After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast

Season 2 / Episode 5: The Billion Dollar Questions

• Shawna Dawson Beer

Share episode

This episode opens with a media round-up, because there is no shortage of big stories shaping the narrative around Altadena’s recovery. We unpack recent reporting and what it gets right, what it gets wrong, and what’s being oversimplified.

Stories discussed include:

  • LA Times: Leaked Memo Reveals California Debated Cutting Wildfire Soil Testing Before Disaster Chiefs Exit. A look at how environmental testing decisions were being debated behind the scenes and what that means for communities now dealing with toxic fallout and incomplete remediation.
  • LA Times: Wildfire Victims Decry State Law Protecting Utilities from Cost of Disasters They Cause. We tackle the growing focus on demanding So Cal Edison “pay up” and why chasing a $200,000 payout that will never materialize misses the larger, more urgent reality. The $22B Wildfire Fund while unsavory and emblematic of the deep problems with private, for-profit utilities is currently the only mechanism that will ensure fire survivors are made even remotely whole through legal settlements. The real problem isn’t the fund. It’s private utilities and state and county authorities failing to enforce maintenance standards, safety laws, and accountability before disaster strikes.
  • Black Enterprise: Altadena’s Historic Little Red Hen Café Facing Landlord Woes After Devastating Fire. The uncertain future of one of Altadena’s most iconic institutions. Despite donations from Paris Hilton, the 15 Percent Pledge, and a GoFundMe, owner Annisa Shays shares that funding remains the biggest obstacle. We discuss the whiplash of being offered the chance to buy the land, quoted at $500,000 by landowner Perry Bennett, only for the offer to be abruptly withdrawn. 
  • CalMatters: How Altadena Businesses Are Trying to Recover from the Eaton Fire. Small businesses still don’t know when, how, or even if they can return. Another reality that threatens to hollow out the community long before homes are rebuilt.

We also dive into Steve’s Friday Stack on homelessness, drawing uncomfortable parallels between that crisis and this one. Over $24 billion spent, fragmented oversight, mismanaged funds, and shockingly little to show for it. Without accountability, transparency, and coordination, even massive spending fails, whether the crisis is homelessness or wildfire recovery.

Small Business Shout-Out: Daz-E Thrift

This week we’re shouting out Daz-E Thrift, which is reopening this weekend — Saturday, January 24. Find them at 2525 N. Lake Avenue and follow their updates and reopening details on their website dazeshop.org

Note: This episode was recorded Tuesday, January 20, 2026. The podcast takes the week of January 25 off and returns the week of February 1

Steve:

Welcome back to After the Ashes. This is episode two, or season two, episode five. I'm here, one of your podcast hosts, Steve. I'm here with Shauna.

Shawna:

It's me, Shauna. I'm looking, I'm laughing and looking at Steve because there is a written introduction. I know. It says, Welcome back to After the Ashes, the beautiful Al Tedina podcast on LA fire recovery through a public policy level. I was having some fun with some other living. This is your co-host Steve, and we're recording this episode on Tuesday, January 20th. As you can tell, I don't always follow instructions very well. I was trying to make it easy. I know. So where do we begin, Steve? I don't make things easy. So much to talk about again. Every time we think, oh, maybe we'll have a quiet week, maybe we'll take a week off. And then we realize, oh my gosh, just even we we could just cover multiple podcast episodes weekly, just doing media roundups and talking about what's in the press because there's no shortage. Every day we're like, what now? What fresh hell today.

Steve:

Well, I told you that the title of the book I'm on to write, what a disaster. Insider's view of going through this experience. Um, I mean, I think that that could be the title of most people's experiences. What a disaster.

Shawna:

I have to find mine. I think I told you that I was workshopping uh last year after the after uh the fire. I was like, let me start workshopping my memoir titles. And um, they're absurdly hilarious because you know, it was like, in fact, I put all of my my brief life notes and my title ideas into AI. And you want to know what AI came back with?

SPEAKER_01:

What?

Shawna:

The story of a human punching back.

Steve:

Well, it's like fuck you, AI. Maybe maybe working in politics is a good place for you.

Shawna:

Oh my gosh. I could that that cracked me up to no end. I'm still laughing about that.

Steve:

All right. Well, let's get to the stories because you know the times with their new competition starting on Sunday.

Shawna:

Well, hold on a second. I think before we even get to that, let's talk about um the I was we were talking about this, you and I off podcast be since our last podcast, that the day after we recorded the podcast last week, um where we were covering tax reform, prop 13, capital gains, and all of this the day later after we recorded and a day before we released the episode, the uh Trump admin dropped their report on tax reform and everything else. And it was like, oh, well, we continue to be prescient, but uh I don't know if you want to talk about that.

Steve:

Well, I mean, I th there's a lot happening there. I you know, I haven't really been talking to DC much in the last couple weeks. It's been they've been a little focused on, you know, things like Greenland and other whatever drama trauma come up with. But I mean, I think that there's a lot of receptivity right now to looking at some of these federal incentives to try to, you know, look at how disaster can fit into that. Um in fact, I just had an email recently from somebody in DC discussing the Wall Street Journal articles, the second piece, the second one. Because you had two, we had one before Christmas and one I think last week. It may have been right about when we were talking, where um two separate groups, one is AEI, the American Enterprise Institute, which is a pretty center center right um economic think tank. And then you had Stephen Moore and someone else who is another right-wing Republican economist, both talking about cap raising the cap gains exemption for homes to try to build some liquidity in the market because I think they like some of us who you know aren't these major economists notice that getting liquidity and utilizing some of these tax incentives will move these homes. Um I would say probably California's gonna start paying attention to that too, with Prop 13 coming up.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

But right now we're all fighting with ourselves about the billionaire the Billionaire Tax Act, BTA, beat their ass. I mean, like that's I I I know that's why they did it. They came up with the name.

Shawna:

It was like a boy band.

Steve:

Well, I anyway, I think it's you know but we'll get into the ta the billionaire tax thing at some point, I'm sure. Um oh yes, we will. But yes, let's focus on like you you've got here a bunch of really great stories.

Shawna:

I do. We we I this one This is more like your alley.

