People Purchased Pali Flags, Money Will Go for Trees

(Front, left to right) Jake Steinfeld, David Card, Sue Marguleas (back, left to right) Jessica Rogers, Bruce Schwartz, Cindy Kirven and Marilyn Wexler all celebrate trees in Pacific Palisades.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN

The Palisades Fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures but not counted were the numerous trees that burned -or were chopped down after the fire.

To kickstart the planting of new trees, a $18,000 check was handed to the Palisades Forestry committee by residents Tracey and Jake Steinfeld and Anthony and Sue Marguleas on August 7. Money was raised by reprinting and selling Palisades Flags.

The Palisades Flag were the brainstorm of Jake Steinfeld when he served as the Palisades Honorary Mayor in 2013-2016. “There was never an official flag,” Steinfeld said and held a contest as a way of bringing the community together. The winning design became the town’s official flag.

After the fire, Amalfi founder Anthony Marguleas, reached out to Jake about selling the flag. People in the community wanted a way to express not only their pride in Pacific Palisades, but as a way of identifying with the town.

Steinfeld gave permission to give his trademarked statement “Don’t Quit” printed at the bottom of the flag.

Three hundred flags were made and Sue Marguleas served as the coordinator to distribute them.

“People called and emailed up until about a month ago when we ran out of flags,” Sue said. Once people purchased the flag, she met them at the Hive (Marina del Ray), the Brentwood Library and the American Legion. “I also let them pick them up at our place,” she said. (The Marguleas lost their home in the fire and are currently renting, too.)

Steinfeld said the last thing he did before evacuating for the fire was to reach for his poem “Don’t Quit.” He’s kept it with him ever since he was cut from a middle school basketball team. “Then I thought, what am I doing? If I take the poem, I’m quitting on my house.”

The poem ends, “Stick to the fight when your hardest hit, it’s when things seem worse, you must not quit.”

About $6,000 was raised from flag sales, and Anthony and Steinfeld each donated an additional $6,000, which means the Forestry Committee, which has recently received nonprofit status now has $18,000 for new trees for the town.

“It’s something simple, something little, but we are taking care of business,” said Steinfeld, who also lost his home.

President of the Palisades Forestry Committee David Card said, “Thank you Anthony and Sue, Jake and Tracey and to all the Palisades Dolphin Flag buyers.”

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low but the debts are high,

“And you want to smile but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many failures turn about

When we might have won had we stuck it out.

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out –

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

You can never tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Members of the Forestry Committee includes (left to right) Marilyn Wexler, Jessica Rogers, David Card, Cindy Kirven and Bruce Schwartz. The group waters a tree they planted three years ago on Hartzell Street that survived the fire.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN

FORESTRY COMMITTEE:

The Palisades Forestry Committee, implemented by the Pacific Palisades Community Council, started planting trees in the parkways in 2022. Among the first was a Coastal Oak planted in Founder’s Oak Island on Haverford and two trees on Hartzell. As part of the town’s Centennial celebration, the committee hoped to plant “100 trees for 100 years.”

Before covid, the City of Los Angeles would provide free trees for parkways. The Forestry Committee had sent applications for city trees for Via de la Paz, El Medio and Livorno parkways. Then the committee received news that “We can’t send you anymore free trees.”

It was then the Forestry Committee started the process to become a nonprofit, so they could receive donations to purchase and plant trees. They went through the IRS, applied to the state, elected officers, got a steering committee and finished the website. They now are an independent nonprofit corporation.

The Palisades fire destroyed hundreds of trees. The Department of Water and Power cut down numerous additional trees.

During debris removal after the January 7 Fire, the Forestry Committee went into action and told people not to cut trees until they could be examined by an arborist.

The committee provided tree waivers that people could fill out, asking the Army Corps of Engineers and other debris removal companies to leave the trees until they could be checked. “It was one of the first things we put on our new website,” Card said. “The waiver agreement was successful.”

As a nonprofit, the Forestry Committee also applied for a grant from FireAid, since it said it welcomed nonprofits. They were turned down. But now with $18,000, they can start to reshape the town’s canopy.click here.