KBUU News Fri Sep 29 – Triathlon Changes You Need To Know – Sand May Be Trucked In To Zuma, Westward Beaches – Malibu Lagoon Architect Dies – Malibu Outshines L A County In Ugly Cicic Center Tower Department

ROUTE AND TIME CHANGES TO THIS YEAR’S TRIATHLON, SAT AFTERNOON AND SUN MORN

The Malibu Triathlon makes its 38th appearance at Zuma Beach this weekend, with the pro races Saturday afternoon and the big fundraiser run/swim/bike on Sunday afternoon.

The bike race will not be on PCH … thanks to the flooded Zuma Creek underpass.  That means there will be -no-  road closures at Broad Beach Road or Trancas Canyon.

There will be one lane closed on PCH along Zuma Beach … one eastbound lane closed.

The races will be all day Saturday and then Sunday morning.

For the third year … the Saturday event is actually a pro race … part of the Super league Triathlon worldwide tour. Pro racers were competing in London two weeks ago … in Toulouse one week ago … and as late as Monday were wondering whether this year’s Triathlon would happen in Malibu.

The Saturday races are a little later in the day this year.  This year the Women’s Elite Race is at 1 pm Saturday … the men will race at 2:20 Saturday afternoon.

 

SAND MAY BE TRUCKED FROM PASADENA-AREA MOUNTAINS TO ZUMA BEACH

Sand may be trucked in to Zuma Beach … where coastal erosion has carved away both he width and height of sand at one of LA County’s most heavily used beach parks.

A bold 37 million dollar program has been proposed by L A County to save the beach … both at Westward and Zuma.

And L A County supervisors Lindsay Horvath has endorsed the plan … she’s had the county to apply to the federal government for funding to pay for it.

The idea has two phases … as described in an article in the Malibu Times.

First … the plan would use beach quality sand from the San Gabriel mountains … the giant mountain range that sits north of Pasadena.  Those mountains burned in the Bobcat Fire three years ago … and huge amounts of rocks … sand and dirt are filling up the dozens of detention dams operated by L A County to prevent flooding along the 210 Freeway communities.

Those detention dams must be cleared… the county is continually moving sand out of them … but they are running out of places to dump it in the San Gabriel Mountains region.  Ocean quality sand could be extracted up in the mountains … and rather than filling in canyons or sending the sand  to dumps … it could be trucked to Zuma Beach.

Phase two of the project would see the construction of honeycomb-shaped reef balls … to be placed offshore on the sea bed … below 20 feet of water.

Reef balls have proved successful in retaining beach sand in Australia.  They function as underwater wave energy diffusers … actually creating better surfing waves while absorbing some of their energy.

Beehive balls attract coastal fish and other wild sea creatures.

The federal government right now has more than a half billion dollars set aside for beach retention projects nationwide.

L A County has applied for some of that for the Zuma Beach project … which would also add sand at Westward Beach.

The feds will announce next month if the 37 million dollar L A County sand plan for Zuma will advance to the next stage …

Zuma and Westward beaches have been losing sand since the beginning of time … but urban growth and ocean rise have accelerated the problem.

Most Southern California beaches … from Long Beach south … have had sand replenished for decades.  Beaches from Santa Monica south to Redondo … however … are relatively lucky … and receive sand from the Santa Monica bay currents.

This article is based on an article in the Malibu Times.

 

MAN WHO STEERED MALIBU LAGOON FROM MUD PIT TO WILDLIFE CENTER DIES

The architect who designed the Malibu Lagoon restoration has died.

Mark Abramson died two weeks ago … at the age of 56.

His small memorial service was last weekend … at the Malibu Lagoon.

Abramson took a huge amount of personal abuse from some people in Malibu … as he advocated for 15 years for ripping out bridges and artificial islands in the silted up Malibu Lagoon.

At one point … he had a police guard.

