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THE VIEW FROM HERE - Los Angles has been devastated in many way over the last 25 years and there is one unifying cause – massive corruptionism. The destruction of Pacific Palisades and parts of Brentwood are the most recent and worst product of corruptionism, and it has spread to surrounding jurisdictions since LA City is the 500 pound gorilla in LA County.
Power tends to corrupt. Los Angeles, however, is much worse than mere corruption; hence the term corruptionism. The modern era of corruptionism began with the election of Eric Garcetti as Councilmember of LA Council District 13 starting in 2001 and continued through 2022 when Karen Bass became mayor. By 2010, Garcetti’s policies had driven so many people out of Hollywood’s CD 13, that CD 13 population was too small to qualify as a legal council district. Thus, parts of Councilmember’s La Bonge’s CD 4 and sections of Koreatown were added to CD 13 so that it had enough population to be a legal district.
Rather than detail the all corrupt behavior which culminated in the Palisades’ fire, this article focuses on one element. The city knew that the fire hydrants in the hills would fail during a Santa Ana event. Let me emphasize and then prove that the Mayor Garcetti and the council members all knew that the fire hydrants would fail, that there would be devastation in the Hill, that there would be needless loss of life, and that billions of dollars would go up in smoke, but they had a cover-up plan – Lie, then lie some more, and continue to lie ad infinitum. The only public official who told the truth was LA City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley and you can be certain she will pay for her honesty.
Everyone should take the time to view this entire video of the 1961 Bel Air fire. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this film is worth a million words Please watch Design for Disaster Bel Air Fire 1961 The Palisades firestorm could have been avoided, especially at 23:00 minutes about fire hydrants.
Bel Air is a few miles East of the Pacific Palisades and has the same topography as all the communities from the ocean eastward through Beverly Hills, Sunset Hills, Hollywood Hills, Los Feliz, to Silver Lake. In case of a wildfire, the water pressure in the fire hydrants will fail! When one sees the Bel Air video, one will discover that in 1961 the hydrants failed exactly as happened in Palisades and for the same reason, except in 1961, people did not realize such a wildfire could happen.
From the day Garcetti took office in 2001, he knew that a wildfire along the mountains and hills which run through the center of Los Angeles could and would eventually repeat of the Bel Air fire unless an adequate water system were installed. Garcetti, however, had one goal, the massive densification, i.e. Manhattanization of Los Angles, by the monetization of housing to make developers and Wall Street infinitely wealthier. There was no room in any budget for an adequate water system or roads or parks or schools. As Judge Goodman ruled, Garcetti used intentionally fatally flawed data in city planning to the extent he subverted the law. No one cared as there was too much loot to be made by raping LA.
How Fire Hydrants Work in the Hills
Water is pumped from sea level into huge water storage tanks above the highest point in the hills. The gravity of the water pushes the water downward into the homes and into the fire hydrants. The city knows how fast it must pump more water up the hills to the storage tanks. If regular home usage is 11,000 gals per hour, then 11,000 gals per hour needs to be pumped to the tanks. When there is a fire, the pumps must be able to pump enough water up hill and into the tanks to provide enough gravity for each and every fire hydrant open 100% plus the water flow to all the homes. All systems need to be designed for excess capacity. If the hydrants and home usage is 50,000 gal per hour, the system needs to be able to pump 60,000 gals. Running any system at full capacity risks a break down.
See video at 23.00 minutes for a demonstration how a water system is designed. There are contributing factors such as land use policies which allow homes to be constructed along the ridges of the canyons knowing that wildfires burn upwards at a unbelievable rate and devour the homes along the top. Other times, the fire cresting a hill has so much force that it propels embers thousands of feet ahead of it. That means the fire itself does not have to reach another group of homes to destroy them. However, it does mean that fire fighters will have to open more and more fire hydrants to fight the fires which flying embers ignite.
The Mathematics of the Los Angeles Fire Hydrants Show That the Water System Was Inadequate
The city wanted to spend money on densification without upgrading infrastructure. Not only do developers demand the right to construct buildings as close together as possible but they balk at paying for any upgrades in the infrastructure system. Bribing a councilmember is cheaper. When the city of Los Angeles wanted to build a new 2 acre regional fire station in Hollywood so that the paramedics and firefighters would have quick access to the hills and a large staging area for fires, earthquakes, and mud slides, Garcetti stopped the regional fire station and instead insisted that it be downsized by 75%. The first harm to the Hills was longer response times. If FS 82 was engaged in another call, then it had 50% fewer back-up stations than those in the flats. In the flats, each station is surrounded 360 degrees by other stations. Since FS 82 was against the Hills, it had 50% less back-up since its surrounding stations were only 180 degrees. To compound problems, the roads in the hills are narrow, winding, and require paramedics and firefighters from other stations are unfamiliar with Hills in order to reach the right spot in time.
Garcetti did not care. He killed the 2-acre FS 82 at the Florentine Gardens site. Please read FN #1 This April 25, 2006 memo from Councilmember Garcetti, announcing the abandonment of the new 2 acre Regional fire station in favor of ½ acre FS 82 at Van Ness and Hollywood Blvd is followed by an analysis showing that Garcetti was lying, lying, lying – as most anything else that Garcetti said. In June 2013, the LA County Grand Jury ruled that Garcetti used false data to justify lowering the Fire Department budget by $200 Million. In January 2014, Judge Goodman ruled that Garcetti used fatally flawed data to the extent he subverted the law. Nothing changed because of corruptionism.
Later articles can delve into other aspects of Los Angeles corruptionism, especially the city council’s operation in violation of Penal Code § 86.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
