Photo courtesy of PPCC
By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor
Pacific Palisades Community Council hosted its first regular board meeting of the year on Thursday, February 13, inviting local officials to provide updates and discuss the road ahead for the Palisades following the fire.
Board of Public Works President Vahid Khorsand reported on what different teams have been doing, to ensure community members get what they need “while recovery is underway.”
“Overall, a lot of questions have come up, what’s the state of the infrastructure in the Palisades post fire?” Khorsand said. “The bureaus are still assessing the infrastructure. City teams are assessing streets, utilities, the drainage systems … and of course, there are immediate repairs that need to be done, so crews are already fixing some of those urgent issues.”
Because of the rain that week, Khorsand reminded attendees that there will be moments that will further test the community, city services and infrastructure in place. Khorsand said Los Angeles Sanitation had over 50 crews in the area that day, responding to flooding and sewer storm drain calls.
Khorsand also said the Bureau of Street Lights was putting up solar lights in the area, and Streets LA was working with Clean Harbors to conduct debris removal.
“We’re here to help,” Khorsand said. “We want to make sure we get the Palisades back up and running as quickly as we can.”
Assistant Director of LA Sanitation Julie Allen also joined the meeting and provided updates on facilities in the area. Allen said sewer pump stations and water pump stations have sustained fire damage, and LA Sanitation is working on making sure the infrastructure is functional.
She also explained that there is work being done in regard to flood control of the area.
“We’ve been ensuring that we meet the mission of protecting life, property and the environment,” Julie said.
Following Julie, Ted Allen of the Bureau of Engineering spoke to attendees of debris removal. He explained that he is serving as lead of the Debris Removal Task Force. He spoke of the debris removal program and progress being made.
“We’ve had a lot of great movement this past week,” Ted said. “Progressing to actually seeing things removed, which is great.”
The first phase—Household Hazardous Waste Removal—is managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under executive orders. It involves “assessing and safely removing hazardous materials,” including paints, cleaners, pesticides, fuel, propane tanks, batteries and more from impacted parcels.
As of February 13, Ted said EPA was more than halfway through properties as part of Phase 1. Crews had reached 99% completion on February 25, according to a statement from Governor Gavin Newsom.
Phase 2—Comprehensive Debris Removal Program—can begin at a parcel when Phase 1 is complete. Residents have two options for Phase 2: opting-in to the county’s debris removal program, which is being led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Colonel Eric Swenson, or opting-out of the county-run program and hiring a private contractor.
Ted said the Army Corps is working through Phase 2 and clearing properties “rapidly.”
PPCC will host its next regular board meeting on Thursday evening, February 27. A link to the agenda and the Zoom are available at pacpalicc.org.
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