After the Ashes: A Beautiful Altadena Podcast

Season 2 / Episode 7: Back to the Policy Future

• Shawna at Beautiful Altadena

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After taking a week off, we’re back, and yes, this episode runs long again. Sorry, folks. Too much happening to keep it brief!

We open with another media roundup, connecting national events to what’s unfolding here in Los Angeles and in Altadena. We talk about the national strike, journalists being arrested, bystanders being shot, and perhaps the most Altadena detail of all, Altadena Cookie Co is selling out of their “Fuck ICE” cookies every single day they make them. Read what Shawna wrote on the topic for Beautiful Altadena. 

Next, we turn to Trump’s Executive Order threatening federal intervention in permitting and rebuilding in both Altadena and the Palisades. While much of the coverage zeroes in on permitting, we argue that this misses the real issue entirely. The real story is that we’ve had money available for nearly a year, and it’s not moving, not because of the federal government, but because there is no economic development plan. The tools to bring money into this community already exist. The question remains, why is no one using them? Oh, the irony that even the Feds note we’d have more money here already if only we were incorporated.

Instead, we’re watching organizations line up to parrot the party line, fight for control, and recreate the same dynamics that have plagued homelessness policy in our state for decades. The poverty pimps have become the new disaster pimps.

We move into highlights from a new policy session and break down:

  • SB 878 from Senator Sasha Pérez once again taking on the insurance industry, co-signed by Ben Allen, who is also positioning himself for a run at Insurance Commissioner. Will this finally help consumers — or will it push more insurers out of California?
  • AB 1642, introduced by John Harabedian with Eaton Fire Residents United (EFRU), calling for “Clearance Before Occupancy.” It’s an important concept, but is the focus on standing homes too narrow? Is this a missed opportunity — or a necessary first step to build broader policy?

Finally, we discuss the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s LTRG Policy Advisory Committee's (PACs) expansive list of policy asks including more than $1.6 billion for a Community Land Trust, a revived version of SB 549 to create a rebuilding authority, and a total package that approaches $4 billion. If we couldn’t secure $70 million for post-remediation testing from the state, how are we supposed to land billions? We couldn't get $10 million for a CLT before, but now believe we can get $1.6 billion? And what happens if these asks can't deliver?

The bottom line. You can’t do real advocacy while trying to curry favor from the very systems you need to demand accountability from.

Small Business Shout-Out: Basic Nail Shoppe

This episode’s small business shout-out goes to Basic Nail Shoppe, located at 3851 Foothill Blvd in Hastings Ranch, owned by Alex and Trish — Altadena residents who lost their home in the fire and are actively rebuilding. We loved them before the fire, and it's so great to be back here again. Follow on Instagram: @thebasicnailshoppe

Note: This episode was recorded Tuesday, February 3, 2026. 

Steve:

Hello there. Welcome back to After the Ashes, a beautiful Altadina podcast. I'm Steve. I'm Shauna. And we're here to do episode two of our season, or sorry, episode seven of season two. There's my dysgraphia going. Back to the policy future. Yes, we did do an 80s reference here.

Shawna:

Another 80s reference.

Steve:

Well, you know, you are the Gen Xer.

Shawna:

I am the Gen Xer. Yeah. What are you trying to say, Steve? You're younger than me.

Steve:

A couple years.

Shawna:

I know. A few.

Steve:

You know what? I this week I started noticing I'm going to need bifocals. And I'm having a real tough time with that because I've been making fun of everybody having to wear readers. And I wear glasses normally for those who've never seen me, but those who have so but now to have to go to a bifocal is freaking me out. I may have to do readers and glasses. But anyway, my wife told me it's time for LASIK, and she's probably not wrong.

Shawna:

But sadly for you, as I'm sure you know, LASIK does not um address bifocal issues. It would just mean you get one in one. Exactly.

Steve:

Yeah.

Shawna:

You could correct one issue with the LASIK and then still have to wear glasses. And then also still have the pleasure in a couple of years of wearing the reading glasses. Because fun fact, the LASIK procedure was developed. And I only know this because when I finally broke down and did LASIK 15, 18 years ago, um, it was with one of the uh ophthalmologists who had actually developed the procedure at UCLA. And this was an accident. They ended up solving all of these other problems while trying to solve the problem of um age-related uh vision loss, right? Reading that really close vision loss. No one has been able to solve that still. They can't fix it.

Steve:

It will go down over time, unfortunately.

Shawna:

Like it just is what it is.

Steve:

But that's why I tell everybody it's cosmetic. So like wait till you're old enough that you can do it.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

And then as you continue to degrade, it you'll probably get to the point where there's cataracts and then you'll get the last.

Shawna:

Yeah. Well, they say too that you can do it a second time if you need to long enough out.

unknown:

Yeah.

Shawna:

Like to wait long enough because you don't ideally want to keep doing it, but if it's really necessary and you have a big but they they also say, like, wait until it's really far gone enough that you know you're not blowing your shot, basically. And on that note, yeah. Hey, I know the wide world of uh of old people problems.

Steve:

Yeah, I know. I this aging thing sucks.

Shawna:

But don't even I I will just end on this. Look at look at me. Oh, you can't see it, you can feel it. I'm wearing a CGM again. Why? I'm not diabetic and I'm not a wellness bro. I'm wearing it because thanks to perimenopause, my blood sugar is so fucked up. I am like, I'm not sure.

Steve:

I knew it was gonna go to perimenopause. I just knew it was gonna go to the It's the truth.

Shawna:

Go ask your wife. For real. So listen, listen. Um, here's what I want to talk about. We're gonna talk about a lot of things, but I want to let people know that um speaking, you know, we finally fixed a little bit of a problem or created a solution for something that shouldn't have been a problem. The podcast is on Substack.

Steve:

Oh, yes, yes. Sorry, I thought you talked about our government. I was like, wait a minute, what?

Shawna:

I'm working on that too.

Steve:

It's a little warm here. It hell hasn't frozen over yet.

Shawna:

We're getting close. Um, so yes, I want people to know that the podcast can now be found on Substack. If you happen to be on my Substack page for Beautiful Altadina, it's got its own little Yeah, it's a nice little tab.

Steve:

I was looking at that, I was thinking to myself, I need to get fancy, but then I'm like, eh.

Shawna:

It's really not hard, it's not that fancy.

Steve:

I know, I know, but I have to take the time and do it.

Shawna:

You can do it. I can do it for you today in between recordings. How's that? I'll I'll show you how. The old the old lady will show you how to use the tech. I understand. Okay. So I think we should kick this one off with another media roundup because especially when we've been gone, um, have we been gone two weeks? Yeah, when we've been quite dark for two weeks, I feel like we have so much to talk about. Steve and I last week were like, oh my gosh, we we need to record last week because there was so much happening.

Steve:

Yeah, as I was trying to ski mammoth. I know. And I'm like, it then might all of a sudden I started writing again. I was like, damn it, I was doing so well. I was happy. And then all of a sudden, like the two it's were coming, and everyone, I could just tell everyone's like, oh shit, here it comes again.

Shawna:

Oh, to be happy. Um, or not. I don't know. It is a choice.

Steve:

Skiing is kind of like sometimes it's it's it's a for me, it's always been one of those happy places.

Shawna:

It's awesome. And then you got to take your boys and have a nice time with the with them too, and have some family time.

Steve:

Yeah, it was a lot of fun with my 15-year-olds. Like basically, they just went off on their own and I didn't see them until dinner.

