KBUU NewsScript Mon Jan 17 – Omicron Doubles Covid Cases In 1 Month In Malibu – 1 Foot Tsunami – Venice Opposed Shelters As Malibu Seeks To Export Our Homeless

KBUU NEWS MON JAN 17 7:15AM

POSTED 6:15PM

=. Omicron in Malibu doubles over the last month. Culver City closes for the week … Malibu schools go back in session tomorrow.

=. The Saturday tsunami was one foot at Malibu … but the Ventura harbor saw damage. 

=. Malibu may try to send homeless to shelters in LA … as Venice residents oppose one there.

=. Malibu High Schools’ new campus may be in jeopardy … as the school district and city squabble over there plans.

=. Santa Monica district officials say delays at Malubuy City Hall may delay the project one year … and blow out the budget.

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

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Omicron may be more deadly than earlier hoped for.

Los Angeles County has counted an average of 40 coronavirus deaths a day over the past week, the highest such rate in nearly 10 month.

The last time the average daily death rate was this high was in March of last year. 

Te L A Times reports that the number of ICU patients with COVID-19 last week soared past the peak of the earlier Delta surge. 

Doctors are reporting that some of their ICU patients are people who had coronavirus last year … and got infected a second time.

There is no immunity from Covid without vaccinations and boosters. 

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The official Malibu positive case count has ballooned to 16 hundred 46. 

That’s double what it was a month ago.

And that is only the official count.

The death toll in Malibu remains 13 residents … and it remains 18 in the Santa Monica Mountains. 

Schools will resume in Malibu this morning … and the entire student bodies and staff will ave their regular PCR testing tomorrow … with results due Wednesday.

At Malibu Elementary School on Point Dume .. the test results from last week showed one positive Covid case.

“There was one positive case: Me” said the principal. … Chris Hertz. 

He says he is resting and working from home.

No major news over the weekend at the Malibu schools.

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The Saturday morning tsunami was minor … less than a foot at Zuma Beach.

Up the coast … some notable damage at the Ventura Harbor.

And it is also important to note … the biggest tsunami surges hit Ventura more than 10 hours after the first tsunami waves were predicted to arrive.

During the day Saturday ,,, Harbor Patrol boat capsized and was about to sink … it was saved from going down at the last minute.

Harbor patrol officers had tied up the patrol boat … tight … against a dock and were inside the office.

The water started oscillating … waves swamped the boat … and it started to sink. 

Lesson learned … they said … they plan to not tie up tight during the next tsunami.

Saturday night … a private dock with two boats tied up was wrested loose and rammed a second dock. 

Harbor patrol officers … using another boat … tied everything up. 

As for Malibu … the city sent out warnings about the tsunami at about 7:30 in the morning.

That was 2-1/2 hours after the Pacific Tsunami Center issued the first tsunami advisory … at 4:53 pacific time Saturday morning.

We should point out … no major alarms were set off by local authorities.

Sheriff’s patrol cars closed Surfrider Beach … but lifeguards said they were not aware of any beach closure.

No EAS was set off … probably the right call.

KBUU started airing continuous news announcements at 7:05

The city sent out email and phone advisories at about 7:30. 

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The 160 million dollar reconstruction project at Malibu high school maybe coming off the rails. 

The City of Malibu has raised an extensive list of technical questions and objections to the project… very late in the process. 

School district officials worry that addressing the city’s concerns with delay the project up to a year.  

And with construction costs escalating dramatically … a one year delay may may mean they will not have enough money to finish phase 2.

School district facilities director Carey Upton says the city has failed to provide the district with a schedule of how the high school project will go through its plan review … planning commission and city council process. 

The district is on the district was on a tight schedule to complete the high school building by August 2024… but Upton says city is talking about delaying the project a year or more. 

Upton says the cost escalation might make the project beyond the school district budget. 

Upton says the city waited until a public hearing was conducted on the environmental impact report to raise its objections. 

Usually… governments work together long before a project goes before environmental review to work out questions. 

Says Upton… “We don’t know what charges the city is asking for, because they failed to respond during the period allotted to them by CEQA.”

One major issue raised by the city is that a sewer plant wastewater treatment plant may need to be constructed… Instead of continued use of septic tanks. That unexpected expense will add a half million dollars to the project … and adding in a sewage plant somewhere at the high school will be a lengthy design delay.

Early Friday morning… The Santa Monica Malibu school board delayed approving the environmental impact report for the project… Because of the City of Malibu’s objections.

KBUU asked the city for reaction Friday afternoon … they said they would take to us this week.

Malibu’s planning department has been completely overwhelmed with fire rebuild and other construction projects… And planning Director Richard Mollica said last week that between a half 1/3 and a2 1/3 and 1/2 of the staff has recently departed the cities employment. 

But in fairness … many of the objections raised by the city appear to be about mistakes made by the school district in its proposal.

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Malibu;’s Homeless Task Force meets this week … and will consider a plan to try to pious homeless persons outside the city.

Now comes word about a proposed homeless center in Venice … that is raising the concerns of residents there.

