LOS ANGELES – Mayor Karen Bass today marked one month following the start of the Palisades Fire and the launch of the largest disaster recovery operation in the history of the City of Los Angeles. The Mayor outlined progress including the completion of assessments of all 15,000+ structures in the Palisades, and announced coming actions including the opening of an in-person permit assistance center next week. Watch the press conference here.
“It has been 30 days since unprecedented fires engulfed parts of our city. Much has already been done, and so much more lies ahead,” said Mayor Bass. “We’ve eliminated red tape to ensure that the rebuilding of the Palisades will be swift and safe every step of the way.”
Today Mayor Bass highlighted some of the key accomplishments from the first 30-days of recovery and rebuilding efforts.
City inspectors have assessed all 15,000+ structures in the Palisades.
More than 6,000 families have now been helped at the Disaster Recovery Center, which opened the first week of the fire to bring together 70 City, County, State & Federal agencies to support Palisades residents.
Continually focused on the public safety of residents and property in the Palisades, deploying hundreds of LAPD officers.
Waived business taxes for businesses impacted by the wildfires, and cleared the way to help schools and childcare centers relocate to support families.
Supported impacted Angelenos through the California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Recovery Fund, which raised more than $50 million from 36,000 donors.
Deployed the online LA Disaster Relief Navigator, which has helped more than 1,000 individuals download their action plans for recovery.
Today, Mayor Bass announced that Hagerty, a world class disaster recovery firm, has been engaged by the City to increase capacity, efficiency, safety and speed in the rebuilding process. It will focus on community resilience, infrastructure restoration, and environmental mitigation. The firm will support the City’s efforts and ensure implementation includes community input and consideration.
“We are not waiting; we are not hesitating – we are making tough decisions to cut through delays and red tape.”
Mayor Bass also outlined the following near-term coming actions:
Open a one-stop-shop permitting office next week where residents can go for every question related to rebuilding.
Build on the State’s commitment for a streamlined rebuilding process that will allow homeowners to access as-built plans, and allow the city to automatically re-issue permits for homes built in recent years, giving people the option to build back what they had.
Work with the City Council to waive all unnecessary building permit and planning fees, and waive all unnecessary fees she can with Mayoral executive authority.
Open new Impacted Workers and Family Recovery Centers next week to offer jobs training, direct financial assistance and youth opportunities across the city.
Work with the County Assessor to provide more tax relief for businesses – beyond the business tax waivers already in place – including property tax relief and rebates on all utility bills, for impacted businesses and residents.