Shawna:

I love it. I love it. Um, so stories. I mean, I think the big story for all of us, obviously, um, is what's playing out on a national stage and the national strike last Friday that um you know we saw play out here as well. Um disturbing fascist times that we are living in. That is the word for it. There's no dancing around it. It's it's what it is. Um, you know, we I don't know if you saw, I mean, I look at like we have journalists being arrested for covering protests, being, you know, uh by federal officers, which is absolutely insane. Um, of course, is the shooting of anyone in the street. But white people, if you think it's not you, it's definitely you.

Steve:

Yes.

Shawna:

Yeah, it's everybody.

Steve:

So I wrote a post on this last week. Yeah, you did. And I thought it was one of the more poignant posts that I've written because it I I trace this all back. You know, okay, we could put aside everything. I think it goes back to that immediate that that conference that they had back here where Alex Padilla was tackled by Christine Ohm's Goons in June.

Shawna:

Right. We talked about that. And I wrote about that. That was insane.

Steve:

It was, and I mean, that was a Rubicon that was crossed. And I think Trump should have fired her then. I think she was a derelict in her duty then. And I, you know, the the progression as I wrote in the piece, and I it's the arc, right? I was I was thinking of Wall Street as I was writing it, you know, the the movie, the original movie back to the 80s with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, where he goes on that arc where, you know, all of a sudden every, you know, even though he's crossed the line and done the deed that's taken him over into whatever the dark side is, and this is a tri you know, typical story that we've used this story arc many times, but I was thinking of Wall Street. And he it it allowed he became consumed by the decision that he made to take him to that point. And then the fall came inevitably. And at that point, you know, there was the redeeming moralistic thing at the end where you know he he takes down Michael Douglas. But I mean, I we don't see Christina taking down Donald Trump, but the idea being like eventually you get so consumed by whatever you're you're doing that you lose the context of what you were before. And I feel like that's what's happened. Stephen Miller, you know, that's a whole different game. My my favorite writer, Gustavo Arolano, loves to write about that guy, and uh his stuff is pretty good about it.

Shawna:

But you know I Gustavo.

Steve:

Yeah, I Gustavo. Um and so I I think that you know, but Christy Noam to me really was I don't want to say the useful idiot because that's probably that's a very demeaning term, but I mean she went along for the ride and she wrote it all the way. And then the fact she last week came out and Axios was publishing it, and I heard it in multiple sources, that you know, she said, Oh, everything I did, I took it the direction of Steven and the president. Right.

Shawna:

I'm like, Yep, but the rats are jumping ship.

Steve:

Dude, really, like you serve at the pleasure of the president. And if you didn't like it and you felt what do you you should have resigned in principle, and which means that you are either weak or you're incompetent, either way, a lot of this is gonna rest at your feet and Steven's feet. Steven might tap dance his way out of this, but I think Gnome is definitely gonna be the scalp. They started with Bovino, but it's gonna be Noam ultimately.

Shawna:

Ultimately, Miller needs to be one of the when we're back at The Hague, he needs to be one of the uh the first on the spit. Sorry, uh, for war crimes. Well, truly for war crimes. And it's really what it is at this point.

Steve:

It's really sad because he's a member of the tribe.

Shawna:

Yeah, I know. And I'm like, But how many? I mean, let's let's talk. I mean, this is definitely not the subject of our podcast today, but I don't think we can ignore. Uh I actually just saw a video yesterday that was making me think about this again. We cannot ignore how many people in our community, I say our because Steve and I both happen to be Jews. Um that said, um, how many in our community have aligned-ish? I know, I I he's ish and I'm ishier, ish-ish. But um my point was just simply how many Jews have aligned themselves with this administration because they feel they have to to support Israel, which could not be more short-sighted. I was watching a video yesterday of a MAGA rally, and it was a woman carrying an Israeli flag and wearing a Palestinian scarf while go, uh-huh, a white, a very white woman at a MAGA rally, Israeli flag, Palestinian scarf. Oh no, you can't wait for it. And she was going on about how immigrants were destroying the country, taking the job, and then she flat out said they're trying to eliminate us. And the person interviewing said, eliminate who? And she said, the white race. Okay, so like I it just says everything. It's like, how have we gone? We're the Ouroboros, right? Like eating our own tail. We've come so full circle on all of this insanity that it's like, oh, I don't know, someone genocided us. Let's do it to somebody to another group and let's see how many groups we can do it to. It's insane to me. Insane. I don't know how anyone of our faith can defend what is happening either in the Trump administration, in Israel with Gaza. I don't understand it.

Steve:

Well, I think there's a sense of hostility toward Jews, and Jews have always been a scapegoat. Well, yes. And the anti-Semitism is real.

Shawna:

I'm not just crazy.

Steve:

I mean, we're seeing it everywhere, and we're seeing it on the left, and we're seeing it on the right. So, I mean, I don't think that that's something that's changing anytime soon.

Shawna:

And I I don't either.

Steve:

There's I I can get into a lot of detail on this, but I don't think this is the time or place, and I really don't want to alienate people who have strong views on a lot of this. I think it's best to just let it be, but just understand the I I I'll leave it with this. I remember I was driving down California Boulevard on October 5th, and I was talking to a buddy of mine, and we're talking about how the this modern generation of Jewish people have become very assimilated. I mean, you and I sitting here right now, we both call ourselves ish nishier. Like we are very assimilated. My kids are, you know, they don't go to synagogue. They can they don't even know anything.

Shawna:

No, I know, but I don't go to synagogue.

Steve:

And I mean I light my candles. If I take them, it's you know, and it's almost like we've gone back to the old days where we kind of like live in, you know, uh anonymity. But I I I I remember talking to them, and this was October 5th, 2023, and I said, you know, if we're not careful, things are gonna change. And our religion, you know, we've basically ceded the seats of power to everyone else. And when I moved to Los Angeles, the vast majority of the congressional delegation was Jewish. Today, I think it's just Congressman Schiff and Congressman Sherman and Congresswoman Friedman. That's it. That's all it's left. And when that happens, what's happened is we've gone to indirect influence and using lobbying and you know donations and things like that. But you forget that the first rule of politics if you can't take someone's money and then vote against them, you you you shouldn't be in the game. And I think that our religion has forgotten what got us, what what we had to go through in Germany. And I think you know, there's a point at which you have to say, okay, when you lose a seat at the table, you're not gonna have a s a voice. And so I was saying that to my buddy on October 5th, and then October 6th happened. And everything, the world scrambled. But that this has been building for a while.

Shawna:

Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt.

Steve:

That's that's a digression. Right, wrong, or indifferent.

Shawna:

It's a well, I think there is a a very clear right and a wrong here, certainly from the moral compass that our oh I know, but it's but it's been very complicated. And everything is complicated, but some things are not. I will say at that, some things are not.

Steve:

I understand, but I understand why Jews feel fear right now and are philosophy toward the Republican Party, because they feel like they were a cornerstone of the Democratic Party. They were a cornerstone of the civil rights activists and civil rights movement. They were a cornerstone in so many aspects that have brought us the liberal progressive society.

Shawna:

I mean, but wrong is wrong, and it is the Christian right aligning behind the administration in this country is to me very similar to what's happening with Israel. What is the right thing? We can love our country and we can love our country and we can love our identity and we can believe in our right to exist because we absolutely have a right to exist. And I say we, I mean both the Jewish people and Israel, which are in many ways inextricably tied and connected. That said, that right does not give you the right to wipe out others, and it's what's happening in both countries.

Steve:

I'm not saying that. I'm I'm saying though that there is a Israel is a different story, and I'm not gonna get into Israel. Israel, I've always said that the biggest oxymoron is the word Jewish organization, and I don't understand how the hell we have a country. And when everybody says to me, Well, what do you think about Senator Rosen? And I'm like, any woman that can run a synagogue can run this country. I mean, like, seriously, to bring to get a bunch of Jews together to agree on anything is, you know, what I feel like debate is baked into our faith. Well, because it the essence of Jewish faith is, and this is something a lot a lot of people understand, is you're supposed to question everything. Correct. And to the point that I think it builds this neuroses, you know, that we question everything to the point that we don't just believe.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

Steve:

And that's what that's your goal, your your your your your intent as a Jew. Like that's what you're supposed to do in part of your spiritual journey. So I think that that's just part of who we are as a people.

