After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast

Episode 6: Truth, Power & Subpoenas — Altadena Demands Accountability

• Shawna Dawson Beer

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In this episode, we break down the McChrystal Report, the powerful press conference held by Altadena for Accountability, and our urgent call for an independent investigation with subpoena power from the California Attorney General Rob Bonta. It’s time for real answers, real accountability, and real action.

This is what people power looks like. When we come together, we are the representation we've been waiting for. We have to keep showing up, speaking out, and holding power to account — because no one is going to fight for Altadena for us. 

We also shine a light on our local small business heroes with a shoutout to gift shop and florist Adelaide on Fair Oaks, recently featured on FOX with Susan Hirasuna, along with two of the local makers they proudly carry — artist Austin Scott and Altadena Candle Co. Follow and support them here:

📍 @arrangementsbyadelaide
🎨 @altadenaisforever
🕯️ @altadenacandlecompany

And a huge congratulations to Randy & April at West Altadena Wine / Good Neighbor Bar, who rallied the community and gathered over 5,000 letters (!!) to successfully reopen their patio — a major win and another testament to what’s possible when we organize.

Let’s keep going. Tune in and stay activated.

SPEAKER_02:

Hi there, welcome back to After the Ashes. I'm Steve.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm Shauna.

SPEAKER_02:

And we're here to talk about a few issues today that have been brought up. We've been taking a couple weeks off, so we apologize for how sl slow it's been. But uh yeah, we're right back to get on this thing.

SPEAKER_00:

We're back at it. So this is episode six: Truth, Power, and Subpoenas. Al Dadina demands accountability. I do like a pippy title.

SPEAKER_02:

I know you do. You're the PR person. Listen, this one, this one is gonna be me doing the interview for once and Shauna doing all the talking. So sit back and let's enjoy this one.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know that I'm gonna enjoy this one, but I'm gonna try. Try to enjoy this ride. Um, do you want to ask questions? You want me to jump into it?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, why don't you jump into it, Shauna, because you've been really busy lately.

SPEAKER_00:

I have been busy. So a week ago Thursday, and what was that date? Uh we're coming to you today. This is we're taping this on October 7th for anyone who is curious. Um a week ago Thursday, which I believe was September, oh shoot, 28th. Anyhow, guys, the date is somewhat irrelevant. But the McChrystal report dropped. What is the McChrystal report? The McChrystal report is the after-fire report, not an investigation, important distinction, but report that was ordered and paid for by LA County's Board of Supervisors. Um, when we paid for to the tune of$2 million. And for anyone who wants a little fun homework, go Google General McChrystal and the um The Rolling Stone article that he did.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that was brilliant. Anyway, yes, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, that's some some very entertaining reading for everybody. Dig deep on who the McChrystal group is.

SPEAKER_02:

Don't drink around reporters, is the moral historic.

SPEAKER_00:

That is the moral.

SPEAKER_02:

Especially with a bunch of soldiers who are coming off of uh special forces rotations.

SPEAKER_00:

So um the reason that that report, you know, it was interesting to see that drop is because it it's been effectively buried for some time. All right. And um What do you mean? Uh it was supposed to be dropped a few months after it was um I'm losing my words today. Perimenopause strikes again after it was commissioned. So when did the county commission it? It was commissioned immediately not long after the fire, relatively quickly, I believe. It was supposed correct. And it was supposed to take three or four months to be released, and then there was a lot of chatter about it not being released, some chatter about it being shelved until sometime next year for unknown reasons. And yeah, I know. We'll just leave it at that. Unknown reasons, nothing to do with people leaving office or any of that. And um some groups have been working very diligently behind the scenes to pressure our attorney general, Rob Bonta, to compel an independent investigation with subpoena power.

SPEAKER_02:

So this is beyond just Al Sedina, right? This is also Albany's.

SPEAKER_00:

But this would encompass yes, the Palisades as well.

SPEAKER_02:

It's primarily January's fires. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

It's January's fires.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. And so what are the what are these groups? Who are these groups?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, let's get it, let's let's finish our talk about the report and then I'll get into the response because I think it's really interesting the timing of all of this.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Right? And and we you, Steve, get it think about this a lot in the scope of politics. Timing is everything, everything has meaning. There are no accidents.

SPEAKER_02:

And we left the world of coincidences a long time ago, basically.

