The Aftermath
The next steps for LA once the fires are over
This week, needless to say, has been a pretty traumatic week- particularly for those of us who live in Los Angeles. The fires we have seen throughout L.A. County are the worst natural disaster we have seen in L.A. history- and likely one of the biggest natural disasters we have seen in the history of the United States. I almost had to evacuate my home last Wednesday night due to the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills, and I have several friends whose homes burned down in the Palisades Fire.
I share the enormous amount of anger, frustration and sadness that we have seen many in our community direct towards our elected officials- namely Karen Bass, the Mayor of Los Angeles, who I believe has shown a total abdication of leadership both before and during this disaster. Some prominent liberals in the media have slammed conservative outlets like Fox News for sensationalizing the story and using it as a battering ram against Democrats like Bass as well as California Governor Gavin Newsom. The reality though is that there are legitimate criticisms that have and should be made, especially if we are to make changes and avoid a cataclysm of this magnitude from happening in the future.
Some of you who follow me may remember that I worked as a campaign advisor for Karen Bass’s opponent, Rick Caruso, when he ran against her for L.A. Mayor in 2022. As a friend of mine put it when he wrote to me the other day, “it was a travesty when Caruso wasn’t elected, but now it’s a tragedy”. Rick possesses the kind of leadership skills, as one of the most successful businessmen and civic leaders in Southern California, that are sorely needed at a moment such as this. And before anyone can accuse me of doing so, I want to make it clear: this isn’t me “politicizing” the issue- I'm a lifelong Democrat, and Rick ran as a Democrat who was in line with mainstream Democratic positions on most big issues.
What this is about is competent governance, and by saying that critiquing the current leadership of Los Angeles is “repeating GOP talking points”, that is essentially saying that there aren’t Democratic politicians out there who could’ve done a lot better in leading us through this crisis, and I simply refuse to concede that point. I have no doubt that the situation would’ve been very different if Rick Caruso had been in the Mayor’s office. Would the fires have been totally prevented? Probably not. But could they have been mitigated? Absolutely.
There was a lot of talk going around regarding the reports in the press about the budget cuts to the L.A. Fire Department being “Republican misinformation”, but the truth is that this is largely true. The L.A. fire chief confirmed this herself. Not just the cuts, but the lack of preparedness in terms of water being available from the Santa Ynez Reservoir is another of the many examples in terms of our city government being mismanaged and not ready to face something that should have been foreseen given our region’s history of wildfires.
As Democrats we can’t be afraid to look the truth in the face, acknowledge it and change our course. If we do so, we run the risk of losing to the Republicans in future elections- yes that’s a real possibility, even here in California.
Kamala Harris’s margin of victory in California against Trump in 2024 was far smaller than Biden’s in 2020. Voters are tired of Democrats burying their head in the sand and putting ideology before common sense solutions and results. If L.A. had prioritized competency before ideology in the last mayoral election, we might be facing a tragedy of a far smaller scale now. So once all the fires are extinguished and all those who’ve been affected are back on their feet, it’ll be time for some real accountability, and hopefully change.