After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast

Season 2/Episode 8: The Water Wars Wage On as the Rebuild Trudges Along

• Shawna at Beautiful Altadena

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It’s another long one. We planned to kick things off with our usual media roundup, but first the Altadena Water Wars. The drama! The intrigue!

We open with the rapid rise and even faster disappearance of the anonymously penned Altadena Water Wars Substack by “JJ Gittes.” It vanished almost as quickly as it appeared but we kept receipts. Shawna pulled the full archive and reposted every word under a dedicated Altadena Water Wars tab.

We dig into the escalating chaos surrounding Altadena’s three mutual water companies:

• Las Flores Water Company drew record attendance at its January 22 meeting where residents pushed back on a proposed $3k fire charge just to remain solvent, with no clear financing or long-term infrastructure plan.
• Rubio Cañon held its packed February 3 meeting requesting a rate hike and fire charge in perpetuity, a proposal that would cost customers more than Las Flores’. Tensions ran high with shareholders openly discussing board recalls.
 • Lincoln Water Company meets February 5. They’ve gone on the defensive warning shareholders to get info only from them and restricting attendance echoing Rubio’s response after media showed up at Las Flores.

All three mutuals were in Sacramento asking the state for funding despite claims their private status makes them ineligible for public dollars. Meanwhile, they’ve declined to pursue private capital. The question remains, why? Calls for consolidation continue and increasingly look like the only viable path forward, especially for Las Flores, which has the smallest service area, suffered the greatest losses, and was underinsured. Bottom line: shareholders have more power than they realize. Boards can be challenged. Votes can be forced.

Media Roundup

• Gavin Newsom’s national moment (The New Yorker, Vogue) and his new “centrist” positioning
• A strong LAist report on post-fire rent laws that exist on paper but aren’t being used
• A surprising moment of agreement with Rick Caruso
 

And an open invitation to all gubernatorial candidates. Come see us to see the real Altadena, not just what the establishment wants you to see

A rebuild check-in. 599 buildings under construction, 6 completed, and just four county inspectors overseeing nearly 9k rebuilds. Inspectors reportedly handling 20–30 inspections per day. Corners being cut. Things falling through the cracks. Why is nothing being done more than a year out?

Editor’s Note: Due to a tech glitch, a short portion of our density discussion is missing. Here’s context. On one stretch of Maiden Lane alone, pending water meter requests alone one lot proposed for 11 units, another for 8, and another for 4. Before accounting for ADUs which will be nearly universal. Where is the infrastructure plan to support this?

Small Biz Shout-Out

Goes to the Fraternal Order of Eagles Altadena Aerie, 455 E. Woodbury. A vital hub for community aid after the fire, home to the Beautiful Altadena mural by Austin Scott and one of the most authentic spaces left in town.

Note: This episode was recorded on February 3, 2026

Shawna:

Welcome back. It's After the Ashes, the beautiful Alpedina podcast on fire recovery through a public policy lens. This is your co-host Shauna. We are recording this episode on Tuesday, February 3rd. And this is season two, episode 8, Water Wars and False Prophets.

Steve:

You got that right. I couldn't get the episode in this the episode, the season right. I know.

Shawna:

It's okay. It's okay. Um it's why I have notes in front of me so I don't fuck it up.

Steve:

Oh, that's why, because I would say episode eight, season two, and you had two, and you messed up my logic. That's why. Oh, I'm yes, it was me. By the way, it's Steve here, her co-host.

Shawna:

It was me. It wasn't, it wasn't nothing to do with it.

Steve:

It has nothing to do with you. It's that I don't read it because I was automatically glossing over it to look at it differently. It's my fault.

Shawna:

I apologize for the crumpling sounds. I brought popcorn in the studio because I needed a snack. And it's this pop protein popcorn, and it's actually really Don't do it. Don't do it. I'm not going to talk about who's making it because I'm not even going to say that name. It's like saying Voldemort. I won't do it.

Steve:

But um She Who Remaining Remain Nameless.

Shawna:

But this shit is good, damn it.

Steve:

All right, let's go to this one.

Shawna:

It's like the other person related to that person who's under clothing, who's and lingerie basics, who's who I will not, who shall also remain a name because again, another Voldemort. But again, that shit is good. I I I it makes me angry that it's good. Like I don't want to like it.

Steve:

When I had a tux when I could fit in my tux when I was in good shape, um, I had a black tie because I couldn't find a black tie, and the only tie I can get was a Trump tie.

Shawna:

Oh god. Like what a long red tie?

Steve:

No, it was a black, it was black, but it was the only black tie they had at the store when I was.

Shawna:

Wait, was like Trump brand?

Steve:

Yeah.

Shawna:

I didn't even know that was a thing.

Steve:

It was a thing. Come on, everything was branded Trump. This was before he ran for president. This was like in 2014, 2015. Oh my gosh. I gotta send you a picture of the bumper sticker I have. Everybody needs a good comb over in my, it's on my it's a picture of Donald Trump. This is before he, again, before he ran, before he even talked about it.

Shawna:

Oh my gosh. So, you know, our last episode uh ran a little long because we just can't help ourselves. We'll try and keep this one a little tighter. It's not even we can't help ourselves. We have so much to talk about.

Steve:

There's a lot going on. We're trying to condense three into two.

Shawna:

Yeah. And when we take a week off like we did last week, it's like trying to condense six into two, really. It's it's a lot.

Steve:

And things picked up, you know, the the holidays ended, the crescendo of the anniversary figured, you know, everybody kind of caught their breath, and now things are starting to move along again. And politics is like that. I'm seeing this in Washington as much as I'm seeing it here, too. Um, things are starting, people are starting to, you know, realize, okay, what's next?

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

And that is what I think we're gonna start talking about.

Shawna:

It is, and and about the drama and the intrigue. No shortage of drama and intrigue. It was that was crazy, wasn't it? It's fucking crazy. Um, are we gonna open with that? It's it's supposed to be no, let's go. I know. So we were going to open with our usual media roundup, but I think that we have to jump ahead.

SPEAKER_01:

It is media roundup.

Shawna:

It kind of is, right? It kind of, kinda is, and talk about the issue, um, ongoing issue with our water companies, our water mutuals, but very specifically our kind of deep throat um Substack uh compatriot Al Zadino Water Wars, uh John JJ Giddeys, JJ Giddis, who uh so existed for those who don't gone. Yeah, so those who have not been following um and don't know what we're talking about, um last year in December. Well, this all played out inside of a month. On December 20th, Steve and I both got a note through Instagram inviting us to become I'm sorry, I said Instagram, Substack. Get your social media right now. I know, I know. I sound like an old person.

Steve:

Um at least you know how to use Substack, I know.

Shawna:

I'm still I'm still teaching Steve. We're getting there. Baby Steps. Baby steps for the baby, right? We got this notice, and you can find all this on my Substack because I've shared it all over there now, and then we'll get to that too. Um we got this note and it was a very specific thing saying, Hey, uh, you know, JJ Giddis at uh Al Tina Water Wars. And for those who don't get the reference, JJ Giddis is the lead character in Chinatown. And if you've read Steve or listened to this on the podcast, Steve has had said repeatedly, and I have echoed this, that the situation with our water mutuals is like Chinatown in the foothills. So we knew that whoever this was, this anonymous account starting this anonymous Substack was very clearly someone who reads him and or listens to the podcast. So he's like one of five people. But it was safe to say listens to the podcast because the uh note, along with the invitation to be a uh collaborator or collaborator and a co-writer, co-author of posts on this um L C No Water Wars um Substack went to both Steve and myself. And we were both like, wait, did you get this? Did you get this? Like, what? So then we waited a while.

