Malibu City Council

The Malibu City Council finally is working its way through the housekeeping that accompanies cityhood. Council members and outsiders alike had worried that some of these chores were neglected in the confusion over the city's controversial moratorium on development. Tuesday, members approved the first round of contracts for services with Los Angeles County, including five-year contracts for animal control services and general services.

Cami Winikoff commutes an hour and 15 minutes to work from Malibu Park to Century City every morning. The long drive is the sacrifice she makes so that she can go home to natural darkness. "People who live here, live here to have dark skies and to have that lifestyle," said Winikoff, 49. Winikoff is one of numerous Malibu residents outraged by a years-long effort to install permanent lights at the local high school's athletic field and keep them on for as many as 61 nights a year - a move critics say would disturb the neighborhood's natural environment.

The six candidates running for two seats on the Malibu City Council agree development must be closely controlled. But several of them are split on how to do so. No issue draws the interest and ire of Malibu residents as development and how to restrain it. It was dissatisfaction with Los Angeles County's land-use decisions and bureaucracy that fueled the city's incorporation drive in 1991.

Tooling along Pacific Coast Highway in his GMC pickup, Skylar Peak scans the break at Surfrider Beach. Bella, his golden retriever-Labrador, is leashed in the truck bed, her mohawk shaded by a red, white and blue surfboard bearing the message VOTE PEAK. As he pulls into the beach parking lot, Peak shouts "Waddup?" and waves a shaka sign at some surfer pals. In a few hours, the Malibu native will paddle out. But at the moment, he has more on his mind than nose-riding. In April, this celluloid ideal of a waterman became the youngest person ever elected to Malibu's City Council.

May I give some succinct advice to the Malibu City Council? Stop the bickering and posturing, and start orchestrating. Your ineptness, inexperience and naivete are showing badly. Start using some common sense and get to the business of running a city. RICHARD D. IDLER Malibu

At a special session of the Malibu City Council today, city staff will report on fiscal priorities and the council will discuss the possibility of creating a farmers market. The meeting will be held at 10:30 a.m. in the large conference room at Malibu City Hall, 23555 Civic Center Way.

The letter by Soka's Jeff Ourvan, whining about the Malibu City Council's resolution opposing Soka's development, is wrong on every point. The Malibu City Council did not make a "snap" decision. Soka's development plan has been public since May 1, 1991, and has been thoroughly reviewed and analyzed by many interested individuals and groups. The facts are there for all to see. Does Ourvan deny that Soka wants to build 84 new buildings totaling 1.7 million square feet? Does he deny that Soka wants to grade 640,000 cubic yards and construct 2,500 parking spaces?

We are extremely disappointed that the Malibu City Council has chosen to issue a negative resolution about Soka University. This snap decision totally ignores an established and effective environmental review process designed to clarify traffic and environmental concerns. The council's haste in issuing this resolution is done without important and necessary environmental impact information. At the July 16 Malibu City Council meeting, university representatives respectfully asked the council not to make a snap decision on the university's 25-year development plan until a detailed environmental impact report, specifically addressing many of the Malibu City Council's concerns, had been completed.

It is a classic Malibu vista: green mountains sloping into a deep blue sea with a yellow sun hanging in a pastel blue sky. The idyllic scene, representing the view along the coastline, was chosen this week by the Malibu City Council for the city's official seal. The design, conceived by a city engineering employee, will be featured on the city's letterhead, municipal vehicles and signs. The seal reflects the charm of Malibu, officials said.

The Malibu City Council appointed a new mayor at its weekly meeting Monday. John Harlow, 66, who was mayor pro tem last year, was selected by fellow council members. He took the reins from Joan House, who was reelected. Harlow said one of his priorities is finalizing development plans for the city's Civic Center property, where the Malibu City Hall is located.

A prime stretch of Malibu coastline has been in public hands for decades, but you wouldn't know from looking at it. Dan Blocker County Beach has no official parking spots, no welcome sign, no permanent restrooms or other visitor-friendly amenities. It spans a mile of Los Angeles County's most stunning coastline on Pacific Coast Highway, but there is no pathway down the steep, roadside bluff to the sand. And a third of the property is blocked off with a chain-link fence that beachgoers must go around, scale or squeeze through to reach the seashore.

Step aside, Barbra Streisand and Tom Petty, the Malibu City Council is moving in. The city purchased a new City Hall -- the former Malibu Performing Arts Center -- in an auction for $15 million. The 35,000-square-foot building, which has featured performers such as Bob Dylan and Sting, along with Streisand and Petty, was auctioned Friday because of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings by its owner, Vineyard Christian Fellowship. The city has always had a goal of owning its own city hall, City Manager Jim Thorsen said.

To the relief of residents in fire-prone canyon areas, the Malibu City Council voted 5 to 0 Wednesday to ask the California Coastal Commission to certify an amendment to the city's local coastal plan that would prohibit overnight camping in Malibu parks.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the city of Malibu have reached a tentative agreement that would encourage more use of the mountains by hikers and campers, officials said late Thursday. If approved by the Malibu City Council after public hearings, the plan would provide for overnight camping at Corral Canyon and Charmlee Wilderness Park, near the Ventura County border. It would also provide for a shuttle service between parks and beaches.

Is the movie colony no longer movie-friendly? Filmmakers contend that movie production in Malibu could fade to black if strict new rules limiting movie-making go into effect in the 21-mile-long beach city. The regulations, which the Malibu City Council will consider for final action Monday, would ban late-night and early-morning film shoots, prohibit the use of helicopters and limit the amount of time production companies could use a particular site to 16 days.

After months of public hearings and haggling, the Malibu City Council has approved a revised agreement that could determine how the seaside community's choicest remaining parcels are developed over the next two decades. The chief provision of the pact gives the city of Malibu three years to raise $25 million to buy the Chili Cook-Off Site, the location of the annual Labor Day event along Pacific Coast Highway. The property owner is Malibu Bay Co., a development firm owned by A.

The Malibu City Council is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Malibu resident Donna Hudson. Hudson, 69, was fatally stabbed on March 12 in her home on Topanga Beach Road, between 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The reward is the first offered by Malibu under a new program approved by the City Council in July, Assistant City Manager Mark Lorimer said.

The Malibu City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to pay up to $10,000 to appeal the California Coastal Commission's approval of Pepperdine University's proposed expansion. The council had been slated only to discuss the request for funding made by former Malibu Township Council member A. David Kogan, but strong sentiment prompted the immediate action.

Singer Barbra Streisand has won permission to construct a new building at her three-acre ocean-side Point Dume compound that will be used as a temporary repository for her lifelong collection of film manuscripts, music scores and personal recordings. The City Council has voted 4 to 0 to approve the 11,300-square-foot, two-story structure. It will include a pair of basements that will house her personal materials.

Malibu is up in arms again, but this time it isn't due to a slide blocking the free flow of traffic. It's the City Council blocking the free flow of news. When I first heard of Malibu's effort to manacle the press, I couldn't believe it. This is a city whose famous inhabitants glory in media attention, and they're trying to muzzle us? What am I missing here?