Viewpoint: Name Names and Do it Now!! We Need a Grocery Store

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

Gelson’s grocery store on January 9, 2025.

The one thing this editor learned after the Palisades Fire is that everyone wants to lead the recovery through their own Palisades nonprofit: each proclaims to have superior knowledge on how to proceed.

Last week, a group of people came together to give a list of recovery wants/needs to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. A day later, another group met with Governor Gavin Newsom at Ronald Reagan American Legion Post 283 to tell him problems with recovery.

CTN was reprimanded for not naming names in the Governor meeting or reporting on the prior meeting.

This editor, although living in this town for 30 years and probably hearing more stories about the fire and recovery than anyone, was not invited to either meeting. I discovered one because I went into the Legion to use the bathroom.

This last week, some Palisadians have now demonstrated their belief in closed doors, lack of transparency and a total disregard for fellow residents by keeping everyone in the dark.

There has been enough jockeying to see which Palisadians are the most important because of the meetings they attend. Instead, we should all be asking what does the town really need?

A grocery store. Both Ralphs and Gelson’s are looking at a five-year-time line to return.

All you “important people” get a grocery store – help the rest of us plebes.

The Business Improvement District is sending a letter urging the two stores to return faster. The Pacific Palisades Community Council could also send a letter to Gelson’s and Ralphs urging them for a speedier open. We might need the Councilmember and Mayor’s intervention, too.

It has been estimated that more than 7,000 people, about a third, are already back. They live in the Highlands, Huntington, Castellammare, Rustic Canyon and Riviera sections of the Palisades.

CVS and Vons have been the sole places to pick up milk and cereal. It is simply unacceptable that the people who have moved back don’t have a grocery store in town.

Palisades nonprofits, we’re looking at you – enough with festivals of hope and Zoom meetings – provide us something tangible – a grocery store.

One reader wrote that some steps that could be taken is to get numbers to present to stores:
1.  Block captains could report back how many currently live in their neighborhoods and how many they know are coming back in the next few years (they probably have an idea).
2.  Check to see how many permits had been issued, and how many applications.
3. Add in Palisades High School, Marquez, Calvary students and parents who are already in town and add construction workers to the numbers.
4. Corpus Christi and St. Matthew’s Parish Schools are set to open in the fall of 2026, which will also increase numbers.

“I think the grocery store reps would be shocked as to how many people are already here, and how many are currently in the process of coming back,” the reader said. “If they started soon and had a grocery store open by late 2027, there would be plenty of people.”

The reader concluded: “How can we get this done? I think it’s imperative.”

Every single nonprofit, group and person in town needs to lobby for a grocery store.

If Rick Caruso chose, he could open up Erewhon sooner than August to at least provide a place to get fresh produce. It seems he wants to make his Village perfect and have everything open at once, that is understandable.

But a town grocery store is a necessity.

This is what was left of Ralphs supermarket on January 9.

Posted in Palisades Fire, Viewpoint | 15 Comments

Ornest Paintings Gifted to Fire Survivors

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

Palisades/Altadena Fire Survivors are being gifted a Maury Ornest painting.

Maury Ornest was a Beverly Hills High School baseball player who was selected by the Oakland A’s in the 15th round of the 1977 draft. Instead of going directly into the professional ball, he first attended UC Santa Barbara.

His family was originally from Canada and Ornest played for Canada in the 1978 World Series as an 18-year-old, and in the 1979 Pan American Games the following year.

The right-handed switchhitter had a .363 batting average and was taken the third round of the 1980 draft by the Brewers. In his 1982 season, the 6’3” 195-pound athlete played A ball in the California League.

As he was working  his way through the minor leagues, his career ended in 1982 with a headlong collision into an unpadded cement outfield wall.

 

Over the next few years, the charming, funny brother that Laura Ornest loved, started to disappear. She said that Maury began to experience the world as a hostile place. He suffered breaks from reality and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

The family tried to help, but like so many who have a relative with mental issues, they felt helpless. When Maury was in his 30s, a psychiatrist suggested that he try painting. Although his life had revolved around sports, he tried art.

