What's Next for Malibu?
Being Malibu city manager, a top public servant in local government, used to be a coveted job, one that pays as much as $270,000 a year working for a city blessed with caressing breezes, breathtaking views and access to some of the best surf breaks in the world. But these days, Malibu is struggling to fill the job. In fact, three civil servants who held the position, either in an official capacity or as an interim manager, have quit in the six months since the Palisades Fire ripped through the Malibu area in early January. The monstrous blaze began in the Santa Monica Mountains, and by the evening of Jan. 7, it was a molten hurricane that tore down the chaparral-covered canyons from the Palisades and hopped the Pacific Coast Highway toward the sea.When it was finally defeated, the fire had devoured 340 waterfront homes in Malibu and another 397 structures nestled closer to land. Three Malibu residents were among the dozen killed in the Westside wildfire. All the grief, the anger, the unimaginable loss and unique rebuilding challenges make it hard to retain political talent, city spokesperson Matthew Myerhoff tells Los Angeles.'It's very stressful work,' he says. 'We've been through the biggest disaster in the city's history.'
Malibu, which is nestled alongside 21 miles of oceanfront framed by the Santa Monica Mountains, was founded in 1991 and set up to operate as a general law city, one that functions with a council-manager form of government. The five city councilors are elected at-large to serve four-year terms, and the mayor's office is rotated annually among those council members. The Malibu city manager acts as CEO, which makes the role a powerful one. The first city manager to go was Steve McClary, who went on vacation in November and never came back. Whether or not his decision to staycation elsewhere had anything to do with a civil lawsuit claiming a toxic work environment filed against the city by a former Malibu assistant planning director — naming McClary among the defendants — remains unclear.McClary was replaced from within by Joseph Toney, who had been working as assistant city manager. He and deputy city manager Alexis Brown were thrust into top leadership roles. But that didn't last long. Brown quit in April, and within weeks Toney also announced his resignation after what he called in a statement, 'much deliberation and reflection.' Six months in, the cause of the Palisades Fire remains undetermined, as a team of federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms continues to comb through the burn zones to figure out what ignited the deadly blaze. Malibu Mayor Marianne Riggins, who was appointed to the position in late April, calls the delay 'disappointing,' adding, 'It would be nice to find out where the source was.' In the meantime, the mayor says, the city is committed to welcoming back tourists and helping its 13,000 residents rebuild. Again.
While Riggins, a lifelong Malibu resident, did not lose her home, many of her friends and neighbors did, and not for the first time. Some who saw their residences incinerated this year had rebuilt from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which started at a property owned by Boeing — the Santa Susana Field Laboratory — and quickly spread to burn across nearly 100,000 acres, destroying homes on both sides of the Pacific Coast Highway. Then came the COVID shutdowns, which ruined many small businesses. It's hard not to feel like the Palisades Fire is part of an endless Sisyphean battle. 'Only, when the rock rolls back down in this place, it's usually on fire,' Malibu resident Joseph Coady tells Los Angeles. 'I just hope businesses can survive another round of this shit.' There are few Angelenos who haven't taken a ride down the PCH, stopping for a sunset cocktail at Moonshadows or picking out a fish for a leisurely waterfront dinner at Reel Inn. Those iconic Malibu spots were among the businesses reduced to ash, along with Cholada Thai, Rosenthal Winery and Caffe Luxxe. Lesser-known are the Malibu businesses forced to shutter even after the fires were extinguished, and the ongoing struggle other small, family-owned establishments are facing to stay alive. One of those business owners, Carter Crary of Malibu Divers, doesn't think the vacuum in City Hall leadership makes a damn bit of difference when it comes to the decimation of the business he co-owns with partner Barbara Gentile. In the long months before Memorial Day, when the PCH was shut down to anyone who didn't have a Pacific Palisades burn zone pass, business had come to a standstill.
'I don't get any more involved in city politics than I have to,' Crary says. 'They are as dysfunctional as other levels of government." During April and May, Crary says, his business was "pretty much dead in the water.' Even with the PCH open, what was once a peaceful and picturesque ride along the water has become a mini hell-scape of military checkpoints and debris removal that shuts off Malibu residents from their homes, even in the unscathed western side of the city. 'The Pacific Coast Highway is our lifeline,' Crary explains, adding that his shop has been a thriving part of the lifeblood of the PCH since 1969. 'Even the people who live here have a hard time getting to the shop.' Things are so bad Gentile set up a GoFundMe page that opens with a tinge of embarrassment. 'I never thought I'd be writing something like this, but life has a way of humbling us. Today, I'm reaching out for help — not just for myself, but for the heart of a community that has thrived through Malibu Divers for over 50 years,' she wrote. 'We've been a home for ocean lovers, adventurers, career development, and marine advocates. For decades, you've learned to dive with us, joined hands during beach clean-ups, or explored the wonders of the underwater world. Many of you are family, not just customers. You've been part of something larger — a community united by a deep passion for the ocean.' Not only has its business, and that of so many others, been financially gutted, there is also the emotional toll of seeing the sand littered with ash and debris, with the waterfront an eerie landscape of spiral metal staircases and brick fireplaces surrounded by rubble. And a toxic algae bloom — which scientists say is unrelated to runoff from the fires — has poisoned dolphins and sea lions who have washed ashore. All of it is psychologically taxing to those whose lives are centered around the ocean. 'It's stressful … heartbreaking,' Crary says.
And disruptive, the city concedes. Even rebuilding in Malibu brings its own unique set of challenges in an environmentally sensitive city, making it difficult for people to return home and undergo the process of resurrecting their lives. 'Rebuilding here is tricky,' city spokesperson Myerhoff says. 'It's costly. Permitting is time consuming. Everything is tough.' New state regulations focused on speeding up the rebuilding process are in direct conflict with Malibu's strict zoning code for coastal building. 'There are so many quality-of-life issues,' Myerhoff notes.Mayor Riggins believes that Malibu, which has long been the breezy upscale refuge of Hollywood A-listers like Mel Gibson and Paris Hilton, whose homes burned, will bounce back. It always does, she says. The city has set up a headquarters on a lot adjacent to City Hall dedicated solely to the concerns of residents who want to rebuild. It has a website to expedite answers to questions from anyone affected by the fires. Riggins says she has been heartened to see so many of her neighbors step up to help other neighbors. 'Malibu is incredibly resilient. People have lost homes before and come back to rebuild; they choose to rebuild because it's such a special place.It's our small little town.' Malibu has made significant progress, Riggins says. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has successfully cleared 221 beachfront properties, she said this week, and roughly 200 other properties in the city have been cleared as well.'We are grateful to the USACE for their hard work and dedication, and to our residents for their continued patience during this process,' said Riggins. 'This milestone represents the strength of our community partnerships and allows us to begin the next phases for rebuilding.'
This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
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