Red Flags Issued Last Friday, But No Enforcement Of City Ban On Entry For Fire Danger Areas
Written by 991KBU on October 18, 2021
Red Flag Warnings went up last Friday.
And Malibu has a new ordinance .. a new city law … that allows the city to declare vulnerable high fire risk public lands off limits to entry.
There are several places in Malibu where thickets are full of people … camping on public land.
They were not posted as off limits to trespassing.
The people living in those thickets are camping there right now.
No official comment from the city.
But it appears that the sheriff’s office … which enforces city ordinances under a contract … was unable to respond as fast as Malibu had hoped.
The local sheriff’s station … Malibu Lost Hills … has a small group of deputies led by a sergeant … that handles homeless outreach … social services and relocation on a limited basis.
There is a larger HOST team … Homeless Outreach Services Team … downtown.
And Malibu officials had hoped it would help find places to stay for the 12 to 20 men and women living in the brush along PCH at Zuma Creek.
That has not happened.
There have been delays getting the big HOST team approved to visit Malibu … delays at the county executive’s office.
Right now … they are scheduled to help Malibu at Zuma Beach on November 8th … in three weeks.
Bottom line is that the city can pass all kinds of homeless trespassing ordinances… but the sheriff’s department and the county Board of Supervisors call the shots.
And in this case … the city ordinance against trespassing in high fire risk areas during red flags … is simply not being enforced … and the city has no way to enforce it.
We’ve asked the city for comment … none yet. There is a city council meeting next week at 6:30 … it would be a safe bet to predict this issue will be brought up.
This article was corrected to reflect that the next city council meeting is next Monday.
