It’s Safe To Thaw Holiday Turkeys This Year, Despite Mild Santa Ana Forecast

Just in time for Thanksgiving …  Santa Ana winds are expected to crop up Tuesday thru Thursday morning.

This will peak as a 6 millibar windstorm … that’s a prediction of a weak to moderate Santa Ana wind. 

The National Weather Service says it may issue official wind advisories for the canyons and beaches in Malibu.

Strongest winds … Wednesday … up tp 30 miles per hour. 

That will be not quite as strong as what we got over the weekend … 

Southern California Edison is – NOT – warning of any intentional power outages.

As of right now …. there is zero chance of a repeat of the Great Turkey Fiasco of 2022 … when dozens of thawed turkeys had to be thrown out in Malibu. 

Edison unexpectedly cut the power as high winds arrived Thanksgiving morning … 

That ruined the cooking plans for hundreds of families up and down the coast. 

Caltrans Safety Repaving Plan Goes To City Council Tonight

Malibu’s city council is scheduled to decide tonight … on the first part of the Caltrans safety program.

Two sides have been drawn.

One side feels “Caltrans has lost their way. Their proposals in Western Malibu will change the character of our city forever.”

The other side says the safety changes are decades overdue … reflect modern traffic safety methods … and shock due approved.

The issue is a 55 million dollar lackage of road repaving and safety projects on the western half of PCH in Malibu … from Malibu Creek west to the county line.

The pavement is falling apart.

State law and Caltrans policy require the state to add bike lanes … and sidewalks … wherever possible when they repave a road. 

So the argument is … what is possible … given Malibu’s narrow highway. 

Activists in Malibu complain that the state has ignored obvious solutions like lowering the speed limit .. instead of the current plan to add striped bike ;lanes. 

Members of a Malibu preservation group … called the Malibu Township Council … actually support bike lanes. 

But they don’t like streetlights. … the plan is to add several dozen streetlights.

One critic has appeared before the Malibu city council over and over again… to claim that Caltrans has ignored the pleas by many in Malibu to lower the speed limits.

The record is opposite … Caltrans has had more than a dozen meetings in Malibu … and they have said over and over again that the state’s anti speed trap law ties their hands. 

It’s simply not legal in California to unilaterally drop a speed limit.

On the other side … dozens and dozens of people who have sent in comments … apparently working off of a form letter sent out by a group called Streets Are For Everyone. 

They say that the Caltrans safety plan doesn’t destroy Malibu’s character — it preserves it. 

The plan has rural-style sidewalks, dark-sky lighting, and thoughtful design, it keeps our community beautiful while making it safer.

Community activist Michel Shane has laid into the Malibu Township Council … the political group that filed the appeal. 

Writing in the Malibu Times … Shane called the Malibu Township Council “a rigged system where the same people get multiple chances to block what they oppose …

“Who appointed them to determine our future?”  

“The MTC “… Shane writes … “has spent years masquerading as community representatives while systematically undermining every decision they dislike. 

“They’re not preserving anything – they’re killing people through procedural

warfare while hiding behind environmental rhetoric.”

Township Council members claim that the current plan fails to meet modern safety standards, increases certain risks, and erodes Malibu’s rural coastal identity.

They object that “the greatest danger lies with those outside their cars—yet Caltrans’ plan focuses mainly on vehicles.”

And particularly dislike the Caltrans plan to reducing lane widths from 12 foot to 10-1/2 feet is dangerous.

The current 12 foot lanes were laid out in 1947. … back when PCH was an intercity highway with a 65 mph design speed.

Caltrans officials point out that nature lanes reduce traffic speeds … and that many sections of urban freeway in the area have 10-1/2 foot wide lanes. 

And its not clear how many of the 62 traffic deaths on PCH did not involve cars. 

Michel Shane calls the Malibu Township Council appeal “death by procedure.”

“It’s about a small group weaponizing ]appeals to override outcomes whenever they don’t get their way.”

One item of controversy has been the Caltrans proposal to build a sidewalk in front of Pepperdine University.

This is despite the fact that Pepperdine has sidewalks in front of its campus on either side … the university has opposed a sidewalk on the PCH side.

They say it would end the ability of fire trucks or ambulances to drive up the grass to an emergency water reservoir and helipad up the hill.

The fire department … however … has not objected to the sidewalk.  And during fires … fire engines have been observed accessing the tank and helipad by driving over the sidewalk curb on an adjacent street. 

If the City Council turns down the Caltrans request … it appears that the state can appeal the city’s decision to the Coastal Commission. 

And Coastal Commission staff has already officially endorsed the Caltrans plan. 

Council To Revisit Fire Ambassador Plan And Consider Temporary Public Housing After Next Fire

Major contrversy over the volunteer fire ambassador program has rekindled.

