Over 600 attendees confront officials with urgent pleas for swift rebuilding, improved disaster preparedness, and sustainable recovery plans
Approximately 600 highly concerned residents gathered in a standing-room-only Malibu High School auditorium for a Palisades Fire Town Hall sponsored by the City of Malibu on Jan. 25. Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart officiated the meeting and was joined by the rest of the City Council, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, State Senator Bill Allen, Assemblywoman Jaqui Irwin, Congressman Brad Sherman and Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Capt. Jennifer Seeto, as well as a plethora of representatives from federal, state, county, and local governments and other agencies and nonprofit organizations attempting to help fire victims.
Platitudes were unwelcome while concrete timelines and answers were demanded
The audience made it clear collectively and individually that they were not inclined to listen to platitudes — they demandconcrete answers to their very difficult questions.
The five-hour meeting first provided presentations by agency officials, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the entity responsible for conducting hazardous materials removal, a process that needs to happen before fire victims can begin debris removal on their damaged or destroyed properties.
Central to the gathering were comments and questions by attendees, some grounded in righteous indignation and fury, others seeking clarification concerning the repopulation and rebuilding process as well as the timing for opening Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Malibu. The Malibu Times will be updating information concerning each of these issues and will, sadly, be writing about the six Malibuites who tragically lost their lives, a reality that many attendees stated they believed was avoidable, with one speaker, Pete Weeger, a longtime Malibuite, stating that they leave some government agencies, “having blood on their hands.”
Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Association, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the California Coastal Commission, the Small Business Association, Los Angeles County Public Works Department, Southern California Edison, SoCal Gas, and other agencies also spoke briefly and fielded questions.
The takeaway regarding governmental actions in the near term
The Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department is coordinating with various utilities and work crews to clear the Pacific Coast Highway as soon as possible to allow ingress and egress between Santa Monica and Malibu. Seetoo noted that she and other officials are pushing hard to re-open Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Malibu as soon as it is safe to do so. She cautioned, “I want to manage expectations — the highway will only be one way for a long period as we have crews working on both sides of the road, repairing utilities and there will be debris removal.”
As soon as EPA clears properties, certifying that it has mitigated environmental toxins’ effect on soil, FEMA will be working with the Army Corps of Engineers to coordinate debris removal. However, importantly, residents can opt in tohaving those agencies conduct that process. As Colonel Eric Swenson, district commander of the Corps of Engineers, explained, the government cannot go on a citizen’s land without authority. Fire victims can hire their own contractors to perform debris removal as long as they do so in compliance with regulations and processes required by county and local law.
For already weary fire victims who were appalled about receiving very large service bills from Southern California Edison, the Los Angeles County Public Works Department, Waterworks District 29, and SoCal Gas, officials from those entities noted that fees can be waived for properties impacted by the fire that remain vacant.
Questions postulated by residents of various fire-affected areas were intermixed with comments expressing utter fury about the disastrous fire, with many opining that it did not have to destroy as much of Malibu as it did.
Expressions of fury — You can’t deny our reality!
“Why were Big Rock and Seaside Estates left to burn?” That is a central frustration driving many attendees’ assertions that local, county, and state government should have coordinated with the Mountains Restoration Conservation Authority to clear brush, an action many stated they have repeatedly requested for years. Another common opinion expressing appellation and disgust centered on residents’ assertions that county and local firefighting entities should have been more responsive during the hours in which the Palisades Fire began and while it raged through Malibu, destroying the east Malibu coastline and several neighborhoods.
“We are tired of our reality being denied!” Nora Cohen shouted. “Our neighborhood was abandoned! There was a complete and abysmal failing on behalf of the government — there were not firefighters! Who told them not to go into Big Rock?”
Answering as best he could, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said, “I can only speak for my department and we did respond, but as to the other fire departments’ slow responses, I agree with you! You deserve answers!” He noted that this was a disastrous fire and that there is an ongoing investigation concerning how his organization and other responding fire departments and emergency personnel responded. Many in the audience groaned when Marrone mentioned an investigation, but most focused on how to move forward in rebuilding Malibu now that the disastrous fire has decimated Eastern Malibu, parts of Topanga, and a majority of Pacific Palisades.
Locals implore various agencies to rebuild swiftly and wisely
Many in attendance want to know when they can repopulate their neighborhods and when they can begin to rebuild. Steve Hudson, a district director with the California Coastal Commission and Malibu Assistant City Manager Joseph Toneyrescinded to many questions regarding permits to rebuild. Toney stated that the City of Malibu is securing more staff to process permits, and Hudson noted that the City of Malibu’s Local Coastal Program permits acquiring emergency permits and that those permits sought by some victims could be processed under the disaster exemption to the permitting process.
