No squatters have been found in Pacific Palisades and the majority of residents have posted no tresspassing signs.
“The Palisades is being taken over by squatters,” was a rumor that rapidly spread among residents and took on a life of its own.
On a July 21 Instagram post by Luke Melchior, the owner of Melchior Construction, he maintained that squatters were taking over lots in LA Fire Zones. click here.
He showed a campsite with a squatter and then pointed to another lot supposedly taken over by a vagrant across from that site that he identified as an L.A. Fire Zone.
Melchior concluded that if you’re in Altadena or Pacific Palisades it was necessary to get up security fencing right away or one might lose their property.
He now has 48,000 followers on his Instagram, it appears that selling fear “pays.” The people following him and those who are friends sent out panicked emails and calls to Councilmember Traci Park’s office demanding that something be done about the squatters.
Park was in Pacific Palisades on July 22 with the Los Angeles Police Department and posted “I am aware that there has been some content circulating on social media and in some of the chat groups abut potential squatting in the Pacific Palisades burn area. There are no active reports of squatting at this time. We’re maintaining a strong law enforcement presence and take all reports of trespassing or safety concerns extremely seriously.”
West Bureau’s Deputy Chief Gerald Woodyard also toured the area with Park and he, too, said “There are no squatters here.”
The real problem is Pacific Palisades residents are so wounded by the City for failing to provide them safe evacuation – and not having fire resources to put out fires before they destroyed neighborhoods, that almost anything seems possible.
In this case, one individual started a rumor, it was exploited by others and turned into a whirlwind of fear mongering. Know when you go onto certain websites, there is no fact-checking, and people are spreading all sorts of untruths, such as this one.
Squatters are Rampant in the Palisades.
Regarding Luke, I’ve called him out on a number of his comments and told him that he appears to have a desire to gain “Influencer” status, which he denies. I’ll bet he didn’t have 1,000 followers before the fires. However, I got sucked in and helped spread the rumor because this past Sunday, I spoke to a gentleman at the Castellamare Town Hall and he happened to mention that Luke had done a great job on his debris removal and was great to work with. I thought, “okay, I’ll give him a second chance.” His “squatters” post appeared the next morning, I reposted, and it got more attention than a basket of furry kittens. Beware of all the self-appointed experts on Nextdoor, Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram.