It’s been over 75 days since wildfires swept through the Greater Los Angeles area, destroying large swaths of Pacific Palisades and Alta Dena, California. So, I thought it was time for a status check on the recovery efforts.
To begin with, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass recently led a delegation to Sacramento to request nearly $2 billion in state funding to aid the city amid a projected $1 billion budget deficit for the next fiscal year. According to Team Bass, the budget crisis is primarily due to January’s wildfires but is also coupled with lower-than-anticipated tax revenues and rising costs associated with new labor contracts.
Anything slightly adjacent to the wildfires and COVID has been desperately coupled to the request and highlights that the city’s fiscal management approach is a man-caused disaster.
Out of the six budgetary concerns listed in the lawmakers’ letter, the bulk of the nearly $2 billion request, $750 million, would go towards “mitigation and resilience for city residents:”
- $700 million loan to upgrade Pacific Palisades’ electrical grid.
- $40 million to incentivize electric upgrades and appliances
- $10 million to improve the traffic signal system
The letter also requests $638 million to pay for the city’s budget gap:
- $250 million to improve streets, sidewalks and street lights
- $200 million to fund liability payments
- $150 million to refill the city’s reserve fund
- $38 million to offset the lost revenue from the Palisades Fire
Of the remaining $505 million, roughly $430 million would help improve LA’s firefighting capabilities and pay for recovery efforts, including debris removal, building permit waivers and centers to help connect residents to resources. The final $75.5 million will expedite processing of FEMA funds from previous emergencies, mainly the COVID-19 pandemic.
To say that tax-paying Californians outside of the Los Angeles area are unhappy with the ask is an understatement.
There was great concern that the permitting process for rebuilding would be slow. Sadly, these forecasts have proven true.
As of this post’s preparation, only four permits have been issued for rebuilding homes in Pacific Palisades after the January 7 wildfire. The City of Los Angeles initially approved three permits—two for complete rebuilds and one for repairs to a fire-damaged home.
A fourth permit was subsequently issued, bringing the total to four as of the most recent report. This number is exceedingly low given that over two months have passed since the fire, which affected approximately 6,000 homes in the Palisades and surrounding areas.
More than two months after the Palisades Fire, only four permits had been issued as of Monday for homeowners to rebuild their properties — a low figure that one Los Angeles city councilmenber said was “concerning.”Residents in the Palisades Fire zone are trying to figure out how to move forward, but there are several obstacles in the way — including the city’s permitting process and L.A.’s looming budget deficit.People gathered at a City Council committee hearing Monday to try to get answers, but more concerns are being raised as the city tries to rebuild from the devastating fire…..Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Palisades and attended the meeting, says that’s not acceptable.”When I hear in the community meeting like we had today that only four permits have been issued — and we’re on day 75 post-fire — that is concerning to me,” Park said. “And I don’t think it’s a lack of interest in rebuilding, I suspect it is indicative of systemic issues that we need to continue to focus on.”
The only good news related to the recovery effort is associated with the US. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which has been playing a crucial role in the recovery efforts. Their work primarily focuses on debris removal, which is a critical step in the rebuilding process.
As of mid-March, USACE had cleared 50% of the 4,499 properties deferred to it by the EPA during Phase 1 of the clean-up process (related to the removal of household hazardous materials). By March 21, 1,300 parcels had been cleared of debris, with 507 returned to the county.
The Corps expects to complete the cleanup by January 2026, meeting its set deadline.
Perhaps Los Angeles might have reissued a few more permits by the start of next year.
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