He took a few classes at Otis Art College but was essentially self-taught. Even as demons tugged in his head, he continued to paint for the next 20 years.

His sister has described her jock brother as “silly and fun” before his mental illness, and that comes out in much of the art with smiling fish and marching snails.

In July 2018, Maury, 58, died of a heart attack.

Rustic Canyon residents, Laura and husband Rick Leslie said, “When we went to his house, we were overwhelmed and surprised by the amount of paintings. Every room was stacked full of paintings. We could hardly move around all the canvases.”

Later as she went through Maury’s papers, she found public storage rental slips. They went to the units on Pico and when they opened the doors, they found hundreds of different-sized paintings. After the art was tallied, her brother had completed more than 1,400 pieces of art.  He had also kept journals.

“He left so much,” Laura said. “He tried so hard.”

In one of his journals, he had written “I hope that if only one honest person would buy my art, that would make me happy. I hope that happens while I’m alive.”

His sister said his humor came through in a subsequent writing, “When I die, let me know so I can make another painting.”

Laura and Rick said, “What struck us most of all was the vibrancy, the joy, the love, the humor, the silliness and whimsy in the paintings. He transferred his inner darkness into vivid, life-affirming colors with passion and energy.”

Fire victim Lisa Maier selected a painting from those in a storage unit (below).

Now, his family is sharing Maury’s art with Palisades and Eaton Fire Survivors. They are allowing survivors to select a painting. So far about 80 people have chosen a piece of original art.

Laura said that many have told her, “this will be the first piece of art we have in our new space.”

The couple know the tragedy and the hardships that fire survivors are enduring. “Offering art seems minor,” Laura said.

But the two have been told, “this gift is major.”

When one looks at Maury’s paintings, one sees his struggle as he attempts to make his world right – through colors and objects and purpose. In the case of so many who had homes destroyed, the everyday, the familiar, the “who I am” disappeared. Maury’s art reflects the identity loss for people as they search to reestablish their lives, just as he did.

“He found art and it gave him purpose,” Laura said. “More than seven years after Maury died, we hope his art can be a symbol of hope, resilience and new beginnings for those who lost their homes.”

Circling the News selected a “piece of Maury’s art” on March 4, Maury’s birthday. Several other residents were doing the same. As they were looking at paintings, a short videotape was being made to accompany an earlier documentary Outsider that chronicled  Maury’s life.

There will be a screening of Outsider at 5:30 p.m. on March 28, 2026, at Gallery 169, Santa Monica Canyon. It will be followed by an art exhibit.

The family continues to offer one of Maury’s paintings to everyone who has lost a home. If you’d like a second painting, they ask you to make a contribution to either Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services or UCLA Friends of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

To contact Laura: [email protected] To view Maury’s art work: click here.

Anthony and Sue Marguleas selected this painting because they had visited New York two weeks before 9/11, and because all three of their boys had played baseball with PPBA. This piece of art “spoke to us,” Anthony said.

Posted in Arts, Community, Palisades Fire | 4 Comments

Clementine Brings Folk Music to Canyon Square March 8

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

(Left to right)Harper Love, Evie Rockwell and Neve O’Brien will perform this Sunday in the Canyon.

By LAUREL BUSBY

Courtesy of Canyon News (the-canyon.org/news)

Three Yale students, including two who grew up in the Canyon, will be sharing their indie folk harmonies with residents at a Sunday concert.

Their band, Clementine, will play a four-show tour this month, including the March 8 Canyon Square event from 4:30-6:30 p.m. The warm, harmonious trio, whose members are Canyonites Evie Rockwell and Neve O’Brien along with their friend Harper Love, will perform mostly original songs along with a few beloved covers, such as “All My Trials” and “Clay Pigeons.”

“Our music takes a lot of inspiration from current bands, such as Big Thief, and older artists like Joni Mitchell and Peter, Paul and Mary,” said Rockwell, who attended Canyon Elementary and graduated from Crossroads in 2023. “Our sound is driven by the three-part harmony structure and the joy of singing with friends.”

