PCH Lane Closures To Continue Below The Palisades

Caltrans is planning to close one lane heading towards Malibu closed during daytime hours for much of the week.

Near the tunnel … storm drain work under the California Incline will snarl traffic coming off the Santa Monica Freeway from 9 to 3 on Wednesday .. Thursday and Friday.

Just past Sunset … at Porto Marina … one lane will be closed and one lane will be open from 9 to 3 today and every day this week.

That’s to repair the damaged concrete slabs … 100 years old … that have failed after the fire and rain. 

In Topanag Canyon … the lower canyon is open with one lane in each direction as far as the traffic lights in the village.  

But from Old Topanga towards the valley .., SCE crews are putting power lines underground … leaving only one lane open for both directions of traffic. 

Roomful Of Kids Win, Bluffs Park Rebuild Project Gets Unanimous OK

A political slam dunk last night … as a roomful of adorable Little League kids were granted their wish for a new Snack Shack at Malibu Bluffs Park.

KID SNACK 71906

KID A: “My name is Sarah we’re all here to talk about how much we love the snack shack.

“Personally, I love it because of all the awesome snacks it has.

“All the people who work there … they are very nice and friendly. 

“It is also a very good place for the parents to just buy lunch hang out and watch their kids play softball or baseball.”

KID B: “Hi I’m Freddy Fink and I’m here to talk about the snack shack.

“And it’s already pretty cool, but it would be way cooler if we could get like bathrooms and make it a little bit cleaner and bigger. Thank you.”

KID C: “Hi, I’m Creighton Toledo and I’m here to speak about softball. We love playing softball and after softball, we would go to the snack shack to get plenty of snacks like sunflower, seeds, gum, dip ’n’ dots, and lollipops. It is really good.”

The voices of future Malibu voters 

It was a 5 to nothing vote.

The low slung  building will be the centerpiece of a major makeover at the park .. which is fairly viewed as the one of the major social centers of the Malibu community.

Total cost: 3.9 million … much of that for sewer connections … new walkways for handicapped people … parking lot changes … sideewalks.

Little league volunteers made it clear last night … their decades of donated labor have made the city’s biggest park a reality. 

Jake Lingo. 

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“This is simply not a just a food facility. It’s a central park infrastructure. 

“I also think it’s extremely important to kind of talk about the history of Bluffs Fields and how they came about.

“In 1982, Malibu Little League was at crossroads with nowhere to call home and due to the Coastal Commission actions basically beyond our control.

“The league leased the Bluffs site and built the baseball fields that now make up Bluffs Park.

“With the help of local business contractors and volunteers from Malibu , including Doug O’Brien, Kerry Schmidt, Jack Deane, Bill Bankowsky, and countless others, Bluffs Park was built.

“The same fields, including the original backstops stand today.”

Some members of the public had questions … like why yet another set of bathrooms will be built … right across from the brand new bathrooms being installed at the skate park.

And they will be just down the road from the bathrooms at the recreation center. 

Community services director Kristen Riesgo says health codes demand bathrooms next to the kitchen … with everything hooked up to the Civic Center sewer.

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“There are concerns regarding safety and children crossing the road if they need to use the restroom at the skate park.”.

As we said .. the parks renovation will cost 3 point 9 million dollars … and was approved on a 5 to nothing vote. 

The city hopes to have the snack shack open… And all the other changes finished… by the end of next year.

Trancas Park Remains Off Limits Due To Township Council Deal

And the issue of Malibu’c chronic shortage of playing fields continues … 

There is no construction planned for years for new fields at the city’s planned Ioki Park … also known as the Chili Cook Off Site. 

The grass field at Trancas Canyon Park remains off limits … due to an agreement signed off on by a city council back in 2009.

Council member Marianne Riggins last night:

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“We don’t have enough fields and the benefit of yes we’re at least using Trancas Park for the process practice facility which we weren’t for a long long time, but there are lots of games that are trying to find homes.

“And the people who are scheduling with AYSO …  they need that space.”

 But the city in 2009 signed a legal agreement with two activists … members of the Malibu Township Council … an agreement to never allow soccer or baseball games to be played at the park.

For eternity.

The agreement was 16 years ago … and as near as we can recall… the city council at the time wanted to make it impossible to change.

One of the two members has moved away from Malibu … as far as we know. 

The Malibu Township Council is a political lobbying group … and so far it has refused to change the agreement. 

The city council has again asked their lawyer to look into the issue.

Big Rock Mesa Landslide Is Arrested, The Residents Are Charged

In 1983 … hundreds of houses on Big Rock Mesa began sliding towards the ocean. 

It was a giant landslide … under a subdivision with more than 300 homes. 

Water from septic tanks and lawn sprinklers had seeped into a landslide that had been there for millennia … 

It was stopped … frozen in place … by a government-installed system of wells and horizontal pipes that to this day suck out water from the sliding hillside.   Homeowners paid the county, and then the city, to operate the system.

And the Big Rock landslide was all but forgotten … until last year’s fire wiped out 90n percent of the houses on Big Rock Mesa.  

Now. … residents find themselves having to prove the geologic stability of their land … in order to rebuild. 

And council woman Marianne Riggins asked the big question … to Scott Moors … the project manager. 

