“My Heart Was in My Stomach:” LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath on Rebuilding After the Palisades Fire
- Share via
When the Palisades Fire first broke out 7 months ago, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath was in a Board of Supervisors meeting. When she arrived at the scene, the fire was spreading fast, and she knew it would go beyond the Palisades, down into Malibu.
“My heart was in my stomach,” Horvath recalls thinking of the residents and first responders going into the danger. The emotional weight of the disaster became even clearer at a town hall meeting shortly after where a family – a mom, dad and 2 daughters – shared their story.
That family “crystallized for me the range of experience that so many people were feeling,” Horvath said.
In the months following the devastating fire, the cleanup process has been extremely fast, thanks to a massive effort between local, state and federal partners like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers.
“This has been the fastest debris removal in history,” said Horvath. But she’s quick to add a dose of reality to the achievement. “We know that despite the success of that until people are home until they have their schools and their places of worship, their grocery stores and all of that our work is not done.”
Now the real fight begins – cutting through the red tape of rebuilding. Anyone who has tried to build in California knows the headache of navigating conflicting regulations from the city, county and state. To prevent that bureaucratic paralysis from stalling recovery Horvath is pushing for a streamlined solution: a single rebuilding authority for the entire region.
The goal is to get government out of the way so families can rebuild their lives. This authority would have the power to “purchase materials at scale to help drive down the cost” and “labor to be at the table.” The plan involves skilled labor and industry experts from the start to ensure the rebuild is not just fast, but also safe and smart. This approach will create good jobs and a more resilient community for the future.
Find full episodes of the LA Times Studios podcast “Rebuilding LA” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
MINISERIES EPISODES
