After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast
We are Beautiful Altadena, the online community group that launched in 2015 and the Substack by the same name. We started this podcast to ask: Who’s writing the rules of recovery? Who benefits? Who’s being left out? This podcast deep dives into the issues of recovery and rebuilding through the lens of policy.
Each episode, we dissect the policies and bills impacting Altadena, Los Angeles County, and the rest of the country post disaster. We break down what they say, what they really mean, who they affect, and what – and who – they leave out. Every episode closes out with a local small business shout out and most include a media roundup of what's making the headlines and what's not.
Your hosts:
Shawna Dawson Beer / @BeautifulAltadena, Eaton Fire Total Loss Survivor
Stephen Sachs / @AltaPolicyWonk, Eaton Fire Survivor, Current Altadena Resident
We are not advertiser, sponsor or grant funded and have no agenda beyond ensuring our neighbors in Altadena, the Palisades and beyond are as in the know as possible so that we can all be our own best advocates for ourselves and our towns.
After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast
Season 2 / Episode 2: Missed Chances & Bad Bets. Could It Have Been Different?
This is our second episode of the new year, and the second of two back-to-back recordings made during the one-year anniversary week of the Eaton Fire. We begin shifting back into deeper policy conversations, asking one of the most important questions of all: did it have to go this way and does it still have to?
Steve takes us through a deeper dive into the financing options for the $20 billion rebuild of Altadena and other fire-impacted communities. Options that existed then and still exist now. We revisit the “Marshall Plan” Governor Newsom called for in January 2025 and ask why so little of that bold rhetoric translated into meaningful recovery on the ground.
We also dig into two major reports that dropped during the anniversary week. The House Judiciary Committee report on where the $100 million in FireAid concert funds actually went, and the Milken Institute report on the roughly $1 billion in philanthropic dollars distributed in the name of fire survivors. The findings are sobering but not suprising. Very little of that money ever made it into the hands of people who lost their homes and lives in the fires.
We also discuss Governor Newsom’s announcement this week of $107 million in grants for affordable housing for fire survivors. Despite the headlines, none of that funding was awarded to projects in Altadena, raising serious questions about how recovery dollars are being distributed.
This week’s coverage also included a major spotlight for this podcast itself. We were featured on KCRW’s Press Play with Madeleine Brand, discussing the anniversary and the ongoing fight for accountability and resources for fire survivors.
Small Business Shout Out
Rather than a traditional small business shout-out this week, Shawna takes a moment to highlight the brands — from small businesses to major corporations — that have truly shown up for fire survivors and earned real brand loyalty in the process. A full list will be published soon on Substack, so keep an eye out for that.
And a quick production note: Episodes 25 and 26 were recorded on January 8 and would have landed a little sooner, but Shawna decided to get wild and sprained a wrist this week. A reminder that even when you’re chasing accountability and rebuilding a community, life still finds a way to slow you down!
Thanks for being here as we keep asking the hard questions and keep pushing for better answers.
Welcome back. It is episode 26. This is After the Ashes, the Beautiful Alcena podcast that is talking about, you know, our post-fire landscape from a policy perspective.
SPEAKER_05:This is your we're moving on, right? Like we're we have this year has been about the fire. Now it's about the rebuild.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. I and recover it's true recovery, um, not what we're calling recovery that isn't recovery. So yeah, I think we might be rewriting this intro, Steve. Maybe it's time, but um this is your co-host, Shauna Dawson Beer here. I am being a good thing.
SPEAKER_05:We have to have longevity, right?
SPEAKER_01:We do. And we are constantly evolving. Evolve or die, as I say.
SPEAKER_05:Indeed. Um, and I'm Steve Sachs, sorry.
SPEAKER_01:I'm looking at him like, who are you?
SPEAKER_05:I this guy. It's Steve Sachs. The face for radio.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm gonna let Steve read our title because this is Steve's title.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, episode 26. Missed chances and bad bets. Could it have gone differently?
SPEAKER_01:I think we know the answer to that and what we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's rhetorical.
SPEAKER_01:But um I I love that because you know I'm I'm the one who loves the pithy title. And if you, what was it last week? Steve was like, I have a title for us. And I was like, okay, let's go with it. Um, it was a good title, which reminds me there was um the a solid, you know, we we did our media roundup in the last episode, and we're not going to do a big media roundup for this episode because we're gonna do our best to keep it a little tighter so it's that we don't run another hour. But um one of the stories we didn't talk about was the Politico piece.
SPEAKER_05:Which one? The um The one today?
SPEAKER_01:Both. Both the one that ran on the one year, then that I ended up quoted in, and then the other today.
SPEAKER_06:That's true, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That was like really that it was a doozy of a of a piece. And I was not expecting that to come out of Politico given some of the past coverage.
SPEAKER_05:I agree. I I I texted the the writers and stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Do you want to talk about that a little bit?
SPEAKER_05:Well, I yes.
SPEAKER_01:So I mean I think it's actually a nice segue into what we're gonna discuss today.
SPEAKER_05:So Politico really got to the heart of the issue. Um, those of my readers who are who have read today's post know I talk about taking leadership or true leadership is taking responsibility. And, you know, I really gave Liam and Melanie May, Liam Dillon and Melanie Mason um a shout out because this piece really went at the heart of our electeds, particularly Bass and Newsom, and how they didn't show up, that they were only going to do what they felt comfortable with. And, you know, it it's it's I I really take them to task in my piece. You know, the joke my friend in DC says, who works with me and when we go to DC is Steve, don't fold your arms. Don't cross your arms. Because if you cross your arms, you're pissed. And today, this was my equivalent of the writing crossing arms.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Because the people who are living in RVs, the people who are not in their homes, the people who are affected by all this, they don't get to worry about being in comfortable situations. Yet our governor decided not to sit down and have candid conversations in public because it was uncomfortable. And it's an insult to those that were affected by all of this because they didn't have a choice, but he does. And this is the man who wants to lead our nation. Anyway, it you'll read my piece, you'll hear the the seething, the dripping sarcasm and the dripping difficulty I had with the way it was act the way that they acted. And both Mason and Dylan gave very good quotes. And they were fair, but they were not they were not sympathetic. Right. And they I think the one that was great that they wrote was the circumstances presented the duel, Bass, um, sorry, Bass and Newsom, with a no-win situation. Be there and face the wrath of the fire-stricken residents, or remain behind closed doors and look like they're ducking their constituents.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05:Need I say anything more?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, I think that says it all.
