Inside LA’s Fire Disaster & Political Chaos ft. Rick Caruso | Shane Has Questions | Vice News

00:49:11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S18HlSm3w7I

Resumo

TLDRL'incendie de Los Angeles a causé des pertes humaines et des destructions massives, révélant des lacunes dans la gestion des ressources et la préparation aux catastrophes. Les critiques se concentrent sur l'absence du maire Karen Bass pendant la crise et sur le manque de préparation des services d'incendie. Rick Caruso, un entrepreneur local, a réussi à protéger son village commercial grâce à des mesures préventives, tandis que de nombreux foyers ont été détruits. La communauté fait face à des défis de reconstruction, notamment en matière d'assurance et de toxicité des sols, tout en appelant à une meilleure gestion politique et à des solutions durables pour éviter de futures catastrophes.

Conclusões

  • 🔥 Au moins 25 morts dans l'incendie de Los Angeles.
  • 🌳 Plus de 38 000 acres brûlés.
  • 🚒 Les pompiers ont manqué d'eau pendant la crise.
  • 🏘️ Rick Caruso a sauvé son village commercial grâce à des mesures préventives.
  • 🗳️ Karen Bass critiquée pour son absence pendant l'incendie.
  • 🏗️ Défis de reconstruction : gestion des assurances et toxicité des sols.
  • 💔 La communauté fait face à la colère et à la détermination de reconstruire.
  • 🌍 Nécessité d'une meilleure préparation aux catastrophes.
  • 🧹 Importance de nettoyer la végétation pour prévenir les incendies futurs.
  • 📊 L'incendie utilisé comme outil politique pour critiquer la gestion des villes.

Linha do tempo

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Au moins 25 personnes ont perdu la vie et plus de 38 000 acres ont déjà brûlé, illustrant la gravité des incendies à Los Angeles. Les témoignages révèlent une destruction massive dans les Palisades, où des maisons entières ont disparu. Les critiques se concentrent sur l'incapacité des autorités à gérer la situation, notamment le manque d'eau pour les pompiers, ce qui soulève des questions sur la gestion des ressources et la préparation des services d'urgence.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Le narrateur partage son expérience personnelle, ayant failli perdre deux maisons dans les incendies de Palisades et Malibu. Il souligne les problèmes liés à la reconstruction, à l'assurance et à la toxicité des débris. La discussion s'oriente vers l'inefficacité politique et la responsabilité des dirigeants locaux, alors que la ville est perçue comme un échec.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Le maire Rick Caruso, qui a réussi à protéger son village commercial, est interrogé sur les raisons pour lesquelles certaines zones ont survécu alors que d'autres ont été ravagées. Il explique que sa préparation, y compris l'utilisation de matériaux non combustibles et la mise en place de systèmes de lutte contre les incendies, a été cruciale pour la survie de sa propriété et de ses voisins.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Caruso aborde la controverse entourant la protection de sa propriété, affirmant que la préparation et la gestion adéquate des ressources ont fait la différence. Il souligne que la gratitude de la communauté envers les efforts de reconstruction est désormais palpable, malgré la colère initiale face à la destruction.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Les discussions se poursuivent sur les échecs de leadership, notamment le manque de préparation de la ville et l'absence de rapports d'action après l'incendie. Les critiques se concentrent sur le maire Karen Bass, qui a été absente pendant les incendies, et sur la nécessité d'une meilleure gestion des ressources en eau et des équipements de lutte contre les incendies.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Le narrateur et Caruso évoquent les problèmes d'assurance et la nécessité d'une réforme pour aider les victimes des incendies. Ils soulignent que le gouvernement doit travailler en collaboration avec le secteur privé pour résoudre ces problèmes et faciliter la reconstruction.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    La conversation aborde également la nécessité de nettoyer les broussailles et de préparer la ville pour de futurs incendies. Caruso insiste sur l'importance de la responsabilité des dirigeants et de la nécessité d'une action rapide pour éviter de futures catastrophes.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Les discussions se tournent vers la nécessité d'une renaissance à Los Angeles, avec un accent sur la collaboration entre le secteur public et privé pour résoudre des problèmes tels que l'itinérance et la gestion des catastrophes. Caruso propose des solutions pratiques et des partenariats pour améliorer la situation.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:49:11

    Enfin, le narrateur conclut en soulignant l'importance d'une gestion compétente et d'une vision claire pour l'avenir de Los Angeles, tout en appelant à une action collective pour reconstruire et revitaliser la communauté.

Mostrar mais

Mapa mental

Vídeo de perguntas e respostas

  • Combien de personnes ont perdu la vie dans l'incendie de Los Angeles ?

    Au moins 25 personnes ont perdu la vie.

  • Quelle superficie a été brûlée par l'incendie ?

    Plus de 38 000 acres ont été brûlés.

  • Pourquoi les pompiers ont-ils manqué d'eau ?

    Il y a eu des problèmes de gestion et de préparation, ce qui a conduit à un manque d'eau pour les pompiers.

  • Qui est Rick Caruso ?

    Rick Caruso est un entrepreneur local qui a sauvé son village commercial grâce à des mesures préventives.

  • Quel est le rôle de Karen Bass dans cette crise ?

    Karen Bass est le maire de Los Angeles et a été critiquée pour son absence pendant la crise.

  • Quels sont les défis de la reconstruction après l'incendie ?

    Les défis incluent la gestion des assurances, la toxicité des sols et la nécessité de meilleures infrastructures.

  • Comment la communauté réagit-elle à la catastrophe ?

    Il y a un mélange de colère et de détermination à reconstruire, avec des discussions sur la responsabilité politique.

  • Quelles mesures préventives ont été prises par certains résidents ?

    Certains résidents ont installé des systèmes de lutte contre les incendies et utilisé des matériaux non combustibles.

  • Quel est l'impact politique de cet incendie ?

    L'incendie a été utilisé comme un outil politique pour critiquer la gestion des villes comme Los Angeles.

  • Comment la communauté peut-elle se préparer à de futurs incendies ?

    En nettoyant la végétation, en améliorant les infrastructures et en ayant des plans d'évacuation efficaces.

