Malibu Artist, 60, Dies In PCH Crash; Sheriff’s Detective Suspects Natural Causes

It was likely a heart attack or some other medical emergency that killed a 60-year old Malibu man … as he crashed his car into oncoming traffic on Pacific Coast Highway at Paradise Cove yesterday afternoon.

Witnesses pulled the man out of his crumpled Honda sedan… and tried mouth-to-mouth, resuscitation and chest compressions.  Those efforts … to no avail.

The coroner’s office identified him today as Derek Schimming, 60.  Public records indicate a man with that name and age lived in Las Flores Canyon, and that he was an artist.

Traffic Detective Scott Shean tells KBUU News that the sedan’s airbags deployed … and the man was not killed by the crash impact.

PCH HEART Set Scott Shean

“Collision eastbound eastbound PCH had just passed Paradise Cove approaching W. Winding way… Head on collision. Witness and said he just abruptly veered into the oncoming lane.”

The driver of the van that was hit suffered minor injuries, and was hospitalized.

Traffic was snarled for five hours while a coroner’s van was  summoned form Los Angeles to remove the victim’s remains. 

 

No Progress To Report On Reopening Second Lane Into Malibu, As Governor Celebrates Highway 1 Big Sur Progress

There is major progress in reopening Highway 1 up in Big Sur … but no progress reported on clearing a landslide that is corking up Highway 1 on the road to Malibu,.

Gov Gavin Newsom yesterday announced that the community of Big Sur will have access from the north … using a one lane emergency repair.

70286 BIGSUR REOPENED 

“Caltrans … working overtime … subject to acts of God, unlikely rain but possibly extreme winds … will be able to achieve that at 6:30 this Friday.

“Highway One will be reopened.”

No such good news from the governor about the access road to Malibu… Where one of two lanes heading to Malibu has been blocked by a landslide for two months now.

The repair down here is much simpler than up at Big Sur.

Caltrans in Paicific Palisades needs to restripe the road  … repaint the highway to shift the three open lanes towards the beach … and open a fourth lane… 

Traffic heading towards Malibu continues to back up every day until that second westbound lane can be opened.

It looks like at least three weeks before that detour can be built … the state says.

 

Caltrans Work Resumes After Winter Hibernation At Trancas Bridge

Construction is about to resume at the long delayed and troubled Trancas Creek bridge./

Caltrans contractors this week are placing wooden falsework beneath the old bridge which is slated to be torn down this summer.

Half of the bridge has already been replaced… While the half next to the beach is slated to be torn down and replaced the summer.

Caltrans engineers blundered … failing to relocate utility lines … 

And they designed a bridge that was unable to hold up traffic…. Because the piers were too shallow. 

Water in the creek at Trancas is drying up.  Construction was forced to stop for the annual winter rainy season.

Demolition of the remaining half of the bridge will start soon.

 

Zigzag Road Built Up Side of Topanga Canyon Topanga Canyon Landslide

Heavy work has started to remove the Topanga Canyon landslide … and the canyon road has been closed to anyone on bicycles or or foot two miles up the canyon from PCH.

Huge boulders and loose dirt are being dislodged by workers using giant equipment… up at the top of the landslide … 3000 feet above the roadway.

A zig zag road … 45 degrees steep .. has been carved up the left side of the landslide. 

Two large excavators are being used to build this haul road … and eventually will work from the top down to dislodge the loose dirt. 

California Stater Parks had urged the Caltrans people to remove a brand new dirt berm along the pave4ment … built to try to prevent rocks and dirt from falling into Topanaga Creek.

Caltrans agreed to replace it with a cement barricade … topped by a chain link fence … which will do a better job.

We still have not yet heard from Caltrans how many dump truck loads of dirt and rock must be moved out of the canyon… Or where that debris will go.

The plan is still to reopen Topanga Canyon Boulevard in September.

 

Blacked-Out Car Going 80 Down PCH Yields Three Arrests

One of the extra sheriffs deputies funded by the city of Malibu for patrol work made a traffic stop that resulted in three arrests last week.

Sheriff Sergeant Chris Soderlund says a black muscle car was spotted on PCH… At the eastern end of the city… Going 80 mph.

