After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast
We are Beautiful Altadena, the online community group that launched in 2015 and the Substack by the same name, and we started this podcast to ask: Who’s writing the rules of recovery, who benefits, and who’s being left out? This podcast will deep dive into the issues of recovery and rebuilding through the lens of policy.
Each episode, we’ll dissect the policies and bills impacting Altadena post Eaton Fire. We’ll break down what they say, what they really mean, who they affect, and what – and who – they leave out.
Your hosts:
Shawna Dawson Beer / Beautiful Altadena, Eaton Fire Total Loss Survivor
Stephen Sachs / AltaPolicyWonk, Eaton Fire Survivor, Current Altadena Resident
Every episode closes out with a local small business shout out. We are not advertiser, sponsor or grant funded and have no agenda beyond ensuring our Altadena neighbors are as in the know as possible so that we can all be our own best advocates for ourselves and our town.
After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast
Episode 11: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – What Just Happened in Sacramento?
In this special double episode of After the Ashes (think: '80s after-school special meets legislative meltdown), we dive into a weekend full of political gut punches. Despite community protest, SB782 passed and the County machine wins, so now what? AB797, the much-hoped-for counterpoint, got unexpectedly vetoed. And Newsom killed SB629, the Zone 0 bill, too. Spoiler alert, Altadena was 0 for 2 on this one and now it's time to get to work holding the County accountable.
We also unpack the Wall Street Journal story on billionaire lottery winner Edwin Castro and how the article pretty much confirms no one reads. Comments were overwhelmingly positive, but he could not have been more clear about the fact that his $10 million purchase of 15 lots to develop is business, not philanthropy.
It’s a long one, because there’s a lot to say.
Small Business shout-outs in this episode include Guillaume at Le Pain Beurre, who's bringing proper French bread to Altadena Bev at their pop-ups and could use your support as he rebuilds his life and business after total loss to the fire; gluten free baker Jenny Caloca aka Altadena Bread Co, who's also just getting back to baking after losing her home and cottage bakery to the fire, but is hot off of a major gluten-free comeback after winning the top award in the GF category at the World Bread Awards; and another Altadenan, Frank Kim, at Highlight Coffee on Lincoln, where they're sporting a new façade with the words "HOPE" and "COFFEE FOR REBUILDING." Find them all online and show them all some love!
@pain_beurre_altadena
@altadenabreadco
@highlightcoffee
Well, we're back. It's After the Ashes, the Beautiful Altonina podcast, breaking down legislation and recovery. Uh, this is Shauna Dawson Beer here, and this is uh episode 11 coming at you. Can you believe we're on episode 11, Steve?
SPEAKER_01:Well, talking to a guy who's written 300 sub stacks since the end of March.
SPEAKER_00:Steve can absolutely believe we're on episode 11. Steve doesn't understand why we're not on episode 111. This one is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, AB 782 signed, AB 797, S B 782. A S B does, a A B S B does again. I do it every fucking time, guys. And I apologize. It is kind of all the same, but for the sake of accuracy, yes, because you know, we have heard of accuracy. You know who you are. I know what I've done. I'm sorry. SB782, which we all know and you know because you've been hearing so much about it, did get signed this weekend. Uh it passed the governor's desk. Not a surprise at all, right, Steve? No surprise there. And we're gonna dig into that, but no surprises there. But the surprise was that AB 797, John Herobedian's bill, that we all thought would in fact pass and be the foil, be the other side of the coin to 782.
SPEAKER_01:The multiplier, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:The multiplier. And we'll get into what that means because I know most listeners are like, what's he talking about?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_00:He's gonna explain. Um got vetoed, which was not what was expected. And we'll talk about what was in that veto letter and what happened. Um, Steve, what happened? Steve, Steve, this morning to me, off record said, and now I just put it very much on record, said, We got RF'd. And I was like, Do you mean rat fucked?
SPEAKER_01:I would say that decisions were made, and we will be the recipients of those decisions. That's the political answer.
SPEAKER_00:We're going to be left holding the bag of these decisions. Um, I I'm gonna try and give us a little levity before we jump into it. I was gonna save the levity for the end, but I'm actually gonna give it to us right now because this is such a wrist-slitting episode. Oh, I shouldn't use those terms.
SPEAKER_01:Well, look, we knew today would be a big episode. I know, I know, I know. We were hoping it would be very different, but unfortunately it's not.
SPEAKER_00:In our group, someone posted and it was so funny like, here's some Halloween costumes for Al Tadina for 2025, and a couple, and this came off of the fact that there was an image of um the of someone's home, the standing home where they had decorated for Halloween, and it has a giant state farm sign blown up. It says state farm, and it was like, check in with your adjuster here, and it was like, you know, basically in hell. Um, it is hilarious. And someone had had posted a whole list of ideas for costumes that included um, you know, state farm adjuster, number 30, whatever you're on. I'm on number 10 now, folks. Um, all these is it's again, it's fire survivor humor, but um, I added to that, like, oh, we don't forget the ghosts of AB of SB 782 and uh AB 797 because both are gonna be haunting us for decades.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Very very well put, Shauna. Uh yeah, this was this was very much a shock to us. So where do you want to start?
SPEAKER_00:I think it's important to start uh with the landscape for those who don't necessarily understand this in Sacramento, right? And how I don't think we need to get into the mechanics of how exactly this all works. I think everyone listening understands, you know, bills pass, you know, various stages. Once they've passed their last stage in California, which is the Senate, they then go on to the well, the the house that it originated in. Correct. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:In this case, for 782, it was the Senate, yes.
SPEAKER_00:And then what that goes to the governor's desk, and then the governor needs to either the governor has 30 days, which expired um on Monday, um, October 7th. No, 13th. What is today? 13th. I'm again, I never know.
SPEAKER_01:Again, a harbinger, a very great harbinger, right? October 13th.
SPEAKER_00:I know on the 13th. Um, so he had until that date, and it usually happens, you know, right at the 12th hour, as things get either signed or vetoed.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And you can tell which things that were going to be signed, everyone knew was going to be signed because they are big, self-congratulatory photo op moments, and there was no shortage of those for this bill where everyone just happened to all be up there to convene.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, he was down here in district. Oh, Ris. I'm sorry, I didn't realize he was here. Yeah, he was down here.
