My friends 50MM mansion on the beach there mostly survived, one of the lucky ones, it is a stunning old Italian estate, he worked his ASS off to get it and fix it up, paying 3MM for it 30 years ago. Almost everything around it is gone. His lovely home now sits in a wasteland not unlike a war zone. His friend next door burned alive, a retired optometrist who was to go to New Zealand the next day. While is friend was roasting alive, Gavin Newsom was sitting in a cozy safe studio doing a podcast show to spin the optics and do damage control for his now ruined Presidential run. Absolute scum bag. The National guard stopped me from going in weeks after the fire, and it is obvious that the main purpose is to keep it from sight while they try to clean it up and come up with some spin story about how the new community is going to be even better, all optics again for Gavin. Out of sight, out of mind, right? They know what they are doing. Also while the fire was still burning the local news basically just magically stopped covering it, it was still raging, but you could not find news let alone photos anywhere. It was almost as if Gavin ordered a black out. Do you think? This needs to be the basis of the attack against Newsom when he runs, and he will run. He has ruined CA, and he would ruin America.
I live directly beneath the Escondido reservoir on the Alta Mesa that was drained 25 years ago. It provided gravity flow emergency water for the Mesa and Westside. Last week I spent half an hour with a bureaucrat in the Water department who told me that every couple of years the State changes the water rules and they have to "do a study" and those always say that it is better to rely on water for fires being moved across town from the reservoirs against the mountains. Of course, what if the electricity goes down? Then, the traditional gravity flow supply to the hydrants would be crucial. "Oh no," he said, "we cannot keep that water potable so it would contaminate the lines." Seriously? If my house is on fire and there is a massive bone dry reservoir just above my house .... WTF? Identical to the Santa Ynez reservoir being empty above Pacific Palisades.
I'll bet that the cost of those periodic "studies" that keep those people with pensions busy at their desks could fund keeping the water present and available, as was intended when it was built.
Hint Always good to run a Transparent California scan on any "government bureaucrat" by name, to get the full picture of what it is costing one to talk to them.
Thank you for your onsite description, Bonnie. We were there with you and your friends. So glad you could offer some help and find the "key" to recovery, in more ways than one..
What is the issue beyond money? It would appear to be power. Sacramento has intentionally spent far beyond the taxpayers capability, and now faces $26+ Billion in debt. The failure of the likes of Gov. Newsom and Weiner to put in force the fire prevention laws and money of over 4 years ago is clear. The failure of maintaining rational roads and freeways "because we have a better way" of rail connectivity to handle emergencies is crystal clear.
One look at the national vote shows the working middle class has abandoned Sacramento. New proposed rules will allow increased building in the forest urban interface like Glen Annie proposal will be future Pacific Palisades, future Sycamore Canyon Fires, etc. The proposed building rules have been called "builders remedy" and wooden framed multi story. Is this rational planning?
It is if you do not care about local planning, resources, and safety.
Want to bet Gregg Hart in the assembly will fall right in line with this foolishness? Want to bet Hartmann, Capps on the Santa Barbara BOS, and more will be their to scoop up as much power and government retirement?
Donovan's article is to the point. It is one more example of failed Sacramento politics.
Read the item at the bottom "Sacramento’s Latest Giveaway"
For readers who like CAB, are neutral about CAB or hate CAB we have always had public safety at heart. Connectivity and other issues have been the straw dogs of failure. Keep an open mind.
Perhaps. However, he did demonstrate by preserving his own structures that valuable properties could have been saved in the Palisades. Too bad L.A. chose the mayor who would solve homelessness rather than preserve homes.
You make a good distinction: give the vagrancy issue back to the religious non-profits who in fact had a very good track using their carrot and stick approach with this population.
We erred when we tried to create a "secular" option on the taxpayer dime (Casa Esperanza) , show casing yet again the perils letting the "government" create a new taxpayer funded fiefdom.
Turn this back to the Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission, who indeed care for souls; not just their next paychecks. No more tax dollars for the proven failure-model secular Homeless Inc.
The better question needs to be Why are we seeing *more* vagrancy now? Not, why are we *still* seeing vagrancy.
The huge increase came after the creation of the local secular option and the past few decades of the misguided, emotionally over-wrought Democrat political hegemony on this topic.
This will never be an all or nothing issue; but it will be a reduction to the manageable fringes where this lifestyle option has always existed. Now it has become dominant force in this state's politics and expenses. It is more than just "sunshine" bringing 50% or more of the vagrancy population to this state.
