KBUU News Tuesday – Bitter Politics Burst Out At City Council – Offer Of Mediation Spurned As Critics Blame Councilman For Misogyny, Agism For Ousting Political Appointee

Written by on March 15, 2022

=.  Another big batch of tickets issued to speeders and loud car drivers in the Malibu area.

=.  A woman is arrested from alleged drunken driving with 5 in her car … for smacking into that PCH power pole last night.

=.  Mikke Pierson is antisemitic and a misogynist for trying to fire a parks commissioner who supports his political rival, attackers allege.

=.  Bruce Silverstein slams Pierson for sacking the only woman appointee he’s made … to replace her with a man.

=.  And is this a surprise ??? Pierson’s trial balloon of bringing in a facilitator to smooth things over gets shot down in flames.

=.  The president of the Clean Power Alliance points the finger squarely at Edison for skyrocketing power bills.

=. Caltrans getting ready to drop the speed limit to 30 on PCH at Trancas. 

=. Those two baby mountain lion kittens found dead over the hill had rat poison in their blood.

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This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the day edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting. 

Not To Be Outdone, LA County Sheriff’s Deputies Also Write 87 Tickets In Malibu Area

For the second weekend in a row … a major law enforcement effort hit the Malibu mountains,. 

Two weekends ago … the CHP wrote 87 tickets in a crackdown on Malibu area speeding and loud cars.

And last weekend … the local sheriff’s office staged its own crackdown .

They matched the CHP …. another 87 tickets written. 

Captain Joseph Fender says it;’s zero tolerance now for speeding and bad driving in Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains. 

And Capt Fender says the traffic tickets were not for minor infractions.

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“In this last weekend alone I am happy to report my traffic deputies made an impact… We made a significant impact in Malibu.

“We wrote 87 citations in one weekend … let me repeat that … we wrote 87 citations in one weekend … for egregious violations … egregious speeding …so  not what we would think as ticky-tack or really trivial violations up and down PCH.

“These were egregious violations in Malibu as well as in the canyons.”

Fender told the city council last night that 41 of those tickets were on canyon roads.

And 46 in the City of Malibu … nearly all on PCH.

32 of those Malibu citations were for speeding only … one guy 30 miles an hour over the speed limit.

And five of them were for modified … loud exhaust systems.  

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Woman Charged With DUI For Crash That Caused Daylong Traffic Jam On PCH

A woman was arrested for suspected drunken driving yesterday morning … after her car with 5 people in it plowed into the parked car and a power pole on PCH at La Costa Beach.

It was an epic traffic jam. PCH was closed from midnight to 7:30 in the morning… creating a gigantic traffic clog on little bitty Rambla Pacifico… a one lane road that quickly jammed with traffic in both directions. 

Once one lane on PCH in each direction was opened… things didn’t get much better… as Southern California Edison crews needed all day to replace the power pole.

Eastbound traffic at the evening rush hour was backed up badly … at one point all the way to Pepperdine. 

More than 50 residents in the area were without power all day while Southern California Edison crews worked. 

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City Hall Politics Take Ugly Turn – Accusations Of Misogyny and Antisemitism Against Pierson

Malibu’s already ugly City Hall politics took an even darker turn last night … when allegations of racism … misogyny and discrimination against older people were leveled.

Last week … council member Mikke Pierson attempted to replace his political appointee … representing him … to the usually low-key parks And recreation Commission.

Pierosn says he wanted to go in a different direction than the priorities of his appointee … Georgia Goldfarb.

And Pierson had planned on appointing a different commissioner last night.

Goldfarb has publicly attacked Pierson for opposing Silverstein’s mayoral quest.

Not so fast. 

Last night …Goldfarb said she’s not leaving on her own free will.

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“I would like to state that I have not resigned as a park and rec commissioner and I wish to continue to serve.”

Others piled on the charges.

Suzanne Guldimann ,.,. also a parks commissioner … said Goldfarb was being replaced by a man … younger … with children. 

That’s illegal … she said … and part of a bigger problem at City Hall.