Steve:

What is it? I wrote the post on that Christmas in December, or early Christmas press or something. Right?

Shawna:

Yeah, so that was December 20th, and it wasn't until the first week of January, or we actually I think January 1st or 2nd, that we got our first post from Alternative Water Wars that on kind of some some history and background. And then we had a a bunch of posts that ramped up, and the last post was on January 29th.

Steve:

He was pretty or assuming it's a he they he being Guinness, that's where I'm coming from. They were very um I I thought they were they were pretty down the middle.

Shawna:

Yeah, they weren't like well until that last post, the post on January 29th on Rubio Canyon Water, um But even that wasn't that well compared to us, it wasn't that bad.

Steve:

But I guess, yeah, I guess when you get to our level, yeah.

Shawna:

We you and I are pretty, you know, like call a spade a spade, but most people dance around things and uh don't want to go there and and want to maintain, you know, being nice, nice to everybody, um, at least on one side of their face while they're busy saying something else in private rooms.

Steve:

Sticking the knife in. Yeah. Yep. Was it real friends stab me on the front?

Shawna:

Correct. You that we're the real ones.

Steve:

That's what my buddy are the real ones. My buddy always says that.

Shawna:

It's the truth, though. And I I've said this, you know, forever about myself because it's the truth. You will always know how you where you stand with me.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

Shawna:

Because I will never lie to your face and I'll never say anything about you that I wouldn't say to you, very simply. And that makes a lot of people uncomfortable, I'm afraid.

Steve:

But when you're in these positions, like we are, the the words we're saying out in public, you have to be able to stand behind.

Shawna:

Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. I stand by everything I say.

Steve:

And when you say so much and you write so much and do so much, it's just easier to say what's true as opposed to trying to play bullshit and play games. Yeah.

Shawna:

Yeah. Yeah. I'd rather not play the bullshit in games. I tell the truth. And um, when I'm wrong, and I know you feel the same way, Steve, I'm wrong. Like, if I'm wrong, I'll call it and be like, hey, cool, I was wrong.

Steve:

Or I've been married for 25 years. Right? No, 20 years.

Shawna:

Or, or like, hey, here's new this was my opinion, but now there's a new information, so I've changed my opinion. I'm used to being like it's okay it's okay to do that. It's okay to change your mind. People forget that. It's okay to change your mind. So I would love to know who changed the mind of our dear writer here on Substack because out of nowhere, so we have this post on January 29th, and on the morning of January 30th, everything is gone. And I mean everything. It's like if you follow the old links, the Substack can't be found. There's no Substack by this name. The writer, the JJ Giddis account, so the author account is gone. And then another layer is that even the email associated with it, that some correspondence had been happening back and forth with this person, also now dead.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

Shawna:

The email address was killed. And so it begs the question of what happened because when you go that nuclear and try to remove, and like someone else I know had gone um into kind of the way back machine trying to find an archive of these posts on the internet, even that had been pulled. Like someone went to no small length to remove all traces of this from the internet, which made me wonder if someone got threatened with a lawsuit. Well, what's and by whom?

Steve:

Interesting about all this is I remember when I was doing some work in Washington, and I remember I was going up against some pretty heavy vested interests, you know, and everybody was very careful to cover their tracks. Like this is very much similar to some of that. You know, we called it the tin hat, the tinfoil hat type stuff.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

Steve:

But somebody out there has fear of something big here. I don't know if it's a lawsuit or if there's a political thing here. Something. But there's some really powerful entity involved here. And, you know, there were always whispers about like NSA and, you know, um, you know, other eavesdropping that can happen on your cell phones and your emails and stuff like that. That I always kind of just chalked up to whatever. And, you know, I always said, well, whatever I say is public anyway, so what difference does it make from a political side? Right. But when I saw this, it really felt similar. I haven't had I haven't had this feeling in over almost 10 years.

Shawna:

It was something big is going on.

Steve:

Something's happening.

Shawna:

Yeah, things are moving and something big clearly happened um for that to um to have been the case, for that to have happened. So um to that note, uh and to that on that note to that end, um I um, you know, I like receipts, Steve.

Steve:

Yeah, you kept them all.

Shawna:

And I'm one of those people who like, I just, you know, I've been on the internet a long time, really my entire life, because my life where the the internet started after I was already out in the world, okay. So I learned a long time ago.

Steve:

1980s.

Shawna:

Uh-huh. A long time 70s. I mean, I just I learned a long time ago to keep receipts. Yeah, exactly.

Steve:

To keep receipts, not like us 90s people, right?

Shawna:

To keep the receipts because um uh shit will go down. And um so I did keep receipts, and by receipts I mean every single post um I had saved and um from Altina Water Wars. So to that end, if you would like to um see those posts, reference those posts, go back to that material, look at that archive, all you have to do is go to my beautiful Altadina Substack and click on the Altadina Water Wars tab, and you will find every single post and communication archived and dated verbatim, including all images and links and embedded videos. It's all there. Well, because the internet never dies, folks.

Steve:

Well, look, I think for whoever this person was, as I said, it well, what they did was there was obviously a political agenda there, and their political agenda was consolidation and pushing for consolidation, and they gave us a lot of good intel, but I think it also shows the power of somebody who has insider knowledge being able to use that insider knowledge to help affect whatever that agenda is. And you know, I'd love to see this from other sources within.

Shawna:

Yeah, me too. Well, just as we've said a few times that we wish someone was doing this for philanthropy, or even inside the government, like inside the county, inside the state.

Steve:

Like there are people that are disaffected, or dis not disaffected, what's the word of like dissatisfied.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

And I think it's something that you know it's not just dissatisfied, but concerned and aware.

Shawna:

And they believe that things they should.

Steve:

And, you know, they also know that decisions are being made in ways that don't necessarily benefit the people that they should be benefiting. So, you know, the self-interest mass and altruism is real. So anyway, it's just an interesting that was such an interesting episode in our journey that we've been having over the last year. It's uh it's gonna be definitely a chapter in the book.

Shawna:

Yeah, oh in your book. Yeah, I know. It's I mean, how could it not be? Um, but anyhow, to whomever, if you're listening, thank you, JJ.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

Shawna:

Thank you. And I hope that it is a help and not and not a hindrance. I hope it is genuinely a help that we were able to repost all of that and that it can live and that it wasn't you. Um, whomever you are.

Steve:

We have no clue.

Shawna:

We really don't. Even the few insiders that that we have, you have your sources, I have mine. I genuinely don't believe it was any of them. No. So yeah, but it was clearly someone who was on the inside. Good. I know. I mean I love it.

Steve:

I mean, you're definitely the courage to do it.

Shawna:

Me too. Because as you and I know, it takes balls to do this stuff.

