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iHeart Podcast presents A Town Hall with California Governor Gavin Newsom. Up first, we have Vincent, Beverly, and Vincent in Pasadena. Vincent and Beverly are married. Vincent is their son. They lost their family home of 41 years in the Eaton Fire. Governor, this is Vincent, Beverly, and Vincent. Hey, guys. Hello. Good morning. 41 years, huh? Yeah.
41 years in the same spot. Kids grew up there. We remodeled the house, fixer-upper. We fixed it up, made a home out of it. We didn't have to move and essentially relocate it. So everything was there, all of our family history, everything. And a community that's unlike any other in the region, huh? I mean, remarkable diversity, generational wealth being created, opportunities, beautiful.
Tell us, I mean, when, you know, for those that don't fully appreciate Altadena and maybe more familiar with some of these coastal communities, maybe you can help if you would, I'd appreciate it. And I think people listening would appreciate just describe the community and the people, the vibrancy.
The attraction is that it's a wooded area and the forest is right there. Lots of wildlife, parks, the community made up of people who have been in Altadena for generations. A tight community. Everybody knows everybody on the block. Everybody comes to each other's rescue. My neighbors help me build fences and I help them paint their homes and do that kind of thing.
And we've seen the senior citizens leave and their children come in. We've seen young people come in. And Altadena had the reputation of being kind of like a little secret. People didn't know how nice it was up in Altadena.
And young folks are starting to come in and buy some of the homes when the older people leave or go into nursing homes or leave to go with their families when they can't support themselves anymore by themselves. But it was always a welcoming community and always a surprise to people when they came up. Parks were nice. Just almost a perfect kind of situation. It was crime free. You could close your door, go walk your dog without
without locking your door, come back, everything would be in place, speak to everybody along the way, and it was our perfect day. You know? We loved it. We weren't going anywhere. Wow. Did you guys, did you have insurance on the property? Yes, we have insurance. That is not an issue. Our issue now is finding somewhere to live. Yeah.
People are gouging us. They want to give us properties that they would normally rent from anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 a month. They want to charge us $8,000. That's terrible. And it's unfurnished. It's at the top of most people's budget. So you got a home and then you got to still come out of pocket to get a washing machine and dryer, a bed, all that. That part is disturbing me more than anything right now. That I am out of a home of 41 years.
None of my personal belongings, you know, antiques that have been passed down, some of them and some antiques that we purchased. After all these years, they're gone. We don't have basic things and people don't seem to care to make allow us to try to make homes for the next two years while we're waiting to rebuild.
That's my biggest grief. And mine on your behalf. It is unconscionable to see this kind of price gouging and to see the greed of people taking advantage of you and others similarly in your position. We...
immediately after this disaster, I signed an executive order on price gouging. It's now about enforcing it. And so I cannot impress upon you. I want to know who the, forgive my language, who the hell these people are that are doubling rents. I want their names, their address. I'm coming after them. The attorney general needs to come after them. It is against the law to do that. If they were advertising a rent order,
Before this tragedy, they cannot charge these absorbent prices. They cannot. And so we need to hold them accountable. These laws mean nothing unless we enforce them. And so I'm sorry that you're facing that. And I know others as well. And we've got to hold these people accountable. Yeah. Also, they're trying to force us into a 24-month lease instead of a one-year lease.
No, thank you for that example. Let me look into that as well. We're doing tenant protections. There's a lot of people that are moving into rentals with family members, but then they're in a rental and the rental says, well, you can only have two people and now there's five. And so potentially people are going to get evicted.
So I just did an executive order yesterday on that, prohibiting that. So people have the ability, if they've been impacted by the fires, to be with others in that rental environment. The price gouging, I extended the price gouging beyond the emergency declaration.
And the attorney general just did a big announcement around potentially needing some warrant power to have more force to go after these people taking advantage. So thank you for that one versus two year example. Can I ask you this? Have you been offered any unsolicited offers to buy your home?
Absolutely. My phone, two or three days after this catastrophe, the phone was ringing off the hook. People just calling, are you interested? Get texts, are you interested? Buy your property, you know, that kind of thing. I was at the first AME, Lena Kennedy and others, community leaders in your backyard five days ago.
And this came up with faith leaders and community leaders. And we immediately did an executive order. That now is illegal as well. They cannot unsolicit you with lowball offers. My biggest fear right now in Altadena is,
is the community is not able to come back because in a time of trial and stress, people may feel hopeless and may give in to the temptation to sell their properties at below market value. We cannot let that happen. And so these predatory practices are
These people that are calling you, texting, that's something else. Please, please let us know. I want to, I mean, this is another area where we have to go after these people, speculators taking advantage of this tragedy.