Steve:

This is not a big thing. Is it is it my is it my lane? I mean, other than that that piece about the soil testing and this government not spending the 70 million and that was outlined in the LA Times, which was insane. Absurd.

Shawna:

Yeah, so that I mean that was the first story on our list for for doing a little bit of a media. Yep, it was um LA Times, you know, had a story. Uh the title was leaked memo reveals California Debated Cutting Wildfire Soil Testing Before Disaster Chiefs Exit. And um, you know, to the point that Steve just made, they discussed very much in this story, very, very point blank in the story, that it what it would have cost to do post-remediation testing on all of our lots um to ensure that we were left with a clean and safe community. And I want to add to that that, you know, I'm sure you have heard um that we have um that we were left, you know, with a very incomplete cleanup, right? If you've been listening to this podcast at all, or you know, follow discussions in the beautiful Altadena group that I had or anything like this, right? Um, you've seen repeatedly the conversation around the fact that Altadena received a an absolutely incomplete cleanup compared to the standard set with past urban fire cleanups, including Molsey in 2018, that there was full remediation with lot to lot clearing, meaning not leaving this and that, and but and certainly not leaving debris behind, but full lot clearing. And then there was post-remediation testing. And if things didn't test, uh clear of numerous things, not just lead, but numerous things, including lead, that they then were were required to do another round of remediation, soil removal, and then retest.

Steve:

But wasn't it too much? It didn't happen here. It wasn't the argument that it was gonna be too expensive.

Shawna:

So the conversation was that, and has been from the inside, and those who worked on this and were part of those conversations and and uh uh contract negotiation, is that they were close to a billion dollars short of what was needed to do the full remediation on all of the, you know, what is it, how many lots were included. And also it's worth noting that is part of why commercial lots were not included, where in other proper other fire zones they have been, because it's pretty common sense to understand if you want to leave a community clean, you need to do the entire community, not leave the commercial zones up to the discretion of private owners who may or may not be able to afford the job and who may or may not use people who are actually going to clear. And we could go on at length about that because there's still contamination on those types of lots sitting all over our community, despite the fact that County Public Works claims, according to their quote unquote GIS, because they're they're monitoring all of this by satellite imagery that oh, it's fine.

Steve:

Well, they got satellite imagery to monitor this, but they didn't have the satellite imagery to tell us where the fire was going.

Shawna:

Oh shit, Steve.

Steve:

Sorry.

Shawna:

That was yeah, tell me more. We're gonna get into that topic um in a bit. But yeah, it's uh it's a very it's a very real issue. And so this was just this one piece. And you know, this is where people should really be hopping mad.

Steve:

It's not billions. No, exactly to do the post-remediation testing a fifth of what it costs to do prop 50.

Shawna:

Correct. So to do post-remediation testing would have been at the top end$70 million to do it on every property in Altadina. And this was also inclusive of the Palisades, we should be clear. This was the cleanup. So this wasn't just Altadena, it was Altadena and the Palisades following the fires in January 2025. Um, and the call was that no, we're not gonna spend that money. So as much as we want to blame it because they wanted the federal government to pay. Correct. As much as we want to blame the federal government because they didn't send enough money, FEMA didn't deliver enough money, we didn't get the same funding. The bottom line is you know, that that is a real statement, but it doesn't mean, okay, great, so let's just fuck everybody. And that's what happened. And and that is what what was done here and what we are all now grappling with.

Steve:

They they found the money for Prop 50. Correct. We didn't have the money for our bill, correct? We didn't have the money to give us our claim.

Shawna:

And we're gonna talk about that too. Um, and the issue around, so we're gonna we're a lot of things we're gonna get into today. But you know, it everyone should be really particularly called and disturbed by the fact that this is literal couch change for the state. And the fact that there is money for so much nonsense, don't get me started on the money being spent by the county, our money, our tax dollars on all of their legal settlements, but we don't have 60 to 70 million dollars to test and ensure that we leave people with a community that is actually safe to rebuild. I've asked repeatedly, what are we rebuilding for? How are we even supposed to rebuild when we don't know what's out there? Or no, we do know what's out there and it's nothing good.

Steve:

Shauna, the governor is gonna save$1.5 billion by cuts. He couldn't find$70 million for this.

Shawna:

That's the point.

Steve:

The governor is out there touting his you know budget that's coming. We all know that it's an immaterial number. I mean, material number for public accounting is one half of one percent of the gross dollar. This is 70 million when one and a half billion is the the gross, the the material image, excuse me, the material demarcation line. Let's do it means it's true. Um this is this is a slap in the face because I guess we don't matter enough for his presidential ambitions.

Shawna:

Correct. So I mean that's that's it. It's like I don't want to go down the path of just trashing our governor.

Steve:

No, but this is a decision that was made by the government.

Shawna:

This was a choice that was made by the governor, and I think everyone needs to be really clear and understanding that this is where this choice was made, and it was a choice. And the choice was to sacrifice us. We continue to be the sacrificial lamb, the collateral damage of you know, other people's interests that are more important than us, and frankly, more important than us having a clean and safe community, because bluntly, it's not going to be their problem, it's going to be someone else's problem because around the time we all start getting sick, they'll all have achieved what they want. You know, they'll be out of office, Newsom may be president, or we'll have at least had run his campaign, you know, and so on and so forth. But um, you should be bothered, folks. You know, people ask you all the time what they can what can we do? What are we gonna do? Write letters, start writing letters, start documenting. Well, I I I This is as quick as sitting down with an email.

Steve:

And for those of you that don't live in California, you need to listen to this or you want to pass it on to people who don't live in California. Just this is just a preview of what a national dynamic would look like if our leadership in the state was running this country. So I think it's a very clear indication. And and those of you who read my Substack know I've been harping on this point a little bit over the last couple days. So take a good hard look, folks.

Shawna:

Yeah, and you know, it's like, but what are the alternatives, Steve?

Steve:

I don't know. I mean, that's that's not my problem, and they're not asking me to run.

Shawna:

I know, but it is it's all of our problem, I'm afraid.

Steve:

Uh well, I mean, at this point, it's up to the party to find out. I I think Rahm Emanuel put it well. I was quoting it the other day because it was in a piece about Andy Bashir that Politico had. And if you want to read the other side of this, it's Andy Bashir, who is probably, you know, the anti-Gavin who's running. He's kind of more folksy, more down-to-earth, less uh television ready, but more of a worker. And you know, almost to the point of being kind of corny. Um but in that article, they had a piece that Ram Emanuel called it resistance and renewal. That's how the party is dividing itself. It's those that are the resistance side, which Gavin is moving into the our governor is moving into that lane, and the renewal side, which is um I guess he's mayor, no ambassador, because I guess that's the highest ranking he's had. He uh Ambassador Emmanuel said that he wants to lead. And he too is running for president. I'm not sure, you know, there's he's got a few things that he's gonna have to get through to get there. But um in you know, in talking about the renewal, because the current president has totally you know reshaped government in Washington to the point that it's being hollowed out. And um Ram Emanuel is saying that maybe there's a chance to renew it and look at it differently and reimagine government, and it doesn't mean it's gonna go back to the way it was. I could tell you that's not what's gonna happen. But what it will look like, this is a chance for the next administration to really think about how they want to reimagine how we deliver governance and government and all the things that go with it. So you got me on that. Yeah. It's a sidetrack. Sorry.

Shawna:

No, don't be sorry. They're all important issues, and I think the more big picture context people have for what all of this means and what's going on, the better, right?

Steve:

Yeah, definitely.

Shawna:

Because none of this, we've talked about this a lot, like none of this happens um, you know, uh in isolation and none of it's happening, you know, just here. We are we continue to be a microcosm of what is playing out on a national stage.

Steve:

I you know, I how many times have you heard me say that?

Shawna:

Yeah, it's the truth.

Steve:

So, but I mean that's just the to me, this story really, like you said, I haven't written about it because it it's just so galling. I can't imagine that this is actually true. I know. But again, now here's up to the Times to not let it be a one-off. Yeah, they need to follow the story goes.

Shawna:

It's um Tony Briscoe, who's been doing all this really fantastic, he's an environmental reporter for the Times, and he's been doing a lot of really fantastic uh writing following the uh not only the soils issues, but some of the stuff going on, if I'm not mistaken, with standing homes. I think he's done some of that coverage as well. Um, because all of those things, you know, dovetail. I mean, I we I had a friend sharing with me last week um that a friend of hers in our community had moved back into their east of home lake that was standing um in a pocket of homes that are that are standing. You know, she's not uh surrounded immediately by by burned homes. So she's in one of these preserved pockets, not unlike yours to that, you know, obviously, like you, she had smoke and and uh ash damage that she had to remediate and she's just gotten through that, moved home. And she just said, even being where she is, you know, quote unquote away from the bulk of construction, away from all that, that every other day they're cleaning their windows and the house because it's it's filled with sit with silt.

Steve:

That's just dirty.

Shawna:

Yeah, yeah, it's just dirt because that so much of that dirt is moving around and it's in your house. And um, I would say, who knows what that's in that dirt, but we know we do know what's in that dirt.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well.

Shawna:

And that that's a that's a problem because it should just be dirt, you know. And I I know that a lot of people want to argue that there's always been lead in our soil, and and that's true. Or living in LA is unhealthy in general. I've heard that one a lot that, like, well, just living in LA at all, no matter where you are, isn't great for your health. If you want to have greater longevity, move out of a major metro. Um, that's a correct state. That's a true statement, but it does not make any different how extreme and severe what we are facing is. A thousand percent. And I and I know that's a bitter pill for a lot of people to swallow, especially those who are in the process of rebuilding, those who are moving home, those who have been home and haven't left. Um, and frankly, you know, you're the you are the folks that we need to fight twice as hard for because it should be safe for you.

Steve:

Yeah, well, it's true. I it again, this is just uh one more slap in the face? One more brick in the wall, so to speak.

Shawna:

Yeah. You're a brick in your wall, a slap in my face. I just find it it's disturbing how much we are not cared about.

Steve:

Again, I I think this goes back to the failures of the county and the failures of the state. And I think that as much as they want to point the finger at Trump and the folks in Washington, there is the the failures here are abounded, as you and I talked about and as has been documented again and again and again. The question now becomes what are we gonna do about it? Like, I mean, it's just it's one thing after another. Like, when is somebody actually gonna step up and do something?

Shawna:

Exactly.

Steve:

That's the part that I think is it's it's so I don't want to say interesting, it's just so gaping. Like, how can you sit there and not you know, and just callously just decide I'm just gonna go ahead and do it the way I've always been doing it.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

Like I'm not gonna make a change here. Why?

Shawna:

I know it's um it's so it's so upsetting. I I don't know how else to put it. It's it's just really it's deeply upsetting. And um, and there's more to the story, and we'll be, you know, we'll be re we'll be coming back to it and talking more about it because unfortunately we're gonna have to. All right, but you know, we're we'll talk exactly. Let's talk about another time story, right? Another uh headline last week was, you know, and this one hit MPR as well, was um wildfire victims decry state law protecting utilities from the cost of disasters they cause.

Steve:

Oh, welcome to the club, guys.

Shawna:

Right? I know, I know. So that this is what was interesting to me about this one. Um, I don't think anybody disagrees, first of all, right? It's problematic.

Steve:

We talked at length about public risk for private enterprise.

Shawna:

Correct. We've talked about this at length here prior to all of this becoming news or becoming a. Correct. And you know, outside of that, you know, exactly. As we covered the wildfire fund and you know what that is and why it exists and how problematic it is that we and you know, uh beyond that.

Steve:

Um that's when they were talking about renewing it and remembering. I know. We talked about our favorite, our favorite senator who was like, oh, I didn't understand. Oops, like, come on.

Shawna:

Yes, exactly. The lady doth protest too much. But uh that that's exactly where I was going with this. But you know, it's it's fascinating to me that this is becoming a headline again right now and why, you know, um, because I think there are some orgs who have uh, you know, as we have, had good uh coverage with with media. Um, and it was interesting to me to see that, you know, we're going from trying to get SCE to pay people this$200,000, you know, upfront, which is great, but it's magic. I I would love that. I mean, it would help me tremendously, help my neighbors tremendously, but we all know it's magical thinking, it's never gonna happen. So why put this much time and energy into something like that? It it begs many questions, but it's the same with this of like, okay, let's decry the fund.

