Conversations Around Plans and Really Power
We delegate Power to our electeds and expect them to do the right thing...but really, we know they often do not.
Thank you Time for bringing more people to this Substack. It has brought a lot of questions within our community. Moreover, many of the readers continue to engage the information. I get a lot, “there is a lot here to digest, and I do not get it all, but keep going.” That is the plan. That was the plan in fact from the start. Nobody gets it all except for the few lucky insiders.
But, if we keep engaging these themes, these events around us, trying to make sense of it, going beyond the headlines, then maybe we can forestall some of the effects coming to Altadena, or at least force the decisions to be made to slow down some of the worst abuses.
Sometimes it is a line, a word, a turn of phrase, which triggers a thought, inspires, offers a different viewpoint for someone, which can make the difference. Think about the topic yesterday around scandals. It is not “scandals” per se, it is what the scandal represents which is the abhorrent part, the trust being eroded or broken, something we deal with here in Altadena, though we have not seen the “scandal” explained yet.
As I was thinking about the tons of conversations I have having over these holidays, especially as our One Year Anniversary in Altadena (and the Palisades) is upon us, the topic of Power is coming up more often than not. The reason is we in Altadena are realizing a fundamental fact there was a plan in place we are not aware of.
Here is the thing about an elected government. We are supposed to elect people to represent us. Those people are supposed to do the job of adequately representing us. They are supposed to uphold our values, and stay true to what they articulate. They are supposed to do what they represent, regardless of the temptations of what they could do. It is when the representation and the results do not match where people get that “icky” feeling.
When one thinks of Power in its most extreme, it is the vision of the Roman Emperors using the “thumbs up or thumbs down” to determine who lives and who dies. The control over lives is the ultimate expression of Power. At its essence, it is the extreme “take” of an act a human can do. From there, all acts of “taking” fall on a spectrum in some form or fashion. We “trust” in our electeds to be able to resist the urge to “take,” rather, we elect them to give. Taking our lives, or the control over major facets of our lives are a real “trust” we delegate. That “trust” is crucial to our system. We ironically do not “trust” politicians, yet they control so much, especially in these specific instances like a wildfire rebuild. Our homes, our communities, our everything is in their hands, and that Power is extraordinary. Thus, when it really matters, we have believe they should be able to “exercise restraint.” When you feel it is not happening, that is when you wonder, what is really going on? Is there actually “trust?”
In the conversations with residents of Altadena, it is the lack of trust that Power is being properly exercised at the root of Altadena’s frustration. It is hard to trust the decisions made, the failures thus far at the most structural levels, and put those failures aside, hoping “this time it will work.” We hoping for something which is not real. Hoping is not Power, hoping is transferring that Power to the one you hope “this time can get it right.” In any other situation, you would think the person was crazy (if they were in a relationship for instance).
Moves are being made and have been since the start of the fires. Decisions are happening. Power is being exercised. None of these facts are in doubt. It is the secrecy in which they are occurring which is affecting us here. Secrecy and failure. No trust. It is the mysterious, “behind the curtain” model being used, knowing there are people making decisions, but who is accountable?
Humans know when Power is being exercised against them. We have a sixth sense about it. We are not naive, though we are sometimes incapable of articulating the sensory recognition. In fact, we elect people to do the articulation for us, or rather, to protect ourselves from ourselves. Politics, at its root, is a “protection racket.” They are supposed to protect the people from threats outside and within, including our own electeds.
Why Prop 50 bugged me so much is the dishonesty of it all. It was an abrogation of that exact protection, an erosion of our electeds’ responsibility to keep Power from eroding our representative system. It is a hypocrisy. Electeds should be able to resist temptation, that is why we elect them. When they do not, when they succumb to temptation in a way to further their own goals, when they let Power win, that is a failure, an exposure of weakness. We try to “check” these electeds, but the more they win, the more the “checks” fail, the more we lose the ability to restrain “Power,” and the more they can impose on us. The good thing we have in our system is the ability to remove the electeds every few years, and as long as that ability stands, perhaps we can make a change.
