Mag 2.0 Quake Rattles Malibu Hills Sun Night, Offshore Quakes Also Happening

For the fourth Sunday in a row … Malibu got rumbled by a minor earthquake last night.

Magnitude 2.0 … last night at 9:43 … epicenter up Decker Canyon … barely noticeable.

That was the fourth Sunday that. Magnitude 2.0 or greater had hit the area …. Following that 4.3 magnitude quake a month ago.

Earlier last night … the ocean floor further offshore saw a magnitude 3.2 quake.

That one was 23 miles from Malibu … towards Catalina Island. 

It was followed by three aftershocks … interestingly … on a line headed towards Malibu. 

California State Parks Closes End Of Malibu Pier, Hurting Businesses, After Santa Cruz Pier Collapse

The end of the Malibu Pier is closed to the public … and has been since the January Seventh wind storm.

California State Parks owns the pier … and they want it inspected for safety.

The same storm system that blasted the Palisades Fire into eastern Malibu … that same day … caused the end of the Santa Cruz Pier to fall into the ocean.

State Parks immediately closed the ends of all the piers that it owns up and down the state … including the Malibu Pier.

The two small businesses at the tip of the Malibu Pier are ordered closed. 

That would include the small cafe … and the small souvenir stand at the end of the pier. 

Maren Oetke is manger of the souvenir stand. 

The souvenir shop manager … Maren Oetke … 

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OETKE: “This state closed the pier at the end, in the beginning of January until further notice.”

REPORTER: “So they state told you it’s closed?”

OETKE: “Two weeks and then we will know what’s going on, either we can reopen it or we need to ask for repairs.

“And now it’s eight weeks later, and we need to get a second inspection, and then they need to ask for estimates, and then they have to find a company, which which is probably not going to happen because everybody wants to build right now.”

Both the souvenir stand and the Ranch restaurant have small concessions at the foot of the pier … and they remain open. 

But Oetke says … her business needs the end of the pier to be open if it is to return to anything approaching normalcy. 

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“Our business is dead right now.  Spring is coming, summer is coming, and right now we have zero business.

“And there’s really nobody putting pressure on them because it’s state parks. 

“You know, we need some bigwigs basically put some pressure on them to bring some business back. 

“I mean, we could be back and it has nothing to do with the fire. I understand it’s a safety issue.”

KBUU News was unable to reach anyone at California State Parks over the weekend.  And today is a state holiday.

We will try Tuesday.

Family-Run Businesses In Malibu Beseech LA Tourists: Take Canyon Road To Visit The Bu

The Malibu Pier concession is not the only small businesses in eastern Malibu that are among those barely hanging on.

Malibu Bungalows runs a flower shop at the corner of PCHat Las Flores.

That is a notorious spot for mudflows … the old Cosentino’s Flowers shop was famous for getting swallowed by mud for decades.

The owner there is Lynn Beler … and her shop is behind the checkpoints… her customers cannot reach her.

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“Well, we’re adapting. We’re doing flowers wherever we can in other parts of Malibu. But we just had a lot of cleanup from the mud. We had 3 feet of mud in our bungalows down at the lower level. We’re across from Dukes restaurant. But we’re clean now.”

REPORTER: “But there’s no small business assistance?”

BELER: “No we pretty much did it on our own.

“Sometimes you have to do it that way, kind of pull yourself up by your boots straps – ha ha ha – and be determined and persistent, which which is what I love about everyone here in Malibu.”

A handful of Malibu business owners stood in front TV cameras at the Malibu Pier Friday afternoon … to implore tourists to put Malibu back on their maps. 

They were imploring people to drive around the road closure and visit Malibu by using Malibu Canyon or Canyon doom Road to access.

Heavy trucks and construction equipment were working all weekend on Pacific Coast Highway. 

As we reported Saturday … sheriff’s deputies and the National Guard have moved the Malibu checkpoint three blocks down the highway towards Santa Monica. 

Local deputies say the decision to move the checkpoint was made in coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers and Caltrans.

They say the Palisades Fire recovery operation should not be impacted.  

The county says this change will allow public access to some businesses previously inaccessible to the public.

Too late for some of them.

Two restaurant … Cafe Lux and Tramonto … have been closed.

And at the Friday afternoon media event …  there was some grumbling from the crowd. 

One Malibu resident asked … why ae so many trucks hauling fire debris from Pacific Palisades… in the city of Los Angeles… through Malibu?

There not here for Malibu. 

They’re here for the Palisades … he said … hauling fire debris from Los Angeles out thru malibu and blocking traffic to Malibu businesses.

Cna we send the Army to send their trucks out to the 405 … which hs said would be 10 minutes further?

Assembly member Jacqui Irwin shot that one down in a flash. 

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“The most important thing is that we clear the debris as quickly as possible. 

“And taking the 405 doesn’t take just an extra 10 minutes. 

“My son is commuting from Thousand Oaks to Santa Monica and it’s 2 to 3 hours. 

“So if we put the trucks on the 405, we’re adding time at the end.

“And the Army Corps of Engineers can’t get the debris off the road as soon as possible.”

And there is this problem: Malibu fire debris and Palisades fire debris are often being mixed in trucks.  In particular, concrete and metal debris is processed and mixed together in Pacific Palisades.

Some trucks from Malibu go out thru Santa Monica. 

Some trucks from LA go out thru Malibu … the Army has a trnasporatuion desk that is constantly shifting truck  routes based on traffic.

