Circling The News

Inside the Sierra Madre YMCA, camps, membership and gift cards were given to survivors.

Outside the Y, long lines stretched as people waited for aid.

Executive Director of the Palisades Malibu YMCA (now the Lowe Family Y) Jim Kirtley continues to advocate for fire survivors. More than 50 members of the Pali Y received a thousand-dollar gift card from Amazon to help with rebuilding and other necessities at a January 29 event at the Sierra Madre YMCA.

The event was for Palisades and Altadena survivors. People had to qualify for the event through their Y and with identification or a utility bill. There were probably about five hundred people lined up around a long grass yard/field, waiting.

At a brief press conference, President and CEO of Metropolitan YMCA Victor Dominguez said the Y has a work force of 2,500 and more than 15,000 volunteers who are all working to help fire survivors. He said the Y was there for people after the fires, and a year later, the Y is still helping survivors. He thanked the Y’s corporate partners Amazon and the California Community Foundation.

The Foundation gave $350,000 in gift cards, which the Y was distributing to survivors on Thursday.

Amazon Executive David Ambroz said the fire was a deeply personal matter for him. He was asked why. He said his foster son’s home was impacted. Ambroz grew up in foster care, finding solace in libraries and schools, before going to Vassar and then UCLA Law.

Ambroz said that a few months before the fire, Amazon had restocked supplies at the Belmont Wildfire Relief Hub  – including equipment for firefighters and supplies for survivors. After the fire, Amazon had donated more than 500,000 relief items to victims.

28^th District Congresswoman Judy Chu, who represents Altadena residents, thanked the Y and Amazon.

Congressmember Judy Chu spoke about the successes of the Y and about the challenges that still faces survivors, including lack of Federal Aid.

“I see tons of survivors,” she said. “This fire devastated our community with 9,000 structures destroyed, of those 6,000 were homes. There were 19 deaths.

After the fire, “There were so many goods given that were deeply needed and now it’s being done again.”

As people are starting to receive settlement checks/compensation from Southern California Edison for the cause of the Altadena fire, Chu said “settlement funds should not be taxed. Every dollar needs to go to rebuilding.”

She added, “We need the supplemental $34 billion in federal aid.  People are underinsured or not insured.”

She told CTN that California, Texas and North Carolina had not been given any supplemental aid by President Donald Trump.

Chu explained that governors have to ask for aid from the President, then he makes the request and it goes to Congress for approval. She said Congress would approve it immediately if the President would make the request.

Lowe Family YMCA Director Jim Kirtley (right) welcomed Pacific Palisades residents to the event..

“We will continue to support our community and our community members for the long haul of this journey,” Kirtley said. “The particular event helped families from both the Palisades Fire and the Eaton fire with resources such as free Y memberships for the remainder of 2026 and financial support through gift cards.

In addition to gift cards and memberships, the Y was offering free summer day camps and resident camps for kids and access to free mental health.

Kirtley said, “We offer a lot of resources and if we don’t have a specific resource, we probably have a partner that does.” He pointed out that Change Reaction had a sign-up sheet at the event and are able to offer people help with rent, who might be losing that assistance from insurance. People can go to this nonprofit for help (or go to the Y, who will put one in touch with the right party).

There is insurance money to rebuild this condominium building on Sunset .

The lobby entrance to the condo building.

The Condominium Building at 15515 Sunset Boulevard and 1029 Via de la Paz, behind the Shell Station, burned during the Palisades Fire. Of the 107 units, 67 were fully destroyed, 40 survived, but had severe smoke damage and four of those also suffered water damage from the subterranean garage sprinkler system.

The Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) for the Via de la Paz condos are clear on page 16 that as soon “as practical after the damage or destruction of all or any portion of the project, the Board of Directors shall obtain bids from at least two reputable contractors. . . for the purpose of effecting repair, reconstruction and restoration. . .” Residents received about $41 million in insurance money to use for a rebuild.