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  • 00:00:00
    At least 25 people have died and more
  • 00:00:02
    than 38,000 acres have already burned.
  • 00:00:05
    You know, you have that footage of
  • 00:00:06
    flying into LA and it's just on fire.
  • 00:00:08
    It's
  • 00:00:09
    an aerial perspective to the devastation
  • 00:00:11
    in the Palisades.
  • 00:00:13
    You see house gone, house gone, house
  • 00:00:15
    gone, house gone.
  • 00:00:16
    You know, when I got the call that my
  • 00:00:18
    daughter lost her home and then I was
  • 00:00:20
    told, well, the firefighters ran out of
  • 00:00:22
    water, right?
  • 00:00:23
    I said, that's an impossibility.
  • 00:00:25
    Karen Bass, God bless her, has never run
  • 00:00:28
    anything.
  • 00:00:29
    As a taxpayer, you're sitting there
  • 00:00:31
    going, "Hold on, I pay taxes so that
  • 00:00:33
    there's fire engines."
  • 00:00:34
    You know, there was some major uh
  • 00:00:36
    problems letting the shift go home,
  • 00:00:38
    which was a thousand firefighters that
  • 00:00:39
    could have been available that weren't
  • 00:00:42
    uh not pre-eploying in the Palisades.
  • 00:00:44
    Why didn't they pre-eploy?
  • 00:00:45
    I don't know why they didn't. I mean, I
  • 00:00:47
    just have to tell you, it is a mystery
  • 00:00:49
    to me today.
  • 00:00:54
    [Music]
  • 00:00:58
    So, we're going down here in the
  • 00:01:01
    Palisades,
  • 00:01:02
    ground zero for the Palisades fire.
  • 00:01:05
    Reason why I wanted to do this for our
  • 00:01:07
    first episode of season two is I nearly
  • 00:01:10
    had two houses burned down. People will
  • 00:01:12
    say, "Oh, you know, poor guy." Uh, one
  • 00:01:15
    is my house, one my ex's house. One in
  • 00:01:17
    the Palisades fire, one in the Malibu
  • 00:01:18
    fire. There's problems with obviously
  • 00:01:21
    your house burning down, toxicity,
  • 00:01:23
    insurance, rebuilding. This has led to a
  • 00:01:26
    larger problem, political ineptitude,
  • 00:01:29
    who's to blame, what's going on, what's
  • 00:01:32
    going to happen going forward. It's
  • 00:01:34
    become a political hot button. People
  • 00:01:36
    saying, "Look, LA is a failed city." So,
  • 00:01:38
    for the first premier episode of season
  • 00:01:40
    2, I wanted to get and talk to people
  • 00:01:42
    about what the hell happened in LA when
  • 00:01:45
    basically the city burnt down. And uh
  • 00:01:48
    you know, we're driving through the
  • 00:01:49
    Palisades right now and every house is
  • 00:01:50
    gone. The the scope of devastation is
  • 00:01:54
    crazy. So, we're going to talk to the
  • 00:01:55
    mayor. We're going to talk to Rick
  • 00:01:57
    Caruso who's been outspoken. Um and a
  • 00:02:01
    controversial figure because his
  • 00:02:03
    Palisades village didn't burn down. He
  • 00:02:05
    built it to to not burn down and he paid
  • 00:02:07
    people to firefight it and everything
  • 00:02:09
    burned down here. So, we're going to ask
  • 00:02:10
    people what the hell happened and try to
  • 00:02:13
    figure it out and figure out how uh to
  • 00:02:16
    not do this going forward cuz it's
  • 00:02:18
    absolutely horrific.
  • 00:02:21
    Rick Caruso.
  • 00:02:23
    Yes, sir.
  • 00:02:23
    The man, the machine. Here he is. I'm
  • 00:02:26
    just going to get this down. So, I'm
  • 00:02:27
    going to read it quick.
  • 00:02:28
    Okay.
  • 00:02:28
    You just stand there and look good.
  • 00:02:30
    Okay.
  • 00:02:30
    Served as the youngest commissioner of
  • 00:02:33
    LA Water and Power in LA history under
  • 00:02:35
    Mayor Tom Bradley.
  • 00:02:36
    Yep.
  • 00:02:37
    It's Chinatown, Jake. Chinatown was a
  • 00:02:39
    good movie.
  • 00:02:40
    Water and power. It was all about water.
  • 00:02:41
    It was Yeah. Mole Helen. There you go.
  • 00:02:44
    Selected as president of LA Police
  • 00:02:46
    Department, reduced the city's crime
  • 00:02:48
    rate to the lowest level in 50 years
  • 00:02:50
    after the Palisades fires founded
  • 00:02:52
    Steadfast LA, a civic nonprofit uh
  • 00:02:55
    dedicated to accelerating the
  • 00:02:56
    rebuilding, which we're going to talk a
  • 00:02:58
    lot about today. Uh the Wall Street
  • 00:03:01
    Journal have called you the man who
  • 00:03:02
    could save retail. Los Angeles Business
  • 00:03:05
    Journal, the Walt Disney of retail.
  • 00:03:08
    How about that?
  • 00:03:08
    We're here to talk about something very
  • 00:03:10
    serious, which is kind of a bummer. Uh,
  • 00:03:13
    I have a house in Palisades and
  • 00:03:15
    I know
  • 00:03:15
    and live in Malibu. So, this is a very
  • 00:03:18
    personal I think I've gone through the
  • 00:03:19
    five stages of grief for this, you know,
  • 00:03:21
    but I was angry and everyone a lot of
  • 00:03:23
    anger, a lot of people getting mad and
  • 00:03:24
    then there was sort of places that
  • 00:03:28
    burned down and places that didn't.
  • 00:03:30
    Right.
  • 00:03:30
    Right.
  • 00:03:31
    And we're going to go over. See, now
  • 00:03:34
    here we got the rebuilding. We got it
  • 00:03:35
    all going on. This is right where stand.
  • 00:03:37
    The reason why we chose this place to
  • 00:03:39
    start is because your retail village is
  • 00:03:42
    right here.
  • 00:03:42
    That's right.
  • 00:03:43
    And it didn't burn down.
  • 00:03:44
    That's right.
  • 00:03:45
    And then right across the street, it did
  • 00:03:46
    burn down.
  • 00:03:47
    Right. Everything around us burned down
  • 00:03:49
    for the most part.
  • 00:03:50
    My houses, both of them nearly burned
  • 00:03:52
    down. I'm at the fire line on both
  • 00:03:53
    Malibu and Palisades. I had a double
  • 00:03:55
    whammy. And basically my neighbors
  • 00:03:58
    jumped over my fence, stuck uh pipes in
  • 00:04:00
    the
  • 00:04:01
    uh fire lines into my pool and sprayed
  • 00:04:03
    my house for 12 hours after they forced
  • 00:04:05
    me to evacuate. Saved my house
  • 00:04:06
    for them.
  • 00:04:07
    But you had private guys save your
  • 00:04:10
    That's right. We had a plan.
  • 00:04:11
    And there's a big controversy over that
  • 00:04:14
    and I want to I want to get into that.
  • 00:04:15
    Why is that a controversy if you're if
  • 00:04:18
    you're saving your own stuff?
  • 00:04:20
    Well, first of all, not not only did we
  • 00:04:22
    save our own stuff, we saved everything
  • 00:04:24
    around us.
  • 00:04:25
    Yeah. So we saved the other side of
  • 00:04:26
    sunset. We saved all the commercial
  • 00:04:28
    buildings and homes.
  • 00:04:30
    I I think in the beginning people there
  • 00:04:32
    was such a reaction because there was
  • 00:04:33
    just so much anger and fear.
  • 00:04:35
    Yeah.
  • 00:04:36
    And not understanding. The reality is
  • 00:04:38
    what we did is we were prepared unlike
  • 00:04:40
    the city.
  • 00:04:40
    Right.
  • 00:04:41
    So we had our own water tanks. We had
  • 00:04:43
    our own fire department. We had our own
  • 00:04:44
    retardants that went up.
  • 00:04:46
    Yeah.
  • 00:04:46
    But most of all we built this with
  • 00:04:48
    non-combustible materials. We knew we
  • 00:04:50
    were building in a fire zone. And so the
  • 00:04:53
    combination of all of those things
  • 00:04:55
    coming together including really smart
  • 00:04:57
    team of people that were prepared saved
  • 00:04:59
    us and saved the buildings around us.
  • 00:05:01
    Why is that controversial though?
  • 00:05:03
    I don't think it is anymore. I think in
  • 00:05:04
    the beginning it was this big question
  • 00:05:06
    mark what happened. Now in this
  • 00:05:09
    community there is this incredible
  • 00:05:11
    gratitude that our building survived and
  • 00:05:14
    it really is going to be the cornerstone
  • 00:05:16
    of the rebuilding of this whole town.
  • 00:05:18
    Right. and we're leaning in heavy to do
  • 00:05:21
    that because we're going to be a big
  • 00:05:22
    part of the rebirth of this community.
  • 00:05:24
    Do you think it was as simple as why did
  • 00:05:26
    his stuff stay up and the other stuff
  • 00:05:29
    burned down?
  • 00:05:30
    It could be. And I don't blame people
  • 00:05:31
    for being shocked and angry. Listen, my
  • 00:05:33
    daughter lost her home, my son lost his
  • 00:05:35
    home, we lost a home.
  • 00:05:37
    To your point, you're angry about it.
  • 00:05:39
    You know, when I got the call that my
  • 00:05:41
    daughter lost her home,
  • 00:05:42
    and then I was told, "Well, the
  • 00:05:44
    firefighters ran out of water, right?"
  • 00:05:46
    I said, "That's an impossibility. that
  • 00:05:48
    doesn't happen.
  • 00:05:48
    Which I want to get into and it did
  • 00:05:50
    happen.
  • 00:05:50
    Yeah. I want to get into like so you're
  • 00:05:51
    here you're you're you're intimate with
  • 00:05:53
    with what happened.
  • 00:05:55
    You know, we hear about the reservoir.
  • 00:05:56
    We hear about the run out of water. We
  • 00:05:58
    hear about the broken pipes,
  • 00:05:59
    right?
  • 00:05:59
    We hear about the decommissioned fire
  • 00:06:01
    trucks,
  • 00:06:02
    right? All true.
  • 00:06:03
    Really
  • 00:06:04
    complete
  • 00:06:06
    failure at so many levels. Starting with
  • 00:06:08
    the mayor. First of all, the bad
  • 00:06:10
    judgment to not even be here after the
  • 00:06:12
    warnings. Karen Bass is in some
  • 00:06:14
    political hot water over that trip she
  • 00:06:17
    made uh to Africa to Ghana uh in the
  • 00:06:21
    days before the fire broke out. Even
  • 00:06:24
    though uh warnings had been effect
  • 00:06:28
    before she took off. Second of all, to
  • 00:06:30
    not be prepared, to not have our city
  • 00:06:32
    departments prepared,
  • 00:06:34
    to not have LA Department of Water and
  • 00:06:37
    Power, the tanks fully full, the main
  • 00:06:40
    reservoir 7 million gallons empty
  • 00:06:42
    because there was a tear in the cover,
  • 00:06:44
    right?
  • 00:06:44
    It was empty for a year.
  • 00:06:46
    They knew the winds were coming. There
  • 00:06:48
    were warnings for days and days and
  • 00:06:50
    days.
  • 00:06:51
    Didn't fill it up.
  • 00:06:52
    Yeah.
  • 00:06:53
    Although there were warnings that I
  • 00:06:55
    frankly wasn't aware of. Although there
  • 00:06:57
    were warnings, I think our preparation
  • 00:07:00
    what it wasn't what it typically is.
  • 00:07:02
    Fire department didn't pre-eploy, right?
  • 00:07:05
    They could have put out the fire
  • 00:07:06
    quickly. They had done that weeks
  • 00:07:07
    before. Didn't do it this time. Why?
  • 00:07:11
