By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The Palisades Village Green Board hosted a virtual meeting the evening of July 31 to discuss a proposed public art installation at the site.

“Historically, the board has been very conservative in not doing anything to change the Green,” Village Green President Cindy Wilkinson Kirven explained. “It virtually looks the same as it did when it was installed.”

Now, Kirven continued, the privately owned Village Green and its all-volunteer board of community stakeholders are in an “unusual circumstance,” after the park sustained damage in the Palisades fire, including the loss of two sheds, a pear tree, all of its electric and “a lot of sprinklers [that] melted.” During reconstruction, the board will consider ideas like consolidating the sheds to clear space for something else.

“There could be space for the proposed art project, there could be space for benches,” Kirven said. “We talked about use of the Green … and whether or not the Green is laid out as the best use for now and for the next 50 years.”

Kirven said the board was approached by Sabrina Halper (granddaughter of longtime city of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commissioner and Palisadian Joe Halper) who is working with Elad Gil, who resided in the Huntington while Covid restrictions were in place and he could work remotely.

“They have come and offered to support, pay for and create—if that’s what we decide—install and create a maintenance fund for a piece of public art as a meaningful installation to honor and memorialize this moment in the community’s history,” Kirven said.

Kirven described the meeting as a “very early discussion” of the proposed project, with input and suggestions being sought before a design is finalized.

“These are just ideas,” Sabrina said before beginning her presentation on the proposed project. “Please be completely transparent with what you like and don’t like, and we can keep iterating and working with artists.”

Sabrina detailed her history of being raised in the Palisades from the age of 4, attending Village School and spending “after school hours at the park, Garden Cafe and Fancy Feet.” Her parents still reside in the Palisades, while she moved to the Bay Area to attend Stanford.

After two years in New York, she is living in San Francisco, working with Gil—a “technology serial entrepreneur and investor” who believes “deeply in supporting public spaces and civic inspiration.”

The public art initiative, Alexandria, launched in December 2024 and is focused on four cities—LA, Washington, D.C., Miami and New York City—for site selection. It is funded by Gil and a “small number of anon donors to date.”

The principles of the proposed project, Sabrina said, are to “restore the Green in its entirety: damaged landscaping and electrical features in need of repair”; “build something long-term beautiful, inspiring, additive, that respects the tragedy of the fires but looks to the rebuilt future”; “respect and reflect the ethos of the Palisades community”; and “maintain public gathering aspects of the Green that reflect current uses while adding a work of inspiration.”

The concept—which Sabrina said is flexible—is 20 to 30 feet in height, exploring “various materials,” including marble, bronze and carbon fiber. There are “various potential locations throughout the Green,” depending on the final statue selection.

“The Palisades has a very specific feel to it,” Sabrina noted. “It’s casual, beachy, it’s a really tight-knit community. So in all of the renderings, I tried to think of feelings and images that would fit into that and not do something too modern or too different.”

Sabrina presented several concepts, designed with feedback in mind from a previous conversation with the board, beginning with a flock of birds or phoenix rising, “honoring the strength of a community forged by fire, and lifting our gaze toward a shared and soaring future.” The next concept was an arch, representing a “step into something new” as a “symbol of transition.”

Additional concepts were a tree (standing for “life, growth and starting again” while being “grounded, steady and always moving forward”) and column of hope (a “tribute to the Palisades,” “engraved with images of homes, the beach and the Village’s historic arched building”). Past ideas, that Sabrina described as having “less interest” in them, were a gazebo (a “welcoming space where people can gather”) and Eos (“the goddess of the dawn,” who “symbolizes renewal”).

Each of the concepts Sabrina presented are customizable, with a range of possibilities discussed during the meeting, including adding a mosaic crafted from pieces of items found by Palisadians from their homes.

Following her presentation, Sabrina and Kirven opened the meeting up for feedback from board members and attendees, receiving comments to focus on the scale, functional elements (including seating) and thoughts on the concepts.

“It’s really important that we bring our community and our remnants, our feelings, our ideas to it and that those are the things that really drive us,” Village Green Board Member Lou Kamer said. “I would love to see incorporation with the local artists. I would like to see Palisadians come up with these final ideas and understand the Green for what it is, in terms of scale, in terms of lighting, the specific plan, traffic, all of those other things.”

After taking notes on feedback received from the community, Sabrina said she would “make sure that everything is taken into account,” adding there were “many good ideas and really important thoughts” shared.

“Hopefully we can all come together to create something,” Sabrina concluded.

Additional renderings are posted at instagram.com/palisadesvillagegreen, where community members have been invited to comment with feedback.