Well, here's one example. One of these scammers are coming in and touching base with people and asking if they want to rebuild. And if you give us a deposit, we'll purchase your supplies because supplies will be in demand. And once you decide to build, if you don't have those supplies set aside, building materials and stuff, then it's going to be a long way. So give us some money now. We'll purchase them for you now. And then you never hear from those guys again.
Thank you for highlighting that for people listening to not fall prey to that and these scanners and fraudsters.
Well, what, so we've, we've got a lot of work to do together, uh, to have your back and, and, and your, your neighbors and the community and to get you back and, uh, and, and to keep you, uh, in, in the mind frame that you are right now that, I mean, you, you don't want to move. You want to rebuild, right? This is, this is our forever home. Yeah. So yeah, we, we want to, but here's some things, um,
when talking to people they're concerned about the infrastructure for altadena markets uh the library burnt down uh banks burnt down the post office burnt down you know senior citizen centers and all that burned down um is that going to come back is that recovery going to be accelerated for altadena is the building permits
going to be modified so that we can start building sooner. - So let me specifically answer that. And being in your backyard nine out of the last 12 days and going up and down the commercial corridor, seeing that destruction firsthand,
I'm mindful of everything you just said. Let me be specific, though. As it relates to permits, we are waiving CEQA. We waive the Coastal Act. We have a forcing function in the executive order. I've done 11 executive orders since the fires to require local government or to create the conditions where local government is responsible for getting permits within 30 days of
and making sure that we break through all of the bureaucratic red tape. So the state has already done that, and we are driving locals to do that as well. Number two, the Biden administration, President Biden, and I say President Biden, Joe Biden,
President Joe Biden himself approved a major disaster declaration within 36 hours. It's unprecedented in the history of disasters in this country. What does that mean? It allows for individual assistance, which is critical, but it also, through this technical thing called C to G grants, allows for all of the parks, playgrounds, community centers,
and everything you just described to get rebuilt with federal support and federal money. We're getting reimbursed at 75% for that, 100% for other things. So there's going to be a little bit of a local match. Forgive the technical point there, but we've already, we just got that. And we got it just in time.
before tomorrow, Monday. And we're making sure that those dollars not only are secure, but they're being activated. And then we've got the Small Business Administration that's out there trying to provide that extra support. And if there's gaps, we've got all these community foundations. And then there's a huge effort, LA Rises effort, which is going to be this
the community led effort, which is going to lead a vibrant, energetic rebuilding process that is community led, not top down. It's not going to be the state dictating. It's going to be you telling us what you need. And we're going to remove every damn barrier that we humanly possibly can between the city, state, region and federal partners.
So will there need to be community leaders established in order to tap into this effort? Yeah, in fact, the reason I was with Lena and others and with the church leaders, we're really starting to already connect to the community in a very granular way. And today, Sunday, we're announcing...
our co-chairs, because any hour it's going to go out, I want to be careful. I think you're going to appreciate the folks that are going to be leading this effort for the state because they're deeply committed to your community. And Altadena is on my mind with this larger rebuild. I assure you, Altadena is deeply on my mind.
So there's concern that they may try to turn Altadena into an apartment
And the homes go away, but they'll be building back with apartment buildings and stuff like our park. We've had the developers try to get our park. Yeah. 30 years before. Yeah. And, you know, part of the park burned just the building there. But, you know, hopefully there's no changing of our zoning. We'll try to keep it a residential area.
home area, single home area. We've got to do everything in our power. You have my firm commitment that when I say community led, you decide in that respect. I do not want to see speculators come in. I don't want to see displacement. We don't want to see a reckless upzoning that destroys the character and the unique vibrancy of your community. And we all want to see parks and open space devoured in that respect. So absolutely, that's the commitment.
Do you have any idea when they might be able to start excavating some of that cleanup stuff? We haven't even been able to get back to our home site yet. I'm sorry about that. Here's where we are, and here's the latest. Over 90% of all the homes that have been impacted by the Eaton fire in your backyard have
have gone through this, what they call DINS process, which is Damage Assessment Process. We have already set up three debris removal sites around the Eaton Fire. The U.S. EPA is going in, boots on the ground, doing the actual physical work
removal of hazardous materials tomorrow, Monday. And that includes batteries and propane tanks, ammunition, whatever may be there. They're not touching personal property. They're just doing all of that. That will all be complete within 60 days. But as each property, the first day there's properties done, they'll put up on the website. You can go to ca.gov slash LA fires, ca.gov.
dot gov slash LA fires. The minute they finish a property for the hazmat, it makes it eligible now for debris removal for the rest of it, which you can do yourself as a homeowner. If you have insurance, insurance covers it and you want to do it yourself and hire someone, you have the right to do that. Or you can sign a right to entry where the army core of engineers sign
We just announced the Army Corps will be doing the master debris removal. They can come in and do it. If your insurance doesn't cover all of the debris removal, that will be done by FEMA. They'll pick up the difference and the cost. And we want to get the properties prepared, not the foundations. We'll keep the foundations.