SPEAKER_00:But everyone just happens to be available, you know, to do photos because obviously they knew in advance that this was going to be pushed through.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, 782 was going to be pushed through, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Which I think was no surprise.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, it was expected. It was I think we all hoped that it wouldn't because what it portends, but the you know, the the writing was on the wall and the machine was moving in that direction.
SPEAKER_00:So and I it for me the biggest piece of this is the degree to which, again, we don't have a voice of representation. We just don't. I know that in our community, in our group alone, there are certain people that think they will have a voice. Well, those folks are misguided, I'm afraid, because they've been lied to and misled, and they will have to figure that out on their own in their own due time. Um, you know, but I was going, what was I gonna say? I was sorry, I didn't miss it. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. That, you know, just in effect, um I completely lost my thought, Steve.
SPEAKER_01:It's my bad. It'll come back to you.
SPEAKER_00:It will come back to me. It always does. And for the listener, we're kind of just we usually have like light notes of what we're gonna discuss, and today we didn't do that. This one, we're just you know, you're you're hearing this is how Steve and I just This is raw. Like just having a conversation. Today's a shit, it's a shitty day for Altadena. Make no mistake.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, we got pouring rain or atmospheric river, you know, the LA Times jinxed uh jinxed us again. You know, it's either the Dodgers or the weather. The LA Times has a tendency of doing that. Whenever they say it's gonna be a drought year, we get massive rainstorms. And whenever they say the Dodgers are moving, Bill Plashke, thank you, they end up losing. So it's like, I don't know what it is with the LA Times and jinxing.
SPEAKER_00:Well, hopefully, me wearing my LA Dodgers hat today is not jinxing.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, no, I uh he hasn't said anything about the Dodgers right now. So you should be okay.
SPEAKER_00:All right, all right. And I will say, I mean, I I that's a great preface before we jump back into all of this that um yeah, I spent my, as you know, Steve, I was in the dark last night filling sandbags um after driving all over Altadina more than I should have had to, because the station that per county and the LASD alert that had sandbags and sand did not have sandbags and sand, did not answer the door, didn't answer the bell. Nothing. I was like, oh, well, thank you, fire LA County Fire Station. This is very on brand for 2025 and you. I hate to be a hater like that, but let me tell you, in the dark, when it's already sprinkling, when you have to go fill sandbags and deal with something on your dirt farm, which is what I call my lot. Going where you're told to go, finding nothing, calling the sheriff's office, being told they have no idea what's going on, and then realizing that you and your group are the only source of information on this topic. Uh it was a real thrill, as was being out there as it was starting to drizzle at almost eight o'clock, tarping with Visqueen and getting into uh sandbags. Good times, good times.
SPEAKER_01:So on that note, it was sort of a fitting end to the legislative session that we've had. And you know, I think we've reached the point where disbelief doesn't exist anymore for us here in Altadena. And I guess where do you want to start? 782?
SPEAKER_00:Let's start with 782.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So which we've talked quite a bit about, but I think again, contextually now that's the climate resilience district. Correct. That for anyone who, you know, is just joining us, that was the CRD. That's Sasha Renee Perez's bill, which I'm reluctant to even call it her bill because it's not her bill, it's the county's bill.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's her bill. She's the one who sponsored it, she's the one who owns it, she's the one who brought it up there.
SPEAKER_00:Well, the governor owns it now too. Yeah. But, you know, this one, you know, really this is the county's thing. This the county wanted it, the county got it. And, you know, what we have been kind of hollering about here, um, and I know what I had forgotten, um, and I recalled because this is it, but you know, is that the frustration was that the mechanisms so that everyone is understands what the problem is with this bill. I think it's really important to very clearly outline that from the outset. The problem with 782 is that there is no community input in the sense that there is no protest feature. This bill should have had a protest feature. It didn't. Some of us went up to Sacramento, gave testimony, requesting that the bill be amended before being passed with that protest feature. They would not put it in.
SPEAKER_01:Which begs the one might say you did a protest to get a protest.
SPEAKER_00:I did a protest to get a protest. The it begs the question, why? Why not? Why do they not why? Well, okay, exactly. It's obvious why. But, you know, I know that, you know, once that was ignored and didn't happen from our group, hundreds of people in our group called, sent emails, letters, etc., to the governor's office saying, please do not pass this as it is. Altadena didn't have any input in this. We have no vote on this, we have no say on this. The structure to create this EIFD already exists. Yeah, it already exists. They don't need this bill for that. They didn't kill the bill.
SPEAKER_01:They could have already been moving on it back in January, and now we're waiting around for a bill to get passed. We wasted nine, 10 months waiting for it.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, for nothing.
SPEAKER_01:Um no, it was something.
SPEAKER_00:It was the exact one.
SPEAKER_01:And that is the key thing that everybody needs to realize is that that that would that they're gonna tell you was the 20% increase in the proper in the the geography that would be covered by the CRD. But the reality is it's the protest feature. It always was the protest feature, it'll always be the protest feature. And they wanted to be able to put this in place and not have to be accountable to the community. Whatever they decide to do will be what they do. Period. The end.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. And now we Altadina gets to hold the bag again. So now what, Steve? Or uh before we jump into the now what, I think it's important now we just gave a little bit more background on.
SPEAKER_01:I think it's also important that you know, you gotta understand the 782 also is gonna be financed through the tax increment. So what 782 really does is it's a bonding authority, essentially. And that's gonna be critical because absence something else, federal money or some other scalable mechanism to bring in money, we're going to be at the mercy of a program that's been around for 14 years. First bonded, its first bond issued was this year, and for$57 million. So, folks, yeah. Uh Stan, this is this is we're we're not moving very fast.
SPEAKER_00:No, we're not, even though this was forced through Senate behind closed doors, again without a vote, as an emergency. It's an emergency. It was billed as an emergency, it's an emergency.
SPEAKER_01:The county still needs to vote on it. They're still gonna have to get the board of supervisors to approve it, which we all know the board of supervisors in all likelihood will, no matter how loud Altadina is, though I think Altadena should be loud about it.
SPEAKER_00:That's right.
SPEAKER_01:And we plan to get loud about it, and then they're gonna still have to create the model, which means they're gonna have to do multiple meetings, then they're gonna have to go out and bond this thing. They got to determine what the bondable value is, and then go out to the market, bond it, have bond buyers buy it. I mean, honestly, folks, this is probably at least six to twelve months before we see anything out of this drop in a bucket for what we're going to need here. And there's no multiplier. I mean, unless they're dreaming that Trump miraculously is gonna find Jesus and decide to give us money, which I wouldn't hold my breath, especially after what our governor is doing right now with Prop 50. I I mean, we're probably sitting here and and and so what other mechanism is there to generate revenue and to bring in scalable financing solutions? And that was my point back in January. That was my point in March with starting the Substack, and that's my point sitting here October 14th. It's the same thing. We're missing that scalable solution. And guess what? It got vetoed yesterday, folks.
