Caltrans Repeats: Bicycles Must Be Accommodated On PCH In Future

City Manager Says We Need Center Median For Fire Trucks

Bike lanes are coming to PCH … and landscaping in the center median in the central business district is very popular among Malibu residents.

That’s the report back from Caltrans designer and engineers … as the state held another listening session on how to redesign Pacific Coast Highway … yesterday.

Public comments are overwhelming in favor of major changes … and bike lanes … to get bicycles out of traffic … are very popular … according to the Caltrans people.

Caltrans road designer and engineer Ryan Snyder says the state … which owns the road … will install some sort of accommodation for bicyclists.

70587 BIKES

“Caltrans has a policy that we have to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians on our state highway, and there’s actually a bill waiting for the governor signature right now that would mandate that Caltrans put better bike facilities and pedestrian facilities on state highways.

“So it’s something that I feel compelled, that we have to do our best to try to find some better accommodation than we have right now.”

The Caltrans engineer has said that 98% of the people who’ve spoken this summer about PCH say that the current geometry… The current layout is not acceptable.

But any change at all… including the insulation of a bike lane or a bike path… will have both good and bad aspects.

Bike lanes? Getting bikes out of traffic … good.  Traffic speeding up because the bikes are out of the way … bad. 

But while bike lanes are mentioned by a large number of drivers and bicyclists alike … one bicyclist says barriers between the bike lanes and traffic are not a good idea.

70589 SCOTT

“If you look at sections of PCH, there are between 25 or 30,000 people a week on a lot of sections on PCH who are described as bicyclists.

“(But) if you create a barrier between the bike lanes and the traffic lines, that eliminates the possibility for motors to pull over when firetrucks or ambulances need to get through.”

Those numbers are disputed by some residents of eastern Malibu, who say there are only a few bikes on the road on any given weekday. Weekdays of course are different.

The state says there are so few bicycles on weekdays because there is no room for them, and room is now required by Caltrans policy.

The other major issue that is emerging on Pacific Coast Highway from these meetings are landscaped medians, particularly in the business district near the Malibu pier. 

Caltrans has put out an artist’s rendition showing the center left turn lane replaced by a tree-lined median … bike lines on both sides of the street … and no parking for businesses, surfers, or people going to the pier.

Ryan Snyder .. the Caltrans road designer … says people really like the idea of a tree-lined boulevard in the Malibu Pier business area. 

70588 LANDSCAPING RYAN SNYDER

“One of the things that people have told us, is that they especially want to change the character of the central portion of Malibu.

“And here we are really are accentuating the sidewalks, the bike lanes, the landscaping, while maintaining four lanes of travel …  while really emphasizing the landscaping.”

But removing the center turn lane means removing the center lane used every day by fire engines… paramedics… ambulances… sheriff’s deputies.

City manager Steve McClary yesterday said that’s a big problem.

70590 MCCLARY MEDIANS 

“We’ve heard a lot of feedback, obviously about the medians.

“I think those simply a desire on the part of the city that we try to keep that function. 

“I think for the residence there’s a real need there with the emergency access and particularly for evacuations. 

“So I think we need to see if we can somehow keep that function going. 

“I really appreciate that you say that you have some competing interests here.” 

Caltrans engineers say they’ll be back in late October with a latest iteration of plans… as they try to boil down what they hear at the listening sessions. 

But again, it’s pretty clear that whatever they come up with… bike lanes will be a big part of it.

Quake Pinpointed To 7 Miles Under Tunnel 2, Aftershocks Rattle The Bu

Malibu has seen 11 aftershocks greater than magnitude 2.0 … in the 24 hours after the Thursday 4.6 magnitude quake. 

One aftershock … just before 5 this morning … was magnitude 3.4 … sharp impact here at Zuma Beach … dogs awakened and barking .. cats under the bed. 

Aftershocks like that are not unusual after a quake as strong as we had yesterday …magnitude 4.7.

This series of earthquakes is deep .. seven miles down … with an epicenter approximately at Tunnel 2 on Kanan Dume Road. 

Initial analysis suggests the quake had a 40% chance of being associated with the Malibu fault … down at Paradise Cove.

But also … there is a 46% chance of these being associated with the Anacapa fault … which runs further offshore … a mile beyond Point Dume … 

Both off those faults are part of a system that runs east west from the Channel islands off Santa Barbara … under Malibu and then downtown LA … and far to the east.

Seismologist Lucy Jones. 

70586 JONES ACTIVE FAULT

“Of course, everywhere in Southern California is within a few miles of an active fault. 

“This one today was near that Malibu Fault, which is part of the National Seismic Hazard Database … 

“It may or may not have actually been on it … often the smaller earthquakes are on some secondary feature.