SPEAKER_05:And as I said, the score, how many people did either of them show up?
SPEAKER_00:Nope.
SPEAKER_05:No. And, you know, they also talked about how there's only nine homes that have been built in a year.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. And those are, you know, either were started prior to the fire or pre-fab.
SPEAKER_05:And those of you that are read that read my Substack will know I I put up a scoreboard, you know, one year nine homes,$182 million. That's from philanthropic organiz foundations, and we'll talk about that a little bit more. There was a report from Milken that pushed out a top-line number of$867 million to$900 or$870 million to$167 million or something like that. That was pushed out to the community, but those numbers are top line. They're not the actual number.$182 is the number people need to understand. How many mayors showed up? None. The governor called himself the mayor of California on Meet the Press right after the fires hit when he was calling for a Marshall Plan. But nobody showed up. How many plans do we have to rebuild that are public and that had community input? None. There's probably private plans, but that's a different story. And how much money have we gotten for rebuild? And so I think that that's where we're at now, Shauna. And I think it's time to think about where we are today versus where we could have been had things had gone a different direction. And not that we're saying that they couldn't or that, you know, they should these people needed, you know, the governor, the mayor, our supervisor should have been able to like, you know, have a transformational concept and come up with this great idea. It was all there for them days after the fire. It was all done. And then since then, as I likened it in one of my posts to it's like a gambler. The gambler lost the 40 billion basically on February 1st.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And since that time, they've been chasing that number, trying to get back. And each time they fail, they have to swing bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. In the last year, we've been watching that. Whether it's the NDAA, which is the National Defense Authorization play that Department of Angels and the philanthropic community got behind the governor with and they failed in December, whether it was, you know, vetoing any kind of bill that could potentially create an alternative that can get the federal government off the hook. You know which bill we're going to talk about, you know which bill I'm talking about. Or whether it's just they just don't get it anymore. And they've limited the decisions so that they can get what they want. And you know what? What they want differs from what we want. And it's not about them, it's not about their favored groups that are supporting them. It's about the people of these communities and getting them something. I think the closing quote that was in that piece came from our supervisor, Catherine Barger, where she said, the sole Republican on the board told her counterparts in Washington that the aid was, quote, not about politics, party, or partisanship. This is about ensuring that survivors receive the support that they deserve. True. But the party also was very clear about how that money was going to go. And then she also said in that same piece, don't change the rules in the middle of the game. The scale of needs dwarfs the resources the county and state have already provided, not what the county and the state can provide. Operative word. Politicians choose their words purposely. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Washington. And if you're listening, to bring supplemental disaster aid to Los Angeles County. Folks, let's go back to January 7th. Let's back up a year because, you know, like Shauna was saying in the last session, we all have been feeling a little bit of PTSD and a little bit of trauma. And even, you know, those of us, we we've kind of put those days out of our minds. At least I know I have. But I'm saying I don't remember with great clarity what was happening. I just know I was on adrenaline.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And the answer was in the day after the exit the fire, we were working on that bill that became 797. And that bill was drafted up in form, ready to go. So for those of you that have lost your homes and wanted to sell your land, three days after the fire, the governor's office had a copy of that bill. Okay? So if you had to sell for below the value of that land after January 6th, there was no reason for it. The supervisor's office also had a copy of that bill. I know I had multiple conversations with various people in that office. So what's important to understand is the federal government was giving us a clear direction of where things were going. And we had the answers on January 7th or January 10th, January 11th, January 12th. It could have gotten into that two and a half billion dollar emergency aid package. It could have gotten into any of these opportunities since that time, and it didn't.
SPEAKER_01:Didn't. That's right.
SPEAKER_05:And what would our world look like today? By the way, did we have to wait for a CRD, or could we have done an EIFD on that day after the fire?
SPEAKER_01:Which we've talked about a lot.
SPEAKER_05:So what would our world look like today if we had gone and passed that bill and got things moving and raised that money from CRA and brought in other sources and got behind, say, opportunity zones like we were talking about instead of fighting all this stuff? Where would our recovery be at this point?
SPEAKER_01:Maybe we'd actually be talking about recovery versus talking about resilience, which is not recovery.
SPEAKER_05:We wouldn't be standing in front of our legislature today complaining about the fact the federal government hasn't given us the money that they told us they weren't going to give us. They haven't changed the rules. We just didn't want to listen to the rules. And here's the other thing that I find fascinating about this. I knew about this on day one. I knew what was going to happen because I'd been told this. I'm one resident of Altadena. We have high-powered lobbyists representing the city, the state, the county. Where in the hell were they? And it goes back to this notion of either our electeds didn't know what they were doing, or they were doing this for a reason other than what they've told us. And so that, I think, Shauna, is the key piece here that we're not hearing about. They made a bad bet and they're doubling down on that bet. And instead of doing the right thing, which is admitting failure and fixing it, they're continuing to go down this road because guess what? It's more beneficial for the governor to stand up in front of the legislature and rail against Trump, for Catherine Barger to get up in front of the group in the pa in in front of everybody yesterday and blame Trump. Than to actually solve the problems. It's not Trump that's the problem. As I said, Trump is the wind. The fire is being lit by our own electeds internally here in California. We have the resources. We can marshal the resources. Other people understand that. People in Washington understand that. So why are we where we are today? That is the question I ask.
SPEAKER_01:And where could we be?
SPEAKER_05:I know where we could be. We could have been rebuilding already. We could have money coming in. We could be talking about things like shared equity solutions with the small business administration. We could be talking about economic development and helping small businesses get rebuilt. We could be talking about not burdening our homeowners with debt. We could be talking about people having a solution to sell their lot so they don't feel pressure. We could be talking about giving people hope. We could be talking about prosperity. And instead, we're talking about what? Affordability, resilience, negative, requiring the government to get us out of this.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we're just all we're doing is blaming the feds, like blaming FEMA, which is getting us nowhere.
SPEAKER_05:Because it's easier to do that than it is to solve the problem. And I think this is the problem, this is the canary in the coal mine that our community, our state, has to start to look at is this is not an isolated event. These happenings here in Altadena and the Palisades are not isolated. And this isn't just Republicans talking. As you say all the time, Shauna, this message is coming from inside.
SPEAKER_00:It is.
SPEAKER_05:You can talk to other folks in the Democratic Party and they get it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:If there wasn't Donald Trump there, well, most would say if there was Biden, they would have had all the money they needed and everything would have been fine. But this is the world we live in today. And we can choose to put our head in the sand and ignore reality and continue to re-victimize. You know, the governor had that line in that story from the LA Times when he got back from Washington the beginning of December. Remember, he was gallivanting, he was in New York, and he went and met with, you know, the big banks and told him, you know, we're going to do it differently. He went down to Washington and he stood outside, you know, the administrative buildings and asking for somebody to pay attention to him, and he didn't do it, which that's embarrassing. You don't do that. Then he went up to the hill and didn't meet with anybody that got him anywhere. And he stepped outside and said, they keep rift re-victimizing the people who should be getting this disaster money. You know who's re-victimizing us?
SPEAKER_01:Our own government, our own representation. I mean local leadership.
SPEAKER_05:Why?
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Because they don't want to solve it. You know, we've talked about this so many times, and it's one of the things that I I think I raised in the case here W episode that we were on for the anniversary, and it was the simple fact that um you know, we we could we have these tools. This all could be done, you know. So the bills are written. There's an opportunity here for our electeds, our governor, our local leadership to actually pave the way and to to be creative and to do something different and to actually think outside of the box. And instead of getting stuck in the same power structure and the same things that, you know, that they are stuck in because this is what they need and it's how their system works, and they have to keep, you know, uh keep this thing going. Uh keep the I don't want to say keep the grift going, but fucking feels that way right now.
SPEAKER_05:Um there's no other, there's no logical answer.
SPEAKER_01:There's no logical answer to it other than that. But you know, the bottom line is that you know, there's such a tremendous opportunity for our local electeds, for our state and even our federal leadership to create a model for how to do this for recovery, because this is not the first time. It's sure as hell not the last time. This, you know, has gone down as the most expensive disaster in the history of the United States. It we just, you know, uh took out that title from from Katrina, from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. So, you know, that the fact that we're here and we know we're gonna be here again sooner than later, you know, it's it's the reality. We can talk about climate change or not, but the bottom line is, you know, this is our new world. These unquote unquote unprecedented things are very are not precedented and they are happening and we know it. And you know, how are we not planning for this? And how well I'm I don't want to digress into that conversation, but you know, how are we not working on how we're going to solve rebuild and recovery solutions for communities like ours when this happens? Because, you know, this has to be solved. So let's go back for us, for everybody else.
SPEAKER_05:Let's go back a year. Let's go back to January of 2025. And Scott Wiener introduces that bill right after Trump got elected. And we're gonna, you know, Rob Bonta was there too.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, Rob.
SPEAKER_05:You know, here we go.
SPEAKER_01:Do your job, Rob.
SPEAKER_05:And we're going to quote Trump-proof California. Remember? Yep. And, you know, we spent$50 million, which we couldn't find the money, a couple million dollars to do AB 797, but we found$50 million to pay law firms to quote Trump-proof California, right as we were asking for$40 billion. Yep. And so on the one hand, they're we're saying, you know, it's like a kid that says, I'm gonna move out and I don't need you anymore, parent. You know, I don't want my trust fund, I'm gonna do it my way. And then when the parents cut off the trust fund, they say, Well, wait a minute, you can't do that, you change the rules. And I mean, what did you expect that Trump was gonna do? You think he was gonna sit there and go, you know what, I'm gonna give you guys$40 billion. I don't care. You can trump proof me, and then you can use that money to, you know, continue to come and attack me. If you're gonna do something like that, you better be able to stand on your own two feet. And the the the irony is, is we had the tools then to do it. It was communicated to all the right people. So what happened?
SPEAKER_01:I think that's what we're all asking is what happened and why does this keep happening? Um, so one of the things that, you know, was very much um on the down low until and and no press until the governor's office, in fact, put it out themselves to do their own press is that, you know, one of the things they they did while he was here um yesterday and and here, not at any of our community events, but here doing the things that, you know, the fundraising things that make sense for fundraising and things that make sense for him for um the glad handing that needs to be done with the voting groups that he needs to court.
SPEAKER_05:Um, it's it's it was a big day, you know. You had to get ready for a state of the state the next day.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I know, yes. So, you know, but one of the things he did was have a round table with a very hand-selected group of people. Curated. A very curated group of people. Um uh done by the city. But he wanted candid conversations. Who curated the group? The program of angels. Which is CCF. Okay, so let's, you know, and that's gonna set up some of this conversation because make no mistake, our philanthropy and all of those who've kind of fallen in line with our philanthropy are now also being kind of lumped in with this group of apologists and this machine, and frankly, you know, be have be are becoming part of the problem because they are all just falling in line with part of the system because they have to, because they take that money.
SPEAKER_06:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:And they need that, they are now part of this machine, even if that's not their intention or their desire or their goal, and all they want to do is good work and they need money from somewhere. They end up taking this money, and this money comes with strings attached. I talked about this in my Substack when I said, Allow me to reintroduce myself. I was listening to a little Jay-Z. It was time, but because I hadn't written in a while. And one of the things that I stated is that, you know, like you, like I and like, you know, my fellow um organizers in the Palisades, I am not funded, and that's deliberate, it's specific, so that I can operate outside of these systems, so that I'm not beholden to any individual entity, need to continually get funding, need for all these things, you know, and it's why, you know, I'm somewhat limited in that regard by what I can do. You know, I don't have the benefit of a PR team like some of the other quote unquote community leaders that we're seeing a lot of in the press, very deliberately, because they have very expensive PR. And I know exactly what that gets you because I have been that paid operative. Um, you know, but that is not the path that I and others have chosen. Um, and here we are. But you know, this roundtable happened that was, you know, back to this like no press, don't talk about it, hush, hush. Um the you know, hand picked group of, you know, people who were the quote unquote, you know, real people on the ground wanting to inform our electeds. It was it was Gavin Newsome, it was um it was the Feds this time. It was Schiff, it was out of Schiff, it was Padilla, um, you know, in a room to hear what they could do through executive orders or through through federal government executive orders.
SPEAKER_05:There's no executive orders that any of them can do, correct? Other than the governor, who's the only executive in the room.
SPEAKER_01:But what the feds potentially could do and uh to help and to create smart, you know, since we haven't had any yet, some smart policy to try and and you know get us somewhere. I'm like, great. Good thing we're having this conversation a year late after the fact.
SPEAKER_05:But I'm glad we're having a sub stack if you want to know. Correct.
SPEAKER_01:So all of that to say, it was very interesting to see what the governor's office put out about that and and to hear from you know, people some people in that room, kind of what the tone was and what was being done. But you know, the the question that I had, and I have this question repeatedly, I have this question a lot, and I know you've raised it in different ways. It never ceases to amaze me. And this is not just a statement about our governor, this is you know, our supervisors, our mayor, our uh it's it's literally our attorney general. It is literally everyone. It never ceases to amaze me how disconnected these people are from the realities of their constituents. Like, how the fuck did you are you are you this oblivious? And I I find myself saying, like, is this the just the machine? Are you really this checked out? Are you is it the the example I make all the time, you know, for the fifth district that it's just there's no way to be on top of all of it? And you know, ha ha, like you've got 60 kids, half are discarded. I get it, district work is hard, and this is why I say often I have so much respect for the people who do this work.
SPEAKER_05:It's good staff. You have to have good staff.
SPEAKER_01:Correct. But I'm like, how the heck are you so disconnected? Because apparently multiple issues were raised that we know because we've been talking about them ad nauseum, that quite literally had these electeds and their you know legislative aides, like what? Like, well, like I mean like what? Like genuinely shocked to hear these things. And it's like, oh my gosh, how do you know what's not happening? And I think then the greatest example of this, you know, that and why, you know, you have not just me and not just you, but so many people in the community saying, you know, hey, we call bullshit, guys. We call bullshit because you know, you see that right on the heels of this, this um this announcement was made by the governor's office that like uh$1.73 million dollars in state money would fund the creation of 673 affordable rental homes that will be offered first to those affected or displaced by last January.
SPEAKER_05:I thought it was 107 million.
SPEAKER_01:107 million, 107.3.1.7. Oh, I did?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry, guys. I am and the reason why I joked about I am reading this, but yes, 107, 107.3, 107.3 million.
SPEAKER_06:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:So, you know, we announced this like, oh, this is so great. The and the the big headline, this is the headline. Newsome announces 107 million for affordable rental homes to aid LA fire survivors, okay?
SPEAKER_05:But 40 of those are going to the VA.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. None of so none of them are in Altadina or the Palisades. Oh zero. Okay. So holy shit. You know, if you if you need, I don't know what bigger red flag you could get to the fact that we're that's the big announcement, Shauna.
SPEAKER_05:Not the Marshall Plan. That is not the fucking Marshall Plan. He promised the Marshall Plan back in January of 2025. Where's our Marshall Plan?
SPEAKER_01:And they actually have the balls to say HCD continues to prioritize fire survivors at our properties throughout the LA region. And we looked forward to seeing these additional homes brought to completion as soon as possible. And that was from their director, Gustavo Velazquez. And you know, Gustavo, shame. Because, you know, there were two Altadino properties specifically on that list that applied for these grants because it wasn't like it was just granted or isn't just handed over. It's not a gift. They people have, you know, grant applications are uh there that's that's it's an entire sphere, okay? It's an entire specialty, and there are people who do that work, and it's a big it, it isn't no joke. And people did that to get these things where people need them most in Altadena, and we got zero. Yet we are the headline for this feel good statement for this look at what we did when you didn't do shit. Literally nothing. So that is that is the net. And you know, I don't even know where to go with that. But you know, uh speaking of FEMA, right? Because we were talking about FEMA, one of the other things that came down yesterday, and I don't know if you have found out any more yet, but uh evidently FEMA um made some sort of announcement or policy um stating that there will be remediation, post-remediation soil testing in our fire zones. Now, that if you've been listening to me all these episodes, that is a huge piece if it's real. Um, I need to verify it. Steve and I have been trying to verify that and get more info and have not been able to yet. But you know, that came straight from the top that that was happening.
SPEAKER_05:I have to imagine that that would be publicly right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So where is it?
SPEAKER_05:It's nowhere.
SPEAKER_01:Or our elected's delusional as well, thinking that it happened and it didn't. I right? I know. I wish you could Steve right see Steve's face right now. Steve, like, what the fuck? Nobody knows. What's going on?
SPEAKER_05:Um I mean, it's this is the whole point, is that it's a develop this, it's let's call this one a developing story.
SPEAKER_01:We will report back when we have more.
SPEAKER_05:If and when.
SPEAKER_01:If if we have more.
SPEAKER_05:Look, at the end of the day, it goes back to I I go back to those post-fire days, and I go back to sitting there at the hotel, having drinks with the electeds, and talking to folks in DC and knowing that this was this was the path. We had it. We were ready to go. And nobody in their right minds politically only goes all in on one path. There's always a plan B. And the fact we didn't do that left us entirely exposed today. And I think that it's time there's back to the LA Times. There's time there's a reckoning. And this is the truth. That's the whole point. And then when they had the chance to actually make good on it after it went through regular order, what happened?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:We got vetoed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Why?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Nobody has given us a real answer on that one.
SPEAKER_01:Nope. And and I mean this we I we keep saying it, I'm gonna say it again. It's because everyone is stuck being part of this machine, being stuck and beholden to just doing the same thing the same way because it maintains the power structure, it maintains their control over the money, and they rather have control over, you know, a few hundred million than actually get us the 20 billion plus that we need, which is really disturbing. And everyone listening, everyone in the community, you should really be bothered by and asking these questions too, because when you dig into it and understand most people don't understand all of this, it can't even begin to understand this. It's not things that any of us think about because we shouldn't have to. But the bottom line is we have had the financial tools to fund our own recovery without federal money since January 8th of 2025.
SPEAKER_05:You could have trump-proofed this whole thing.
SPEAKER_01:Correct. And we have chosen not to. And no, to the person who called me out on Substack and said, I must be a Trumper because I had the audacity to criticize or question our Democratic leadership. No, I'm not. I'm about as, you know, progressive and left as they come. But guys, I also have a brain and I also have eyes and I see. And at this point, you know, I'm not putting my head in the sand, and no one else should. You know, we have to start asking the hard questions. Why is this the choice that continues to be made in our name? And I say in our name because everything is in the name of the fire survivors, like the evidently billion dollars that has flowed through philanthropy and fire surveyors. It's not a billion dollars.
SPEAKER_05:Well, listen, he's saying it's not a billion dollars, but it looks like that's what that's what the head of the Pasadena Community Foundation said in Passania Now yesterday, said it was a billion dollars. This is a town of$100 million deals, just like the$100 million for homelessness. It was$182 million that our philanthropic foundations pushed out through in that report from Milken. And we will go into that a little bit more on another session. But just suffice it to say we have$45 billion available in assets. We push out billions of dollars a year in money to community groups, and the best that we can have for the largest disaster that's cur occurred in this country from some of the wealthiest philanthropic foundations that have been spending a year trying to figure out how they can do this. It is$182 million. And by the way, the number is both larger than FireAid and way smaller than they want it to be. And it sits out like a sore thumb. You want to know why they want that money, Shauna? I've said it a hundred times. They want it to wash away where that 182 million has gone, which no report has shown yet.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. And this is part of you know what we had already been speaking on. You know, it's all tied together.
SPEAKER_05:It's those community groups that have gotten in line. Yep. They got in line behind 782. They did not get behind 782.
SPEAKER_00:Promises were made.
SPEAKER_05:And we they are now beholden and they uh the fiscal sponsors, they're not even 501c3s. They give their money through the fiscal sponsors, and the report re the report is very dismissive of how the public can understand what a fiscal sponsorship is, which is very insulting. And then on the flip side, just you know, it's just these are the droids you're not looking for.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:These are sorry, we these are not the droids you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01:No, I know what you mean. I know what you meant. Um, you know, it it is um, it's beyond disturbing.
SPEAKER_05:Um I know who wrote it, and they did a great job. Like, I'm gonna be honest. Like, it this was a political document. It was not gonna go well no matter what, but this was also CYA.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know, I know. So that for those who don't follow, that's covering your ass. It's it's a lot of ass covering because, you know, and again, it's really the stuff comes out, it's like, well, look, it all went to legitimate orgs. It all went to legitimate orgs, but then you talk to people in philanthropy, as I do, because there are people in our community who have multi-decade careers in philanthropy who will off record have very private conversations about this. And I wish some of them would start their own kind of deep throat. Ultra Alta Wallace or water wars. Yeah. I wish they would start their own kind of deep throat whistleblower anonymous uh accounts on Substack talking about um there's so much, there, there's so much dissatisfaction.
SPEAKER_05:I hear it too. Correct.
SPEAKER_01:You know, so privately they'll talk about it. But you know, I've heard repeatedly the stories of after the fire, when this money started to flow, of some of these large philanthropic orgs telling all of their orgs and all of their subs to hurry up and come up with fire programs so that they could be eligible for this money. Yeah. And did that money actually, especially ones who were in trouble and needed money? And, you know, did that money get into the community? No. I mean, you've heard me say this before. It's like the trickle-down economics approach to to recovery, because the expectation is that this all goes from one nonprofit to another nonprofit to another nonprofit.
SPEAKER_05:Well, through the fiscal sponsor and everybody takes a little bit off the top.
SPEAKER_01:Correct. And, you know, it's really bothersome, and everyone should be bothered because at the end of the day, hundreds of millions, by some estimations, close to a billion, if not more. Uh 270 of that is GoFundMe. We know that, which was you could take that right off the top. Which by the way, was so bizarre that they put those numbers in there. Like that was somehow something to be proud of. Like that.
SPEAKER_05:The philanthropic organization had nothing to do with that.
SPEAKER_01:Correct. They actually, in their official numbers in this Milken Report, added$227 million of what they called. I'm sorry, two, yeah, was it$227 or$277? 270. Uh my dyslexic dyslexia strikes again. But um, it was, you know, a significant number. And the point that they put in there, or they were trying to make, was like, look at this, we're patting our numbers. When in fact, that money was what they, you know, said was direct donations, people, individuals giving to individuals through GoFundMe. And I was like, wait, how does this have anything to do with philanthropy? It doesn't. Guess what?
SPEAKER_05:It exceeded the number that the private foundations gave.
SPEAKER_01:It's yeah, of course it didn't. That is that says everything. Because if you don't already understand it, we've talked about it. Philanthropy is a billion, billion, you know, multi-billion dollar juggernaut that it effectively is a shadow government.
SPEAKER_05:And it's a giant political action committee. Correct. It is I mean, think about all those people who are doing the political narratives for the electeds that are still getting pieces of this.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_05:And that's where that's where your money's going. That's your nonprofit dollars. Oh boy, we really crossed the road of the con.
SPEAKER_01:We did. We said we weren't gonna get too into this because you know you think you're electeds and the government scary, philanthropy scarier.
SPEAKER_05:But uh we're never gonna get enough sent to do this.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, nobody's nobody's uh rushing to give us money, anyways. Um, no one's rushing to invite us to um any of these uh to any of these events, any of these press conferences, any of it. There's a very um real reason you see me in a thousand places, and that one of those places is not at these quote unquote official press conferences standing with the electeds and with these nonprofit heads. And it is because I make these statements. I ask, we ask questions, we want answers, we want to know, hey, where is this money really going? People keep asking, where is the money? Why can't we answer the question? Because when you dig in these reports, it sends you down rabbit holes to get you nowhere. And we talked about this like fiscal sponsorship and how this ends up being this incredibly nebulous thing where you know it it skirts outside of the typical um uh reporting. You don't have a board of supervisors, you don't have to.
SPEAKER_05:You can stay and shut down correct overnight.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_05:It's literally a fly-by-night business.
SPEAKER_01:Correct. You could you could launder, for lack of a better way of putting it, uh hundreds of millions of dollars through fiscal sponsorship.
SPEAKER_05:Nobody would ever know.
SPEAKER_01:Correct, because it doesn't go through tax reporting or anything.
SPEAKER_05:It's there's no report to your board of directors, there's no auditing, there's no anything. Like at least my 501 has a 501 stay, you know, status. I have to submit 990s. Yep. I have to do board meetings, I have to do all that junk.
SPEAKER_01:So, you know, I because I know we have a lot of media of listeners, media, if you want a story for 2026 to dig into and to like really dig into where the money went. You really want to get into that where the money went. Um, start digging into where that money went. We know we have this, you know, House Judiciary report on the 100 million from fire aid, and you know, and we know it's partisan correct. That of course is going to be highly discredited because of the nature of who did it, but and which is unfortunate, I think, because it shouldn't, we shouldn't rely on, you know, the enemy, so to speak, to have to do the reporting on where we fucked up when we could in fact just do this ourselves and say and own it and like, hey, this is where it went, this is where mistakes were made, here's how we correct. Great, let's do that, let's do that on all fronts. We don't need, you know, an angry Republican Party looking to skewer newsome, you know, over this, you know, tit for tat shit, high, you know, schoolyard shit going on, because that's what it is. It's a pissing contest, you know, with the feds, because we could, in fact, just have answers and accountability and get on with our lives, but no one will do this. So instead, here we are on our whatever day it is, morning, now afternoon, 300 six days you're later. Yes, really tired doing this, you know, the morning after going to my lot, you know, where the whole town burned, and we've been so many of our neighbors are gone, and this has been every day, and we're still here.
