Our Activism
Why Sewers Will Cause More PCH Fatalities
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It was just another Wednesday after school. Spring was coming soon, but it was evening and 13-year-old Emily Shane was walking about slowly on the shoulder of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) as she patiently waited for her ride home.
That was 10 years ago. But to her father, Michel Shane, the memory of that day still seems like yesterday. It was the day his daughter was tragically killed by a man weaving wildly through traffic at 70 miles an hour, veering out of his lane and crashing into her.
Shane still wonders that with city, county, and state agencies all having studied traffic patterns and other dangerous issues on PCH, why not one has produced an effective solution to the traffic problems.


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Shane, a producer, created the film "21 Miles in Malibu,” as a way of exposing dangers of PCH. Released earlier this year, the film also is a way of calling attention to dangers many may not realize exist on our main street, which not only is our main thoroughfare, but which actually is a highway.
Apart from its curves, and the winding undulations around mountainous topography, and the glare, and the countless drivers who speed, did anyone ever wonder whether the simplest reason is that there are too many cars?
Accidents on PCH are always in the news. Those who live on the notoriously deadly highway hear sirens every day. Yet, from 2015 to 2018, there were more than 1,000 PCH collisions, with 700 traffic injuries and more than 20 fatalities. If 2023 is an average year for traffic in Malibu, five children and adults will have died along Pacific Coast Highway by New Year's Eve. Another 150 or so will have sustained major injuries that will change their lives forever.
​ Yet City Council members and Caltrans officials have been addressing the problem with no more than reports and studies. They shake their heads with a helpless shrug and the accidents continue.
The figures are an average compiled by the California Highway Patrol which maintains a list of fatalities and severe injuries on Malibu's 21 miles of state highway. But they cannot convey the sadness and pain that, within just a few seconds, can turn a happy and productive life to one of excruciating pain and lonely days filled with self doubt.​

With a census showing Malibu has less than 10,000 residents, the CHP's statistics are extremely high, especially with many homeowners here only on holidays and weekends. ​
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On top of all of that, add Phases 2 and 3 of an already-approved sewer system. And, just look! Malibu, the quiet haven where harried career people escape from the rat race, has become louder, and busier. From tidy neighborhoods or grandiose suburbs, or even high-rise condos, out along the California coast, with its dolphins and creatives and surfers, and even a few old hippies, little Malibu somehow seems to top them all when it comes to calamities. Every year PCH brings more and more sirens, more fast-food bags on the shoulder, more beer cans, lost flip-flops, tossed undies, and blaring music.
When will it stop?
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In the winter, between 4 and 5:30 p.m., the westward drive temporarily blinds motorists as the setting sun's direct rays penetrate windshields. Blinding glare before twilight can obscure vehicles and pedestrians. In summer, eastbound drivers are confronted by beach goers and residents who suddenly pull into and out of curbside parking spaces and onto the highway. Even for drivers going the speed limit, in conditions with lots of traffic it is not possible to swerve or safely brake if a vehicle instantly appears right in front.
Santa Monica-bound Malibu residents heading East know from experience that impatient drivers cut them off, weave through lanes only to be the first driver to come to an abrupt stop at the next traffic jam or red light.

 Illegal U turns between Las Flores and the Adamson House contribute to this crash-prone district..
If the situation is bad now, these unacceptable conditions will only become worse if Caltrans and the city do not force changes. Proposed increased development in Malibu exacerbates traffic problems. More attractions, more hotels, and more tourists will bring more erratic driving by first time motorists unfamiliar with PCH's complicated traffic by adding more distraction, more speeding, and more frustration. This will create more tragic crashes and loss of life.
Now, more than ever, Malibu Township Council continues fighting via advocacy for responsible public policies that improve safety.