    Why?
  • 00:07:12
    Failure.
  • 00:07:13
    We still don't have answers.
  • 00:07:14
    Well, there's no afteraction report.
  • 00:07:15
    Why?
  • 00:07:16
    Where is it? We're like 6 months, over 6
  • 00:07:19
    months into it.
  • 00:07:20
    There's no report that even says how the
  • 00:07:21
    fire started, right?
  • 00:07:22
    No report that says what could we have
  • 00:07:24
    done better? How are we going to prevent
  • 00:07:26
    this in the future? The head of
  • 00:07:28
    Department of Water and Power still has
  • 00:07:29
    her job right after that level of
  • 00:07:31
    failure. The only thing that makes sense
  • 00:07:34
    is we have incompetent leadership and
  • 00:07:36
    that incompetent leadership has impacted
  • 00:07:39
    the whole or chart of the city and all
  • 00:07:41
    of these people around here are paying
  • 00:07:44
    the very dear high price for it,
  • 00:07:45
    including people's lives that were lost.
  • 00:07:47
    I
  • 00:07:48
    just before we go further, I want to
  • 00:07:49
    This is a podcast, but we do a video
  • 00:07:51
    podcast. Yeah.
  • 00:07:52
    I want to apologize for the sound.
  • 00:07:54
    But at the same time, I want to thank
  • 00:07:56
    you for coming out here because we
  • 00:07:57
    wanted to show people.
  • 00:07:58
    Yeah. I love being out here.
  • 00:07:59
    Uh yeah, we wanted to show people what
  • 00:08:01
    it looked like because I think it was
  • 00:08:02
    national news.
  • 00:08:04
    Yeah.
  • 00:08:04
    And then a lot of people forgot about it
  • 00:08:06
    or it's it's not in the news. I'm really
  • 00:08:07
    glad you're here. So, we wanted to walk
  • 00:08:09
    through it
  • 00:08:10
    to go back to your point though. So, so
  • 00:08:12
    I think there's a couple things. Okay.
  • 00:08:13
    The reservoir not being filled. People
  • 00:08:15
    are like, "What's going on?"
  • 00:08:15
    Decommissioning
  • 00:08:17
    uh uh fire trucks and sending fire.
  • 00:08:20
    Didn't have enough equipment.
  • 00:08:20
    Didn't have enough equipment. Broken
  • 00:08:22
    pipes, etc. Fire hydrant's not working.
  • 00:08:25
    Fire hydrants's not working. The mayor
  • 00:08:27
    being in Africa,
  • 00:08:28
    right?
  • 00:08:29
    All of these things during the anger
  • 00:08:31
    phase of our grief. There's a lot of
  • 00:08:33
    anger and there's a lot of focus of that
  • 00:08:35
    anger. This has become a national
  • 00:08:37
    political issue now and people are using
  • 00:08:40
    it to say, look, San Francisco is a
  • 00:08:42
    failed city. LA is a failed city,
  • 00:08:44
    right?
  • 00:08:45
    You know, what do you think about this
  • 00:08:46
    being used as a political tool? I think
  • 00:08:48
    if this is used to get the electorate to
  • 00:08:52
    say to themselves, competency matters,
  • 00:08:54
    right?
  • 00:08:55
    We have to elect people that actually
  • 00:08:57
    have the experience of running very
  • 00:08:59
    complex organizations like a city is
  • 00:09:02
    know how to manage things is really
  • 00:09:04
    important because ideology,
  • 00:09:07
    no matter how good it may be and how
  • 00:09:09
    well it may be, did not save the
  • 00:09:12
    palisades.
  • 00:09:13
    Right?
  • 00:09:13
    Competency would have
  • 00:09:15
    this fire in my opinion. Yeah,
  • 00:09:18
    if not completely prevented the damage,
  • 00:09:21
    most of all mitigated highly, no doubt
  • 00:09:23
    about it.
  • 00:09:23
    How?
  • 00:09:24
    If the fire department was pre-eployed
  • 00:09:27
    where they knew a fire had started a
  • 00:09:28
    week before,
  • 00:09:30
    they would have put it out.
  • 00:09:31
    It would have been out in an instant.
  • 00:09:33
    Rumor is that it was it was a fire that
  • 00:09:35
    was like a New Year's Eve fire that had
  • 00:09:37
    stayed burning,
  • 00:09:38
    rekindled. Yeah,
  • 00:09:39
    that's right.
  • 00:09:40
    Okay. So, even more to my point,
  • 00:09:42
    wouldn't they be continually checking on
  • 00:09:44
    that knowing that these catastrophic
  • 00:09:46
    winds are coming in? Yeah.
  • 00:09:48
    And the warnings on our phones were
  • 00:09:50
    life-threatening catastrophic winds,
  • 00:09:52
    right?
  • 00:09:52
    I had never seen a description like
  • 00:09:54
    that. I don't know if you had.
  • 00:09:55
    Oh, yeah. I was more worried about trees
  • 00:09:57
    falling than the flames, you know.
  • 00:09:59
    But we know, and we knew in our property
  • 00:10:03
    when you have high winds in Santa Anas,
  • 00:10:05
    there's a likelihood that there's going
  • 00:10:07
    to be a fire associated with it. That's
  • 00:10:09
    why we were ready two days before.
  • 00:10:11
    Hi, it's Shane Smith. Now, before we get
  • 00:10:13
    back to it, I wanted to let you know
  • 00:10:15
    about my new Substack. I'm
  • 00:10:17
    shanemith.substack.com.
  • 00:10:19
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    and enter your email. That's it.
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    shaneith.subsack.com
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    or click the link below. And now on with
  • 00:10:43
    the show which rhymes with bazango.
  • 00:10:47
    So we talked to some volunteer
  • 00:10:48
    firefighters. One of them shooting right
  • 00:10:50
    there. No, right over there.
  • 00:10:52
    And uh who who you know said look you
  • 00:10:55
    know you have to do house hardening and
  • 00:10:57
    and mitigation by you know cutting your
  • 00:11:00
    your uh foliage etc etc which by the way
  • 00:11:02
    and and using materials that are
  • 00:11:05
    that are non combustible. Basically what
  • 00:11:07
    you did is now going to be the the
  • 00:11:10
    mandate of what you have to do
  • 00:11:12
    right
  • 00:11:12
    uh for your house. And what he was
  • 00:11:14
    saying is like look 100 hour 100 mph
  • 00:11:17
    winds no one's doing this their
  • 00:11:19
    mitigation that they have to do that you
  • 00:11:21
    did personally uh that's going to be now
  • 00:11:23
    sort of you know a mandate that you have
  • 00:11:25
    to do that. Um he was saying that, you
  • 00:11:28
    know, it's up to you personally to
  • 00:11:30
    mitigate your own house, which I never
  • 00:11:33
    heard. And then they're saying that
  • 00:11:34
    they're getting that message out with
  • 00:11:35
    the with the community brigade and and
  • 00:11:37
    and all these other to try to get that
  • 00:11:39
    message out. You actually did that. But
  • 00:11:41
    what you're saying is it was a failure
  • 00:11:43
    of leadership that, you know,
  • 00:11:45
    contributed or made this happen because
  • 00:11:47
    if if there was good leadership in there
  • 00:11:48
    and the right decisions were being made,
  • 00:11:50
    then this wouldn't happen.
  • 00:11:51
    No doubt.
  • 00:11:52
    Really?
  • 00:11:53
    No doubt. And anybody who's looked at
  • 00:11:55
    the facts comes to the same conclusion.
  • 00:11:57
    Yeah.
  • 00:11:57
    And nobody should pin the responsibility
  • 00:12:00
    on any resident in the Palisades or
  • 00:12:02
    Aladena for not clearing their brush.
  • 00:12:05
    The failure to clear their brush, which
  • 00:12:06
    is another big point we didn't talk
  • 00:12:08
    about,
  • 00:12:09
    is there was 40 years of vegetation in
  • 00:12:11
    the hills.
  • 00:12:11
    You've been advocating clearing this
  • 00:12:13
    brush up for a while.
  • 00:12:14
    For a decade, failure of the state,
  • 00:12:16
    failure of the county, failure of the
  • 00:12:17
    city. That was the rocket fuel, right?
  • 00:12:20
    Had that brush been cleared out by the
  • 00:12:24
    state, you wouldn't have had this
  • 00:12:26
    happen.
  • 00:12:26
    Right.
  • 00:12:27
    Right. So, it's not the people's homes.
  • 00:12:29
    Do we want to rebuild in a way that's
  • 00:12:31
    smarter? No doubt. We want people to
  • 00:12:33
    rebuild, but you can't pin it on the
  • 00:12:35
    people out here. It wasn't the brush in
  • 00:12:37
    their in the trees around their home
  • 00:12:40
    that created this fire. It started up in
  • 00:12:42
    the hills. The hills took off. And
  • 00:12:44
    that's why if there would have been
  • 00:12:45
    pre-eployment, they could have knocked
  • 00:12:47
    it down. They failed to do that. Still
  • 00:12:50
    to this day, let me just tell you how
  • 00:12:52
    inept the failure is locally here.
  • 00:12:54
    Yeah.
  • 00:12:55
    All of that 40-year brush is still
  • 00:12:57
    behind the hills in Brentwood.
  • 00:12:59
    Still there.
  • 00:12:59
    You would have think that's the first
  • 00:13:00
    thing they would have done. Let's not
  • 00:13:01
    allow this to happen again.
  • 00:13:03
    Now, who but whose job is that if it's
  • 00:13:05
    mostly the state and the county?
  • 00:13:06
    Really?
  • 00:13:07
    Yeah.
  • 00:13:07
    And so, it's failure city, but it's also
  • 00:13:10
    failure state and county. You know, the
  • 00:13:13
    mayor the mayor of LA should say to the
  • 00:13:15
    governor should say to the county,
  • 00:13:17
    "Go get that brush figured out now."
  • 00:13:19
    Yeah.
  • 00:13:19
    Let's not take a chance anymore.
  • 00:13:21
    Now, as you walk, I want to start with
  • 00:13:22
    this. You have been advocating, you can
  • 00:13:25
    correct me if I'm wrong at any time.
  • 00:13:26
    Yeah.
  • 00:13:27
    Private competency, if you will, to
  • 00:13:29
    solve sort of public issues. Right.
  • 00:13:31
    Right. That's
  • 00:13:32
    that's what Steadfast is about.
  • 00:13:33
    There you go.
  • 00:13:34
    Yeah.
  • 00:13:34
    And so, I want as we walk from this into
  • 00:13:38
    your area, I want to talk a little bit
  • 00:13:40
    about that.
  • 00:13:41
    Okay. about okay let's say what you
  • 00:13:42
    would do as mayor
  • 00:13:43
    okay
  • 00:13:44
    or what would you do as governor let's
  • 00:13:45
    say
  • 00:13:46
    okay
  • 00:13:46
    to preempt these problems and and what
  • 00:13:49
    you think about public versus private
  • 00:13:51
    and and and why you think the solution
  • 00:13:53
    lies you ready
  • 00:13:54
    ready to go
  • 00:13:55
    we're going to go we're going to go
  • 00:13:57
    we're going to go slow but we're going
  • 00:13:58
    to go
  • 00:13:59
    so you're famous as a retailer you did
  • 00:14:01
    the grove and this is the sort of center
  • 00:14:04
    of the palisades Palisades village right
  • 00:14:06
    right
  • 00:14:06
    a city center for the Palisades
  • 00:14:08
    right it's a downtown
  • 00:14:09
    deep deeply involved in the community.
  • 00:14:11
    So obviously when the fire happened,
  • 00:14:14
