Column: In aftermath of fires, consultants might help, but L.A. needs someone to lead
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Two horrific wildfires, four rebuilding committees and three or four consultants (so far) into 2025, Southern California got word that an atmospheric river was headed our way.
When you don’t know whether to buy a hazmat suit or build an ark, that’s a bad start to the new year. To escape the madness, I began watching “Paradise” on Hulu and discovered that the TV series is set in a fictional underground city that was built to house survivors of a global catastrophe.
So it wasn’t an escape for me so much as a possible option for Los Angeles, except that we’d go broke hiring consultants, and it wouldn’t be clear who is in charge once we’re all living in a giant bunker under the Santa Monica Mountains.
Steve Lopez
Steve Lopez is a California native who has been a Los Angeles Times columnist since 2001. He has won more than a dozen national journalism awards and is a four-time Pulitzer finalist.
Four separate civic groups have stepped up in the interest of raising money or offering guidance for the massive rebuilding projects ahead, but a fifth civic group might be needed to coordinate all those efforts. And it’s fair to wonder if the offers of help suggest, in some cases, a lack of faith in local leaders, if not a power grab.
The city of L.A. was underwater financially before the disaster— with the formidable challenge of homelessness, with 10-year waits for ruptured sidewalk repair, and with time running out on infrastructure improvements just 3½ years from L.A. hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics. Then came the killer fires, which could drain money and resources from all of the above.
The atmospheric river will pass, but dark clouds, and big questions about leadership, may linger for years.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass did herself no favors by being on another continent when the fires broke out, despite warnings of critical danger due to drought and crazy winds. Then came questions about whether the Los Angeles Fire Department was adequately funded or properly deployed.
Bass shook off the jet lag and announced the hiring of developer and civic leader Steve Soboroff as the city’s chief recovery officer. You’d think one of several deputy mayors might have been called upon, but, OK, Soboroff has lived in the Palisades and has the right background: longtime civic leader, real estate developer, former president of the Los Angeles Police Commission.
But as my colleagues Julia Wick, Dakota Smith, and David Zahniser have reported, Bass wouldn’t say what he was being paid, then said it was being covered by philanthropic groups, but didn’t disclose which ones. That’s a problem, because conflicts of interest do pop up now and again in L.A. politics, if you haven’t heard. And why the secrecy?
Then Bass came clean, telling the The Times that Soboroff would be paid $500,000.
For three months of work.
A half million dollars for 90 days?
That’s beyond tone deaf, and let’s do the math: That works out to $5,555 a day, just under $40,000 a week, and about $166,000 a month, at a time when thousands of people have lost their homes and possessions and are looking at years of financial challenges. At that price, you’d think there could have been agreement on when it was safe to reopen the Palisades to the public, but that got bungled somehow.
L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez called the $500,000 deal “obscene.” She added that it was “infuriating” for philanthropic groups to cover that cost, and pay $250,000 more to another developer who was slated to report to Soboroff, while fire victims struggled.
Meanwhile, Trump envoy Ric Grenell called the $500,000 “offensive” on X, and here’s the part of his post that really matters: “It’s a good thing there will be strings on the Federal money for California.”
Next thing you knew, Bass changed course and said the $500,000 was off the table: Soboroff was now a volunteer. And she suggested the scope of his duties could be scaled back, although Soboroff didn’t see it that way.
Even with Bass shelving the $500,000 deal, the damage may have been done, and I was reminded of the title of Jimmy Breslin’s book about the flailing 1962 New York Mets.
“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?”
It’s not a surprise to anyone that Trump doesn’t care much for blue regions of California, or that he thinks inept Democratic leadership is the source of all the state’s woes. It would be wise not to hand him more fodder, because California needs the president and the federal government to help fund the rebuilding of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
And that’s only fair, because California has often been a leading donor state, paying more in federal taxes than it gets back in services and programs. Part of that contribution bails out the likes of Florida after hurricanes destroy homes and businesses, so now it’s our turn.
Meanwhile, despite Soboroff being in the saddle as recovery czar, the Bass administration wanted to hire a private disaster recovery firm. But that search was mostly “shrouded in secrecy,” as The Times reported, without public bidding.
On Feb. 7, Bass said the contract was going to Hagerty Consulting, a Midwest company, to do “full project management, coordinating all of the different private and public entities.” But the fee was not immediately disclosed, and Bass was still looking to hire additional contractors.
Look, this has been an unprecedented disaster, and going forward, it will test the best leaders, expose the weakest and produce some new prospects.
A lot of good work has been done so far and, by the way, just yesterday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began clearing debris from burned properties in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. But in the aftermath of the Eaton fire, county officials — who, thus far, have responded quickly and forcefully—will be called upon for years to make hard decisions in crafting a smart and fair recovery plan. With the Palisades fire, the same is true for Bass and the City Council.
Dealing with the insurance companies, utility companies, political hurdles, frustrated constituents and multiple state and federal agencies and lawmakers won’t be easy. But the only way to proceed is to lead or get out of the way, to be transparent and to show, by your words and actions, that you are putting the victims of the fires above all other interests.
We’re going to find out if anybody here can play the game.
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