Santa Monica Digs In Its Heels Against Independent Malibu School District

Malibu’s drive for an independent school district is still hanging without a vote from a key LA County Committee.

Ot’s called LA-COE … the LA County office of Education.

And last night …,the Santa Monica school board majority bared its fangs against Malibu.

Although the school board has voted to allow Malibu independence … in the interest of students in both cities … its attorney makes it clear that it is not moving in that direction.

David Soldani made it perfectly clear last night … in testimony at Malibu High School.

Malibu … he said… is going nowhere without santa Monica school board members onboard.

And that will be on Santa Monica’s terms. 

70754 SOLDANI ADVICE

“If the city and the district are not arm in armed in this endeavor, with no signed agreements, you will -NEVER- have unification.

“Not ever.

“So my advice is this: take the passion, take the energy, lobby your city council and your city negotiating team, to get back to the table with the district, finish the agreements.”

Christine Wood represents Malibu.

She expressed frustration that Santa Monica board members have not been able to even take a vote open the matter … delay after delay. 

CWOOD REBUT

“It would just be stunning for me not to address the level of the level of arrogance and defiance that you saw at this mic just now.

“And it just gives you a complete representation of the type of noncooperation and entitlement that we experience as a city, when we’re negotiating with district.”

Little fresh ground was plowed Wednesday night …. although there was passion and energy froWhen the county’s LAOCE committee met for more than two hours to take testimony at Malibu High School. 

Former school board member Craig Foster from Malibu was there. 

70757 CFOSTER 

“Please, please please save Santa Monica from themselves.

“They will spend money out of the general fund – money that should be spent on students – to maintain political control to the full extent that they can.”

If the LACOE committee needed to hear about Santa Monica screwups … mishandling Malibu … there was abundant testimony about that last night. 

Parents last night repeated story after story about Santa Monica school officials reacting late… or not act all … or ignoring the special needs in Malibu.

Jake Lingo. 

70758 JAKE LINGO

“SMMUSD does not serve Malibu’s best interest. 

“We are unique in different community than Santa Monica.

“Take this past week for example.

“Power was shut off to all Malibu schools due to high winds and the potential for wildfires for three days. 

“This is a unique problem that Malibu faces every year, but the district doesn’t seem to have any plans to resolve the problem other than close schools the morning of the power outage with communication.

“Do they have plans to install generators? Do they have plans for distance learning?”

[segue to] 70759 AMBER VANDERBILT

“Families in Santa Monica will likely never have their electricity shut off because of high winds, nor a mudslide, nor a boulder fall onto the 10 freeway and close it for days.”

Those were Malibu parents Jake Lingo and Amber Vanderbilt..

Malibu residents … one after another … testified about bungled Santa Monica school management. 

One eastern Malibu resident gave a specific example of a Santa Monica screwup.

Chad Peters is on the PTA at Webster Elementary … and he told of last summer’s cancellation of critical school bus service in Malibu by there Santa Monica headquarters.

Santa Monica kids do not need school buses … Malibu kids do. 

70760 CHAD PETERS 

“In the end, the cancellation was due to mass retirement and buyouts encouraged by the school board.

“They knew what was coming, but they had no plan in place to prepare for those retirements – unless the plan was to hurt Malibu students and schools. 

“I worked hard along with many other community members, and we got bids from every bus vendor, and all of them said that they had never been once approached by the school district.”

Powerful State Politician Plus Santa Monica Residents Oppose Malibu Tactics

Malibu parents may have met a potent opponent to the drive for a separate Malibu school district.

That would be a state assemblyman who represents Santa Monica and a strip of LA to Hollywood. 

Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur’s spokesman appeared at the hearing last night to urge more delay … and a continuation of the talks that began nine years ago. 

Robbie Sandburg is the spokesman for the state assemblyman from Santa Monica and a strip of LA over to Hollywood .. he does not have any Malibu voters in his district at all.

70756 ZBUR

“This is by all measures an arduous process.

“It requires patience, goodwill, and cooperation from both sides.

“The final agreements will forever shape and forever alter SMUSD and MUSD, and will fundamentally shape the ability of both these separate districts to educate the children who attend these schools.

“This process should not be rushed and again the assembly member would caution patience.”

Opposition was also voiced by the current school board president … Jennifer Smith. 

She said Malibu High is doing better than Santa Monica High in statewide rankings. 

Santa Monica parents asked for a delay … for a return to the endless negotiations. 

Like Santa Monica parent Pyle Munyar [phonetic].

70755 MUNYAR 

“We are not opposed to unification.

“We want to continue to work together on the mediation table and work on finalizing these agreements so please let us go back to that process. Thank you very much.”

Another Santa Monica parent made it clear … Malibu tax money shoulcontinue to subsidize Santa Monica schools. 

70752 ERICA BELL 

“My name is Erica Bell. I’m the mother of two students from Santa Monica and I am disappointed this evening about the city of Malibu decision to revert to original 2017 petition.”

I want to be clear that sympathize with th need fort, and fully unification, but not without ensure that division is sustainable and equitable for all students, I have funding and resources for Monica Santa Monica schools.”