Shawna:

But it is. Look at the Talmud. I mean, that's that's what it was. It's just a bunch of scholars debating the Torah, which is the Old Testament and what these things really meant. What were we properly applying?

Steve:

And and there's so many different uh the Talmud is like thousands and thousands and thousands of books.

Shawna:

Anyway, I find this fascinating. I will wrap it on this. I apologize. No, it's okay. I don't want to go down this room. I know, it's okay. By the way, Steve is squirming so hard that I wish we were on video today. I wish so badly that we were on video today because it's so good. Steve looks like he might also murder me later. But that'll be that's another conversation.

Steve:

I don't want this issue, which is such a hot which is such a hot conversation to detract from what we're saying. I don't want people going, oh, look at their Zionists or they're you know, we're not well anyhow.

Shawna:

That's that's really you just use the Z word. I was that's where I was not gonna say. Well, and it shouldn't be. And I hope that's the takeaway for anyone listening to this, is that it should not be that, that it's we shouldn't be in this and we should be able to have these conversations and be able to overlay all of these themes and how we're seeing them play out on a global stage, on a national stage, and right here in our own backyard, right? Because they are, and I I know that you and I agree with that on that point 100%. And as I maintain with both sides, and this is actually very much about what the one of the things we're gonna talk about today, both in this episode and the next episode that that are both being recorded on the same day, um, is the fact that you know we have fallen so deep into playing through this partisan politics thing, right? And um, people are largely really sick of that.

Steve:

It's like it's just enough of the I don't want to be, I don't want to be identified in one side or the other because we are talking about pragmatism.

Shawna:

We have to be flu, exactly. We have to be fluid and we have to be able to have conversations.

Steve:

I agree. Well, I mostly agree. But there are things that are happening, you know, that you can't both sides have things that I don't agree with, and there's things that they do agree that I do agree with. And it's unfortunate that we have to be, and again, the this administration has made it so uh, you know, so uh polarized. Yeah, and so deeply polarized because and it takes away from so much of what they're what they are doing that actually does make sense. I mean, there's many Democrats that have said to me, I don't disagree with everything they're doing in government, right? I disagree with what they're doing and how they're doing it in public.

Shawna:

So that is actually the perfect segue into this conversation about the next big story that kicked off last week. And it was Trump's EO. It was the executive order that I know. Here we go, right? It's perfect, perfect timing. You thought I was on a big uh, you know, taking you down the country lane. In fact, the country lane read led right back to the barn.

Steve:

Well, I said we'll let it meander.

Shawna:

Now we're back. So um, let's talk about the EO. So obviously, a lot of panic. I got a lot of text messages.

Steve:

You panickedly texted me.

Shawna:

Well, not panicked. I did not panically.

Steve:

You're like, have you seen this? And I'm sitting over. Oh, I'm on the slopes. Why would I be wasting my time?

Shawna:

I wasn't well, it wasn't panicked, it was more like, have you seen this? Because this shit's gonna blow up. I was getting messages, a handful from media, but more from other community organizers.

SPEAKER_02:

Media reached out to you?

Shawna:

Media reaches out to everybody when these things blow up. But the point was that other organizers were asking me, Shauna, what's your take? Because they wanted to know my take before they went to the media. And um I know.

Steve:

So the media basically, I thought, you know, shorts short sold this one.

Shawna:

I th I thought so too. And the way this is this was what I sh I shared with those who I had the conversation about it or with about it. Uh and I'll I'll say the same here is that, you know, to your the point you just you just made, you can't we can't discard everything just because of of the sender, right? We may not like the messenger, but not everything in the message is wrong or terrible, right? And if this is like it or not, it's a bitter pill. But if this is how we get, if this is the mechanism, if this is how we get some of the money flowing. That's what I told you. I know. If this is how we get it, fucking take it, okay? We've been screaming, our politicians have been screaming. Oh my gosh, I was looking at Sasha Perez, you know.

Steve:

Politicians aren't screaming.

Shawna:

Going, no, no, listen, going about, oh, we're still where's the Trump money? We can't get the federal money, nothing's happening because the federal money, nothing's happening because we made a choice to not do anything without that funding, even though we had mechanisms to get funding.

Steve:

No, no, they did stuff, they just need that money to cover up what they did.

Shawna:

Correct. And that's that's a that's a whole episode unto itself. So, you know, and I actually openly publicly commented on that one post from her because I was like, where's the outrage about the state? Where's the outrage about the state?

Steve:

You mean about the governor vetoing our money that we could have had?

Shawna:

Yes, we could we have the mechanisms, we have the tools.

Steve:

I think we're gonna talk about this a little later, aren't we? We're gonna talk about it more later.

Shawna:

But we you know, the point very simply is that, you know, uh I don't support what this administration stands for or what it is doing at large in any way, shape, or form. I also am not short-sighted enough to cut my nose to spite my face and to thumb my nose. I'm gonna use a lot of nose analogies, um, at this money and and the or processes that may come, because the reality is, like it or not, and we've talked about this at length for the last however many months we've been doing this since last September.

Steve:

Maybe some people in Washington are listening to us.

Shawna:

Right. That um, you know, we we blew it. We, the state, our county leaders, our city leaders, because this impacts the uh the Palisades and their leadership as well. We've had the opportunity, we've had it, we've had it, we've had it. And per usual, the Democratic Party could not organize an orgy in a brothel or a piss-up in a brewery. I've stolen those both from Mr. Beer. They're two of my favorite one-liners. I will take them with me forever. But it's the truth, it is the absolute truth. We the we have become such an incompetent, ineffective, bloated thing.

Steve:

Nothing ever gets done in the Democratic.

Shawna:

You know, it's it's just it's a it's a big circle jerk.

Steve:

It was my experience trying to to work with unless you're unless you're a specific interest group, and then you can get it.

Shawna:

And then you can get it. And then you can blow it, and then you can be where we are now, which is homeless crisis 2.0. Well, okay. So I Steve's face got so wild, he's like, What's she gonna say next? Oh shit, what is she gonna say next?

Steve:

Oh no, I I I I I think you gotta go back and okay, let's get back to the EO first. I think you know, the media's initial reaction, and again, I'm I I I feel bad for California because I feel like we're our media is so knee-jerk and so emotional and so reactive. Yeah, you know, the Republicans in Washington say they just love to see the Democrats because they say something and they know the Democrats are gonna have an emotional response to everything. Like, ah, and this was the ah permitting. Oh my God, they're gonna come in and take over California.

Shawna:

Which I think you made a great point that day when when you and I had a conversation about this, that the media that latched onto the to the issue of permitting and then made that kind of the central fat thing of this of like they're gonna take over permitting. And when in fact, that's not really even the meat of what's in there at all. Um, so it was kind of curious that it was like, oh, permitting, but actually. This is very little about permitting. That's that's not the takeaway here.

