Malibu Mayor Lou La Monte and Councilman Skylar Peak supported the idea of charging Los Angeles County property owners a fee to fund the cleanup of local waterways Tuesday before the Board of Supervisors.
The Malibu representatives were among the minority, as the proposal was met with enough opposition that the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to rework it.
"What is clear is that this is not ready for prime time,'' said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a champion of the proposal.
Nearly 200 people turned up at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration for the public hearing on the proposed Clean Water, Clean Beaches measure. The majority spoke in opposition.
Those in favor hailed the plan as a cost-effective way to reduce urban runoff -- including trash and toxic substances like industrial solvents, lead, mercury and infection-causing bacteria -- into county waterways and the ocean.
"This measure is the most important water quality, water supply and flood control measure that the region has ever seen,'' said Mark Gold, associate director of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and former president of the nonprofit Heal the Bay.
Malibu Mayor Lou La Monte encouraged the board to move forward.
La Monte said Malibu has invested more than $60 million -- almost half its annual budget over the last six years -- to clean up runoff before it flows into the ocean.
"The Los Angeles County Flood Control District has worked collaboratively with municipalities and other stakeholders, who drafted an initiative that will charge a fair and reasonable service fee for cleaning up the polluted storm water that comes from every corner of this 4,000-square-mile county,'' La Monte said.
Peak said he also spoke in favor of cleaning up local waterways.
"I asked them to be honest with the public and listen to the people’s comments in regard to the watershed. I hope that the ballot measure reflects the concerns of the public and that if it passes, although it would be hard to pass, I appreciate their efforts," Peak said.
But those against the proposal characterized the fee as a tax that many could ill afford, argued that the measure offered little detail on how the money would be spent and said it duplicated other existing taxes and fees.
"We are committed to environmental stewardship,'' said Burbank Vice Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy, "However, we, the city of Burbank, remain opposed to this for a number of reasons,'' including because, she argued it would divert tens of thousands of dollars from public education.
Businesses -- including those in aviation, real estate, construction and metals manufacturing -- also raised concerns, some saying they are already paying to comply with environmental regulations they view as redundant.
Even some environmental agencies, largely in favor of the measure, called for changes before it goes to a vote.
Some residents argued that the mailing advising them of the proposed fee looked deceptively like junk mail and that the county was making it difficult to register their opposition. Others asked that the matter be put to a vote during an upcoming general election, rather than a mail-in vote by property owners, as originally planned.
More than 50 percent of property owners had to oppose the measure in writing in order to avoid a ballot on the proposed fee. Only about 4.3 percent had submitted an objection prior to the start of today's meeting, according to the Department of Public Works.
But the concerns raised were significant enough that Supervisor Don Knabe asked that the protest process be continued for another 60 days. He also recommended that county staffers consider a way to allow protests to be filed by email or online, a process for putting the initiative on a general election ballot, a sunset date for the measure, a specific list of projects to be funded, alternative funding sources and a way to address concerns of property owners already capturing and treating storm water.
The board's vote was 3-2 in favor of Knabe's motion, with Supervisors Gloria Molina and Antonovich dissenting.
Antonovich suggested instead that the clean water measure be eliminated entirely, which was voted down 2-3, with only Knabe adding his support.
A report is expected March 12.
I would start and run the company myself . And the taxpayers wont be paying for my retirement or 60 dollar an hour employees . !
I happened to open the flyer which said on the front "Notice of Public Hearing" not "NOTICE OF POSSIBLE HUGE INCREASE ADDED TO YOUR PROPERTY TAXES" and found that my assessment would be $657.00 a year. When I called the Board of Supervisors I was told it must be a mistake as homes are usually around $57 to $80 a year and an engineer would call me back. Never did. I called back many times, talked to Maria who said she would call back. Never did. The idea is based on impermeable surface on your property. Our driveways are gravel, our yard is yard and vegetable gardens. We do have a small pool. But come on. At least say someone will look at it and see what the story is. So I went to Zev's office in Calabasas and was given a 4 page memo about the criteria and told that the ONLY think I can do is appeal if it gets passed. The gentleman I spoke to there said he could tell I was against the measure and I said I am NOT against having clean water and clean beaches I am for FAIRNESS. Those who know me know I recycle EVERYTHING. Note, folks, this assessment applies to vacant land and condos too. Zev's office did not know if Condo owners got the "Notice" or if just the HOA got the notice. I gave out lots of protest forms to people who did not get them but they did not allow scan or faxes - "go down town and bring it" I was told.