Colonel Brian Sawyer is moving 12 hundred trucks a day out of the Malibu and Palisades burn zones. 

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“Some of those trucks do – yes it’s true – go up and north from the Palisades to the canyon roads. It’s essentially part of the optimization problem. 

“So we’re gonna take the most efficient, legal route that we can, safely, to more quickly get done with this problem.

“Again any additional restraints will reduce production rates and prolong the time it takes to get rid of all the debris. 

“It’s just a simple fact.”

And indeed … over the weekend … both Saturday and Sunday … heavy truck traffic was trundling up and down the coast highway.

Trucks were observed blocking traffic at several locations … executing u-turns by backing up into both directions of the one lane open each way.

Opening the PCH to tourist traffic??? Sheriff’s deputies say that would end up in a hopeless traffic jam … delaying tourists and critical truck traffic. 

That’s why business operators were asking tourists to drive around. 

Ryan Ahrens … of the Malibu Brewing company. 

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“We recognize how we hard it may feel to make a plan to take a trip out to Malibu. 

“But it’s actually never been easier to get around town right now. 

“Come spend the day. The Canyon roads are open, PCH from Ventura County is clear.

“And while a portion of our city is mourning, the majority of our city is just as you remember. The Hills are green, the whales are returned, and spring is in the air.

“It’s time to make some plans.”

Many Malibu businesses are mom and pop stores. They are hurting.

John Kozłowski and his wife own Sea And Soul Surf … across PCH from Zuma Beach.

He asked LA television viewers to change their perceptions about the people who live and work in Malibu.

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“Yes, we have our share of billionaires and our share of people who have multi millions. But Malibu is really made up mostly of working people like myself and our families that are just here. We moved here to raise our kids and put them in school here. 

“Yes the Malibu community has come together and been a great support to our businesses, but what we are really missing and the way that we really make money is from the tourists.”

From Friday: FEMA Will Pay To Remove Wreckage From 2 Mobile Home Parks, If Residents Ask Them To

Today is the deadline to apply for FEMA disaster relief.

But a last-minute extension has been granted for landowners … deciding whether to have the federal government clean up their debris.

At the end of last week … the federal government has changed its policy … and will pay for the removal of debris from mobile home parks.

That’s huge for the for the removal of two burned-out mobile home parks on Pacific Coast Highway. 

Tahitian terrace and Malibu Bowl … together … sit on PCH at Temescal Canyon Road. 

They are some of the only relatively-inexpensive housing on the coast near Malibu.

Or .. they were.

Up until Friday … 

Thursday, KBUU News reported that 328 destroyed mobile homes will not be cleared by the Army, because FEMA had ruled that it would only clear homes.

Late yestyerday FEMA announced a major change: they will pay to have apartments, mobile home, parks, commercial structures, and other previously excluded buildings included in federal cleanup efforts.

And importantly, the deadline to “opt in” to have land cleared by the US Army Corps of Engineers has been extended, from March 31 to April 15. 

As of Wednesday, about 132 property owners in Malibu and Pacific Palisades had failed to return “right of entry” forms to FEMA. It was not clear what those property owners’  intentions for clearing their lots of fire debris were.

Confusing Evacuation Zone System Will Get Examined By Public Safety Commission Wed

Malibu’s confusing system of evacuation zones is going to be reviewed this week.

Five years ago … the city decided to copy Topanga Canyon and draw up evacuation  zones on the map.

Topanag had zones 1 through 9.

So Malibu drew up zones 11 12 13 and 14. 

Form that simple plan … grew a system that only a bureaucrat could love. 

The state came up with a statewide evacuation zone system and hired an Internet service company to run everything.

Zone 11 because zone M A L dash 1 1 1.

One part of Malibu … the Pepperdine campus … is just outside city limits.

It got evacuation zone MCR dash U zero 

Et cetera.

To add to the confusion … to see the evacuation zones on the map … you have to tap in the name of the company … a bizarre spelling of the word “genesis”with the second E changed to an A … and the EYE changed to a WHY.

And then … in there last mergence … the city quickly found out that its evacuation zones were too big.

One of them had to be split into three chunks … zones MAL dash 113 dash A.  And B.  And C.

Total confusion.

changed its name to Genasys … with a spelling that is different than the dictionary spelling of the word. 

Residents were unhappy … unable to figure out what the maps meant … or how to get the information. 

People did not understand the zone system and the zone names were confusing . Ays the system.

Bureaucrats could understand the maps … the public couldn’t.

Public Safety Director Susan Duenas says the state the Office of Emergency Management is open to adjusting the system to make it more user-friendly for the public. 

She is inviting and encouraging community input on how effective the system is and how it could be improved.

The matter will be discussed Wednesday at 5 … when the city Public Safety Commission will meet.

First Dirt Spread On 101 Wildlife Bridge Today

The first dirt will be spread onto the wildlife bridge over the 101 freeway today.

Heavy equipment will be up above the 101 Freeway this morning … spreading a special formulation of dirt above the ten lanes of traffic.

It’s a mixture of sandy loam mixed with lightweight volcanic aggregate .

Six thousand cubic yards of soil will be placed on the bridge … enough to put more than two feet of dirt on a football field. 

The dirt spreading will take several weeks.

Once it’s finished … plants that are already growing in buckets will be transplanted above the 101.

Coastal sage, buckwheat, wild grape, wildflowers, milkweed will be planted above the freeway … while next to it … oaks will be planted on 12 acres on both sides of the wildlife crossing.