Steve:

Where were you in September when they were reauthorized, when the governor was twisting arms?

Shawna:

And beyond that, you know, now what? Like, so you what we want to get rid of the fund and fuck everybody in the neighborhood? Because that's what would happen. Well, the fund is the only way that people will even remotely be made whole out of this. It's why we're not suing the county.

Steve:

Well, first of all, I mean, the failure here, well, we're not suing the county, but well, no, but it's why people are not suing.

Shawna:

I mean, some people well, but we'll get to that.

Steve:

I mean, look, it back to the back to this wildfire fund, you know my opinions. If we're gonna publicize the risk, then the public should be able to benefit from it. And it should be a public utility.

Shawna:

That's right.

Steve:

I mean, and we feel the same about that. I I and I am not a socialist by any stretch of the imagination.

Shawna:

I'm the socialist, not Steve. But for my listener, for my Substack reader who is concerned. Convinced I'm a Trump voter, which is I don't even know where to go with that. It's so I was like, you clearly don't listen to the podcast or actually read anything. He's waving his hand at me like but I'm still laughing about it. That like it's like I well, it reminded me of the time I got um yelled at that I was at about it was a party. I'm gonna go on a little bit of a non sequitur. Ages ago, we had a party for a friend, we had a pinata, and they brought a dominatrix pinata, and it was like an inside joke. Okay, it was it was an inside joke, it was hilarious. And someone at the party got so angry and said, Oh, whose idea was it? You know, to think that let's like beat the woman is a funny game, like what kind of sick misogynist? And I was like, it was an inside joke. There's it was not that was it was it was more of a power move for the women in the room, not that.

Steve:

And okay, ultimately, I've dug myself into the holes at this time. I'm gonna be the feminist for you.

Shawna:

No, that was it. That was the that was the whole thing. They were like, there was this it literally was like the room went silent. It was like, who is the misogynist? I was like, it's me. I'm the misogynist. Again, if you know me, I'm the biggest feminist in the room. So um it was a bit of a thing. But anyhow, I I laugh at this shit when it's just so far off base, but I think it also becomes an excellent example of how you know we don't, we don't talk, we don't listen, we don't communicate, and we are all conditioned to be so in our little sequestered in our little spaces and our labels and definitions, and that you know, everything else is a dirty word. And it, you know, it's not. We have to have the con like how often do we say here the call's coming from inside the house? Like we're a democratic state with democratic leadership. We can all be Democrats.

Steve:

It's the Republicans' fault because they're so powerful here in California.

Shawna:

Well, listen, I mean, fuck them too, but uh but because there's a long list, but the the fuck them list is getting longer every day.

Steve:

Like it's almost like you feel sorry for them.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

Like the Democratic Party has its convention in Sacramento at the convention center. The Republican Party had it in a hotel at a Marriott or something in fucking Anaheim. I mean, like, really a hotel ballroom? Like that is the opposite, the opposition here. But anyway, we'll get into this because we'll get into it.

Shawna:

To to wrap up this point on this, you know, with the wildfire fund, because we've talked about it a lot here, and and I just thought the timing of this was curious. Like, why are we talking about this now? As we are literally on the precipice of heading into settlements for everyone, do we really want to blow up our fund while we're trying to get everybody settled out?

Steve:

So no, look, the the day we're gonna talk about it should have been in September. Correct. The fact they're bringing it up now is like a oh, we don't like it, but what can we do about it? Well, I'm sorry, let's talk about how we could potentially fix this down the road. I know.

Shawna:

So I will say out loud the thing I have said repeatedly in private spaces, because if you know me, you know I will, there's nothing I will say in a private space to someone I will not say outside and out loud to everyone. And and that is really simply that, you know, what what what is the goal? What are we hoping to accomplish other than to keep ourselves in the press? And you know, and that is an important point. We do need to keep Al Tadina in the press through any means necessary. That means everyone doing their part to push these stories as far as they can. As long as you don't jump the shark. As long as you don't jump the shark. So I will, and I'm afraid that that was this. And then it again it begs a question like what are we doing here? For what? To what end? Yeah, I would love an answer. So my commentary on that, because I did make a public comment on that, and I'll share it here as we wrap this one up, was very simply, you know, um, that this is problematic, right? But it's the only thing that will likely even remotely make anyone whole after this because there is that money there. And the alternative would be bankrupting a utility, leaving us all holding the bag, which is exactly what happened in Paradise, where you have people seven years now going on eight, who still have not seen a dime, and most of whom got a pittance of what they should have gotten. And I think that speaks, you know, more than anything else to why that town seven going on eight years later is only 23% rebuilt, uh, which is horrifying.

Steve:

But you know, it is apples and oranges.

Shawna:

It is. I agree with you, in part because of this, right? They didn't have the benefit of this.

Steve:

So they also were a second home community. They were there are a lot of things. They're not different demographics. Correct.

Shawna:

They're not exactly so you know, ultimately, you know, I just said that the$22 billion wildfire fund, while unsavory and ultimately emblematic of how problematic a private for-profit utility is, it is the only mechanism that will ensure people will be made even remotely whole through legal settlements after this disaster. So if the private utility was entirely on the hook for this, they would simply bankrupt and carry on, which is exactly what happened in paradise. The problem here isn't the fund, it is the private utilities and the state and county authorities not holding those utilities accountable to maintain their equipment or otherwise follow the law. And I I closed with that because, you know, we've talked about this before. There have been laws on the books for literally 50 years requiring utilities to remove decommissioned equipment, like the towers that started this fire, allegedly.

Steve:

I I I mean, uh yes, yeah, but I also believe that we need to figure out a better way to do it than we can.

Shawna:

We I agree. Well, I think we need a public utility. Let's just all share, let's all take, you know, are a part of this profit.

