How California Leaders Failed Los Angeles Fire Survivors

By Max Lubin, especially for CalMatters

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Last January, immediately after the fires, there was a moment of optimism about the future of Los Angeles. Fire survivors, politicians, philanthropists, CEOs, and regular Angelenos came together to plan Los Angeles’ rebuilding.

But today, 12 months later, failed leadership by California politicians has slowed recovery efforts.

I am a born and raised Angeleno, and like so many after the fires, I wanted to help. My mission-driven career led me to connect with Evan Spiegel, founder of Snapchat, and Miguel Santana, president of the California Community Foundation. They started the Department of Angels, a non-profit organization that supports Los Angeles fire survivors, elevating their leadership in the recovery process.

Today, the group is one of many organizations dedicated to recovery efforts. But community-led work can only achieve so much. Disaster recovery efforts of this magnitude require the government to lead.

Signs of the government’s systemic failure to lead began to emerge months after the fires. Away from Los Angeles when the fires first broke out — on an international trip she vowed not to take — Mayor Karen Bass began recovery efforts behind the 8-Ball, and it never seems to have recovered. She has openly feuded with critics of her performance, including the Palisades Fire recovery czar she herself appointed.

At the county level, the board of supervisors still has not fixed the county’s broken emergency notification system, a failure that likely contributed to many of the 19 deaths in the Eaton fire.

And at the state level, Gov. Gavin Newsom struggled to be the central figure in the campaign for federal fundingbut his rivalry with President Donald Trump doomed him opportunity for federal aid to Los Angeles.

The consequences are devastating for the survivors.

Today more than 8 in 10 Altadena residents and 9 out of 10 Palisades residents are still out of their homes. Thousands of homes that survived the flames remain unsafe or uninhabitable due to contamination. And only about 15% of the more than 10,000 destroyed homes have received permits for redevelopment from LA city or county.

In other words, a year later, the recovery process has barely begun.

Perhaps worst of all, no concrete steps have been taken preventing future fires in the Los Angeles area, where fires are almost guaranteed. If nothing changes in the government’s approach, most survivors of the January fires will never return to their neighborhoods, and future fires will claim even more lives, homes and businesses.

Despite the seriousness of these challenges, there are grounds for optimism. This year, Californians have the opportunity to elect officials who can chart a better path forward, including a new governor and the state’s insurance commissioner.

In Los Angeles we will have elections for County Supervisors, City Council, Congress, Mayor, and more.

What are the applicants plans for fire recovery?

The myriad candidates in the race must present serious plans to address the failures of the first year of recovery. They need to communicate clear ideas for dealing with lingering toxins in the environment, failing emergency response systems, future wildfire prevention, and the painfully slow pace of permitting and remediation—among many other related issues.

Philanthropy can also play a role by organizing nonpartisan candidate forums so candidates can hear directly from survivors. In the first year of fire recovery, Los Angeles’ strong institutional philanthropies tried to help elected leaders behind the scenes. Looking forward, philanthropists would be better served supporting the public accountability work politicians need to deliver on their promises.

The setbacks in the first year of fire recovery lay at the feet of politicians, but that doesn’t mean the long years of recovery work are doomed. Survivors and regular Angelenos have the chance to hold elected officials accountable for their failings and elect new ones who get the job done.

Los Angeles fire survivors deserve a new set of leaders who will have the courage to act and the solutions to rebuild Los Angeles.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.