Steve:

Well, especially when you're political you're politically tied to organizations.

Shawna:

And I mean, on that, it's it's you know, I don't want to, I'm gonna write about this on I've started the post on Substack and I will get it up today.

Steve:

Finally, you've been writing for a week.

Shawna:

I have been writing it for a week because every time I go to write to get it wrapped up to post, things like like major developments happen, things change. Well, that's what you're doing. And I'm rewriting and rewriting. I I'm not writing daily like Steve.

Steve:

So sometimes twice daily.

Shawna:

So I know. Even sometimes thrice. I haven't done that in a long time. But it's happened. It has happened. I don't know how between your morning walk and then driving to the studio, you managed to post. It's called typos. I was like, what's it? It's called typos. Like, how did you get this post up? Well, because I've been thinking about it. Okay.

Steve:

When I write, I think about things for a while and then I just I just write.

Shawna:

So I'm gonna bring us back because I'm determined to keep us tight on time today for this episode. Don't look at me like that. He's shaking, he's he's like, whatever. Yeah. Um I don't want people to fall asleep.

Steve:

They don't. They're interested by this, otherwise, they wouldn't be listening. I don't want to fall asleep. I mean, what ridiculousness would you want to put yourself through to be listening to us unless you actually wanted to know?

Shawna:

Amen to that. So um, I like I said, I don't want to go too deep into it, but as we've already talked about um on uh our last episode two weeks ago, I believe we talked about it. Did we talk about what happened with uh at the Lost Flores water meeting? Yeah, yeah, we did. We did, we did. Okay, we did. It was actually. So Lincoln Water has theirs tonight. Um, if I got the order right, let me double check because I don't want to misstate uh Lincoln and Las Flores are are going to now have their meetings, right? So Well they are, but they are not.

Steve:

Um they're aligned in insofar as they're willing to play ball, whereas Rubio is still kind of like, well, we have we're more financially solvent than everyone else, even though they only have eight million dollars to do hundreds of bil hundreds of millions of dollars worth of rebuild.

Shawna:

Yeah. So um we've got um Rubio tonight. Rubio Canyon, Tuesday, February 3rd, 5 to 7 p.m. Altina Community Center. And then Thursday, the 5th at 5 30 p.m. is the Loma Altar Park community room for um Lincoln Avenue water customers. Um and those are opportunities to go to go have these conversations about what's happening. Um if you are a shareholder, it's important to note that's you know, these are not open to the public. They are for shareholders only. Shareholders are people who are property owners in these water areas. And then if you are also, if you're a constituent, if you are someone who is a renter or otherwise, you know, paying uh a water bill to one of these folks, you you have a right to be there as well. So, but they've made it very clear now post the unexpected turnout to my water mutuals meeting at Las Flores that attendees, you know, must be the shareholders. Um, they must have proof that they're a customer. Um, no outsiders, no media, no recording. Oh yeah, I know.

Steve:

Well, that's so but that's but here's the deal meeting.

Shawna:

No shit. I mean, from what I've heard from the inside, they didn't even want, they wanted to hold these meetings during the daytime to in hopes that people couldn't make it. Because they know what's coming. Both are going to people are pissed and both are going to introduce rate hikes. Um, it sounds like Rubio's is significant. Sounds like the rate hike coming from Rubio, which we'll know more tonight after tonight's meeting, um, will not just be on par with Las Flores', but when you add it up, will actually be significantly more expensive and has no end date. This is like we're raising things and charging fire fees.

Steve:

But wasn't Rubio below market before?

Shawna:

Um, I don't know that they were below market before. I think that arguably, you know, you could say that they all were to some degree, but because as I understand it, this is how these little water mutuals work, is is keeping late rates to some degree artificially low.

Steve:

Yeah, that was the whole purpose. That's why everybody stayed away from Cassandra Water and Power.

Shawna:

Yep. So it'll be very interesting to see what comes out of these meetings. Um, especially in light of what we've seen so far and what we've heard so far. Um, you know, I think it's also worth noting and covering the fact that all three water mutuals were in Sacramento last week, yep, looking for money.

Steve:

And I think they are gonna get it.

Shawna:

I think they'll get it too, but it sounds like the pushback and the reason they didn't leave with money. Um, and I want to go back and preface this for context for our listeners, you know, to remind folks, you know, these these water mutuals are privately held. They are three individual, separate, privately held entities with shareholders, all of us, right? With, but they are not public entities. So as they can want, as you know, we kept hearing from Las Flores, and I'm sure you'll we're we will hear this week from Rubio and from Lincoln, they are not eligible for public funding, they aren't eligible for grants, they don't get public money, they're not eligible for public funding from the state correct through that other state-based or government entities can receive. This has been the story.

Steve:

They got to be careful what they're saying because as 501c3s, they're entirely uh they can go and put out municipal or um tax exempt bonds. They're they can do that through the state development authority in Go Biz.

Shawna:

They could also take they could also take on private funding.

Steve:

Oh, and they could do CRA money, yeah. Exactly. That's what we've been talking about. That's what I was talking to them about for a while. Yeah, this is all bullshit that they don't have access, they just want free money. Correct. They want by the way, community land trust, do you think you're gonna get 1.7 billion? Where do you think the money's gonna go if they're gonna if the state's gonna give us money?

Shawna:

Yeah, it's going to the water companies.

Steve:

It's gonna go to the water companies, which are far more powerful than you.

Shawna:

Well, and far more in need, bluntly.

Steve:

Well, you can't rebuild if you don't have money. And you can't add all that, all those people in the density that they want to have if you don't have water.

Shawna:

And I do, we're gonna talk about the state of the rebuild, and I want to just talk about the density for a quick minute, and we'll come back to the money. But on the on the topic of density, you know, I was having a conversation with a neighbor um who was talking about one little section of Maiden Lane, okay? We're not talking about the entirety of Altadena, we're talking about one block, a half a block, really. And that in that within that half a block, oh gosh, I have to go look at my notes for exactly um how much.

Steve:

Yeah, because I couldn't believe what you were telling me.

Shawna:

Yeah, I know. We can move on from densification, but well, it's gonna be a fight. The bottom line is our infrastructure in county was 30 years behind before the fire. We're light years behind post-fire, redeveloping for a new world and a new community with a lot more people, and there doesn't appear to be any plans for that.

Steve:

Well, and somebody said to me, going back to the money from the feds, they said, Well, you know, is the federal government responsible for upgrading the infrastructure that the county has been neglecting for so long? And this also applies to the Palisades. Is it their responsibility to do it or is it our responsibility to do it because the feds aren't the ones that made this mess, they're not the ones that underinvested in the infrastructure. Yeah, why should they be the ones to clean it up?

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

So just to go back to our last episode and some of the topics that were brought up there. All right, let's go on to our governor in all the wonderful. Well, let's go right.

Shawna:

Well, let's we're gonna say let's go to our media roundup. And one of the line items uh in my notes for the media roundup for today's episode was like Gavin Gavin Gavin. Well, he's gonna be a little bit more. Gavin Gavin Gavin. He had a you know, his New Yorker story, he had his The New Yorker one was long. Oh, and did you see the Vogue piece? No, I I So he's in Vogue, and you should see his his uh the black and white images.