SPEAKER_00:Right. So that's the other one. So, Steve, for anyone who's just joining us, give a quick and dirty on what 797 was, what it would have done, yeah, and what the fact that we just that it was killed now means for this. Because, you know, this was again to go back to what I just said at the top of the of the episode. That was, in theory, the the feeling was that it would also pass and that you would have these kind of these. They would be working together. Working together. But now we don't have that. So walk us through what all of that is.
SPEAKER_01:So what 797 was is it to security that the state was going to issue. Okay, for those of you that just rolled your eyes and fell asleep, I apologize. But the idea was we were gonna bring in money from the banks, put it through a community accountable organization, a nonprofit or multiple nonprofits, so that there was competition as opposed to one single rebuilding authority. But the idea being that that bill would allow us to catalyze bank money that is in the billions, if not trillions, of dollars or hundreds of billions of dollars available. And more than anything, in the absence of the federal money, when you look at where you can get money from, you had to find a source of money that was gonna be relatively cheap to borrow against, because otherwise we're gonna be paying through the nose. And that's where this funding source really existed from. And what we were doing is we were focused on where we can use that money to address an issue which is gonna be the gap in financing or the gap in values for people's homes. So for you who lost a home and you had insurance, you didn't have insurance, now your property is gonna be worth X amount of dollars. It was worth whatever it was worth January 6th. So the idea was to say, okay, let's allow the money from the banks to come in and provide liquidity to those homeowners so that they can at least get the value of their home or more the day of January 6th.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And again, contextually, you know, that's been lost. And I think as we as more comes out and more happens, like for example, as we discover just how toxic the area is, as we are flooded with new construction from, you know, developers or even from homeowners who choose to rebuild and then sell homes, uh, sell those homes or rent those homes. A lot of standing homes that are left or those that are burnt out lots, we've we've lost that value.
SPEAKER_01:Well, look, you saw the Wall Street Journal article that you were quoted in last week. You know, it was on actually, it was today's paper. The physical paper was online yesterday. But it said that it was it was uh there what we've lost 20% of the value of the properties that are selling right now, since at least that's what Theresa Fuller said, since February.
SPEAKER_00:No, she's right. There's no doubt she's right.
SPEAKER_01:And and as more properties go on the market, you're gonna see a continued drop. And this bill would have the buyer's market, and this bill would have proven the model that we could have used that bank money to do good, to bring a scalable solution and allow homeowners the security to know that their property they don't have to sell for below value of what their house was worth January 6th. I mean, isn't that the point of the settlement from Edison and in why we have a wildfire fund? It would have been a complementary solution to the wildfire fund, which now is removed. And, you know, everybody in Altadena who is selling for below the value of what their home was worth January 6th, whether it's$10,$10,000, or hundreds of thousands of dollars, you go call the governor. He's just vetoed your ability to take that money and have it. And anybody who supported him on this did the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_00:That's right.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry, I'm very passionate about it because it was the right solution for what we needed in our community. At least one of the key pieces to help build back. And it was just taken off the table for no reason.
SPEAKER_00:Walk us through actually what the rationale was for the veto. Because, you know, for anyone who doesn't know, I know, I know, I know. But for anyone who doesn't know, there is a letter that that it all that always accompanies both the vetoes and the signing, but the veto letters are always the best. It explains why the governor didn't.
SPEAKER_01:So when the when the bill was winding its way through, because it was going to be issued by what's called the IBank, the infrastructure bank. We have a bank in California that bonds and provides financing to businesses and organizations to do infrastructure and some economic development. That's why we created it, okay? So the infrastructure bank didn't want to do this per se, or at least that was the indication. And they decided that this bill was going to add tens of millions of dollars allegedly to their budget. I don't see how that was. You maybe had the legal fees to set up the security itself, and maybe one person just overseeing the funds, but it was supposed to be self-uh self-regulating so that we wouldn't have to have a continued appropriation. The idea was to make it so there was no appropriation. And on the back end, they got to share in the upside potential that when those properties sold, if they sold for above market value, that the bank would be, the infrastructure bank would be recompensated for it, which is the reason why ultimately the bill was to go through appropriations, not because it was gonna cost the government money, according to the legislature, it's because it was actually gonna make the government money and they were gonna have to figure out where to put those dollars. So the argument that the government said was the governor's office said was no, no, actually, this is gonna cost us money, it's gonna cost us tens of millions of dollars. Nobody had any kind of accounting for what that tens of millions of dollars was, they just said it. And then the governor vetoes the bill saying it's gonna cost our state, which is a$330 billion budget, up from$180 billion from when Jerry Brown was last year as governor,$330 billion, folks.$300 million just being spent on a special election. We couldn't find a few million dollars allegedly to be able to figure out how people in Altadena were going to be able to preserve the value of their land. So for all you residents and homeowners in Altadena, think about that for a minute and think about how much you're cared about in light of all of this. That's chump change to this government. That is office supplies. That's a rounding error of a rounding error.
SPEAKER_00:It's nothing. It's nothing.
SPEAKER_01:They could have found the money if they wanted it. It was it.
SPEAKER_00:I like to say couch, it's the cushion change.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, no, no. And you know, there are areas they could have found the money if they wanted it. And that's what the veto message said to me. It wasn't about the policy. Policy was great. They didn't have it, there's no redundancy. There's no we have a different source of funds that can make up for what this fund was gonna be. Nope, it was just too much money.
SPEAKER_00:And here we are. So I think, you know, the bottom line is we know the town is left, like I said, it's about priorities, right? It's not about money. And we're and we're not a priority. No, we've said this repeatedly. I don't know how many other time ways to say it, you know. Altadena gets treated like the redheaded stepchild. I, you know, I'm gonna use a an expression of my that shows my age. I don't mean any offense with that statement, obviously, if you're redheaded as my mother was, and some of what's left of my gray hair is it's a beautiful thing. But um, yeah, it's that we do get, we are, it's death by neglect in Altadena. That's what happened on January 7th, 8th, and 9th. And I say 7th, 8th, and 9th, because for anyone who is not aware, we burned for days um without anyone coming to help. And you know, I think what at least for me, what this continues to say is that we're not the priority. Our rebuild and recovery is clearly not the priority. Well, here's a lot of it.