    you're what what are you thinking? Take
  • 00:14:16
    me back to ground zero. Take me back to
  • 00:14:19
    the night of the fires. What are you
  • 00:14:20
    thinking when you hear
  • 00:14:22
    palis burning?
  • 00:14:23
    So January 7th with which by the way was
  • 00:14:26
    my birthday of all the darn things.
  • 00:14:28
    So the family was together. We were
  • 00:14:30
    gathered that evening at our house. We
  • 00:14:33
    live in Brentwood Park. So that's about
  • 00:14:35
    10 minutes from here,
  • 00:14:36
    right? and we were just getting
  • 00:14:38
    evacuation orders. Also,
  • 00:14:40
    fear and concern is growing tonight as
  • 00:14:43
    flames light up the Los Angeles
  • 00:14:45
    hillsides. Extremely strong winds are
  • 00:14:48
    fanning the dangerous and potentially
  • 00:14:50
    deadly flames.
  • 00:14:51
    But when this started, in the beginning,
  • 00:14:53
    when I got word of it in the afternoon,
  • 00:14:56
    I was hopeful they were going to just
  • 00:14:57
    shut it down. The winds were not high
  • 00:14:59
    when the fire started, right?
  • 00:15:01
    So, they could have put aircraft in the
  • 00:15:02
    air and they could have had it this
  • 00:15:04
    pre-eployment that we talked about,
  • 00:15:05
    right?
  • 00:15:06
    That evening, we had evacuated with all
  • 00:15:09
    of our kids uh out of the area and it's
  • 00:15:11
    when I got the call that my daughter's
  • 00:15:13
    house was burning down because of the
  • 00:15:15
    lack of water.
  • 00:15:16
    Yeah.
  • 00:15:16
    I I I was just horrified. And that's
  • 00:15:18
    when I called the news
  • 00:15:20
    and I said, "Are you guys reporting
  • 00:15:21
    this?" And they said, "It can't be
  • 00:15:22
    accurate." Right.
  • 00:15:23
    And I said, "It I know it doesn't sound
  • 00:15:25
    like it can be accurate, but it is.
  • 00:15:27
    They've run out of water." So
  • 00:15:28
    firefighters came in very very quickly
  • 00:15:31
    trying to put out the flames and they
  • 00:15:33
    very very quickly ran out of water.
  • 00:15:36
    I was angry.
  • 00:15:36
    You were angry? Yeah. I mean I was
  • 00:15:38
    angry.
  • 00:15:38
    Yeah.
  • 00:15:39
    Uh you know we had houses burning down
  • 00:15:41
    and and uh no water and no firemen and
  • 00:15:46
    sorry there are trucks but I don't mind
  • 00:15:47
    trucks.
  • 00:15:48
    I don't mind. This is real.
  • 00:15:49
    This is the Palisad.
  • 00:15:50
    This is the Palisad. This is what's
  • 00:15:52
    happening
  • 00:15:52
    and will be for years
  • 00:15:53
    and thank God it's happening.
  • 00:15:54
    Yeah. Because otherwise if there's no
  • 00:15:56
    trucks it means there's no rebuilding.
  • 00:15:58
    Yeah, we want to see this happening. So
  • 00:16:00
    So we're here on Sunset. So we're just
  • 00:16:03
    going into your village here now,
  • 00:16:05
    Palisades Village. How long has it been
  • 00:16:08
    around?
  • 00:16:09
    So we opened this, we built this six
  • 00:16:11
    years ago.
  • 00:16:12
    Yeah, there we go.
  • 00:16:13
    Um and this very quickly became embraced
  • 00:16:17
    by the community as their downtown and
  • 00:16:19
    there's a a downtown. We're part of
  • 00:16:22
    that. Um, and this is what we built with
  • 00:16:27
    all non-combustible material. So, as you
  • 00:16:29
    look at the what appears to be wood on
  • 00:16:31
    the buildings,
  • 00:16:32
    that's all concrete formed to look like
  • 00:16:34
    wood.
  • 00:16:35
    Wow.
  • 00:16:36
    And if you notice, there's no vents
  • 00:16:39
    that most homes have vents cuz the
  • 00:16:41
    majority of the homes that were lost in
  • 00:16:42
    the Palisades
  • 00:16:44
    were burned from the inside out. The
  • 00:16:46
    ember got inside the house. So this was
  • 00:16:49
    welld designed by our team and also when
  • 00:16:52
    those warnings came out.
  • 00:16:54
    Yeah.
  • 00:16:55
    We were pre-eployed the warnings came
  • 00:16:57
    out four days before I believe.
  • 00:16:59
    Right.
  • 00:17:00
    We were pre-eployed out here two days
  • 00:17:02
    before.
  • 00:17:02
    So hold on. Let's get back the warnings
  • 00:17:05
    to say hey San Anowind's higher extreme
  • 00:17:08
    firewall.
  • 00:17:09
    Life threatening.
  • 00:17:09
    Life-threatening.
  • 00:17:10
    You can't miss that.
  • 00:17:11
    4 days before. Right.
  • 00:17:12
    They did not deploy. Mayor's not here.
  • 00:17:14
    Right. She goes to Ghana.
  • 00:17:16
    Right.
  • 00:17:16
    Right. Would that have made any
  • 00:17:18
    difference if she was here?
  • 00:17:19
    Of course.
  • 00:17:20
    Well, you would hope. You would hope if
  • 00:17:22
    she had the management skills,
  • 00:17:24
    right?
  • 00:17:25
    You know, I don't.
  • 00:17:26
    But isn't it supposed to be like
  • 00:17:28
    like the army and it's like, "Okay,
  • 00:17:29
    here's the fire. Deploy. Deploy." Like,
  • 00:17:31
    but yeah. Okay. Let's say the army. The
  • 00:17:33
    general better be on the ground.
  • 00:17:35
    Okay.
  • 00:17:35
    Right. That's your job. That's what you
  • 00:17:37
    wanted to do. That's what you got
  • 00:17:38
    elected to do.
  • 00:17:40
    The leader has to be here to lead.
  • 00:17:42
    Simple as that. She wasn't. I think what
  • 00:17:44
    we're going to find out if there's ever
  • 00:17:46
    an afteraction report,
  • 00:17:47
    right,
  • 00:17:48
    is it was chaos in terms of the command.
  • 00:17:50
    Yeah.
  • 00:17:51
    Command and control. The fire department
  • 00:17:53
    was not deploying properly. There were
  • 00:17:55
    sections
  • 00:17:55
    they fought after.
  • 00:17:57
    Well, then but there were sections as
  • 00:17:58
    you know in the palisades of Malibu.
  • 00:18:01
    There was never a fire truck there.
  • 00:18:02
    Yeah.
  • 00:18:03
    Right. So
  • 00:18:04
    I I know you couldn't you couldn't screw
  • 00:18:07
    this up more.
  • 00:18:08
    That's where my anger came from.
  • 00:18:10
    I get it.
  • 00:18:10
    And we're Look, we're smiling. We're
  • 00:18:12
    smiling because we're alive and life is
  • 00:18:14
    good. But uh but but it's a tragedy and
  • 00:18:18
    and and you're saying it could have been
  • 00:18:19
    avoided with better
  • 00:18:21
    management. No doubt better better uh
  • 00:18:23
    you know
  • 00:18:24
    I'd love to have somebody prove me
  • 00:18:26
    wrong.
  • 00:18:27
    Okay, great. Uh well, we're Look, Shane
  • 00:18:29
    Smith has questions. We want to just ask
  • 00:18:31
    everybody questions. We're going to ask
  • 00:18:33
    the governor. We're going to ask the
  • 00:18:35
    mayor and say what what what in God's
  • 00:18:37
    name happened.
  • 00:18:38
    Well, there's one thing that did happen.
  • 00:18:41
    Yeah. There's zero accountability,
  • 00:18:43
    right?
  • 00:18:43
    That's happened.
  • 00:18:44
    Yeah.
  • 00:18:44
    Nobody after six months of this has
  • 00:18:46
    said, "I'm sorry. I could have done a
  • 00:18:49
    better job, right?"
  • 00:18:50
    Or, "Here's how we could have done a
  • 00:18:51
    better job."
  • 00:18:52
    Or, "Here's what we'll do in the
  • 00:18:53
    future."
  • 00:18:53
    Right. Bingo. Yeah.
  • 00:18:54
    Here are the changes that I've just made
  • 00:18:55
    to make sure this never happens again.
  • 00:18:57
    We're hearing none of that.
  • 00:18:58
    Yeah. Why?
  • 00:18:59
    They're not smart leaders. Karen Bass,
  • 00:19:01
    God bless her, has never run anything.
  • 00:19:04
    And we knew in taking this job it was
  • 00:19:07
    going to result in failure. when when
  • 00:19:09
    you're in the legislature, when you're
  • 00:19:11
    in Congress, and the only thing you've
  • 00:19:14
    done in terms of a bill is change the
  • 00:19:17
    name of a library,
  • 00:19:20
    how does that experience, and not a lot
  • 00:19:22
    of experience even in Congress, how does
  • 00:19:23
    that experience equate to managing a
  • 00:19:26
    city with a 12 billion dollar budget and
  • 00:19:28
    4 million people?
  • 00:19:29
    Yeah.
  • 00:19:30
    And this, unfortunately, is a
  • 00:19:32
    manifestation of that. So that's where I
  • 00:19:35
    hope this fire people have woken up and
  • 00:19:38
    say you know what we got to have
  • 00:19:39
    competent leadership across the country.
  • 00:19:41
    Well let's talk about leadership. So
  • 00:19:43
    this this is a micro problem of a macro
  • 00:19:45
    political issue. Right.
  • 00:19:47
    Right.
  • 00:19:47
    So we have for for a number of years
  • 00:19:49
    we've had uh San Francisco
  • 00:19:53
    uh boy I know that our audio podcast
  • 00:19:55
    people are going to be going bonkers
  • 00:19:56
    about this. Sounds good. the larger
  • 00:19:58
    issue they want to say that democratic
  • 00:20:00
    cities or democratic states are failed.
  • 00:20:03
    You know, San Francisco is a failed
  • 00:20:05
    city. Now, LA is a failed city, which I
  • 00:20:08
    want to get into with you as well. Uh,
  • 00:20:10
    but while we're in while we're in here,
  • 00:20:12
    I just want to say so private solutions
  • 00:20:15
    for public problems. How would how could
  • 00:20:17
    we have implemented some of that here?
  • 00:20:20
    The whole point of Steadfast,
  • 00:20:21
    yeah,
  • 00:20:22
    is to bring the best and the brightest,
  • 00:20:24
    which what we've done, it's a nonprofit
  • 00:20:26
    that I formed. I've asked some of the
  • 00:20:28
    smartest people in town, whether they're
  • 00:20:30
    lawyers, engineers, designers, uh people
  • 00:20:33
    from Amazon, Parsons, Ezrey, we're going
  • 00:20:37
    to take discrete problems, which we
  • 00:20:39
    have. We're going to solve the problem,
  • 00:20:42
    do it urgently, and hand it off to the
  • 00:20:44
    city, the county, and state.
  • 00:20:45
    Right?
  • 00:20:46
    For example, we came up with the idea of
  • 00:20:49
    AI plan check,
  • 00:20:50
    right?
  • 00:20:50
    Plan check in Los Angeles takes six to
  • 00:20:52
    eight months,
  • 00:20:53
    right?
  • 00:20:54
    Talked to Mike Hopkins at Amazon. How do
  • 00:20:56
    we do this through an AI model? It got
  • 00:20:59
    created between Amazon and Alcitech, a
  • 00:21:02
    firm out of Australia, delivered it to
  • 00:21:05
    the city and the county, and now Malibu
  • 00:21:07
    has it.
  • 00:21:08
    Raise the money for it.
  • 00:21:09
    It will plant check in hours.
  • 00:21:11
    Right.
  • 00:21:11
    That saves somebody like you a ton of
  • 00:21:14
    money and a ton of time. Right.
  • 00:21:17
    Undergrounding the power lines. We came
  • 00:21:18
    up with a plan for that. Rebuilding of
  • 00:21:20
    the park, which we're kicking off. I'm
