A Texas Solution For Feeding The Malibu Homeless?--A Tale Oof Two Cities

-by Dorothy Reik
President, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains

In Dallas it's illegal to feed the homeless. Now it seems that Malibu is following in a smilier path. The Malibu mayor, Skylar Peak, suggested that the local church to end their weekly homeless dinners-- what's good enough for Dallas is good enough for Malibu it seems. "For 17 years, religious groups fed homeless people (in Malibu), and the city and private donors put up hundreds of thousands of dollars for social workers to find them housing and services. But Malibu United Methodist Church-- facing pressure from the city-- in recent weeks took a U-turn, deciding twice-weekly dinners for homeless people would stop after Thanksgiving. The cutoff came after city officials summoned organizers and suggested they were attracting more homeless people and making the problem worse.

In its wisdom the Democratic Party did NOT endorse incumbent Democrat Peak when he ran for re-election on a slate which included Trumpster Rick Mullen and the Trumpeter campaign manager, Chris Garcia, who, in addition to running the slate's campaign, led Latinos Para Trump.



The Malibu Dem Club also did not endorse Peak. The club endorsed the fabulous Jennifer De Nicola whose entire family is the group leading the movement to hire social workers to feed and provide medical services and housing for Malibu's homeless. Over the past year, their work has found permanent housing for over 30 individuals and provided services for at least 150 more.

But not being endorsed by the club you represent, did not stop one of the Malibu Dem Club’s officers from proudly displaying a Peak-Mullen-Wagner yard sign on his lawn. I hope he is happy. In response I (and many others) quit the club which I had helped restart. BTW Rob Reiner and his posse including a woman who calls herself JayFlo strongly supported the Peak-Mullen-Wagner ticket and worked hard and dirty to elect them along with their allies who run the Malibu rag "The Local" which ran a hate campaign against Jennifer who, by the way, also led the fight to to protect the children of Malibu and their teachers to rid the Malibu schools of toxic PCBs. The The Malibu Times has this to say about Jennifer: "Chicago-transplant Jennifer deNicola is proof that you don’t need a uniform or to be in a powerful position to be an advocate or crusader for your community, you just have to care enough to take a stand.

Maybe Rob Reiner  should go on TV and advocate for impeaching Skylar Peak and let others worry about Trump. All politics is local, Rob-- but then you don't really live in Malibu do you? BTW, Peak also thinks beach front homeowners should not have to allow others on "their" beaches! Maybe Rob agrees with that too!

In Dallas homeless advocates had a different answer. They didn't back down. Packing AK-15s they proceeded to feed the homeless while "not complying" with a Dallas law that mandated "jumping through hoops" to get a permit to do so:

Matthew Short, with the aptly named organization, Don’t Comply, and dozens of volunteers from children to adults alike took to the streets of Dallas this week to hand out food, sleeping bags, clothing, and tents to the area’s less fortunate.

As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, often times, police will swoop in and shut down those who would dare defy the authority of the state and conduct charity without a permit. However, most organizations aren’t like Don’t Comply. As they took to the streets this week, many of the members of the organization open carried their weapons. This was done-- not out of an act of intimidation-- but merely to assert rights as well as protect them.

The resultant heavily armed group of do-gooders effectively staved off any attempts by police to shut down the charitable efforts.

In talking with TFTP, Short tells us that although police drove by fairly often, they never stopped and never attempted to intervene.

Maybe the church in Malibu should stand its ground! Would Skylar Peak send in armed sheriffs to prevent the homeless from being fed? Would Scott Mullen? And where is their is their slate-mate Zuma Jay Wagner? Will he speak up for the homeless? While I am firmly opposed to guns no matter how they are carried the folks in Malibu need to take a gunless stand. They have worked too hard to give up without a fight. Stay tuned.

You Don’t Have To Eat The Caulking: The Jennifer DeNicola Story, From Malibu to DC And Back-- Running For Malibu City Council

-by Dorothy Reik

It all started in 2014 when three teachers in Malibu got thyroid cancer. The long ago banned carcinaogen, PCB, was found at the school. Was it the cause? There was the usual back and forth with the Santa Monica Malibu School Board downplaying the danger and claiming that you had to practically eat the caulking to be poisoned. Hint: it’s an airborne poison. Then Jennifer DeNicola stepped in:

“Jennifer deNicola, a parent who serves on the district's Malibu Schools Environmental Task Force, has launched the group Malibu Unites for Healthy Schools, which is seeking comprehensive toxin testing of both campuses. After that, she says, "We can sit down collaboratively with the parents and the teachers and the district and figure out the best solution for our school."

The school board wasn’t having any of it so the battle was on. It’s always good to have a celebrity and Cindy Crawford, who had recently pulled her kids out of Malibu High due to the PCBs, was already on board. Jennifer DeNicola was on her way. Malibu Unites morphed into America Unites for Kids as it became obvious that any school in the country that contained building materials from the years prior to the 1979 EPA ban likely had PCBs in their caulking and elsewhere. The district’s congressman, Ted Lieu, stepped in with support, providing additional test results to the EPA.

Money was raised, a citizens’ lawsuit was filed and Jennifer and her group of activists headed to court. The school district fought back but when the smoke cleared the school board had two and a half years to get rid of the PCBs or the buildings could not be used. Sweet victory!

So on to DC: Jennifer and Cindy Crawford headed for Washington where they were welcomed by the Senate leadership from both parties. The problem was explained. The senators were outraged and promised to help. And they did. Stating that more than fourteen million children were in danger, Senator Ed Markey proposed a bill mandating testing and providing funds for districts that needed money for testing and cleanup. “Decades after the PCB ban, people are still being exposed to these toxic chemicals from various sources, such as caulk, some oil-based paints, and floor finish in buildings constructed between 1950 and 1979; leaking fluorescent light ballast; old electrical equipment; and PCB-containing landfills. Most worrisome are PCB exposures for children in schools built or retrofitted during the period that PCB-containing materials were widely used. Up to 14 million students nationwide, representing nearly 30% of the school-aged population, may be exposed to PCBs in their schools, based on the estimated number of schools built during that time and how much PCB-containing material was used in these schools. A 2016 Harvard School of Public Health study estimates that between 12,960 and 25,920 schools have PCB-containing caulk.

Jennifer DeNicola is now back in Malibu and running for a seat on the Malibu City Council. A troika of bro’s is running a nasty campaign against her, aided and abetted by a local hit sheet called the Local. Jennifer is endorsed by Ted Lieu, Gavin Newsom, Betty Yee, Robert Kennedy, Jr. and now by Erin Brokovich who just gave her the Environmental Working Group (EWG) award. Ken Cook, head of the EWG), was named by The Hill as one if the three most effective grassroots lobbyist in DC. And of the two women running only Jennifer was endorsed by the Sierra Club.

"As a woman in the public eye fighting to protect our children and their future, I know what it takes to be effective in this political climate. Jennifer has the courage, intelligence, and integrity to take on tough issues and succeed. I am behind her and I hope you are too.I am proud to endorse Jennifer deNicola for Malibu City Council and I strongly believe she's going to win! So please make sure you mail in your absentee ballots or go to the polls, this Tuesday, November 8th, 2016. The polls are open from 7am-8pm."
-Erin Brokovich.