The problem? The CC& R’s terminated after 50 years on January 1, 2024. That means there’s no legally recognized board that can make that decision, and 100 percent written consent of all the owners is needed to reimpose expired covenants. In addition to that, the condominium must also obtain 100 percent written consent from all mortgage lenders.

Of the 107 units, according to residents David Greifinger and Chad Comey, a secret ballot was sent to families, 101 voted to reinstate, four did not vote and two were opposed.

According to California Civil Code 4265 if CCR’s expire there is no procedure for reviving them. The Code only provides procedures for extending them prior to termination, but not after the fact. Had they been extended before they expired, it would have taken about 75 percent of the owners to approve it.

How did the expiration happen without anyone noticing? Anyone who sits on an HOA board is generally a volunteer and takes care of hiring maintenance personnel, building repairs and taking care of common areas. According to the Via de la Paz HOA CC&R’s, they had the right to repeal or amend the by-laws, and it would only take 51 percent of the residents to approve them.

The expired CC&Rs weren’t noticed when the insurance on the building was discontinued by Farmer’s in June 2024. All units were asked to pay a special assessment, about $2,000 in mid-2024. The building received the Fair Plan insurance in November 2024, acquiring about $41 million in insurance.

It was only after the devastation of the Palisades Fire that the discovery of the lack of CCR’s became a major problem.

Resident Robert May in a November 26, 2026, email to Attorney David Swedelson, who specializes in community associations  and who represented some property owners said “I do not support a rebuild of the Project as it does not make economic sense, the Association lacks sufficient funds to finance a rebuild and I have no interest in further contributing funds to this Project. My intent is to sell my interest in the Project and move on. Until that happens, I intend to exercise all rights available to me to challenge any efforts to move forward with a rebuild, and if the December 10, 2025, ruling does not adequately protect my interests, I intend to move forward with all legal avenues available to me, including an appeal of the ruling on the Petition, if necessary. There are 8-10 other owners, and likely others, that share my position.”

In a legal brief filed with the Superior Court of California, L.A. County in Santa Monica, May wrote “The 1974 CC&Rs expired because of Petitioner’s gross negligence and its failure to fulfill its fiduciary duties, notwithstanding documented reminders over a six-year period.”

In that case, Judge Mark Young ruled January 23  that he denied a court order to approve the reinstatement and amendment of the associations expired CC&Rs (Civ. Code 4275 and Corp Code 7515) or, in the alternative to reduce the number of votes and percentage for approval of amendment.

In the back drop of the condo pool is Atria, a senior residence, which survived the fire.

Condominimus first emerged in California in the 1960s and were regulated under the 1963 California Condominium Act. In January 1986 the Davis-Sterling Act (Common Interest Development Act) went into effect to help address issues not addressed in the 1963 act. The Davis-Sterling Act was rewritten in 2014, but did not address expiration of CC&Rs, which governs California condominiums, cooperatives and planned development communities. It is estimated that in California between 7 to 9 percent of housing is condos.

Some like Comey have lived in that Palisades building since they were born in 1993. His grandparents had invested in the unit in 1974. He is the caretaker for his disabled mother and blind father and wants the rebuild to go forward.

In addition to the building insurance money, he was able to secure a $150,000, zero-interest, 30-year loan from Habitat for Humanity, as well as an additional $300,000 from the SBA. Both programs require funds to be drawn down and construction to begin within strict post-disaster timelines, often within two years.

The insurance money is there, additional funds have been approved for a rebuild, but instead Comey said, “we’re in legal limbo, with no path forward.”

He warns, “this loophole doesn’t just affect my community, it threatens hundreds of aging condominium projects statewide, particularly in disaster-prone areas.”

Comey said it seems the only solution is a narrow legislative fix to the Davis-Stirling Act.

With attorney David Greifinger, also a resident, they have reached out to Senator Ben Allen, L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, LA. Councilmember Traci Park and Governor Gavin Newsom and asked that Civil Code sections 4265, 4270, and 4275 be amended to enable members of Common Interest Developments to revive expired CC&Rs by a majority (or a reasonable supermajority) vote.