Steve:

Yeah. Or then the the utility should be putting that money in escrow. I mean, I I or some other way. I I it shouldn't be on the ratepayers to have to pay. I mean, because effectively 50% of it comes from us as ratepayers, and then 50% comes from the shareholders or the count utility, which of that 50%, how much is just inflated on your bill to pay for it? So your your ratepayers are paying this. And that doesn't seem fair that what the maximum amount of money that the utility shareholders are going to be on the hook for is a billion dollars, which is insured or SCE. Like for their incompetence because they decided not to maintain their lines, it's cheaper for them not to maintain the lines than it is for them to, you know, do that. Like it it got they got the Ford calculus 100%. And for those of you that don't know what the Ford calculus is, it goes back to in the late 70s, Ford Pintos were these very popular cars. And the calculus at the time was if it what happened was if the car was hit from behind, it would explode where they put the gas tank. And so the recall would have been so expensive that the calculus was we'll just take the litigation and pay out the costs, it'll be cheaper than doing the recall. But in reality, and this is this is common in product liability, we're having this problem with my wife's car right now, her engine is the same.

Shawna:

Yeah, we're talking about the lemon law.

Steve:

Yeah, and um but the in that case, in the Ford case, um, my dad's cousin was actually the undersecretary of transportation at the time, and he's the one who blew the whistle on Ford and made Ford recall and pay out. So they got the double whammy, which didn't work out. But for the Edison, this calculus worked perfectly. If I was their attorneys, they're probably paying them very well right now.

Shawna:

Yeah, I have no doubt.

Steve:

One billion dollars, that's it for a disaster.

Shawna:

Yeah, sounds about right, doesn't it?

Steve:

Yeah.

Shawna:

So let's uh should we move on to another another story, another headline was uh Black Enterprise was covering the latest at Little Red Hen Cafe. So for those who don't recall, who haven't heard in past episodes, we talked about this. We have talked about Little Red Hen because it's such an important business. It was located on North Fair Oaks, fantastic um cafe, coffee shop, community hub, um, but particularly significant for the black community. Um, as it was, you know, not only a hub for the black community and for West Altadena, but also um one of the, if not, I believe the longest running Black woman-owned uh business in Altadena. So it very much a um a heritage business for the community, a landmark, you know, something, one of those things that, you know, is precious for everybody and needs to be maintained. And um, so they've been working hard to try and come back. They had a GoFundMe. They've had, you know, donations from like you know, the campaign that Paris Hilton did. They had um some money from the 15% pledge, which I'm very proud, you know, please, anyhow, I know one of the people involved with that and love her. Um, and GoFundMe. And despite all of that, so they were working on buying the lot. And days after the fire, weeks after the fire, the owner, Perry Bennett, had told them, you know, if you want to buy it, you know, you can you can buy it. Here's the price. They got the money together to buy the lot, and then Perry uh reneged the offer and said, Oh, I've changed my mind. Uh, it's not for sale now. And so now he's looking at like, how can I basically jack up the rent on these people? Which, needless to say, um could very much force them out. So it's really problematic. Um, the Shays who are the family who own Little Red Hen were saying that um they were initially quoted$500,000 to buy the property and were assured the sale could move forward, but then he changed their mind, said we're not selling, we want to keep it, and they have no doubt the rent's going to go up. And so, you know, this I feel like this is just again, it's another example of what happens all over, right? Not just here in Altadina, but everywhere. With when you are beholdened, if you don't, if you do not, especially as a food and beverage business, which is obviously I'm a little more sensitive to, given that's been my industry for so long. If you don't own your property, you know, you your business can be decimated overnight by a rent hike. It's that simple. Um, you know, so to see this kind of thing happening, you know, this is again, this is um, this is economic warfare on our community and our businesses.

Steve:

Well, what did we call it last week? A siege?

Shawna:

Well, it is a siege, right? It is a financial siege. Um, or as I say, they're smoking us out. So, you know, this is another example of that. And it was really disturbing to read this. And I hope that they find some path forward. And I hope that the landowner comes to his senses and does the right saying. You know, I don't think it's it's everyone's job to be the savior of all of all business and you know, make a great deal. But I mean, we saw this happen with the woman who owns, you know, two dragons martial arts, right, Sippu. Um, and I always hope I'm pronouncing her name correctly. Um, but you know, it was this very similar situation, but at least with the owner of that land, they did not back out on the deal. Um, and she was able to fundraise, she was able to buy that land and will be able to return. Um, so that's fantastic. But you know, that's obviously not happening everywhere. I noticed the um the old liquor store um adjacent Mariposa Junction on the southwest corner of Lake and Mariposa. Yeah, huge for sale sign up. That that is for sale. The um similarly, the corner where Side Pie was located, that beautiful historic brownstone that was was unfortunately destroyed by the fire at the top corner. Um, the north, what would it be, southeast corner of Lake and Alsina Drive, that has also been for sale now for for some time. So it's, you know, we're gonna have to imagine what this community is gonna look like. I mean, we know we're not coming back to the same community, right? Um, and and I we've also said repeatedly that not all change is bad. Um, but it's going to be significantly different. And with the way that the things are being done right now with SB9 overriding um R or CSD, both of those properties could end up being tall, mixed-use buildings.

Steve:

Well, yeah. You get what you pay for, you get what you vote for, people.

Shawna:

Well, I mean, I except we don't. I I'm gonna I you know I agree with you on that statement in general, but here I think this goes back to Altadena doesn't have a say.

Steve:

Yeah, but everybody's gonna give an impact. Like, look at the Who's everyone? I don't know.

Shawna:

I just feel like Altadena doesn't have a a mechanism because we have no leadership or voice. I feel like except for our town council who's rolled over. They have just rolled over because we don't vote.

Steve:

And I mean, I and I'm one who didn't vote in that, but um I think you've got the supervisor, you've got the senator who gets a lot of a lot of leeway from a lot of the community groups. Yep. So like while she's screwing us left and right. I just sorry, I'm gonna go there because I'm I just think that you know, unfortunately, these are our people, and you know, what's good for thee is not good for me. I mean, this would never happen in Alhambra where she lives. I can tell you that right now.

Shawna:

And it sure as hell wouldn't happen where Catherine lives in San Marino.

Steve:

Oh hell no.