Steve:

So what you got to do is you got to read what's going on there. And when I read the EO, it was much more the thing is, is I don't think the media understands the bigger picture of what we understand. And if if Washington's truly listening to what we're saying, this thing has legs that are far greater than anything you'll ever see. It's benign in terms of what it says. It says, we will take over permitting. Ah California freak out because the permitting is what's slowing everything down. Oh my God, you know, that's bullshit. We're getting all these people permitted, and permitting's not the issue. Like Catherine Barger said in Pasanina Now, that quote, it's not that we need the money, not the permitting. Our permitting is great. Yeah, of course the county's gonna say that. But what he said, but what they didn't understand is that the permitting is the basis on which the federal government can come in and take over the rebuild. Because under the Stafford Act, they can then say, well, the county or the state are not occurring doing what they're supposed to do, and we are gonna come in and make sure the rebuild goes. It's the justification. Now, whether it's right or wrong, it doesn't matter. That's just gonna be their justification. You could argue it becomes a relative term. The reality is there's plenty of people in California Los Angeles in this rebuild that would say it's not moving fast enough. Aren't there, Shauna?

Shawna:

Yep. I mean, and we're gonna talk about that.

Steve:

If you could have elected say, well, you know, it's not that big a deal. You know, we're doing everything we can and they can, you know, go pound sand. Like that's all relative, guys. Sorry. And so, okay, let's put that aside for a minute. What did he really do? He said he's directing the head of the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the FEMA director and the secret or the uh administrator of the small business administration to come back to his domestic policy council and provide legislative and regulatory solutions to speed up the process. Now, what does that mean, folks? That means a lot more than just permitting. Remember, who funds all the temporary loans, the loans against your house, your idle loans, SBA, SBA. What if they would what if SBA comes back and says, you know what, we need to do a shared equity loan to help fill that$100,000 to$200,000 gap that a lot of homeowners are feeling so that we can build on the California Dream for All. Well, is the state going to do it through iBank or is the SBA gonna do this? And again, what about opportunity zones? They can make a recommendation that we can get temporary opportunity zone designation.

Shawna:

Exactly.

Steve:

What about what about increasing the I wish that people understood?

Shawna:

Please don't lose your train of thought, but I really wish people understood how what an absolute game changer having the opportunity zone designation would be for our business to temporary for temporary opportunity to attract just to get money in to attract capital.

Steve:

Well, we effectively have some of that with the CRA, but we're pissing that away. We're now 12 months in and nobody's raising any money because nobody has an economic development plan. We can get into that in a different time, but I could tell you that's a huge gap that's sitting in this rebuild because everybody's focused on the wrong things. So what about what about the uh the exemption for cap gains on properties that people are forced to sell because of this type of situation? Why shouldn't they get the doubling of that? Climate gentrification, which goes back to if I have to sell and I bought that house 50 years ago, and my land has now been destroyed, and I can't really will it to my kids, so why shouldn't I be able to sell it and not have to pay an increased penalty? I should double that, which is something that the AEI is talking about. It's something that Stephen Moore and other Republican economists are talking about in the Wall Street Journal twice in a month about talking about this. So if they're talking about the property tax situation or sorry, the cap gains on houses, the exemption for the single for your primary home. Why shouldn't we have that tested here in our disaster situation? And I've been talking to elected about this since November. So here's your chance, folks, to actually get the policies that we need in place at the federal level. Everyone keeps saying at the federal level, well, what can we do? What can we do? Oh, we just throw up our hands, oh, it's it's CDBGDR money. What the federal government's doing here, and it's not just us, this is Western North Carolina, and this is gonna be the disaster playbook going forward. How much money can they bring into Los Angeles or Altadena or the Palisades as a result of these changes that would be effectively reducing the$33 billion in the CDBG money? I talked to an elected about this last week, and I said, How much of that$33 billion do you actually need here in law in LA? And they go, Well, we don't. I said, How much of it can be filled through other means, like talking about the the utilities and can we fund and finance those without having to use the federal money for it? The answer is they have no idea.

Shawna:

Which sound again, sound familiar? I mean, this has been the theme. Nobody has any idea. Of the last year, no one knows what the fuck they're doing. Sorry for the blank.

Steve:

Because that money will flood the zone and take away all the problems.

Shawna:

Correct. And then they can hide what happened to, for example, all of the fire aid money because no one really wants to dig into that.

Steve:

Well, because none of it actually got to the people it was intended to go to. Exactly. It went to all these small community-based organizations to build an infrastructure around this disaster relief. As somebody said to me the other day, the poverty pimps are now disaster pimps.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

And the organizations that were typically driving toward homelessness and all these things are now moving into disasters. And the same people are at the helm of it all. Oh, we went there. Sorry.

Shawna:

I know. I know. I it was good. I was a good girl. I didn't do it. It wasn't me.

Steve:

Well, but the question now becomes is this EO for real? Everybody in Sacramento is thinking nope. Everybody locally is trying to be dismissive of it. The they're all assigning, well, this person is the reason why it's not happening, or this group of people is the reason why we're not getting our money in, et cetera, et cetera. But the reality is everybody's saying the same thing. They want the same thing. They want that federal money. And this is a way to get the federal money indirect. And what it also does, and this is the key piece, Shauna, is it allow I thought you were gonna say something.

Shawna:

No, I'm listening intently.

Steve:

Is it allows the money to come in without the normal sticky fingers to get it?

Shawna:

Yeah. Which is why, spoiler, some folks here don't want it for the same reason we don't have usage of all of these other financial mechanisms because they don't get to control it. And what all of this has come down to is the same powers that be, the same people that got us in this mess in the first place, wanting to control all of the money, wanting to control the rebuild, wanting to maintain their power, wanting to maintain their power structure. And now I am gonna go there, all of the community orgs lining up with them because they don't really have a choice if they want money.

Steve:

Well, I I think they do have a choice. And that's a that's a different thing. It's another episode. Same as Christy Noam had a choice. Yeah, she could have said no.

Shawna:

Yep.

Steve:

You can always say no.

Shawna:

Case in point.

Steve:

Yeah.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

Well, I yeah. Have I got anything?

Shawna:

Have I taken anything?

Steve:

Uh well, nobody's offered me anyways.

Shawna:

Well, I have been offered, and I've not taken it. I, you know, because it as I've said to others in this in our space, this money, none of none of the money comes without strings. None of it.

Steve:

Well, you that's and that's something that I've always i in my business career, I've always maintained I can't have a conflict of interest. Even though I've been offered multiple times the same option to have that conflict of interest, I've said I I I won't. I have to stay true to what I'm trying to do.

Shawna:

Yep, it's the truth.

Steve:

Um, all right.

Shawna:

Do we want to get on to policy? So I'm gonna wrap up the EO thing, the executive Trump's executive order conversation with what I said to the organizers who were messaging me and like, oh my gosh. And even in my group, you know, where people were like, I apologize. I didn't mean to hijack that one. You didn't hijack it. You're good. Um, even what we were talking about in the group when people were like, oh my gosh, it was very much like the sky is falling. Oh my god, Trump is coming. Ah, fuck Trump. We don't want him. He can fuck off. Yes, I I largely agree with that sentiment. However, that's not the takeaway for what's happening. And what is happening, you know, ultimately my message was and it remains let's not panic. Let's actually stop, see how this plays out, see what's really going to happen and what it means. And I can tell you what it's meant so far immediately last week, and and there were signs that this was happening. I don't think there's any, uh I don't think there's any co as you and I often say, we've long left the world of coincidence. And so I don't think there's any coincidence about the timing of some of these things. The FEMA EPA testing of those hundred lots, even though I think that that'll be a foregone clue conclusion, what what they come to on that because um of the way the testing is being handled. Um I won't go, I think we talked about that in our last episode, so I won't go too far back into that. But also the return of the SBA office offices to the Palisades and to um Aldadena, where you wonder, oh, why would the palette why would the SBA offices be coming back? And people, you know, last week, or actually was it earlier this week, trying to think of what day it is, maybe in this weekend, end of last week, people had just received um those who had SBA loans for rebuilding their homes for bridge funding or for funding period if they were uninsured, um, got notices stating, and and I have to preface this by saying, so if you had an SBA loan to rebuild, you cannot have the loan proceeds dispersed to you. You can't actually get the money until you are actively rebuilding. And you have to have proof that you're actively rebuilding. But you can't be actively rebuilding if you're still going through, you know, all the hoops and and everything else of an architect and a general contractor and permitting and then permitting, which but no no no, that's not a delay.