The group members, who all play guitar, began their journey as part of a Yale University folk music ensemble called Tangled Up in Blue, which is named after the Bob Dylan song. The three eventually started composing songs together on school chalkboards, in order to learn to collaborate as a unit, Rockwell said. Their phones have since joined the process through shared notes with the women sitting in a circle and offering both melodies and lyric ideas until they all can agree on a new segment.

“We write a lot about love as many people do, but we also write about our friends,” Rockwell said. “We are people who really value friendship and are driven by our communities and the people around us…. Our music is motivated by shared struggles that we all have, since we’re writing them together from different perspectives.”

Their experiences with Yale’s “jam culture,” which they first discovered through the folk ensemble, has also provided both inspiration and friendships with other musicians who play on their upcoming EP, Fear the Bird, which will be released April 24.

For humanities major Rockwell, the release will be a next step in her performing evolution that began when she was growing up in the Canyon and singing in shows like You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown and Fiddler on the Roof in the after-school program of the Adderley School.

“It was cute and communal and wonderful,” recalls Rockwell, noting that a highlight was playing the lead in Annie when she was 4 years old. She joked, “I’ve been chasing that star moment ever since.”

While Rockwell uses the last name of her mother, Alex Rockwell, professionally, she was first exposed to folk music through her father, David Kissinger, who is a fan of both Bob Dylan and John Prine. Her bandmate and longtime family friend O’Brien, the daughter of Liza and Conan O’Brien, is a history major and 2022 Marlborough graduate, while Love an English major will be entering the Canyon for the first time for the tour.

Rockwell, who has three siblings, is particularly anticipating the Canyon Square portion of their tour, which will also include performances at the Mar Vista Farmers Market, the Ojai Underground, and the Lyric Hyperion.

“The Canyon has been an important community for my family for my whole life,” she said. “I’m really excited to play by the Airstream.”

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

BID Discusses Trees, Trash Pickup, Grocery Stores

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

The Business Improvement District met to discuss different ways improve the town. Chrysalis, which is hired by the BID, has been weeding.

The Palisades Business Improvement District held its quarterly meeting on March 4 to discuss tree planting and trash.

Established in 2016, an assessment is placed on commercial property owners in the main Pacific Palisades business district. Over the past nine years, money has been used for tree trimming, street cleaning, sidewalk washing and garbage/trash pickup.

The BID has received a $15,000 grant from the Pacific Palisades Optimist Club and the money is slated to be used for tree planting. Although a bid had been received from one company to plant either 80 24-inch or 36 inch boxed-trees. Richard Lynch, who represents Caruso on the BID, was asked if he could provide additional vendors that Caruso uses and he said he would.

The board decided more information was needed about determining how many trees were lost in the fire that needed to be replaced. An ad hoc tree committee of Kevin Niles, Robert Munakash and Bob Benton was formed. That committee will also consult with the Palisades Tree Forestry Committee and bring back recommendations for the June meeting.

Chrysalis, which has been the company, picking up trash, and power washing sidewalks, from the beginning of the BID’s inception continue to work in the business district.

Chrysalis Representative Ernesto Ramirez said that 7,000 pounds of trash had been picked up in January and February from the Business District. He said workers have shifted to weeding tree wells and sidewalks in the area. “Workers have weeded 800 sq.ft. in the district,” he said and also pointed out a trash can that had burned and asked if BID wanted his crew to paint it.

The answer was “yes.” And that led to a discussion to see if BID has any remaining trash cans or benches. It was believed they had been stored at a resident’s home, but that had burned. Niles will follow up.

BID was told through public comment that a grocery store was needed in the Village.

Munakash, who spoke to a Gelson’s representative and Leland Ford, who spoke to a Ralph’s representative both reported that neither store is in a hurry to return. The stores don’t feel like there would be enough volume. It appears that neither store has even submitted building plans.

Even if they don’t want to start construction tomorrow, having plans ready could align them with the number of people who will be moving in (and have already moved to the condos in the Village and the Huntington, Marquez and Highlands areas).