SPEAKER_00:

Steve loves to say that, and it's true. We did leave the world of coincidence a long time ago. So um some groups have been, you know, poking around and pushing the AG to compel this independent investigation with subpoena power, very specifically because there's some heavy civil rights implications to the lack of fire response on the west side of Alcedina. Um, and if you were to see me right now, I'm wearing my Altadina West of Lake hat. Um, thank you, Cara, because I I am also a resident of Alcedina West of Lake, but or was. Um so it is very interesting that as that was happening, suddenly this report materialized out of nowhere on a Thursday when no one was expecting it.

SPEAKER_02:

And um I thought Friday's the dump day.

SPEAKER_00:

Right? I did too. So this was a Thursday dump in the middle of Rosh Hashanah. So uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02:

But Crystal was in synagogue, so you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yay. What a men she is. I hear. I don't know. So um, so this happens, and uh, you know, we had to act very quickly, right? So then I say we to answer your question of who's who's we or who are these groups. So a lot of this was initiated by the SE Justice Group, which is a civil rights group um uh who are phenomenal. Um the founder over there, uh founder, executive director is Gina, um, who is been who's just she's an incredible uh force. You got to see her at the press conference in action. I was blown away, yeah. Yep. And so I like I've been saying for the last couple weeks that this is the first group project I've ever been involved in that didn't suck because everyone is so incredible and everybody brought their A game. So what that was, what happened is that you know, there's been a group of us meeting and strategizing as to how to compel this investigation from the attorney general. We've been meeting for some time, did not expect that report to be dropped when it was, but since it was, it kind of forced our hand to quickly make a community stand. So, in the scope of 72 hours, we, all of us organizations and the um the founding uh trio um that have really been working hard on this are SE Justice Group, who I just mentioned, Black Power Network, who are pretty incredible if you don't know anything about them, and Altadena Rising, which is Ash, right? So, who I really like, and you probably hear me talk about Ash Lovell, I love Ash.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, they're pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, she is. They are, she is. So um we there's also a bunch of us who've been brought in, like myself, um, as part of Beautiful Altadena, community, other community groups, community leaders, activists, um, Kara Vallo, who is the um uh voice of Altadina West of Lake on Instagram. Um, who else is in that room? We have some altogether uh block captains who are also West of Lake total survivors. It's it's a really incredible um organization of folks. So we have all been working on this to figure out what to do. We in 72 hours staged this press conference. Um, Kelly, who who handles media and uh and does the job I used to do in media and PR uh for Essie and uh worked with myself and a handful of others, and we hustled. We hustled together a media list, we hustled together. I was like launching a restaurant, which I haven't done in a very long time. I was like, oh my gosh, I have to launch get or a book or anything. Any all the media people know what I'm talking about, hustling a launch on a Friday.

SPEAKER_02:

Um it was it was impressive.

SPEAKER_00:

I I was honestly impressed by what we pulled off.

SPEAKER_02:

So in the end proves that if you really want it, you can do it.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, if you really want it, and also if you've got if you've got the right message and you're really, you know, uh and the right people. You get the right message, the right people, the right time, right? If you're kind of in the zeitgeist in that way. So um it was Thursday, September 25th, that the county released the McChrystal Groups report. Um, here are the takeaways to know before we dig into our actions, right? Yeah, because we kind of jumped ahead into the press conference, but I really want to talk about what's in that report. Um that report largely attempts to shield the county sheriff's department and the LA County Fire Department from any responsibility in the Eaton Fire response.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Um outside of that, it's important to know that it also shields the OEM. If you were to follow us on social media, you saw that we posted like the spider, not original equipment manufacturer. No, the Office of Emergency Management.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, that's a county one, not to be computer. Correct with the OES, which is the state agency.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. Okay. Now, for towns comparable to ours, there are dozens of people who work for an for OE for an OEM OES, right? In our case, there's like one, and that guy was out of town. I I wish I were making this shut up. This isn't in Ghana, right? Literally in the this is literally in the report, you guys. It's you'll hear me say it's bananas. It is bananas. But I think what was more concerning about this report is that as you get into it, it is full of errors. They have the times wrong of when the fire entered West Altadena. Their report says that there was no fire in Altadena until like 5, 6 a.m. My street was already on fire prior to that evacuation warning coming late at 3:30 in the morning. Um, it states that you know that they were just following Embercast and that they couldn't am because of the the wind, which is also uh insane.