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“So we have all these questions (from the public) about the geology reports, geotechnical reports, and things like that. 

“If things were standing before, why can’t they put back the same house that they had, how come they can’t put back the house that they had?

MOORS: “In essence, they can.  They can rebuild what they had.

“But they have to comply … their foundations have to comply with the building code … the current building code.”

And that’s the troublesome state law that fire victims are running into.   

The building codes have been beefed up substantially since those houses were first built … foundations have to be rebuilt to prevent damage during an earthquake. 

But how is the landslide doing??? 

Is it still moving?

Last night … the Malibu city council got an update from the geologists running the dewatering project.

Scott Moors is the project manager. 

BIG ROCK SCOTT MOORS 71904

“Changes in groundwaterhre what govern the change in stability./

“The big variable is rainfall. is essential that we maintain and limit the amount of water that input slide through septic systems.”

That’s why Big Rock homeowners were not allowed to install additional bathrooms.  

The septic water drains into the landslide. 

Judging by the reduced amount of water being consumed by residents … they are doing a good job reducing water use. 

And the land has stopped moving.

But what about a permanent solution … like building concrete supports to hold the houses up and prevent the land from sliding PCH? 

Again Scott Morris.

“This landslide is simply too large to use a traditional concrete caisson …  tiebacks …. things like that … they’re they’re too small compared to the mass of the slide 

“You’ve got control the landslide as a practical matter.”

One resident let night griped that State law requires landslide mitigation to be paid for by the party, the benefits from it.

He said it’s Caltrans that benefits from Big Rock Mesa not tumbling down onto the state highway.

Like it did in 1983.

The geologist last night gave Malibu a pretty comprehensive look at the inside of the landslide… 

We highly recommend watching the video presentation on the city’s YouTube page.

Court Roundup: Rehab Center Damages, Ye Mansion, Bill Cosby

Several celebrity court actions to report this morning. 

One … a lawsuit brought by the family of a woman who suffered a paralyzing heart attack at a Malibu rehab center has apparently been settled. 

An actress named Emily Willis is in a vegetative state today .. the result of a heart attack at Summit Malibu … one of the many rehab centers in the Bu. 

Her family says Summit Malibu was lax in Banuelos’ care while she was at the facility for treatment of ketamine addiction.

The financial terms were not disclosed.

Two … the lawsuit over the Malibu Road mansion destroyed by the actor formerly known as Kanye West is coming to a head.

The former construction manager is suing Ye … the former Kanye West … claiming unpaid wages. 

Ye has testified that he had stripped the house of all plumbing … quote …  “I didn’t know it was possible for someone to live in a house like that with no toilet or shower.”

And three … Bill Cosby goes on trial in Santa Monica today for a sex assault on a woman 50 years ago. 

Cosby is now 88 … he lives in a mansion near Philadelphia … and is not expected to be seen at the Santa Monica courthouse today. 

Traffic Cams Feeding Malibu Live

The city’s traffic cameras are now all up and feeding live video.

This is part of the City’s PCH Signal Synchronization Project.

The cameras give the CHP’s traffic amazement center in Glendale  live visibility into conditions on PCH.

This helps them quickly identify crashes, stalled vehicles, congestion, or other hazards and coordinate faster emergency response.

By visually confirming traffic flow, Caltrans Glendale can fine-tune signal timing in real time to reduce stop-and-go conditions, manage speeds, and improve overall movement along the corridor. 

This added layer of monitoring plays an important role in improving safety for motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and first responders.

The PCH Signal Synchronization Project, the most significant project to improve traffic safety and mobility on PCH to date by the City of Malibu. 

The $19.1 million project was completed last Decvember. 

It connects 12 traffic signals between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and John Tyler Drive into a coordinated “Smart Corridor.” 

Smoother traffic equals less speeding and fewer crashes … is the working theory.

You can view the live cameras at the Caltrans web page … https://cwwp2.dot.ca.gov/vm/iframemap.htm

Your phone can look at still pictures of the latest video … on the Caltrans app … 

Tax Collectors Target Sales tax Cheats Driving Expensive Cars

California tax collectors say they are using license plate readers to look for exotic cars with out of state license plates … especially Montana. 

On Friday … California filed tax evasion charges against 14 people who bought expensive cars in California … live in California … and roistered their cars in Montana. 

Montana has no statewide sales tax … and the buyers evaded 10 percent taxes … about $2 million in California tax that the rest of us are paying.

There are 2.3 million registered vehicles in Montana … about three times more than the number of licensed drivers.

Other states are also in on the scam: Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Oregon. 

The New York Times reports that tax officials and the DMV found hundreds of California-based dealerships involved in more than 2,500 sales to customers claiming they’re Montana drivers.

A study by Bloomberg found that California is using surveillance systems and license plate readers to search for Montana license plates … and to find registration and tax violators.

Busted. 

The “Montana Loophole” tax scheme is going to mean a financial penalty of about 50 percent of the purchase price.

Correction On Traffic Circles: Vote Will Be Next Wednesday at 2pm

And a correction. 

On some of our newscasts … we reported that the traffic circle issue goes to the city council this week.

We pulled the wrong agenda. 

The PCH traffic circles goes before the city council at a special meeting … 2 p-m … one week from Wednesday.

I apologize for my error.