SPEAKER_01:This was a community-driven initiative.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm gonna get to that. Like, like it's uh no, don't be sorry, I'm with you. It's really upsetting, is that you know, ultimately we are not the priority. The machine is gonna get what the machine wants, and make no mistake, this is the machine, and what the machine wants is increased property value revenues, values for increased property tax revenue to continue to fund the machine. Because again, make no mistake, Altadina that gets a teeny tiny piss pot fraction of what we put into the county in return. In what services? I don't know. Over and over, no services or half subpar half-ass subpar services. Um, we are, though, a cash cow. And this makes us even more of a cash cow. This is a disaster economy. It is yet another scenario where everyone but the fire victim gets rich. And ultimately, nobody cares about us. They don't care if we can come home. None of this does that, even though, very regrettably, a lot of org of our community orgs were led to believe that it would, that this would support rebuilding, that this would actually even potentially fund some of these organizations or CLTs.
SPEAKER_01:This being the 782.
SPEAKER_00:This being 782. You know, they curried a lot of favor in the community by frankly being dishonest. And, you know, the thing I kept saying to folks who would come to me and say, well, the bill's gonna do this and this and this. I'm like, great, where is that? That's literally not in the bill. Well, I was told by so-and-so elected that it's going to do this and this and this, and we've been promised, and you don't need to worry and stop worrying and stop kicking up so much fuss. And I'm like, okay, guys, except none of that is in writing. Where is it? Because it's not in writing because it isn't real. And are you sure that you know they're the ones who said it, or did you? Bottom line, there are a lot of promises to be kept now. There's a lot of promises to be kept now, and this is where the the wheels hit the road, right? Where the tread hits the road of like what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01:Well, who's gonna be around when this is all said and done? Who's gonna actually still be able to call in the favor? And, you know, at the end of the day, who's gonna be able to say, You promised me X, now what? And the answer is gonna be just like that post I wrote about I I can't remember the name of it, but you know, a couple weeks ago about the realization of what happens when the phone calls don't get returned, when you when you realize that this is what's happened to you, how you feel. You know, i i it it it it's horrible that it goes this way. But you know, you're the you're the bell of the ball until you're not needed anymore. And so it it'll be very interesting to see how this all shakes out and who who rises and who falls. And unfortunately, a lot of people were a part of a game that was so much bigger than any of us ever understood or ever have been a part of. This is a$10 billion rebuild, but it's also about you know, is this about sticking it to Trump? You know, is Altadena an example that has been sacrificed upon in this game to show Washington that we're gonna get the federal money come hell or high water, even though we have an answer to the problem, we don't care. You know, and if homeowners lose money on their property, so be it. That's it's sacrificed for the bigger good. And I think people, you know, this goes back to the whole people have asked me, why are you against Prop 50? I'm against Prop 50 because I think it's bad policy. I think it's wrong to try to play a game the way that we're playing it. Because at the end of the day, you know, whether you're giving up your your rights as a as a as a citizen for something that was created by the citizens to provide a check on political power, or whether it's something like what we try to do in Altadena, but now we're being sacrificed at the altar of this game of, you know, we gotta show it to Trump, it's wrong. It's not about Trump. I don't care about Trump. Sorry, it doesn't matter. What matters is what's in front of us every day. And taking it out of that reality and putting it elsewhere, it's a travesty. It's a dis it's dishonest. It's wrong. Because at the end of the day, Donald Trump is not gonna change our lives here in Altadena. He's not gonna miraculously make everybody make more money or not. That was our governor. That was his job to be able to support and back up the people who live here and their investments and their their long-earned assets and ensuring that those assets are secured, and he took that away from us. For what?
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Well, that's the question. That is the big question of the day.
SPEAKER_01:And is this a microcosm of what's happening to our state? Are we losing the thread here? And I think people who've read my Substack know that this is something I'm starting to really question. Is are we losing the thread? Are we becoming so rapidly against a man that it we it's to our detriment now? We're we're fighting him to our detriment to stick it to him that he doesn't care about. Like, where's the logic in this? That's what I'm trying to understand. And that at it at its root is where it feels like 797 exists because Altadena, there's no more money.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. There's no source of scalable cash to come in and rebuild. And this is what we've been talking about from episode one. Where's the the money? Where is it? How are we doing this? This isn't tens of millions, hundreds of millions. Our rebuild requires billions of dollars. Tens of billions. Tens of billions of dollars. It's an amount of money that is hard to comprehend. It's an amount of money that I've been, you know, saying from day one, we know it's not coming from the federal government. The county is, you know, scrambling and has no plan because they have no money. I I really felt that the county got caught with their pants down in a lot of respects because they were, you know, anticipating that this money would come from the federal government because that's what always happens, and it didn't happen. And the minute there's no money, there's no plan, because there's no plan for where to get the money, which makes what's happening now with these bills even more disheartening and disappointing and disturbing because this still does not solve any of those problems. Where the fuck is the money coming from? How is this town getting rebuilt other than selling us off to the highest bidder? Which is effectively exactly what is happening right now. If you don't think that this is gonna bring in a wave of, and I say a wave because we've already had another other waves, but this is gonna be a rapid wave of gentrification, densification, and a complete change of that community between SB9, 782, no 797. This is what we get. I mean, I've said it before, I will say it again. It is like we are being smoked out of our homes, our lives, our properties for so many reasons. People are not going to be able to come back. They're gonna be there, those, you know, there are many already who've had to make the choice difficult choice to sell, which I completely understand. You know, for a hundred reasons, some people have to do that. And they should it shouldn't matter who they sell to. They need to they need to do what they have to do. But, you know, the reality is the system has been set up for people that you maybe don't want buying those lots to buy those lots and to do things that maybe you don't want them to do on them. Well, and there's nothing to stop that right now. I was at a friend's home yesterday, um, because I was up, you know, at my lot, and I and I say home, it was the the you know, FKA home. But um since I was there having to do sandbags on my lot, I'd asked some of my girlfriends, you know, hey, does anybody need a SWAT check while I'm up here and humping, you know, sandbags? Um, and so one friend had said, Yeah, can you go run by and look at my lot? Because she was particularly worried that where she was positioned, that there may be runoff from her lot, even though the, you know, Army Corps left it exactly as they're supposed to, waddled and everything else, that because her neighbor next door, who is um well or behind her, well, well into a rebuild because they are contractors and they're doing their own rebuild. Um and with SB9, it allowed them for their new house to max out that lot. Their house is like two feet from her property line on the three sides of the back. And then in the front, they have, you know, the required easement. But there's a no yard, no backyard, no side yard, no yard. So she was worried that, like, hey, this is gonna run off down into his new build. Um, and you know, ultimately it was like there's no amount of sandbags in the world that's gonna stop this. He needs a retaining wall that he hasn't put in yet. So at some point, you know, it can't be your problem. But holy shit. I when I stepped out and looked at that, at the reality of that, of this towering house pushed up against every one of because you know, if you know Altadino, we have some really weird lot lines, but pushed against every border of the fence with no space around it at all. And tell me again, how is that? This is gonna be a good segue, but how the heck is that better for fire hazard? Oh, that's right, it's not. You know, might again where I am in track 4602, that burned as hot and heavy as it did, despite many of us having upgraded our homes to make every chapter 7a suggestion, you know, a reality from the roofs, the eaves, the gutters, the windows. Windows, the doors, you know, you the defensible space, the pea gravel, you name it. I did it all. It doesn't matter when everything around you is that close because of the way our, you know, the that like those villages were built.