NEWSCART A73171 GULDIMAN 

“This is a city that already has a problem with representation. Men have always greatly outnumbered women on the council and commissions. We currently have two city commissions with no women at all and one with just one.”

Councilman Bruce Silverstein repeated accusations against Pierson of misogyny and good ol’ boy politics.

And he repeated the accusation from others  ,..,. without making the actual accusation …  that since Pierson opposes Silverstein politically … Pierson is thus anti-semitic … maybe.

Silverstein pointed to letters from his supporters printed in a local newspaper.

NEWSCART A731183 SILVERSTEIN ANTISEMITISM

“It included multiple letters from Malibu residents deriding Mikke’s decision as sexist … agist … and just good ol boy retributive politics. And I had not heard until tonight … possibly antisemitism.

“I don’t … I don’t share that view … but I had not thought about it.” 

Silverstein could offer no support for mentioning antisemitism charges against Pierson … other than linking that claim to Pierson’s desire to remove his appointee from a commission.

Mikke Pierson last night chalked this all up to silly season … campaign season. 

NEWSCART A 73178 MP ANSWERS

“It certainly feels as campaign season has started… Off to a ruckus start here. Charges of sexism ageism anti-Semitism racism are so unfounded it’s such a low. You obviously don’t know my hiring history. You don’t know from your research on the candidates I guess…”

And as you might have predicted … a proposal to bring in a mediator …. to help the city council stop squabbling … went down in flames last night.

The plan had come from Mikke Pierson … who said he had heard from his constituents … they want fighting to stop and work to get done.

NEWSCART AS73175 MEDIATE MP

“Yeah the better and more efficient we can work as a unit … the better. So that that was my soul intent there. No other plan there … other than the same thing the city of Agoura has done … the city of Westlake Village has done. … the city of Santa Paula has done…”

But Silverstein supporters laid into that. 

They said the move for a facilitator was simply a way to paper over the council majority’s decision too reject Bruce Silverstein from what they say is his rightful rotation into the mayor’s seat. 

Jo Drummond .. one resident who spoke. 

NEWSCART A73173 MEDIATE JO DRUMMOND

“I am hearing you, Micael, but I am sure the plan by the council majority is that this facilitator is to fix Bruce. I do think the only person who is being bashed by the City Council and who is been prevented from being what – I believe – is the first Jewish mayor of Malibu is Bruce Silverstein.”

Antisemitism charges are new at Malibu City Hall … where at least one mayor has been Jewish and maybe more.

Council members and mayors generally not have not states their religion. 

No one ever raised antisemitism or racism charges against the people campaigning to have Reva Feldman … a Jewish woman … fired. 

But that did not stop critics of Pierson and boosters of Silverstein last night.

Dominic Brockhaus.

NEWSCART A 73172 MEDIATE DOMINIC BRACKHAUS

“You guys are all calling each other racists.  You guys are all white … not a lot of women … it’s pretty much just a bunch of white old guys you know in Malibu of all places. 

“It shouldn’t come to this. We’re not short on real issues to work on. 

“These people like Steve Uhring who actually want to fix things.   

“Bruce Silverstein… You’re the real mayor or whatever … and we’ve got Paul Grisanti. You only care about yourself.”

City council member Steve Uhring took shots at his political enemy as well.  

Uhring said any sessions with a facilitator would have to be in public … under the state laws … and would degenerate into a circus.

He urged the council … again … to make Silverstein mayor.

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“We had three times now where Bruce has had the opportunity to get the credit that’s due him based based upon the votes and we’ve put that off. I don’t know if a retreat facilitator is the kind of person is going to help us solve those things. 

“I think we have put enough three ring circus acts for our residents this year and we don’t need any more.”

Mikke Pierson last night could see where this was going.

NEWSCART A73176  MEDIATE MP BUYIN

“I mean if there’s not buy-in it’s a total waste of time. There has to be buy-in. So if you wanna plod along like this … I’ll just withdraw the item and just go ahead and do it. Let the chips fall where they may and hope for the best.”