Steve:

So then does that allow the EO to allow SBA to extend its timing?

Shawna:

Ding ding ding. So something positive? I so, but you have to take it. I mean, it is what it is, and it came in a rather laughable package because first of all, I know, I yeah, yes, and I we're gonna share. I have to share. I mean, how can we not share this? Um, so that's the problem is you have to choke down the shit to get it. We do. We gotta kind of like it, it's choke it, choke it down to just take it, like take our medicine.

Steve:

I wonder if he actually has hue. I think do you think he actually believes that, or do you think he's actually like kind of making a joke out of it now?

Shawna:

I don't know. Who knows? Probably someone has been having a chuckle and shitting his pants when he does this stuff. But the subject line of the email that people with the SBA loans said, like, you know, news on your loan, like thanks to your president Trump. I mean, uh you you can't make this shit up. We are living in a George Orwell novel without question. We have been for the last, you know, 10 years. But um the net of the what and then the letter enclosed wasn't actually addressed to the actual um uh people, you know, let uh people getting these loans, the homeowner. They had mistakenly sent the same letter to everybody. And it was all addressed to the same man, which once someone Googled was an eye doctor in like Riverside or Bakersfield. Um, everyone was cracking up that like they fucked up, oops, and sent the same. So, you know, your dear president Trump, dear leader, oops, accidentally sent someone else's letter to everybody. But again, we've got to get past the shit covered shell to get to what's inside and what was inside is the ability to have this loan to self-certify and to get your loan proceeds. So what they did was cut a little bit of red tape and allow people who specifically have um submitted for a permit and for whom it has been 60 days or more. So if it has been more than 60 days since you requested a permit and you just still don't have one, you can now self-certify that that money will be used to rebuild and get that money right now because otherwise, those funds were set to expire for people in March. That's the big oh shit. People who got those loans in March only had a year. And for many, you know, it's gonna be more than far more than a year to even break ground. Hi, yeah, me. Exactly. Me. At least my lot is fenced and I've had my additional debris removal and I've made a little progress. But in one more that's talk about another conversation. We're just talking about how expensive it is to do nothing. I'm$30,000 in and I'm not even doing anything yet.

Steve:

Well, there's one other thing that I would say about the EO, the last piece that I think people need to understand is the dates of it. The date it was issued was the Friday before the 24th of January, which was the one year anniversary from when the president and the governor met on the tarmac here in LAX. So it it that's a message to Gavin. Yeah, and I would say that readers of iSubstack know there are plans that they could be doing to start moving along here that the state could be catalyzing. And we're not, such as a disaster investment fund or disaster investment. Yeah, it was fun. I I already wrote up the legislation, in fact, if somebody really wants to introduce it, because maybe we can get moving.

Shawna:

But alas Alas, we rather complain about Trump than actually solve problems and rebuild communities.

Steve:

Well, I would not. I'd rather actually I know you would, but I but the butt, you know. I'm tired of complaining about Trump.

Shawna:

Same. I'm tired of complaining about everything, to be frank.

Steve:

Yeah, but our people here are the ones that are the true villains, not the guy in Washington.

Shawna:

Uh sadly, I have to agree with you. And that takes us to our next topic, which is uh policy, right? It's and and uh back to the policy future, right? Which is what we are with both the Trump EO and also with um what's coming down. We've had quite a bit of uh policy news.

Steve:

Well, this is when all the legislation comes in. Yep, correct. We're in it we're in a new this is when 797 got introduced. Yep. If I go back, oh I forgot to do my year my my year ago last week. Shoot. Oh no, I gotta go do that. But I didn't think it was very much.

Shawna:

Steve is about to run out of the studio just to go start writing immediately because he's gonna drive him crazy. Anyway, um, so some of the policy highlights, and and we can dig into this. Um, Sasha Perez has uh introduced um some new legislation, SB 878, um, which was co-signed by Ben Allen, uh, who incidentally is making his own run for insurance commissioner.

Steve:

I heard he's got an uphill battle there, though.

Shawna:

Yep. So, you know, the question is though, what's gonna happen? Like, will this actually be if this this one's insurance related? Do you want to get into the meat of 878?

Steve:

Well, I mean, I I just saw what was, you know, briefly out there, but the essence of it is that insurers should be paying out money that they're holding back in a timely fashion. So at the federal government, what we have is called the Prompt Payment Act. When government contractors submit an invoice and they delay payment, they got to pay with penalties like everybody else would, but it's prime plus like a point or two. This one I think was modeled after the Florida one where they have a 20% penalty immediately, which I think is a little bit much. This was a regulatory fix that was being talked about last summer, and now I guess they got introduced as a bill. Um I think that that'll be well, I've been told that that will likely have some changes in committee. This is gonna be a tough bill to get through because the insurance lobby is gonna lobby hard, similar to the other bill that I think you're gonna talk about because of the ambiguities that will be created in that one and in the jurisdictional issues, that while in theory it sounds good, the practicality of it is bad. Um, I don't think the insurance companies deserve to continue to hose homeowners, but I think that my conversations with the electeds on this particular issue was why are we taking on insurance piecemeal? If this brings people to the table to address the broader insurance problems that we have here, i.e. the insurers leaving because we force rates that are too low relative to market rates and finding a different way to do this, then fine. But if this bill is just to create another layer of bullshit, it's it's it's just another example of we're layering on it. This is what the abundance agenda was the book was written about, is that here we are solving these problems piecemeal instead of addressing the policy question in total. Total or total, which is it?

Shawna:

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know on that one.

Steve:

Um so that's that's essentially where that one is. Does that make sense?

Shawna:

And it does make sense. So I think the question, at least that I have, is you know, is this going to be effective or is this just gonna set things up to bite us in the ass again when insurers decide it's too difficult and um too punitive to for their for their shareholders, because like it or not, that is the country we live in, uh, to insure people in this state. Well is that just leaving all on CFP?

Steve:

So what I was well, either that or we go to out-of-state insurers. So an un the unregulated. And I was talking to a buddy of mine who's dealing with an investment in this, and that is another path that we may see more and more people go to because to have a$300,000 deductible is ridiculous, but those rates are going to be upwards of$30,000 a year to insure. But the thing that people have to understand is that our homes are worth far more than elsewhere in the country. So you can't you your insurance is relative to the value of the underlying asset you're insuring. So we're all happy when our houses are appreciating in value, but we're pissed when we have to pay for the cost of it. And I guess because we have Prop 13, we're not conditioned to actually see what the proper valuation of our homes are. And again, that's another conversation for another day. But when you start to this is what they talk about with engineering and politics, you you pull one string, you don't know where the other pieces are going to come out. You know, you start talking about well, yes, we all agree that people should get their money timely. But what does that mean? And how does that work? And well, what about the insurers that are sitting there saying, well, I'm I'm forced to have to now insure you and I'm charging you a rate that's below market rate relative to what the rebuild costs are going to be. And yet you bitch at me when I don't pay you, which is fair because there's a contract, and now you want to assign me a punitive penalty, but you're also now forcing me to have to pay on your representation what the contents are in your home. But yet at the same time, what do you do? Because it's just this, this damned if you do and damned if you don't. Right. And I think that that's the point that this elect these electeds have been saying to me is that we need to address this issue. This is a major issue, and it needs to be addressed by serious people in a serious form to solve this insurance problem. And our insurance commissioner, unfortunately, is more worried about running off to Bermuda than he is about actually addressing these insurance problems. And whoever the next insurance commissioner is, maybe it's time to actually sit down with the legislature and craft a real holistic solution so the shit show that we're living in right now doesn't happen again.

