By Paul Taublieb
The erstwhile city of Malibu just released a statement which begins with “(our) number one priority is ensuring the public safety of the community.” Now, of course, this was in reference to the Coronavirus and the need to put this statement out had to do with rumors, pure rumors, that someone in the Malibu community has tested positive to the disease. I have no information or insight into whether this is true or not.
But I can say it’s the kind of mealy-mouthed double speak we’ve come to expect from the City. See, they put out this statement but the only additional information they share is they can’t share any other information as that’s the responsibility LA County Department of Public Health to dispense information. So maybe they do know something, and maybe they don’t. But if, in fact, the “number one priority” is public safety, I think that needs to rephrased “After following rules not of our making, and even if it puts locals in danger, then we’ll say the number one priority is safety but it’s really rule number two, with the real number one following some guidelines which don’t actually put the safety of local citizens first.”
They also cite privacy laws for not sharing more info, but I think that also misses the point. I don’t believe anyone, certainly not me, is asking for anyone’s name, but it sure does seem that if the “number one priority” is the safety of the community, the presence of someone in the community with a potentially deadly virus would be of interest.
Maybe my cynicism is rooted in another odd thing about this supposedly “number one priority.” I mean, while much city business goes on, from a skatepark to speakers series and so on, note this one thing: we still do not have an approved, in-place evacuation plan. That’s right. After years of study before the Woolsey Fire, and now a year and half after the Fire, if there is a calamity and there needs to be an evacuation from Malibu, right now, today, they do not have a plan in place and ready to be executed to orderly evacuate the city. If north and the canyons were to close and we had to flee south, right now, there is no plan to direct additional lane of traffic south, the single most critical choke-point when fire was coming over the hill and cars wre lined up in a parade that an LA County Fire Chief told me, “Except for the grace of God and some luck, we would have had a highway of death and if anyone tells you anything different they don’t know what they’re talking about.” This is an evacuation described to me, by the way, by both council member Skylar Peak and our City Manager as a “great success” since “nobody died.”
To err on the side of safety as the “number one” priority of the City, I tend to believe an LA Fire Chief.
Our safety is in the hands of a leaders on the Council who are made up of two groups:
- Those who were in power at the time and involved and were not prepared to deal with the crisis, and believe the City and City Manager did a great job (Skylar, Rick Mullen with Jay Wagner indisposed from fighting the fire and now a lone voice trying to fix things); I would add Mullen told me that of course, if there’s a crisis or fire and a mandatory evacuation is announced you should leave, but in terms of reality, he doesn’t really believe that because he had his son stay and fight, and Skylar’s position is if you stay behind, you’re safety is not only not their number one priority, it’s not their priority at all as it’s your problem for staying and not theirs.
- Two new people, Mikke Pierson and Karen Farrer who oversaw the conflicted post-event report (officially not an “investigation”) which still nevertheless incriminated the leadership of the city and then, wonderfully, nevertheless rubber stamped a raise and contract extension for the City Manager, who gave herself an award for the great job she thought she did while the City literally burned and the brave citizens who fought and saved homes were abandoned and left to the own devices.
Incidentally, wonder what the citizens thought of the City Manager’s performance? Well, we do know. The council put out a request for written and spoken comment. Of the 17 responses sent in and officially recorded by the city of people willing to sign their name and take a public position, 16 of the 17 were negative (or a tidy 94.12%) and of the nine people who spoke publicly in front of the council, 6 were negative (or 66.67%). Small samples for sure, but the only ones we have – and certainly nothing ambiguous about the results. But how did the city council, our representatives respond to this data, along with the negative report by the Citys own review firm, not to mention two other independent reviews which also cast strong negative reviews the City’s performance? Their conclusion – continue her contract and give her a raise, and nary a word of chastisement. So in other words, don’t believe your lyin’ eyes as to what you saw and experienced during Woolsey, but take solace in the fact your representatives (save Jefferson) were happy to ignore every independent metric of review.
And also please be aware that as of today this same leadership has no new plan in place to support people who stay behind after the next calamity with food, water and supplies – and we all know no one is leaving next time – and also no clear plan for policies for who will be let in after an evacuation is announced and blockade set up. And nothing has changed in the fundamental structure of a City Manager who is not directly accountable to the citizens but has the most power of anyone in the city.
Safety really the number one priority? Really? The more things change the more they stay the same.
Feeling better now?
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