federal agencies.

But Space-X is a private company. 

And the Space Force answered … at last week’s Coastal Commission meeting.

An Air Force Commander took a strong position … that Space X launches are part of the national defense … and the state has no authority to regulate activities by the Department of Defense … the DOD.

Commander Bryan Titus is in charge of Vandenberg space force base:

70238 ROCKETS TS 

“Approximately 25% of the launches today have DOD (Department Of Defense) satellites or payloads  … 

“But I would argue that all of those launches benefit the DOD … not only because of the systems that they put on orbit that the United States and our friends …”

COMMISSIONER DAYNA BOCHCO [interrupting]: “And our enemies!”

COMMANDER TITUS: “… Fair …”

BOCHCO: “Sir?  Let’s be honest now … you talk about the Ukraine … (Elon) Musk had a lot to say about that.”

Coastal Commissioner Dayna Bochco … interrupting the Space force Commander … referring to the rocket company’s owner … Elon Musk.

Mush has reportedly blocked US ally the Ukraine from using SpaceX at times.

Apparently … Commissioner Bochco believes that California Coastal Commission should be setting international policy now. 

Bochco and some other Coastal Commissioners blasted the Air Force and Space Force for allowing Space-X to blow past California’s coastal environmental laws. 

Susan Lowenberg sits on the commission:

70237 BAD ACTOR 

“My understanding is that they had an approval to launch six (rockets), and now it’s up to 20, without permission. So that’s a bad actor … in my book.”

Last week … the Coastal commission voted to put off any decision on the rocket launches for one month. 

They want the Coastal Staff and the Space Force to work out some sort of agreement.

 

State Supreme Court To Weigh CPUC Destruction Of Rooftop Solar Industry

The fight to save California’s rooftop solar program now heads to the state Supreme Court.

The court agreed last week to hear an appeal of the decision by the California Public Utilities Commission to slash the rate out pays homeowners who sell power from their homes to the state’s utility grid.

The rate used to be based on the retail price of electricity.

But persons who joined solar to the grid after last April got that price slashed by 75 percent by the state. 

The state’s decision kneecapped the solar installation industry. 

And it worries homeowners who bought expensive solar systems … on the state’s promise of buying surplus “feed in” at a rate that now looks questionable in the future.

The Supreme Court’s decision to take the case is a significant win for supporters of clean solar power because the court takes up just three percent of appeals filed with it.

Meanwhile … California last week set another record for solar power generation.

For 23 of the last 30 days … solar … wind and hydroelectric generated more than 100 percent of the power demand in California. 

One day this month .. California generated 123 percent of its demand from solar wind and hydro … with the surplus green power exported to other states. 

And if you’re wondering … during the eclipse … batteries took over and recharged with sunlight the rest of the day.

This data comes from Mark Z. Jacobson, a Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering. 

 

101 Traffic May Detour Thru Malibu Tonight, No Matter What Caltrans Is Recommending

Caltrans engineers are keeping quiet … to the general public ….about the possibility of using Pacific Coast Highway as a detour around overnight freeway closures on the 101 Freeway over the hill.

Tonight is the first night of more than a month of overnight closures… five nights a week… while beams are being hoisted over the 101 freeway for construction of the wildlife bridge at Liberty Canyon.

The closures start tonight.

The advertised detours are either inching along the old frontage road …. One lane … traffic delays. 

Or going all the way around through Simi Valley … on the 23 and 118 freeways to the 405 in North Hills. 

The state engineers are -NOT- mentioning using Kanan Dume Road to PCH … and  then PCH east to LA.

You can count that many drivers will figure that out.

Expect to see heavier than usual late night and early morning traffic on the coast road.