Not the full scale industry for self-enrichement by defaultand outright enablement it has taken on today. This approach was validated by the Michael Shallenberger research in "San Fransicko"
Thank you for your informative story, Bonnie. I want to add one thing. Our former house in Santa Barbara was located down at the end of a 300-foot driveway. The street was a dead-end street (Laurel Canyon Road). This is in the foothill area of San Roque. My wife and I did not leave the area till one night when the flames were coming close. The mailboxes of everyone on the street were labeled as "defensible" and "not defensible." Not defensible means they aren't going down the driveway to put out a fire. Think about this, I learned that when there's a fire in the foothills, there will be no attempt to save our house. At the time, we had fire insurance. Is the insurance valid if the fire department won't come down the driveway? Homeowners should find out if their home is protected before a fire. Myself, I never gave it a thought about not being "protected." When we left our house on that memorable night, we discovered fire trucks were packed up and down our street and the neighbor living across the street had brush on-fire near the street. No homes were destroyed. Before we were "ousted" by the City from our property, I was in the process of providing water storage for fire protection purposes.
Bonnie, good on-site description of the results of the fire. That must have been horrible for your friends to see their house with everything gone. I can just imagine if I had to start over with a new home starting from scratch.
Rick Caruso is a good man - I won’t comment on him not saving Paliskates ‘till I know all the facts. He might not have had enough water to save both, Paliskates might have already been going, etc.
I’ll donate to Paliskates GoFundMe page, and I’d like to see a Landing Page with their pics, plans & progress. I have a good web designer who will do it - I’ll pay for it. Ask the Paliskates gals to get in touch with me and let’s do it! :)
Is it a coincidence that Newsom let insurance companies flee the state and now, after a disaster, house owners' only recourse is to sell to real estate developers? Some coincidence.
Miss Donovan, my sympathies and condolences to all the people in the affected areas. You state here was no water in Palisades Park, which is not quite true. The water was there, but due to the massive fire and people trying to save their houses, the water pressure needed was not available.
My friends 50MM mansion on the beach there mostly survived, one of the lucky ones, it is a stunning old Italian estate, he worked his ASS off to get it and fix it up, paying 3MM for it 30 years ago. Almost everything around it is gone. His lovely home now sits in a wasteland not unlike a war zone. His friend next door burned alive, a retired optometrist who was to go to New Zealand the next day. While is friend was roasting alive, Gavin Newsom was sitting in a cozy safe studio doing a podcast show to spin the optics and do damage control for his now ruined Presidential run. Absolute scum bag. The National guard stopped me from going in weeks after the fire, and it is obvious that the main purpose is to keep it from sight while they try to clean it up and come up with some spin story about how the new community is going to be even better, all optics again for Gavin. Out of sight, out of mind, right? They know what they are doing. Also while the fire was still burning the local news basically just magically stopped covering it, it was still raging, but you could not find news let alone photos anywhere. It was almost as if Gavin ordered a black out. Do you think? This needs to be the basis of the attack against Newsom when he runs, and he will run. He has ruined CA, and he would ruin America.
https://www.tiktok.com/@gavinnewsom/video/7475749968666479918 Your tax dollars at work on Gavin's plastic surgery.
I live directly beneath the Escondido reservoir on the Alta Mesa that was drained 25 years ago. It provided gravity flow emergency water for the Mesa and Westside. Last week I spent half an hour with a bureaucrat in the Water department who told me that every couple of years the State changes the water rules and they have to "do a study" and those always say that it is better to rely on water for fires being moved across town from the reservoirs against the mountains. Of course, what if the electricity goes down? Then, the traditional gravity flow supply to the hydrants would be crucial. "Oh no," he said, "we cannot keep that water potable so it would contaminate the lines." Seriously? If my house is on fire and there is a massive bone dry reservoir just above my house .... WTF? Identical to the Santa Ynez reservoir being empty above Pacific Palisades.
I'll bet that the cost of those periodic "studies" that keep those people with pensions busy at their desks could fund keeping the water present and available, as was intended when it was built.
DOGE can't come here quick enough.
Hint Always good to run a Transparent California scan on any "government bureaucrat" by name, to get the full picture of what it is costing one to talk to them.
Thank you for your onsite description, Bonnie. We were there with you and your friends. So glad you could offer some help and find the "key" to recovery, in more ways than one..
What is the issue beyond money? It would appear to be power. Sacramento has intentionally spent far beyond the taxpayers capability, and now faces $26+ Billion in debt. The failure of the likes of Gov. Newsom and Weiner to put in force the fire prevention laws and money of over 4 years ago is clear. The failure of maintaining rational roads and freeways "because we have a better way" of rail connectivity to handle emergencies is crystal clear.
