=.  Officers with guns do not belong on Malibu school campuses … teachers say.

=.  The city moves fast for better school security when school starts … in 51 days.

=.  The city council fails for 18 months to hire a city attorney … a new interim lawyer is picked.

=.  Loud motorcycles are getting lots of attention of the sheriff’s office … supposedly.

=.  How will Caltrans squeeze in a bike lane on 16 miles of PCH in Malibu?  A meeting tonight. 

=.  Edison manages to send a guy out to explain to Malibu that the power system is getting better (see other story).

=.   Somehow they found a guy who is unaware that our blackout rate is already five times worse than other cities … and only getting much worse.

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This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the Tuesday edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting. 

Guns On Campus Opposed By Most Teachers, But More Cops Needed Closely

Malibu city council members want to move with lightning speed to bring safety resource officers to Malibu schools.

But the issue of armed guards … or deputies carrying guns … has yet to be settled.

Last night … the city council approved plans to place deputies at local schools … and also work with consultants of some sort to come up with a comprehensive plan to further implement mental health and gun safety protocols.

But armed officers on campus???

Maia Zander .. a Malibu High teacher … said she was shocked that a recent school safety meeting had parents voting for armed guards or deputies on campus. 

NEWSCART A73455 MAIA ZANDER 111

“I actually had thought when I went to that meeting that we were going to talk about stuff like  fences and cameras so I was totally unprepared for the majority of the discussion being about armed guards. 

“I called as many teachers as I could get a hold of… it’s summer. 

“Feedback was pretty mixed but a very sizable majority was completely against any armed presence and especially against private security.”

That teacher’s comments were echoed by a director at the Boys and Girls Club of Malibu.

Ethan White:

NEWSCART A73453 ETHAN WHITE

“What’s come up over and over and over …  and I think this is what has come up with Uvalde … is the lack… the concern about the lack of response time when we don’t have a police force in Malibu. 

“So like what Maia’s concern about having an armed presence on campus …  even if we didn’t have the armed presence on campus … we just need a faster response time.”

Sheriff’s Captain Jennifer Seetoo said she would see what she could do about having a deputy near… but not necessarily on… the campuses when school starts in 51 days.

The Boys and Girls Club of Malibu has a full-fledged mental health and safety unit … an ongoing project there. 

That’s not the consensus right now.

In the opinion of many … adding armed guards … or armed sheriffs deputies … might add to mental health issues.

NEWSCART A73454 MAIA ZANDER 222 

“Are we just trying to make people feel safer if we’re not sure this will actually make us safer? 

“And an armed presence will make many people on campus feel less safe.

“Those are the exact words I heard on campus over and over when I talk to people.

“There are very serious concerns especially about our students of color being made to feel that less welcome on campus than they already do.

“And yes … I did have people of color who said it those exact words … that they would feel less welcome and less safe …. and that they would be viewed with even more suspicion.”

Moving with lightning speed … the city council voted last night to quickly draft a request for proposals to hire experts to come up with a solution … and at the same time to fund additional guards or law enforcement or security.

Just how exactly that will take shape … has yet to be determined.

The City Council voted last night to have an ad hoc committee draft there request for proposals… and not bring it back up to the city Council for approval.

That would just take too much time… and summer is over and school starts in just 51 days.

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City Council Fails To Agree Again On Major Appointment

Trevor Russin has been appointed the city of Malibu’s interim city attorney, as the city council tonight again split 3-2 on a major decision.

The current interim city attorney, John Cotti, stepped in when longtime city attorney Christi Hogin retired 18 months ago. 

Russin, Cotti and Hogin all worked at the same law firm, BBK, which represents many small cities in the region.

And that rankles councilman Bruce Silverstein.

Last night he said a search should be made … to possibly find a new set of lawyers.

Steve Uhring had no comment for his vote against Trevor Russin

Russin is a familiar face at City Hall … having served for about five years as the assistant city attorney who handled Planning Department matters and the Planning Commission.

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Malibu Brewing Company is a locally owned craft brewery, proudly supporting our community, and local public radio.

Their Happy Days Honey Blonde is a light dry traditional blonde ale… Brew with local wildflower honey from the Santa Monica mountains.

Find Malibu Brewing Company premium craft beer in select retailers, or order direct at brew malibu dot com

Caltrans Public Meeting on Major PCH Changes Tonight at 6

Caltrans officials tonight will explain their plans for possibly adding bike lanes and making other changes to 16 miles of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. 