Shawna:

Exactly. Oh hell no, indeed. All right, so So shall we talk about our last story, which was um Cal Matters did a small business story that, you know, it was really to be blunt, it was kind of a puff piece, which I expected more from Cal Matters. But Cal Matters is all AI now, anyway.

Steve:

It's it's AI driven or it's human, what is it like designed in California, built in China? Like the same kind of thing. It's like scalp, you know, idea from a human and then written by AI.

Shawna:

Yeah, it was um it was it was fine. I was glad to see the people they spoke to because they spoke to, you know, some really great business owners. I talked to um, you know, um, gosh, who was in there? Uh Zach at Prime Pizza, you know, Farrox, I think Ferox Burger, um, anyhow. There were quite a there were a few, but you know, it was just it was basically the headline of this one was how Altadina businesses are trying to recover from the Eaton Fire. And the the takeaway from all of it was that small businesses have been, you know, left out to dry in so many respects. They're they've been cut off and cut out from so many aid and grant programs that they're not eligible for. What they are eligible for is incredibly limited, insufficient. And it's certainly not gonna ride people through the next five years as they try and wait for people to come back to town, because it's it's gonna take at least that long. It'll be five to get a percentage back, and and seven to ten before we get everybody back. And you know, how does anyone make it?

Steve:

This is one of the things that I've been pinged on by a few of the electeds, but not necessarily our visible elected.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Steve:

But, you know, economic development is going to be a conversation and what that's going to look like and what our commercial zones will look like. Well, and what our commercial organizations will be. Um there's still there's still a lot to be determined here. I think right now they're focusing on getting people back in homes, and then they're gonna focus on the businesses. Um you know, and Altadina's sort of been a hodgepodge up to this point, but you know, there are ways, and those of my who are readers know that I've written a few pieces on this, that this could the small businesses and the economic development in our area could be tremendously leveraged if we had the right leadership. But unfortunately leadership on economic development doesn't it's hard here in California because there's not a lot of business people that are involved in these spaces. And the remaining people that are. I I've got a good buddy, we can bring him in and he could come on and explain it all to you. But the people that are involved in this really are are more academic than they are actual practical business people. So yeah. And and so they they don't it's they're disconnected, they don't understand. This has always been the case. I've offering is you know, it's it's totally, you know.

Shawna:

I have said for a very long time that California, and I and I say this as someone who's had multiple small businesses, been a partner in multiple small businesses, helped to launch thousands of them, literally. And um, I have said so many times, because it is sadly the truth, that um California likes to pay a lot of lip service to small business, that we're small business friendly, that we support small business, we want small business, we love small business. But when when push comes to shove, when it's time to put your money where your mouth is, it never happens. Like we are left out. And I this was could not have been made more clear during COVID, which you know decimated an unbelievable number of businesses, um, including mine. I uh all my business was lost to COVID overnight. Um and, you know, outside of that, you know, I'm one of the people, like you know, um someone else who is quoted in the in that Cal Matter story, who lost a cottage, you know, actually a little different. They had a home base business with the home base office. I had a cottage business at a cottage bakery, and I lost all of that. And, you know, this is where I'm the person who was uninsured because I had just let my business insurance that was a food-related company, or sorry, food-related insurer, um, lapse that December. So that in January I had planned to start a new policy with the Hartford, because I had the Hartford period previously, and I liked them. And I was like, I need to get big girl insurance, so to speak, and move from this small policy to a bigger, a more meaningful policy. So I ramped up business. Um, and I was right in between that because this happened on January 7th in the middle of a holiday. So I ended up, you know, really screwed, like so many. I was completely uninsured for that loss. And that was it's that alone a significant six-figure loss. So um it's not good. And people, you know, people ask, oh, we're gonna bring it back and restart. No, it's it's just it's such a hurdle between having to now find a space because I don't have a space. The space was built in, and so and I don't have a built-in space, so doesn't make sense, and I've lost all my recipes and I've lost all of my supply. It's like it's that we're collected over so many years. Like it's hard to explain. It's like it's so there, it's the threshold is so high.

Steve:

I get it.

Shawna:

Um, that you know, I'm gonna invest, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars to make, you know, a fraction of that over X number of years because it's getting harder and harder with costs to make this make sense, anyways.

Steve:

Well, and California is not conducive to business anyway. I mean, look at we have and you know, there's macro level things going on here that you know we can talk about later. But um, yeah, I I'm uh definitely somebody who wants to try to figure out the small business side.

Shawna:

Me too. Uh I could not want that more because we we so desperately we need it. Like, you know, people don't realize how much of our economy is dependent upon small business. I used to talk about all the time with independent business, you know, how much more meaningful those dollars are spent. People don't realize the percentage of your money when spent with a local small business that stays in your community versus going to, you know, Target or another, or you know, worse, Amazon, you know, where every dollar is sent out, not zero stays in the community. And it is a significant economic driver. And um, you know, here we are letting those businesses die on the vine, which they are, which sadly they're going to. I've said from the day one, like some of these guys will survive because they're multi-unit, they have other other uh revenue streams, et cetera. But those who don't, this is they've got a very, very tough road ahead of them. And I really hope that we as a community, not just in Naltadena, but in LA at large, um have what it's going to take to continue to support these businesses and rally for them for the long haul because it's going to be a long haul for them.

Steve:

Well, if we build back right here and we do the right economic development and bring the right businesses into the community, there should be plenty of support for a lot of these smaller businesses to be able to, you know, you have to think about it as two little parallel paths. You have the housing side and the residential side, but you also have the commercial side. And the commercial side has gotten a lot of short shrift, as Sean has talked about. And it's not just the small businesses, but you know, we we actually could be bringing in other new businesses. And startups and you know incubating these things. And we're we're we're totally, totally ham-handed in all of this. Yeah.

Shawna:

But again, behind the eight ball on all of it.

Steve:

You know, we we could talk to her blue in the face until our electeds and our people running our our government here actually do something about it. You know, and and in fact, I have a plan ready to go. I'm just I'm waiting to talk to the federals about it. Um because we got some good news last week.

Shawna:

Are we talking about our opportunity zone funding?

Steve:

No, it's it's a way that we can build and bring in government contracts to our community.

