L.A.County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Today, a press conference was held at Simon Meadow to announce a new YMCA facility in the meadow and a rebuilt structure on Via de la Paz, that was destroyed by the fire.
After photographs were taken for the almost two-hour event, CTN asked Supervisor Lindsey Horvath about the petition to limit sales tax for people rebuilding in the fire impacted areas of the Palisades and Eaton Fire. She was asked if she would support the petition. Horvath said, “I’ve never seen it.”
Westside Current and Circling the News both ran a story about the petition. CTN sent the petition to her. click here.
She also announced the County will make a $10 million donation towards rebuilding the YMCA and was asked where that money will come from.
When she responds, the story will be updated.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
L.A. Mayor Karen was told that many people in Pacific Palisades do not have the money to rebuild because of insurance issues and yet others are hesitant to rebuild because they have no answers about the fire, and why it was not controlled.
Bass was asked, “When will the after-action report be done, so that people can see what happened?”
“It should be this month,” Bass said.
As part of the after-action report, this editor would like to see the number of L.A. City firetrucks dispatched to Pacific Palisades, when and where they were sent. One would also like to see when County Fire Trucks were sent, where they were stationed and how many. People have reported that there were fire trucks lined up in the Will Rogers Beach parking lot. Any action report should specifically say why they were parked and not in the community fighting fires.
In March, this editor sent a public records request to the Fire Department about the number of trucks at the Palisades Fire and why swimming pools were not used for water.
This was the response, “The Palisades incidents are the subject of an active investigation by the ATF National Response Team, which prevents information related to the fire from being disclosed at this time. The Department is cognizant of its responsibilities under the Act. It recognizes the statutory scheme was enacted to maximize citizen access to the workings of government. The Act does not mandate disclosure of all documents within the government’s possession. Rather, by specific exemption and reference to other statutes, the Act recognizes that there are boundaries where the public’s right to access must be balanced against such weighty considerations as the right of privacy, a right of constitutional dimension under California Constitution, Article 1, Section 1. The law also exempts from disclosure records that are privileged or confidential or otherwise exempt under either express provisions of the Act or pursuant to applicable federal or state law, per California Government Code Sections 7927.705, 7922.000, and 7928.300.
“In accordance with Section 7920 of the California Government Code, records of investigations conducted by, or investigatory files compiled by, any local police agency for law enforcement purposes, are exempt from disclosure. The information you seek, is investigative records or properly part of an investigatory file; therefore, we are denying your request. This request is considered closed.”
Wow. What a little chicken answer. I’d almost say cowardly, but I am too much of a gentleman to do that.
[Don’t they remind you of acting like some little kid hiding behind mama’s skirt – after they just burnt your house down.]
This will not stay quiet forever. The burden your children will have to carry for your deceptions will be unbelievable. Gentlemen! It’s not the crime that gets you. It’s the cover up. You have to be crazy to keep this pretense up.
I want to make a comment about the firetrucks during the beginning of the fire. I sat at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive waiting for my daughter the morning of the fire. I sat for 2 1/2 hours pressed against the fence at Self realization with a dozen or more firetrucks full of firemen helmets on, fully dressed, engines running sitting there sitting there while the fire raced out of control. I sat with them, inhaled their fumes. Why didn’t they drive to the top of the Highlands and fight the fire?
I can tell you what was happening at 7:15 pm…Via de las Olas had 2 houses fully engulfed, flames shooting out of upstairs windows. I admitted nobody was coming so got my 97 yo Mom into our car and just made it out of the garage before the power went out. Swarthmores palm trees looked like Roman Candles with the sparks screeching out horizontal so I meandered over to Via de la Paz where I hit an onfire palm head that went under the car and temporarily seized the steering arms, forced my way over it and met a firetruck headed down at Carthage. there were only a few houses on fire at that time and when I hopped out to tell him what’s up he just looked at me with his headphones on…kind of a blank stare. The truck was too loud to make myself heard so I continued on to Via and Sunset and parked in the 76 station lot. There were 4 trucks, one on each corner with hoses running to the various hydrants…and the hoses were flat. The Shell station was still there but the apartment behind it had flames shooting out of the roof. In shock, I cruised down Sunset, then cut through the Huntington where cops and firetrucks were parked with lights flashing but nobody working. Here and there were houses burning, so surreal. Went down Chautaqua to PCH and the smoke cleared out and we checked into the Comfort Inn on SM Blvd. We were there for a week and it felt like a month.
The government won’t give you an answer to your inquiry even though ‘the people’ have a right to know! But keep on paying taxes so we can keep on governing you and not respecting your right to know what is happening. What are the boundaries that prevent the government from letting ‘the people’ know just what is going on when we ‘the people’ should know. Because of their lack of preventing this tragedy from happening, they don’t want ‘the people’ to be informed. Sounds like details are being withheld from ‘the people!’
“The Palisades incidents are the subject of an active investigation by the ATF National Response Team, which prevents information related to the fire from being disclosed at this time.”
Translation: “We’re still trying to figure out how to cover our asses, so until we do that we can’t tell you anything.”