Steve:

He's not spooning with uh Gilfoil on this one, is he? No, I don't think so. No, that which one was that? He did that back in the early nine.

Shawna:

Wait, are you talking about the one that's like on the bear rug? Yeah, yeah. Oh my god. Right before they got divorced. Yeah.

Steve:

Well, no, no, it was in the New Yorker piece they were talking about.

Shawna:

Was it really?

Steve:

Yeah, there's a lot. I mean, political starter because he's got his book coming out, you know, and his book goes up to becoming governor. It's like the rise of Gavin Newsome, and it's supposed to be a tell-all, and supposed to be able to defang some of the Oppo research that's coming. Though, did you see the California Post uh uh piece they had on it?

Shawna:

Um, I didn't because you know, call me crazy. I don't read the New York Post.

Steve:

I had to see it because I had to see what the counter to it was all gonna be. And it says Gavin's girls, Gavin's gals. That was their cover of that art for their response to it all. And I was like, okay, yep, they're here. And there it is. They're there, they're loud and they're proud.

Shawna:

So well, I mean, it was uh California Post that um, you know, Sasha used in her the post that I was talking. On the last episode. What are you talking about?

Steve:

So you talking about Sona? Sasha did something in the California Post. No. Okay.

Shawna:

She was using a cover for her social media, you know, screaming about it, like, oh, they're here. They're gonna media's coming for me. No, it's more like, you know, Trump, like, ah, where's the money? Bring us the money. We're waiting for it. Everything's about everything is the Fed's fault.

Steve:

By the way, Sasha knew all about all the financing things that we talked about. I spoke with her people, so she can't claim that she was ignorant or she wasn't aware.

Shawna:

Like last time that she didn't know.

Steve:

She knew.

Shawna:

She didn't know what she had put her name on.

Steve:

So anyway, so Gavin obviously, you know, here's his next stage in his run for president. You know, it's uh but the fascinating thing about New Yorker article is where he's alikening himself to the centrists and the establishment in the party. Right.

Shawna:

So that was so interesting.

Steve:

I was like, come on, man. Is this one of those, like, if you say it enough, it becomes true to the.

Shawna:

Well, that was kind of the thing, as they were, you know, in that piece. And I think what was so interesting about that piece was um that it did go at length into his past policies and alignments and the fact that he had was very politically aligned with, you know, California's most progressive parties and in fact, you know, some of the most challenging, ineffective policy um around uh progressive ideals. And, you know, I say this as someone, you know, who um associate who would uh, you know, uh identify as a progressive, or at least I I thought I did until this, until recently. I don't know. Now maybe I'm a centrist, maybe I'm a moderate, I don't know. Because I'm com as common sense moderate, is that what we're calling it now? But I think it's pragmatism.

Steve:

I don't think it has to be left, you know, Republican or Democrat. I think you're just trying to be a pragmatist.

Shawna:

Yes. Like I'm an Altadinan, you know, that that's it. I'd like I'd like Altadena to do well. Whatever I support Altadina, so and whoever and however we get that great, I'm here for it. But as they talked about the fact that, you know, Gavin had aligned himself with all of this and now is aligning himself with these, you know, very moderate uh policies with centrist policies, and oh no, wait for it because you'll love this. It was not the affordability conversation, but the abundance agenda, right? Which, you know, and the abundance agenda has largely been associated with conservative policy ideals, even if that's not entirely what it is. And there are again, I I kind of hate all these labels because there's elements of the quote unquote abundance agenda that is actually again being the pragmatist is not bad. So, you know, it's not all, it's not all bad.

Steve:

I get it.

Shawna:

He is, he is, but he has this challenge point now is he's trying to just be like, you know, going after be a California, correct, and also trying to be the strong man going after, you know, Trump. But guess what? Like you you gotta you gotta you have you you can't run from who you are, right? So let's go back to our theme of the day. We are really like we're pulling out all the 80 stops today.

Steve:

Um well he's he'd be the first Gen X president, as the article alluded to.

Shawna:

Yes. But anyhow, I think it is uh, you know, uh a tough one. And it's especially tough, I think, for Californians. Like, I want to support Gavin because I want to support California, and I certainly want to support democracy. And I think that, you know, whomever runs against the current federal administration, we all need to put ourselves behind, and we can't let it be what happened in 2016 because her laugh uh or because she didn't have this experience, which I love the quote that I read this morning. It was like, we have conflated the idea of experience for political roles um with establishment. And I think that's true. It's like, oh, well, they don't they're not experienced enough. No, they're not establishment.

Steve:

Well, that's what you're talking about with Susan Collins' line.

Shawna:

Yeah, it was, but but she's right.

Steve:

By the way, and Susan Collins, even though she's a Republican, is a great senator.

Shawna:

Again, I I'm not I'm beyond partisan anything. You know, it's like things that are smart, I'm going to listen.

Steve:

Um, there's a few of them there.

Shawna:

And and that, and that was it was smart. Um, but anyhow, you know, to go back to it is um I think that now that we're so deep into what's happened here and look behind the curtain, and as you've heard me say on multiple episodes in this state where we are so democratic driven, led, and uh, you know, owned and operated. We are a democratic state through we are blue through and through. Um, the call's coming from inside the house, right? We don't have anybody else to blame as much as we want to blame others. We don't have others to blame. It is the problem is in our party, and we have to fix it. And we sure as hell better fix it uh by the midterms, but most especially before we get to 28, or we're in big trouble. I mean, people like you and me, maybe not you, but me, will hold their nose and vote for Gavin because we have to do it.

Steve:

Well, I'm I my issue is the presidential election, but he's really blown it here. But I and that's the thing is I think that people don't realize how badly it's been blown. It's it's bad. And you know, he he wants to just like drive over this and gloss over it. And you know, like I've said about the um the state of the state, you know you can't you can't bullshit your way through this, and he's trying to get through his last year without any kind of you know, anything sticking to him, and he's gonna use every tool in his uh repertoire to do it. And if Gavin was serious about policy and serious about the things that he wants to do, he never would have vetoed that because he could have been moving this rebuild along much quicker and he could have taken more leadership from the start. He was aware of what was going on, he was aware of how it could have worked. I mean, his office was brought in at the outset of this whole thing in January of 2025. So, like the fact that this has gone as far as it has, I just I just have trouble with him. It's disingenuous. That's my issue.

Shawna:

Yeah, I I I have a lot of issues, but I agree with you.

Steve:

And and I I I really want to see a true centrist, not a guy who claims to be a centrist when it's politically expedient and then you know does what he did with Prop 50, which was I think he gave the party over to the far left. My readers will know that. And if you read my stuff today, I talk a little bit more about that. It's the gift that keeps on giving. And I just feel like he's gonna he's taken the trust fund of California and he's truly bankrupted us. And he's gonna just walk out the door and leave us, and we're gonna sit here looking around saying, What happened? And hopefully we get somebody who can come in after him and actually bring this place back to where it needs to go because Lord knows it ain't good.

Shawna:

It's not good. And I mean, I um for a lot of reasons I'm not gonna get deep into this conversation again of the toxic situation in Altadena.

Steve:

Well, he couldn't come up with$70 million, but he came up with$350 million or$300 million for his little bad.

