Q&A With Mayor Groveman

Calabasas365.com recently caught up with Calabasas Mayor Barry Groveman. This is the first of several interview segments.

After attending law school in Los Angeles, what made you decide to move to Calabasas?

I just liked the open space and the clean air. Mostly the open space and clean air and the values. It seemed like a great place to raise a family.

What made you decide to get into city politics?

I was actually asked by members of the community who knew me. I was formerly in the DA’s office so I knew several folks and I was always politically active. They were disturbed by the bickering and the lack of, I think, responsiveness and sophistication of the then-council and thought I might be able to elevate it. I wanted to be a problem solver and be creative so I set out to do it. I never forgot the principle that goes way back in American history that you serve, literally, I forget the quote it was. I’ll have to get it. In essence, you’re there to do the job of the people that put you there. When they withdraw their consent you have their consent only if you’re performing their job.

There are a lot of DUI checkpoints in Calabasas and a lot fewer in Agoura and Malibu even though they’re covered by the same sheriff station and Agoura has a similar population. Is the city responsible for that?

That’s one of the very definite things. We have a much higher number of resources from the sheriff’s department which I played a key role in. We have the highest accident-injury ratio in the entire region. The number ought to be high. The higher the number, the better you are. We’re miles ahead of every surrounding area. This means that our injury to accident ratio is terrific. That’s the best evidence that this was an objective worth pursuing and is achievable.

You said we get a lot of resources. What resources does Calabasas get that Agoura may not?

We have more deputies and motorcycle units. … For example, we added an extra deputy to Calabasas High School and The Commons so we can focus on things go on at the high school, graffiti, manage drug enforcement issues, and we deal with graffiti in The Commons. I’ve always said these types of things are not done by accident.

What’s the shape of city finances and should residents expect any cutbacks in services?

No cutbacks in services. We are fiscally the most solid city in the region. We cut back on things, like no staff has been given increases. We cut out all kinds of nice community activities that we otherwise would have kept going but we wanted to make sure we wouldn’t sacrifice other services like road repair or sheriff levels. We maintained a healthy budget balance with a strong reserve and an AAA bond rating. Calabasas is embarrassingly in good shape.

You’ve said previously that combating paparazzi was your number one priority. What is being done about that problem?

The reason there is concern is not because there are celebrities, but there are a lot of high speed drivers all over the city particularly through school zones. We had several instances where they would chase people for various reasons through school zones and parents would get upset. We needed to crack down on that. I sat on a task force with the mayors of Malibu, West Hollywood, and the sheriffs where we came up with some ideas.

Such as?

In the end, all you can do is dedicate resources and crack down on the wild driving.

Part Two of the interview will be posted Friday.