Next up .. the county committee’s staff will evaluate the Malibu arguments and Santa Monica defense.

Then .. the appointed board members will make a recommendation … for the state Board of Education to consider. 

There will also be an environmental impact report … probably focusing on economic justice.

There is currently a three year backup … a waiting line … at the state board. 

No matter what they recommend … Malibu has the task of convincing the state Board off Education to approve the split. 

Conrad Leads Grisanti By 140 Votes, No Results For Lyon

Yet more election results for the Malibu city council race were added Thursday..

But still … no write in vote totals for Andy Lyon added in by the county. 

Haylynn Conrad now has a lead of 140 votes over Paul Grisanti … knocking Grisanti out of office. 

Her total number of votes right now is 23 hundred and 92 … meaning any write in candidate would have to pull a miracle of Biblical proportions to get ahead of her.

Final results will probably come in in about two weeks… Including the Malibu write Commission in results.

Only 3.25 Horses Per Week Spotted At City’s Horse Park, As Commission Strives To Attract Users

Malibu has a drastic shortage of city parks …. 

But right in the middle of town … there is a city park sits virtually unused. 

That would be the City of Malibu Equestrian Center … a hidden pocket of a park, located off of a side street near Malibu high school.

The equestrian center was built on land owned by the Santa Monica Malibu school district more than 30 years ago… after a popular horse riding club called Trancas riders and Ropers lost its lease at Trancas Creek.

Tankers riders and Ropers used to have hundreds of members … and 30 years ago … the equestrian park was heavily used.

That was then.

Only 2 or 3 homeowners in the Malibu Park neighborhood owns horses anymore.

The city put up a camera to see how many people are using the Malibu equestrian center.

An average of just 3-1/4 people with horses per week.

Some weeks go by without any horses at all.

The number of people who use the park for a walk … about 15 per week.

The number of people who walked their dogs there … about 23 per week.

That’s 5-1/2 people per day using the park. 

The city spends about $81,000 a year on keeping up the horse park … 

That averages out to about 480 dollars per horseback rider. 

The city parks and recreation commission will talk about what to do with the seldom used park … at its meeting next Tuesday night. 

The City and Malibu Library are talking about hosting a book club or art classes at the deserted facility.

What about the city renting horses for people to ride there?

City staff say that bringing in horses for riding lessons or equine therapy classes would be very expensive due to insurance requirements and instructor liability coverage.

City Considering ‘No Parking’ Rules On Narrow Streets During Santa Anas

Malibu’s narrowest streets may soon have no parking during red flags signs posted.

The city is public safety department is looking into banning parking on narrow Street during wind storms… The red flag events.

The city of Los Angeles has been banning parking in the Hollywood Hills during red flag windstorm for a decade.

LA county has a similar policy for unincorporated mountain areas… But very few streets have been included in the red flag bans.

City public safety Director Susan Das told the city council this week… The state of California has recommended red flag parking bans in Malibu.

REDFLAG BANS SD

“it’s one of they recommendations, especially for neighborhoods that only have one way in and one way out.

“And the fire liaisons have gone out and done sort of a survey of those neighborhoods to see which ones where it would really make a lot of sense and where some of them we might want to open it up to discussion because the way the neighborhoods are… parking availability, etc.”

The ban on parking during emergency fire conditions was suggested by city council member Marianne Riggins. 

It may come before the city council after the first of the year.

Influential Congressman Wants Calif Insurance Commissioner Out

California’s home insurance system is in crisis … and the state’s insurance commissioner is ducking reporters.

Now … an influential California congressman is urging Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to quit.

Representative John Garamendi’s district is the fire prone area of the East Bay near Oakland But before winning that election … Garamendi served as California’s elected insurance commissioner for eight years.

And Garamendi says Ricardo Lara has been unavailable … absent … as homeowners across the state are desperate for help in finding fire insurance.

70763 GARAMENDI

“I have been very concerned about the way in which the current commission has been conducting himself in this office over the last three years.

“I have observed that this commissioner is not willing to take the hard task and the necessary task to stand up to the insurance industry.

“If the commissioner is not willing to do that – and there are plenty of signs that he has not – then he is not doing his job and he should leave.”

The office of insurance commissioner in California is an elected post… And Lara is up for reelection in two years.

Lara has been ducking reporters… And his office has been singularly unhelpful for residence trying to find fire insurance policies at any cost.

After months of trying… The ABC TV station in San Francisco finally tracked him down.

He says he would stand up to the insurance companies… If he only had a reason to.

70762 LARA

“I would file legal action if an insurer is breaking the law and is breaking the current regulations provided by prop 103. The rate that you are seeing reflect the rates of where we are living. We have had unprecedented fires since 2017.”

Lara has indicated that he wants to run for reelection.

Last week … a statewide commission proposed solutions to solve the insurance crisis.

They recommend that t California California find an independent panel of experts to create standards for evaluating insurance companies’ usage of private catastrophe models … the computer algorithms that calculate fire insurance rates.

The commission also suggested that the state bring forth a minimum set of wildfire mitigation standards for homeowners to undertake.