Shawna:

But he's gonna have to own that because it's it's really bad. It's really, really bad what's happened in Altadena. Um, you've heard me talk about the gas station dirt business, and um that continues, and um it's bad. And we can't just it's not just blaming the county. That that is the state. It's not just about the county, you know, the feds either. It is the state. We could have fixed it, we chose not to, and now here we are.

Steve:

But you know, Gavin has everybody lining up behind him, and he has everybody because who else is there?

Shawna:

The media is he's the he's the white guy that they think is gonna take it.

Steve:

The media's afraid that he's yeah, they the it was it the disingenuineness of it all. I I'm gonna just say a couple facts because I figured them out this morning and I thought they were really interesting. And I'm going back to Prop 50 because to me, that is the moment where he that's that's like his crowning achievement as governor of California, all the other things notwithstanding. You know, when Cal when Texas decided to do his thing, we heard all about how they were disenfranchising Democrats and how horrible it was what Texas was going to do to Democrats and all this stuff. Texas went from 13 seats out of 38 that were Democrats down to potentially eight out of 38. 13 out that means 13 was 34 percent of the congressional delegation that went 42 percent for Kamala. So 58% for Trump. Now down to eight seats, it represents 21% of the delegation. Okay. Let's look at California, because I think this is a really interesting thing. We were at nine out of 52 before Prop 50 passed. Okay. That was 17% of our seats for 38% of the people that went for Trump. So roughly the same numbers, Republican-Democrat on the other side, but we were at 17%. We were below where Texas is today, assuming everything works out. We were half at that time of where Texas was before at that election. Now we're down to 7%. And we talk about how we're the ones preserving democracy. I just I just want people to think about this because where was the media when all this was going on? And yes, I know there's people out there saying, Steve, this is a hill you've jide on and you don't want to let go, but I think it's it's more of a canary in the coal mine of we're getting tricked into this, and I get why we did it, but I don't get why we did it, because I think it's just put us on a path that what our governor did was he took what was a good state and a good policy and a good idea, and he used it for his own political means, and he's gonna leave us with frickin' mess on our hands after it leaves. And if you want to know why the Supreme Court may actually overrule Prop 50, it's because of that fact. Seven percent seven percent of our entire population will be represented uh through our congressional delegation. That is not representative, that's a joke.

Shawna:

Yep. Sorry I no, I don't disagree, Steve. You know I don't disagree. Um, should we talk about um another story that hit?

Steve:

Which one?

Shawna:

The LA story. I thought that was kind of interesting. We have new ordinances that were passed, um, specifically rent laws. In fact, so this is an LA story, and the um very the specific headline is after the fires, LA passed new laws against rent gouging, but they're not being used.

Steve:

You know, it's interesting. We had a phone call from uh here in Pasadena about this. Like they're the enforcement on this was i i it they they Well, it's non-existent. Well, because it's impossible to enforce.

Shawna:

I mean it is, but it isn't. So, you know Well, it's easy to do.

Steve:

I mean, they can just go sue Airbnb and Well, no, but it this is about rent gouging post fire.

Shawna:

This is about violating the ink the illegal increases in rent post fire because that was happening. I mean, I know that I was getting presented seven thousand dollar shitty rentals by my insurance company um that were, you know, not even remotely comparable, but it was like here's a here's a three-bedroom and one bath in Pasadena for$7,000. It was insane. I know. So they were the the crux of this article is that, you know, we passed these new laws to stop these massive rent hikes um for on housing that was available to fire victims. And um, a grassroots org called the Rent Brigade um uh had a big report um and did did their their homework just took a look. And bottom line, no fines have been levied after the LA County by the uh LA County Board of Supervisors after they gave local officials the authority to monetarily punish landlords. However, more than eight thousand eighteen thousand listings have uh um violated the state law banning rent increases of more than 10% following a disaster. So we know this, I we were seeing them daily in my group. I'm no surprise it's it's only they're still happening. And not one fine and not one lawsuit have been have been pursued, even though they put laws on the books. And this gets back to what I've seen the abundance agenda. This gets back to what I keep talking about of this performative politicking and performative policy of look at us, we passed a motion, look at us, we passed this law, look at us, we're doing this. We're showing up and and with all the community orgs and glad handing and bat backpatting and can doing all this self-congratulatory shit. That look it, we're fixing it, we're fixing it. When in fact, they're literally doing nothing. They're they're doing the least possible to actually help. But that's California politics. This and I think that's a problem, pass a bill.

Steve:

And then does the bill ever get enforced? Nope.

Shawna:

It's it goes back to like, you know, Al Cena for accountability trying to push the attorney general for this, you know, independent investigation with subpoena power because all of the reports that have been issued, that was another story that came out about how, you know, Cal OES, who is responsible for these after-action reports, um, has yet to publish uh produce any of them for multiple disasters that are now five, six, seven years past. Where are they? They're supposed to per the policy happen within a calendar year. We're not getting them at all. They're just not happening. And no one's enforcing this and no one's doing anything about it.

Steve:

And it anyhow, it just it's um Hey, if you have a committee that's doing an audit of the fire and the response and everything, you know, maybe you want to look at some of this stuff.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

Steve:

I mean it's so disturbing. But this is part of the problem is that apathy is is is ruling the day. And the media is there are so many stories that are being uh created. A, they don't get deep enough into it in some cases because there's political agendas, and B, there's just so much, how do you make sense of it all? Like, where is that central repository?

Shawna:

Yeah, it's um it's you know, I think people, those who are aware um are becoming increasingly frustrated. And it is increasingly frustrated to see those who should be aware turn a blind eye, or or worse, no, and just, you know, like it is, they're turning the blind eye, just ignoring it and falling in line with these people, with these electeds, because they think that they're going to get some sort of favor or they're going to somehow get, you know, movement for an agenda or funding that is needed. And, you know, they convince themselves that the only way that they can be effective is to is to continue down this path because, you know, you know, well, we have to, we have to. Like this is the we have to get in line with these people to get what we need. But in when in reality, the only way to, and I said this in the last episode, I will say it again, I'll probably start saying it every step episode. The only way to achieve true advocacy is to step outside of and challenge those structures.

Steve:

You can't be an advocate from the inside.

Shawna:

Can't.

Steve:

I mean, you can't affect you can't say, look at me.

Shawna:

I'm in I'm here with Barger, I'm here with you with Sasha, I'm here with all the politicos, look at they call me, I'm on speed dial, you know. But great. So you're part of the machine. All you're telling me is you are part of the establishment, you're part of the machine. This is where you're aligned, and thus you are not part of the solution.

Steve:

But you you have to understand that you and I I write about I wrote about this in my first book when I wrote it, and I've never actually published it, but I wrote this, I remember this chapter. And you have to make a decision if you're gonna be on the inside or the outside. Correct. And if you're on the inside, you are always going to do whatever they tell you, yeah, ultimately, because you can't have power without it.

Shawna:

You're a puppet.

Steve:

If you're on the outside, you will never be on the inside, you will never be trusted.

Shawna:

Yep.

Steve:

And you have to have you have to make that choice.

Shawna:

You do.