  • 00:21:22
    walking that later this afternoon. We're
  • 00:21:25
    kicking that off to rebuild it. We're
  • 00:21:26
    helping the unified school district
  • 00:21:28
    rebuild the schools. So, all of these
  • 00:21:30
    team members who are just super smart
  • 00:21:33
    with a great sense of urgency are
  • 00:21:35
    lending their time and talent,
  • 00:21:37
    right?
  • 00:21:37
    And I think that major disasters like
  • 00:21:40
    this, no different than 9/11.
  • 00:21:42
    Yeah.
  • 00:21:43
    It's got to be a partnership between
  • 00:21:45
    government and private enterprise.
  • 00:21:47
    It's just the problems are too big.
  • 00:21:49
    Too huge. It's got to be everybody.
  • 00:21:50
    Let's go see.
  • 00:21:51
    Can I just show you, Sunny? I'm so proud
  • 00:21:53
    of my team. Yeah,
  • 00:21:54
    this poor building, as much as we tried
  • 00:21:56
    to save it,
  • 00:21:57
    burnt down. And what we have just as
  • 00:22:00
    scorch marks,
  • 00:22:00
    right?
  • 00:22:01
    I mean, that material is pretty awesome.
  • 00:22:03
    Yeah.
  • 00:22:04
    So,
  • 00:22:04
    this one, there was a store.
  • 00:22:06
    It was a store there. We tried saving
  • 00:22:07
    it. We saved that.
  • 00:22:09
    Like I said, we saved across the street.
  • 00:22:11
    We were actually loaning our equipment
  • 00:22:13
    to the fire department. They were so
  • 00:22:14
    short of equipment.
  • 00:22:16
    Now, I had gone on to the acceptance
  • 00:22:19
    part of my grief and now I'm angry
  • 00:22:20
    again.
  • 00:22:21
    Yeah, I know. So, now we're walking up
  • 00:22:23
    into Palisades proper, uh, the alphabet
  • 00:22:27
    streets, as I like to call them.
  • 00:22:28
    Yep.
  • 00:22:29
    Uh, and we can see the total
  • 00:22:32
    devastation. I mean, they've done a
  • 00:22:33
    great job clearing out the debris, which
  • 00:22:37
    was just
  • 00:22:38
    it's terrible.
  • 00:22:38
    Monumental.
  • 00:22:40
    And you have advocated, we can see the
  • 00:22:43
    hills here.
  • 00:22:44
    Yeah.
  • 00:22:44
    You've been advocating for quite some
  • 00:22:46
    time uh to clear that and nobody did.
  • 00:22:49
    Brush now. 40 years of brush. Yeah.
  • 00:22:52
    And what happened was about six, seven
  • 00:22:54
    years ago, there was a fire in Brentwood
  • 00:22:56
    area again about 15 minutes from here.
  • 00:22:58
    And at that time, I literally said to my
  • 00:23:01
    wife and the family as we had to
  • 00:23:03
    evacuate Brentwood. If that fire starts
  • 00:23:05
    traveling west and hits the Palisades,
  • 00:23:08
    it's going to race down into the
  • 00:23:09
    alphabet streets. And God,
  • 00:23:11
    unfortunately, it did.
  • 00:23:13
    Again, completely preventable, right?
  • 00:23:15
    But there's this ideology. Here's where
  • 00:23:17
    leadership falls into it. this ideology
  • 00:23:20
    that clearing brush maybe isn't the
  • 00:23:22
    right thing to be doing. Right.
  • 00:23:24
    Right. But I think human life and the
  • 00:23:26
    quality of human life is the number one
  • 00:23:28
    priority.
  • 00:23:29
    Yeah. Right. And but our elected
  • 00:23:31
    officials did not prioritize it.
  • 00:23:33
    It was funded as I understand it. They
  • 00:23:35
    just never executed on it. So here's
  • 00:23:37
    what I want to talk about because now it
  • 00:23:40
    seems that you're kind of agreeing now
  • 00:23:41
    that like
  • 00:23:43
    you know my my point of view is fourth
  • 00:23:46
    largest economy in the world California
  • 00:23:48
    right it's a big
  • 00:23:50
    big successful beautiful state
  • 00:23:52
    yeah bigger than India
  • 00:23:53
    bigger than India bigger than Japan
  • 00:23:54
    bigger than Japan
  • 00:23:56
    and so but there's this whole thing of
  • 00:23:59
    of of San Francisco being failed which I
  • 00:24:01
    was just in San Francisco it's fine it
  • 00:24:03
    looks empty there's nobody there because
  • 00:24:05
    they've all moved to the suburbs But and
  • 00:24:07
    then, you know, LA being failed,
  • 00:24:09
    you know, obviously Republican, I'm
  • 00:24:12
    neither right nor left. I I like both,
  • 00:24:14
    you know, sides of the coin. But I don't
  • 00:24:18
    like propaganda, right?
  • 00:24:20
    And but what you're saying is it was a
  • 00:24:22
    failure of leadership and and because of
  • 00:24:25
    that, we didn't have to have this
  • 00:24:27
    devastation. I mean, you look around,
  • 00:24:29
    every house, every house is burned down.
  • 00:24:31
    Yeah. I mean, just think of every
  • 00:24:33
    family.
  • 00:24:34
    You look at this 300,000 acres.
  • 00:24:37
    Yeah.
  • 00:24:38
    7,000 structures.
  • 00:24:40
    Yeah.
  • 00:24:41
    And every one of these parcels, which I
  • 00:24:43
    mean, literally I begin to cry. That's a
  • 00:24:47
    family.
  • 00:24:48
    Yeah. Yeah.
  • 00:24:49
    Impacted forever.
  • 00:24:50
    Forever.
  • 00:24:51
    And may never come back.
  • 00:24:52
    Well, but okay. The immediacy of every
  • 00:24:57
    photo.
  • 00:24:58
    Yeah.
  • 00:24:58
    Right. Your every your your clothes that
  • 00:25:01
    you wore to your wedding.
  • 00:25:02
    That's right. you know, your children's
  • 00:25:04
    graduation. Like all that stuff, all
  • 00:25:06
    gone.
  • 00:25:06
    All gone.
  • 00:25:07
    Let alone, oh, now we have to buy
  • 00:25:08
    plates.
  • 00:25:09
    Yeah.
  • 00:25:09
    Now we have to buy forks and knives.
  • 00:25:10
    Just survived
  • 00:25:11
    from from the beginning. You can't get
  • 00:25:13
    an Airbnb,
  • 00:25:14
    right?
  • 00:25:15
    Where do you go?
  • 00:25:15
    Right.
  • 00:25:16
    Then now you have to rebuild. And this
  • 00:25:17
    is another thing I want to get into.
  • 00:25:19
    Private helping public
  • 00:25:21
    insurance.
  • 00:25:22
    A mess in the state of California.
  • 00:25:24
    Disaster.
  • 00:25:25
    Like we need leadership.
  • 00:25:27
    You can't get insurance in Malibu. I
  • 00:25:29
    know everything. Oh, poor Malibu. Look,
  • 00:25:31
    every walk of life lives in Malibu.
  • 00:25:32
    That's right.
  • 00:25:33
    Poor people live in Malibu. Rich people
  • 00:25:34
    live in Malibu. Sure. You can't get
  • 00:25:36
    insurance.
  • 00:25:37
    Neither on the Palisades or Altadena.
  • 00:25:39
    And if it burns down, you really can't
  • 00:25:42
    get insurance. And they don't want to
  • 00:25:43
    give you any money,
  • 00:25:44
    right?
  • 00:25:45
    So even if you're underinsured, they're
  • 00:25:47
    still not going to pay you, right?
  • 00:25:48
    How do we fix that?
  • 00:25:49
    Well, this is where the state and the
  • 00:25:51
    federal government, which is very
  • 00:25:52
    frustrating, needs to come together.
  • 00:25:54
    Yeah.
  • 00:25:54
    People need to put politics aside
  • 00:25:56
    because this is too big for politics.
  • 00:25:58
    and Trump and Gavin and Bass. Yeah.
  • 00:26:01
    The county all need to be working
  • 00:26:02
    together. Yeah.
  • 00:26:03
    There can't be this I don't like
  • 00:26:05
    California or California didn't vote for
  • 00:26:07
    me so I'm not g No. Th this is a
  • 00:26:10
    disaster beyond disasters. One of the
  • 00:26:12
    largest in the history of the United
  • 00:26:14
    States. The federal government needs to
  • 00:26:16
    be rolling in here with funds. Yes.
  • 00:26:18
    To help rebuilding to support the
  • 00:26:20
    insurance system to and the state needs
  • 00:26:22
    to demand that the insurance system
  • 00:26:24
    changes.
  • 00:26:24
    Yeah.
  • 00:26:25
    That gets insurance companies back in
  • 00:26:27
    here.
  • 00:26:27
    Yes. and makes it competitive. There's a
  • 00:26:29
    way to do that.
  • 00:26:31
    Yeah.
  • 00:26:31
    And they're not doing it.
  • 00:26:32
    It's a huge problem. And one of we can
  • 00:26:34
    keep talking, but one of there you go.
  • 00:26:37
    One of the biggest problems I think
  • 00:26:40
    started before the fire. Now, obviously
  • 00:26:41
    the brush, 40 years of brush. And by the
  • 00:26:44
    way, when I point over there, that whole
  • 00:26:47
    hill has just been burned. All every
  • 00:26:48
    house on that hill has been burned.
  • 00:26:50
    Everywhere you look around here,
  • 00:26:51
    y
  • 00:26:52
    all around me burned where I live. Then
  • 00:26:53
    there were torrential rains, mudslides,
  • 00:26:57
    and now it's
  • 00:26:58
    wild uh flowers and green, and it looks
  • 00:27:01
    great.
  • 00:27:01
    A sign of life, though.
  • 00:27:03
    But no, and nature rebuilds. So like
  • 00:27:05
    this, we see green, we see some flowers,
  • 00:27:08
    but like literally every single house is
  • 00:27:10
    burned down.
  • 00:27:11
    I mean, the scope
  • 00:27:12
    to your point, unless you come out here
  • 00:27:15
    and walk around,
  • 00:27:16
    you really you don't get it.
  • 00:27:17
    Which is why I I thank you for your time
  • 00:27:19
    today. But to get back to it, so the
  • 00:27:21
    problem started even before
  • 00:27:24
    uh with brush and stuff, but with
  • 00:27:26
    insurance for years and years and years.
  • 00:27:27
    Yeah.
  • 00:27:28
    Of everyone was underinsured.
  • 00:27:30
    Yeah.
  • 00:27:30
    And and or not had no insurance. And
  • 00:27:32
    then so it burns down and every it's
  • 00:27:35
    it's caused sort of an exodus.
  • 00:27:38
    Yeah.
  • 00:27:38
    People are leaving because they're like,
  • 00:27:39
    well,
  • 00:27:40
    I can't afford to rebuild
  • 00:27:42
    and we got to change that because we got
  • 00:27:44
    to rebuild that.
  • 00:27:45
    Well, again, go change the system. the
  • 00:27:47
    the system in California and insurance
  • 00:27:49
    has been designed to really constrain
  • 00:27:51
    what insurance companies charge.
  • 00:27:54
    Well, when you constrain capital
  • 00:27:55
    markets, if capital markets are done
  • 00:27:57
    well,
  • 00:27:57
    Yeah.
  • 00:27:58
    it brings in competition and pricing
  • 00:28:00
    comes down,
  • 00:28:01
    right?
  • 00:28:01
    So, we need to relieve that, encourage
  • 00:28:04
    insurance companies to come in so that
  • 00:28:06
    they can allocate risk. The more
  • 00:28:07
    insurance companies that are here, the
  • 00:28:09
    better.
  • 00:28:09
    Yeah.
  • 00:28:10
    But even the state system is failing.
  • 00:28:12
    Yes. So this is where the governor with
  • 00:28:16
    the help of the federal government needs
  • 00:28:17
    to come in and change the insurance
  • 00:28:19
    system and demand that insurance is
  • 00:28:21
    here. We went through this problem years
  • 00:28:23
    ago with flood insurance and now you
