KBUU Newswire Tue Feb 8 – More Santa Anas, 90º Temps Coming – City Talking About Yanking Permits For Cross Creek Shopping Centers – SCE and CPA Computers Took Different Days Off At Xmas, Chaos Ensues
Written by 991KBU on February 8, 2022
=. At 7 a-m … it was 29 degrees at the campground in Malibu Canyon … 70 degrees at Paradise Cove.
Face mask rules are dropping statewide … but not yet in LA County and not yet in schools.
=. Malibu officials are talking about yanking the operating permits for shopping centers with out of control car shows.
=. Coastal Commissioners set a policy of managed retreat … by approving a new house on the beach at Trancas Creek.
=. Why your power bill doubled: one computer took Christmas Eve off … another one didn’t.
=. Gentle downcast breezes on tap for today … but a big blow is coming tomorrow night.
=. And a excessive heat watch is issued for tomorrow …perhaps the first ever in February.
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This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the day edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting.
LA County Mask Requirements Will Stay For Now, Even As State Relaxing Statewide Rules
California has seen a 65 percent drop in Coronavirus case rates since the peak during the wintertime omicron surge.
And so … the State of California will end its indoor masking requirement for vaccinated people next week.
But not L-A County … our hospitals are still too crowded.
County officials says our mask rules will be loosened once hospitalization numbers drop below 25 hundred and say there for a week.
And masks still are the rule for schoolchildren, state health officials announced Monday amid rapidly falling coronavirus cases.
After Feb. 15, unvaccinated people still will be required to be masked indoors, and everyone — vaccinated or not — will have to wear masks in higher-risk areas like public transit and nursing homes and other congregate living facilities, officials said. Local governments can continue their own indoor masking requirements and last week Los Angeles County’s health officials said they intend to keep theirs in place beyond the state deadline.
State officials also announced that Indoor “mega events” with more than 1,000 people will have to require vaccinations or negative tests for those attending and those who are unvaccinated will be required to wear masks. For outdoor events with more than 10,000 people, there is no vaccination requirement but masks or negative tests are recommended.
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Cross Creek Shopping Centers Might Get Permits Pulled Over Car Show Chaos
Malibu officials are openly talking about yanking the use permits for Malibu’s major shopping centers … if they can’t get the impromptu car shows in the parking lots under control.
Last Sunday… Cross Creek Road was a madhouse.
The parking lots were full of hot rods being exhibited… and hot rod enthusiasts circling looking for parking places.
And PCH was jammed with car show enthusiasts.
Malibu residents and tourists were unable to get to the grocery store or up Cross Creek Road into the residential neighborhood.
Last Sunday was the worst yet … public safety officials say,
Parking lots full of fast cars … and loud vehicles circling to find a parking space.
NEWSCART A73079 CREEKJAM JM its our town
“We are going to lose the farmers market if this continues… People are not going there … they won’t go there and the vendors are leaving because it’s too crazy. People just will not do it…. So it’s more than just convenience, it’s our town.”
The car shows are special events under the city code … and they must have permits.
They don’t.
So why aren’;t city zoning inspectors down there shutting down the car shows???
City planning director Richard Mollica.
NEWSCART A73078 CREEKJAM RM
“What concerns me is I don’t like the planning department being the one to be held accountable for this. Our code enforcement staff … they do not have the ability to walk onto a property like that with an event like that and all of a sudden start booting people off the property. That’s something that’s handled by the sheriffs department.”
Mollica says the city staff has been talking to the shopping center owners.
But last weekend’s disaster happened after those talks.
What is the city’s ultimate enforcement tool?
The shopping centers must conform to their city Coastal Use Permit … and are in apparent violation.
So John Mazza asked the assistant city attorney …. can the city revoke the shopping centers’ Coastal use Permits … in essence … shut them down.
NEWSCART A73080 CREEKJAM JM TR difficult for that.
MAZZA: “Can we pull their CUPs and change them?
TREVOR RUSSIN: “There is a whole process. If you’re seeking to revoke someone’s conditional use permit, they have due process rights to deal with that also. So that is an option out there but the findings are pretty difficult for that.”
That was assistant city attorney Trevor Russin.
So what’s the next step?
We will keep you posted.
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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.
Coastal Comm Adopts Managed Retreat Rule: Trancas Homeowner Agrees To Surrender To the Sea
Managed retreat is now the new policy for Malibu …. Imposed by the California Coastal Commission.
Last week … the Commission approved plans for a beachfront house reconstruction at the mouth of Trancas.
To get this coastal Commission approval … homeowner Arnie Klien had to agree to the Commission’s new rules dealing with rising ocean levels.