One look at the national vote shows the working middle class has abandoned Sacramento. New proposed rules will allow increased building in the forest urban interface like Glen Annie proposal will be future Pacific Palisades, future Sycamore Canyon Fires, etc. The proposed building rules have been called "builders remedy" and wooden framed multi story. Is this rational planning?
It is if you do not care about local planning, resources, and safety.
Want to bet Gregg Hart in the assembly will fall right in line with this foolishness? Want to bet Hartmann, Capps on the Santa Barbara BOS, and more will be their to scoop up as much power and government retirement?
Donovan's article is to the point. It is one more example of failed Sacramento politics.
Read the item at the bottom "Sacramento’s Latest Giveaway"
For readers who like CAB, are neutral about CAB or hate CAB we have always had public safety at heart. Connectivity and other issues have been the straw dogs of failure. Keep an open mind.
Caruso wasn’t a very good neighbor! He let the store between his two buildings burn to a crisp. Just saying🌸
Perhaps. However, he did demonstrate by preserving his own structures that valuable properties could have been saved in the Palisades. Too bad L.A. chose the mayor who would solve homelessness rather than preserve homes.
Bass is an ass. But Caruso could have demonstrated that properties could have been saved by helping out his neighbor as well as saving himself.
You make a good distinction: give the vagrancy issue back to the religious non-profits who in fact had a very good track using their carrot and stick approach with this population.
We erred when we tried to create a "secular" option on the taxpayer dime (Casa Esperanza) , show casing yet again the perils letting the "government" create a new taxpayer funded fiefdom.
Turn this back to the Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission, who indeed care for souls; not just their next paychecks. No more tax dollars for the proven failure-model secular Homeless Inc.
The better question needs to be Why are we seeing *more* vagrancy now? Not, why are we *still* seeing vagrancy.
The huge increase came after the creation of the local secular option and the past few decades of the misguided, emotionally over-wrought Democrat political hegemony on this topic.
This will never be an all or nothing issue; but it will be a reduction to the manageable fringes where this lifestyle option has always existed. Now it has become dominant force in this state's politics and expenses. It is more than just "sunshine" bringing 50% or more of the vagrancy population to this state.
Not the full scale industry for self-enrichement by defaultand outright enablement it has taken on today. This approach was validated by the Michael Shallenberger research in "San Fransicko"
Thank you for your informative story, Bonnie. I want to add one thing. Our former house in Santa Barbara was located down at the end of a 300-foot driveway. The street was a dead-end street (Laurel Canyon Road). This is in the foothill area of San Roque. My wife and I did not leave the area till one night when the flames were coming close. The mailboxes of everyone on the street were labeled as "defensible" and "not defensible." Not defensible means they aren't going down the driveway to put out a fire. Think about this, I learned that when there's a fire in the foothills, there will be no attempt to save our house. At the time, we had fire insurance. Is the insurance valid if the fire department won't come down the driveway? Homeowners should find out if their home is protected before a fire. Myself, I never gave it a thought about not being "protected." When we left our house on that memorable night, we discovered fire trucks were packed up and down our street and the neighbor living across the street had brush on-fire near the street. No homes were destroyed. Before we were "ousted" by the City from our property, I was in the process of providing water storage for fire protection purposes.
Bonnie, good on-site description of the results of the fire. That must have been horrible for your friends to see their house with everything gone. I can just imagine if I had to start over with a new home starting from scratch.
Rick Caruso is a good man - I won’t comment on him not saving Paliskates ‘till I know all the facts. He might not have had enough water to save both, Paliskates might have already been going, etc.
I’ll donate to Paliskates GoFundMe page, and I’d like to see a Landing Page with their pics, plans & progress. I have a good web designer who will do it - I’ll pay for it. Ask the Paliskates gals to get in touch with me and let’s do it! :)
Send me your contact information, and I'll pass it on to her.
bcd5thbrat@cox.net
Bon - my email is ebrown@sky44.com Yes, please pass it along to her!
Is it a coincidence that Newsom let insurance companies flee the state and now, after a disaster, house owners' only recourse is to sell to real estate developers? Some coincidence.
Miss Donovan, my sympathies and condolences to all the people in the affected areas. You state here was no water in Palisades Park, which is not quite true. The water was there, but due to the massive fire and people trying to save their houses, the water pressure needed was not available.