Shawna:

Yeah. So I mean, it'll be interesting to follow this one and see where it lands. The um other piece of legislation that was introduced uh a week ago today, uh last Tuesday, was um John, John's bill. My boy, boy, boy, my boy. John Herbedian, um, his bill with EFRU, uh, the Eaton Fire Residents United, which for anyone unfamiliar, that's the um uh grassroots uh fire survivor-led org that has been um fighting for rights of those with standing homes who've been left with contaminated structures still, you know, so many people still out of their homes with with like untouched. I mean, it is the most surreal thing to drive through Altadena right now and see, you know, this combination of homes well underway, some homes already getting occupancy. I actually ran into a neighbor on Palm just, you know, yesterday, day before. Um, I've been watching her place go up. It's it's small. It's it's she built in the small footprint with a little tiny casita in the back. Um, it feels like it belongs. It's like desert modern. It's gorgeous. And as she's like she was saying that the whole thing was came off of this copper door she found in India. She has the most stunning solid copper front door.

Steve:

But anyhow, it's this tell her to be careful because copper thieves are everywhere. Look at the sixth street bridge.

Shawna:

I know I shouldn't talk about where I know. Fuck me. Uh, I hope she's got a ton of security cameras, and as a sign in the window of another standing home says, We are this home is occupied. We are here, we are armed, and we will shoot you with the word will underscored with two lines.

Steve:

And the sheriffs are out patrolling.

Shawna:

Yeah, the sheriffs are the sheriffs, but Altadina. Altina's wild. Altadina's Altadina. Keep Altina Wild, right? Feral. Keep Altadina Feral. I gotta find that sticker. You've got to give me that bump. I want it. I want that sticker around.

Steve:

Whoever has that, if you're listening to this or if you know what you're doing. We need it.

Shawna:

We need it. Uh we like I've been joking that I have returned to my feral state for for ages. So I'm cracking up a keep Altadina Ferrell is better than wild or weird. But um, weird is Portland.

Steve:

Ferrell is better than us.

Shawna:

Yes, agreed. So um back to this bill. Um well, back to all of this. It's so surreal to drive through our town and you see this combination of homes under construction, foundations being poured, you know, framing going up, some homes near complete. A handful, and we'll get into the state of the rebuild in the next episode. But a handful, a very small handful, six, actually built. But then next to that, lots that haven't been touched since Army Corps and thus are still covered in toxic material because Army Corps was not complete. So you have lots that are untouched, wild, and you can still see burnt and charred debris on them and toxic ash and soil. Then you've got, you know, others that are um clearly abandoned, or not I want to say abandoned, but have been purchased, you know, by a developer to sit for God knows how long. Um and then you've got the when I say abandoned, these homes.

Steve:

Sounds like a lottery winner.

Shawna:

Right? You see these, yeah, no shit. You see these homes, we see you in Dumbledre Western Journal. Yep. And then you also, you know, have um, what was I gonna say? The um shit, Steve, you made me lose my train of thought again. You know that I am like, I am like a squirrel. I have the attention span of a gnat these days. You get me on like another tangent. We've been discussing in depth um that our the uh undiagnosed ADHD around here.

Steve:

LTRG, you were talking about the the home. But the home, sorry, the standing home.

Shawna:

Thank you. So the other thing that you see as you drive through the landscape is right next to, you know, you have a home under construction, a home rebuilt, a home standing and reoccupied, a lot covered in toxic shit, untouched, wild, God knows when, if they're ever returning. And then another home standing but destroyed, untouched, boarded up, no trespassing signs, because these people are still fighting insurance and will be for God knows how long and can't go home. And these homes are just they're like ghost houses abandoned. Yep. So, you know, it is absolutely it does not paint a ret a picture of a community post-apocalyptic. Correct. It does not paint a picture of a recovering community. It is a fucking is it is another disaster of its own making. So this bill, we want to get to it, um, AB1642, um, specifically is to set a standard that would not be set by insurance companies, but by scientists, on what real health standards and thresholds and namely contamination levels, um, should be set and met for anyone to return home, period. Because right now it's insurance companies saying, oh, we wipe down the walls, it's fine, go home. And then people are having industrial hygienists come in and test, and the the levels of everything under the sun that is toxic are like through the roof. Like you cannot be, you have no business being in that house.

Steve:

So yeah, but that's what public health advised us at the outset of this.

unknown:

Yeah.

Steve:

I remember watching Barbara Ferrer. I mean, she kept us locked down for years for for an extended period of time, but yet at the same time, it was okay to go back to your house and just, you know, go take some heavy, you know, some soap and clean your walls and you should be good.

Shawna:

It's absolutely insane. So I, you know, I'm thrilled that that bill got introduced. I'm thrilled for EFRU who've been working so hard that they got some meaningful legislation through, at least on the floor, even if it doesn't pass, but frustrated that it didn't go far enough. It doesn't go nearly far enough. Like this could have been, you know, you and I discussed this, could have been an inclusive environmental bill.

Steve:

So what I will say is this is that too narrow. Okay, so sometimes bills are introduced, and when they get to committee and markup, they can be changed. And it doesn't mean they're narrowed. At times they can be extended, expanded. I think it's just let's test it out, let's see who's there, let's see what's available, and let's see where the support lies and where the opposition lies. Sometimes that bill may not, this bill is as it was explained to me, is not necessarily for this disaster, but for the disasters going forward. And they have to distinguish between rural and urban because these disasters are gonna continue to happen. And who's gonna have responsibility on this? Is it gonna be Caltech setting it? Is it gonna be the state setting it? Is it gonna be county? Is it gonna be an amalgamation of them? How are they gonna determine what these standards are? Is it gonna differ for each disaster? And so on and so forth. I mean, it opens up, it seems very simple, but it's actually very complex. And, you know, insurers are gonna say, okay, well, then I want, you know, it based upon your standard, you know, is that gonna extend my ALE? How is that gonna affect ALE? And how do I know what this is gonna be? But how do I know what what I'm supposed to be able to insure against or not insure against? Do I now exempt that from the policies, etc.? So, like this is while it seems very simple, it's a very complex issue. And this is something that's really gonna have to be hammered out in committee. This is a committee bill. So what you have there is really a placeholder.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

And the true action will happen once it gets going in committee.

Shawna:

Good, because it needs it needs to be more inclusive, it needs to be a full bill, it needs to not just be this narrow, and it might be a multi-year process.

Steve:

This might be a bill that gets killed in this session to figure out who's against it and how they're against it, yeah, and then recalibrate it to go into the next session.

Shawna:

Good.

Steve:

You know, again, it's a start.

Shawna:

Yeah, and then I'm glad it's and that's the way you got to look at it.

Steve:

Is that you know, now you've got this as a real discussion point.

Shawna:

Yep.

Steve:

And sometimes legislation is that.

Shawna:

So I appreciate that. And it's also nice to kind of see into that process and how this works.

Steve:

Sorry, I I've done this before.

Shawna:

Uh you don't say.

Steve:

Yeah.

Shawna:

It's almost as if you've written legislation and had it passed or vetoed.

Steve:

Yeah. Well, and I've done it not only here, I've done it in Washington.

Shawna:

So that um takes us to the other uh although oh, this one. Oh I'm gonna let Steve run with this one. Oh, Steve is like shaking his head and muffing his brow and so many people have reached out to me on this one because I wrote about it over the weekend. So the um EFC, the Eat and Fire Collaborative, that has developed its LTRG or long-term recovery group, and within which uh acronyms. I know so many fucking many, and within that, there is you know the um policy advisory policy advisory committee, um, which I actually sat on for the PAC. Yeah, for a time that I sat on for a time.