An emergency meeting was held Sunday by people who live near Westminster Elementary School. 

They say the city of L A plans to open something called a homeless decompression center at Wetsminster park … just inland from the beach in Venice. 

The Westside Current newspaper says the decompression center is slated to open at the now-closed Westminster Senior Center.

It;’s also just 150 feet from an elementary school.

It may be the only wintertime homeless in the City of Los Angeles west of the 405. 

On Sunday, parents held an emergency meeting about the shelter. 

One parent told the Westside Current newspaper that “no one wants to lose compassion for the homeless. But there are some things that come with the homeless that shouldn’t be exposed to our children.”

If Malibu is counting on sending homeless persons from Malibu into Los Angeles … or any other nearby city … we may be in for some cold hard facts …. other cities don’t want them.

As we reported Friday ,… the Malibu Task Force on Homelessness says its number one choice for getting homeless people off the streets and beaches is to establish a shelter outside the Malibu city limits.

If putting the shelter outside Malibu doesn’t work … they have a Secondary Plan … a shelter in Malibu.

But … no specifics on location.

The Malibu homeless task force needs tomorrow afternoon at two on the zoom platform.

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What may be the beginning of a flood of requests from burned out homeowners … people who lost their houses in the Woolsey Fire … may be beginning to arrive at Malibu City Hall.

Eleven homeowners are going before the Planning Commission tomorrow night … 

They are saying they need more time to meet city planning deadlines to get their projects approved.

The reasons … the trauma of the fire … the threat of Covid 19 … the delays in recovering damages from Southern California Edison … hassles from mortgage companies … and delays at city Hall getting plans reviewed. 

Those 11 lucky homeowners get to make their cases tomorrow night to the Planning Commission.

Also tomorrow night …the city planning commission will tackle granny flats on Tuesday night.

Auxiliary dwelling units… Also called granny flats or studio apartments… Are specifically allowed under a new state law everywhere in California. Everywhere except along the coast… Or California coastal commission plans are specifically are specifically given precedence. For three years now… City planners have been to bring Malibu regulations into conformance with new State regulations for ADUs.

Things like the size of granny flats … parking requirements and other key planning standards.

The city Planning Commission wants to make sure that homeowners are prohibited from renting out their granny flats as vacation rentals. 

The say the ADU law was intended to increase housing units … not increase the number of short term rentals by the beach.

And they want to limit the size of an accessory dwelling unit to 1200 square feet … about the size of a small two bedroom apartment. 

The hearing on the ADU ordinance is tomorrow night… Tuesday … at 6:30 pm.

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And the saga of Westward Beach Road gets tossed back to two city commissions on Thursday night. 

For five years … city commissioners have been campaigning for widening the road onto the beach … in the interest of giving people a place to walk out of traffic.

Also, to get rid of RVs, by converting parking along the beach to angle parking. 

And … construct a walkway along the beach with a sand wall … 3 and a half feet high.

The project has been approved by one city group after another … all the way up to the city council … for six years.

It was about to go out for bid… when some Point Dume residents discovered it. 

They pointed out that no wave uprush study had been done … and that the beach was getting narrower and narrower.

The city council put the brakes on .. and has tossed it back to the public safety and public works commissions for revisions.

They will hold a joint public hearing on Thursday at 5 … on the Zoom platform. 

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Our drought is back. 

It’;ds been nearly a month since Malibu got soaked … and the storm track is once again far to the north.

So far in fact that a little low pressure system has set up over the eastern pacific … spinning little bitty rain spits at Malibu for five days now.

Showery weather is again forecast for today into tomorrow. 

But not much rain at all.

Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Brewing Company.

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

Just released: a limited, holiday-spiced Winter Ale …  a perfect fireside companion.

It makes a special gift for the beer-lovers on your list.

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

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Support for KBUU Radio also comes the the Malibu Association of Realtors.

When choosing someone to represent you when you buy … sell or rent a house … local knowledge is very important.

Malibu zoning rules … Coastal Commission rules …

Members of the Malibu Association of Realtors are local experts.

The Malibu Association of Realtors …  supporters of our local community … and supporters of local radio 99.1 KBUU.

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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu.

Support for KBUU’s radio covers from Orbit Homes Inc. 

Prefabricated homes are the future of construction. Easy to get permits. Fast to build and install. Cost effective … little construction waste. 

In Malibu, Orbit Homes has a showroom between City Hall and the Malibu racquet club.

Fire victims can check them out in person … and visit them on the web at www.orbithomes.us .

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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.

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=. Malibu High Schools’ new campus may be in jeopardy … as the school district and city squabble over there plans.

=. Santa Monica district officials say delays at Malubuy City Hall may delay the project one year … and blow out the budget. 

=. Omicron in Malibu doubles over the last month. Culver City closes for the week … Malibu schools go back in session tomorrow.

=. The Saturday tsunami was one foot at Malibu … but the Ventura harbor saw damage. 

=. Malibu may try to send homeless to shelters in LA … as Venice residents oppose one there.

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