And then we'll get those properties prepared for what you want to do with them as it relates to the rebuild, et cetera. Again, waiving all the CEQA rules and all the process, et cetera. So that can happen in real time as well. So that's where we are. Within 60 days, all of the hazmat's done.
And debris removal will begin in real time as phase two is entered into. And we hope to get the debris done, all of it, for both the Eaton Fire and Palisades. I want to say in nine months, but with grace and humility, based on the scale and scope, probably nine to 12 months later.
for all the debris removed. - Oh, okay. So you think rebuilding actually won't take place for about a year? - Yeah, I wanna get it done. We're gonna do, back to heaven and earth.
heaven and earth to do everything in our power to, to, to, to bring that into the months, but not a year so that we can, we can start. And look, as I said, if you're first in on the hazmat, for example, if your property on Tuesday is ready and the hazmats cleared, which will happen, there'll be properties next Tuesday. We'll have hazmat Thursday, Friday, Saturday, more properties. And that's now you're working on the secondary debris removal process.
your property on the front line can start much sooner. I'm talking about all the properties on the back. But if you're the last in line, it may be that full year. But we're going to do everything to try to make that quicker. Okay. That's it. I could spend the next three years with you guys. I appreciate you. Oh, I appreciate you too. You're a great governor. And I'm sorry for all you're going through. Yeah.
We love you. Love you guys. Up next, we have Natalie from Pacific Palisades. Natalie lost both her home and her business. Natalie, meet Governor Newsom. Hey there, Natalie. Hi, Governor Newsom. How are you doing today? Question is, how are you doing? Not the greatest. Just being totally honest. You lost your home and your business. I lost both. Yes. It's been very devastating.
And what has it been navigating some of the support that's out there? Have you been to the disaster recovery center? Have you? I have. And I've, there's been some that have been absolutely amazing and I'm so grateful for them. The reason I even have makeup right now is because there was a place on Montana and Santa Monica that was just fantastic. And so,
three people this morning giving me these outfits. So that was really kind. Unfortunately, some of the other disaster relief has been not the greatest, but for the people that are helping and the companies that are helping, I will never forget who they are. I love that. What is FEMA assistance, SBA assistance for you? How's it been navigating that
I'll be quite frank. Not crazy. They're kind of making this as hard as possible for me. I'm not loving it at the moment because
They're making me just jump through like hooves of fire for being honest, essentially. Like I did have some renter's insurance on my home. Very small amount that doesn't even cover some of like literally it's like nothing basically. And because I was honest with them about that, I'm now getting pushed back on the wait list. So far, they're denying my claim. I have to resubmit it and I have to give them all kinds of.
information now. And that's just unfortunate because like I was honest. And that's specific to the FEMA process. Yeah. And SBA, have you engaged those guys? It's been SBA was very difficult. There was a lot of issues with the website. Like my email wouldn't verify for five days. And then I realized it was just another, anyway, it was very difficult technology. Like the links weren't working and yeah.
Yeah. So I would hope going forward that they could get it together a little more as far as like their tech side and not doing what they're doing to me, basically. I appreciate it. And we'll follow up specifically and see what we can do to help navigate that with you directly.
And we've been blowing them up. And the whole idea is to make this virtual as seamless as possible, but also supplement that in person and try to bring everybody under one roof at these disaster recovery centers, all the federal agencies, state agencies, local, and then nonprofits as well to fill those gaps.
I appreciate that because unfortunately, and I can't get too into this because I will be entering legal stuff. My insurance is not active on my business right now. So getting these loans and getting these things in order is a huge deal for me. I have nothing. I've lost over $600,000 with my business, which is a lifetime to achieve. So it
you know, what am I supposed to do with no equipment and nothing? Well, we've got to do what we can to get you back on your feet. And the fact that you're even engaging in this conversation is remarkable. So it shows your unbelievable resilience.
And I'm sorry as well, we're very mindful of what's going on with price gouging. It was one of the first acts we took now 12 days ago with the emergency proclamation. And it's a question now of enforcing it. Renting motels, hotels, they cannot go.
they cannot exceed 10% above what they were previously advertising before the fires as it relates to those rates. And so it's-
It's kind of wild. I'm, you know, like I'm out of a job right now, but like going to hopefully get that back soon. And what they're asking me to like move in with, I'm just, and I understand as a landlord, like you want to make sure you have security on things, but it's, when I started renting like five months ago, what they're asking now is completely insane. Yeah. Yeah.