“But yes, it’s a well-known seismically active area. 

“We’ve had multiple magnitude fives in the Malibu area over the last decades.”

Lucy Jones was speaking with ABC7. 

Yesterday’s initial quake certainly felt stronger than the magnitude 4.6 quake of last February … we hardly felt the February quake but yesterday’s was very loud and very sharp.

While yesterday’s shaking was pretty hard … there was no damage in LA or Ventura counties.

Fire dispatchers at LA County say they got zero 911 calls.

But if you think we have been having an unusually high number of quakes … you might be right.

But the fact is … the past 25 years had been unusually quiet.

Again … Lucy Jones on ABC7:

70585 JONES SEQUENCE

“I did go back and look, and it’s not just number of magnitude 4, but number of sequences with at least one magnitude 4.  

“And since 1961 we average about 6 to 8 a year, right?

“This year so far we’ve had 14.

“So it is larger than we’ve seen in the last 65 years. It could be statistical fluctuation: I think the definition of a random distribution is that sometimes they cluster … right???

 

Santa Monica And Malibu Reach Agreement On Final Details For Divorce, Subject To City Council and School Board Review

Last February 9th … another quake hit Malibu … that one was magnitude 4.6.

That epicenter was about six miles to the southwest of Thursday’s quake … and probably wasn’t related to it … one seismologist told the LA Times.

Quake hits local school district: Santa Monica and Malibu come to terms on all three agreements for divorce

A local earthquake of a different sort yesterday.

Santa Monica and Malibu negotiators have come to an agreement on the second and third parts of a proposed school separation package.

A Revenue Sharing Agreement had been announced last fall … on how to keep Malibu tax money subsidizing Santa Monica school operations for a few years.

But talks had broken down over an Operations Transfer Agreement …  and a Joint Powers Authority agreement to run the two districts while they are being reorganized.

Yesterday … agreement in all three areas was announced.

The Revenue Sharing Agreement would provide Santa Monica with money from Malibu’s lucrative property tax collections at the current funding levels plus … an annual growth rate of 4% a year, for about the next 18 years.

The Malibu alimony payments would drop if Santa Monica property tax revenues increase.

Progress on the two final agreements had bogged down.

Santa Monica board members had encountered friction from Santa Monica constituencies on the first agreement … the financial details.

In a statement issued yesterday … both the school board and Malibu city officials say they “have remained committed to the ultimate goal of creating a separate MUSD … upholding the shared guiding principles of equity, fairness, and local control in education.”

What’s next???

All three agreements must be reviewed and approved by both the Malibu city council and the Santa Monica Board of Education.

Then … they go to the county. 

The next meeting of the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization for a public hearing, potentially as early as  October 2.

The final decision will be up to the State Board of Education, which has a four year backlog before it will even open the matter. 

Malibu officials say they will ask the state Legislature for special legislation to remove Malibu from a school district in a distant city.

So not to take the earthquake analogy too far … but the seismic fault between Malibu and Santa Monica appears to be erupting in a new school district.

St Aidan’s Celebrates Its Pioneering Woman Priest Next Sunday, With Movie About How It Began

This Sunday … Malibu’s Episcopalians will celebratie our local church’s pioneering role in women being ordained as priests.

50 years ago … the first eleven women defied convention to be ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church.

This was a big deal … the Episcopal Church had refused to ordain women as a matter of tradition … but not religious law.

Some retired bishops went around church leadership and ordained 11 seminary students … women … 50 years ago in Philadelphia.

Susan Klein was in seminary when the Philadelphia 11 were ordained. 

She was ordained as a priest in 1978.

And Rev. Klein became the rector at St Aidan’s Church … at Paradise Cove … 

This Sunday at Saint Aidan’s … they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of this historic event by showing a 90-minute film about the historic events …. Offering not only a time capsule look back into our the not so distant past. 

That will be Sunday morning at St Aidan’s Church at Paradise Cove. 

Malibu High Sports Chum

Shark chum … sports news from Malibu High.

The boys football team will be playing their first game of the season … under the lights … at Malibu High School. 

San Luis Obispo Academy’s team will be playing. 

It’s 8 player ball.

Game time is at 6:30 tonight. 

Egad! Rain In Forecast

A drastic change in the weather is coming … with a winter style storm could move in to the Bay Area and northern California.

Down here … The weather system doesn`t have many rain clouds moving south … 

But it will create we will see a marine layer so deep that it could trigger drizzle …  and maybe even rain … Sunday night into Monday.

Probably under a tenth of an inch of rain. 

Monday will be roughly 10-15 degrees below normal.