Nobu is in deep soup … over illegal activity on PCH … and it may be closed down.

Six weeks after a deadly crash … linked to a liquor-soaked party at Nobu … the restaurant has been cited and fined … by the City of Malibu.

And in two weeks … the City Council may yank Nobu’s permits to operate in the city.

City Manager Steve McClary says the first of three enforcement actions has already happened. 

70491 NOBU CITE 

“Nobu was sided by the city for the unpermitted event that it held on July 4.

“The citation included fines for the violation and administrative fines that resulted from the staff time on the matter.”

The city manager did not disclose … however … how much the fines and penalties are. 

McClary says Nobu’s basic permit … its agreement it made with the city in order to operate … is in jeopardy. 

Nobu is a celebrity magnet and extremely profitable oceanfront sushi place.

It routinely overcrowds its parking lot … with delivery trucks and customers often stopped in the center left turn lane … unloading food and people.

But the straw that broke the camels’s back was last 4th of July … when Malibu refused to allow a special 4th of July party to take place.

Nobu held the party anyway … with dozens of bottles of hard liquor handed out to partiers.
And that night … a man was killed when a driver … leaving Nobu … crossed over two lanes of traffic and smashed head on into his car. 

City manager Steve McClary says the city council will be given options to close the restaurant.

70490 NOBU 222

“Staff has reached out to Nobu’s management, urging them to move forward on the restaurant’s pending application to modify its conditional use permit, referred to as a CUP. 

“And as requested by council, for the August 26 agenda – that will be the regular meeting in two weeks – that will lay out the options for the council regarding to the potential revocation or modification of the existing CUP for Nobu.”

As for Summer Wheaton … the woman who apparently caused the fatal crash … Sheriff’s deputies say they are waiting for toxicology reports on the open’s blood.

In order to get a conviction against her … complicated blood tests need to be done … in a scientific manner … and that takes time. 

We do not know if she was drunk … when her car rocketed across PCH and caused the death.

We do not know if she drank alcohol at Nobu … the homicide detectives have to track down and interview witnesses. 

It’s not unusual for cases like this to take time .

We will keep you posted. 

City Gets Third Planning Director In 6 Weeks

Malibu has a new temporary planning department director … but her days are already numbered. 

Maureen Tamuri … a retired city planner from Calabasas …. has agreed to step in to help Malibu.

The city council approved her contract Monday night. 

But her pension only allows her to work for 960 hours for another government.

City council member Steve Uhring pointed out that this equals six months … and Malibu may need an interim planner for longer than that.’

70494 UHRING PLANNER 

“If she were working 40 hours a week, she could be with us for about six months, right? 

“I’m just wondering after all the interviews we did didn’t we have anybody who could look like they could be an Interim Director and potentially be moved into a permanent Directors slot?

“I mean if this woman hangs with us for six months and then we have to hire a new person and start over again, I don’t know if that is going to be easier or harder on the city…”

Malibu’s fractious city council has been leaning on interim department heads … since losing the city manager and city attorney several years ago.

After three years … Malibu still doesn’t have a permanent city attorney. 

And the turnover and turmoil in the planning department is making it hard to recruit planners.

City officials are trying to recruit a new permanent city planing director … but their efforts have been hampered by friction on the city council … and allegations of harassment leveled against city council members by some city employees. 

Assistant City Manager Joe Toney said Monday that efforts to recruit a permanent planning director will continue … with a sox month deadline until we lose the temporary help. 

“Cruise Malibu” Slogan Criticized By Silverstein (And Others)

“Cruise Malibu …. Surf sand slow.”

That’s the centerpiece of a City of Malibu sponsored pubic education outreach program. 

A website … a catchy song… a logo … license plate frames … a cute bulldog wearing sunglasses. 

What could go wrong, wright?

Well … some people are objecting to the Cruise Malibu concept … and message.

City councilman Bruce Silverstein. 

70493 BS CRUISE MALIBU

“The term cruise to me conjures up thoughts of ‘American Graffiti,’ ‘The Fast And The Furious,’ and street takeovers.

“It doesn’t conjure to me in the first instance the concept driving slowly on PCH when you’re there. The program is also showing celebrities stopping and talking on PCH, which suggest to me that this is a place to come and see celebrities.

“And again that is not to me the message we would want to be sending to people outside of Malibu.”

Some women in Malibu have also objected to the connotations of “cruise Malibu” … pointing out that the verb “cruise” can also to mean to move around in public places looking for a sexual partner.

Well-meaning volunteers worked hard on the message … and the song.

Despite the misfire … Malibu is earnestly trying to reduce speeds on PCH.

Malibu Summer: Showers Of Speeding Citations, Blizzards Of Parking Tickets

A massive shower of speeding tickets … and a blizzard of parking tickets … are being issued in Malibu, now that the city council has brought in outside help.

At a cost of one million dollars per year … California Highway Patrol officers are now augmenting the regular sheriff’s deputy patrols.

So far this year … CHP officers have issued about 21 hundred tickets in Malibu … about 18 hundred of those for speeding. 

And a private company called LAZ has been brought in to start writing parking tickets.

