Strengthening Recovery

Nothing symbolizes the San Fernando Valley’s comeback from the 1994 Northridge earthquake quite like the reopening of the Oviatt Library.

The library, like much of the rest of the Cal State Northridge campus and like swaths of the Valley itself, had been left in shambles. Walls, shelves, books and archives collapsed into a waterlogged heap.

And then the rebuilding began.

First, intrepid staffers retrieved the library’s prized special collection from the rubble, an action that said a lot about the Valley’s pluck and determination.

Now, seven years later, the collection, which includes rare editions and a 1914 Los Angeles atlas, is housed in a new section of a rebuilt library on a largely rebuilt CSUN campus.

Speakers at the September reopening ceremony described the library as the intellectual heart of the university and the university as the intellectual center of the Valley. So if the library is back, can the rest of the Valley be far behind?

A new state law that went into effect Jan. 1 may help in that regard.

The new law gives Northridge earthquake victims a year to reopen claims against their insurers. As long as they had contacted their insurance companies before January 2000, they have until January 2002 to file or refile claims.

The law was passed in reaction to the scandal surrounding former Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, who had reached secret settlements allowing six insurance companies to make donations to nonprofit foundations rather than face possible fines for mishandling Northridge claims. Funds from one of the foundations were used to pay for television ads featuring Quackenbush.

The scandal forced the disgraced commissioner from office last summer--and opened state legislators’ eyes to how unfairly many of the Northridge earthquake claims had been handled.

Under the new law, consumers who are unhappy with how their claims were handled or who were discouraged from filing claims at all should first contact their insurance agent or company and refile their claim. If, after refiling, they are still unhappy with how the claim is handled, they may call the Department of Insurance local consumer service hotline at (213) 897-8921 with questions about this or any insurance problem.

The law does not apply to those who won court judgments or whose attorneys have signed settlement agreements in connection with the earthquake.

More work remains before the Valley’s recovery from the Northridge earthquake is complete. Even at CSUN, rebuilding will continue well into 2002, with new technology and media buildings scheduled to replace the trailers and construction equipment that have been ubiquitous on campus since Jan. 17, 1994.

But with the passage of the new state law, Valley homeowners who until now have been left out of the recovery may at last be able to rebuild.