No, that's going to be, I mean, we're going to navigate that challenge and be much more muscular in terms of holding these folks accountable. The attorney general reinforced that. I extended the price gouging as well. So we've got a longer runway. And it's goods and services. It's obviously rentals.
And it's now just driving accountability. Also driving accountability to your point on FEMA and small business. As you know, FEMA has that modest, just getting you started debit card, which barely pays for gas.
Thank you so much for taking the time with me today. And I just appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. And I'm so sorry, everything you're going through, Natalie. This is an iHeartRadio California town hall with Governor Newsom. Next, we have Jim in Altadena, his home of 24 years burned down. Jim, you're on with our governor. Good morning, governor. How are you? Jim, how are you? How are you doing? How are you?
I'm encouraged. Everywhere I go, I see so many smiling faces. You'd have no idea the people you're talking to lost a house. Everybody is giving. Everybody is giving. I went out to Santa Anita to get some toys for my cats. And there were two lines. There was a line that was like three quarters of a mile long. And there was a real short line. I'm like, what's the difference between the lines? They said, oh, this line on the left is
the three quarters of a mile, that's people making donations and bringing water, bringing diapers, bringing food and bringing clothes. And they waited an hour, maybe more to get in. And then when I got there, the number of volunteers
was just overwhelming. People had a little tape on that said volunteer on it. And there were maybe one to two to one, you know, people to volunteers. There were just so many people there folding clothes and laying things out and writing numbers on. So maybe I'm still in shock. I had a front house with an in-law house and I rented out another rental property around the corner. So I lost three houses total. Wow. Jim, how long have you lived in the, in the area? March would be 24 years. Whoa.
Wow. I moved down from Northern California. I lived in, born in Palo Alto, grew up in Los Altos and Sunnyvale, and then moved down here to get into the film industry way back. Can you, can I ask you to do a favor? It's so, I spent a lot of time in Altadena in the last thing, you know, nine out of the last 12 days I've been out there in the community. Describe the community. It is a special place. It's so unique. It's so, I really, it's a, it's a, it's one of the most vibrant and diverse communities in our country. Yeah.
Oh, it really is. It really is. I've got Latino neighbors on both sides of me, Asian family, two houses up, Filipino family, African-American families, white families, you know, all living together and they're just the best neighbors ever. And it's a very artistic community. There's a lot of artists that were drawn to it. The reason I moved there is I like vintage things. I lost a jukebox in the fire. I lost, you know, a lot of collectible stuff.
And my house was built in 47. It's a 1947 ranch style.
And the houses across the street, there was an architect, Thomas Jane, who built all these houses. And they were known as Jane's Village. And we've been trying for years to get a historical designation to it. It never happened. But they were the ones with the storybook roofs and the keyhole entrances. And it's just adorable. So there's a lot of visual aesthetic up there. You're up there. You've got the Diodora trees. You've got Christmas tree lane. You've got such a visual aesthetic.
you know, I like, I like to tell people, Hey, we're up above the bad air and any bad air that we do get blows East into Duarte. Yeah. Wow. But yeah, just everybody there. It's just, it's a lot of pride, a lot of sense of community in Altadena and, and a lot of families that I know that had been living there since the seventies or people I know that moved away. They grew up there. They moved away. The neighbor across the street from me, she was raised in the house. She bought it. She and her husband bought it from their parents, raised their kids there.
You know, they even had their grandkids there for a little bit. You know, their house is gone. And my heart just breaks for, especially for them. You know, I know I have my own trials, but somebody like that, that's your whole life. I mean, it's, you know.
It's a special kind of people up there. - No, and it's indelible. And having met so many members of the community and it requires a unique approach in the recovery and the assistance. - It does. - We've got to, and we're deeply mindful, we've got to customize.
And it's got to be community led and we've got to get the community back. And that's my biggest fear about your neighborhood is that it doesn't look like the neighborhood you left. Okay. And that was one of the, you know, I came up with some questions to ask you and that was one of mine is maintaining the aesthetic, you know, and I use for an example, Santa Barbara, a hundred years ago, so much Santa Barbara burned. And then, you know, and I don't know who made the decision, but we're going to build back Spanish style. And so, you know, Santa Barbara now has that beautiful,
Spanish aesthetic to all the buildings and community buildings and libraries and houses and everything. It's got, you know, it's really got that aesthetic to it, you know? And so I don't know, do we have any control over that? Do we not have a control? You know, is that a County level? Is that a state level? And, and then, you know, luckily I have state farm. I wasn't dropped and I, and I did an insurance review recently. Wow.