City manager Steve McClary said Monday that LAZ is working round the clock … and that means in the middle of the night. 

70492 LAZ MCC 

“So far in July, the city issued over four thousand parking citations.

“2,135 of those came from our new parking vendor alone. That is twice as many as we issued last July.”

And lest you think the parking tickets are being written to tourists … McClary says The LAZ workers are on the streets day and night … 

Many of the tickets are being written in the wee hours of the morning, in the hours when only Malibu residents are generally parked n public streets. 

Round One Of Land Survey: Some People Want Buildings On City Vacant Lands

Some surprises from Malibu residents on what to do with the public land owned by the City of Malibu … parcels of vacant land that were obtained over the years for parks or other purposes.

A significant number of people want buildings on some of those parcels. 

There are five properties … ranging from large properties next to the library … to a large parcel at PCH and Heathercliff … to a small parcel tucked up behind the new Cross Creek Ranch shopping center.

Some people want structures to hold a senior center, youth center, library, or visitor center.

Others want to see an indoor theatre or arts center.

Others .. an amphitheater. 

And others say they want to see housing for seniors or public employees. 

And some say they want to see commercial structures …. Maybe pay parking lots … on the city’s five vacant pieces of land. 

The study now moves into Phase Two … with the refined wish list presented to community members .

Feedback can be submitted via email … or at a special city website called malibucommunitylands.org/ . the City is hosting another round of in-person events and plans to conduct another community survey. 

Phase 2 will focus on determining which of the 10 categories the community prefers for each of the five lands.

There will be a series of pop up events. … around the community … to gather feedback. 

Also .. two community meetings.

Comments can also be submitted via email.

In addition to gathering feedback via email and the updated website form at https://malibucommunitylands.org/contact-us, the City is hosting another round of in-person events and plans to conduct another community survey. 

Upcoming Pop-Up Events:

Thursday, Aug 15, 9 AM – 2 PM – Malibu Middle/High School, 30215 Morning View Drive (*open to Malibu Middle/High School students, parents and staff only)

Friday, Aug 23 from 6 PM to 9 PM – Trancas County Market, 30745 Pacific Coast Hwy

Friday, Aug 30 from 6 PM to 10 PM  – Malibu Chili Cook-Off, 23575 Civic Center Way

Upcoming Community Meetings:

Thursday, Aug 22 at 6 PM – City Hall, Council Chambers, 23825 Stuart Ranch Rd

Thursday, Sept 5 at 5:30 PM – Trancas Land, 6103 Trancas Canyon Rd

Tuesday, Sept 17 at 5:30 PM – Chili Cook Off Land, 23575 Civic Center Way

For more information, visit MalibuCommunityLands.org and sign up for email updates at MalibuCity.org/CommunityLandsEnotify.

Another Lawsuit Over Broad Beach Sand: Billionaire A Accuses Billionaire B Of Sand Theft

More courtroom drama over the disappearing sand on Broad Beach.

One billionaire has been sued by another billionaire … accused of sending heavy equipment onto the west end of Broad Beach to scoop up sand from public property to shore up his beachfront property. 

According to the lawsuit … “this case is about a private property owner using a public beach as their own personal sandbox.”
The lawsuit was filed against Mark Attanasio .. a billionaire investor and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team.

It accuses Attanasio of converting a public natural resource … the sand from Broad Beach … for a nearby homeowner’s personal, private use.”

It alleges that a heavy equipment company ran enormous excavators into the tidal zone … leaking oils and exposing local marine life to potentially hazardous waste. 

The suit alleges that the construction restricted public access to the entirety of the beach.

Photos attached tp the lawsuit show gigantic machines … including a bulldozer … in the wet sand … which is public property. 

The baseball team owner’s lawyer is Ken Ehrlich.

He tells the LA Times that the defendant has pulled all the necessary permits from the City of Malibu and LA County to do emergency shoreline work… to protect his house.

And Ehrlich says the work complies with the rules.

If Ehrlich’s name is familiar … he’s the lawyer for the Broad Beach homeowners … who have been collecting taxes for 10 years to add sand to Broad Beach.

After 10 years … no sand has been moved. 

The lawsuit was filed by James Kohlberg … another billionaire … whose father founded a huge global investment company … KK and R.

Parking Jam Predicted For Malibu Schools Thursday

Malibu’s public schools start one week from Thursday … on August 23rd. 

This Thursday … it’s Get Your Stuff Day.

That’s the day that hundreds of parents and their kids jockey descend on the school too… well … Get Their Stuff.

School picture, school ID, schedule, PE clothes, parking permit, chromebook) so you are prepared for the first days of school.

Fair warning .

The street repaving project on Morn inn View drive is not finished. 

And the central driveway up to the biggest parking lot … by the Boys and Girls Club … is now reached by a new driveway … snaking around the new construction instead of through the middle of the campus.

Handwritten signs indicate that the big parking lot in the center of campus … near the swimming pool and Boys And Girls Club … is for faculty and construction worker parking only. 

Students are all directed to park at the top of the steep driveway … at the eastern end of the campus.

We’ll have more information tomorrow … 

Again … get your stuff day is Thursday morning.