  • 00:28:25
    have national flood insurance programs.
  • 00:28:27
    Yeah.
  • 00:28:27
    We need to be looking at whether or not
  • 00:28:29
    it makes sense to be duplicating that so
  • 00:28:32
    this family can start rebuilding and not
  • 00:28:34
    have this exorbitant insurance rate.
  • 00:28:37
    And what about the fact that okay we
  • 00:28:39
    have global warming. you know, this is
  • 00:28:42
    going to get worse.
  • 00:28:43
    Mhm.
  • 00:28:44
    Um, unless we fix stuff, uh, you know,
  • 00:28:48
    the winds get worse, the heat gets
  • 00:28:49
    worse, the drying effect gets worse. We
  • 00:28:52
    know it's going to get worse, so we have
  • 00:28:53
    to do things to stop. Are you thinking
  • 00:28:55
    of running for mayor again or or
  • 00:28:57
    governor or anything?
  • 00:28:58
    I'm looking at both. I haven't made a
  • 00:28:59
    decision.
  • 00:29:01
    Governor's spot's going to be up for up
  • 00:29:03
    for grabs soon. I think
  • 00:29:04
    it is. Yeah. So, both come up in about a
  • 00:29:07
    So then what would you do as either a
  • 00:29:10
    governor or b mayor?
  • 00:29:13
    Well, on the mayor's side for the
  • 00:29:14
    palisades because this is in the city of
  • 00:29:16
    Los Angeles.
  • 00:29:17
    Yeah.
  • 00:29:18
    The red tape has got to be expedited.
  • 00:29:20
    We're again we're talking we're over 6
  • 00:29:22
    months into it and I think there's 90
  • 00:29:23
    building permits,
  • 00:29:24
    right?
  • 00:29:25
    It's it's 90 out of out of 7,000.
  • 00:29:28
    Yeah.
  • 00:29:29
    Yeah. So I mean come on. I mean expedite
  • 00:29:32
    it. Power lines need to get underground.
  • 00:29:34
    Yeah,
  • 00:29:35
    new infrastructure needs to get put in
  • 00:29:37
    the streets.
  • 00:29:38
    All of that has to happen now because
  • 00:29:39
    you don't want it happen while people
  • 00:29:41
    are rebuilding their homes.
  • 00:29:42
    Yes,
  • 00:29:43
    we got to suspend this ULA tax that if
  • 00:29:46
    this family, for example, can't afford
  • 00:29:47
    to rebuild and has to sell that lot,
  • 00:29:49
    they get taxed.
  • 00:29:50
    They get taxed, but there's a double
  • 00:29:51
    tax. They get taxed. If it sells to a
  • 00:29:54
    developer, he builds a house, then he
  • 00:29:56
    pays a tax again. Right.
  • 00:29:57
    Which means he's building in that tax on
  • 00:30:00
    what he pays for the land.
  • 00:30:01
    Right.
  • 00:30:02
    Right. That's just unfair. They've lost
  • 00:30:04
    everything. So those things should be
  • 00:30:06
    done quick. It's like urgency. Let's go.
  • 00:30:09
    The state level. We got to make sure we
  • 00:30:11
    have the right infrastructure. We got to
  • 00:30:13
    make sure that we're clearing brush. We
  • 00:30:15
    got to make sure that we're
  • 00:30:16
    undergrounding power lines across the
  • 00:30:17
    state. That's got to be a major thing
  • 00:30:19
    that we're doing. But we've got to be
  • 00:30:21
    providing financial support. And he's
  • 00:30:23
    got to figure out a way to work with the
  • 00:30:24
    Trump administration to get federal
  • 00:30:27
    dollars out here and put this bickering
  • 00:30:29
    aside. It's getting nobody anywhere that
  • 00:30:31
    needs the help. And why do you think
  • 00:30:32
    there is the bickering? Is it because
  • 00:30:34
    you didn't vote for me, so go to hell?
  • 00:30:36
    I don't know. It's like, who's got time
  • 00:30:39
    for it? And
  • 00:30:41
    again, as I said, the problems are too
  • 00:30:43
    big. Politics have to go aside.
  • 00:30:45
    Yeah.
  • 00:30:45
    What what I think everybody in the state
  • 00:30:47
    wants to see is people working together
  • 00:30:50
    and moving the needle forward to
  • 00:30:52
    increase the quality of people's lives.
  • 00:30:54
    Yeah.
  • 00:30:55
    So,
  • 00:30:56
    well, that's the other thing is I guess
  • 00:30:57
    there's a lot of anger and there was a
  • 00:30:59
    lot of anger on my side. We pay some of
  • 00:31:01
    the highest taxes in America, if not
  • 00:31:02
    some of the highest taxes in the world.
  • 00:31:04
    Y
  • 00:31:05
    and then you're like, well, what are we
  • 00:31:07
    what do you get for it? That's right.
  • 00:31:08
    Cuz they're like, well, it's up to you
  • 00:31:10
    to save your own house. You know, you're
  • 00:31:12
    like, well, what am I paying the tax for
  • 00:31:14
    fire and reservoirs? And
  • 00:31:16
    that's exactly right.
  • 00:31:17
    Yeah.
  • 00:31:18
    And that's why I really,
  • 00:31:20
    it sort of angers me this notion that
  • 00:31:21
    people should have protected their
  • 00:31:23
    homes,
  • 00:31:23
    right?
  • 00:31:24
    They were paying taxes to have the fire
  • 00:31:26
    department service them, right? Simple
  • 00:31:28
    as that.
  • 00:31:29
    Yeah. They failed. The city's obligation
  • 00:31:31
    is number one and foremost keep people
  • 00:31:33
    safe.
  • 00:31:33
    There you go.
  • 00:31:34
    And they failed.
  • 00:31:35
    Yeah.
  • 00:31:35
    Simple as that. I mean, you look
  • 00:31:37
    everywhere around you here.
  • 00:31:39
    Yeah.
  • 00:31:39
    It's all wiped out.
  • 00:31:40
    It's all wiped out. Yeah.
  • 00:31:42
    And so, how do we rebuild a quickly and
  • 00:31:45
    efficiently? Which, by the way, I must
  • 00:31:46
    say, it looks a lot better.
  • 00:31:49
    It's getting there
  • 00:31:50
    than I thought it would. You when when
  • 00:31:51
    when you first drive through the
  • 00:31:53
    Palisades. And by the way, the lower
  • 00:31:55
    third of Malibu is gone.
  • 00:31:57
    Yeah. Well, we lost our home there.
  • 00:31:59
    There you go.
  • 00:31:59
    Along Lacassa Beach.
  • 00:32:01
    There you go. So, the lower third of
  • 00:32:02
    Malibu is gone. And you sit there and
  • 00:32:04
    you say, "Okay, it's going to be what, 5
  • 00:32:07
    years until life goes back to normal,
  • 00:32:09
    which is again uh fueling the exodus.
  • 00:32:12
    Here we can
  • 00:32:13
    I think there's ways
  • 00:32:16
    and we're working with a bunch of
  • 00:32:18
    homebuilders, ways to expedite the
  • 00:32:20
    building process."
  • 00:32:21
    Yeah.
  • 00:32:21
    So, at Steadfast, we are working with a
  • 00:32:24
    building alliance where we've got a
  • 00:32:26
    bunch of home builders. Yeah,
  • 00:32:27
    that will have different elevations,
  • 00:32:30
    different interior floor plans, but
  • 00:32:33
    pre-approved, pre-esigned at a much
  • 00:32:35
    lower cost. So, this family can pick a
  • 00:32:38
    plan.
  • 00:32:39
    That firm builds it for them and it's
  • 00:32:42
    turnkey,
  • 00:32:42
    right?
  • 00:32:43
    And and we're really trying to ramp that
  • 00:32:45
    up and it's starting to catch on, which
  • 00:32:47
    is great because we want more and more
  • 00:32:49
    of that
  • 00:32:50
    because I I think it's and here's my
  • 00:32:53
    theory. I think it's like that flywheel
  • 00:32:55
    that you start moving. Once the village
  • 00:32:58
    opens up, our property, once the park
  • 00:33:00
    opens up,
  • 00:33:01
    the schools are opening up this fall,
  • 00:33:03
    uh, most of them,
  • 00:33:05
    people start seeing their community come
  • 00:33:07
    back, it will start motivating people to
  • 00:33:08
    rebuild like it's going to happen. So,
  • 00:33:10
    we've got to constantly give hope to
  • 00:33:13
    people.
  • 00:33:13
    I love the positivity and I love the
  • 00:33:16
    fact that you did save the downtown
  • 00:33:17
    because then there's something to
  • 00:33:19
    upend and to build off of. However, you
  • 00:33:22
    brought it up. People are getting dual
  • 00:33:24
    taxed. They're underinsured. So, I just
  • 00:33:26
    want to go up to this lot here. It's a
  • 00:33:27
    typical lot. So, if I'm a family and I
  • 00:33:30
    lose this and I'm underinsured and I
  • 00:33:33
    think this seems to be insured because
  • 00:33:34
    they've cleared it and sort of getting
  • 00:33:36
    it ready to rebuild. This one still got
  • 00:33:38
    the ruin and the damage and the famous,
  • 00:33:40
    you know, standing chimneys. So, first
  • 00:33:42
    of all, a lot of these are for sale.
  • 00:33:44
    Yeah.
  • 00:33:44
    So, people can't rebuild. They're
  • 00:33:45
    underinsured. So, they have to sell it.
  • 00:33:47
    they have to sell it or they've just
  • 00:33:48
    decided at their stage of life
  • 00:33:50
    too too much
  • 00:33:51
    too much or they've got kids that have
  • 00:33:54
    now in school in Manhattan Beach, you
  • 00:33:56
    know, so they're not going to move.
  • 00:33:57
    So pe people they sell, they get taxed,
  • 00:33:59
    but there's a massive, you know,
  • 00:34:01
    paperwork and everything for insurance
  • 00:34:03
    if if even if you do get paid, then you
  • 00:34:04
    got to rebuild,
  • 00:34:05
    right?
  • 00:34:06
    And so that's on a per lot basis. So
  • 00:34:08
    some of these lots could be two to five
  • 00:34:11
    years to 10 years to never
  • 00:34:12
    could be. So h how do we come up with a
  • 00:34:15
    plan that sort of deals with that that
  • 00:34:17
    that complexity?
  • 00:34:18
    Well, I think the builder alliance does
  • 00:34:20
    a lot to help that out. I think giving
  • 00:34:22
    people hope. I think a lot of people
  • 00:34:24
    right now are at this stage.
  • 00:34:26
    I want to make sure this community is
  • 00:34:28
    coming back. People love this community
  • 00:34:29
    as you know. I mean, it was so dear, so
  • 00:34:32
    sweet.
  • 00:34:32
    Fantastic.
  • 00:34:33
    And so I I really believe in my heart
  • 00:34:36
    once they start seeing it coming back,
  • 00:34:38
    they're going to be motivated to build.
  • 00:34:40
    Yeah.
  • 00:34:40
    And then as a city, we just got to get
  • 00:34:42
    out of the way and support them. That's
  • 00:34:44
    where we got to cut the red tape and
  • 00:34:46
    make it really easy for that to happen.
  • 00:34:48
    We're not doing that yet. The city is
  • 00:34:50
    not doing that yet.
  • 00:34:51
    But here's what I also say. You stand up
  • 00:34:53
    here.
  • 00:34:55
    You've got an ocean view.
  • 00:34:56
    Yeah.
  • 00:34:57
    It's 300,000 acres with an ocean view.
  • 00:35:00
    There is no better real estate in the
  • 00:35:03
    United States
  • 00:35:04
    than Pacific Palisades.
  • 00:35:06
    It will come back. It's irreplaceable.
  • 00:35:09
    And I think in the next year when the
  • 00:35:11
    schools are open and we're open
  • 00:35:13
    in the next three years when you start
  • 00:35:15
    seeing more and more housetops, rooftops
  • 00:35:17
    coming up,
  • 00:35:18
