Once Again, Council Tries To Select A City Manager

Malibu’s city council goes into secret session number 12 or 13  this afternoon … as it continues to flail around behind closed doors trying to hire someone to run the city.

The city has been with working with interim … temporary city managers for nearly two years … since the second city manager in three years bailed out.

A caretaker city manager. … former Ambassador Candace Bond … is keeping the city running while the city council tries to find a new city manager without an embarrassing past. 

One attempt to hire a woman from the Antelope Valley … ended in scandal …  when the woman was hired … then had to withdrew her name.

Allegations of poor behavior and illegal spending in Palmdale … allegations that were never proven … clouded her appointment here in Malibu. 

Civic Center Sewers In Serra Estates, Water Delivery System On Agenda Tonight

L A County Waterworks District 29 runs the water system in Malibu. 

And there are always questions about how prepared it is for the next fire.

Are there enough generators to pump water out to Malibu??
Are there pipes big enough to reach all parts of the city with adequate supply?

How has the destruction of 700 houses at the eastern end of the city … the pathway for eve4ry drop of water delivered to Malibu … how was the water main affected?

Waterworks 29 officials are scheduled to appear before the city council with their annual update … on infrastructure projects … tonight.

That part of the city council meeting is supposed to start at 5:30.

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Also tonight … sewers.

A new deal between the California State Water Board and the City of Malibu is in the works.

Residents in the Serra Estates neighborhood may escape being forced to connect to the city’s Civic Center sewage treatment plant.

The discovery of native american artifacts near the Malibu Lagoon may have triggered this change.

The city has told the water board it cannot meet the water boards deadline to build the third phase of the sewer … because of the discovery of ancient items.

Horvath Applauds Malibu Brigades, But Questions About Lack Of Fire Alerts Ignored By County After Action Report

An after action report that examined LA County’s reaction to the Palisades Fire is already triggering some changes. 

County supervisor Lindsay Horvath wants to beef up the county’s emergency management office … by adding staff and turning it a separate county department.

The independent report found no single point of failure but instead a series of compounding weaknesses.

Horvath said last week that Malibu is an example of what should be done countywide. 

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“Programs like the community fire brigade in Santa Monica Mountains – the first in the nation, which I was proud to support – and emergency preparedness trainings in Topanga Canyon and beyond – are the kinds of grassroots efforts we need to scale countywide.”

Community volunteers and brigade members saved lives … she said … and that Malibu program needs to be extended to all areas of the county. 

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“This report highlights areas where we must improve.

“It also reminds us of the extraordinary courage and dedication of our first responders and community volunteers.

“Their actions saved lives.

“From this report, it is clear we must clarify our protocols for evacuations and alerts.

“We must practice and train as a region even more than we already do.

“We must communicate early, often and with one voice.”

The report looks emergency alerting during three separate phases of the fires that hit this year … the Altadena fire … the Pacific Palisades Fire … and the section of Palisades fire that hit Malibu.

But the report is really thin on Malibu .. almost an afterthought. 

It did not mention important communications failures Malibu.

For example … the National Weather Service emergency radio transmitter in Malibu was off the air before the fire broke out.

Southern California Edison had turned off the power to it because of high winds.

5 thousand radios that the county had passed out to alert people were therefore made useless. 

But it’s not like they would have gone off anyway. 

The county never activated the Emergency Alert System to tell residents to get out of Malibu.

The county has never been tested those radios to see if they work.

KBUU was on the air with fire emergency news all night … but our broadcast signal does not reach as far as the big LA TV and radio stations. 

The failure of emergency alerts in Malibu was not even addressed by the county after action report.

Space X Launch #51 Of the Year Lights Up Sky In Malibu

You may have seen last night’s Space-X launch over Malibu. 

Another Falcon 9 was blasted off just after 7 pm last night. 

It was Launch number 51 for SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base this year.

SpaceX has a permit to launch 50 rockets per year from their Santa Barbara County launching pads … which are under California Coastal Commission jurisdiction under a Coastal jurisdiction signed by President Nixon in 1974.

SpaceX wants a new permit to increase that to 95. 