Steve:

Now, what's interesting is being on the outside, I and I view myself on the outside for certain groups, the groups that are the establishment groups, the ones that are the ones that continue to influence things. I also get a lot of access from the inside because you have you also have to be able to play that role. Right. You know, I I was thinking about it yesterday. I got I was having an email exchange with somebody about the the nonprofits and you know, just where philanthropy is going and how it's gonna work and where we're going with all of it. And I think about the people that have access to that who they're publicly out there who have, you know, had these, you know, discuss some of these connections and these groups that they work with. But I wonder why am I even being talked to and viewed, you know, being asked for policy ideas and things like that. And these groups are not, you know, I'm wondering inside, outside, how does this all work? And you know, sometimes I find, you know, in Washington it's about the round tables, right? You have these round tables for these issues, and it's the same groups that are pulled into these round tables to have the discussion. But it doesn't mean that they're the ones that ultimately affect the policy, right? And they just have the friends, and that's sort of how it works.

Shawna:

It's how it works a bit, and I think it's time to rip the band-aid off. Yeah. It is, it's time to confront that.

Steve:

You know, they're gonna say, well, if you're on the inside, you can do a lot more than if you're on the outside. Maybe.

SPEAKER_03:

Nah, but but I don't we I don't you've had a year. Exactly. Exactly. You've had a year, and the group is in the pudding.

Steve:

And so that you know, to keep playing this game and pushing it out and telling everybody it's okay, you know, we're on the inside. We have the meeting. Like, you remember that piece I wrote? Do you it was in September? The one it's I think it's called something in the Rumbles. About you remember, it was after 782 was getting passed, and somebody in the community groups had called me and said, everybody found out that the promises they were made weren't gonna happen, particularly around the landscape.

Shawna:

Which we've been talking about repeatedly, that like this, like you've been lied to, it's not gonna happen. And I got a lot of shit for saying that.

Steve:

But yet at the same time, but it was the truth. None of those groups were gonna push back on the person who promised this misrepresented, I guess the best way to put it. And because they're afraid that they'll lose access.

Shawna:

Right.

Steve:

But what they don't realize is that like, oh, but look what that's what good is it with access if you can't actually further your cause.

Shawna:

It's true. You know, it's um this is a philosophical conversation. It is, but it's where we're stuck, it's where we're stuck politically in general. And I think that, you know, while people may not be able to always articulate how they feel or what it is at this moment, you know, certain things really hit and resonate. I um I share a ton through our uh beautiful Altadina Instagram stories, right?

Steve:

I'm uh with your tens of thousands of followers.

unknown:

Right.

Steve:

You have like tens of thousands of not on not specifically on Instagram, but yes.

Shawna:

No, but I think it's I think we have like 8,000 followers on Instagram, but you know, the bulk of our media that are listening to Instagram. I mean our group, like our beautiful Altadina Facebook group, that is a private group that we we kick literally, we weed people out of that group daily, because our goal is not to increase those numbers, it's to keep it tight of um truth. So it's representative of Altadina. Correct. It's Altadina residents and anyone who's like, um, I hate to say it, but like if they don't pass what I call the next door test, like if they just want to be nasty, if they come in with, you know, vitriol for people of color, if they come in with, you know, uh, the people who are like, oh, I we need ice here to get rid of the bad people, um, I remove them. I there's no space for that in the community though.

Steve:

You have administrators.

Shawna:

We have a whole team, but our general, our, our group rules are such that we just we don't tolerate that. So my point is that it's a very we've long maintained that the point of that group is quality over quantity. And um, so it is very much, in fact, we're struggling right now with what to do with with the members who were longtime Altadinans who've left the community and have made it clear they're never coming back and at what point we pull them. But that is another conversation. I digress. The point is that yes, we've got um more than 10,000 in that group. When you total up our subgroups and our public-facing beautiful Altadena, it's about 20,000. And then the eight on Instagram, and then you know, the hundreds of thousands that we reach through Substack, actually more than that, because I'm I'm shockingly a bestseller and shockingly somehow trending for everybody's news. I don't know how. I if I were I it makes me think if I were more prolific as a citizen journalist, I I would really be blowing up and I should probably you know take that statement to heart and actually get on it. Steve's looking at me like, no shit, Shauna fucking right. Um, because I write a ton, but it's in the private group. But anyhow, all of that is to say, You're leaving the void to be filled by somebody like me.

Steve:

So you imagine if you actually did.

Shawna:

I know, I know, I know. So back to that though with reach, the Instagram, even though we um, you know, only have you know 8,000 odd followers, the reach we have, especially through all the collaborative posts we do, et cetera, is anywhere from half a million to a million people every 30 days a month. So it's a lot of fucking eyeballs.

Steve:

And I post a lot of Especially for a town of 40,000 people.

Shawna:

Correct. And I I post a lot that's total, that's a lot less to posts and a lot more to stories because there's just so much to post daily with so many things happening, events, important information being shared, et cetera. I do a lot of that through stories where we post, I mean, literally 500 stories plus a month. And one of the things that I shared that I never thought in a million years I would be sharing something from Rick Caruso, but I shared in my stories one of those.

Steve:

Is this the one in the California Post?

Shawna:

I don't know if it was the California Post.

Steve:

He had an op ed.

Shawna:

I know he did, and it may actually be part of that. But I um I shared this post from Caruso, from Rick Caruso. Um sounds like it was the and he was specifically talking about you know, that this is not a partisan thing in this in this city anymore. You know, this. City failed, the county failed, the state failed, the feds are fail have failed. Literally everyone has failed us here post disaster. And people are sick of being pitted against one another and being put in these positions of like, oh, you know, let's point fingers. It's it's these guys, these Republicans are the bad guys. No, these Democrats are the butt bad guys. No, it this is we're beyond this. And people are so sick of the finger pointing and the partisan politics. It's like just fucking fix it.

Steve:

I don't care who I've told you guys what to do. We've reached out to you guys.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Steve:

I mean, this this is we're here. We've been talking about since last summer. So I'm glad that you finally figured it out. But welcome to the party, bud.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

Sorry. I sorry, not sorry.

Shawna:

I I'm with you. I'm so with you. Um, it's it's beyond frustrating.

Steve:

That's why you should have run for mayor or pre or governor.

Shawna:

Or governor. That post, which I never in a million years thought I would be saying I would have I would have fully supported Rick Caruso for either of those roles at this point. That I voted against him in the past, I would have voted for him. Because it's just, we got to try something different. You know, what's the definition of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Steve:

Insanity.

Shawna:

Yeah, it's just um it's enough, guys. And um, everyone's had an opportunity and time to get this right, and no one's getting it right. And the only people that lose here are us. We're the we're the ones losing, not anybody else. So let's talk about the state of the rebuild. Wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we talk about how much we're losing. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I got something for you. Because uh let's go back to Crusoe. I'm looking at the clock, so I'm like, let's move on.

Steve:

Look at we're this this this this dog's out of the this this horse out of the barn at this point. So let's go back to Crusoe for a sec because I think this is an important thing because while Crusoe's not running for governor, there are a bunch of candidates that are running for governor.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

Steve:

And a lot of them need to be serious about it. And you know, somebody was talking to me about Matt Mahan, who's now running, he he's got Crusoe's endorsement already, and probably reason why Crusoe didn't decide not to run. And I was talking to them and I said, look, you know, if Mahan really wants to actually take that centrist pragmatic role that or the lane that he's going for, I'm gonna put something out there. I think Shauna would agree with me on this. Come on our podcast, come see Altadina. Don't do what other candidates have done, which is show up, do a quick thing with the town council, and then leave.