Munakash, who moved back three weeks ago, said “It’s brutal without a store. It’s tough.”

Elliot Zorensky suggested that the Pacific Palisades Community Council could write a letter letting the stores’ corporate offices know of all the people that have moved back and the number of homes going up. The letter could remind them of how the community supported them and suggest they consider opening sooner.

BID is also writing a letter that they will send to the grocery stores.

Niles said that when CVS opened in August, business was slow, but now it is picking up with so many people moving back.

BID also briefly discussed the façade of the Business Block Building. Residents continue to wonder about the remains of that historic building, some wonder if the brick walls might topple over or if they could be saved. At least one member of the BID speculated with the damage done by the heat of the fire, it might not be feasible.

One of the BID members was going to discuss the building with the owners, the Anderson family, and report back. That family, which also owns the Chase Building had asked to be on the BID Board, for years, but no one ever responded.

Part of the trash can has burned, it will either be repainted or replaced.

Posted in businesses/stores, Palisades Fire | 2 Comments

LETTER: Insurance Versus FEMA

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

After homes burned, people are trying to figure out how to rebuilld. Those that had homes standing were also having trouble receiving money for remediation.

Thank you for all the great information you shared with the community. I have some information that would also be useful for the community.

We applied for FEMA help back in January or February 2025 and they responded to us with request for additional information. I provided the information and they requested information several times. They sent about $7000 and denied the request for any additional funds.

Our house did not burn down, but we incurred costs that exceeded $43,000 by several multiples in both the housing assistance category and in the other necessary assistance category. After the denial, I went through the appeal process and sent additional Information. I spent at least 20 hours of time in this process.

They had sent out an inspector in November 2025, who did very little as we had already fully remediated and moved into the house. Then, in February they sent a second inspector. In both cases, we spent time talking with the inspectors at our home and showing them pictures of the damage. We received approximately $66,000 of insurance money for the housing assistance category and no money for the other necessary assistance category. We expect at some point we will receive reimbursement for personal property losses from our insurance company.

FEMA advised us that since we received more than $43,000 insurance money and expect to receive more than $43,000 in the second category that we are not eligible to receive any FEMA money even though our losses were several hundred thousand dollars.

I think I should have advised early in the process that if we were to receive more than $43,000 in insurance money that we would not be eligible to receive any FEMA money.

Instead, they continued to ask us for additional information and continued to waste our time.  I think it would be useful to other people to know that they shouldn’t waste their time with FEMA if they’re receiving insurance money.

— A Resident —

 

 

Posted in Palisades Fire | 1 Comment

Chance to Meet Jay Leno and Support PaliHi

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

Jay Leno

A STAND-UP for Pali fundraiser and auction to benefit Palisades Charter High School will be held from 6 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 at the Luxe Hotel Sunset.

The evening includes dinner, an open bar and live entertainment with comedian Jay Leno. Cocktail attire requested.

Organizers write “Pali High has had a year unlike any other. Displaced by wildfire, our kids learned in borrowed spaces, adapted with incredible grace, and never stopped showing up. They won championships, delivered stunning performances, earned college acceptances, and came out stronger on the other side. And now? They’re finally back home on campus, where they belong. It’s time to celebrate them.”

There will be a silent auction and there are some great getaways, restaurant certificates and even a Bvlgari Serpenti Forever Handbag (valued at $3,008.87). “Whether you have kids at Pali or you’re simply a neighbor who has watched our community, this is a night worth showing up for,” organizer say.

Tickets & info: click here.

To look at the auction items and bid, click here.

Posted in Schools | 1 Comment

Local Scouts Learn about Aerospace Engineering

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

The Viking Patrol met with scientist Adrienne Russo at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying.

Scouts from Palisades-based Troop 223 got a masterclass in aerospace engineering when they met with retired rocket scientist Adrienne Russo. The Viking Patrol met her outside Santa Monica’s Museum of Flying on February 28.

Russo was a principal engineer/scientist at LinQuest, that worked in advanced and rocket-related projects.

