Edmiston Slams Malibu In LA Times But Gets Facts Half Right
Written by 991KBU on May 30, 2018
MRCA boss Joe Edmiston continues his public relations battle against Malibu today.
The executive director of the Mountains Resource Conservation Authority … the M R C A … has written a letter published in the Los Angeles Times.
In the letter … Edmiston says the proposed Hollister Ranch settlement up in Santa Barbara County … in his words … “should not be viewed by the City of Malibu as any kind of precedent.”
Owners of the private land at Hollister Ranch … along the coast beyond Santa Barbara have reached an agreement with the state … calling for paddle-in only or chaperoned access to a public beach at Hollister Ranch.
The state agreed … after its lawyers said they had a weak case to try to force public access over a road that is maintained and owned by private landowners.
Sound familiar???
That’s what Edmiston is trying to force here in Malibu.
Edmiston writes in The Times that he is hearing that the Hollister settlement can be a basis for settling the Malibu lawsuits.
He calls the Hollister Ranch settlement idiosyncratic …remote and unique; and says his board members, living all over Southern California, would not vote for the same deal in Malibu.
In the newspaper …. fact check time.
Edmiston misstates the legal situation … by saying the City of Malibu has sued his agency in two land access cases.
Edmiston conveniently leaves out the fact that his agency filed suit first … and is seeking punitive damages of 15 million dollars each … against certain Malibu residents he has named individually.