But my concern is people that are underinsured and don't have the money. It's more costly to build a house, a unique house than a cookie cutter house. And then a character house is going to cost even more than that. And people want to do it. They just want to say, I want to get my house back. And I know it could be a long process. So that was one of my concerns for sure. I appreciate it. So as we were quite literally battling the fires, we were also battling...
battling bureaucracy and starting to organize a framework for rebuilding and doing it from the bottom up, not the top down and making sure it's a community led process.
community led process. It's not the states, not the federal government mandating and dictating. And so what we're doing is clearing all of the bureaucratic brush from the rebuilding frame so that their state is not in the way and we're moving fast. So that's, that includes the debris removal where we did an executive order to get the hazmat teams out there early. And by the way, in your community,
the damage assessments are almost done, which is great. They've got that done in record time and the hazmat teams will be out there starting to remove all batteries and propane tanks, et cetera. And concurrently then the debris removal will begin. And you can opt in, as you know, if you have insurance, you can decide for yourself if you want to do your own debris removal or
or you can do a right of entry where the Army Corps and their contractors could come in and do that. But concurrently, we'll be in this planning process and the state's trying to focus now on how we leverage supplies, how we leverage materials to keep prices in check, how we leverage workforce. We're working with the community college and our state labor agencies. We're looking at regionalizing that workforce even out of state
because we're mindful of the pressures across the spectrum. Hey, thank you for checking in. And more importantly, thank you for your spirit, brother. Thank you for being here. Oh, yeah. It's not just my spirit. It's everybody's spirit. I'm sure you've seen it walking around. And I'm sure people take their time to cry. And like I said, I'll probably do my crying when everything settles down. But the things that brought tears to my eye are
just the joy of people and the helping people and you know people overhearing i was at breakfast and they're like oh we got your breakfast don't worry and just everybody wanted to help and you know i'm sure you've had this discussion many times that you know in the disaster why can't we stay like this yeah i love that well thank you for everything you're doing and thank you for the updates i appreciate you thank you so much i'm so sorry for everything you're struggling with going through keep it up brother thank you and your team for everything you're doing thank you
Here at Life Kit, NPR's self-help podcast, we love the idea of helping you make meaningful lifestyle changes. Our policy is to never be too punishing on yourself or too grand in your goals, which is why we've got shows on how to make little nudges to your behavior and create habits that stick. Listen to the Life Kit podcast on iHeartRadio.
John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines.
Listen to The Daily Show, ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We have Julia up next in Hollywood. She worked in Palisades Village, which didn't burn down, but she currently can't work at the location because it's shut down. This is an iHeartRadio California town hall with Governor Newsom. Julia, you're on. Hi, Mr. Newsom. How are you? Julia, how are you?
I'm okay. I'm a little stressed out. I did lose my job. Yeah. And unemployment is only paying me $200 a week. Whereas at the restaurant I worked at, I made $1,200 a week. $1,200 a week.
Yeah, let's we'll take a look at that. And I say that not just take a look at that. I just did a supplement with EDD and the unemployment insurance to just quickly get an additional 20 million dollars directly into the region to supplement further. That's a perfect example of that gap.
between where you were and where you need to be. Yeah, I also saw that as many as 35,000 jobs could be lost permanently because of the Los Angeles fires.
For many workers like me living paycheck to paycheck, already struggling to pay bills, missing out on even a week's worth of work can be severely detrimental. Are you planning to introduce legislation to help disaster victims with debt relief, such as temporary interest charge freezes, debt forgiveness programs, or disaster-related unemployment compensation? I appreciate the question. So let me tell you what we did yesterday. And forgive me for jumping around, but I just want to give you the totality of
of what we're doing in real time that are direct responses to your question and then broader. We have pushed back all state taxes till October 15th. We pushed back property taxes till April of 2026, and people can apply for a four-year deferral on interest and penalties related to property taxes.
We're doing the same for sales and use tax for small business. We're extending those time periods. We are doing a $2.5 billion state supplemental to provide relief and flexibility to fill in the gaps along the lines of what you expressed. I talked about that $20 million just very quickly under the EDD through the unemployment insurance program.
We're working with the California Foundation and the Latino Community Foundation to provide millions and millions. We're going to raise hundreds of millions.
and philanthropic grants to fill gaps as well, all in an effort to provide support. We've got the price gouging rules as it relates to evictions as well. We're addressing that issue. We're trying to make sure that the rents and the costs for services and goods are capped, and we just have to enforce that. And we're trying to get the SBA to move quickly on helping these businesses, these small businesses back on their feet as well.
Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm sorry what you're going through. I started the restaurant business is that's, that's, that's how I, that's my, my, that's how I got out of college, opened my first restaurant. And I appreciate everything you do in that space and in the service industry and in the impact this is, this has had on that industry in this region. But, but I hope you'll,
I hope you'll rebound quickly and our team will follow up with you on the supplemental unemployment.
Thank you. And is there like a timeline of when I'll be able to go back to work? Yeah, it's just, I mean, we're moving heaven and earth to get the damage assessment work done in the palisades and then get the hazardous material, which is phase one of the debris removal, done within the next 60 days. And then concurrently starting the larger debris removal so people can start rebuilding for properties that have been completely damaged
People can come in individually, people with insurance, businesses that were not impacted. Once we have the repopulation plans done and safety zones established and the utilities and suppression systems back up, we're hoping to get those businesses up and moving as quickly as possible. And SBA, we're hoping to hold them. I mean, we're not hoping we will hold them accountable.
to doing their job as well, as well as our business, state business agencies and local and regional. Do you think it's fair that some employees have been told to use paid time off to cover the missed wages? Yeah, well, I have to look into the details of that. I mean, we've expanded paid support and we actually just expanded in January. And this is important.
higher reimbursement for lower wage workers. That was a law that just went in effect in January. But that's something we're going to have to monitor. And I appreciate you bringing that up specifically as an example of how some businesses may not necessarily be protecting their employees as they should. So thank you for that insight. Well, thank you for speaking to me. Thank you. I'm sorry what you're going through.
Next is Jet from Los Angeles, a freshman at Palisades Charter High School. 60% of the school burned down. Jet was evacuated and finally got word their house has power again this morning. Oh, good. And he's returning home today. Governor Newsom, this is Jet. How you doing, buddy? Hi, Governor. I'm doing good. I can't even imagine. How are you and all your friends that have
having an impact at school, man, that's something you never forget how you, how you, how you handle it.
Yeah, so it's been a little bit, like, depressing in a way because I was really looking forward to this next semester at Palisades. Yeah. And then, like, literally within the matter of 24 hours, like, it all turned upside down. And a lot of my friends have already transferred schools. A lot of my friends are moving different places. Yeah. And, yeah, it's just kind of crazy. How about you? Have you transferred another district? What's your current status? Yeah.
I think we're going to ride out this year and see what happens and maybe we get back on campus this year, hopefully. But yeah, we're going to finish this year, I think,
That's good. It's critical. And I appreciate your mindset in that respect. It's cold comfort to you because it's a technical thing, but one of the first actions we took after the fire was allowing flexibility so you can transfer to another district, nearby district. And there were issues around class sizes and other technical state issues that we were able to wave through. But
We'd love your feedback, not just today, just over the course of the next days and months, if there's other things we can be doing, things you're hearing, things you're hearing from the schools themselves, meaning from the administrators of other flexibilities and supports that we can provide. Okay. Appreciate it. So are you back in school now?
So our school was supposed to start on, I think January like 14th, but now we're starting on the Tuesday this week online. Online. Yeah. And you, and you went through that with COVID as well, right? Yeah. In fifth grade, like my whole year was online as well. Yeah. I don't imagine you're looking forward to that again, huh?
No, yeah, I'm not really looking forward to it. That's kind of been like the worst part because obviously like the social part of high school life is like the best part. So of course, of course. Well, man, you're going to come out stronger than you can even imagine, more resilient than you can imagine. And the stuff you'll face in your life will pale in comparison to this. So you're going to crush it going forward, brother. Thank you. I wish you all the best and let's stay in touch. All right. Thank you. Thank you, man.
Now we have Elizabeth in Malibu. She lost her home in the Palisades fire. Her business building is still standing, but it is inoperable. So Governor Newsom, this is Elizabeth. Hi, Elizabeth. How are you holding in? I'm doing okay. This has been a tough one. I've been through the...
the Woolsey fire, the earthquake, COVID. And I have to say of all of those, this is by far the toughest one. We're kind of looking to the government to help us. So I lost my home as well. So I lost my home. I lived over near the Getty Villa and that was just decimated.
And, you know, that's a tough loss. You know, it's all the kids' baby cups and, you know, all the memories that you have. It's just, it's a really, it's almost, you kind of don't even really comprehend that it's happened still, you know, because we haven't really been able to get up there and all of that. But one of my...
The question that I wanted to ask you is that in September of last year, I got a letter from State Farm and they dropped my insurance. And so I had to try to get other insurance, couldn't get it because of where I live. And so then I was offered California Fair Plan, which I did.
