Silverstein Sends 80 Emails To City Manager, And Mayor Calls It ‘Harassment’
Written by 991KBU on November 24, 2020
City councilman elect Bruce Silverstein is clogging Malibu City Hall with e-mails and public documents requests.
And the mayor says … Silverstein is harassing city manager Reva Feldman.
That’s the assessment voiced by several city council members behind the scenes … and frustration spilled out in public at last night’s city council meeting.
Silverstein continues to pepper the city manager … Reva Feldman … with email after email.
He has demanded the city staff produce voluminous numbers of documents … according to city council members … tying up city staff and preventing other work from getting done.
At last night’s city council meeting …Silverstein again demanded that Feldman meet with him … but only on his condition of tape recording the meeting.
NEWSCUT 74004 SILVERSTEIN RECORDING
“The city manager continues to refuse to conduct city business in a manner that is recorded so that there is a public record of the business conducted.
“The city manager has failed or refused to provide prompt and courteous replies to my inquiries related to various public matters.”
Feldman said she has … in years of working for the city … never done business that way.
She does not have people come into her office to take conversations.
She said she works for the city council … and she will do what they tell her.
Silverstein has honed in on city manager Reva Feldman for her handling of a temporary Southern California Edison construction yard … that was constructed with an emergency city permit granted by Feldman in the immediate aftermath of the Woolsey Fire.
The lot in question is prominently visible from Silverstein’s house … on a hill overlooking the Civic Center.
Edison Company illegally paved the lot with cement powder … Silverstein wants it torn out.
So does the city.
So does everyone.
But Silverstein has appealed the original granting of the emergency permit to the coastal commission.
Feldman says the Coastal Commission staff will not allow the removal of the illegal cement … until Silverstein’s appeal is settled.
That apparently infuriates Silverstein … and he accuses Feldman of lying about the coastal commission position on that.
He repeats that … again and again … and did so last night.
NEWSCART 74002 SILVERSTEIN LOT
“The city manager misrepresented that the Coastal Commission had informed the city that it can’t enforce SCE’s remediation obligations respecting the giant cement lot they unlawfully developed in the center of Malibu.”
Feldman says she has a letter from the commission staff that says exactly that … and she will be happy to share it with anyone who asks.
As for the reaction from the city council?
Mayor Mikke Pierson addressed Silverstein directly.
NEWSCART 74003 PIERSON HARASS
“I want to encourage you again to work with us to make change.
“It’s really discouraging what you’re doing right now … to be perfectly honest.
“Over 80 emails to Reva since you’ve been elected?
“I don’t know … how many public records requests … taking massive amounts of hours?
“It’s having an impact and I think … I think it’s wrong.
“I don’t know the legal definition, but it’s harassment.”
Silverstein will join the city council when he is sworn in in the middle of December … along with new members Steve Uhring and Paul Grisanti.