Shawna:

Amazing.

Steve:

And you know, it looks like another state is very interested in it. And so if they are willing to do it, there's no reason why we can't get it done here. Okay. Having said that, should we move on to the next topic?

Shawna:

We can move on to the next topic, but I I want to close this one out and saying I really do hope we see some opportunity zone movement because that would be part of it, but solve so many problems and create so many new opportunities in a meaningful way that we otherwise are not seeing.

Steve:

But there's a way that we can structure the businesses and bring them in and we can have not necessarily a centralized mechanism to do it, but you know, a more direct community-based solution that can be starting and spawning businesses, and especially with our relationship with JPL and Caltech, and with the fact we can get CRA money for the next year or two years and get qualified for that. But we should be able to do a lot of these things if we have the right leadership. And I'm waiting for them to step up because the plans are there and there are ways to do all this, and it's very frustrating to watch it not be done.

Shawna:

That is frustrating. This whole process has been frustrating. Yeah, well, you know, there's so much we could have done better and differently, but let's not. Let's just kill the town. It's it almost feels like that is the directive at this point. It's maddening. So on that note, let's let's move on. Let's talk about um, you know, we're we're one of your stories, right? So last Friday, you were talking about everyone's every Angelino's favorite topic, every Californian's favorite topic.

Steve:

You mean the one the governor took his victory lap on? Yeah. Yeah, homelessness.

Shawna:

So Because we've said everybody, we've so we've solved homelessness.

Steve:

And we haven't. Oh, governor fixed it. Oh yeah. Okay. So here's the interesting thing about the governor's state of the state. And then Politico had a piece after that on they had like a round table discussion that they wrote with Liam Dillon, um, Melanie Mason, and uh, I think one other one of their other California writers. And so they started talking about the governor's victory lap on not homelessness, but people getting off the streets. And you know, we're all very aware that we have spent$24 billion in the state, and really we haven't seen a marked change in homelessness until the last year. And why? And so everyone's talking about all these different reasons, and you know, I said to myself, I go, we're all missing the big one. And that was the the Supreme Court overturning Grant's pass the decision that was holding basically the Western states hostage and forcing, you know, people to be able to sleep in parks because there weren't enough beds in homeless shelters for various people. So now we have a nine percent drop in people on the streets about a year later, after that decision was starting to work its way through. Shauna, do you see it and I know, right? And it wasn't even mentioned. And it wasn't mentioned. And so I said, you know, there's that, there's also the care courts, which again, one of the things that we had in this state was I think it's the Lanterman Laws, um, which basically was grew out of one who flew over the cuckoo's nest. No, literally. And the idea being that, you know, people who are committed to asylums would no longer you would should be able to have agency over their own, you know, their own affairs, and that they are, you know, should be given human rights, which I agree with, but not everybody who is, you know, not everybody can manage their own affairs, unfortunately. And unfortunately, there's a lot of mental health issues that are out there.

Shawna:

Thank you, Reagan.

Steve:

And so, no, this was Lanterman, this was the Democrats, and then everybody said Reagan shut down all the asylums and all the hospitals. That did happen, though. That did happen because everybody cleared out, and so there were nobody there, so then all of a sudden these hospitals closed. So, yes, it was technically Reagan, but I mean it's all about how you want to look at it through which lens.

Shawna:

I'm not, I'm I'm just I'll get up, I appreciate that.

Steve:

I'm not, you know, I'm not sure. This is not about the history, the the other than everybody likes to point fingers, and I think people need to stop pointing fingers and start looking at what happened. So, fast forward to the governor's care courts, he's kind of backtracking a little bit on the Lanterman laws and allowing you know people who have mental health um concerns to be represented by other than themselves. So that also helps to push people into treatments and you know get more support where necessary. So I think you take those two things, which neither of which were mentioned in that article, and then I thought about it and I go, you know, it's interesting. If you think about that Ninth Circuit decision and what that one decision has wrought on our state, we spent$24 billion and we got nowhere. We've created an industrial complex of homelessness, support, and building that is unrivaled now, and so much so that we now have Measure A, which was designed to reduce the housing crunch on people who are experiencing homelessness. I mean, this thing is gonna go on and on and on. The tens, if not potentially hundreds of billions of dollars all because of this one Supreme Court decision, is unbelievable. I mean, if you think about it, what do we have? 70,000 people who are homeless in California right now? Just give them the damn money. Like, holy shit. I mean, it it really is crazy how many people are benefiting from this. And so I think when you take a step back and you think about it, you go, this is where activist judiciaries can can have a negative effect too. Because I know there's a lot of people out there that believe that the decision was right from a human rights perspective, but I also think you have to look at it from the policy perspective where there's a tremendous amount of cost associated with this one. And again, governor, I thank you for pursuing it at the Supreme Court, but the fact you're not saying it was the Supreme Court leads one to believe you didn't want to offend too many people on that one.

Shawna:

So Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, uh anyhow, there's no shortage of these stories on what happened with that money and in various channels and audits and exposes. Yeah.

Steve:

Foundation or not foundation, though, it wasn't them, but exactly.

Shawna:

I mean, I would there was even a local example. I was I will never forget reading about this because I grew up in Glassell Park, Hallem Park, Eagle Rock, you know, basically northeast LA in the 70s and 80s. And so I that's you know, community. Uh I'm very much that old, but don't tell anyone. But um I couldn't help but notice, you know, over the last few years as they were building those, you know, tiny houses um at the one of the parks in Highland Park, right off the 110 freeway. So every time I would drive through there, I would see them being built. And then I'd see by KDL. Right. And then I saw them occupied. And when I saw what it was costing to build each of those, I was like, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh, no, yes. It was like close to half, it was like 400,000, three something or four hundred thousand dollars per little tiny basically shack. These are like, you know, Home Depot uh sheds.

Steve:

It doesn't matter when you have grant money coming in and no reporting, really. Exactly.

Shawna:

And sound familiar? Does it sound like something we've talked about about where money goes when there's when you have ways to channel it with very little oversight and reporting? Um, well, where it looks like it's very legitimate, but who's following the dollars? It's insane how much of this money just bleeds out everywhere.