The lagoon was finished 10 years ago … and has won worldwide attention as a successful restoration of a coastal wildlife resource.

Abramson was an accounting major at Pepperdine when he discovered the Santa Monica Bay ..  joined Heal The Bay … and began working on ways to preserve it.

He was sickened by the stagnant water at the mouth of Malibu Creek.

Heal The Bay campaigned for grants to fix the lagoon … and as on-site project manager … Abramson took the project from drawings to reality.

Abrfamson infuriated some local surfers … who feared plans to rehabilitate and deepen Malibu Lagoon would somehow ruin the surf break next door … at Surfrider Beach.

It didn’t.

And the lagoon restoration worked as intended …

Abramson was eulogized as “a lion of the watershed,” … “an often fiery advocate for biodiversity.”

Mark Abramson was 56 .. he leaves behind a wife.

And as news of Abramson’s death came in yesterday ,… we got a news release from a bird group … Malibu Lagoon is one of the 10 best beaches in America for a diversity of birds.

 

CITY MAKING PROGRESS, THEY SAY, NUDGING SHOPPING CENTERS INTO DARK SKY COMPLIANCE

How is the Malibu Dark Sky ordinance working??

Not at all … if you ask most residents with neighbors violating the rules.

Drive up PCH and you can see any number of houses violating the law … lights pointing uop into trees … Christmas stuyel sting lights … bright security lights.

The city does not patrol for lights violations at houses … only at commercial shopping centers and gas stations.

And six shopping centers right now are not in compliance with the lighting rules.

There are six gas stations in Malibu … five of them remain out of compliance.

Only the gas station at PCH and Webb Way is compliant … the city says the other five gas stations have shown progress towards meeting Dark Sky requirements.

Back to the noncompliant shopping centers … the six bright offenders have submitted Planning applications which are currently under review.

Staff continues to follow up with project managers on a weekly basis for status.

The city staff is going to brief there city council next week  and can provide details on the feedback received during site visits. The purpose of this update is to present questions and challenges that the lighting professionals have been experiencing for existing projects.

 

CONGRATULATIONS, LA COUNTY, MALIBU OUTSHINED YOU IN THE UGLY TOWER CATEGORY FOR ONE NIGHT

And speaking of Malibu’s dark skies … if you were in downtown Malibu last night … you might have noticed that the second ugliest tower possible has been erected there.

This one is a security camera tower … 30 feet high.

It that has been placed in the triangle lot owned by the city of Malibu … at the corner of PCH at Webb Way.

It’s only about 30 feet high …

Much shorter than the 90 foot high tower built by L-A County across the street.

But this one has bright lights … really bright lights.

Blue police lights … blinking at the top … blinking at the bottom.

The city was caught by surprise on this one.

“I will speak to the contractor today” says public works director Robb Du Roux about the blue light special … which was most specifically not authorized.

The contractor on the PCH traffic signal synchronization project parked the portable security camera tower … and turned on the blue lights … without permission.

So unless you saw them last night … you missed them.

Maybe there’s a K-mart somewhere that can use them.

 

SANTA ANA WINDS POSSIBLE LATE NEXT WEEK, HOW WILL GREEN MOUNTANS REACT?

Santa Ana winds are coming to Malibu next week.

The long range weather computer models are showing a typical autumn high-pressure system setting up over Nevada next Wednesday.

That will push dry and cold air from the interior through the mountain passes out towards the ocean… warming it up on the way.

Too early to say how string the Santa Ana will be Thursday and Friday.

But this good news … recent rains and cool sopringlije weather have left the brush extremely moist for this time of the year.

The live fuel moisture in the brush in the Santa Monica mountains above Malibu is at 100 to 110 percent.

Usually this time of the year ,,, that’s below 70.

Is it anything below 60 is considered critical fire danger.

The big mess this year is how quickly the thick grass… Brought on by the summer rains… Will dry out and become dangerous.

We’ve really never had weather like this.