The rocket blasts drop debris into the ocean … an issue that is unresolved between Coastal and SpaceX.

SCE Meeting Tomorrow To Explain Why Your Power Will Go Out Even More Often,. And For Longer Periods

A loud uproar is likely tomorrow night … when Southern California Edison has to appear before Malibu residents to explain why the power is going off so frequently. 

Once a year .. the power company is required to show up in public and explain to residents how to deal with intentional blackouts … 

But its the 

This year … it’s driven Malibu mayor Marianne Riggins to publicly blast the power company. 

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“Southern California Edison’s public safety power shut offs – or PS PSes – put  Malibu at risk

“During the palisades Franklin and Woolsey fires,  the shut offs left our community in total communications blackouts, compounding the danger of wildfires.”

This year’s meeting in tomorrow night at 6 at City Hall. 

The power company never publicly discloses what the trigger speed for intentional blackouts is … but KBUU news has learned it is when there is a forecast of sustained winds of 31 miles per hour … 

A forecast of 31 miles an hour is all it takes for Malibu to black out … power and communications cut. 

The outages have been getting more frequent every year … 

A recent SCE report uncovered by KBUU shows that some parts of Malibu were blacked out intentionally for 7,571 minutes that year.

That 126 hours of cumulative blackout in one year is 47 times worse than the systemwide SCE blackout average.

And the power company says they are going to be even more sensitive to winds this year … and increase the number of outages … the duration of outages … and the length of time it takes to inspect lines and get the power back on. 

City council member Haylynn Conrad is calling to Malibu to get rid of SCE altogether … although she does not offer any plan to actually achieve that.

Mayor Marianne Riggins says tomorrow is a chance to vent at SCE. .

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“these outages threaten lives and homes leading up to and during wildfires and impact peoples ability to work, attend school and run businesses.

“Make your voice heard.

“Join the SCE meeting on PPS on Tuesday from 6 PM to 8 PM at City Hall.”

The Edison performance art exercise will be tomorrow at 6 at Malibu City Hall.

Santa Monica (Which Has A City Manager) Affirms Its Airport Will Close, Despite New Air Service

Santa Monica’s airport will definitely close at the end of 2028… despite the application from a Dallas-based company to start regularly scheduled passenger service using 30 passenger planes this winter. 

That’s the promise made Friday by the city manager … as reported in the Santa Monica Mirror newspaper.

JSX has applied for permission to operate daily flights from Santa Monica’s short runway … using turbojets that can handle the very-short 35 hundred-foot long runway. 

But Santa Monica Airport is not on the FAA list of airports that have the safety equipment required to handle planes with more than 9 passengers. 

The FAA requires minimum levels of signs, lights, runway safety setbacks, refueling safety and aircraft rescue and firefighting equipment. 

Santa Monica does not make that list … so it appears that JSX planes with 30 passengers would appear to violate FAA rules

A consent agreement signed with the federal government allows the city to tear down its airport to build a giant park … as voters approved in a landslide election 11 years ago. 

But the city promised the FAA it would allow regular takeofffs and landings until the end of 2028.

JSX has not announced where its flights will go.

It already offers daily scheduled flights out of suburban airports like Napa and Scottsdale.

The Santa Monica city manager says .. quote … “Santa Monica Airport will close at the end of 2028 … and nothing about this process with JSX Air changes this fact.”

Relax, Addicts, Nearest Starbucks Closure Is In SM

Last Friday … Starbucks said they would close hundreds of coffee shops nationwide.

At least 69 of those locations will be in Southern California … according to a a crowd sourced list.

That – of course – could lead to a caffeine withdrawal-induced panic in Malibu.

None of the 4 Starbucks in Malibu area on the list. 

But in Santa Monica … coffee carnage. 

29th at ocean park.

22nd at Colorado.

26th street near San Vicente.

Closed.

And bad news skiers.

The Starbucks on Main Street in Mammoth lakes is no more.

Grounds for unhappiness.

Big Waves Atop Not Very High Tides Forecast

High surf warning from the NWS  … for waves 5 to 8 feet out of the south,

But the lunar high tide cycle is not severe right now.

High tide today will be just 5.6 feet at 2:20 this afternoon.