Scout Emmett Haggenmiller said, “One of the most interesting things we learned from the scientist was that NASA is planning to set up a base on the moon as early as 2028.”

They also found out that “In the next 50 years that there will be a manned mission to Mars,” Haggenmiller said.

The meeting was a way to provide real-world context for the Scouts as they towards their Space Exploration Badge.

So far, the Scouts have built and launched a model rocket during a campout in a campout in the desert near Joshua Tree.

They’ve designed an inhabited base that could be located on the moon, and they are designing a robotic mission to another plant – and back.

To receive this merit badge, Scouts are required to tell the purpose of space exploration and cite historical reasons and benefit for the earth; design a collectors card with a favorite space pioneer; build, launch and recover a model rocket; identify nine different rocket parts; discuss and demonstrate “Basics of Space Flight;”  design a robotic mission to another planet; describe the purpose and operation of a space shuttle; and explore careers related to this merit badge.


If the Viking Patrol is any indication of the youth in the United States, the future of the country’s space program will be in good hands.

Posted in Community, Kids/Parenting | 1 Comment

Socialist Candidate Malik Supports Private Schooling

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

Faizah Malik

“Do as I say, not as I do,” might be the campaign slogan of Faizah Malik, who is running for Councilmember in Council District 11.

At the forum at the Lutheran Church on March 1, Candidates were asked about enforcement of 41.18 (homeless cannot camp in a sensitive area, such as a public park, library or school).  Malik said “41.18 is a tool made to manage public spaces, but it does not solve homelessness.”

About 41.18 Councilmember Traci Park said, “There is no planet where kids should be stepping over needles and addicts. You just can’t be that close to schools.”

Parents whose children are in public and charter schools, either by choice or because they cannot afford private schools, pled with officials to do something about the homeless around schools. The violence, the drug use and the mentally ill lying on sidewalks, which parents had to step over while walking their children to school, was causing kids anxiety and PTSD.

Malik is supported by the Democratic Socialists America. The group, socialists, are against charter and private schools. Malik has children and it seems if her children attended public school she would support 41.18. No parent would willingly put their children in that situation.

Not the case, Malik’s two children attend private school. The costs? Annual tuition is $41,500, a family community fee is $450, student activity ($200 per child) and capital fee ($100 per child). One-time fees include $150 for admissions and a new student enrollment fee $1,675.

To send two children to this private school would cost about $89,000 and that’s before the annual fund donations. All parents are expected to give, and to be in the top tier, the Garden Circle, is $50,000 +.  If you want to only give up to $499, you’ll be part of the Blue Gate Circle. One may also gift stocks or use cryptocurrency.

Malik’s husband, who has an MBA from the Hass School of Business, is on the board of directors of this private school.

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Running for Insurance Commissioner, Merritt Farren Knows the Game

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

Merritt Farren is running for California State Insurance Commissioner.

In the last election, most Los Angeles folks were more concerned about voting for mayor than California Insurance Commissioner.

After the 2025 Palisades Fire, Palisadians know that ignoring that race was a mistake. Some residents had no insurance, many had the Fair Plan, and others differing insurance companies. Some companies paid promptly, others, more than a year later still have not paid. Help was not available from the state or from State Commissioner Ricardo Lara.

Merritt Farren, who lost his home on Holyoke in the Palisades Fire, is running for Insurance Commissioner to change that.

He has already fought for consumers after the Fire, because he wanted his sons to see that “out of the tragedy, positive change can and will come.”

After State Farm was granted an emergency rate hike in May 2025, Farren went to court, opposed by both State Farm and the California Department of Insurance. The judge granted him interventor status, which would allow him to seek discovery about the claims-handling practices of State Farm, California’s largest property insurer.

His 28-page petition criticized State Farm’s claims practices, pointing to lowball reconstruction estimates, excessive documentation demands, and what he called an opaque and inconsistent process that left many fire victims unable to rebuild.

Farren is believed to be the first wildfire survivor to intervene at this level in a rate-setting case and to play such a significant role in shaping how insurance hikes will be evaluated.