So, you know, they dropped me and I've been with them for 30 years, not only in my residence, but in my business. And, you know, I just, I find it incomprehensible that they can do that. And I'm, you know, really acclimated.
asking you to see what you can help us with. You know, there's about 1,600 policies, families that they've dropped. I mean, that's not a lot. I mean, in the scheme of their entire organization, that's not a lot. And, you know,
You know, and I and I know that Governor, I mean, Commissioner Lara has asked them and they agreed to make it retroactive for 90 days, which is great. But, you know, they started dropping people in March and I feel like they should be taking care of us. You know, I mean, it's such a devastating time for us.
And, you know, that their company is worth $134 billion. And, you know, to, you know, I, and for California fair plan, it's a million dollars less than I had on my policy with state farm. So it's a big hit. Yep. So a number of things, by the way, that's 1600, you, you know, you were exactly right. They dropped 1600 plans, about 70% of the market in that area. Yeah.
And to the commissioner, and I appreciate your reference to what he's trying to do in the clawback, also moving forward, we extended a one-year moratorium on the ability to drop the plan. It's not extended for commercial, and we're trying to work a legislative strategy to address the commercial anxieties in that space moving forward so they can't do this in the middle of this disaster. The fair plan...
that you're on. It's just for those that are not familiar with it, and I'll get to your specific concern.
The fair plan was established in 1968. It's not a government plan. It's not taxpayer-funded plan. It's a syndicate pool made up of all of these actual insurers that are in the market, including State Farm. But to your point, it caps at $3 million. It doesn't provide the kind of coverage you can get on these admitted market-based plans.
And there's some questions as we're doing the assessment. There was a back of the envelope assessment. And again, this is back of the envelope, about $3.7 billion of exposure just related to the Palisades fire. And we're getting the update of the impacts on the Eaton fire as it relates to the exposure to the fair plan and how then the fair plan can pay everybody out in a timely way. They do have reinsurance. So I want to reinsure you that they're going to pay
that there is a reinsurance policy that should get us to, well, you're going to get what you deserve under that plan. And we're going to do everything to make sure that happens. But the broader issue of stabilizing this insurance market, to Commissioner Lara's credit, there was a lot of progress being made
This last year, you can't make this up, in Paradise, California, after the campfire, just last week, literally 10 days ago or so, one of the major insurers announced they were reinsuring people in Paradise because of some of the reforms that were being made in the state to stabilize the insurance market. That's cold comfort.
I know to you, but I want you to know that we're not reacting to that insurance crisis. We, for a year and a half, I did an executive order and the commissioner has been driving reforms that we're finally making a difference in stabilizing the market and getting people back
providing that coverage. But what you've exampled is accountability for a major insurer that just exited the market. And they may be smiling behind the scenes from a dollars and cents perspective, but it makes a lot of sense to me for you to ask someone like me and the insurance commissioner what the hell we can do to get them to face a little accountability on the impact they've just had on this community.
I mean, I think from, you know, March, you know, I think March is when they started dropping everybody. And it's just I mean, it's just so, you know, there's no good faith there. There's no there's no you know, they're not they're not standing behind them. And again, they're worth one hundred and thirty four billion dollars. Yeah.
And, you know, that that's off their 2023 report. And they I believe they say because I just actually had it pulled up. Wait, of course, my phone just went out one sec. They said we are financially strong. One hundred and thirty four point eight billion dollars. And it just, you know, to me, when, you know, you know, California Fair Plan, even with FEMA, it's not enough to build a home. You know, building out here is a thousand dollars a square foot, as you know, and that's low.
And I mean, I'm an interior designer. I build all day long. I work with clients every single day. And, you know, that's low. So, you know, you're looking at a 2300 square foot. That's 2,300,000. That's I mean, nobody has that money from their insurance policies. Right.
And so what are we going to, you know, what are we going to do? How are we going to build back the beautiful Pacific Palisades, which is one of the most, I grew up in Connecticut in New Canaan, Connecticut, this gorgeous little town and the Palisades is just like that, you know, right close to the beach. And so, and the community is so tight and so strong. And I know we will build back, but, you know,
I just, it's just really, I hope that you guys can help us because it's such a tough space for us to be in. Absolutely. And I'm deeply mindful in the rebuild and you may have seen, we are suspending the Coastal Act and CEQA. We're driving a permitting reform and doing everything to move heaven and earth to make sure that when we rebuild some of the burdens and costs and delays are
All that is removed, as well as looking at some larger master pulled contracts to lower construction costs and supply chain issues, including workforce, which is going to be scarce as well so that we don't see those costs skyrocket and then address, as you say, the gaps between.
between insurance and that reality on rebuilding. And that's where this massive philanthropic effort is going to take shape. We've already raised tens of millions of dollars. We're about to announce significantly more in the next few hours, in fact.