    it's going to catch on.
  • 00:35:20
    What about the problems postfire with
  • 00:35:24
    toxicity? You know, the thing, oh, if a
  • 00:35:26
    Tesla burns the the batteries and right,
  • 00:35:29
    you know, lead and lead paint and all
  • 00:35:30
    the different things. What are your
  • 00:35:32
    thoughts on that?
  • 00:35:32
    I think everybody should be testing
  • 00:35:34
    their soil,
  • 00:35:35
    right? you know, so this property that
  • 00:35:37
    you mentioned here, so that was cleaned
  • 00:35:39
    by the Army Corps of Engineers and
  • 00:35:43
    obviously they haven't cleaned here, but
  • 00:35:44
    even when you're clean, our
  • 00:35:46
    recommendation is you test,
  • 00:35:48
    right? So speaking of how LA has become
  • 00:35:50
    a sort of political hotbed, you were
  • 00:35:53
    just saying someone from Europe called
  • 00:35:54
    you and was saying, "How bad is the
  • 00:35:56
    Palisades?" Palisades is bad. Malibu is
  • 00:35:58
    bad.
  • 00:35:58
    Aladina is bad. Can't forget about
  • 00:36:00
    Aladina.
  • 00:36:01
    Yeah, Aladina might be the worst. Now I
  • 00:36:03
    I have friends from Europe and I was I
  • 00:36:04
    just got back from from uh recording
  • 00:36:06
    over there and they're like, "Oh my god,
  • 00:36:08
    are you okay? Are you all right? You
  • 00:36:10
    right."
  • 00:36:10
    Not about the fires,
  • 00:36:12
    right?
  • 00:36:13
    About the riots.
  • 00:36:14
    Yeah.
  • 00:36:15
    So it's become a not only a a national
  • 00:36:18
    press story, it's an international press
  • 00:36:19
    story.
  • 00:36:20
    So immigration riots, riots in LA. How
  • 00:36:23
    does that affect you and how does that
  • 00:36:25
    affect this? How does that affect
  • 00:36:27
    perception? How does it affect you
  • 00:36:28
    trying to get through? You're talking to
  • 00:36:29
    Amazon. You're talking to people. You're
  • 00:36:30
    trying to rebuild. you're trying to get
  • 00:36:32
    all this rebuilding, the immigration
  • 00:36:34
    issues, the immigration issues in LA,
  • 00:36:36
    the the protests. What do you think
  • 00:36:38
    about that politically on the national
  • 00:36:40
    scale?
  • 00:36:41
    Well, I think it, you know, it hurts uh
  • 00:36:43
    LA from the standpoint you want people
  • 00:36:45
    to come to LA and invest in LA, build a
  • 00:36:48
    business in LA, raise your family in LA.
  • 00:36:50
    Um, and so when people get the
  • 00:36:52
    perception there's just too many
  • 00:36:54
    problems happening in LA,
  • 00:36:56
    and the leadership has failed in LA,
  • 00:36:59
    people avoid it. So, it does hurt. I get
  • 00:37:01
    that call all the time. I was with
  • 00:37:03
    bankers yesterday that were asking that
  • 00:37:05
    very same question. Now, I'm on the
  • 00:37:08
    ground and I see it a little bit
  • 00:37:09
    differently and I believe we're going to
  • 00:37:11
    get through it. Uh but we have to be
  • 00:37:14
    smarter in how we operate. There's no
  • 00:37:15
    question we do and we need to be getting
  • 00:37:17
    a message out there as a city. We're
  • 00:37:20
    back. We care. We're strong. We want you
  • 00:37:23
    here. We're going to protect you. We
  • 00:37:24
    want you to rebuild here. We want you to
  • 00:37:26
    build a business here. We don't do that
  • 00:37:28
    in LA. This mayor needs to be doing
  • 00:37:30
    that, right? Paint an optimistic
  • 00:37:32
    picture. Paint a picture of the future
  • 00:37:34
    of Los Angeles.
  • 00:37:35
    Okay?
  • 00:37:35
    And the future of Los Angeles to me is
  • 00:37:37
    bright.
  • 00:37:38
    It's a people that are innovative, that
  • 00:37:41
    are smart, who are diverse, who are
  • 00:37:44
    talented, and love this region. Are we
  • 00:37:46
    losing people out of frustration? Of
  • 00:37:48
    course. Yeah.
  • 00:37:48
    We got to stem that tide.
  • 00:37:51
    But I think people are going to lean in.
  • 00:37:53
    And I think now more than ever, what I'm
  • 00:37:54
    hearing is people want their city back.
  • 00:37:57
    Yeah. People want that innovation back.
  • 00:37:59
    We need to have a renaissance in Los
  • 00:38:01
    Angeles. And I think we can do that with
  • 00:38:03
    the right leadership.
  • 00:38:04
    Okay.
  • 00:38:04
    A lot of private folks. I mean, it's
  • 00:38:06
    it's going to be a a big tent.
  • 00:38:08
    Here's an issue. Private to solve public
  • 00:38:11
    and to have a renaissance in LA.
  • 00:38:13
    Homelessness. It seems to be a chronic
  • 00:38:15
    issue.
  • 00:38:16
    Yes.
  • 00:38:16
    That just that doesn't get solved.
  • 00:38:18
    Again, taxation, plans, billions of
  • 00:38:22
    dollars thrown at it. It just gets gets
  • 00:38:24
    worse. one of the few cities in the
  • 00:38:26
    United States that hasn't figured it
  • 00:38:28
    out. What? But
  • 00:38:29
    it's it honest to God I I keep going
  • 00:38:31
    back to the same thing. It's competency.
  • 00:38:34
    It's leadership. It's having backbone
  • 00:38:36
    and courage to do the right thing and
  • 00:38:39
    get rid of the ideology.
  • 00:38:41
    There are solutions to solve the
  • 00:38:44
    homelessness in Los Angeles. You have to
  • 00:38:46
    be smart about it. You have to be
  • 00:38:48
    compassionate about it.
  • 00:38:49
    What would you do? Let's say to mayor or
  • 00:38:52
    governor.
  • 00:38:52
    I had a plan when I was running. You're
  • 00:38:54
    massively building housing.
  • 00:38:56
    Yeah.
  • 00:38:56
    For people that are living on the
  • 00:38:58
    streets and combining it with mental
  • 00:39:00
    health care and drug addiction,
  • 00:39:02
    right?
  • 00:39:02
    And getting them off the streets.
  • 00:39:04
    There's organizations that are doing it
  • 00:39:06
    today in Los Angeles with a 90%
  • 00:39:09
    uh effective rate.
  • 00:39:11
    Don't go reinvent it. Go
  • 00:39:13
    fun them.
  • 00:39:14
    Fund them.
  • 00:39:14
    Yeah.
  • 00:39:15
    Right. And that's where the private side
  • 00:39:17
    looks at it and says, "Why is a
  • 00:39:20
    government trying to rent motel and put
  • 00:39:23
    somebody off the street in a motel
  • 00:39:24
    room?" Yeah. With no services.
  • 00:39:26
    The poor person that's drug addicted,
  • 00:39:29
    he's going to go into that motel. He's
  • 00:39:30
    either going to run out of it or he's
  • 00:39:32
    just going to buy drugs and stay in
  • 00:39:33
    there.
  • 00:39:34
    And then we got billions of dollars
  • 00:39:35
    lost.
  • 00:39:36
    Right?
  • 00:39:36
    If I go to the downtown women's center,
  • 00:39:38
    18,000 women tonight in Los Angeles are
  • 00:39:41
    going to be sleeping on the streets.
  • 00:39:42
    Right?
  • 00:39:43
    Most of them are going to get assaulted
  • 00:39:45
    in some form or fashion.
  • 00:39:47
    Right?
  • 00:39:47
    You go to the downtown women's center,
  • 00:39:50
    90% effective rate of bringing a lady
  • 00:39:53
    in, a woman in, giving the treatment,
  • 00:39:56
    they have housing for them. They change
  • 00:39:59
    lives,
  • 00:39:59
    right?
  • 00:40:00
    That's what we need to be doing. That's
  • 00:40:01
    what I would do. But you can't allow the
  • 00:40:04
    homeless population to take over
  • 00:40:06
    communities and neighborhoods anymore.
  • 00:40:08
    That was an ideology, you know, that
  • 00:40:10
    people were talking about, including
  • 00:40:11
    Karen Bass. Don't criminalize
  • 00:40:13
    homelessness. Nobody wants to
  • 00:40:15
    criminalize it,
  • 00:40:16
    but you need to help people and you need
  • 00:40:18
    to allow people that are not homeless
  • 00:40:20
    have a quality of life.
  • 00:40:22
    Well, to go back to it, uh, on I have
  • 00:40:25
    two follow-ups on that. One is I I
  • 00:40:28
    started this whole thing up and now I'm
  • 00:40:30
    coming around very elegantly, if I do
  • 00:40:31
    say so myself.
  • 00:40:32
    Fourth largest economy in the world. So,
  • 00:40:35
    a lot of money,
  • 00:40:36
    right?
  • 00:40:36
    Highest taxation in America. So, a lot
  • 00:40:38
    of tax money.
  • 00:40:39
    Yep. If this is a political game, why
  • 00:40:42
    don't we send less to the feds and leave
  • 00:40:46
    more in the state and put it towards
  • 00:40:48
    these programs and
  • 00:40:49
    or just manage our money better?
  • 00:40:50
    Or just manage the money better.
  • 00:40:52
    The state's budget is over $300 billion.
  • 00:40:55
    There you go.
  • 00:40:56
    $300 billion.
  • 00:40:58
    I guarantee you any good CEO can
  • 00:41:00
    probably cut 5 to 10% out of any budget
  • 00:41:03
    of waste.
  • 00:41:04
    Right.
  • 00:41:04
    Right. LA budget is 12 billion.
  • 00:41:07
    Right. We have like 200 departments in
  • 00:41:10
    the city of Los Angeles,
  • 00:41:11
    right?
  • 00:41:11
    It's like get lean, get focused, serve
  • 00:41:15
    the people. Wake up every morning and
  • 00:41:17
    say, "What am I doing today to make the
  • 00:41:18
    quality of life better in LA? What am I
  • 00:41:20
    doing every day to make the quality of
  • 00:41:22
    life better in the state of California?"
  • 00:41:24
    And and focus on that and demand the
  • 00:41:26
    people around you to actually execute.
  • 00:41:29
    Yeah.
  • 00:41:29
    And make that happen. State level and
  • 00:41:31
    city level.
  • 00:41:32
    Why does Miami have almost zero
  • 00:41:34
    homeless? They have housing.
  • 00:41:36
    Yeah. They they they they give them
  • 00:41:38
    housing. They give them the services
  • 00:41:39
    they need, but they don't let them stay
  • 00:41:41
    on the street,
  • 00:41:41
    right? I mean, if you're being Canadian,
  • 00:41:43
    if you're uh homeless in Canada, you're
  • 00:41:46
    dead.
  • 00:41:47
    Why is that?
  • 00:41:47
    Because it's cold.
  • 00:41:49
    Because you freeze to death.
  • 00:41:50
    There are solutions. So, just saying to
  • 00:41:52
    to go back to it for us, fourth largest
  • 00:41:55
    economy, highest tax, we have the money,
  • 00:41:57
    right?
  • 00:41:58
    We just have to deploy it in the right
  • 00:41:59
    way.
  • 00:41:59
    We just need the will.
  • 00:42:01
    Yeah.
  • 00:42:01
    In combination with the competency and
  • 00:42:04
    the expertise. And if you if you get
  • 00:42:07
    leadership that's got the will and the
  • 00:42:09
    competency and the expertise, magic will
  • 00:42:12
    happen.
  • 00:42:12
    To be the devil's advocate in a way, the
  • 00:42:15
    criticism nationally and internationally
  • 00:42:18
    is kind of true that we're a bit failed.
  • 00:42:20
    LA,
  • 00:42:21
    we are we are failed, but I don't think
  • 00:42:23