The Prop 50 disappointment trend line flows through Altadena.There are those who think, “everything is fine.” Is it? Do you trust those with the Power of essentially doing whatever they want in Altadena? Where is the public articulation of a Plan? 11 months in, there are things happening, and nobody knows what they are. Where is the vision? It is there, it just not being articulated. Why? As was said to me, look at who is running this thing. How many of the people live in Altadena? How many will live in Altadena to see the effects of it all? Do they even care?
At least the Climate Resilience District will be only for Altadena and the money will not flow outward to other cities. For those who thought we were going to tap those wealthy enclaves around us, well, that was a lie (as we said at the outset). The Plan was published. Where is the public pronouncements? Where is the nonstop media? Where are the press conferences? The Plan is here folks! We are going to finance it all! Or, is it not real? We celebrate all the wins, and this Plan should be a win, right? Where is the fanfare? Do they not want it? Now, ask why?
The Protest vote removed to create a Climate Resilience District so we can build bigger houses. Hmm. It was all packaging. It got the end goal, now they want it to be done without any fanfare so it can be finalized and the deals can start to flow. $2 billion in bonds depend on it (assuming they ever get issued, which could be part of the reason they are not celebrating the Plan because they do not want it being criticized).
Who knew the Plan, and did they get it before the rest of us? Of course. The Climate Resilience District motions were written back in September, before the bill even passed or was signed. The deal was done. It was baked. Everyone in the know, knew. Did we in Altadena? Nope.
Why was it not announced? Because that is how it works. Everything is in the shadows. What else is in the shadows? What do we not know? How can we trust?
You start to see things differently when you lose trust. Community groups used to sell a story, and now being effectively disbanded. Stories of rebuilds, but at what speed? Expanded districts to sell an idea of wealth being used to rebuild Altadena, and look what it was finally? Frustration in permitting, leading to defeat, leading to property turn over, leading to $2 billion in new property tax increments for financing. It all depends on the turn over, always has, especially for the oldest homes. Then comes densification.
Power over our lives is being used and it is arbitrary. It feels counter to what we hope our electeds would do. It feels imposed and from the shadows. Imposed is not what an elected government does. We are being manipulated, have been from the start. First we thought we had a say, we never did. We thought we could influence our town, we cannot. Select few did. We solved problems and they rejected the solution (AB 797). It was not the Plan. It was inside baseball and we were left by the wayside.
Can we recall our electeds? Sure. 2028 is around the corner. Our State Senator did this to us. She misrepresented the reality of what Altadena will be, calling into question her truths. Our Supervisor will be termed out. Whoever replaces her will be the future of Altadena and beyond. We need to learn from these experiences.
The decisions are made. We lost when they passed SB 782 as we said here. We lost when our electeds decided to decide for us, while using the veneer of community buy in through a Town Council which maybe is voted on by 100 people in all of Altadena. We lost when community groups were created, funded, and elevated to hear misrepresentations, and then assume they will be taken care of. They are now losing steam as predicted. The volunteers who staffed them, who took on the role of being a representative, are leaving, finding new pastures, running out of steam. The final step will be the reduction or elimination of funding from the foundations which funded these groups initially. They are no longer needed to “front” for the interests which have won.
You felt it. You felt the Power being exercised. There was a Plan all along. There was a Playbook. It was executed to a “t.” They pressed. Now they own the effects. Each step was designed to win. We tried to bring a light to it. We tried to make sense of it all. We saw Power “take.” Here comes the next stage. Now they “own” it. They better do it. If they fail, then all those involved become victims, just like the residents affected in Altadena. It will be interesting to see an inventory of who remains active in these discussion after the final acceptance of the CRD and the origin of the next stage. Money will be made. Palisades, pay attention, you are next.