LA mayor attended a cocktail party while the city burned. Hold her accountable. | Opinion
Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have come under heavy criticism since the fires erupted in Los Angeles this month. Much of that criticism is deserved.
The destruction left behind by the Los Angeles wildfires is unfathomable. It's like a horror film, but worse, because this is no Hollywood movie. It's real and devastating: Nearly 40,000 acres have burned, at least 27 people are dead and more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed.
City and state leaders like Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom have come under heavy criticism since the fires erupted early this month. Much of that criticism is deserved.
Drought, high winds and climate change undoubtedly contributed to the intensity of the blazes, but there's growing evidence that the city was poorly prepared to combat the wildfires, which are a common threat in California.
A toxic combination of progressive ideology and political incompetence has cost thousands of Angelenos their properties and belongings – and in some cases, their lives.
Residents hurt by fires are taking public officials to court
Residents who lost homes or businesses in the fires already have filed lawsuits, looking to hold various entities accountable.
More than a dozen victims of the Pacific Palisades wildfire have filed a suit against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power because hydrants ran dry not long after the fires started. The plaintiffs say they their properties were destroyed because firefighters lacked enough water.
The suit argues that the utility should have kept the nearest reservoir to Pacific Palisades full, so firefighters had an adequate supply of water.
According to the complaint, the reservoir, which can hold up to 117 million gallons of water, has been empty for nearly a year.
Homeowners and renters who lost homes in the Eaton Fire are suing Southern California Edison. In several lawsuits filed last week, Angelenos say the company did not maintain its power lines properly, which might have contributed to the fire's origin.
As the fires are slowly brought under control, I wouldn't be surprised if this is just the start of the legal actions taken on behalf of city residents who have suffered incalculable pain and loss.
Why wasn't Los Angeles better prepared?
Wildfires are a common threat in California, especially during a drought like the one Los Angeles has endured for months. Public officials had ample evidence to know that severe wildfires were a distinct possibility and plenty of time to prepare.
In December, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley sent a memo to Mayor Bass and the City Council warning that the fire department was ill prepared to respond to a major emergency, including wildfires.
"The Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) is facing unprecedented operational challenges due to the elimination of critical civilian positions and a $7 million reduction in Overtime Variable Staffing Hours (V-Hours)," Crowley wrote. "These budgetary reductions have adversely affected the Department’s ability to maintain core operations, such as technology and communication infrastructure, payroll processing, training, fire prevention, and community education.
"In addition to these impacts, the reduction in v-hours has severely limited the Department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires, earthquakes, hazardous material incidents, and large public events. Specialized programs and resources, such as Air Operations, Tactical EMS Units, Disaster Response, and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), which rely heavily on v-hours, are now at risk of reduced effectiveness."
That memo is a mouthful, but it means that Bass and the council can't claim they weren't warned. And it makes Bass' decision to leave the country days before the fires erupted, despite severe weather warnings, all the worse.
That's not all. The New York Post reported that the mayor's Crisis Response Team, which receives almost $1 million a year in taxpayers' money, wasn't deployed for a week after the fires started.
The mission of the LA Mayor’s Crisis Response Team, created in 1992 for just this kind of disaster, is to provide "resources and support to survivors of crisis situations" in the city.
Why did Bass leave this team of trained volunteers under her command on the sidelines for so long after thousands of residents lost their homes? Angelenos deserve to know.
There is a covenant between taxpayers and their elected leaders, especially local officials responsible for ensuring public safety, adequate roads, clean water and other essentials of life.
When that covenant is broken, as it was this month in Los Angeles, public officials need to be held accountable. Efforts to recall Bass and Newsom already are in the works, and calls for the mayor's resignation are growing louder.
City leaders were warned to prepare for disaster, but they did not. They were warned not to cut the fire department's budget, but did it anyway. And the mayor chose to sip cocktails in West Africa while, 7,500 miles away, residents of the city she represents fought to save their homes and their lives
When Angelenos needed them most, their progressive leaders failed.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with Paste BN. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.