SPEAKER_01:We had the zoning that created those easements because of the fact that the case is.
SPEAKER_00:This is why we have a CSD that's being fire. It's gonna take out the house next door. Whether it's a wildfire or just a fire itself. It's going to take out the house next door. Um, it it's you know, it's absolutely insane. The lack of logic. It's why, again, it takes you back to follow the money, kids. It is all about the money. Everything is about, yes, they want you to maximize the house on your lot because guess what? The property tax is considerably higher. And it's more money in the pocket annually that spoiler alert, Altadina will never reap the benefit of. So, you know, getting into that fire hardening issue, doesn't that's a good segue for another bill that people were really worried about was um A B629.
SPEAKER_01:It was veto.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, exactly. So that was the update I wanted to give. So I like a lot of people were really concerned about um we've taught about AB 629, which is that zero, that zone zero defensible space bill that would have said, you know, you have to have uh X number of defensible, you have to have X amount of defensible space based on X amount of feet um away from your home without any foliage. It was the I call it the Bogambia bill, right? Because there was that great LA story of like, well, LA, your Bogambia has to go because the Bogambia is clearly what's gonna take the town down. Uh, not, you know, no fire response or no water or um a malignant private utility for profit situation. But in fact, not the public utility. It's not the uh the late stage capitalist nightmare. It's the Bogambia. Uh so don't worry about it. Just get rid of your Bogambia. But yeah, uh that bill was defeated, which is good because it was fucking dumb. So um I was glad to see at least that one didn't make it, and people can, you know, shake that one off and and direct their ire in much more appropriate places, like what we're gonna do now about 782. Uh, because now we're all we all have it. It's not just about Newsom has to own this with the county and with with Sasha Renee Perez, our senator. Everybody now has to own this. This is ours. We own this. So we have to decide. And I say that we have to decide because I'm gonna go back to how to be your best advocate, own advocate. We don't have to lay down and accept that this is the reality. It is reality, but we have power in numbers. There are times where you have to remind your electeds, even if those electeds are terming out and you don't have, you know, the lever of a vote, you have to stand up and actually remind them that they work for you and that that is your money that they are working with, and that is paying their salary and their pension and their beautiful homes and all of this other wonderful stunt fun stuff that our tax dollars pay for. We actually do get to have a say. Make the phone calls, write the letters. Letters these days are emails. It's very easy. You can submit a form on websites, it's very simple. You know, the it's in the new technology world, doing this is a lot easier than it used to be. But we have to actually unite and do it. And right now, that means very simply, because this is past the governor's uh uh desk already, if you want, still drop him a note and say, hey, nobody wanted this, nobody asked for this, and you own it now, and we're not gonna forget that when it comes time to vote for president, because we all know he's making a bid for president.
SPEAKER_01:Well, he's gotta get through the primaries.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he's gotta get through the primaries, exactly. And um, you know, it's a very simple thing. Like we do vote, and he needs the Aldadina voter because guess who the Aldadina voter is? Black women, Hispanic voters, Mexican American voters, and white women. All of us vote and are very critical demographics in this state for um the Democratic Party that they have seen slipping year after year. So now's really not the time to screw us and not even buy us dinner first. At least buy us dinner first, or in this case, help us rebuild our town in some way, shape, or form that even remotely it looks like what was taken from all of us.
SPEAKER_01:Look, there if the town rises up and says, look, governor, we need to figure this out and we need that financing solution. I mean, they could do a budget right trailer bill at this point if somebody wanted to. I don't know, I don't know if it's gonna happen. I don't know if it can happen, but it but it's possible. It is anything is possible if the town rises up and if the media picks up on this. You know, that's the other piece to this is where's we need the media now. Yeah, you know, it's time for Pasadena now, the local papers, you know, the LA Times, the Pasadena Star News. Pick up the story. Yep. Like we just got hosed here, and it what it went from town figures out how to finance its own rebuild to we just took away the major lever. What are you going to do?
SPEAKER_00:I think that's it. What are you gonna do? What are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01:What's the plan, Governor? Where's the question to the governor's office, to GOBIS, to the various people in Sacramento? What are you going to do? County, what are you going to do? Is it gonna be we're gonna get the federal money? Because go call the delegation in Washington and find out where that is. It's not coming. So, what's the magical plan? Is there are there billions and billions of dollars sitting in the governor's in some account up in Sacramento that miraculously we're gonna be able to tap into to help finance this rebuild?
SPEAKER_00:Do you think that's a good idea?
SPEAKER_01:Because they couldn't find a couple million to do it. How the hell am I gonna find billions? I I just I'm at a loss here.