Planning Commissioner John Mazza says he considers the Coastal requirements “onerous.”
And he says it will set a pattern for every single ocean sand house in Malibu … and all of California.
NEWSCART A73081 RETREAT JM
“They mandated the sea rise … they moved the house back… they banned any future or present seawall or any repair. But they also established a policy of managed retreat, which is their intention for the whole coast. And the Kleins signed an agreement that said if the ocean ever got near their house they have to tear the house down.”
John Mazza.
Other property owners are planning a court battle against the manage retreat rules.
They point out that the California constitution allows a homeowner defend their property.
But the coastal commission is again using building permits for new construction to extract an agreement with the property owner.
Planning commissioners are hoping to convince the Coastal Commission staff to explain what the new managed retreat rules are… because the city is in charge of enforcing them.
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Computer Takes Xmas Eve Off, Electric Billing Chaos Ensues
Want to know why your power bill was screwed up this month?
One computer took the day off for Christmas Eve,
Another computer didn’t.
That’s the conclusion of the chief executive officer of the CPA … the Clean Power Alliance …
Ted Bardacke tells KBUU News that a new 500 million dollar billing system at Southern California Edison took the day off.
And that discombobulated the computers that CPA and its contractor Calpine uses… to tell Edison how much to bill CPA customers.
NEWSCART A73083 XMASBILLS 1 without our charges
“In March of last year SCE changed his billing system and this was a project that’s took years to develop and cost over $500 million to implement.
“Apparently this new billing system considers Christmas Eve a business day whereas the old billing system did not.
“Now both SCE and Calpine claimed they had their calendars synced up … However the new billing system did not recognize that for some reason and three straight days of bills went out automatically without our charges.”
That accounts for the double bills that about 145 thousand CPA customers got sent by SCE.
But everyone’s bill also includes SCE delivery charges … the charges to get the power from the CPA generators to the customer.
The delivery charges typically make up 2/3 of a bill… and Southern California Edison was just allowed to raise its delivery charges by the state.
The state says it was a small increase…
State regulators says the total rate hike for delivery works out to about 10 dollars per month per SCE customer. But many SCE customers are reporting gigantic rate hikes.
At CPA … Bardacke says those costs are beyond his company’s control.
NEWSCART A73082 XMASBILLS 2
“Our customers remain as key customers and for delivery charges whether you are a CPA customer for generation or a SCE customer for generation you pay exactly the same to SCE for delivery charges.”
And the size of the increase in SCE delivery costs is not clear.
We have a call in to SCE to find that out.
Apparently … we are the only news reporters int he state to ask that question.
In good faith … Edison says they are researching the possibility that some SCE customers have been charged more than what they should have been.
And to be sure … the billing system is very very complicated.
We will keep you posted.
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Aging Santa Monica Parking Garage Gets Last-Minute, Temporary Reprieve
The aging parking garage used by many Malibu residnents to go shopping in downtown Santa Monica is not dead yet.
A judge last week gave the city of Santa Monica a green light to tear down Parking Structure 3 … a major public parking garage near fourth and Arizona… Very popular among Malibu residence shopping on the third street promenade.
Santa monica’s city Council wants to encourage more public transit… And replace the garage with housing for low income people.
Nearby business owners sued… But their lawyer screwed up and failed to file a document on time… so the judge threw the lawsuit out.
The businesses are going to appeal that to the higher court to a higher court… So the judge is giving them time to do that.
And no … the Santa Monica businesses are not going to hire a different lawyer.
As for now… Parking Structure Three is open.
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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.
Lady Gaga, ‘House Of Gucci’ Get All But Skunked By Oscar
Academy Award nominations went out at 5 o’clock this morning.
And Hollywood tongues are wagging about Malibu’s leading Lady getting snubbed.
Lady Gaga was not nominated for a possible Academy Award for best actress … in House of Gucci.
In fact … House of Gucci only got one nomination… for make up and hair styling the LA Times movie critic says no one gave a more committed performance than Lady Gaga this year.
Excessive Heat Watch – Malibu Mountains May Hit 90º Tomorrow
An excessive heat watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for Malibu for tomorrow.
We cannot remember an excessive heat warning in February ever.
High temperatures are expected to top 85 in the local mountains … and about that on the beach … with Santa Ana winds will whip up as well.
Today … there is a four millibar flow pressure from the north.
That will double to 8 millibars from the northeast tomorrow night into Thursday.
The excessive heat warning for Thursday calls for highs near 90 in Woodland Hills… 83 on the beach in Malibu.