SPEAKER_02:

I have a question on that one. Uh you know the question I'm gonna ask regarding this issue.

SPEAKER_00:

What's that?

SPEAKER_02:

Because I when I read it or when I read the LA Times summary of it, because I didn't read enough reports, I needed a break. Um it mentioned that the reason why there was a lack of visibility is because helicopters were grounded because of wind. And I'm sitting there going, and the next article is about drones in some war country using them. And I'm sitting there going, why are we not using drones with all the technology that we have to be able to put something up in the sky? And if it crashes, so be it. We have the largest urban fire we've had in history. Right?

SPEAKER_00:

I know.

SPEAKER_02:

And I presume there's some drone manufacturers in Southern California in San Diego, I know there's a big one. So I'm wondering what's what anyway, that was one of my questions that just leaped out off the page. I know it's minor, but it just really encapsulated that the to me, it was an encapsulation of the gaps that you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, we'll uh we'll get into the big takeaway of this report, um, if we want to call it that. Um, but you know, ultimately, um, as I read through this, I get like I said, it was full of errors, inaccuracies, inequities, um, and worse, frankly, there's victim blaming in here. Um, it's the kind of thing that I say you wouldn't believe this shit unless you you it you see it. So for anyone who's really curious, um I'm just gonna go ahead and read verbatim from page 65 of the Mercrystal Groups report. Public compliance challenges. And we're gonna jump ahead to the second uh paragraph of that particular section that states in certain areas for both fires, some homeowners believed their properties were safe or had confidence in extinguishing flames with garden hoses, while others, particularly those in generational homes, resisted evacuation due to emotional ties. Are you fucking kidding me? Sorry, guys, sorry to the censors, sorry for any young ears listening, but that slayed me. It's not only victim blaming blaming, it's borderline racist, and it's so wildly inaccurate. No one felt safe or confident in using a garden hose because, well, half of them had no water. They were doing it because they were left on their own with no help and no warning and no evacuation. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, seriously.

SPEAKER_00:

So, and and also this whole thing of like, oh, they were afraid, you know, they were emotional ties to their generational wealth. Are you kidding me? It's so offensive and condescending. People were not staying behind and resisting evacuation because of generational wealth, they never got a warning to leave. And I know it because I live there. And my neighbors are those fourth and fifth generation homeowners, and our neighbors were knocking on their doors to make sure they woke up and got out. Because, like most people who are not on the internet 24-7, if you don't get an evacuation alert, and if there's no presence of fire or sheriff anywhere around, no sirens, no one going up and down streets, nothing, and you've been the last thing that you heard on the news is that the fire was moving east, what would you do? What if you were 70 or 80 years old? You go to bed. You go to bed, and that's what people did, and then they died in their homes.

SPEAKER_02:

I gotta I g I gotta just I there's no words to there are no words for that. So I don't want to blithely move on from that point because that's a tremendously powerful point.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

But we got a limited amount of time here.

SPEAKER_00:

We do. So the other thing, so the bottom line is that the report is inadequate and it fails to address what needs to be addressed. It makes some recommendations, they're very loose. The overall takeaways that this was a you know multifactorial failure, that there, you know, as correct. Everyone wants to point fingers, and um ultimately it has no teeth, right? We saw this happen, and we talked about this at our press conference, we saw this happen um and in our all of our talking points after the Woolsey fire. There was a similar report released after the 2018 Woolsey fire, 2017, 18, and similar recommendations. It was a pre-COVID world, how's it? Correct. COVID, like COVID, I just called county COVID. The county was supposed to have enacted a number of those recommendations, and spoiler alert, none of it happened.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And this is this is pointing to a broader question about county capability to be able to execute the rebuild, which we will get to later.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, actually, I think we should get into without getting into the rebuild portion of it, I think it is a concern about leadership. 100%. And it's worth mentioning today's LA Times article. So today being uh Which I sent to you at five in the morning. Today being October 7th, if you want to catch that, there's a Los Los Angeles Times piece that I will I'll let Steve talk about. Steve's like, oh no, I don't have it open. I don't. I mean I caught Steve Steve by some.

SPEAKER_02:

You caught me right-handed. Hang on a second.

SPEAKER_00:

I did. Um, this is what happened when Steve and I decide that we're just gonna um be a little bit.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, this was this was basically your point, the talking point about, and that's why I sent it to you, about the fact they never did the repair, they never did the implementation of the city.