The Palisadian-Post presents an homage to Will Rogers’ column, “Will Rogers Says,” with a column by Palisadian Jimmy Dunne—on life in the “greatest town in America.”

Throw It Out of Bounds

I stopped my bike looking at Pali High’s football field the other day. A hot August day.

Started dreaming about my football career. Peaked when I was in eighth grade.

St. Francis Falcons. Our Catholic grammar school team in La Grange, Illinois. Those autumn Sunday games would be absolutely packed.

As a little kid, you dreamed of someday running through the huge banner held out by the cutest cheerleaders. Just roaring across the field to a sea of St. Francis fans cheering on their Falcon warriors.

I played left halfback. I had one move. That’s it.

I didn’t care what play the quarterback called. If I got the ball, I was grabbing that thing and going “left.”

Heading straight to the left sideline and then doing my move. The “stiff arm.” The goal of my play was to end up still standing up.

The other end of the spectrum? What hell looked like. Running straight up the middle. Get slaughtered and end up at the bottom of a big pile of giant, goat-smelling friends.

It was a pre-season summer practice—in a record-squelching August.

Smack in the middle of the afternoon on that practice field, it felt more like the top of a barbecue grill than a park. About 250ºF, with no wind, and I’m pretty sure the Woodstock for flying bugs.

My football scouting report wasn’t exactly “peaking” after my less-than-stellar seventh-grade season. In seventh grade, they demoted me to the sixth-grade team.

That makes you feel really cool inside.

And to rub a bucket of vinegar in my wounds, my younger brother (who was in sixth grade) played on the eighth-grade team.

Didn’t help very much in the potential girlfriend department, either.

Back to that eighth-grade practice.

After a few practices, the coaches had pretty much set in stone that I (and this other kid on the team, Rick Carney) were the runts of the litter.

Carney lived right behind our house, so we were best buddies growing up. Now that I think about it, maybe Carney and I should have spent a little more time running around the block instead of on our walkie-talkie wires that ran from my house to his.

Carney and I got the hint that the coaches weren’t exactly drinking the Kool-Aid of our amazing potential—when they dished out our practice uniforms.

They ran out of football jerseys for everybody, so Carney and I just wore undershirts over our shoulder pads. When we’d run, we’d be like flapping geese with the shoulder pads bouncing and clacking around.

But the kicker was the helmets.

They didn’t have any “regular” helmets for both of us—you know, the kind with facemasks to protect you. They gave Carney and me the used, reject helmets from the old Pop Warner league in town.

Those were the kind Knute Rockne wore back in the ’30s.

No facemask. Just this decades-old, hand-me-down, brown leather thing Carney and I stuck on our heads.

But my problem was my helmet (if you’d want to call it that) didn’t really fit on my big head. I found if I wore the thing backward, it was a little snugger.

So I did that.

The only problem was sometimes the thing would flop down in front of my eyes when I was running. But you do what you gotta do.

It was the start of practice, all melting in the heat. Carney and I were standing around the coach, looking like absolute dopes in our caveman helmets. The coach told everybody to do the same thing we did at the start of every practice.

Four laps around the goalposts. Off we all went.

That’s fun.

By the end of the first lap, Carney and I were already exhausted, chugging along in our spots of last and next-to-last place. Only Carney was behind me.

I was heading down the field for lap two—now only 50 yards away from those white, wooden goalposts—where everybody else had already made the turn.

I had to stay positive, one step at a time.

Just kept picturing and dreaming about all my favorite cheerleaders who barely knew my name—wildly cheering as I’d be busting through that banner on the first game.

I wiped off the mosquitoes snacking on my face, let those shoulder pads bounce around under my Fruit of the Loom and charged down that field.

Only three yards from the goalpost. Making the turn.

I figured no point in running one extra foot if I didn’t have to. So I’d cut it close around that goal post like a downhill skier.

What I didn’t count on was the helmet flopping in front of my eyes.

Next thing I knew, I plowed right into that goalpost. And down I went. Flat on my back with my arms spread out. Out cold.

And I know this sounds like something that would happen in a cartoon, but I swear to God, my Knute Rockne helmet snapped in two—right down the middle.

The helmet looked like a cracked eggshell on the dirt next to my head, and I was like a sizzling patty on the Memorial Park griddle.

Next thing I knew, I came to, looking up at the whole team of St. Francis players.

Coach Pridmore looked down at me and asked, “Dunne, do you know what day it is?”

I looked up at my teammates.

I looked over at the two halves of my helmet. I said, “The last day of my football career.”

Fast-forward to the first game of the season. I had a new role on the team.

Announcer.

