Monday Newswire: Malibu’s Only Daily News

This is F-M 99.1 … KBUU News for Monday

• =  A worrisome spike in the number of Coronavirus cases in Malibu … over the weekend.
• =  A city budget that’s one step from disaster goes to the city council tonight.
• =  Statues honoring Junipero Serra are being removed in LA San Franciusco and Ventura …
• =  L A County sheriff’s deputies do not have body cams … infuriating activists.
• =  Oxnard approves a massive industrial park at the Malibu exit.

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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.

591 days since the Woolsey Fire.

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A sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases in Malibu.

After sitting at 35 cases for three weeks …. the number of Malibu covid cases began inching up last week.

And over the last three days … it has climbed to 47 cases.

these are confirmed by the L-A County Department of Public Health.

In the adjancet Santa Monica Mountains … 34 cases of coronavirus now.

Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 1,784 new cases of the coronavirus and 11 related deaths.

The county now has recorded more than 83,000 cases of the virus and over 3,120 deaths.

The continued rise in new cases came amid the first weekend of more businesses sectors reopening, as bars, card rooms and some personal care services were given the green light to resume operations Friday, provided they take certain precautions.

They include ensuring that customers practice physical distancing and wear face coverings.

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A city budget that is just steps away from disaster goes before the Malibu city council tonight.

City manager Reva Feldman says Malibu is just one more natural disaster away from financial catastrophe.

The city could face a 5 million dollar budget shortfall next year if cuts … are not made.

The city staff has asked the city council for areas of belt-tightening.

,” just in time for the budget’s formal adoption by the end of this month.

Right now … the city’s checking account is at good levels … after one major injection of cash.

That money was reimbursement from Southern California Edison for money the city spent because of the Woolsey Fire a year and a half ago.

That $13.7 million reimbursement leaves th ecity ion good shape today ,… but economic downtown caused by the national economic catastrophe will hit Malibu hard next year.

million-dollar budget shortfall in the 2020-21 city budget, but projections show the city will be in dire straits next June if more belt-tightening isn’t done.

Major budget cuts may have to be made. 

For now… city council members are looking to spend less on police services from the L A County sheriff’s office.

This … at the same time that local L A County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl wants to charge more money to the cities that hire the sheriff for municipal police services.

With that background … the city is likely going to ask voters to approve an increase

The city spends 9 point 4 million dollars a year on public safety … with the vast majority going to pay for the sheriff’s deputies.

City council members who said they want to reduce those expenses emphasize they are not interested in “defunding the police,” as has become a rallying cry amid ongoing police brutality protests.

At a budget session two weeks ago … council member Skylar Peake sais he wants a cut … in Malibu’s payments to the sheriff.

NEWSCART 75664 SKYLAR

“I would like to us figure out a way to cut our sheriff’s budget by five or 10 percent.

“I don’t know if that’s possible or not are not in any way shape or form but I think we could asked them to be more efficient.

“To get even 5 percent out of that is a substantial amount of money.”

Councilman Mikke Pierson said the hioped for opening of a local sheriff’s sunstatiom … in Malibu … is not even imaginable under the current financial situation.

NEWSCART 75666 MIKKE SHERIFF

“And the sheriffs substation was mentioned?

“Right at this point the way our budget’s going … that’s just can have to be on hold … which is that what any of us want.

“It doesn’t help make the city safer in any way shape or form.”

The sheriff’s department contract makes up 20 percent of the city’s 33.8 million dollar operating budget.

It is set to increase by nearly a half million dollars …… and in order to pay for that … the city would have to dramatically cut money for homeless services and fire prevention awareness.

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Also on the agenda tonight … extending the fee waiver for homeowners rebuilding after suffering the loss of their homes … in the Woolsey Fire.

To the east of Malibu .. to the north of Malibu  … and to the west of Malibu … statues honoring Junipero Serra are coming down.

But not in Malibu.

On Saturday … protestors pulled down the statue of the founder of the founder of the California Missions from its perch on … Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Also on Saturday … the parish priest at Mission San Buenaventura  … along with the City of Ventura and local Chumash native Americans … announced that the Serra statue at Ventura City Hall will be removed and stored.

Serra was an 18th Century Franciscan priest … who founded nine of the 21 Catholic missions in California.

A saint in the Roman Catholic church … he is reviled by some Catholics and many outside the church for colonizing Native Americans.

