ELISE ACKER
Staff Writer
In less than one month, incumbent candidates Sharon Barovsky and Mayor Andy Stern will face three challengers in the long-awaited City Council election: Ryan Embree, Ed Gillespie, and John Mazza.
Saturday, the candidates had the opportunity to present their platforms and to explain their views on important city issues in a Candidate Forum at Webster Elementary. Even though every candidate was sent an invitation by e-mail in advance, both incumbents were absent.
While the reason for this was unconfirmed, the attending candidates expressed their opinions on the matter. “I’m really sorry the incumbents made a conscious choice not to attend this forum,” Mazza said. “It’s been attended by every candidate for the last 20 years. They said they didn’t get the e-mail.”
Embree said he was disappointed that Barovsky and Stern were absent. “The two who didn’t come lost the [forum] debate,” he said “And they are likely to lose the election.”
Gillespie said he would have liked to see the incumbents at the meeting, but he did not know the details behind their absence.
During the forum, each candidate gave a brief background about himself, presented his platform, and offered his position on a few key issues.
Living in Malibu since 1982, Embree has “been a fixture and volunteer at City Hall for over 15 years,” he said.
Because he is familiar with significant issues and has seen them handled skillfully in the past, Embree said he was disappointed with the incumbents’ mistakes and thought he could do better if elected.
At the forum, Embree said he wanted Malibu to get some much-needed highway improvements and that he was concerned about meeting the needs of the city’s quickly rising youth population by addressing the playing field issue.
Later, Embree added to his list of important matters. “I want to reform the structure of city government by restoring the planning division,” he said, “because planning is so important when you have vacant land. It’s the most important issue because it affects the residents and the future development of the city.”
Gillespie and his wife moved from their Beverly Hills home to their current Malibu residence in 2002. Serving on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors since he moved to Malibu, Gillespie wanted to be involved with the city to improve some of the different problems he noticed, such as the frequent accidents and deaths on Pacific Coast Highway.
Gillespie said he wants to improve traffic on PCH, specifically the problem with speeding due to the lack of a Sheriff’s station. “PCH is just going to get worse and worse because people know they can speed without consequences,” he said.
His other chief platform issues include getting more money from the county for Malibu schools, eliminating utility poles by installing them underground, and instituting a tree-height ordinance. Gillespie said that although the Eucalyptus trees on many residents’ properties are young, this type of tree is known for growing as high as 500 feet, eventually affecting property values by obstructing the ocean view.
Aside from disrupting the city’s beautiful view, these trees could pose a serious threat to homeowners in the event of a fire. “I did some reading about Eucalyptus trees and then talked with the Malibu Fire Department,” Gillespie said. “They actually explode during a fire because they’re full of oil. They’re the worst kind of tree to have in a fire-prone area.”
A Malibu resident for 34 years, Mazza said he wanted to “preserve the look and feel of Malibu for future generations.” However, he said he wanted to achieve this by planning wisely while still making progress. “We can keep the status quo or move toward being proactive with solid growth,” he said.
Because he had experience running several businesses, Mazza was especially concerned with city planning. He said that he would work to reduce turnover in that department and streamline the planning process. With planning, “a town can keep its look and feel by being fair to the businesses as well as the residents” Mazza said.
Ultimately, Mazza said that City Council would solve many problems and make important changes for Malibu if it would cooperate more with other city and state agencies and “listen to the public and their needs.” “The council should concentrate first on the needs of the citizens,” he said.
In addition to their concerns for the city, the candidates recognized a need for collaboration between the council and Pepperdine University. Friction first arose when the school asked to be excluded from Malibu’s city limits.
“I’d like to embrace Pepperdine and remove the stigma that started years ago,” said Embree. “Pepperdine has proven itself as a good neighbor,” he said. “I know there’s potential for a much better relationship.”
Gillespie agreed and said he would like to see a very friendly relationship and cooperation on both sides. “I think Pepperdine has been a good thing for Malibu,” he said. Gillespie specifically mentioned the school’s contribution to the city through its donations to the Green Machine, a landscaping project that beautified many public areas.
Mazza also concurred. “I think there should be a joint facility use agreement between Pepperdine and the city,” he said. “I think Malibu has a wealth of resources for the students.”
Mazza said the first step toward a better relationship was to open the lines of communication between Pepperdine and City Council. “There is no dialogue that I know of,” he said.
“What affects Malibu affects Pepperdine,” said Mazza. He said that, even though the university is not technically part of Malibu, any faculty members or students who are residents of Malibu should vote.
The new City Council members will be elected April 11. For ongoing coverage, see the Malibu Times.
04-11-2006