First SM Mountains Fire This Year Kept To 2.3 Acres Near TO

The first brush fire of the year south of the 101 freeway burned just over 2 acres of land near Thousand Oaks yesterday. 

It was called there Janss Fire .. it broke out on a mountainside south of the 101 freeway at Moorpark Road at about 4 pm yesterday.

Ventura County Fire reported that the fire was spreading slowly ,.. in light winds … on a steep mountainside. 

More than 100 firefighters attacked it using three firetrucks … hand crews … a a water tanker … and the Ventura County fire hawk helicopters. 

It took less than 20 minutes for the crews to stop the fire’s spread.

It scorched 2.3 acres of mountainside. 

No cause has been released.

Malibu Again Cut Off From Water Imports, As Work Resumes On Delivery Pipe 

Malibu has once again temporarily been disconnected from its water supply. 

And it may have been a surge in water pressure last summer … in the water pipeline that carries all of Malibu’s water … that is still causing problems. 

This morning … Malibu residents are being asked to conserve indoor water … and to turn off sprinklers outside for at least a day.

100 percent of Malibu’s water comes from a regional water supply system … via one big pipe … which goes from Culver City all the way to Malibu and Topanga Canyon. 

That water main is under extremely high pressure … in regular times … about 300 pounds per square inch.  

The county water district uses very high pressure to help lift the draining water up from PCH to storage tanks up and down the Malibu.

It now appears that a pressure surge … possibly originating at the Culver City distribution hub … may have caused problems.

Last summer … on about August Sixth… a temporary water pipe patch at the Solstice Creek bridge construction project in Malibu sprung a major leak.

On October 15h … a similar problem cropped up along the big water main … at PCH at Coastline Drive in Sunset Mesa. 

And now today … permanent repairs are being undertaken on the water main at Coastline Drive. 

Once again … Malibu residents are being urged to postpone any major uses of water … and to temporarily shut off their outdoor sprinklers for a day to two.

Roundabout Fact Session Tonight On Computers

The issue of roundabouts in western Malibu goes up for public discussion tonight.

L A County has given the city money to install two roundabouts in western Malibu … on Pacific Coast Highway. 

They would be at the inewtrsection of PCH and Encinal Canyon Road … and about a half mile east of that … at the entrance to a beach parking lot at El Matador.

Both are intended to slow down traffic on a raceway section of the coast highway … where the 55 mile per hour speed limit is routinely ignored.

The two roundabouts are about a half mile apart … and the highway will be narrowed from two lanes each way to one lane in either direction.

Two people who live near the proposed roundabouts are campaigning against them.

Arthur Kelly says narrowing PCH to one lane will back up people evacuating from a fire heading west. 

ARTHUR KELLY ONE 

“This one lane will make it nearly impossible for people who live on the Pacific Coast Highway to even come out of their driveways.

“They will also install crosswalks at each of these circles. 

Are they gonna do about lighting? There will have to be all kinds of lighting there.”

At Monday night’s Planning Commission meeting … Kelly said it would be better to increase police presence along the straightways.

Another neighbor … named Brian … criticized the one lane configuration of the roundabouts. 

“My paramount concern is about fire safety in the next time. 

“There will be a fire, unfortunately, and funneling everybody out through one lane on PCH would be incredibly difficult. 

“It took Arthur in the Woolsey fire nine hours or eight hours to get out of Malibu and that’s with PCH looking the way it does now.

Traffic engineers point out that PCH narrows down to one lane only just two miles further up the coast … evacuees will have to contend with one westbound lane one way or the other.

Tonight … the city will host an information session on the roundabout proposals …

That will be from 6 to 7 on the Zoom computer platform. 

The link is at malibucity.org slash roundabouts. 

City Council Goes Back In Secret Session Monday For City Manager Talks

It wil be secret meeting number 16 this Monday night … when the Malibu city council continues its efforts to hire a permanent city manager.

The city council will also take a look at a possible break in negotiaitons with the Santa Monica school board … over the potential for a separate and independent Malibu school district. 

Insurance Holders Statewide To Pay $58 For LA Fire Victims Payouts

Homeowners across California are about to bail out the state’s insurance companies by an average of 58 dollars … a special fee to offset insurance payouts in Malibu … Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

California’s lame duck insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara approved the surcharge … which is designed to bail out the California FAIR Plan … the fire insurance company of last resort.

