While Los Angeles begins the difficult task of recovering from the devastating fire of Palisades, Mayor Karen Bass has operated a certain number of people, inside and outside the town hall, to coordinate efforts.
What is more difficult to discern is how the parts come together, with consulting companies, non -profit groups and others in the mixture.
Three weeks ago, Bass appointed the long -standing civic leader Steve Soboroff as his recovery tsar, adage He would offer a complete reconstruction strategy, working closely with city agencies to lead the first phase of the takeover.
But Friday, while the city has been a month since fires, Bass suggested that Soboroff would have a more limited role, leaving it mainly in charge of rebuilding the historic business district of Palisades and the library, park and leisure center center from the region.
“He focuses on the reconstruction of the village of Palisades, the historic village of Palisades,” said Bass. “But we consider Steve as the global ambassador of the palisades.”
Bass made his remarks a few hours before his team confirmed at the time when Soboroff was paid $ 500,000 over a period of three months – all this covered by philanthropic groups.
Soboroff, 76, said that he had always wanted to make sure that taxpayers would not be responsible for his salary. He insisted that his role does not shrink, saying that he continues to work with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government entities.
Bass, who faced spicy criticisms on her performance during the first days of the fire, also announced on Friday that she had selected Hagerty Consulting, a company based in Illinois specializing in the response to disasters, to provide a ” complete project management »Restoring. This company, she said, will come from Jim Featherstone, who returned to the city’s labor market after the fire to become n ° 2 in the emergency management service.
FEATHERSTONE, who headed the agency from 2007 to 2016, is now in charge of a recovery group after a claim supervised by the agency and receives an annual salary of $ 200,343.60, according to the City Controller office. It is a standard practice for city leaders, following emergencies, to create such a formal recovery group to supervise long -term planning.
Bass said Hagerty will be responsible for “coordinating all the various private and public entities” working on the recovery. She did not say how much Hagety will be paid, or for how long.
She also suggested that she would bring Aecom, the World Engineering Giant, to combat documents that must be gathered to request the reimbursement of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Forest Fire Expenditure.
Bass, who was on diplomatic mission in Ghana when the fire broke out on January 7, faces immense pressure to appear firmly in control of recovery efforts. This task is more difficult in a region where county managers and federal agencies have a greater influence than the city on issues such as the elimination of debris and cleaning hazardous waste.
Forest fires last month have shown little respect for jurisdictional lines, palisades fire broke out in the Pacific Palisades district of Los Angeles and in the city of Malibu and a band not made up of the county. All of these areas are represented at the county by the supervisor Lindsey Horvath, which was strongly involved in recovery efforts.
And while Bass is entirely concerned about the consequences of the fire of Palisades, the county managers – in particular the Kathryn Barger supervisor – also focused on the devastating fire from Eaton in Altadena and Pasadena, communities at the ‘exterior of the city of the
Beyond the government, many other entities seek to shape the road to come.
The developer Rick Caruso, who lost against the bass in the mayors in 2022 and has criticized it since the fires this week this week launched a foundation Led by a collection of business leaders to focus on recovery. Governor Gavin Newsom summoned his own group of business leaders to advise reconstruction.
Miguel Santana, who heads the California Community Foundation, recently formed a reconstruction initiative called Department of Angels with the co-founder of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, who will also try to strengthen recovery efforts. The owner of Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, said that he was planning to convene his own board of directors.
In addition to all this, the member of the Traci Park council, which represents the Pacific Palisades, directs the ad hoc ad hoc committee of five members of the municipal council, which met for five hours on Thursday to dildo the reconstruction strategies.
Asked about the complicated mixture of city consultants, politicians and people appointed politicians, Bass clearly indicated on Friday that it was at the top of any organizational table for the reconstruction of the Pacific Palisades.
“Let me explain: the person in charge is here. Me. He is the person in charge, ”she told journalists.
The member of the Council Monica Rodriguez, who sits on the Ade Hoc forest takeover committee, said that she found the network of nominations and confusing consultants. It is not clear, for example, that Hagerty will direct the city employees or will be led by them, she said.
“I don’t functionally understand how it will work,” she said.
The former Comté de la, Zev Yaroslavsky supervisor, who also spent nearly two decades on the municipal council, said that Bass and other city leaders will have to bring together all the Civic and Political Managers in the Region in a ” unified command ”.
“From the outside, he looks somewhat chaotic,” said Yaroslavsky, who represented part of the San Fernando Valley during and after the Terkish Treshness in Northridge in 1994.
The mayor’s team told Times on Friday evening that Soboroff would receive $ 500,000 in charitable financing over three months – and that he would work “exclusively” on recovery efforts.
Zach Seidl, spokesperson for Bass, congratulated the long record of Soboroff in the city, working to develop Playa Vista, bringing the Staples Center – now Crypto.com Arena – in the city center and sitting on the board of directors of the commissioners police.
“We are incredibly grateful that these philanthropies have gathered so that Steve Soboroff can drop everything and make sure not to let any tool on the shelf in our response without costing taxpayers a penny,” said Seidl.
Bass and his team refused to identify the specific sources of philanthropic funds, only affirming that Soboroff had signed a contract with the community partners of the non -profit group – and that fundraising is “underway”. A source knowing the arrangement, which was not authorized to speak publicly, said that they expected the $ 500,000 to come from three foundations.
Community Partners, an intermediate non -profit organization based in Los Angeles which acts as a tax sponsor for many other local groups, did not immediately respond to a telephone call from the Times.
Randy Johnson, a long -standing real estate executive that has worked on the development of Playa Vista with Soboroff, will account for the recovery efforts, receiving $ 250,000 during the same period, also of charitable organizations, according to the mayor’s team.
Soboroff and Johnson were committed to working for 90 days, said the mayor’s team.
Friday, asked questions about the mayor’s comments, Soboroff said that he did not consider his role in any way.
“I do exactly what I was doing with the same lack of authority,” he said.
Soboroff, who raised his family in the Palisades, said that even if he had no official authority because he is not an employee of the city, he has the confidence of the community.
California Daily Newspapers
