BAS mission to shelter Angelos is unchanged after filling

Every student in the history of California knows History of the 1906 earthquakeS San Francisco was torn apart by the earthquake itself, after which it was devastated by the ensuing fire. The big city in California, the center of the gold tide, was reduced to smoking ruins.

What happened next is less known. In the remains, the displaced residents were forced into improvised shelters. Sustainable rats are spread through the Detrite of the city. An earthquake and fire preceded the plague that sweep the city In early May 1907, the Renaissance of an epidemic that struck San Francisco before the tremors but looked under control.

The plague was one of the most famous murderers of history and his presence in San Francisco was not only deadly to those who infected it, but also threatened that responsible for the restoration and well-being of the city. City leaders tried to downplay the dangers, suggesting that it was limited to Chinatown and suggest that white people did not need to be afraid of it. Dozens of people were killed while civilian leaders arranged above the size and scope of the problem and the dignity to draw attention to it.

Los Angeles today faces a challenge Comparable to that of San Francisco 119 years ago. The fires have caused their damage. Now comes the leadership test. He will separate those who want to make hay from the tragedy from those dedicated to the well -being of the region. And it will be judged by whether Los Angeles can rise to the worst struggle for housing in its history.

Even before the fires, Los Angeles was hundreds of thousands of units that are less than necessary to accommodate its population. The Palisades Fire, which struck the city borders, destroyed another 6,800 buildings – most of them homes.

The early assessments of the civil response are mixed at the best. Mayor Karen Bass took heat For being out of the country, when the fires broke out and then they took more heat for their unstable public comments after she returned. It worsened local employees last week when it first prepared to open the Pacific Palisadi and then announced she had made a deal with governor Gavin Newo to keep the National Guard on the spot.

Mayor Malibu Doug Stewart was among the backs of the back.

“These last, uncoordinated solutions create unnecessary confusion and disturbance,” he said in a statement.

The problem was resolved quickly, but it heralds the difficulties to come in what will be a long recovery. Clear messages are important in crises and bass signals have not always responded to the moment.

Nevertheless, Bass also called urban resources, manages dozens of meetings and optimizes the work of urban departments. At a community meeting last week just outside the fire area, she was well greeted by leaders and residents. Many have worked on the way to the front of the room to get a hug, and several thanked her for their compassionate recovery management so far.

With Fires are now containedIt may have the freedom to speak more strongly about recovery and its surrounding policy.

Beyond bass, civil leadership in the city is always predictably trembling. Rick Caruso, the developer who lost the mayoral race in 2022, continued to act as if this tragedy was a route back to politics, this week announcing this week Creating a non -profit purpose to assist the recovery and release of a list of board members, which is strongly drawn from its political base.

This is commendable on one level – clear thinking is useful and more minds are better than less – but it is difficult to imagine bass and urban leadership to be particularly receptive to Caruso’s contribution. His efforts seem at least as much a vehicle, seeking attention as an effort to help.

Meanwhile, Patrick soon-Shionng, the owner of the Los Angeles Times billionaire, publicly called for Create a “Leadership Council” which he announced on his Sunday newspaper, with a rapidly declining readership. But soon Cherong who demanded the resignation of bass while fires are still led, it seems even less likely than Caruso to win a lot of attention or support from the mayoralty where he is considered civil Wannabe rather than a serious contribution to Civic life S

Housing remains the mission

What is ahead is a multifaceted challenge that will push the city to new extremes, even when the bass administration is fighting the crisis that was chosen to face: homelessness. Now, the housing challenge is not just to find shelter and housing for 45,000 or more homeless people, but also for tens of thousands of people who have lost homes in the fiery storm – and the unsolved many others who have already been on the edge and are now on the edge Faced now The Perspective of Raising CostsS

Bass made it clear that he intended to deal with both. At the meeting last week, she expressed her constant commitment to accommodating the homeless in the city, a bet she strengthened when we talked on Tuesday.

“While working to restore and restore the palisades, we also have a number of serious problems in the city,” she said. Main among them: public safety and “people accommodation”. Since mid -January, even when the fires have drawn the attention of the city and the world, Mayor’s internal safety program has conducted four operations, bringing shelter to 55 people who slept outside.

In one sense, the BAS mission is simply expanding its original term. But the task of restoring the housing in the palisades is obviously different from that of attracting people who live without shelter. Most Palisades residents will not be homeless in the traditional sense – the loss of belongings and memories is a brutal experience under any circumstances, but it is qualitatively different from sleep under the tarpaulin.

However, the mission in the Palisadi is also a home.

As the bass becomes the main defender of the home construction region, she can Sacramento support but Maybe not President Donald Trumpfor whom this crisis was another opportunity to eat and advantage while Discarding nonsense to combat fires by diverting rainwater from Northern California to the agricultural land in the Central Valley. Trump at the best case is distraction, but more often it is a deliberate obstacle to restoring a country that consistently rejects its policy. The BAS mission there will be to please the federal government for help without directly opposing a false narcissist.

Read more: Trump does not understand the complex water network in California. But this is not the question

In one sense, the emergency around the fires can be useful. Using some of the emergency authorities she has exerted to restore the palisades, bass can also use urban properties to raise modular housing units to deliver people who cannot start places to start restoring their lives. Both crises – restoration of the palisades and accommodation of the homeless – can help each other.

All this will be expensive, but the bass has resources. For the population of the city city, it has the money that is generated by The recent approval of voters of the non -home service tax throughout the county This raises $ 1 billion a year. LA is online to get the bigger part of the money, helping to finance new construction, as well as the services for addiction and other auxiliary crises of homelessness.

For the palisades, bass has the attention of the world, better and better. The Grammys last weekend and Fireaid concerts emphasized the potential of the entertainment industry yes Focus attention and money When a fire is restored. Beyond that, it has the attention of the state government and many contributions from residents and civic leaders.

All this will pull her in different directions, a reminder that the mayor’s time may be her most precious resource. In the end, she will be tried by one indicator: has she accommodated the people of Los Angeles?