A panoply of issues facing City Council candidates

City hiring struggles, harassment allegations, and traffic safety are among issues new councilmembers would confront

Malibu’s general municipal election nomination period began July 15 and candidates for one of three city availablecouncil positions have until Aug. 9 to pull papers for the November election, if all incumbents have re-upped.  If an incumbent does not pull papers, then residents have until Aug. 14 to pull papers.

To run for election, one must be 18 years old on or before election day, a United States citizen and registered to vote in the City of Malibu at the time the nomination paper is issued. Before any candidate raises or spends any money in connection with a campaign, they must first fill out and sign a Declaration of Intent to Solicit or Receive Contributions Form and the Fair Political Practices Commission Form 501 with the city clerk.

As of July 21, there are five declared candidates, two of whom are incumbents Paul Grisanti and Steve Uhring. Bruce Silverstein, whose term ends this year, has not yet declared as a candidate.

The others competing for one of the three slots are Jack Skene, a mortgage broker; Kevin Shenkman, an attorney who has long advocated that municipalities and other voting districts with at-large elections switch to district elections; and Fred Roberts.

What issues do Malibuites want candidates to address

Of course, there are a few weeks before the deadline to declare candidacy. However, already there are a host of issues Malibuites would like candidates to consider and explain their position regarding.

Where to start?

One could first ask all candidates to articulate what their strategies would be with regard to filling vacant positions for the city, where some employees allege there is a “toxic workplace.” That’s more complicated than it sounds at first blush because fashioning solutions to the difficulty in hiring and attrition is multifaceted.

According to a consultant the city recently retained, there needs to be reorganization of some departments in the City of Malibu.

However, even if that occurs smoothly and compensation and benefits are competitive, the big elephant in the room concerns the need to provide affordable housing so employees don’t have to endure very lengthy commute times.

Thus, the employment hiring and retention issue distills down, in part, to how each candidate would support providing such housing. At question is whether any of them would advocate for the city to use one of its seven available parcels, known as Malibu Community Lands, for such a project. Perhaps candidates should inform themselves regarding their position of the advisability and feasibility of such a possible solution. Perhaps the candidates could discuss the feasibility of building safe and affordable housing into the compensation structure for city employees, at least for those who are supposed to be enforcing such things as short-term rentals operating safely and without excessive noise.

Another big elephant in the room relates to Assistant Planning Director Adrian Fernandez’s announcement that he wanted to “finally raise the curtain on abuses and collusion that [he] has both witnessed and personally endured within the City of Malibu.” Fernandez asserts he has been harassed by other employees, councilpersons, and special interest groups during City Council meetings and in the workplace and that he has even received death threats.

Clearly, City Council candidates cannot opine about interactions between Fernandez and other employees that they have not participated in or observed.  Nevertheless, it is a legitimate query to ask them to explain how they think the city could possibly re-tool its public workplace so it is perceived to be less hostile.

Events that cause traffic congestion and enormous safety risks

Residents are still reeling from how the city handled the Fourth of July party at Nobu, especially since it became clear that a person was killed and another seriously injured when a guest who attended the party caused a head-on collision.

True, the city has now announced it will prosecute a code enforcement action and a citation has been issued. However, those actions were after the fact. Concededly, such proceedings might deter Nobu or other establishments from ignoring the city’s admonitions to not hold an event when they have not received a temporary use permit to do so. However, the question is whether the city — which states that unfortunately, it does not have the jurisdictional ability to shut down an unpermitted event — can coordinate proactively with other agencies that do have the requisite authority to close an unpermitted gathering before such an event proceeds. One also wonders whether the city could have sought a temporary restraining order on an expedited basis when the permitless Nobu informed that it was proceeding with its Independence Day event in defiance of the city’s instructions not to do so.

Hikers risking their lives to get to the trailhead

Moving on to other troublesome matters that involve serious safety concerns: One resident recently noted that “there has been a horrendous lack of oversight at Escondido Falls and many people, some pushing babies in strollers, make mad dashes across PCH as others vie for parking spaces on the dangerous highway.” Perhaps candidates could address their positions about how the city can spearhead efforts to find solutions, as opposed to our municipal representatives stating that because the MRCA has jurisdiction over the land, the city is powerless to do anything about the extreme safety concerns.

Racing on PCH and in the canyons

Not a day goes by without one hearing the revving of engines and observing unsafe driving maneuvers and excessive speeding. Currently, efforts to synchronize the stop lights on PCH are underway, with traffic engineers maintaining that doing so will slow drivers down. Hopefully, that will happen. However, it is not a panacea.

Although LA County has jurisdiction over most roads beyond the city limits except Decker Canyon, a state highway, those vying for City Council should propose meaningful ways to address the racing and unsafe driving issues, including, but not limited to, finding ways to bolster the efforts of Operation Safe Canyons, a committee coordinated by the county supervisor’s office, California Highway Patrol, the Sheriff’s Traffic Division and the Department of Public Works.

Further, candidates should tell the electorate their opinions regarding the city retaining law enforcement to conduct draconian patrols for several months to a year. Perhaps doing so would send a meaningful message to those committing traffic infractions. Trying to accomplish that by increasing enforcement may be money well spent that could save lives.

There are, of course, a plethora of other pressing issues facing City Council candidates. As time progresses, The Malibu Times will feature each of the competing candidates and the major issues they propose to address.

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