A month ago … acting city manager Candace Bond decided to move away from using one person as an intermediary between fire victims and the city bureaucracy.

That fire ambassador … Abe Roy … protested loudly. 

But there city manager replaced him with a series of block captains … and instituted weekly meetings between city staff and the block captains to hash out fire rebuilding issues.

And some city council members objected … saying they had not been consulted about the policy change. 

The fire ambassador issue goes before the city council tonight.

Also on the agenda … a proposal for the city to make it easy to deploy temporary housing immediately after the next disaster hits Malibu.  That proposal is part of a proposed update to the city’s general plan.

LA Times: LA City Fire Misled Public About Lachman Fire Fight

The Los Angeles city fire department’s new chief has apparently misled the public about steps that LA city fire took after they contained the first of two brushfires in Pacific Palisades.

The Los Angeles Times reports that dispatch records from LA city fire show that nothing was actually done two days after the Lachman Fire broke out and then was contained. 

Tje Lachman Fire is the one that smoldered for six days before it exploded into the massive and deadly Palisades Fire … which burned into Malibu and took out one tenth of Malibu.

12 people were killed in that second fire … 3 of them in Malibu. 

Malibu lost more than 700 houses. 

Interim fire chief Ronnie Villanueva has said that LA city fire went back to the Lachman Fire on January Third … two days after the fire was supposedly contained. 

Villanueva says the department did additional “cold trailing” …after a reports of smoke emerging from the ground.

Villanueva told the LA Times several months ago that his firefighters “dug it all out again.”

He said … quote … : ”We put ladders on it. We did everything that we could do — cold-trail again. “We did all of that.”

Close quote,

But LA city fire dispatch records show that firefighters reported they did not see any smoke …  

They then canceled the dispatch for another engine that was on the way, clearing the call within 34 minutes. 

The log does not mention cold trailing.

LA city fire officials have refused to answer more questions abut that.

Worse … the city’s 70 page review of its fire department’s actions during the Palisades Fire of January Sixth barely even mentions the Lachman Fire of January First.

Federal prosecutors say the Palisades Fire and the Lachman Fire were the same incident … one continuous fire.

The president of the Board of Fire Commissioners … which runs LA city fire … says 

the after action report was only supposed to cover the first 72 hours after the Palisades fire erupted.

There is no after action report for the first fire … the Lachman Fire … the fire that was not put out … and apparently not checked two days after it was knocked down. 

Waymos Spotted On PCH South Of Malibu

Waymo taxiis … the robot-driven cars that are becoming common on the westside of Los Angeles … have been spotted on Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica. 

Saturday night … a Waymo … with no one at the drivers wheel … was observed turning onto PCH at the California Incline … heading towards the Santa Monica Freeway. 

For now … the Waymo is not sending the driverless vehicles up PCH into Malibu.

Yet, 

In santa Monica … the cards have been operating for more than a year.

The biggest problem has been the backup alarms at a Waymo recharging station .

Noise has been bugging the neighbors. 

Beep beep beep.

Waymo says federal safety regulations require electric vehicles to make a backup sound to alert pedestrians.

Santa Monica wants a noise moratorium. 

Vandy Days In Malibu: Week Of Events To Celebrate Dick Van Dyke’s 100th Birthday

It’s Vandy Days in Malibu.

Dick Van Dyke is about to celebrate his 100th birthday … on December 13th the song and dance comedian will turn 100.

And there are a series of events planned by the city and the Malibu Film Society.

The big party will be December 7th … Sunday.  

But before that … on Friday the 5th … Van Dyke’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will be shown at Malibu City Hall.

The 1968 movie … the classic musical comedy … will be screened in the city hall chambrs.

Dick Van Dyke stars as a down-on-his-luck inventor who transforms a broken-down race car into a fancy vehicle for his children that transports them on a magical fantasy adventure to save their grandfather in a far-off land.

That’s at 6 PM … with the City of Malibu providing free desserts in the Community Room.

Sunday the ninth … is the official World Premiere of DICK VAN DYKE: 100TH CELEBRATION! 

 Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Steve Boettcher will join the Malibu Film Society’s Scott Tallal on stage to introduce this feature-length documentary.

It explores Dick Van Dyke’s life and career, featuring some of his most memorable moments from film and TV along with brand new interviews with the iconic entertainer, his friends and co-stars.

That Sunday party starts with a Dick Van Dyke iinspired Costume Contest at noon … and a pre-show reception at 1PM featuring a display of DVD memorabilia.

The movie screens at 2. 

That’s Sunday the 7th. 

One week later … the official closing event of Malibu’s Vandy Days celebration is the Malibu Film Society’s  next Dinner & a Movie Night at Ollo Restaurant.

They will be showing Mary Poppins …  at 6:30 Sunday the 14th. 

Mor einformation is at the Malibu Film Society web page.