DESIGN YOUR OWN CITY:
Wouldn't It Be Wild to Have 'Habitat Zones'
That Could Remain Like This Forever?
Trancas Field is a 35-acre land parcel recently acquired by the city.
City Council has yet to decide how the Trancas land will be used.
Malibu Township Council can be instrumental in determining how to use Trancas Field.
MTC supports designating it as open space in perpetuity.
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MTC has demanded revocation of the illegal L.A. County antenna permit as the pole is in violation of city height and color codes.
Does anyone
really want this
eyesore in
our civic center ?
MTC Speaks for Our Mountain Neighbors
Rising up 3,100 feet above the sea, the Santa Monica Mountains separate Malibu from the San Fernando Valley, the Conejo Valley, and the Simi Valley. Fire is a constant fear for the estimated 20,000 nearby mountain residents. In an area which, technically, is the part of Los Angeles County also called "Malibu," residents of adjacent mountainous areas are enrolled in Malibu Schools (currently part of the Santa Monica/Malibu School system); they use Malibu Parks, senior citizen facilities, and public buildings and services, such as the library, the L.A. County Fire Department, and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
Malibu Township Council members work to prevent improper development and implementation of County policies that may be harmful to wildlife and habitat, and, of course, human residents. And, in the almost certain event of fire, we must secure plans to protect residents as they try to evacuate.
Slow, Step-by-Step Removal of
Rindge Dam to be Supported by MTC
Craggy slopes with powerfully etched rocks and strata in pinks, golds and purples characterize Malibu Canyon, where City Council members have supported the controversial removal of the historic Rindge Dam (bottom).
The dam was constructed in 1924 to provide water for the 13,300-acre ranch of Malibu's first homeowners, Frederick and May Rindge. Crops were grown on the land and there were cows and steer on the property that reached from Topanga Canyon to Oxnard.
MTC supports dismantling the dam, but doing so in sections so that the debris can be will replenish the beaches more naturally with a goal of bringing the endangered Steelhead trout back to Malibu Creek. MTC members understand that Pacific Coast Highway was forced upon the Rindges. They did not intend to bring the millions of visitors to the coast who now come to enjoy ocean sports, beach relaxation, and fine dining at restaurants.
Riparian Glens Can Protect Against Fire
The Santa Monica Mountains area outside Malibu city limits is equally as magical as the city itself. This glen in L.A. County's Cole and Ava Weintraub Family Park has a variety of habitats, ranging from forest, to chaparral, to the high desert. The mountains and high desert are not only home to Redwoods, but nearby there also are cactus forests that grow hundreds of yellow and red prickly pears, called "tunas" by the Southland's Latino population. Fire experts say that mountain riparian areas like this can protect nearby houses from rapid spread of wildfire as they usually are moist and wet areas.
But mountainous areas are delicate. The interdependent flora and fauna that live in these narrow zones are intricate and complex. MTC will continue working to protect these open spaces and keep them free from wildfire by preventing camping as well as homeless encampments within their boundaries.
THEY SET THE PRECEDENT
"Oh, to be free from assailing care; to see no envious faces, no saddened eyes; to see or hear no unkind look or word . . . . To absorb the peace the hills have, to drink in the charm of the brook, and to receive the strength of the mountains by dwelling in their company — this is living! To lose one's self by the side of the sea! Free, indeed, am I!"
— Frederick Rindge
Frederick and Rhoda May Rindge, Malibu's first Homeowners, Understood the
Need to Protect the Land and the Sea.
The words above, by the Malibu area's first official homeowner, describe the sense of magic that still prevails in this community and that members of Malibu Township Council seek to protect.
But Rindge, and his wife May, not only were the first homeowners here, they were the area's first activists, devoting hundreds of thousands of dollars to protecting their land from poachers, hunters, and the intrusion of highways and railroads. While times have changed, no one can argue that the Rindges are to credit for ensuring that railroads avoided the beach. And the extraordinary damage that would have been done to the bluffs was avoided. They paid enormous amounts of money to protect this fragile area from box cars, flatcars, and potentially dangerous freight. They learned then that it is not easy to be an activist and we now know that is rarely easy to protect the things you love. But members of Malibu Township Council will carry on continuing to fight for preserving our city's land and open space.