SPEAKER_05:And you know, you've watched the blob. I remember I wrote a piece in early April, and I thought we were able to stand at the gate and like listen, L to D, the blob's coming. The blob's gonna come consume us. And the blob just takes the punches and it just keeps coming and it keeps coming and it keeps coming. And it stood at our streets, you know, around New York and around Woodbury, and it just decided it was gonna consume us. And today we're consumed. The blob is everywhere. Yeah, and you know, like I said, this is a year of reckoning. The blob has also failed. If the blob was supposed to be so great at what it does, why have we not gotten any of the things that have been promised us?
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Because the blob is the blob, it's the machine is too big.
SPEAKER_05:Well and you know, but the machine has reached a point where the bigger the chain gets, the more likely you are to find a weak link.
SPEAKER_01:So you would think, right?
SPEAKER_05:And remember, this is the same blob that ran homelessness.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_05:This is the same blob that people are sitting there going, well, look at all the money flown through California, and where has it all gone?
SPEAKER_01:We we've said in this, uh we have said this a few times that um And this is not a Republican talking point. Nope.
SPEAKER_05:Because guess what? Democrats pay taxes too.
SPEAKER_01:And guess what? Neither of us are Democrats. I'm sorry, are Republicans.
SPEAKER_05:Well, according to according to Chat GPT, I'm like a progressive progressive.
SPEAKER_01:Well, anyhow, according to my um Freudian slip, I don't know, maybe we're we are gonna be Republicans or we're being called called Republicans anyways. I don't fucking know. I don't even care at this point. I don't care. What I am is someone who's had the whole my whole town burned down and I'm really tired and I'm sick of this shit, like so many others, and would just like to see something be right. That's it. Well, like how how hard is it? How hard is this and why?
SPEAKER_05:It could have been right. And I guess that's the part as I've been doing this for the past year, when I finally had a minute to breathe over the Christmas break, and I looked around and I started thinking back to those early days. It was so disconcerting because as we bring this full circle, and we are full circle, as I said, on KCRW, we're back to where we started on January 7th because we still don't have any money, we still don't have any opportunity, and we still have a government that's failed us. And you know, the time has come for those daggers, those questions that Steve Lopez and the LA Times promised to really start to fall. And it's time, you know, the fact the two most visible elected officials in our response couldn't even show up. Couldn't even make it to hear what the victims had to say. They couldn't handle the candor.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. No, they could not.
SPEAKER_05:Tells you something. And as I said, and I'll say it again, America, if this man wants to be president, look at how he's handled this.
SPEAKER_01:It ain't good.
SPEAKER_05:So I think we should probably wrap it up because I think we will.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm gonna do something different for our small biz um wrap-up today. You wanna talk about that? Sorry, Steve is giving me a look and we're having a little off a very on air, off air conversation about I'm like, do we wanna go there? I wasn't gonna go there. Then let's go. Do we wanna go there? No, no, no. We l we lost someone very important in the community.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. I mean my sub stack readers know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, and so do our group. Everyone in our group knows too.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I don't um
SPEAKER_05:There aren't words.
SPEAKER_01:There aren't.
SPEAKER_05:It was tragic.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I also don't know if this is the place. I don't want anyone to think that I don't want to muddy that memory with um this really ugly subject matter.
SPEAKER_06:That's true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But everybody should know about that and hopefully doesn't. I mean, this is what we keep talking about. That so many people have died as a result of this fire.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry guys. Now Steve's gonna make me cry. Steve looks like he's gonna cry.
SPEAKER_05:Um I mean it's because you know it's constant.
SPEAKER_01:It's constant, it's nonstop. I mean, we know that we've lost people to mental health issues, to suicides, to so many things. Um just but also there's just hundreds. We had the Cedar Sinai data come out showing the massive uptick in cardiac events and heart attacks in upper respiratory issues, um, and other just general illness following the fires for both of our communities, um, uh Palisades and uh in Altadena. And we know that there's gonna be hundreds more because um again the data shows us that that is, you know, like it or not, it's what we have coming. A lot of people, there's gonna be a lot of fallout of this. We have a lot of neighbors who expose themselves to a lot of scary shit being left on their own. Well, and also and having to go home too soon and now living in toxic homes and you know, all everything else that we keep talking about, and all these issues that we keep amplifying.
SPEAKER_05:Um, and also it's at the end of the day, the stress.
SPEAKER_01:That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_05:And we're not getting the support. Like every time they're gonna fighting for this for a reason.
SPEAKER_01:Every time we hear of another death, of you know, be it someone we, you know, who has is uh someone in the community that we all really know and love and a familiar face and name or the neighbor that no one is gonna talk about uh because nobody knows who that person is living a quiet life. All none of those deaths are gonna be part of the death toll of these fires, but they are part of the death toll of these fires because there is no doubt that the stress and exposure and the ongoing stress and re-traumatizing that we are all living is not taking years off of our lives. And for some people, that is um being expressed a lot more faster, a lot faster and a lot more clearly with what we've seen, and unfortunately, I think are gonna continue to see.
SPEAKER_05:Well, and it's sad that we've these are avoidable, these are preventable.
SPEAKER_01:It was all preventable.
SPEAKER_05:But even the afterwards, even though we couldn't control exactly what happened on that day, everything that's happened since.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. That's true.
SPEAKER_05:Anyway, sorry, Sean.
SPEAKER_01:No, don't don't be sorry. I mean, I think you know, all of these people um deserve to be remembered and to spoke be spoken about and um never forgotten and to be counted. Yeah, because every single person that we've lost is important and needs to be uh counted.
SPEAKER_05:And these are lives these are people that enriched all of our lives.
SPEAKER_01:That's right.
SPEAKER_05:And in this case, that was the person that called when the fire was happening on the canyon and we were out to dinner and said, You need to get home. You're you're she was the house is gonna go.
SPEAKER_01:There's a great KCRW piece that has been recirculating about how she and her and her son were out there fighting this fire. Yeah. And that's what I mean when I say exposure, because you know, whether or not we want to talk about it or it's ever gonna be, you know, discussed in a meaningful way because there's far bigger concerns when you you lose a loved one. Um there's no doubt that that had to be a contributing factor. How could it not have been?