SPEAKER_00:

They never impl they never did what they were supposed to do and what they said they did.

SPEAKER_02:

And and so, I mean, I get now, I understand why we wanna, and the reason why we want to talk about this for the listeners is look, this is a broader issue than just you know the big public policy questions we've been talking about. This is the boots on the ground stuff, this is the stuff that's that that affects you in your day-to-day, and it's it's your here and now. And it's something that a lot of our community groups are very much fighting, and that's why I get to do the questioning as opposed to the answers this time. So, okay, Shauna, here we go. Because we got about 10 minutes left. Yeah, bringing the AG into this, the independent independent investigation. What is it that the intent of that is going to be? Because obviously, you know, it's government again, and yes, maybe it is an AG, but again, I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to the government looking after government. Um what what is it that the community is looking for? And and are you keying in on certain points to try to drive the AG's investigation in a certain direction? Because sometimes you help them move it along with the narrative that you guys are creating.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. So you know, I think that again, what is important is to understand is that that report was just a report, it has no teeth. The last few times we've had afterfire reports that with recommendations that were supposed to be implemented, but they were not, and nothing changed. And no, you cannot allow people to investigate themselves. How do you think that works out every time?

SPEAKER_02:

I I I ideally government procurement. Exactly. They've been doing reports about government procurement reform since the 1940s, and they're all still the same. So I'm very familiar with this dynamic.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. So ultimately, there needs to be an independent investigation. And the reason that the AG is the one who is being pressured to do that, and that we are hoping to compel to do that, is very simply because it is only our state's attorney general who has subpoena power. And subpoena power is the only way we will get a full representation of what happened that night and the days that followed, because they are the only ones with that subpoena power who can compel data that has not otherwise been released. It's important to understand in this report when I said it was full of errors, omissions, inequities, inadequacies, one of those many things is the fact that there is no LA sheriff's data in there, guys. Shocker, LA Sheriff's Department, County Sheriff opted not to participate and share data because the Board of Supervisors does not have the legal ability to force them to do it.

SPEAKER_02:

Sheriff is an independently elected official. That's right. Yeah, I remember whoever that previous sheriff was and how he just Oh my gosh, that was right.

SPEAKER_00:

I think we've all blocked his name out of our heads because that was such a nightmare. He was the uh the wolf in sheep's clothing who ran as a Democrat but wasn't anything but and we all anyhow, that's wow, that's a fun Villa Nueva. Villa Nueva. That's a whole super fun uh run down memory lane of uh LA County Sheriff Nightmares.

SPEAKER_02:

But um So so okay, so the County Board of Supervisors can't compel the sheriff to produce it.

SPEAKER_00:

Correct, but the attorney general can, and that is why, and it is also the attorney general who can look into the civil rights aspect of this. This was West Altadena, not East Altadena, West Altadena.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I'm gonna ask a stupid question.

SPEAKER_00:

18 out of 19 deaths.

SPEAKER_02:

Because I think it would be very ironic if it was this. If this if the attorney California Attorney General didn't take this up, could the U.S. Attorney General bring it up as a civil rights example?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

So Rob Bond, I hope you're listening. You do not want Pam Bondi taking this one from you.

SPEAKER_00:

Nope.

SPEAKER_02:

So interesting.

SPEAKER_00:

It is interesting. So, you know, I think the thing that I want to to wrap on this topic with, um, aside the f from the fact that, you know, everyone needs to if you want to have a call to action, it is to um go ahead and write the AG, Rob Bonta, and let him know that Altadina wants and deserves a true investigation and some true justice and accountability that we have not had. There has been no justice, no accountability. And there's no way for the town to move forward without us actually, you know, getting some answers. It's not about, I've said this, you know, in a hundred press interviews, it feels like at this point, but you know, it's not about pointing fingers. It's not about placing blame on a specific person. There's some idea that there's some wizard of oz who, you know, and it's with one person. No, I think the one thing the report did get right is that this is multiple parties, multiple failures, multiple agencies. Great. There are people in charge at each one of them, and they should probably be in another line of work and not being paid our tax dollars to do jobs that they cannot get done. So the thing that I really, you know, I want to, and Steve is dying, you guys, Steve is dying to say something else, but it would make him hold his tongue for a minute because I really I want to wrap this portion that in to go back to the beginning, that in 72 hours, this group of groups, that is all of us that are Al Tadina for accountability, put together this media offensive, this press conference. It was the largest community-led event uh of its kind, uh a press conference with media presence in the history since the fire of this year, right? And we've had a lot of them. I know I've attended many of them. I've spoken at a handful of them. Um, this was the largest by far.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a bold statement.