The natives were forced into labor and nearly exterminated by Euripean diseases …. actions which perhaps unwittingly led to the destruction of indigenous tribes across the region.

On Saturday in Ventura … about 200 people protested the Serra statue at the top of California Street … where the saint looks down on the city from the front of City Hall.

Father Tom Elewaut of Mission San Buenaventura issued a statement last week … agreeing with Chumash triabl leaders who said the statue should be removed from the public property.

In Malibu … there is no public property named after Serra.

But the Serra Retreat subdivision … all private property … is named in his honor.

The main street is Serra Road … again … it’s private property.

And in the center of the subdivision sits the Serra Retreat itself … owned by the Franciscan order of priests and operated as a Roman Catholic conference center and retreat.

Depsite the controversy roiling around Malibu … none here.

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Traffic traveling westbound on the 10 freeway was completely stopped Saturday afternoon while Santa Monica police and fire department officials attempted to stop a person from jumping onto the road from an off-ramp sign above the freeway.

The potential jumper stood on the freeway’s off-ramp sign near the 4th Street. Traffic stretched past the 23rd street exit and cars could not exit onto Lincoln because it was closed at the off-ramp.

The man eventually left the freeway sign and was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

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 … keeping the F-M signal on the air … comes from the Malibu Foundation …

The KBUU solar panels and battery are underwritten through a grant from the Malibu Foundation.

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

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Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies used tear gas and projectikle rounds … to put down a demonstration in Compton last night.

Demonstrators were protesting the fatal shooting death of 18-year-old Andres Guardado by a deputy.

The protesters want to see body camera tape from the sheriff’s deputies.

The problem is … LA County Sheriff’s deputies don’t wear body cameras.

Funding for body cameras to be worn by local deputies is caught up in the ongoing dispute between sheriff Alex Villanueva and the LA County Board of Supervisors.

Last night … protesters faced off with deputies in riot gear at the sheriff’s Compton station.

The protest was caused by the deputies involvement in a fatal shooting of a man in Gardena.

Andres Guardado was an 18-year-old Latino man fatally shot Thursday by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

Deputies said Guardado was armed with a handgun … but his family said the young man had never worn a gun I was working as a security guard.

“He ran because he was scared,” one of the protesters’ signs read. “Why’d you kill that kid?” the crowd chanted.

According to the Los Angeles times … Sheriff Alex Villanueva told reporters on Saturday that investigators were still gathering evidence but did not provide an explanation for why Guardado was shot.

When the crowd of protesters arrived at the Compton station on Sunday, they were met by metal barricades and at least a dozen deputies in riot gear.

“Show us the tape!” they chanted.

Again … there is no tape.

At a news conference, Sheriff’s Cmdr. Chris Marks said officials are close to awarding a contract for body cameras that will be supplied to 5,200 uniformed deputies working patrol jobs.

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The parent company of Vons and Pavillions is cashing out in a stock offering … and cutting the pay of its workers at the same time.

Pavillons workers in the Point Dume store appear to have just been given the pay cut of four dollars per hour … according to a federal Securities and Exchange filing made late last week.

The pay cut was first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper last Friday … as part of a national policy from Albertson’s … the Idaho based supermarket conglomerate that operates the lawns and pavilions and other supermarkets in 35 states.

It has not yet been confirmed locally.

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In news from up the coast … another piece of farmland on the road to Malibu is about to be developed into an industrial park.

But Malibu residents Macy some major road improvements to the 101 freeway a as a result.

Sakioka Farm is the gigantic field … usually planted with strawberries …. At the southeast corner of the 101 freeway at Rice Avenue …. The off ramp that connect the 101 to Pacific Coast Hwy.

The Oxnard city council last week approved plans to develop an industrial and business park.

The benefits for Oxnard are enormous … about 7000 permanent jobs … and major roadway improvements.

Rice Avenue Will be widened and repaved … the road that leads Oxnard to Malibu is quite literally falling to pieces right now.

Oxnard Tim Flynn calls this project “the shot in the arm that the Oxnard economy needs … according to the Ventura County star.

Most farmland in Ventura County is protected by Ventura County voters … who passed a measure called Save Open-space & Agricultural Resources. S

This farmland however however, has been zoned industrial for decades and isn’t protected. 

Construction is supposed to begin soon.

That final story is based on reporting in the Ventura County Star.