LAS TUNAS ARREST ONESODERLUND 

“Our 08 extra car, which is the overnight car … they were patrolling last Wednesday night at Las Tunas Beach when they saw this car driving approximately 89 miles an hour down Pacific Coast Highway.  They started to go off the car and the driver turned off all the lights on that car.”

Soderlund says the car’s driver pulled over after a short chase. 

LAS TUNAS ARREST TWO SODERLUND

“There were four people in the car. The driver was driving out suspended license.

“He was also arrested for reckless. Driving two passengers had active horns for their arrest, and they were open containers of alcohol in the car so in addition that car was impounded for 30 days.”

 

DNA Trail Leads From Malibu Burglary Tp Colorado Arrest

In another case… a man who left his blood at a Malibu house burglary is going to be extradited from Colorado … because he got arrested there for assault… And had his DNA sampled when he went to jail in Colorado.

Sheriffs detectives at the Malibu-Lost Hill station are working to extradite a man who was arrested in Colorado for assault … for having committed a burglary breaking in Malibu.

The suspect … Weston Miller … left blood on a wall near a shattered glass door during the burglary … a week ago.

The same man was arrested in his native Colorado for assault last month,

His DNA was tested by police in Colorado …. And it matched the DNA in the blood in the Malibu house.

The district attorneys office in Los Angeles is now attempting to extradite Miller from Colorado… To face charges here in Malibu for the burglary.

 

City Revises Its Vacant Lands Survey After Privacy Complaints

Some people in Malibu have objected to the personal information being collected by a city contractor.

City manager, Steve McClary says an online survey about vacant land in the city… And what Malibu residence want to see done with that land has some concerns

The city manager told the city council Monday night that demographic data is being gathered as the city tries to find out what Malibu residents want.

SURVEY MCLARY

“Staff have been in communication with the vendor and will be making a few adjustments. 

“We want to make sure that community knows that some of the information such as age and household size will be optional.

“The intent behind these questions provide a breakdown of demographic data …,. as part of the outcome report that will be presented to the council.”

The city right now is trying to scope out what exactly the city should do with five vacant lots that has purchased over the years.

The subtext here is what may be a brewing disagreement between people who want parks built… with athletic facilities… and others who want land near their houses preserved as open space.

 

24-Story Building To Rise On 150-x-150 Lot In SM, Will Be Visible From Malibu

In news from down the coast … 

A very small lot in downtown Santa Monica is destined to become the highest high rise in that city … a 24 story needle that will be visible from Malibu.

The skyscraper will be perched on a vacant lot that is not much bigger than two basketball courts … 150 feet by 150 feet.

It is set to be positioned between 6th Street and 6th Court, facing onto Colorado Avenue, opposite the Big Blue Bus depot. 

264 units will be in the 24 story tower. 

224 will be rented out at market rate.

40 will be rented at reduced rates … for qualified affordable housing cusotmers.

Because Santa Monica failed to adopt an acceptable plan for additional housing … the land owner prop[osed a so-called Builder’s Remedy project.

That meant it could bypass city of Santa Monica zoning regulations completely.

The city and the property owner have since made a deal… But it’s current height Farris’s local zoning limitations and Santa Monica is pretty much stuck with that.

At 260 ft tall, this project will be roughly three times the height of the Santa Monica Pier Ferris wheel.

It will be the tallest building in the city . Easily visible from eastern Malibu. 

San Diego Putting New Electric Chargers At Its Beaches

San Diego is pressing ahead with plans to put electric car changing stations at every city beach ,… parking lot … fire station .. et cetera within 2 years.

Malibu has no such plans … even though electric vehicles make up a large percentage cars pwned by Malibu residents.

In LA County … about 10 percent of the vehicles driven on street are electric. 

Private enterprise has lagged in installing chargers. 

There are frequently lines for the high-voltage ….high speed chargers at the shopping centers.

The chargers installed at Zuma Beach … by the county … are technically inferior … low power devices … already obsolete. 

San Diego officials say the city plans will ensure that all San Diegans can be confident in transitioning to cleaner electric vehicles regardless of where they travel in the city or whether or not they can charge at home.