Fire Aftermath Echoes

The aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires continues with town hall meetings, community forums, workshops, and support groups, offering varying practical advice to the estimated 30,000 and still counting residents left homeless and stunned three months after the disasters.

Echoing at these often emotional gatherings are the repeated questions of insurance, federal assistance, temporary housing, debris removal, private contractors or Army Corp of Engineers, prepping former home sites for sale or to attempt to rebuild, knowing of the years of aggravation the latter would entail.

Then beyond the organized gatherings are the personal meetings of family, friends and neighbors weighing the often contradictory advice of lawyers, realtors and architects, and deciding what choices must be made if rebuilding: how much will it cost, and where will the money the be coming from?

And for the many families with children, there is the paramount concern depending on their age where do they continue their schooling and, in addition for most households, caring for the beloved pets, already traumatized by the fires and relocation.

What we are witnessing are the communities of Malibu, the Pacific Palisades and Altadena suffering what could be described as a collective civic grief, and as such according to theory of the famed Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, going through its five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

These heart rendering fire aftermath sessions can be depressing, and so when a related change of perspective and tenor of discussion were promised in a half day conference on revitalizing Los Angeles to be held in the conveniently close Pepperdine University campus, I casually attended.

I was not disappointed, for drawing on lessons from New York City that panels on livability, public safety and opportunity were decidedly upbeat, applicable to urban areas, to be sure, but also fire ravaged communities.

Among the more interesting was developer Dan Biederman extolling public spaces such as parks as enhancing a sense of community, and the critical ingredient of what I label “enlightened” privatization. It made me think of turning sections of the now devastated La Costa oceanfront, that will prove unable to rebuild, into public beaches, and scattered sites in the Palisades and Altadena into vest pocket parks.

Then there was the dean of Pepperdine’s respected School of Public Policy, Pete Peterson interviewing William Bratton, who compared his different experiences as the former chief of police in both New York City and Los Angeles, where he initiated the concept of targeted community policing.

Interesting, and a welcome break from the drum beat of the aftermath fire discussions.