No facilitator … no counselor … maybe no hope for this city council to ever come to grips to patch over this divide. 

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Support for KBUU Radio also comes the the Malibu Association of Realtors.

When choosing someone to represent you when you buy … sell or rent a house … local knowledge is very important.

Malibu zoning rules … Coastal Commission rules …

Members of the Malibu Association of Realtors are local experts.

The Malibu Association of Realtors …  supporters of our local community … and supporters of local radio 99.1 KBUU.

CPA Prez Points Finger At SCE For Dramatic Electric Bill Hikes

The president of the Clean Power Alliance told Malibu residents last night that Southern California Edison is responsible for the lions share of the increase bills that we are all saying. 

Ted Bardacke call the Malibu city Council that Edison is charging more and more for the delivery of power. Officially the delivery charges have gone up 18%… But some people are reporting much larger bills than that.

Bardacke apparently accused Southern California Edison of trying to undercut the Clean Power Alliance ines by charging too little for power generation in past years… A mistake that Southern California Edison has to make up for now.

NEWSCART A 73181 BEDARCKE SCECPA

“We said at the time that we thought Edison’s rates were too low … and In fact Edison under-collected by $700 million last year, and on March 1 their generation rates went up by 18%.

City council members keeps praise on the Clean Power Alliance…for providing an alternative to Southern California Edison for Malibu ratepayers. Councilman Bruce Silverstein singled out CPA’s moneyback guarantee… for the ratepayers have been shifted over to time of use rates.

If after one year the shift to time of use rates … the costs for generation have gone up … that ratepayer can get a refund for the difference.

NEWSCART A 73180 SCECPA BS

“Sounds like there’s nothing to lose, if I understand that correctly, from using the time of use for the next 12 months, because if it turns out it’s more expensive than it would’ve been you’re gonna get a rebate but if it’s not as expensive you got a better plan …  that’s good.”

The CPA president sympathized with ratepayers who are seeing their bills go up so much.

But Bardacke said the CPA has not raised its generation rates in more than a year… when Edison has raised its distribution rates three times … for a total of 18 percent.

Overall  bills that used to be 50% CPA generation costs and 50% SCE delivery costs are now tilting to two thirds Edison.

Mayor Paul Grisanti agreed.

NEWSCART A 73179 SCECPA PG

“Southern California Edison has raised our transmission rates three times within the last year and a quarter … year and a half … 

“And we get to pay for repairing the damage line so when they burn down some thing we get to pay their fines.”

What was missing last night was answers from Southern California Edison. City council members say they want to hear from the monopoly power distribution company… they want to hear an explanation why distribution rates have skyrocketed … seemingly out of control.

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Rat Poison Detected In Blood Of Two Dead Pumas

Two tiny mountain lions that were recently found at death’s doorstop …. over the hill … tested positive for rat poisons… 

And they were probably poisoned by their mother’s milk. 

Two other mountain lion kittens from the same litter are being respect to health right now at a zoo in Orange County… the fate of the mother is not known.

Set Riley… the local National Park Service chief wildlife ecologist… says rat poison is the likely cause.

The four kittens were discovered outside an office building in Newberry Park in November.

The story is reported in the Ventura County Star.

Caltrans Posts 30 MPH Signs At Trancas Creek

Another sign for motorist to ignore on California’s highway one. Caltrans has posted 30 mph speed limit signs for PCH between Guernsey Avenue and Trancas Canyon Road. Looks like the state is about ready to put in movable cement barriers to scrunch all the traffic up against one side of the road way… while half of the bridge at Trancas Creek is demolished and rebuilt this summer. 

As we’ve been reporting… PCH will have very narrow traffic lands and no room for bicycles for a quarter mile. 

Bicyclists will be directed to walk on a special pedestrian path that’s going to be stapled to the side of the bridge. 

Good luck with that. 

All this is part of a $51 million project to reconstruct the bridge… part of which is nearly 100 years old.

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Just released: a limited, holiday-spiced Winter Ale …  a perfect fireside companion.

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