Unified school sites burned in Palisades Fire Hit Jalstone in $ 600 million to rebuild

The effort of 600 million dollars to rebuild the three unified schools burned in the fire of the palisades has taken an important step in advance on the calendar – all debris were authorized to the properties, Surint. Alberto Carvalho said on Friday.

Calling the withdrawal of debris for a “pivotal moment for all of us”, he detailed the reconstruction plans which aim to quickly bring the students to the campuses.

“Today, we recognize that people of good will can carve out common ground to achieve great things together in the unit,” said Carvalho alongside Mayor Karen Bass in Charter Palisades primary school, one of the campuses that burned.

About 70% of the school was destroyed by the fire that started on January 7. Now, almost three months later, the stretches of radiated soil are all that remains in the spaces where the structures were in the past.

Bass praised the speed of debris elimination through the burnt area by the fire of the Palisades, which destroyed nearly 7,000 structures and burned more than 23,000 acres, saying: “We are absolutely determined to ensure that the palisades are rebuilt as quickly as possible.”

The Marquez Charter Elementary was also destroyed and the Charter Palisades high school was closed due to major damage. The students of the two elementary campuses were moved to neighboring public schools.

The next stages of the reconstruction effort include architects and contracting engineers, said Carvalho. He added that there will be environmental tests during the ground and remaining structures on the three sites. Managers also take measures to put portable classrooms on one of the sites. This is part of a plan that aims to bring students back to their campuses “as soon as possible”-but “no earlier than the community wants this to happen,” he said.

It will cost about $ 150 million to rebuild each primary school, said Carvalho, and around $ 300 million to rebuild a large part of High Palisades.

The 2,445 students of the school, who are online for the courses since the fire, will soon move to the old Sears building in downtown Santa Monica. About only 30% of the High Palisades campus has been damaged or destroyed – including certain class buildings and athletics facilities – but it is a much larger site than the two elementary schools, said Carvalho.

Carvalho said the district would operate the $ 9 billion construction obligation that voters approved in November to launch the construction. This “could not have happened at a better time,” he said. The district will also use around $ 50 million in its insurance policies. Then he turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We will charge financial responsibility with our own dollars approved by residents of the good city of Los Angeles, then seek a reimbursement to the federal government,” he said.

But Carvalho also addressed questions about the federal government’s support to projects such as the effort to reconstruct Lausd. In recent months, the Trump administration has reduced billions of dollars in funding in many areas, including public health and education.

“I think it would be the euphemism of the decade if we said that we have concerns about the advisability of federal support, not only here in California, but across the country,” said Carvalho. “We hope that the question of the reconstruction of the palisades, or any part of our country affected by fires, natural disasters, storms, hurricanes or others … will not be (be) politicized. We certainly hope that there is no disaster armament for a political benefit. Shame, ashamed to anyone who would do it. “

A FEMA representative told Times that the Unified’s assistance request had been approved and that the “exact financing and reimbursement amount will depend on the eligibility of the facilities, the work carried out and the associated costs evaluated by the agency’s public assistance financing process).”

“The specific dollars’ amounts have not yet been determined, because Lausd is still submitting its impact lists and the details of the damage project,” said FEMA spokesperson Brandi Richard Thompson.

At least four private schools burned in the palisades, including the St. Matthew’s parish school and the village school, both of which moved to office buildings in Santa Monica. And several public and private schools were destroyed by the Fire Eaton, including the Pasadena Waldorf School and the Eliot Arts Magnet Academy.

Carvalho said that the speed of cleaning the properties of his district in the palisades may well increase for other campuses aimed at reopening quickly.

“The process that we are currently using for the elimination of debris, soil tests, environmental attenuation, as well as the reconstruction process-we literally reduce the reconstruction calendar up to 50%,” he said. “This augurs well for the whole community, if not the whole state, in terms of adoption of better and faster processes to rebuild better, faster, stronger than ever.”

Also Friday, Bass announced that a damaged Palisades playground in the fire would be restored thanks to a donation of nearly a million dollars of the Benefit Fireid concert initiative and the contributions of others. In total, support exceeded $ 1.3 million, Bass office said in a statement. Private funding will allow the playground to open earlier than expected. Once renovated, he will include a fire truck which will be in tribute to the first stakeholders who fought the fire.