AECOM Gives Brief Presentation at Community Council Meeting

Matt Talley is the AECOM Program Manager for the Palisades Recovery.

AECOM, a global infrastructure consulting firm, was hired by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass on June 6, to lead the town’s recovery after the Palisades Fire. The exact value of the contract hasn’t been publicly disclosed, but an April 2025 Request for Proposals by the city for comprehensive recovery work was reportedly worth $30 million.

Two AECOM members gave a presentation at a special meeting held jointly by the Pacific Palisades Community Council and Councilmember Traci Park on August 7.

AECOM  Program Manager Matt Talley introduced Marc Damikolas, a civil engineer, based in the L.A. Office: the two will work closely together. “We can get you back to normal as soon as possible,” De Nicolas said. “We’ll promise we’ll do our best.”

(The presentation from AECOM is about 52 minutes into the presentation click here.)

Talley said there are three main areas of focus:

• Infrastructure – water and power, connecting DWP and the ongoing construction.
• Fire Protection – how do we prevent something like this from happening again (including evacuation planning)?
• Logistics and traffic management – when we continue construction how does that impact Sunset and PCH, how does it impact during the school year?

In the next 120 days, AECOM will be delivering three concrete plans that are data driven with community input in those areas of focus: infrastructure, fire protection and logistics/traffic management.

The concrete actions AECOM has taken the last three weeks include attending more than 15 meetings with Department of Water and Power, Bureau of Engineering, Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Transportation, Emergency Management Department and L.A. Sanitation.

The pair have also attended more than 10 meetings with community groups. (CTN asked which groups. Tally responded on August 12 and they include Palisades Recovery Coalition, PPCC, PaliStrong, Team Palisades, Pacific Palisades Residents Association, Paseo Miramar HOA, Resilient Palisades, Park Advisory Board, Tahitian Terrace Mobile Home Park, Marquez Knolls, P.A.L.I.P.O.W.E.R. 1 Pali, PaliBu Chamber of Commerce, and Will Rogers State Historic Park Adjacent.)

So far, they have scheduled strategic working sessions with City Departments, collected and reviewed all master planning documents and made an initial analysis of infrastructure, fire protection traffic and logistics data.

AECOM is also the “official venue infrastructure partner” for the 2028 Olympic Games

Their presentation was followed by about an hour’s worth of questions, comments and answers related to Pacific Palisades, which were answered by Councilmember Traci Park. One person pointed out that currently there is no internet access in many of the areas of the town.

Another person asked how we know there’s going to be massive building all at once, based on the current pace? Councilmember Traci Park said she hoped that AECOM would address that in planning for traffic and logistics.

One resident mentioned three critical issues that are needed: 1) soft second mortgages, 2) put pressure on legislators to preserve and restore Prop. 58 exemptions, 3) suspend all sales taxes that are related to costs to rebuilding.

Another displaced person because of the fires wanted to know if he could retain his voting status for Council District 11.

“Yes,” Councilmember Traci Park said. “You do not have to update your voter registration.” Many Palisades residents, when they went to change a mailing address or went to the  DMV, were asked if they wanted to update voter registration and just checked the box.

Park explained that if you are displaced you can still retain your voter status. To check and see where one is registered go to voterstatus.sos.ca.gov. If it does not reflect the Palisades, you have the right to vote in Council District 11, and can change it back.