He was asked about that case last week by CTN, and said, that because he is now running for State Insurance Commissioner, he’s had to step out  click here.

Farren took time to outline the steps needed to “clean” up insurance in California and how to bring insurance companies back, so people are not stuck on the Fair Plan.

A former senior legal executive for Disney and then Amazon, Farren said to oversee the Insurance Commission and its 1,300 employees, one should have a strong administrative background and be able to handle high stakes litigation. “This is not just about having a law degree,” he said.

Farren is adamant that the State needs to get rid of the Fair Plan. “It’s not good for consumers and not good for insurers,” he said and explained that the bigger insurance companies writing policies in the state have to make up the short fall for the Fair Plan, which sends more insurance companies out of the state, which means fewer companies writing insurance, which forces more people onto the plan.

“We need insurance companies to come in, not be spooked,” he said and added that if California created a model such as the one in Florida or England, even small insurance companies could return, which is better for consumers.

Farren said that the insurance commissioner should also work to simplify the policies and risks being written. Everyone should know their coverage and receive a check for it. “Speed really, really counts,” he said and added “It shouldn’t be complicated.”

He argues that simplification is needed in policies and that if insurance wants to dispute the language, it should be up front and not argued after a home is gone.

“There are bad actors that wind their way around rules, they manipulate them,” Farren said. “Language [in the policy] is required by the State of California and it should be readable to a normal person.”

When Farren worked at Disneyland, he dealt with insurance claims. “It was my decision to settle or try the case,” he said.  “We were able to do it by working with insurance companies.”

With the California Department of Insurance, “A lot could be done, and a lot should be done,” Farren said. “Efficiency means lower prices for consumers.” (www.merrittfarrenca.com)

One can also watch Farren on the podcast Three Homeless Guys click here.

 

 

 

Posted in Community, Palisades Fire | 5 Comments

Quiones Is On Her Way Out

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Sue Pascoe

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and DWP CEO Janisse Quinones in front of the Palisades Recreation Center after the Palisades Fire.

Just like rats on a sinking ship, LADWP General Manager Janisse Quiones has joined L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Communications Director Zach Seidl and former Fire Chief Christine Crowley from hopping off – or being pushed from the boat.

Quiones was hired for $750,000 in April 2024 for nearly twice as much as her predecessor and her salary came from DWP revenues.

In a statement today announcing Quiones departure, Bass said, “Janisse brought steady leadership and engineering expertise to LADWP during a critical period for our city. Her focus on resilience, reliability, and strengthening the workforce has helped position the Department for continued progress.”

Bass did not mention Quiones leadership during the Palisades Fire. DWP would be the party responsible for no water in the Santa Ynez Reservoir (or in Chautauqua), which caused low pressure and hydrant failure in the hills. About 7,000 structures burned during the fire and nearly 27,000 people were displaced.

“Serving the people of Los Angeles has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life,” Quiñones said. “I am deeply grateful to Mayor Karen Bass and the City of Los Angeles for the trust placed in me to steward essential infrastructure that supports the health, safety, and economic vitality of our communities.”

Quinoes is moving back to Puerto Rico – before depositions will proceed for the Palisades Fire case, which Superior Court Judge Samantha Jessner has said could proceed.

Besides water, secondary fires started because DWP failed to cut electrical power during the wind storm on January 7. CTN in a March 2025 public records request to DWP asked how many poles went down during the fire (possibly sparking additional fires) and the ages of the poles.

That request was never filled, so CTN filed another public records request in December 2025, asking the same question.

On February 18, CTN sent a reminder to LADWP “I’m still waiting on electrical pole information–how many poles were lost in the fire and the ages of the poles –see my prior emails below. Re: R25-889 [EXTERNAL] R25-220.”

And CTN is still waiting.

Crowley is suing Mayor Bass, residents are still waiting to see the text messages between Seidel and Bass, a public relations firm helped make the fire after-action report a tad more positive, and 12 people died during the fire. . .  no one has been held responsible.

 

 

Posted in City, Palisades Fire | 1 Comment