And then we're going to be asking the federal government to get back some of California taxpayer money, including yours as a donor state, California, and a massive supplemental in Congress so we can fill those gaps and we can address that concern you just highlighted. Okay. Thank you so much, Governor. I really appreciate your time. Thank you. Pam has our final question in Pacific Palisades. She lost her home of 28 years. Pam, you're on with Governor Newsom.
Hi. Hi, Pam. Thank you for your time today, Governor. How are you holding up? Oh, well, I want to first shout out to all of our friends and strangers of the city of Los Angeles. LA, you've hugged us. Thank you.
Governor Newsom, we've heard discussions and the possibility to live in an RV or a tiny home or mobile on our property while we rebuild. I think, wow, what a savings in rent. We can apply those funds to a rebuild. We have a smaller property. And so of those who have smaller properties,
Would it be possible to have an opportunity to have a parking permit on the street or create an area, a designated area that has community services where we could park? Maybe we can pull in park in the nighttime when materials are delivered. We can move to another area of the town. I just I love the idea and I love that opportunity.
And I love your example, particularly with smaller units. You're right. I mean, you know, we had in mind that people could be in a larger driveway footprint as the building's being constructed next to it. But yours is a perfect example where that may be constrained. And so absolutely, it's a great specific example that we need to work with the cities that have been impacted to see if we can accommodate. By the way, Pam, thank you for even recognizing I did one of these 11 meetings.
executive orders, which are just fancy ways of just like no time to process laws. We're just making them to allow people to have ADUs, to allow them to have trailers on their property as they rebuild. So we've dealt with zoning issues in that respect. But you're talking now about a public right-of-way as it relates to the public space and the parking. And that's something we can run up the flagpole. And it's a great example of something that we can push local government to accommodate
And by the way, just broadly, we're working with FEMA on massive, massive investments and procurement on providing people that don't have the means of even providing for their own temporary facility to construct these prefab, these units and get them out and operational and on these properties themselves.
uh as quick as possible sprinters with wheels rvs with wheels we can be there at night move during the day when materials get delivered anyway i love i love this uh out of the box thinking so thank you no thank you and and and and and by if i may bam how long how long you've been living in the community
since 1996. So what is that? 29? My math is bad. Yeah. While a long time. And we love our neighbors. We hope to be back with all of our neighbors. And it's just unbelievable. This is
It's the wild, wild west, by the way, out there trying to secure a rental. We have crazy stories. I'm like in a reality show without cameras, but it's horrific and crazy right now. Just meaning how people are taking advantage of this crisis? It's just it's a numbers. There's a scarce inventory, which there always was. And now you have all these extra people who need housing.
Yeah. And that's why this example you brought up is so important because it will be critical to accommodate and to supplement that scarcity of supply. I'm sorry, Pam, everything you're going through, but thank you for your spirit and thank you for your insight. And I'm going to circle back very quickly on your specific example. All right. Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Pam. Thank you.
So I just want to thank everybody, all these remarkable stories, remarkable people. Thank you for your resilience. Thank you for your willingness to share your stories so publicly, your heartbreak. But one thing I just, you know, reflecting on the conversations we just had was thank you for maintaining your spirit. Thank you for expressing your pride in your communities, your love of your neighbor and
thank you for staying optimistic and not giving in. You know, it was remarkable to hear the stories just reminding us what everybody's been through, you know, with COVID and
just a young child that they're back on Zoom again, years and years later, and the challenges everybody has faced over the course of the last decade. And here we are at this remarkable moment in the history of Southern California and our state. And so my state of mind is one of resolve, not just resilience.
And I hope all of you stay strong and resolved and know we have your back and we're going to be back. We're not turning our backs when the cameras turn off. We're going to continue to monitor progress. We're going to hold ourselves to a higher level of accountability with humility and grace.
constantly iterating, constantly addressing issues seen, but also the issues that are unseen today that will present themselves anew. I heard loud and clear some of the frustrations with FEMA applications, SBA disaster loans, and the importance of making sure that process is more streamlined and more seamless today.
I want to remind everybody that wants just basic information across the spectrum of federal supports, state support, as well as local support. We've got this website, ca.gov slash LA fires, ca.gov slash LA fires, which...
aggregates all that information, can help you navigate through all of this. This California Rises Fund we've created is a great fund working with the California Fire Foundation to support no overhead in this
to support critical programs for those in critical need. And then this LA Rises Council we just announced is all about building back stronger, more resilient, addressing so many of the concerns that were brought up in today's conversation. So on behalf of LA,
all of us, all 40 million Californians and all of us that are still active, 16,000 personnel still active addressing the challenges and needs of people. I just want to thank you, all of you, for joining us today. And again, please stay in touch and engage and go to ca.gov slash LA Fires for more information. ♪
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