Safety Panel Hears End of Year Project Reports

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

End of year business was the order of the day at the December City of Malibu Public Safety Commission meeting. The gavel changed hands at this month's meeting as Vice Chair Chris Frost replaced longtime commission chair Carol Randall, and the commissioners heard reports on a variety of ongoing safety issues.

Brad Davis, the City of Malibu's Emergency Services Coordinator, told the commission that the city is still encouraging Malibuites to join Volunteers on Patrol, a volunteer citizen group that is trained by the sheriff's department and helps to provide extra eyes and ears for the Lost Hills Station "We have eight people altogether," Davis said. "They are alternating and rotating patrol."

Davis said he is currently working to develop  a "pet friendly shelter plan," for the City of Malibu. Lost Hills Sheriff's Station Liaison Lt. Jim Royal volunteered that his station has created a coyote-safe small animal shelter area for use during emergencies.

City of Malibu's Public Works Director Bob Brager reported that preliminary plans for a redesigned Kanan Dume Road arrestor bed will be completed within 90 days.

Brager said that a Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District Measure BB-funded water line replacement project at Malibu High School is beginning to get underway. The line will run north of Harvester, down Busch and Merritt, and require lane closures through March of 2012. Brager said the city has the authority to limit work time or change the hours when work is conducted if the closures create serious problems for residents.

Brager reported that recent safety improvements on PCH include the addition of a  second bus bench on PCH at Heathercliff. "On Morning View Drive and PCH we made big improvements at that bus stop," Brager said. "We noticed people waiting close to the road so we opened [the bus stop area] up, made a larger waiting area, added another bench closer to Zuma."

Brager said that Caltrans has approved a city proposal to extend a grant-funded bike route east of Trancas Canyon to Busch Drive,  Brager said. "We will see if we have  the ability to put a bike route in that area."

The Sheriff's liaison reported that the city's crime rate is down 24.3 percent from last year. We have burglary suppression teams out. We've been doing it for a while, following up on leads.

"There have been 63 DUI stops so far this year directly related to citizen calls," Royal said. "We're going to try to get that number higher."

"I've been looking very closely at how many calls and working at getting [cars] dispatched quicker, and responding quicker, but not so quick that it's a Code 3 and causes an accident."

The next Public Safety Commission is scheduled for Jan. 4.