SPEAKER_00:You're not alone. We're all at a loss here. Um, so outside of continuing to pressure the governor, which we can do through comments, you know, you won't you won't find SB782 on that drop-down form anymore because the bill passed, but you can still add a secondary comment and write it in. Send it email. You can still do it. Um, and the other place we've got a hit is the county. And as we all know, our fifth district supervisor is Catherine Barger, and she is very easy to find online, you know, and to send emails and submit forms to as well, and let her know too hey, look, the county doesn't want this, but now that we have it, you need to be accountable into how it's applied. Well, there's there is a step here.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, and and the supervisor has flexibility, two things they can do. The first is she can add in the protest feature if she chose to. Second of all, she doesn't have to do the CRD. She, and again, there are other problems to the CRD, the climate resilience district that I can tell you about that go beyond just Al Tadena and the finance piece. There's the expanded area that it is and how that affects us and potentially the Palisades with Santa Monica. Like the the the it there are towns that can be part of this that can pull more than they put in. So there's a whole different side of this, which I have in a Substack. If you really want to know, you can go into the Substack and see it. But the county can just do a regular EIFD, which has the normal procedures. And what the supervisor can say is, look, I get it. Thank you, Senator Perez, for putting this bill through, but we're gonna go with normal regular order, as we like to call it in legislative language. We're gonna go through the regular process, set this up right, do it as an EIFD, which already is on the books, which has everything there. We don't need what the CRD is going to do because we don't want to be in a position where La Canyotta or San Marino can pull or San Sierra Madre or Pasadena can pull money out of Altadena.
SPEAKER_00:And to remind people, that's what this did. The CRD, this climate resilient district, increased the reach by 20%, which a lot of people were confused by. I saw someone in our group comment that saying, oh, great, that means West Altadena will get the care it needs. I was like, oh my gosh, no, that's not what that means. It means 28% outside of our borders of Altadena's borders.
SPEAKER_01:In revenue, but those those revenues are infantismal relative to the amount of revenue that Altadena is going to create, because the turnover in properties in La Cinata or San Marino or even out Pasadena are going to be or Sam uh Sierra Madre, sorry, I keep saying San Marino, are going to be far less than the 6,000 properties plus commercial districts inside of Al Tadena. So if we get a couple million dollars from La Cadata and they want to go build a sewer, they can go take that money out of us and do the same because guess what? We're all the same people.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and guess what? This is our this is our property tax dollars that we're already seeing teeny percentages of come back into our town now will be funding projects in our neighboring towns like Sierra Madre and La Cañada, who don't need our money, but we do.
SPEAKER_01:So where I'm going with this is again, if the supervisor wants to make this right, which she can, and this will be her legacy, the EIFD is the way to go. And at least at that point, we can potentially have a protest feature where Altadina's in control of Altadina's own destiny.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:And for those that wanted the CRD, you're gonna get you'll have the same flexibility under the EIFD. You will, under whatever promises you were made, you could still possibly or probably get, or they can still potentially give you what you want. I don't know what you're doing. What you're promised, but and then, you know, the other thing with 797 is potentially this the county can potentially create the same security. The difference is we really wanted the state to do it because it's something that other areas within the state are going to need when they have a similar circumstance where the state could have deployed it and been on the ground with a solution standing this up within 30 days of the fires occurring. We could amend the bill down the road. Right now it's just for Al Tadena and in LA, but this is a tool that was on the books that the state could be deploying. And it's really sad that we gave that up.
SPEAKER_00:It is, but I'm gonna say, as I have said repeatedly since 2016, about our Democratic Party, and I will preface this by saying I am a Democrat, though I lean a little bit more socialist, Democratic Socialist a la Bernie Sanders, uh, which Steve is not quite there in that spectrum. On some issues, I lean a little bit more moderate. AI says that I'm a populist. That's interesting. Well, at least you're not a Marxist, so that's good. But um, you know, uh, as I preface by saying that, you know, what I've said since 2016, and and these are actually words that I've stolen from Mr. Beer, so Mr. Beer gets full credit, but the Democratic Party could not organize a piss-up in a brewery or an orgy in a brothel. And that is unfortunately what has kind of gotten us into this pickle. And I say this pickle, meaning the pickle that our entire country finds ourselves in in the first place. And now here we are.
SPEAKER_01:Well, again, this there is hope, there is a way to get there. Unfortunately, we we saw what we as a town are and where the state sees us. And for those that think you're gonna get follow-on support, let this be the harbinger of what is to come. We're done. And to our supervisor, you know, I I don't think this falls on you. I think that the state could have given you more tools and they chose not to. They can't absolve themselves of the responsibility here. But you now get to clean up the mess. So this is your choice. And in politics, it's interesting, and this is a lesson I've learned from my time in DC is you're given choices. Okay. They come to you, they ask you. It has to be your choice. It can't be forced on you. The governor, you were given a choice to veto 797. That was your choice. That wasn't forced on you. You decided that this was what was right. Supervisor Barger, you're now given the choice of how to implement the tools that you were given. That's your choice. Whether you whether the long-term effects of this or not are what you're concerned with, these are your decisions. Altadena, you were given the choice. And we decided that there were people within our community that wanted things a certain way. And we that was the choice that was given to us, and it's unfortunate that this is where we stand. So these are not decisions that are made for us. These are decisions that we chose. Whether you like the choice or not, or whether you like how it was presented, that's what it is.
SPEAKER_00:It is what it is. I've said a lot, as my motto of the year, it seems. Uh, it's gonna be my new family crest. It is what it is. Um, but with that, it doesn't have to be that. I I'm really, I don't want to sound defeatist because I'm never defeatist.
SPEAKER_01:And um if we were defeatist, we wouldn't be talking about this right now.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Like I just want to really wrap this topic, reminding everyone again, I cannot reiterate enough. We hold the power, but we have to exercise it, we have to utilize it, we have to collectively make decisions and go and speak up for ourselves because as we've said a thousand times, no one is going to do it for us.
SPEAKER_01:No one is coming to anything to support the report with the McChrystal report.
SPEAKER_00:I know. Well, that was a and that was, you know, my or beautiful Altadina working to support a number of other amazing organizations, predominantly black orcs. No, I know Altadina. That is the people that was, you know, a set that was organizing in 72 hours through a handful of groups, a handful of key people who came together, worked hard for 72 hours, and you know, made the beginning of a big difference. You know, we're still pushing on that front. I think, you know, to be very clear, that demand has not been met. We are still waiting for attorney general Bonta to confirm that they will open an a true independent investigation with subpoena power. And I think, and I know that no one, including myself, will rest until that happens. But um But look what we were able to do with that press conference. Huge strides and and huge strides forward. It wasn't just like look at us, we got a couple hundred people out to a press conference, and every media outlet under the sun. We actually did something, we accomplished something, we did that. So and we can do it again. That's the point. That is the point we can and we have to do it. But we don't have to.
