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Thank You, Malibu

A farewell note from outgoing Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich.

It has been an honor serving Malibu these past eight years as a councilmember, mayor pro tem and mayor. 

There are many lessons I have learned, but perhaps the most important is that Malibu isn't just a small world famous town, it's family. We may have our fair share of sibling rivalries and drama, but deep down we are all bonded in our love to protect and preserve Malibu and it's precious natural resources.

We are blessed to live in one of the most pristine places left on planet Earth that has both the ocean and the mountains as our bookends. As has been said many times before, I am reminded that Malibu is not a place that we inherit, it is a place that we borrow from future generations.

I am in awe of what we can accomplish when we are united, not divided, and take action. Whether it be playing games at Bluffs Park, building Legacy Park to clean the ocean, or renovating the Malibu Library, when we act as a community we can accomplish anything! 

Words can not express the gratitude and respect I have for all of you who are Malibu, so I created a little music video. Many of you may not be personally featured in it, but you are all in my heart.

Sent with love and gratitude,

Pamela   

Dee Rivellino April 22, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Let me be the first to Thank you for your service to our community.
Your passion was always evident and as much as I may have had difficulties understanding many of the decisions coming from your City Council, I never questioned your integrity and commitment. Thanks Pam The Godmother
Bob Perkins DDS April 22, 2012 at 02:47 pm
Thanks Pam...I wasn't in town for all of your (8) but I heard you brought your "A" game for all of them. Sometimes you have to stand alone for your beliefs and you definitely did that more than once.
Don't forget tomorrows City Council meeting at 6:30. The swearing in of the new council will take place.
Bob Perkins DDS April 22, 2012 at 02:48 pm
I didn't find the music video..where be it?
Rabbi Levi Cunin April 23, 2012 at 12:53 am
Thank you for sharing your big heart with the entire community of Malibu. Today’s celebration is a magnificent testament to the light that you are to this community! I am sure I speak for many others when I say, thank you and we love you! It all comes down to continued efforts and actions that are a reflection of goodness and kindness and you set a good example. May you continue to grow from strength to strength! Keep the torch lit! Levi & Sarah Cunin
Julie Eamer April 23, 2012 at 10:59 am
xoxooxoxoxooxooxoxoxoooooxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxxoooxoxoxooxo
xoxoxoxoooooooxooxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoo xoxoxoxooxooooo I've learned so much from watching your pure spirit run with ideas.....THANK YOU
Jonathan Friedman April 23, 2012 at 11:18 am
Congratulations Pam. The library opening on your final full day as a council member is an appropriate end to your tenure. I remember that first meeting eight years ago, not long after you were elected, that you organized to discuss how Malibu was not getting its fair share from the county. You must be pleased.
J. Flo April 23, 2012 at 03:08 pm
There's no ending - Pam, you are at the beginning of a very productive chapter! You watch. Congrats on 8 successful years fighting for our Malibu issues near and dear to your heart!
Pamela Conley Ulich April 23, 2012 at 03:43 pm
Hi Bob! Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m10DIC0vOxY
I am new youtube and not sure if the link works. Thanks for your kind comments. I look forward to seeing you again soon.
R Y A N April 23, 2012 at 09:49 pm
Pam, I really think your greatest accomplishment was right off the bat: addressing the elephant in the room. Los Angeles County was stealing millions of dollars of Malibu's Library tax funding and using it to construct and operate libraries in other communities instead of Malibu. (Also, the Point Dume branch closed many years ago and was not relocated.) The Friends of Malibu Library helped fundraise and lessen the blow, but it was Pamela, and Pamela alone, who knew something was very wrong about the money -- and did something about it: Got the City to conduct an AUDIT of Malibu's (L.A. County) Library Funds where the "discrepancy" was exposed. Yesterday, the 8-year battle and make-up session culminated in the New Malibu Library. It took guts to take on L.A. County out-of-the-gate, and perseverance to right the wrong.
Thanks, Pam. The Library should be dedicated to you.
Bob Perkins DDS April 23, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Pam-
I was talking with Jeff Jennings today about the new library opening and he told me that you were the one who realized that the Malibu Library was being robbed of its funds. He said you sniffed it out and fixed the problem!!!