Shawna:

Right. And say that you represented the you you did something with the people because that does not represent the people.

Steve:

Not at all. And the EFRU, the um the LTG long-term recovery group.

Shawna:

I mean, all these groups are part of the same machine, but they're the same machine. Come talk to the actual community.

Steve:

We will take you. Like I offered this to uh Governor Bashir, and unfortunately, he didn't have he had a scheduling conflict. But we will take you through the town. We will show you what it is, we'll show you what we're talking about, we'll show you how people are actually supporting what we're saying. And you know what? You want to know what it really is all about, what the recovery, why you're doing this, why we need pragmatic solutions, why we need grown-ups and serious people, not the unserious propositions that we're getting. It's because of this. So come to see us, come hear us, come talk to us. We're not gonna yell at you.

Shawna:

No, we're not.

Steve:

We want to have a conversation to show that we can be a resource because we have tried to lead this initiative coming out of Altadena, and unfortunately, we've been left behind.

Shawna:

We've all been left behind.

Steve:

And we've been disappointed by those that could have made things happen and could have started giving us tools.

Shawna:

And who've and who've made themselves self-appointed leaders and and self-appointed voices for fire survivors, but they're not. And at this point, they're doing the town a disservice. Because, you know, when you take up that much oxygen in the room and people think they're hearing from the people, they don't actually make the effort to go listen to the people. And that's a problem. So it is a real problem. I I'm gonna circle back on that that Crusoe bit because I don't think I landed the point, which was that when I shared that, because I couldn't believe how much I agreed with him and that I could have said the exact same words that he was saying, and I have said them here on the podcast. Um I couldn't believe how many others it resonated with. That was one of my top performing posts in months because that is where we collectively are at. We have fucking had it. People are just they're done. There's no more finger pointing, no more blaming, none of this. Oh, they did this, they did that. We aren't getting this, we aren't getting that. No one cares, just fix it.

Steve:

You you can't see me nodding, but the answer is yeah. That's it. That's where we're at. Maybe we're reaching that crescendo, and this is what I'm hearing the soft whispers out there. And again, I'm probably gonna be writing a post about some of this in the near future, but the failures, and it's again, it's not about pointing fingers, it's just that it's just ineffective. And I just don't think that the people that are in the positions understand what to do.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

Steve:

And they'll probably say, I have no clue what I'm doing, so why do I even get to talk? But hey, who's been run? Look at the scoreboard.

Shawna:

Yep. Like I said before, I'm all about receipts, and we have those two. So back to your rebuild piece. Sorry, I just wanted to I just wanted to. It's important. I'm glad we talked about it. It's important. I am was also going, I was trying desperately for us not to run a full hour, but uh I tried, I tried.

Steve:

It's in LA traffic, you're gonna listen to us anyway.

Shawna:

It's true, it's true. So I wanted to touch a little bit because it's been um a minute since we did on the state of the rebuild. The last time we did this was prior to the holidays and prior to the one-year anniversary and kind of like where we're at. So for anyone who doesn't know, LA County has um a permitting progress dashboard that you can look at anytime. They actually update this multiple times a day. It is recovery.lacounty.gov um if you want to get there. Um so, and then backslash rebuilding if you want to get a little more specific, but you'll find it if you just go to recovery.lacounty.gov. But um, you know, at this at this point for us here, just looking specifically at Altanina, not the Palisades, um they have issued 995 um or they they say is um actually they let me let me be a little bit more specific about that. Sorry, I have to go back to a different view, different view, different view.

Steve:

In the meantime, we'll play some of the. No, no, no, it's good, it's good, it's good. I know.

Shawna:

I wish you could see me because I'm like la la la pouring over this map. And they've changed this up a little bit since the last time I looked at it. It's not the easiest to look at, but um they show that it it's kind of interesting. Their new residential um average business days to permit issuance is 95. 95 days. Um, here we go. This is I found what I wanted. I was actually in the wrong view.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's the average.

Shawna:

We have, yeah, we have 599 residences in construction, and um and we have six completed. Okay, so 9,000 to rebuild and 599 in construction. And of that 599 in construction, that doesn't tell me exactly how many of those are single family residences versus parcels. Because for example, um, if you have um a property where you are doing a home and an ADU or two homes and two ADUs, that's you know, those are two permits that's well it's four minutes. It's four on one parcel. So, and we're counting versus what needs to be rebuilt is number of parcels that were lost. So I uh, you know, uh these numbers are stacked in the favor of um those those putting them out here to be look to looked at. But um, they wouldn't. Yeah, you don't say, you don't say, but it is it's interesting to follow it. I mean, it is moving just incredibly slowly, and we know why. The county still hasn't ramped up. Um, a year later, they still have not been able to ramp up to anywhere near meet the needs of this rebill. And um we know that because we're at the the one-stop permit shop yesterday, and we're told by the people there, you know, who are public works, that they have four inspectors currently. That's how many inspectors they have for all of Altadena, with 9,000 builds needing to happen. Four inspectors. And those inspectors are each currently doing 20 to 30 um inspections per day. They are often just quickly signing off um with varying degrees of um scrutiny, of scrutiny and not just scrutiny of compliance. Um, in some cases, they're kind of allowing the general contractors um to be trusted. Um, and even when they're not, like a friend of mine ran into a situation where just like on her property line is what she now knows as an unpermitted retaining wall. When all retaining walls require permit, it's an unpermitted wall. And when she went to County and said, okay, well, you did this, you allowed them to build this without a permit, and you know it because the inspector has been out there for other things. She was told what's a civil issue now. If you have a problem with the wall, when your garage collapses into his property, um, you you can find you can sue him civilly.

Steve:

Wonderful.

Shawna:

Yeah, that's how they're handling this. And it's the same thing with soil compaction, um, which is haphazardly being enforced. We know this from watching it and talking about this with the dirt issue that people, and for people who don't understand this, when you build a new home from the ground up, but most especially in situations like all of ours, where a lot of homes had California basements or walk-in crawl spaces, large crawl spaces, or even if you had neither of those things in your own slab, you had a minimum of six inches removed from your home site because and very likely more by the Army Corps because of the debris removal and the toxic nature of that topsoil. So when you do all of that, you need to bring earth back. And when you do that, you need to ensure that that earth is properly settled. So the way that that works generally is that, you know, the with a soils engineer is they go, they will dig out below the grade required for the foundation by X number of feet and outside of it by X number of feet. Then put the dirt back. So even if it's all native dirt, you're taking it all out and you put it back, compacting it every few inches and testing it every few inches, which requires the right moisture and other conditions and quality soil to be sure that and no debris, to be sure that you get true compaction so that you are literally putting your foundation on solid ground. Because if you're not, you know what's gonna happen. You're gonna have a cracked foundation sooner than later. And if we have an earthquake, you're really in deep shit.

Steve:

Or yeah, or you've got the leaning tower piece of it.