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's just the weight of it all.
SPEAKER_01:So the weight of it all and and being out there literally in the smoke and flames, fighting these, trying to fight these fires, trying to save your home. Yeah. Um, which no one, no one should have been left to do. No one.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, so yeah. Okay. Shout out, but I'm gonna change it up a little bit. Steve's looking at me like, what's she doing? Um, because I actually have been meaning, you know, speaking about like Substack and the things that you mean to write, and then you just never sit down and don't have time to do it. Um So now you have a podcast for that. I know. Now I can just talk about it. Um there have been over the last year, so many businesses, large and small, who have stepped up for fire survivors. Um in small ways, in monumental ways. Some of them were very, some of it very community focused, some of it big corporations. Um shortage of bad actors as usual. But what I want to talk about are all the good actors and all these great brands and good businesses that have put their money where their mouth is for fire survivors. Um, because I think that as we think about, you know, I I know me, I talk a lot about voting with my dollar, and there are a lot of places I won't go because I, you know, have one issue or another, and it that gets tiresome. But boy, is that a whole other conversation?
SPEAKER_06:Do you have opinions on things, Sean?
SPEAKER_01:I think everybody should have some opinions on things, and we don't have to agree. I I ran into someone from my group last night at Good Neighbor Bar who and she and I have not always agreed in in the group. And it was funny when she introduced herself, she was a little sheepish about it. And I was like, I love that you're that you speak your mind. Yeah, and I mean that. I love it. Like we should not be afraid of that conflict.
SPEAKER_05:I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01:And the thing in our group is that you know, we try to foster intelligent, respectful debate. And our only ask is that we keep it factual, because a lot of people confuse these days opinion with fact, and just because you keep saying it repeatedly doesn't make it true, even though we have a president and you know, uh a media that have allowed that to that bizarre thing that you know cancer, it's a cancer to flourish. Um, but you know, the truth is still the truth, whether we like it or not. And um, anyhow, it was I was it was lovely to see so many familiar faces yesterday, to meet so many people from our community in person. So many people came and introduced themselves to me, were like, you know, we know who you are. And um, but it was just it was good. That was soul, it was soul affirming. And um, I've said before, like I I get li like it's it gives me life to be with our people. And that and it's in those moments that I'm like, I don't know how I'm going back, but I'm gonna go to the right.
SPEAKER_06:By the way, if you get the question again, yeah, whether you want to run that's your answer. But yeah, I get my life.
SPEAKER_01:It's true. That it gives me life. Like if I need I like I'll just go to unincorporated coffee or highlight coffee or bevel coffee. Because anytime I go up there and I do that, I will run into people from our community, and there's always connections. It's either people I know or people who know me, or people we all we are going through the same thing, or we have mutual connections. And um, I've said repeatedly, you know, actually this conversation with one of our town council members, Dot Wong, because she and I were sitting next to each other in the pouring rain at the Rose Parade where I hadn't planned to be, but then I was, and that's a whole other story. But um, you know, she she said, Shauna, you you you can't live anywhere but Altadina. Like you you have to stay in Altadena, you know, you don't have to live on that street again, you don't have to live on that lot again. But Altadena is would not be without you. You have to live there. And I was like, and she's right. I was like, I think about this, like where I don't know how I'm gonna go home, but I also don't know how I couldn't. Right? There's no other place I could be. Um, and and it's you know, anyhow, with that, I want to talk about, you know, some of these businesses and brands that have really stepped up um all year and and continue to step up. Um you know, uh someone and this I this was I was reminded of this this morning when um someone posted in our group about Joybird, um, who makes couches. And Joybird got bought by Lazy Boy. They were an awesome company when they're indie. When they got bought by Lazy Boy, especially in the beginning of the transition, things got real wonky. And I I've probably joked before that um uh my Joy Bird sofa was one of the few things I was like really happy burned out in my house because that sofa was such a nightmare. I was like, be gone, devil sofa. Get behind me, Satan. Uh, so I was so glad that sofa burned. But Joybird has been offering 40% off of their sofas and their furnishings. They still are doing that, they're still honoring that for anyone who needs it. And people have gotten really great furniture, they're really happy with. I think they've worked out the kinks. And it's just it's a great example of one of these brands and businesses that has bought eternal forever brand loyalty from people like myself and people, you know, in our community, even if I never buy a joy bird sofa again, because I will be re-traumatized by that. Um, I love that they're doing it and I want to talk about the fact that they're doing it. You know, there's been so many companies that have done this. You have Creighton Barrel, who is still offering uh 20% off of everything. Um, same with the William Sonoma's Sonoma brand. So William Sonoma Pottery Barn West Elm, which by the way, I did not know until just recently that they have a Combo Pottery Barn West Elm outlet in Ontario. Um I apologize in advance for what I just did to your wallet. You guys, they everything is for no, it's so good. Everything is 40 to 70% off, and they tack on top of that the 20% fire survivor discount. I got 90% off of stuff. I got, I needed, I had my my 80-year-old uncle, who I've not seen in person in so many years, too long, stay with me for two weeks for the holiday. And I needed to quickly come up with a guest bedroom. I took advantage of the living spaces, free mattress, um, which truly was free, no sales tax, no delivery. Um, I was like, holy shit, this is this is real. And I thought it was gonna be a cheap crummy mattress, and it's actually really comfortable and we're all raving about it. It's really good. It was a I got a queen size mattress and I needed a bed frame and something for my uncle because you know, 80-year-olds can't sleep on mattresses on the floor. No, that's for a 20-year-old. Or even even this 50-year-old, because I'm like all of five, one, maybe five, two with my hat on, you know, kind of day. But um anyhow, I went to that outlet and I was able to get a frame and a beautiful upholstered headboard for like$270. Okay. I can't, I still can't get over it. It was like a thousand thousands of dollars for that. Um, so anyhow, if you are snoozing on that, don't snooze on it. Um, you know, we had um so many brands. Um, I used to have a bunch of knives from another company. If you know me a little bit again, I I spent a lot of time in hospitality. I had a cottage food business, a bakery. I cook and I love my knives, and I lost all of my knives and all my Japanese team.
SPEAKER_05:Are you a cooker or are you a baker? Because usually you're one or the other.