Steve:

Did you read the piece I wrote on the budget situation? And because we were joking about who doesn't want to run for, I'm sure we're probably jumping ahead to the next one.

Shawna:

Jump into the next episode.

Steve:

But the idea being in California in 2007, we peaked out at public education, the number of people in the schools was six point six point three million. We've dropped by half a million, but our funding went from 67 billion to 135 billion. So we've doubled the number the amount that we spend on public education. We've reduced the number of people that are getting the education, or we're we're demographically declining. What the hell? I know, and yeah, that's on autopilot, folks. Like if you want to talk about where California's budget is in trouble, it's you can we can nibble around on all the fringe stuff, but it's education. 136 of our two 340 billion is there, and then the rain, you know, what Medicaid is is probably another. I haven't even looked at that one yet. But I mean, you start looking at these numbers, you start going, what what what's going on? And then add in the fact 20% of people at UCSD can't even do remedial math. I'm shaking my head.$136 billion, folks. Where the hell is that money? And if you say any and this goes back to 782, it's for the kids. Remember?

Shawna:

It's it's but the children, it's always about the kids, and it's an emergency for the children.

Steve:

What the billionaires tax part of that's gonna go to K through 14. Like, guys, we got to start thinking about this stuff. So, anyway.

Shawna:

Yep, that's a fun one. Uh, we had another topic for this episode, but we've had so much to cover. I think we're gonna, and I know we're running long as usual, that I think we we hold it for the next episode, and I'm gonna close it out with our small biz shout-out. Sure. Does that work?

Steve:

Yeah.

Shawna:

Um, so I wanted to today's small biz shout-out, I wanted to give a note to um a couple of our thrift shops in Altadino, right? So everybody knows Full Circle Thrift because it's in that beautiful brownstone building that was uh formerly that just train station. Exactly, the station for the tram, for the um tramway, yeah, Mountlow tramway, which is beautiful. And go look at that history if you haven't seen it. Um, but and I and I that is one of the small miracles that that building did survive because it's one of our most historic structures. And since we lost so many, um I know for me when I drove up the day after the or the day I say day after, but so many homes burned on that day on this on the uh eighth. But um, and and structures, I watched them, but um I was so happy to see that that was not destroyed by fire. Um, and they were able to reopen. And um, they were on my mind because I was with a group of Altina women the other day, and one of the topics that came up was how great the uh selection at Full Circle had been lately, that like the really good donations were coming out. If you haven't been to Full Circle Thrift in a while, now's the time to get your booty up there because there's some really, really great stuff. I think someone had found like an amazing Isabel Morant uh jacket and like you know, get yourself to Full Circle Thrift. There's a lot of good shit to be had. But our other um uh thrift shop in Al Tedina was the Daisy, Daisy Thrift Shop, and it's coming back. So I wanted to give Daisy a shout out and make sure people know that they are reopening on January 24th this weekend. So hopefully, you know, people can go out, support them, and know that they'll be open, and that's another um great spot, especially for everybody who is, you know, like too many of us, um, starting over.

Steve:

Indeed.

Shawna:

Buying everything all over again. Um, and if you want, I I don't know how it feels for others, but I don't know. Having everything new felt so wrong for me. Um and so I've been trying to find things that, you know, were somehow, you know, vintage. Previously loved. Yes, previously loved or vintage antique, etc. You know, it's not everything is that, but some things because you want some sense of time, history, place, right? And that that's helpful. So yeah, I feel like uh thrift shops are such a great place. And of course, on the economic front, because so many of us uh really don't have enough money to do everything we have to do. So wherever we can save it, it's great. So um I will close out on this on a personal story because I was sharing this this morning with Steve. It's we are now a year past the fire, and all this time, as if we were just discussing, like I lost my business, but I also had a home office for my other business or even you know my consulting work. And um, obviously I lost my home office and everything that was in there as well. But um, I finally, finally set up a new office this week the last couple of days. Yep. And like it it took me, this is how long it's taken. It took me a year to even try to undertake that, to go, you know, to get filing cabinets, to try to reorganize things, to be in a mental place that I could even start that process. And um, I still had a few things in my old office storage. I'd just done a huge liquidation when I was working on renovating my house. So sadly, I would have had a ton of stuff, but I just got rid of all of it. Um, but I what I did still have in there was one of the desks from my old office that was this cork top desk that I used as like a guest desk when people came to visit our office and wanted a little workspace. Um, and it was one of those things like it wasn't my I had my desk and that wasn't my desk, but it was in my storage. And I uh I brought it home last night and set it up in a room in my rental house. Sorry, I'm just laughing because there's a cricket here in the studio and it just got really loud. We have a cricket, very loud cricket. Uh anyhow, it feels like uh the bayou in here right now. Um it was really it was wild for me to find that, to bring it in and to have it to and to enjoy it and you and use it and give it new life um and have, but also I did not expect what it would bring up for me, Steve. I had like a really it was a really deeply emotional thing. Like once I brought something from my past life into this space with all these new things, because my entire past life was effectively erased. Um, it was a lot. I I was like, what what what is this? And I realized, oh my gosh, this is um, I'm gonna unpack this with my therapist. It it brought up a lot, but it was really nice to be at a desk and I was super productive this morning.

SPEAKER_02:

So yes, you were. I was got a whole uh spreadsheet full of stuff.

Shawna:

I did, I know. And um, you saw the email I sent to the county, and we're gonna talk about in the next episode.

Steve:

Oh, yeah. So with that, with that, I think we should bid everyone adieu.

Shawna:

Ado. Thank you always for listening. Thanks for sticking it out with us. Um, I don't know how our our re our listening ship goes up every week and stays solid. I'm like, I don't know who you people are, but we love you. Thank you. This is why we do it. Hope it's helpful. And um, we'll see you on the next one. I'm Shauna, I'm at Beautiful Altadina, Instagram, our Facebook groups, our Substack, and I'm here with Steve.

Steve:

I'm the Alta Policy Wonk for all those that really want to fall asleep by while they're reading something.

Shawna:

You it's really good reading.

Steve:

Oh, thanks.

Shawna:

It is. We'll see you next time.

Steve:

Bye now.