Malibu City Council candidates Bruce Silverstein and Steve Uhring hosted a meet and greet Sept. 22 at the Point Dume Club to discuss their re-election campaign and the recent change in ownership of the club.
Point Dume Club is a Malibu mobile home park that recently changed ownership after a deal organized by Marcus & Millichap, according to an L.A. Times article. The gathering was originally supposed to focus on meeting the potential candidates, but after the sale was announced, the candidates shifted the focus of the meeting to discuss the concerns of the residents.
“I’m providing my best understanding of what’s going on here,” Silverstein said in relation to concerns regarding the Point Dume Club sale.
During the meeting, Silverstein and Uhring discussed not only the issue of the Point Dume Club sale, but also the Malibu issues that prompted them to run for City Council again. Their campaign sparked support from certain Malibu residents.
Point Dume Club Concerns
The first issue that Silverstein addressed was an ordinance regarding the sale of the Point Dume Club.
“Malibu does have an ordinance that governs — it’s basically rent control,” Silverstein said.
The ordinance helps to restrict the new owner’s ability to raise rent and change what the park is, Silverstein said.
“There are a lot of legal things they [new owners] would have to go through to get to either of those objectives,” Silverstein said.
However, Silverstein ensured citizens the new owners also have good lawyers who will know plenty about the legality of change to the mobile home park.
“They’ll [the lawyers] know everything they can do, everything they can’t do and everything where it’s unclear whether they can or they can’t,” Silverstein said.
The gray areas in the laws tend to be the problem in situations like these, Silverstein said.
“The bad news is when reading through the local ordinance, it raised as many questions in my mind as it did provide me with answers,” Silverstein said.
There are a lot of holes in this code that warrant a renewal of it, Silverstein said.
“There is supposed to be a commission and the commission makes decisions as to whether rent increases could occur,” Silverstein said.
However, there is no real input from elected officials and the decisions are made primarily through the city staff, Silverstein said.
The code needs to be changed so that elected officials and not city staff have the final say, Silverstein said.
“Every one of us will have your back because that’s the reason we’re here,” Silverstein said. “But there’s a difference between having your back and knowing how to have your back.”
There are holes and gray areas that Silverstein said he would be better suited to attack.
“I am going to consistently tell our city attorney and our City Council members and tell our city staff that this is our fight, cause you are our responsibility,” Silverstein said.
However, despite addressing these concerns, there is the possibility that nothing could change, Silverstein said.
“We’re all just going to prepare and do the footwork and be ready for anything that does occur,” Silverstein said. “And hopefully we’re doing that work for nothing.”
Malibu Issues
While Silverstein mainly addressed the concerns of the Point Dume Club sale, Uhring took the lead on addressing the other issues involving the Malibu community.
The first issue that Uhring highlighted was Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) safety concerns.
“I’m running because I’ve had enough of people driving over a hundred miles an hour on PCH and creating fatal accidents,” Uhring said. “It’s time to stop that.”
Uhring also discussed how he wants the city of Malibu to be taken seriously by the businesses within it.
“I’m tired of the city becoming a joke every time we try and fine Nobu $1,700 for running illegal parkage,” Uhring said.
Uhring hopes to fix the long permit wait times associated with fixing household appliances, he said.
“I’m tired of waiting six months on a permit to get our water heater replaced,” Uhring said.
There is also around 125,000 square feet of open commercial space in Malibu that Uhring does not want to build on, Uhring said.
Uhring wants to address the lack of parking in the Malibu city center as well, Uhring said.
Uhring hopes that with his campaign, he can make the city better, Uhring said.
Citizen Response
A couple of Malibu residents attended to show their support for the two candidates and the issues they discussed.
One of these citizens, Jefferson Wagner, a former City Council member, hoped that his support would influence residents to vote for these two candidates in the upcoming election, Wagner said.
“I was elected twice and people kind of believe me when I tell them that these are two good guys,” Wagner said.
Although Wagner does not live in the Point Dume Club community, he said he wanted to show his support for the local residents.
“The reason the Point Dume Club is important to the community is because there are 250 or 260 homes here and these are residents that are serving the community,” Wagner said. “The nuts and bolts of Malibu live here in this park.”
Regardless of who citizens vote for, Wagner believes that it is important to be active in the community, Wagner said.
“In the city of Malibu, you must be involved,” Wagner said. “If you want to guide your city, get involved.”
Howard Ferguson, president of the Point Dume Club Residents Association, also wanted to reassure residents in his community.
“I’m here today to just put to rest a lot of the fear,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson wants to assure every one that while change can be frightening, this one will not be, Ferguson said.
“Our change at this time seems to me to be only for the better,” Ferguson said.
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Contact Mackenzie Krause via email: mackenzie.krause@pepperdine.edu