    it's a Democratic issue versus a
  • 00:42:24
    Republican issue.
  • 00:42:26
    I think it's a competency issue. And
  • 00:42:28
    let's not politicize it in terms of
  • 00:42:30
    party,
  • 00:42:30
    right?
  • 00:42:30
    Because I think I think you've got
  • 00:42:32
    knuckle it has but you got knuckleheads
  • 00:42:34
    who are Democrats. you got knuckleheads
  • 00:42:35
    or Republicans,
  • 00:42:36
    right?
  • 00:42:37
    You know, just hire people, elect people
  • 00:42:40
    who really want to make a difference,
  • 00:42:42
    who really have this sacred duty to
  • 00:42:43
    serve the public, not to just kept keep
  • 00:42:46
    getting reelected.
  • 00:42:46
    Yeah.
  • 00:42:47
    You know, my thing that I used to talk
  • 00:42:49
    about is all these elected officials
  • 00:42:51
    have never had to sign the front of a
  • 00:42:54
    check, only the back of a check,
  • 00:42:55
    right?
  • 00:42:56
    Well, that completely changes your
  • 00:42:58
    opinion of how you see the world,
  • 00:43:00
    right? If you don't have to meet
  • 00:43:02
    payroll, if you don't have to pay your
  • 00:43:04
    taxes,
  • 00:43:04
    yeah,
  • 00:43:05
    all of these elected officials that were
  • 00:43:07
    in CO, they didn't lose their jobs, they
  • 00:43:09
    didn't lose their payroll, they didn't
  • 00:43:10
    lose their cars, they didn't lose their
  • 00:43:11
    staff,
  • 00:43:12
    right?
  • 00:43:12
    How could they even relate to people who
  • 00:43:15
    were struggling,
  • 00:43:15
    right,
  • 00:43:16
    in small businesses keeping them alive?
  • 00:43:18
    They couldn't
  • 00:43:19
    I believe you were on a panel to help uh
  • 00:43:22
    bring LA back after co
  • 00:43:24
    Yes. At the state level by the governor.
  • 00:43:26
    Yeah. Now, going forward,
  • 00:43:29
    hypothetically, as governor or mayor, uh
  • 00:43:33
    what would you do to futureproof LA in
  • 00:43:36
    California?
  • 00:43:37
    In terms of what issue?
  • 00:43:38
    Okay, I can give you three.
  • 00:43:40
    Okay.
  • 00:43:40
    Immigration, homelessness, and
  • 00:43:44
    uh environment slashfire slash
  • 00:43:47
    natural disaster.
  • 00:43:47
    On immigration, we need to have secure
  • 00:43:49
    borders. There's no doubt. We need to be
  • 00:43:53
    bringing the people out of this country
  • 00:43:55
    that are illegal and have criminal
  • 00:43:56
    records. No doubt. And then we need to
  • 00:43:58
    have a path of citizenship. We need to
  • 00:44:00
    do what Reagan did, amnesty programs. We
  • 00:44:03
    need to have a sense of compassion of
  • 00:44:05
    hardworking people
  • 00:44:06
    that have been here a long long time.
  • 00:44:08
    Governor of California,
  • 00:44:10
    as governor of California, you you need
  • 00:44:12
    to fight for that,
  • 00:44:13
    right? But as the governor of
  • 00:44:14
    California, you have enormous bully
  • 00:44:16
    pulpit. Fight for that.
  • 00:44:18
    Fight for that at a federal level.
  • 00:44:20
    Right. But I think more than anything,
  • 00:44:22
    you have to start out and say, "What are
  • 00:44:24
    the most important things that a state
  • 00:44:25
    can do or a city can do?"
  • 00:44:27
    It's keeping people safe.
  • 00:44:29
    Yeah.
  • 00:44:29
    And it's giving them an opportunity to
  • 00:44:31
    prosper.
  • 00:44:32
    Yeah.
  • 00:44:32
    And if you give people an opportunity to
  • 00:44:34
    prosper, cut the red tape, reduce the
  • 00:44:36
    taxes on the working class, allow small
  • 00:44:39
    businesses to grow, both at the state
  • 00:44:42
    and the city level, right? Make reduce
  • 00:44:44
    the cost of housing. It's ridiculous the
  • 00:44:47
    cost of living in Los Angeles. The
  • 00:44:49
    median price of a home in LA is almost a
  • 00:44:51
    million dollars.
  • 00:44:52
    Yes.
  • 00:44:53
    Young people, many people can't afford
  • 00:44:55
    to live in LA.
  • 00:44:56
    Correct.
  • 00:44:56
    We've got to build more housing. You
  • 00:44:58
    reduce housing costs by having more
  • 00:45:00
    supply. State of California completely
  • 00:45:03
    is below in the needs for housing.
  • 00:45:06
    Eliminate the red tape. Make housing
  • 00:45:09
    happen.
  • 00:45:09
    And how do you respond to people who
  • 00:45:11
    say, "Hey, here's a billionaire
  • 00:45:13
    advocating for working class and and
  • 00:45:15
    cheaper housing."
  • 00:45:16
    I started my company with nothing. I
  • 00:45:19
    created thousands of jobs along the way.
  • 00:45:21
    I've employed thousands of people. I get
  • 00:45:24
    great delight in watching people grow
  • 00:45:26
    and prosper. And uh I didn't inherit it.
  • 00:45:30
    I built it. I understand how to do it.
  • 00:45:32
    And I want to do it for other people.
  • 00:45:33
    So we got immigration. Uh now climate
  • 00:45:37
    slash natural disasters, fires, etc.
  • 00:45:40
    Yeah. You have to be smart about it. We
  • 00:45:41
    have to recognize we have global
  • 00:45:42
    warming. We have to be prepared for it.
  • 00:45:45
    But like out here in residential areas,
  • 00:45:48
    we need to be clearing brush. We need to
  • 00:45:49
    put people's safety first, right?
  • 00:45:51
    And uh we've got to get out of this
  • 00:45:53
    ideology business. We're going to go
  • 00:45:55
    save some rare little thing uh at the
  • 00:45:59
    cost of human life. We can't be doing
  • 00:46:01
    that anymore. We got to have adequate
  • 00:46:03
    water supply. We got to make sure our
  • 00:46:05
    infrastructure uh is built for the 21st
  • 00:46:08
    century. We shouldn't be having power
  • 00:46:10
    lines above the streets. Everything
  • 00:46:12
    should be underground.
  • 00:46:13
    Why are we rebuilding the power lines?
  • 00:46:14
    Supposedly, they're doing this
  • 00:46:16
    temporarily, but they should be in the
  • 00:46:17
    street. Okay, here's a question.
  • 00:46:19
    Why are we spending the money to do
  • 00:46:21
    that?
  • 00:46:21
    Yeah.
  • 00:46:22
    And not just going in the street right
  • 00:46:24
    now.
  • 00:46:24
    I don't know why.
  • 00:46:25
    Cuz you're spending twice the money.
  • 00:46:26
    Yeah.
  • 00:46:27
    Right. Makes no sense at all. And all of
  • 00:46:29
    these streets have to get repaved, by
  • 00:46:31
    the way.
  • 00:46:31
    Yeah. We went down to the ocean from the
  • 00:46:33
    Palisades and every, you know, just
  • 00:46:35
    ruptured and all of the sewage and and
  • 00:46:38
    the power lines are all
  • 00:46:39
    Why are we running phone lines? When was
  • 00:46:41
    the last time you picked up your phone?
  • 00:46:43
    I pick up my phone all the time. It's a
  • 00:46:44
    cellular phone.
  • 00:46:45
    Exactly. That's my point. Why are we
  • 00:46:47
    running phone lines?
  • 00:46:49
    We have we have systems now like
  • 00:46:51
    Starling.
  • 00:46:51
    But why are we doing that?
  • 00:46:53
    Because there's no thought of
  • 00:46:54
    innovation. There's no thought of
  • 00:46:56
    creativity. And this is where private
  • 00:46:58
    enterprise comes in.
  • 00:47:00
    The mayor right now should be saying who
  • 00:47:02
    is the most innov group of most
  • 00:47:04
    innovative people in communication. I
  • 00:47:07
    don't care who they are. Bring them in
  • 00:47:08
    and advise me how to rebuild the
  • 00:47:10
    communication system in the Palisades.
  • 00:47:12
    smart.
  • 00:47:13
    Why wouldn't you?
  • 00:47:14
    And they'll donate their time, by the
  • 00:47:15
    way.
  • 00:47:15
    Right.
  • 00:47:16
    You know, when we had the barricades or
  • 00:47:18
    the checkpoints on PCH
  • 00:47:20
    Yeah.
  • 00:47:20
    and everything
  • 00:47:21
    and it was miles and miles down PCH, two
  • 00:47:24
    hours, right?
  • 00:47:25
    I called the lady that founded Clear.
  • 00:47:28
    Do you have a Clear? Like when you go to
  • 00:47:30
    a concert, you go to the airport. I
  • 00:47:32
    said, "Karen, can you
  • 00:47:35
    uh develop for me a system with clear on
  • 00:47:39
    a phone so a resident can just put up
  • 00:47:42
    the clear and get cleared through?"
  • 00:47:44
    Yeah.
  • 00:47:44
    She said, "Of course I can, but nobody's
  • 00:47:46
    ever called to ask me to do that." I
  • 00:47:47
    said, "Would you do it?" Could you
  • 00:47:48
    please?
  • 00:47:49
    She said, "We'll do it for free."
  • 00:47:50
    Wow.
  • 00:47:51
    And so we developed that another thing
  • 00:47:52
    of Steadfast.
  • 00:47:53
    Amazing. So,
  • 00:47:54
    yeah, because that was a problem
  • 00:47:55
    because, you know, I was going back and
  • 00:47:57
    forth from both
  • 00:47:58
    and uh you know, look, the National
  • 00:48:01
    Guard and the police, they're out there
  • 00:48:02
    doing their job. They have orders,
  • 00:48:04
    right?
  • 00:48:05
    But you're like, well, sometimes I get
  • 00:48:07
    through, sometimes I don't. If I can't,
  • 00:48:08
    if my kids can't go to school in the
  • 00:48:09
    palace, they can't go to school.
  • 00:48:11
    That's right.
  • 00:48:11
    So, I have to leave,
  • 00:48:12
    right?
  • 00:48:13
    Because the PCH is so messed up,
  • 00:48:15
    right?
  • 00:48:15
    Everyone's just doing their job. But
  • 00:48:17
    it's
  • 00:48:17
    but that's
  • 00:48:18
    the right hand doesn't the right hand
  • 00:48:19
    doesn't
  • 00:48:20
    leadership's got to coordinate that
  • 00:48:21
    because you need to have a logistics
  • 00:48:23
    plan
  • 00:48:24
    out here to coordinate all the movement
  • 00:48:25
    of trucks and people
  • 00:48:26
    Yeah.
  • 00:48:27
    to make it very efficient and you should
  • 00:48:29
    be working 24 hours a day cuz
  • 00:48:32
    the bad news and the good news is you're
  • 00:48:34
    not keeping anybody up at night.
  • 00:48:35
    Right. Yeah. Yeah.
  • 00:48:36
    So when crews are shutting down at 6:00
  • 00:48:39
    why
  • 00:48:39
    why Yeah.
  • 00:48:40
    24.
  • 00:48:41
    So who's making all who's making all
  • 00:48:42
    these decisions?
  • 00:48:43
    Well, it's got to come out of city hall.
  • 00:48:45
    All right.
  • 00:48:46
    I think it's at the mayor's desk. You
  • 00:48:47
    should ask Ask the mayor.
  • 00:48:48
    Ask the mayor. Ask the mayor.
  • 00:48:50
    All right. Mayor Karen Bass. So, he took
  • 00:48:54
    Rick Caruso's advice and interviewed
  • 00:48:56
    Mayor Karen Bass about the fires here in
  • 00:48:59
    LA. Next week on Shane Smith has
  • 00:49:02
    questions. Check it out. Bango.
  • 00:49:07
    [Music]
Etiquetas
  • incendie
  • Los Angeles
  • Rick Caruso
  • Karen Bass
  • reconstruction
  • politique
  • préparation
  • communauté
  • assurance
  • environnement