Last January’s fires have depleted the FAIR Plan’s funds … and under state law … 1 billion dollars on those costs have to be passed on to all of the states insurance companies.

It’s supposed to be the price of doing business in the gigantic … lucrative California insurance market.

But Lara is allowing the insurance companies to pass about half of those costs on to ratepayers.

Insurance watchdogs say it’s an illegal insurance industry bailout. 

They’ve filed a lawsuit to block the surcharges. 

Vacant Lot Prices Dropping In LA Fire Zone, Says LA Times, As Comedian Blasts City Rebuild Efforts

The Los Angeles Times today reports that burned-out vacant lots in Malibu are selling at 20 to 60 percent discounts … and the newspaper says it’s because of stringent permitting rules scaring people out. 

The newspaper extensively quotes Abe Roy … who at one time served as an unpaid ambassador between fire victims like himself … and Malibu city hall.

Roy was removed as rebuild ambassador … because interim city manager Candace Bond wanted a committee of block captains to handle the different needs of different fire areas. 

The LA Times reports that only 2 percent of the burned down Palisades Fire lots in the City of Malibu have been granted rebuilding permits.

That contrasts to 43 percent of the fire victims in the Palisades … which is a part of the City of Los Angeles.

Malibu officials say it takes longer to grant permits here … because4 most of the lots are either on the beach or on steep hillsides.  

Both of those circumstances mean that engineering studies must be undertaken by the applicants before they submit their plans.

The Times quotes one unhappy Malibu beachfront landowner … who submitted his application to rebuild last spring.

But his application was for a house that sits below the minimum elevation required by new federal flood plain maps … and no house can be built if it will be unsafe under federal and state housing codes.

That problem does not exist in the Palisades. 

The Times also quotes onetime TV comedian Adam Carolla … who has no training or expertise in engineering or coastal construction. 

He whines that wooden poles held houses over the ocean for 75 years … and would be perfectly safe to build on without expensive concrete footings.

A landowner quoted by the Times complains that the city is forcing him to replace existing septic systems with onsite wastewater treatment systems.

Running raw sewage into oceanfront pits … to seep into the ocean … like in the old days.

That is not allowed by state water pollution laws. 

The LA Times article does manage to quote Yolanda Bundy … who points out the extraordinary steps that the city is talking to hold the hands of landowners and their architects … to submit plans that can be approved. 

Bundy tells the newspaper “it’s an oversimplification to say that (Malibu is) not making any progress compared to L.A.”

Meanwhile … the LA Times article relies on a failed comedian for coastal geological technical expertise.  

KCRW Cuts 10 Percent Of Staff – Again

Santa Monica College radio station KCRW has trimmed an additional 10 percent of its staff. 

Music hosts Jason Kramer, Jeremy Sole and José Galván have been laid off. 

Kramer has worked for KCRW for 27 years.  Sole … 18 years. Galvan … 8 years. 

Most Malibu residents are unaware that KCRW is run by the community college district … that collects p[roperty taxes from Malibu and Santa Monica.  

About one seventh of the college district budget comes from Malibu taxpayers.

And the district in turn helps to fund KCRW … to the tune of about 2.5 million dollars per year. 

But the loss of federal funds … the demise of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting … will mean a loss of some federal money to KCRW. 

This is the third round of layoffs and cost cutting at KCRW since the Covid epidemic … which put a major crimp in its fundraising.

This note .. KCRW allows KBUU to rebroadcast its local news coverage.

KBUU is not funded by any government agency.

Malibu Pie Festival Winners

We have the results from last weekend’s Malibu Pie festival. 

Best apple pie … Jeremy Walker … apple cranberry blueberry graveyard pie. 

Best seasonal pie … Deanna Cusumano .. old fashioned pecan pie. 

Best  vegan pie … Valerie Seabough … banana chocolate cream. 

Best chocolate pie… Linda Pingatory … brownie cookie pie. 

Merengie pie … Siani DeMieri Limę pie.

Fruit … Beth Milliken … peanut butter jelly time. 

For little kids … hand pie … Violet Bricklin.

And for ages 9-14 … Cece Briggs … autumn leaves falling.