PS: I hope Lou gave Skylar a ride because next we will be taxed for all the destroyed center medians from Malibu to the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.
The way this stands now, there is no true oversite because the members of the oversite board are appointed by the board of supervisors. The amount of money needed (300 hundred million ) was based upon, in part, but substantially from the requirement that was adopted by the regional board and pushed by the advocacy groups that required the county and municipalities to remove all bacteria including natural bacteria or be subject to lawsuits. This is not what the clean water act was based on. Even if the agencies that advocated for this were to completely clean all of the pollution, they would still receive part of the 300 million per year, forever. After Malibu being sued by these advocacy groups, it astonished me to hear Lou and Skylar speak in favor of these groups holding the taxpayers to a tax hike of which 50% will not serve Malibu.
It's time to get involved. This is our town. The majority of people don't like being vocal in public, dislike putting our names out there but our love for Malibu needs to be far greater. Let's sit down, work together and stand together to fully understand and participate in these critical issues. Let your voice be heard. Please either go to 'Preserve Malibu' on Facebook or email: PreserveMalibu@gmail.com and let us know what dates work for you within the next 2-3 weeks. Together we can preserve Malibu!
every week our city counsel continues to be more toxic we would be better off with no city counsel. this one has forgotten all the reasons why we became a city.
Official Patch policy: "Acceptable Use While we encourage people to be honest and post what’s on their mind, communities thrive when people care about each other, and as such, Patch expects all of its users to be respectful of others. This means that whether you are being complimentary or critical, whether you are agreeing or disagreeing with the subject of an article or another user’s comment, you should act in a civil manner and refrain from personal attacks – after all, these are your neighbors." **If Jessica continues to allow you or others to continue to posting in the manner you do, it not only shows she's not doing her job ( as explained above ), it's just that much more I have as proof that this site encourages the ignorance of California Civil Code 48a. Which will be to my benefit in the long run. ( your IP addresses are trackable so I promise not to leave you guys out of the fun ).
My hair is not long and curly ( but it is blond, thank you for noticing, I just got it done : )... and if you knew anything about Botox, you would know I don't get any because I am far from wrinkle free - my forehead being the worst ( I am sad to say that and am exploring alternative methods of wrinkle eradication ). But hey you know, that's what bangs are for right? New Year, New Style. You guys can keep using Steph's death as attacks all you want. They carry zero validity. Especially from her Aunt and grandmother's standpoint who have been very supportive of Steve and I and our relationship. But you wouldn't know that since neither of you came to the funerals right? Or maintain a relationship with them right? Exactly.
Dusty and Steve were on a charter boat trip off of Sumatra when Dusty confided that he concocted a staph infection in his leg persisted. He said the staph infection never completely would leave his system regardless of all of his treatments. He told Steve that staph was rampant in the Polio Pond of Malibu. No wonder pollution weighs heavy in the heart of Skylar. Others too have died from the diseases festering in our waterways. Ken Sieno, a veteran Malibu surfer was lucky to survive after surfing Surfrider because he had a pace maker installed in his chest due to the heart tissue eating disease Coxsackie b4 virus. Malibu water pollution is no joke. Eye, ear, nose, throat and stomache infections are not to be joked about or belittled. Steve contracted Dysentery a while back. What ever it takes, surfers and children playing at the beach should not be in danger of risking their lives for enjoying the ocean.
Also, for further clarification, here is what Patch says my role in moderating comments is: "Patch is under no obligation to enforce the Patch Terms of Use on your behalf or based on a claim by you that another user has violated it." Thank you and if you have any questions feel free to email me at jessica.davis@patch.com.
Geeeezzzzeeeee
The fact is if PATCH wants to provide a service to this community by providing local news and a forum to exchange insight on BOTH sides of a topic, they have an ethical responsibility to manage it properly. That includes ENFORCING their own terms and conditions. When PATCH allows intelligent thought provoking conversation between locals on important topics, it's an asset, by allowing personal attacks and malicious behavior - it becomes a detriment. I'm not the only one subjected to this, many others in this community, business owners and residents have been exposed to this behavior, viciously attacked by the same people, behind fake profiles. It's time for PATCH to regulate their users. If they can't afford to do financially, then unpaid interns from Pepperdine or other community colleges that need the hours to graduate. Whatever it is, it needs to be done.
Steve and Steph never made comments on PATCH that would even remotely resemble the despicable nature of the people who hide behind fake profiles to viciously attack people they do not even know. I saw the lame excuse Jonathan gave Steve in an email. It was a joke and blatant bias ( lagoon ).