The helicopters are still circling. The winds are coming back. The fires are not out. Houses are gone. People are still evacuated. The houses that remain are smoke damaged. No one is going back in until the toxic remains are removed….AND YET…. we will rise! Los Angeles – we will rise!
Together, we will rebuild Altadena. Together, we will rebuild Pacific Palisades. Only together, can we align the City, the County, the building departments, the insurance companies, the utilities, the state and FEMA.
L.A. we have done this before! After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, we rebuilt the 10 freeway in under 3 months. In 1984, we put on the first Olympics that was revenue neutral (and fun) and was a model for future Olympics. We rebuilt our city and our community after the Rodney King verdict and civil unrest in 1992. We can do it again.
What will it take? It will take very concentrated family to family, friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor, and Angeleno to Angeleno support for those displaced. Help with housing, clothes, food, money, whatever you can for your neighbors.
Longer term, citizens and the authorities must work together with the insurance companies to make the damaged areas safe to re-inhabit – not lot by lot, but street by street. Maybe all of Altadena is cleared, then building begins. Same for Pacific Palisades. Maybe, everyone can come together to support the whole community all at once. Here is where the state, FEMA and building departments can make a huge difference.
After the Northridge Earthquake, I sat on 3 City of L.A. Building Committees to set new building standards for wood-frame, hillside and tilt-up buildings. I know from personal experience that the community, business and government can work together to rebuild. We did not try to find someone to blame. We assumed everyone was doing the best they could in a terrible situation. So, we worked together to fix it.
Let’s get to work, Los Angeles! We have led the country before in solving disasters. Let’s do it again.
Image courtesy of r/AI art.
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