Shawna:

And that is now what is happening all over Al Tadena. I've been watching it as I've been up there every couple days, left and right, even on my own street, homes and foundations going up, framing going up on soil that has not been compacted at all. Um, and apparently the county is telling contractors to just have a soils engineer sign off and say that it was done. But it's not being done. And no one's inspecting. And this is what's happening all over. It's the wild west up there. And um, good luck, everybody. Who knew that we all would have to become our own licensed uh general contractors? But apparently we all need to become general contractors to actually police what's happening on our own rebuilds because half of this shit is so bad.

Steve:

How much do you think this has to do with the fact the elected that is involved or managing all this will not be in office when all of this comes to 100%?

Shawna:

I mean, it's why we keep saying we have a lame duck supervisor in so many respects, because the she's not doesn't need to do anything to be voted back in. You know, it's um she's out, she's termed out, she's done, much like our governor.

Steve:

So I guess it that's advantageous because technically we would have support coming in, but it's disadvantageous. Or you'd think that they would use up some of that capital right now to get things done right, but that's not happening.

Shawna:

Correct. Correct, correct. So I'm gonna say we should wrap this one up.

SPEAKER_01:

You sure?

Shawna:

Yeah, I am. I am. I know we have some other things to talk about, but I'm gonna hold them for next week's episode. What else do we have to talk about? We have some park updates, but we're gonna talk, it's two, it's not a brief conversation, so we'll hold that for next week. But um for this, for the end of this episode, for this week's small or this episode's um Small Biz shout out. I'm actually gonna give it to the Eagles. I don't know how many people haven't talked about the Eagles. Everybody knows the Eagles Aerie.

Steve:

I always erroneously call it the when he said it to me, I was thinking like Big Lebowski.

Shawna:

He did.

Steve:

Hate the fucking Eagles, man.

Shawna:

I was like, why do you hate the Eagles?

Steve:

Get out of the car. Get out of the car.

Shawna:

Who doesn't love the Lebowski? It's like one of my favorite gifts is like, uh, is him stirring yes, the dude stirring his white Russian with his what the fuck expression. I've abused that so much. I've used it so often I've abused it. I love it. Um, with Lebowski, the dude. Um, so I wanted to talk about the Eagles because I was actually um remembering our remembrance. Okay, so beautiful Altadina, my group and our amazing team. It was very much not just me, but our incredible team. And really um Stuart Brawley and Daniel Harlow took the lead on this, Stuart for Creative and Daniel for all the tech, to produce online like what was the most beautiful vigil for the community. And um, it was viewed, you know, live by thousands at the time. And um, I mean, we had performances, we had we had musical performances, we had poetry readings, we had business owners talking. Um, one of them, you know, was the Eagles. Um, Barokesberger was there. Um, Little Red Hen, I remember was supposed to be there, but couldn't get connected. Um, gosh, who else? Allo Black performed Maya Jupiter Red Poetry. There was some pre-taped aerial, um, uh aerial uh performance that was really beautiful and really beautifully done, beautiful music. There was a whole package that we put together that I actually pulled thousands of images for, so brutal of all the places we lost. Not just people's homes, but all of our landmarks, um historic buildings, sites, restaurant businesses. Um, it was so hard. I I saw uh just a short, I saw a couple seconds of it this morning and started crying again. It was just too much to be reminded of everything we've lost. But um in that, oh, and then of course, um, Rhythms of the Village, um, the family band from a living room, from a temporary home that they were all in, convened and also did this beautiful performance. So anyone who wants to go and enjoy that vigil, if you missed it, I think kind of now, just outside of the one year is the perfect. We did it last March, and like heading into this February, March time is a year later, is like a good time to kind of sit with it if you're in a space like it, you may it may have been too soon. Frankly, last year, it may even be too soon for some right now. But it was such a beautiful remembrance. And um I encourage you to watch it. And if you have not checked out the Eagles Airy, that was a major hub for community um response and community care. You know, they were one of the sites for World Central Kitchen in those early days and weeks and months. They had ongoing uh food available for community members and those working on the cleanup for months um post-fire. Um, and they're still there and they still do a ton for the community. And they are it's an open organization. It costs next to nothing to become a member. It is a membership. And then you can use the facilities, you can use the bar, you can take it, you can enjoy the cheapest drinks available in the land. It's like two dollars, like some of the cocktails are like two dollars, some are like three or four dollars. It's it's unit's like you're at a time warp. It's amazing. It's cash only. Grab your get grab your dollar, dollar bills, y'all, and go have some fun. But um, Steve's doing his little his little money dance, his little hand money hands over here. Um, it's it's totally worth checking out. The if you're not familiar, the Eagles is located um on Woodbury, um, just west of Christmas Tree Lane, which is Santa Rosa.

Steve:

Between Los Robles, between the top of Los Robles.

Shawna:

Exactly. Between the top of Los Ros Los Robles, where the um uh what is it called? Little hen? No, what is that? Hensteeth Plaza.

Steve:

Hensteeth Plaza, yeah.

Shawna:

I'm talking about little red hen and getting confused, but thank you, Hensteath Plaza, where um dim books in Boba and uh King Breakfast and Burger and um the easy halal market are all located, all awesome businesses. If you're over like kind of right there, it's a great little one-stop to hit a bunch of local businesses in one. So go check out the the Eagles. Big love to the Eagles. I'm a proud card carrying member, have been for a long time since before the fire. And um I love the football. If you're someone right, I was gonna say if you're someone who's been all about good neighbor bar, which we obviously love too, you need to also be at the Eagles. If you're experiencing one and not the other, you're only experiencing half of Altadena. So get yourself to the Eagles. All right. With that, we'll wrap this one up. Um, thanks as always for listening. Thanks for being here.

Steve:

Yep, hopefully. We'll see you next time. We'll hear you soon. We'll see you soon.

Shawna:

Yeah, soon. We're gonna we're hopefully recording next week, but trying to figure that out. We've got a couple conflicts, but we are gonna see if we can do it remote. A grand experiment next week.

Steve:

Indeed.

Shawna:

So join us then.

Steve:

Thank you, Shauna, as always.

Shawna:

Thank you, Steve. Uh find Steve um on Substack, Altapolicy Wonk.

Steve:

And Shauna's at beautiful Altadina.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

And all the different things.

Shawna:

Everywhere you, I mean, I'm in places you don't even like know that there's places. You know, I've owned the beautiful Altadina Slack channel for years and haven't used it.

Steve:

What is I I know I don't even understand what Slack is.

Shawna:

I know. I mean, we have a Slack community. We have um, gosh, we have all of the things. I gotta get on that. I need to clone myself. That's on the next episode. I'll be figuring out how to clone myself. Yourself an assistant with okay.

Steve:

Part of part of the uh contract.

Shawna:

The contract for what? I don't know. Working for free? Yeah. Is there a free assistant who wants to work for me? Or work with me.

Steve:

So anyway.

Shawna:

Are you vol Steve's volunteering himself to be my assistant?

Steve:

I yeah, I can't keep up with you. I have three kids, and especially, most importantly, my wife.

Shawna:

So most importantly. Yes. On that note, thanks for listening.

Steve:

Bye all.