SPEAKER_01:I'm both. Um so you're ambidextrous. I in that respect I am. You know, I'm no chef, but as far as like from a home cook perspective, I'm I'm pretty solid. But uh, and the the pandemic helped me on that when I got into like gluten making glue-free, gluten-free peeking duck at home and things like that. Um, so anyhow, I ended up with a company that because I I experienced you know, so many brands that would never have been on my radar, I ended up with getting meseromized dirt knives. They're still doing discounts for anyone who wants them. They're a German knife company, they're amazing. Um, Andy Swim, small swimsuit company, no questions asked, replaced all of my orders. They will still honor that. If you're a fire survivor and didn't know that, and you had an Andy Swim swimsuit and you have any info about that, contact them. They'll replace it. Um, so many gave discounts. Aloe yoga, beyond yoga, Lululemon. Um, that that was really oh, and Athleta. Um, that Athleta was quiet about it, but if you asked, they were happy to do it. Um, there was Jay Crew who did care packages. I had actually friends who were impacted but didn't lose homes, um, sign all of us up for as many things as they could because you know our friends were so amazing. Um and Jay Crew was one of those coop pillows. I love their pillows. I had coop pillows. They were like, no questions asked, replace my pillows. The North Face was freaking awesome. And um, you know, we're like, hey, we can't, we're not doing like a direct discount, but saw that I had, you know, my very beloved favorite puffer, and they were like, here's a gift card. And that was in New York, by the way.
SPEAKER_04:Nordstrom was good too.
SPEAKER_01:Nordstrom was really good.
SPEAKER_04:I had to get suits because we didn't have it.
SPEAKER_01:Amazing. Um, Macy's was great. Um, Macy's in Pasadena. Uh, will still, even though officially the discount's over, you hit the right person in the right department, they'll still extend 20%. They were really fantastic. Um, and then we had so many people who did, you know, created markets and did things that were amazing and all the brands that were there. I keep thinking about Molly Baz's stock that pantry event. Molly Baz, you know, also chef, also Altadina resident, also very much fire impacted. Um, she did the most amazing event with Stock That Pantry. It was one of the favorite things I went to. I had I ended up with a box of things that I was like, I don't know when I'm gonna have a kitchen again, but I'm going to use it. Now at the one-year mark, I'm getting into all the stuff that I got, which was like the Grazza oil. It was um some other really interesting oil brands. And I am gonna go through my pantry and make a list because there's so many brands, small brands, stepped up, provided product, and I will forever be a loyalist to those brands. My girlfriend Sonia Rasula, who is Unique LA, she's actually my former partner. We originally started the LA Street Food Fest together before that became the LA Food Fest. Um, she through Unique LA did something with a bunch of small brands. And I mean, I got like the most like my favorite deodorant and cosmetics all came from that event. I was like, I didn't have never like Mae Lindstrom products that I'd never tried before. Now I'm obsessed. Some really great um cosmetic brands that are small. Um, and I will, I'm going to go through and put it's taken me a year. It's taken me a year to be able to process all of that and talk about it, let alone sit down and write about it and thank those brands and make sure that people know to support those brands. So, you know, my there are also all these smaller events. Like we had ornaments for Altadina here, which was amazing for so many of us. But there was also um Hart and Pomsa who actually paired fire survivor families with other families. I received the most beautiful menorah from a family and their synagogue in New York. And yeah, and the most beautiful letter. So, you know, there was that. There was um a man named Um Brian Clasby set up um a vinyl replacement event. You know, a lot of us had massive vinyl collections. Um that's what that's what messed up the year up there. Yeah, probably in part. So, you know, we we were able to get that. Um, I I don't want to forget anyone. I mean, of course, there was Zello Support, um, that who did all the furnishings, you know. I still have like it's actually a classic rentals event table, a massive round, it's it's a it seats 10 to 12, it's a massive round table. And um, I just had it refinished uh to kind of like match the other pieces I bought. But that's my dining room table now. And you know, and I was like, I love this because whenever I end up somewhere that's permanent again, that table can fold up because it's a it's a party event table. Yep. It'll fold up and I can use it. But like I have those things and then a set of chairs. I saw someone yesterday, actually, I saw someone last night at one of the commemorative events who came up to me and said, Shauna, it's me. I took your chairs. I had received from Zello support chairs that I used temporarily. When I was done with them, I I went through our beautiful Altenina trading post group to share them with another fire impacted family. She took them, she's loving them. So many of these things that just came through people's incredible goodwill and kind and open hearts turned into like these things are being passed and they're still taking on new lives. And um, like now we're talking about coordinating with our beautiful Altina group an entire clothing swap um in February for all the things that we all received that maybe weren't quite right or that you know we used in the beginning but aren't our style, but and you know, or or received and couldn't use at all. It was fire fashion sheets, yes, and and want to share with one another. So and that is happening. So, you know, and and I especially want to thank the brands that have kept us going and who understand that this is gonna be a need for years. They're gonna be we're not it's for some of us, we're not gonna start replacing things for four or five years until we can get through a settlement, have the money to rebuild the house, get through a rebuild, and then five years down the road, maybe even longer, be ready to um to do something about it. There's actually a place called Decor Globally Inspired. I've written about them, really beautiful import furniture place where I bought some things. They're doing 40% off of fires for fire survivors, and that's forever. If you're a fire survivor, you just come in and 40% off of all their import furnishings, and they also have custom doors if you're doing a rebuild. Um, so many incredible things. So I think that all of those brands and businesses.
SPEAKER_06:You should put them up on the website.
SPEAKER_01:I know the substack.
SPEAKER_06:I know and then just let everybody see it.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
SPEAKER_06:I need to make a mega list and link it out because I guess there are gonna be like uh yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01:It's a lot something to write, Shauna. I know, I'll add it to my list. So with that, thanks for listening. We'll see you on the next one. Until then, you can find yeah, we'll be back next week. Two episodes this week, two more. What is today?
SPEAKER_05:Today is the 8th. So the last two episodes have been January 8th.
SPEAKER_01:Correct. We're recording on January 8th. And uh we didn't mention that, but this and episode 20, this episode 26 and episode 25 both recorded on Thursday, January 8th, just following, or really the anniversary of the fire, because so many of our homes and buildings burned on the 8th. Yep. After the fact.
SPEAKER_06:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's a great point to close on. So I'm gonna go. Until then, I'm Shauna Dawson Beer at Beautiful Altadena.
SPEAKER_05:I'm Steve Sachs, the Alta Policy Walk.
SPEAKER_01:We'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_05:Bye now.