SPEAKER_01:And we have time, and now we can start marshalling our resources. We can start telling the story, we can start making people aware of what's going on. Because it's real now. I mean, we hoped to get it done the easy, I want to say the easy way, but the way that would have made it simpler for us. Now we're gonna have to do it a different way.
SPEAKER_00:Now we have to do it a different way. Start get it ready, get ready to. It's like old school, you know, setting up the old school postcard party, except this time it's like just get on your phone, get on your computer, make a call, drop a public comment, send an email. Well, and we have the power.
SPEAKER_01:When the county decides to bring up the CRD, they will bring a motion to introduce it. We gotta go say no. Well, we have to be ready with plans to say this is what the alternative is. When the county is ready to do, you know, figure out how to finance this thing, they gotta go ahead and figure it out. I mean, we gotta demand of them there are answers. It's no longer acceptable to say the federal government's not bringing the money.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. It's it's we know it.
SPEAKER_01:It's it's no longer acceptable to say, well, Trump this, Trump that. Forget it. It doesn't matter. You can't sit there and complain. You just there are answers, and we don't have to accept it.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. But we do have to act. So with that, I'm gonna jump into another topic. I wanted to touch briefly on the um Wall Street Journal journal story that you had just uh mentioned a bit ago, Steve. So for anyone who missed it, um there was a big Wall Street Journal story that hit online on Sunday night. Um, what is today? We are recording this on the Tuesday, the 14th of October. So this hit Sunday night um online, uh Monday night wide, and then Tuesday this morning, Tuesday the 14th of October.
SPEAKER_01:So the actual physical paper.
SPEAKER_00:It was it was on the in the physical paper, I believe on the front page just below the fold.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So um the title that this was covering the rebuild in Altadena. And it was, you know, uh, I think there was some hope that it would be a bit of a broader story. And I know that the journalist who worked really hard on the story, I mean she spent hours with me, and I know she spent hours with so many people in various swathes of the community to really get um and you too, Steve, and you're not in that article, but I know she spoke with you.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, well, she read the substack.
SPEAKER_00:She didn't need to talk to exactly, but um, you know, she she really did the work to get uh the background and some context and understand all the nuance of what was happening and Altadina and what we are facing ahead with this rebuild and how challenging this is. Unfortunately, you know, modern current reality prevailed and the story ended up being what feels very much like a clickbait fluff piece, but there are some good quotes, even if they're somewhat out of context. I know a few people quoted in the story were not particularly thrilled with how they were quoted because it was kind of pulled out of context because of the way the story was edited. Never the writer's fault. This is, you know, for anyone in media or journalism, you understand this is kind of the machine sometimes. But um, the story ended up centering uh primarily around Edwin Castro. And for anyone who knows who's thinking that name is familiar, it's because this is the guy who a few years ago bought a winning lottery ticket at the Altadena gas station at Woodbury and Fair Oaks, um, which is still standing, yay, and um happened to be a$2 billion Powerball winner. Um, and you know, a lot of people have been following what this guy's been doing with his money. There was a lot of misconception that he was from, he lived in Altadena. He did not live in Altadena, he lived at in La Crescenta and was just driving through Altadena on the day that he bought that ticket. But he did spend the first uh few years of his life in Altadena and his childhood home before his family moved. Um, and despite, again, a lot of uh wildly inaccurate info floating around. No, he did not live in Altadena and didn't come back to Altadina, which people were thinking. Oh, he came back. No, he didn't. He bought a house for his parents. But um, the title of the story is he won the two billion powerball. Now he's buying up lots burned in the LA fires. So we're gonna dig briefly into this. We're gonna dig into it a little bit because Wall Street Journal is behind a paywall, and it could not, we we live in a universe where people don't read in the first place. They like to comment on social media without actually reading, but that could not be more the case with this particular story. Oh my gosh, the comments are wild. The comments are like ready to saint this guy, like, oh, St. Edwin's Edwin's doing this wonderful thing for Alstein. I was like, wait, did anyone actually read the story? Because he was very, very clear that he's here for profit. He's an investor, he's going to be taking away. And he's not giving them away. It's not philanthropy, it's not charity, they're not going to be discounted. It's none of that. In fact, the biggest takeaway in this story for me and really in our group and our community was the his stated timeline where he explains that he purchased, as you just said, Steve, he purchased 15 lots for$10 million. He has no intention of buying any additional lots. He plans to develop those lots with single-family homes. Some of them, he said, will be in the vein of what was lost. Others will be larger and have more quote unquote, you know, bells and whistles and and and surprises. Um, but his timeline to rebuild those homes is a decade. He plans to rebuild and sell those homes on those 15 lots in 10 years, because it is in 10 years that he believed he would um the the value would be back in the community and he would see the ROI he was looking for, right? Um, he is not doing anyone any favors. So the comments of like, oh, thank God for him, bless him. He's doing such a wonderful thing. He wants to help Altadina. Why can't more people be like this? I'm like, oh my gosh, guys, he's not just a Z developer, he's kind of the worst because he's not the developer who's gonna hustle and get that shit built. So our town is rebuilt. You're gonna have dirt lots for a decade, and then you're gonna have construction, and then you're finally gonna get a new neighbor. Oh my gosh. And he goes on at length about how he has no idea what he is doing. And so he has hired all of these experts to help him figure it out. All I kept thinking with this whole thing is like, do you not just want to take the tax write-off? You could have easily funded Green Line, you could fund the CLT, you could have simply given that$10 million as a write-off to one of these orgs that already exist to prop them up and allow them to buy those 15 lots and then allow them to rebuild at the economy of scale through a partner like, for example, Habitat for Humanity, but there are so many to actually help people get back in the community. There's so many ways you could actually have done good, but you clearly have no interest in that. And by the way, zero judgment. It's your money. Do whatever you want with it. I I'm not gonna pass judgment on that. But why the heck are you out here talking about it? Why did he even do this story? I think that's what I wanted to know with all of this. Why did you even the the publicist in me is like, dude, no, where's your advisors? Zip it. This is not what you need to be talking about. It's not flattering. Yeah, but why?
SPEAKER_01:Here's the other thing 15 lots.
SPEAKER_00:It's nothing.
SPEAKER_01:It's nothing. I mean, we got 6,000 lots that need to be redeveloped. And that was what I More than. More than. Yeah, and that's what I tried to convey was where's the scale and who's lurking behind the scenes? Right. You know, what does that really look like?
SPEAKER_00:What does it look like?