“The city clearly has the ability to issue an emergency permit,” Hudson stated, acknowledging that Gov. Gavin Newsom’sexecutive order mandates expeditious rebuilding and some permitting exemptions.
Conversations about rebuilding in particular sections within the fire scar
Carl Randall, a former Malibu City Councilmember, whose house burned, asked questions pertaining to the imminent need to fortify seawalls and the unique concerns regarding rebuilding the beach homes that burned in the fire.
Noting that his residence was 75 years old and the affected homes were built long before the current building codes and well before Malibu was even organized as a city, Randall emphasized that there are three urgent things that need to be addressed for properties destroyed on the coast side in Eastern Malibu.
“We need immediate assistance concerning seawalls, foundations and septic tanks,” he explained, noting that of the 500 or so homes on the beach between Duke’s Restaurant and Topanga Boulevard, most are between 80 and 100 years old.
“We need immediate access to fix our properties,” Randall pleaded. “We need you to commit that we won’t need to have caissons under the homes and we need to protect the seawalls — otherwise there will be no homes to protect.”
Randall asked, “Will FEMA commit to supporting us by building a continuous seawall with the Army Corps of Engineers?” Swenson stated he was amenable to doing so, noting affected residents would have to acquiesce in that process.
Big Rock residents demand simplified rebuilding processes with public officials who know Malibu
A plethora of Big Rock residents asked the panel pointed questions about how and when various governmental agencies would provide meaningful fire debris removal and rebuilding assistance.
The Big Rock Mesas Property Owners Association was established in 1947. Big Rock has approximately 75 homes out of more than 215, according to Association President Terry Davis, who incisively set forth what the association and its residents demand to happen. Her message to the city: simplify the rebuilding process.
Davis set forth firm requests asking the city to agree that Yolanda Bundy, the city’s environmental director and a building official, will serve as the city’s lead on fire rebuilds, and that Nick Duvally, division chief of the LA County Fire Department, serve as Big Rock’s dedicated senior fire department chief who can guide and lead rebuild efforts. Davis noted that Duvally worked with residents concerning the Woolsey Fire and knows Malibu well.
“We also request that fire rebuilds be permitted separately from other planning requests and that the city have an in-person process with a dedicated team,” Davis stated. “Get people back home ASAP or the entire City of Malibu may not recover.”
Rebuilding wiser and more sustainably
“My house of 25 years burned to the ground and we had to evacuate our horses,” said Brian Goldberg, addressing the loss of his structures in Las Flores. “Why don’t we take advantage of this disaster — this is the perfect opportunity to have SCE underground its poles! I have clients from third-world countries who are appalled that our power poles are not under the ground, especially since they are underground in those less affluent countries.”
Goldberg was not alone — many locals urged SCE and other responding agencies to take advantage of this disaster by implementing smart rebuilding practices and by rebuilding the part of Malibu that is devastated using sustainability and state-of-the-art materials and … by implementing a practice of using goats to graze in high fuel areas flush with brush that feed a fire. They also noted that the disaster creates a golden opportunity to build a green belt with indigenous plants in a 3- to 5-mile area of PCH in eastern Malibu.
Residents demand improvements before the next disaster
Ani Dermenjian, president of the Malibu Association of Realtors, who lost her home in the fire, was one of the speakers demanding a disaster notification that works better. “Please ensure that is better communication in place!” Dermenjian implored. “There was no communication for our non-drivers and those who are not technologically savvy!”
A majority of those who spoke expressing disgust with a lack of fire preparedness and responsiveness to citizens’ requests asked that officials demand that the MRCA clear its brush immediately, with several asserting that if that had been performed as they have long requested, Big Rock and other neighborhoods would not have burned so extensively.
Various lifelong Malibu residents urge positivity and teamwork in Malibu
“What is going to be our identity as a community coming out of this disaster?” Ian Roven, an MHS alumnus and owner of two Malibu residents queried. “Please be cognizant there there is a dark cloud over our community! Be good to each other now — we need more opportunities to come together.”
For his part, Skylar Peak, a former mayor and City Councilmember who currently serves on the Planning Commission and on the Malibu Community Fire Brigade, stated, “Thank you for all who helped with the unified command. This town is a community of love and we have the brains in this room who can help bring it back together.”
“We need to learn how we can do better responding to these fires as we all know there is a next time,” said Kraig Hill, who also serves on the Planning Commission.
Perhaps Davis, acknowledging that rebuilding and preparing for future disasters involves playing both unified short and long games, stated the central concern in this community best in the letter she delivered to city authorities concerning the residents’ frustrations, requests, and concerns.
“Children are the future of a community and the elders, with institutional knowledge and commitment, are the backbone,” Davis stated, adding emphatically, “Malibu cannot afford another population evacuation.”