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Max June 18, 2013 at 09:02 am
Firemen are my true heroes. Not once, but twice, have they saved my house over the years, as wellRead More as where I worked most of my career. We cannot thank them enough for their yeomen efforts and hard work. When they are on the lines, we always provide them with food and drink, which is the least that we can do. We also welcome them when they make their annual inspections of properties here to ensure that homeowners clear their brush. When I was in school, we were visited by Firemen, who handed out badges and booklets on fire safety. I was proud to wear my "Junior Fireman" badge back then, and feel the same today!
Rainbow in Malibu 20112
Yvonne Carrison June 17, 2013 at 09:24 am
Luv the rainbow over our heavenly canyon, we are truly blessed to live here! Gratitude
Snookie Ravioli June 17, 2013 at 08:32 am
I doubt it matters much. The Malibu mayor is no more than the presiding officer of the councilRead More meetings. In a council-manager form of government, which Malibu has, the mayor has very little power--a good thing in Malibu considering its history. The mayor in Malibu is a ceremonial position and s/he has no more actual power than the other council members. The game of musical chairs is not a bad thing in the Malibu council. Consider the alternative!
Snookie Ravioli June 17, 2013 at 08:44 am
A follow-up to Tom Brady's idea of annelected mayor. That woukd require a change in the form ofRead More government in Malibu to a Mayor-Manager form. The Mayor-Manager form is best for larger cities. Most cities the size of Malibu have the Council-Manager form because experience shows it works best for small cities. Having an elected mayor with the power of an elected mayor could create more problems than it solves. It would completely change the political environent in Malibu, and not for the better. Having weak, rotating mayors serves Malibu well.
Dee Rivellino June 17, 2013 at 06:07 pm
How do I explain why we have such a turnover in Mayors.? Because in intelligent communities theRead More answer would sound very pathetic. ..Well, let me start from the beginning when no one on the first, second, third, fourth, etc. Councils could decide how long the Mayor should serve ..so some genius came up with rotation and actually that's ok because all the Mayor does anyway is pose for pictures with the current flock of so called Celebrities. This goes on the list of why Malibu is always so different from other normal town around us.(An article I wrote months ago in the Surfside news) The Council meets, accomplishes little, a new Mayor is selected and life goes on. ... Elected officials(that's a joke too since only less than 3,000 people ever show up to vote out of 13,000 residents).. You can't ask questions like why our Mayor moves like the waves of the Ocean when most of the people in Malibu have no clue whats going on behind those thick doors at City Hall....the ones NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Good for Burt, its only taken him 18 months to ask the hard questions.
Ted Vaill June 11, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Sounds like a great father, like his son. My father died in 1989, of cancer, but was a happy,Read More positive man to the end. My mother remarried nine years later, and remarked before she died at age 98 that she was blessed to be married to two wonderful men.
Max June 12, 2013 at 01:46 am
Dear Burt, A very toughing piece about your dear father. If only more fathers these days had theRead More values and character that your father had, this world would be a much better, more caring and loving place. I, too, had a father that was very giving and supportive of me. As both of my parents were holocaust survivors, my upbringing was greatly influenced by their horrific experiences in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany: losing 80% of our families, being in over a dozen different concentration camps and facing death and torture continuously. It’s amazing that they were able to lead “normal” lives upon immigrating to the US. Never finishing high school in Poland and not speaking a word of English, he attended night school (Fairfax High), worked during the days in the subcontractor business (he manufactured venetian blinds, screens and louver windows, all from scratch, decades before they were imported), became a citizen (as did my late Mom) and raised a family. They eked out a living (lower middle class), sent my younger brother and I to Hebrew school every day after public school classes, encouraged us to strive in school and somehow supported my hobby of being a radio amateur and my brother in violin studies. My parents always wanted me to become an electronics engineer (probably based on the dream my father had before WW2). Several of his proudest moments were when I got accepted into the physics grad schools of Princeton, Harvard, Caltech, Stanford and UCLA; when I received my PhD from Caltech; when I authored a cover feature article in Scientific American; and when I married my Beshert (soul mate). As a kid, I had a mild connection to you, Burt. I loved rulers, be they the fancy compact metallic ones that retracted by the push of a button, the ones that had a mechanical crank to reel in the ruler or the foldable wooden rulers (that I always associated with a magic trick), which I would use in school, the lab and measuring Ham radio antennas that I built as a kid. All this was influenced by my dear father, equipped with rulers of all kinds, which he used on a daily basis when precisely measuring windows and door frames, manufacturing venetian blinds, screen doors, etc. As a 5-year old, my father would take me to his 2-man shop and, as they worked, I would run around the place with various rulers and magnets in tow, measuring everything in sight and picking up nails and hardware. I guess the only difference between us is that you became a ruler and I became one who is ruled. Happy Father’s Day, Burt!
Sandra Peltola June 8, 2013 at 08:14 am
Time to support Vital Zuman Farm, 60 years of service to the community. If you have not been to theRead More farm, you must, before another season goes by! Get your nature on, see the crops growing, meet friends, eat good food, listen to music outdoors, view exceptional art; ALL AT VITAL ZUMAN FARM on Saturday June 22, 2013 from 12:00 noon till 6:00pm. More Info: 310-924-2210
Far Infrared Sauna w/LED Lights
Lisa Knickmeyer, L.Ac., DA June 7, 2013 at 01:05 pm
Endermologie is perfect for the summer! It increases fat cell metabolism, addresses trapped fat andRead More streamlines the body and treats fat resistant to diet and exercise.
Super Dume
Mizzy Pacheco June 7, 2013 at 05:37 pm
Thanks. Moon rise.
Ashley W. Lewis June 9, 2013 at 05:06 pm
Ashley Lewis Thanks for sharing the beautiful photo of the fabulous moon and rocks. Curious whatRead More kind of camera and lens was used?
Mizzy Pacheco June 9, 2013 at 08:29 pm
Thanks, that was taken with a canon 5d mark ii with the cannon f4 70-200mm set at about 125mm
Lois Livoti June 5, 2013 at 03:52 pm
Wow - how fantastic to see Jim Palmer's Malibu Vineyards on the map for world class wine making.Read More Also I want to congratulate you on your recent "Best of Class" award and 95 point rating from the Los Angeles International wine competition for your 2010 Malibu Vineyards Estate Syrah. Well done!!!!
kim devane June 6, 2013 at 10:15 am
Well done Jim! You are putting Malibu on the map for world class wine. Congratulations! kim &Read More larry
This sycamore tree on Trancas Canyon Road was six inches -- and five votes -- away from getting ground up to make way for four more unsafe, angle parking places on Trancas Canyon Rd. Now, can we get rid of the numbskull loading zone at PCH's corner?
J. Flo June 4, 2013 at 02:11 pm
I found the meeting, the speakers and the Planning Commission to be very impressive. Well-thoughtRead More out, intelligent.
Hans Laetz June 4, 2013 at 07:33 pm
So interesting to hear the applicant's lawyer explain that the billboard was appropriate becauseRead More "this is a commercial area." Oh, dear dear dear. That sort of explains the whole problem.
Proud Elitist June 10, 2013 at 06:54 am
First the Paige Sports Arena sign at Univ Missouri Columbia comes down. Next Trancas sign comesRead More down. Girl, you got some bad luck with signs.