KBUU Newswire – Day 381  – Monday Nov 25 –

• =   Here’s something you don’t see everyday:
• =   Wind chill forecasts of 30 degrees in the Malibu mountains tonight.
• =   A half inch of rain likely tomorrow night … and Thanksgiving travel will be slick.
• =   Malibu’s city checkbook seems to be in good shape … despite the fire.
• =   But the local school superintendent says they are in trouble … and predicts pain ahead.
• =    Check the forecasts and road reports … if you’re traveling.

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Malibu’s Only Local Daily News… from Radio Malibu  …. F-M 99 point 1 K B U U. Good morning … I’m Hans Laetz reporting.

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A housefire in the back country … yesterday above Neptune’s Net.

Ventura County firefighters got the call just before 9 Sunday morning.

A chimney fire broke out … and it extended into the attic of a home off Yerba Buena Road.

Firefighters from the City of Oxnard and L A County helped put out the house fire and kept it from spreading into brush.

With cold weather arriving …firefighters remind residents to have their fireplaces inspected and … if necessary … cleaned.

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Malibu seems to be weathering the firestorm OK in the budget department.

City Manager Reva Feldman tells the City Council in a memo today … that general fund revenue is exceeding budget expectations in most revenue categories.

Revenue from Property Tax revenue was $11.1 million in the last quarter … that exceeds the budgeted amount by $1.3 million … even after the loss of 480 homes in the Woolsey Fire.

The overnight bed tax … charged on hotel rooms … was 2.1 million dollars … and that exceeds the original budgeted amount by $400,000.

The b and b tax revenue was $2.5 million … and that’s 1.6 million dolalrs more than the city had predicted.

Higher interest rates and higher market value for the City’s long-term investments have yielded a large increase in interest earnings for the fiscal year.

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Malibu’s city council meeting tonight will include an update on plans by the West L A Water Basin District to build a desalinization plant … to serve Malibu and other westside cities.

Malibu voters have no say in the matter …. other than electing board members for the West LA Water Basin District … a ballot question that generally receives zero publicity.

The city is on record as opposing the plan … which came up during the drought several years ago.

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Also tonight … the first step in allowing the Malibu Farmers Market to park its cars on the vacant lot next door … which is owned by the city.

With construction of the Malibu College underway … the popular Sunday morning market is facing a space scrunch.

Several zoning changes and use plan modifications are necessary … the city says … to allow the vacant lot to be used for parking for the Farmers Market.

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The city council will also take its final vote on a ban on evictions … in advance of statewide rent control.

Also … a final vote on giving city zoning officials the power to issue fines against property owners who refuse to comply with the state coastal laws.

Oddly … that last ordinance is opposed by a state agency ….the MRCA.

It sent an attorney out to Malibu to express fears that the City would use zoning rules to arrest Latino employees of the MRCA.

Hard to figure that one out.

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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … F-M 99 point 1 K B U U.

Support for KBUU’s daily broadcasting … the signal on the air … comes from the Malibu Foundation …

The KBUU solar panels and battery were paid for by the Malibu Foundation.

This has kept us on the air through storms and blackouts … 24/7 .. on clean … renewable solar power.

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We reported earlier he Santa Monica Malibu school district … on the other hand … is in budget trouble.

The local school district is changing the way it is funded … moving away from getting state aid from Sacramento … and instead collecting property tax money before it heads up into the state budget.

The transition will mean more money in the future … says Superintendent Ben Drati.

But not right now.

Drati has sent a letter to taxpayers last weekend.

He says the district faces change unique challenges … including the loss of funding guarantees for certain expenses that were previously funded by the state.

That means the district must keep more money in the savings accounts than districts ordinarily maintain.

“At this point, the district fund balance is too low for comfort; our reserves are lower than they should be” Drati says.

“And there is no indication in the near future that there will be an increase in revenue from state, federal or local sources of funding.

California ranks 41st in the nation in education funding … and Drati says state funding has been extremely volatile for years.

The school superintendent is laying the groundwork for what he calls taking “a fresh look at our expenditures (to) develop a sustainable budget.”

Just exactly what that will mean  …

Not clear yet … but the superintendent says it may be painful.

Stay tuned.

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You think that government moves slowly???
Check this out … the California Coastal Commission will meet in two weeks … and is expected to approve a map adjustment approved by the Malibu City Council … in 2012.

The Coastal Commission staff sat on the proposal for five years.

The issue is an amendment by the city to designate three vacant lots in Malibu as possibeo sites for affordable housing. 

State law requires that Malibu designate possible sites for affordable housing. 

One vacant lot is next to the Malibu Library.

The other two are near Paradise Cove.

The Coastal Commission has to approve.

The city started this process in the summer of 2012.

It is not controversial …. everyone is in agreement.

It will go before the Coastal Commission this December … seven and a half years in the pipeline.

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A wild few days of weather are on tap.

Strong winds tonight … up to 60 miles per hour at the mountaintops.

Here on the beaches … we can expect west winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph tonight.

Winds will blow all night …

Rain will arrive Wednesday morning … maybe before work .. maybe midmorning.

It looks like the cold front will drop about a half inch to an inch of rain in Malibu.

Snow levels will start at 65 hundred feeet … that’s above the Grapevine … but will drop Wednesdat afternoon.

There could be some accumulating snow over the Grapevine as early 6 PM but more  likely it will get nasty later Wednesday evening.

More rain on Thanksgiving Day.

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The Christmas Tree Lot benefiting the MHS Athletic Booster Club will open on Friday, November 29th at their new location on the corner of Stuart Ranch Road and Webb Way (the “Chili Cook Off” site.)   To celebrate the tree lot opening, ABC will be hosting a Community Night on December 6th from 5-9 pm, with many activities planned, food trucks, holiday shopping and more! 

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Traffic … in 65 seconds … first …

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Weather for the Malibu ….

((((   Sunny today   )))) … highs  ((((   66   )))) beaches … ((((   69    )))) mountains and canyons.

Winds … mild today but picking up late in the afternoon.

Sunset tonight is at   ((((    4:48   )))).

After that … ((( clear and cold    )))) tonight … low ((((   53  )))) beaches …  (((( 39  )))) mountains and canyons.

High wind warning up starting at 6 PM this evening to 3 AM tomorrow morning.

Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.

The wind chill factor could go below 30 degrees tonight.

Tomorrow should be   ((((   cold … not as windy … clouding up in the afternoon … 20 percent chance of rain late in the evening.    )))).

Right now here at the KBUU studios in Trancas … it’s  ((((       )))) degrees.

In the ocean … it’s ((((       )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.

Mo says the waves at Surfrider Beach today are   ((((    )))) feet high ….

Those are ((((  fair )))) surfing conditions …. according to Mo.

(((((  High  tide is at  High 7:51am … 6.5ft

Low 2:44pm -0.9ft

A secondary High tide tonight at 8:59pm 4.3ft   .))))

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The KBUU Newswire is posted midmornings … at RadioMalibu.net and at the MalibuTimes.com websites.

Remember…  breaking news always  goes first to the radio …  on F-M 99 point 1 over all of Malibu….

Our web player is simple …. you can hear Radio Malibu in your phone or stream it to your car.

Navigate to Radio Malibu dot net . … and we’re streaming in your ear anywhere in the world.

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