SPEAKER_01:And losing 797 took one of the bigger buyers off the table that would have at least had community correct, you know, accountability.
SPEAKER_00:Correct. Uh, my quote, and this is a good place to end this go find the story if you can. Yes, it's behind a paywall, but if you want to read it, go on the Wayback Machine. A little pro tip, Wayback Machine, go find the web archive. You should be able to read it that way. But um, and if that doesn't work, find someone with a uh subscription to give you a gift link so you can read it.
SPEAKER_01:But um, you know, my quote Did you know somebody who had a gift link?
SPEAKER_00:I did because I am on if I'm being completely honest, I am a New York Times subscriber, very happy to pay that fee. I am not a WSJ subscriber, but someone I know who might be sitting right next to me is, and thank you for that gift link. So I could actually.
SPEAKER_01:I have the Washington Post and I've got the LA Times. I get my film.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So my quote in the story, which I will read for you for those who are not inclined to read it, I just said people have to realize that is what we are battling against. It is the development question, the densification question, the gentrification question. Still the truth.
SPEAKER_01:So um thank you for fighting for us, Shauna.
SPEAKER_00:Well, thank you for fighting. We're all fighting for us, right? I keep I've been saying it since January 8th. Nobody's gonna come in to help. No one's gonna do it for us. We're on our own now. That's why this one takes the entire village. I I've said it a thousand times, I'll say it again. This one takes everybody. It means I don't care who you have a problem with, you don't like that neighbor, you don't like this organization, you have a beef with this person, cool, get over it. You can pick that up again after the town's rebuilt. We can all get back to our petty little fiefdoms when the town is rebuilt. Until then, this takes the village. This will not get done without all of us finding ways to simply make it happen together because we are in this. Oh, I hate this expression so much, but it's actually true here. We really are in this together. It's it's just we're on our own.
SPEAKER_01:We're all together.
SPEAKER_00:He couldn't help himself. So, with that, I'm gonna wrap us on a small business shout-out because speaking of all being in this together, yes, we are. We got to support our small businesses. Um, I'm gonna talk about a couple of pop-ups today, and then specifically bread, because it's pouring rain today, and um it is October, and we are heading into soup season and all of those wonderful things. And I don't know about you, but I think about bread, even though I am like I'm the for real gluten-free person. I'm celiac, but um I'm gonna actually get to the option that may exist for us too. Um, I wanted to talk about a um our neighbor Guillaume, who has who's, and I say neighbor because this is another fellow Altadenan. He actually, again, like everybody, lost his home, total loss, fire survivor. Um, also lost his business, his home business, and all of his equipment. But he did finally get back up on his feet to reopen his uh business, Le Pamber, which is bread and butter, French. Um phenomenal. I say this, you know, for those who don't know me personally, I have an extensive hospitality background. That is my universe's food. I've had the pleasure of eating for a living for a couple decades. Um, this is his product. I mean, I can tell I don't have to eat it. Just seeing it, touching it, smelling it, it is classic French bread, beautiful baguettes. I've heard from so many people. All of his pace, his, you know, he has some um laminated pastry, which is, you know, for you like croissant, that all of it is fantastic. So if you can find him, he has regular pop-ups right now at Altadina Bev. You've heard us plug Altadina Bev before. They're a 75-year-old legacy business um that is now being stewarded um by um uh Kate and Adam, who are amazing on North Allen, adjacent Armand Market and Prime Pizza, and soon Bevel Coffee. Bevel Coffee, another great little pop-up. They have also been actively doing pop-ups on the patio at Prime Pizza. They now have a brick and uh mortar spot. I don't think they're no, they're not directly next to the door to Altonio Bev. They're two doors out.
SPEAKER_01:They're right next to the barbershop.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, two a couple doors north. Um, so you can look forward to that coming too. Now, if you were like me and you are gluten challenged um and you have special needs, as I like to say, um, we had another awesome cottage baker. Um, a friend of mine, Jenny Kalaka. Jenny had um Altina Bread Co. So, Altanina Bread Co. She was doing phenomenal fermented sourdough gluten-free loaves. She's also gluten-challenged. Next level, I had not had any kind of bread like this. I was blown away. My pandemic loaves got, didn't hold the candle to what she was doing. Um, Jenny, you know, again, lost, she and her wife lost their home, uh, lost all of her business, all of her cottage business, everything, right? In fact, in her case, they were out of town uh when this happened. So they came back from vacation to the whole town being gone. Um she also kind of just started to try and get back on her feet, trying to find dig deep to do a little baking in her temporary accommodation. And um completely on a whim, she registered for um a global bread competition that actually just took took place in Vegas. Um, I'm trying to remember which one it was. Um uh what was that? It's the World Bread Award. Um so she was up against dozens of other low lobes from all over the world in the gluten-free category, and she just won. That's all she took top honors. So she's looking at coming back too. So congrats to Jenny. A lot of love for just all of the creativity and all to Dina. Our that's I'm gonna wrap it on that note. This is what our town is about. It's just we are full of just incredibly creative, resourceful, interesting people. Um our town was our people, and we gotta keep all our people in our town.
SPEAKER_01:It's a great way to end it.
SPEAKER_00:Right? That's we're gonna end it. So this is after the ashes, beautiful Altadina podcast. You can find us online, uh, social media at beautiful Altadina. Uh you can find our private Facebook groups for residents or those who are residents on January 7th. Um, on Facebook, you can find us on Substack, and you can find Steve on Substack.
SPEAKER_01:The Alta Policy Wonk.
SPEAKER_00:Alta Policy Wonk. He is still writing, even though he threatens to stop. Yeah, it's a threat.
SPEAKER_01:I was hoping I was gonna stop. Yeah, he's gonna be talking about it. My wife would like me to as well.
SPEAKER_00:I believe that. I absolutely believe that.
SPEAKER_01:Um I'm sure there's some readers that are like, please, no more.
SPEAKER_00:You you don't have to read it all. Even I don't read it all. Shh. Um I have to get cliff notes when I miss it. Uh so with that, with that, you will hear us uh again on the next episode. Thanks for tuning in. Uh, you can find the podcast as always, anywhere you listen to podcasts, um, from YouTube to iTunes to Apple, you know, which is Apple Podcasts to um Spotify.
SPEAKER_01:And I also provide the link off my Cell Stack. Correct.
SPEAKER_00:Correct. So until next time, stay safe out there.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you very much for watching. Keep up the fight. Yep.
unknown:Mm-hmm.