SMMUSD Board Member Jon Kean: ‘One small distinction I want to make: we have not reached an agreement yet with the City Of Malibu’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Malibu residents are invited to a community meeting about the financial aspects of the proposed deal – today (Saturday) at 1 pm at City Hall.   It will not be streamed, the city said.

Last week … Malibu and the Santa Monica school district announced a financial deal had been reached to divorce .. but that two agreements for the transfer still had to be reached.

Thursday night … one powerful Santa Monica politician says no agreement has been reached yet … only a consensus around a possible financial plan.

That tentative plan would see Santa Monica continue to take a substantial subsidy from Malibu school property tax revenues – about 38 percent – leaving Malibu with $40 million to start a school district in the first year.

School separation advocates point out Santa Monica is already taking that money … and that a separate district for Malibu would mean local control.

Board member Jon Kean .. a member of the district’s negotiating committee … Thursday night: 

70243 DISTSPLIT KEAN 

“There is one … if anybody is listening to this … there is one small distinction I want to make:

“We have not reached an agreement yet with the City Of Malibu.

“ The subcommittees that have gotten together to negotiate this agreement have come to a consensus around it … have consolidated around it.

“We want these community meetings ,to share with those communities to get feedback, and then both entities will have a public process to vote.

“But it is a great step … it’s years of collaboration to get to this point.”

The tentative financial agreement is for Malibu to send about 38 percent of its school tax revenue to Santa Monica … in the first few years … to prevent Santa Monica school kids from losing funding. 

Santa monica parents and employees are being promised that Malibu school independence will not affect funding levels for programs in Santa Monica. 

No such promise however for Malibu… 

But city officials are confident that a school district can be set up out here with the $40 million per year that will be left over after $16 million per year is sent to santa monica.

District Superintendent Antonio Sheldon said …  this is the beginning of the beginning. 

And he asked Santa Monica residents… and malibu residents … to pay attention. 

70243 DISTSPLIT SHELDON

“As a superintendent, I went to the first meeting in Malibu with their City Council. 

“I encourage both communities to listen to what is being shared.

“This information is valuable information to understand this process. 

“This is a long process and we’re just at the beginning stages of this process.

“But understanding what has occurred is key … and having the information in your hand is also key to understanding this process.” (2x)

The school board is unanimous in support of  Malibu leaving.

But … approval by the Santa Monica school board is not required by any state law. 

Malibu has filed a petition with the county board of education … and the state education board will also have to sign off.

Malibu officials say it would be much much better if the Santa Monica school board were officially on board. 

As for voting by electors … Malibu contends that only Malibu voters will have to vote yes or no on the division … 

But Santa Monica’s school board is reportedly holding out for a yes/no vote from Santa Monica voters as well.

No comment last night from any of the other six board members. 

No comment from any Santa Monica residents.

One thing we do know … the first public meeting in Santa Monica on the Malibu divorce will be May 15th. 

Malibu residents are invited to a community meeting about the financial aspects of the proposed deal – today (Saturday) at 1 pm at City Hall.   It will not be streamed, the city said.

 

Lancaster Wants To Represent Malibu In Suing LA County Over Sheriff’s Bills For City Police Services

The city of Malibu … like 41 other cities in L-A County … hires the LA County sheriff’s department to function as the municipal police force.

So does Lancaster.

The City of Lancaster has just sued Los Angeles County.

The claim … cities like Malibu are getting ripped off by the way that the Sheriff’s Department calculates how much cities pay for police coverage provided by the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff;’s office is raking in an “illegal profit” of more than $10 million a year by overcharging dozens of cities for its policing services.

Amid a staffing crisis, the Sheriff’s Department is not assigning as many deputies to Lancaster as the city has paid for, says the suit.

Instead, existing deputies are working more overtime to make up for it. 

But more overtime costs less than more deputies, and the county allegedly isn’t passing along the savings, according to the lawsuit.

Attorneys for the city filed the case as a proposed class-action on behalf of all 42 of the county’s contract cities … including Malibu.

The Sheriff’s Department told the LA Times that it had not officially been served with the suit, but reiterated its commitment to policing local communities.

 

Caltrans Says Maybe 158 Days Until Topanga Canyon Is Opened, State Still Does Not Have Plans For PCH Lane Reopening

Caltrans now says the massive landslide in lower Topanga Canyon will be cleared by fall …. if all things go well.

That’s pretty wide target … as fall starts in 158 days … 

But September is the best guess from Caltrans … delivered to hundreds of unhappy Canyon locals at a meeting of the Topanga town council Wednesday night.

Southern California fire season starts before that .. and that has Topanga worried … and most unhappy.

Topanga Canyon Boulevard is just about the only escape route to the south.

No road to the east …. A winding mountaintop road to the west.

And the road to the north out of Topanga Canyon frequently gets closed … by brush fires or crashes.

The prospect is for the major escape route … the major fire truck access road … being closed for at least five and a half months.

Fire season is now year round. 

But serious brushfire season … that starts in summer … before fall.

And that has residents … quite frankly … terrified.

Wednesday night … an overflow crowd jammed the computer system … as the Topanga Town Council held a meeting with Caltrans officials about the lack of progress reopening Topanga Canyon Road.

The only news we could get out of Caltrans yesterday … the road may be closed until fall.

Fall starts in 158 days. 

School kids cannot get to schools.

Workers cannot get to their jobs. 

A drive to the nearest supermarket or gas station has stretched from 10 minutes to 30. 

Getting back from the beach??? An hour detour. 

But fire evacuations are the big worry … voiced Wednesday night.

And we raise this issue:

At Topanga Beach … there are retaining walls right next to Pacific Coast Highway that buckled during the winter rains … and appear near failure.

At two places … landslides have crept into PCH lanes … closing one of the two westbound lanes at one point.

On the ocean side … waves have eroded right up against the traffic lane. 

Caltrans says they are trying to get Coastal Commission permits to protect the highway.

But Caltrans has not come up with a plan to stabilize the inland landslides … no plan to move the landslide at Porto Marina and restore that second westbound lane. 

That landslide blocks half of the major highway into Malibu … and into Pacific Palisades if and when Caltrans reopens Topanga Canyon. 

And we should point out … the Porto Marina landslide has been threatening PCH for 30 years.

For 30 years … Caltrans has not put up a wall … next to that landslide.

For 30 years … Caltrans painted the fog line around that landslide.

For 30 years …. Caltrans had bicyclists ride around that landslide by entering traffic lanes. 

Last year … a freeway nearly collapsed in downtown Los Angeles … after a fire … 

The governor and mayor of LA led a heroic effort to reopen it in a matter of days.

PCH has been crippled now for seven weeks.

Cheer up … Malibu … Topanga Canyon has it worse. 

For now. 

 

Malibu Congressman Among Many Unhappy With Proposed Flat Rate Bill For SCE Power

Malibu’s Congressman is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to hold off on a planned flat rate for electric power distribution.

Brad Sherman is one of 18 congress members who signed a letter … critical of the proposed fee rejiggering. 

The CPUC is trying to comply with a state law that was passed without notice a year ago in Sacramento. 

It requires California ratepayers to pay a flat fee for electricity … and in return get a small cut in their usage charges.

Sherman and the other congress members worry that imposing a high monthly fixed charge regardless of how much electricity households use is a bad idea.

The formula being proposed by the state is also opposed by a coalition of more than 240 community organizations … who contend the plan will actually raise electric bills for millions of working-class Californians.

The Stop the Big Utility Tax Coalition is rallying behind AB 1999 … introduced by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin … to undo the law passed in the closing moment sof the legislature last year.