State engineers last month said some parking spaces might be eliminated along PCH in central and western Malibu … as the state plans the first curb-to-curb remake of Malibu;’s main street.

That announcement caught city officials by surprise … as the city is finishing its planned to rebuild part of that same segment … near Pepperdine University.

Also yet to be heard from … the California Coastal Commission … which is jealously protective of coastal access parking. 

Several years ago… Coastal staff told the City Of Malibu they could not ban parking on PCH for safety reasons… Where the shoulder is very narrow near Paradise Cove.

State officials are holding a public meeting to disclose their plans tonight at six on the computers. 

This is the link: https://signin.webex.com/join. Meeting number: 24953134230. Event password: 2022.

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The Mark & Grether Group is a small tightly knit team… based in Malibu… with full-time marketing and operations staff to deliver exceptional results and smooth real estate transactions.

Mark & Grether Group… a top producing team with 35 years of experience and over $1 billion of real estate sold and leased …. from Malibu’s coastline to the canyons.

Crackdown on Loud Motorcycles Is Already Underway – Sheriff’s Dept

Loud motorcyclists and racing drivers … every weekend it is getting worse.

Sheriff’s deputies are devoting two motorcycle units to stopping fast and furious motorcycles on the coast road. 

At last night’s city council meeting … sheriff’s Lt Chad Watters said special enforcement of speed and noise issues is already happening. 

NEWSCART  A73450 LOUD WATTERS

“We do it every Sunday, sir. Every Sunday we have an operation out there. 

“We have at least two motorcycles… a supervisor and another traffic unit out there as well being able to tow. 

“And now we have the opportunity to tow now that we have the tow yard down there and the trucks.  It’s easier. 

“So we are addressing it every Sunday.”

Watters said street racing and speed exhibitions in the Moonshadows area is particular problem at night … and a special enforcement operation is in the works to crack down there.

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City And Coastal Holding Talks To Unfreeze Homes Stuck In Option 4 Freeze

About four dozen Malibu homeowners who are trapped … prevented by the state government from rebuilding fire damaged houses … might get some relief. 

High level discussions between the California Coastal Commission staff and city of Malibu officials were held last week … according to city managers Steve McClary.

The issue is option 4 … the city’s policy of allowing fire rebuilds to exceed the former house size by 10 percent … at the same time that homeowners apply for larger development. 

In many cases …. the larger development is a retaining wall … a driveway r… or something like that … something required to rebuild in the first place.

Around 50 houses are in the process of being rebuilt under Option 4.  Those houses are frozen … because a Malibu resident complained to the Coastal Commission … and staff there agreed with the Malibu resident’s contention that the Malibu fire rebuild plan was too generous. 

City councilman Mikke Pierson says some Malibu fire victims are trapped. 

NEWSCART A73449 OP4 PIERSON that’s a huge shame.

“We have residents that are panicking right now. They are panicking,. They are out of rental money.  They are just caught completely off guard by this. And that’s a shame to me … that’s a huge shame.”

City manager Steve McClary said the city and coastal officials met last week to try to find out exactly what the issue is.

City officials have said that many of the planned expansions are to accommodate retaining walls … driveways or other new building requirements.

But some in Malibu agree with the complaint … that Option 4 was a backdoor way for speculators to build larger houses for resale.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.

The Malibu Foundation underwrote the KBUU solar panels and batteries at the transmitter … which keeps KBUU’s FM transmitting on 99.1 during storms and blackouts… 24 seven… on clean renewable Malibu sunshine.

Council Puts Off Rancorous Library Debate Until It Can Find Prime Time

And the city council last night ran out of prime time … to hear the great library fund political debate. 

Bruce Silverstein and Steve Uhring both voted that it was too late last night last night … it was after 10:30 … to resurrect the issue.

Uhring wants the council to reconsider a planned donation of City of Malibu library funds … now sitting unused in a county account … to a countywide library endowment fund to increase literate all across Los Angeles. 

The issue will come back. 

You can hear the news live every morning until 9:30 on KBUU.

FM 99.1 in western Malibu.  Also: streaming at www.radiomalibu.net

Between 10 and 2 … you can hear the newscast playback loop on KBU2. That’s on FM 99.1 HD2 in your car, or streaming at s7.viastreaming.net/6500

If humanly possible, the KBUU NewsScript is usually published at around midday at www.radiomalibu.net