Stood on top of this two-story scaffolding with a mic and called the play-by-play.

The fans loved me. Couldn’t have been better.

Here’s the lesson I learned.

So what?

So what if I’m not a professional football player?

Last time I checked, none of those bozos on that team ever were either.

Sometimes, in football, the best move you can make is to throw it out of bounds.

Cut your losses. Take a breath.

Think of a better play—and do that.

Jimmy Dunne is a modern-day Renaissance Man; a hit songwriter (28 million hit records), screenwriter/producer of hit television series, award-winning author, an entrepreneur—and a Palisadian “Citizen of the Year.” You can reach him at j@jimmydunne.com or jimmydunne.substack.com.

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Failure is not an option: That was the message Jim Cragg sought to convey to his fellow residents Friday morning, August 8, at American Legion Ronald Reagan – Palisades Post 283.

In direct response to ongoing challenges following the Palisades fire in January, Pacific Palisades community members have formed a local Long Term Recovery Group (Pali LTRG), which is dedicated to identifying and connecting local survivors to a network of associated donor relief organizations.

Community members, fire survivors and press were invited to attend the launch event, featuring remarks from Pali LTRG leadership, local government officials and representatives from major donors.

“This group comes at a critical moment in our continued recovery,” said Jim Cragg, Pali LTRG president and board chair. Cragg is also the legionnaire in charge of the Palisades Wildfire Support Center, which was set up at Post 283 in February.

“These major relief organizations have turned to our group to help identify and vet over 10,000 Palisades families in need of money, manpower, materials and information to get their lives back,” Cragg continued. “Palisadians are relying on us.”

Pali LTRG’s mission is to provide comprehensive recovery services to individuals and households impacted by the fire, ensuring that every resident—regardless of circumstance—has continued and equitable access to the resources and support needed to rebuild.

Devised by local community leaders and supported by the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, Pali LTRG brings national expertise and more than 50 years of disaster recovery practices directly to the Palisades.

“I want to inform you that VOAD member donor agencies have tens of millions of dollars in money, manpower, building materials and education coming available in upcoming months, and that the Pali LTRG has been established to connect Palisadians who have the greatest need for those resources,” Cragg continued. “We want to introduce to you VOAD and the LTRG. There’s a California VOAD and they represent about 40 organizations—faith-based groups, nonprofits and individual nonprofits—which are going to be made available through a program called Disaster Case Management, which is social workers paid for with federal funds who’ll be assigned to people who register with FEMA and SBA. You then get put on a list where you’re connected with us.”

Larry Vein, executive director of Pali Strong Foundation, introduced Cragg, saying: “Jim has poured his heart into this community, opened up this space to create another Disaster Relief Center and is now creating another space to help out our community because we’re going to get back home.”

Pali LTRG will identify “the most vulnerable Palisadians” with Disaster Case Management, using “established criteria to receive aid in the form of money, building materials, manpower and education.”

“These resources are meant to address items not covered by insurance or federal assistance,” Cragg said.

Attending the launch were Councilmember Traci Park and Senator Ben Allen.

“From the very first days in the aftermath of the fire, the team here at the Legion has been on the ground engaging in active service and serving as an incredible resource to this community,” Park said. “They have been of great assistance to me and my office and all of the leadership working so hard to get you all home … There are people who are further along in this journey than others but it’s imperative to make sure no one’s being left behind. Neighbors helping neighbors to rebuild not only homes, but hope. I’ll remain at your side every step of the way until every family is home.”

Cragg made it clear that not all residents will receive financial aid.

“DCMs are tasked with determining those with the greatest unmet needs,” he said. “The uninsured, underinsured and those most vulnerable, including the elderly and those with special needs. The LTRG will offer training, guidance, connectedness and mental health support to those who don’t receive financial support.”

Pali LTRG Executive Director & Vice Chair Jessica Rogers confirmed 1,000 people have signed up already.

“This is a community in motion,” she said. “We’ll keep the doors open until every voice is heard and everyone’s home again.”

Pali LTRG’s Advisory Board is comprised of community leaders, civic volunteers and subject matter experts who bring “local knowledge, professional expertise and a shared commitment to equitable disaster recovery.” Members include representatives from Pali Strong, American Legion, Pacific Palisades Community Council, Pacific Palisades Residents Association and others.

“As a father of a 10-year-old girl who watched her town burn, I want to say: ‘Failure is not an option,’” Cragg reiterated. “We’re going to rebuild that town for all those kids. They’re going to have a place to come back to, to grow up in.”

For more information or to apply for assistance, visit paliltrg.org or contact info@paliltrg.org.