Steve:

L T R G's PAC of the ESC.

Shawna:

You know, which is recommending a CLT. Correct, which is as always, you know, good people with good intentions, trying to do things and but trying being the operative. Um, I felt I was a lot more effective elsewhere, which is why we're here and I'm not there. And part of this, well, what came out of that is why I'm not there because I would have been beating my head against a wall. So let's talk about what was in the policy document and the asks made. Please, please run us through us through it. I think reduce of my substack will Steve can't even get the words out. He's so incredulous about the absurdity of it. And I'm sorry, I don't want to insult anyone who worked on this because I again I think it's so critical to know that people are doing their best. And it it really is well intended. But in a state where we couldn't get$70 million to finish the required and necessary testing for posters, written that in there too. How the fuck do we have four billion dollars? Who thinks they're getting four billion dollars? It's like you went to your parents and asked for a 20 to go out on Friday night, and they said no. So you're like, cool, can I have a million dollars instead?

Steve:

All right, so I know. I I I I don't even know where to go with this one. I know because the it's it's a it's a tough one. So what all right, I could be wrong. I'm gonna preface it with that. I could be totally wrong on this, and maybe they got an inside track and everything's gonna work out, and the the community land trust model that they're gonna have is gonna be funded and everybody's gonna walk away and I'm gonna look like a fucking idiot. Sorry, people, but that's where it's gonna go.

Shawna:

And by the way, I don't know about you, but I've said it before. I would love to be wrong. I would love it. I would welcome it. Make me wrong, get the billions of dollars and get this fucking ship, you know, on sailing. I'll take it.

Steve:

I don't understand how that works with there, there's a contradiction in this whole thing anyway, because it goes against SRP CRD, but that's a different, there's a couple more acronyms for you. So let's back up and let's talk about what's happening. So the LTRG has a uh three asks. The first ask was John's bill, essentially.

Shawna:

But it went a little further, and I want to actually give props there because it went a little further and had some really um smart notes in there about setting um uh standards for cleanups, for post-remediation, meaning post-cleanup testing, re, you know, re-remediation, or follow-up remediation, follow-up testing if needed. Um, really things that would ensure that people have what I've been kind of yelling about for months, and um, and as a result now, tracking down and documenting all of this dirty soil moving all over Altadena, um uh is the ability for all of us to have a safe community, to rebuild it and to come home to, which we should have.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

Shawna:

We should have that. That should be a very basic uh baseline, right? This is we're not asking for this, it's nothing uh wild we're asking for. This is nothing ex extraordinary out there. Um, this is a real this is real basic shit. I understand. Let's have a clean, safe environment to return to.

Steve:

And I think that's what AB 1642 is starting. Yeah. Okay, so let's see where it goes. Let's see.

Shawna:

So that was the first section of this of the um LTRG's policy ask.

Steve:

And then the second ask was the Inspire Fire Survivors Network, according to the document, their initiative where they want the$200,000 to be fronted for fire survivors out of the Edison settlement.

Shawna:

Yeah, which is um you already know my opinion on that. Don't fuck with people's potential settlements. Just don't.

Steve:

Anyway, so that's it's also never gonna happen. That was the second thing.

Shawna:

I'd love to be wrong.

Steve:

Let's write again, but and and again, that's assuming Edison admits guilt and all the other things. So now the third piece was the community land trust. They wanted to get, what was it, six 1.7 or$1.9 billion to fund the acquisition of land and developing that land into affordable housing. Now meanwhile, meanwhile, we couldn't get$10 million to go buy the land and have bank, you know, outside funding doing it. They want the state to do this entirely.

Shawna:

The state that's how many billion short?

Steve:

Well, right now it's 17 billion, but the governor says it's only 3 billion, but he's also holding back 5.6 billion from education, and they're about to take a$4 billion hit if the Trump administration decides not to renew their HMO tax that they used to fund Medicaid. So, which we all know we've trump-proofed California so well that we're now begging for money.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

Steve:

So I think you got to presume that that money is gonna come out. So that's that's showing$8 billion plus another three is$11 billion. We're not far off from the LAO's number.

Shawna:

Right. So and I think it's important to note that that's$1.6 billion that they're seeking for a CLT was also to um resurrect SB 549.

Steve:

Well, a form of a derivative of no, but to have their own rebuilding authority. They want to create a rebuilding authority on top of the rebuilding authority we got for 782 that they were all supportive of when we were telling them not to do it, but they went ahead and got Sasha's bill through. And they were promised community land trust, from what I was told. And then when the bill went through, they were told that that's not gonna happen. So now they're starting back up again. Look, folks.

Shawna:

So get it. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Steve:

Don't forget, don't forget the$50 million to administer this, that we couldn't even get$10 million to administer our thing, which we weren't even gonna take. The state said that's what it was gonna be worth, but they're gonna ask for$50 million.

Shawna:

Right. And don't and to do what Steve's talking about is the fact that the reason given for vetoing 797 was that it was too expensive.

Steve:

So even though according to the veto message, yes.

Shawna:

Correct. Even though it really wasn't, the what they were qualifying as too expensive was$10 million. So look. But$50 million is not too expensive.

Steve:

No, but because it was gonna go to the right groups as opposed to outsiders. No, go biz. It was gonna go to the freaking government. That's what they anyway. Okay. Yeah, okay, okay. So so seriousness, look, this is my point. We have, we are now in our second year here. We need to have serious answers to our problems, not pipe dreams. And again, I understand why people want a community land trust, but don't you realize it's antithetical to the whole rebuild model that's been created for Altadena? Yeah. If we're supposed to be using a CRD to do this to increase property tax, taking ta properties off the market to be held by a nonprofit reduces the property tax money that would otherwise be going to help rebuild our city. It's anti-thetical.

Shawna:

Yeah, none of it makes any sense.

Steve:

But yet this is being proposed as a solution that needs to get legislation. I mean, if you want to do this, do 797 again. It's a lot cheaper and a lot more effective and a lot more simplified. Yep. And nobody's gonna sit there and go, you want how much? Maybe they need to ask for that. Maybe that's the only way shit gets done in California. Is that you have to have an outlandish ask as opposed to making money for the state, which is what 797 would have done. I mean, maybe it's just too pragmatic, and maybe that's why I'm wrong. Maybe I don't get it. Maybe I need to be a this is just a a poverty pimp. Uh I I just I I anyway. Yeah, it's a good thing. For those of those great. I I I applaud you. Go do your cause. Hopefully, you get what you want.

Shawna:

Yep. So what happens though when this all goes bust?

Steve:

Then we just wasted two years. Yep. And we didn't get legislation that could have actually been able to give people money for their property.

Shawna:

So, how do we fix this? I mean, I mean we know how we fix it.

Steve:

You know, I'm not even wasting my time with the state anymore.

Shawna:

Yep.

Steve:

I've given, I've written the legislation, two different bills. I've written, I'm just gonna go to the feds. I'm just you know, honestly, I'm just gonna go to Trump and say, listen, I know you don't care about California. I know California doesn't care about you, but right now just get us the fucking money. Give us the tools. I don't want the money. I want the tools. The problem is that every time we try to get the tools to get the money, it gets shut down.

Shawna:

Yeah. And actually, I I want to be real clear of what I meant when I said just just give us the money. It is precisely that it's the tools. We have them already.

Steve:

There are other tools that could be uh and get the people in the way that are blocking us out of the way. Correct. That's the biggest problem, is that everybody's trying to get in the way to move and this is because they're trying to all support their own causes, they're all out for themselves.