SPEAKER_00:

I know, and but it's true, it's a factual statement. Um, it was a little, I was a little blown away to look around and see who we got, especially knowing it was a Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. I'm sorry, it was a yes, it was a Tuesday morning, September 30th, 8 a.m. And that we had every major broadcast news station out. We've had national press. I spoke into the New York Times, NBC, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times. I mean, it it has been um a lot, and so have all of the other, you know, members of the of the our our uh organization, our organization of organizations, our group. The super group. Yes, our super group um that is Altadina for accountability, and it who it's been such a pleasure to work with everyone because it everyone really brought it. But what the thing that I want everyone to get from that is a reminder of how powerful we are when we are united and fighting for a common goal. Because in the time that we did that, so just the inkling of the fact that we were pushing for this investigation compelled them to drop that report months, if not a year earlier than was planned. Number one. Number two, we put so much pressure on the board of supervisors with the significant amount of media we had, more than 30 media hits, okay, inside of about 36 hours.

SPEAKER_02:

I've seen the list, it's really impressive.

SPEAKER_00:

It is I'm even as a media person, I was impressed that we pulled this off. So, with that, the message coming from the board of supervisors completely flipped overnight from complete support of this report to, you know, it's still it's still tender footing, right? No one's going to come out and completely throw all their people under the bus. But in that board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday, the 30th, that immediately followed our press conference, and where we also had people in person at that board of supervisors meeting talking while we were doing the press conference as public comment, um, the tune changed to the report having errors, our supervisor calling out some problems with the report, and ultimately stating on KCRW that she supported an independent AG investigation, if that is how her constituents get answers. So the again, I want to remind everyone that even when it feels like we are powerless and we have no elected speaking for us because we have so few, uh, we are still so much more powerful together than anyone realizes. It is just a matter of all of us uniting in a common goal, not taking no for an answer. And um we got to keep fighting the fight, as I've said from day one, no one's gonna do this for us. We're on our own, so we gotta do it. But this proves we have the power and we can do it, and that is an incredibly powerful statement.

SPEAKER_02:

Indeed. I got nothing else to say.

SPEAKER_00:

Should we talk about a small business?

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, go for it.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, great. I wanted to talk about um, well, first I want to have a quick shout out to um Adelaide, who we spoke about before, which is a fabulous little um gift shop, boutique, florist, plant shop on North Fair Oaks, just across from Fair Oaks Burger, in the space that Hoopla, the same little block that Hoopla used to be in. Um she, along with um Austin, our local muralist artist, who did all the fantastic um stuff at the he did the um Altadina Forever. He is Altadina Forever on Instagram. He did um, or Al Tadina is forever on Instagram. He also did um the mural at Unincorporated Coffee and um the beautiful Altadina mural that is located at the Eagles Hall on Woodbury. Um and he has beautiful prints for sale that you can find at Adelaide. So he, along with Adelaide, along with the Altadina Candle Company, which is awesome, who have two amazing candles I highly recommend tracking down. One is just called Altadina. I swear, guys, for those who are just are displaced, it smells like home. I burned that candle in my rental house. I love it. And another one that is definitely from where those with acquired tastes that is called um, I think it's called like like burning vehicle. It's it's wild. Um help with the marketing, but yes. Yes, but it is it is pretty fantastic. And the reason I was shouting them out is because they had a great little segment on Fox News on Sunday with um with Susan Hirasuna. Susan, who did a lot of really great coverage of the issue we're talking about today, this report and the demand for the attorney general Rob Bonta to can uh compel an independent investigation with subpoena power. She uh in the same turn was talking about Alstina's small business, which is really fantastic. So thank you, Susan. Thank you, Fox 11, but especially Susan, who went about for us to get those segments on. And um, I also wanted to give a little shout out to Randy and April at Good Neighbor Bar who managed to pull off a bit of a coup of their own with more than 5,000 letters of support to get their patio reading.

SPEAKER_02:

That was one of them. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go.

SPEAKER_02:

We love you, Randy, and April.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go. Until next time.

SPEAKER_02:

We'll see you later. Have a good one.