Shawna:

But this is the conversation everybody wants their their little piece of this, you know, fiefdom. It's a bunch of rats.

Steve:

But I had this conversation with somebody who's tied into all of this the other day, and I said, everybody's focusing on the wrong things. We're we're all fighting over crumbs, whether it's the community groups, whether it's the philanthropic organizations, they don't have the money to do this. The real money is already there, guys. It's it's it's got a nonprofit. Yep. No, no, I'm saying they're already here, they're already moving much faster than any of us. We're sitting here talking about a community land trust. The real money, the real players are already making their moves, they're already buying the land, they're already going to start building, they're already taking. And you guys think you're saving the city? You're not, you're getting played. You're either being played for somebody's political ambitions to be once they get into 2028, or you're being played to distract you, so you're not stopping the big play that's coming behind you. Either way, it's it's you've missed the boat. And if you spend another year doing this, you've missed the boat big time.

Shawna:

Well, I think we've talked about this at length that philanthropy, and I say philanthropy because philanthropy is behind so much of this, if not all of it.

Steve:

Philanthropy is driving the narrative about the C D BG money.

Shawna:

Correct. That they're so busy trying to curry favor, and I say that both on a small and a large scale, that there's no real advocacy happening. This is just about how to keep everyone um comfortable and in the positions that they want to be.

Steve:

But philanthropy doesn't have the tools to do this.

Shawna:

If you talk to anybody that's involved with philanthropy right now, so what that which begs the question why are they being allowed to drive all of this?

Steve:

Because they have we handed it over because they got it after fire aid and they've done it before with homelessness and they're gonna do it again.

Shawna:

Exactly.

Steve:

It's La Casa all over again, folks.

Shawna:

Yep.

Steve:

This is the homeless create a entity and authority to do it. The CRD told everybody to pound sand, so guess what? They're gonna create a new one, and they're gonna get the federal the state government to run it because nobody else can do it. Now, the problem is that they're running into a state government that doesn't have the money like they did. There's not the all that COVID money flowing through like it was, and they're also running into a state government that is in flux because our governor will no longer be governor. And so they have to either leverage him to run for president, which this doesn't play very well because he's gonna own the effects of this, which he doesn't want. That's why he doesn't want anything to do with any of this stuff, or they're gonna have to bring in whoever's gonna be next. And that's gonna be an interesting conversation.

Shawna:

Yes, it is.

Steve:

So my point to cat to Al Tadina has always been get real, move on, go over the horizon, go to as they used to say about Wayne Gretzky, go to where the puck is going since we're using 80s references today. You know, go where it's going. You're you're talking about the past. Like we're not getting our asks you got the CRD. You're done. You you you screwed that up, just like I said. You're not gonna get another shot at this.

Shawna:

Are you done?

Steve:

Sorry.

Shawna:

I know, don't be, don't be sorry. I didn't want to cut you off.

Steve:

Well, I mean, you can stop me if I'm wrong.

Shawna:

And you're not wrong. You're not wrong about any of it. I don't think you've been wrong for the last year. You certainly we I don't think anything that we have said has been wrong yet since September. And and I will say again, it's it's a challenge at this point. Please prove me wrong. I would I welcome it.

Steve:

Well, what I'm also hearing is that we're getting closer to the failure becoming too apparent. And the failure that's the people that are failing are going to be sacrificed.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

It's coming.

Shawna:

Well, on that cheery note, as we round out the hour.

Steve:

Yeah.

Shawna:

Um should we close it with a small bit shout-out?

Steve:

You know them all.

Shawna:

Or at least most of them. So I'm gonna, you know, sadly, we only have so many small businesses left in Altadena, um, all of whom can use support. But the one I want to talk about today is actually in East Pasadena. It's the basic nail shop.

Steve:

Where is it?

Shawna:

They are located. So, you know, you have the on Foothill, you have the Whole Foods Plaza, the Um Home Goods Plaza, because I won't say the name of the other place. It starts with an H. And then the little place next to it behind where the other where uh Fish Grill is, and I think there's like a discount clothing store that I can never remember right in the corner. Anyhow, it's in that mini mall at the corner of Foothill. And is that Sierra Madre? Yes.

Steve:

Foothill and Sierra Madre.

Shawna:

I've only lived here my entire life and still fuck up all the streets. This is just east of that. Just east. So basic nail shop.

Steve:

Oh, you mean where the corner bakery is?

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

Yeah, okay. I know where you are.

Shawna:

Oh, there's now Steve knows.

Steve:

Yeah, it's almost to Michelinda.

Shawna:

Almost, exactly. Oh, yes, that's where it is. That's what I was trying to get to. Yeah. Corner of Michelinda and Foothill. Yeah. Thank you. I was saying Sierra Madre because I'm thinking of Sierra Madre. Because it runs you in Sierra Madre Sierra Madre. Correct. Yes, I think adjacent. Michelinda, which would also take you all the way up into Hastings Ranch. A voila. So that's where it is. Um, they've been there for a couple years. They'd actually kind of opened um just not long before the fire. And um I finally got back in there and I wanted to get your nails done. I haven't been there in forever, but it's it's it is where I got my nails done.

Steve:

I was admiring it in my head that you have this fancy.

Shawna:

I'm kind of loving these nails.

Steve:

Fancy artwork on your nails.

Shawna:

I I do.

Steve:

I how do they do it in that like with that with the gold or the detail?

Shawna:

The detail. It's all done by hand. I know it's all like free hand by hand. They're artists, they're artists, and this is the same thing. Yeah, but this is so small.

Steve:

I know. And how do you keep your hands still long enough? Anyway, sorry.

Shawna:

So I want to talk about the basic nail shop. Not only because they're awesome, as you can see, even Steve is appreciating my nails, and you can see them on Instagram, and I will share them again because they do look really great. They um, but um basic nail shop is owned by Alex and Trish, um, who are Altadena residents who, you know, like too many of us, lost a home and are in the process of rebuilding. Um they have a really sweet little boy and um really nice family-run business, excellent spot. But again, Altadena owned and operated, uh family run. Could you support? Go check them out if you need a nail shop. And if you're in that area um in Sierra Madre, uh Fables and Fancies is a little bookstore in Sierra Madre. Um, not Altadina owned, but the owner has done a lot with Altadena for Altadena, and he's another one he'd opened right before the fire. And it really speaks to how these communities, including Sierra Madre, depend on Altadena business. Um they and having 22,000 of us gone um has really harmed a lot of our businesses that surround us, not just in Altadena, but in our little neighborhood communities. So um go give them some love. They're both really great spots.

Steve:

Awesome.

Shawna:

Yeah.

Steve:

All right, and on that note, are we gonna cut this one off so that everybody can binge us next thing?

Shawna:

We are, we are. I'm gonna leave on this note. I wanna let everyone to think about this.

Steve:

When I was looking at the the the workup on this, I thought I was going to talk very little on this one.

Shawna:

Uh you you proved me wrong.

Steve:

I proved myself wrong.

Shawna:

Um, I want to leave everyone on this note to think about it. How much easier would it be to have this money flowing, including federal money and the tools for federal money, if Altadena were incorporated?

Steve:

Uh you're saying what people have been saying to me in the background.

Shawna:

Yeah. So yeah, let's sit with that. Maybe we'll talk about it in the next episode.

Steve:

Well, all right. On that note, I'm Steve.

Shawna:

I'm Shauna. You can find us online, beautiful Altadena, Instagram Substack.

Steve:

The policy walk. Altadena Policy Wonk. Also on Substack. Oh, yeah. Well, I think everybody. Oh, yeah, I guess maybe not. You never know. We'll see in a next one. We have new listeners. Bye, everybody.