Happy Fourth of July

Independence Day Edition.

250 years this coming year? Jeez. And we are a new country compared with many.

I was reading yesterday a book, yes a physical book, and came across a quote that made me think about some of the recent happenings for our fair town.

Again, one of my favorite authors, John Ralston Saul said it. He was the one who drew the distinction between leadership and management prompting a post a few weeks ago in April.

“…with choice comes all the uncertainty that provokes fear in some and releases the energies and imagination of others.”

I made me think of the questions around where the response is going. He goes into detail about the idea of managing responses, the essential goal of governments, and the fear of the unknown. We have discussed that fear in many places here. Fear of what one cannot control. Fear something new can, and likely will be released. Fear of not being the only answer. Fear you might have missed something. Fear of losing Power.

And it is the fear which limits. I get it. Some of what has been written here is different than people see and hear elsewhere. Some of the ideas are “out of the box.” Has it all been right? No. It cannot be. Things are happening and people are making decisions and we have to interpret with imperfect information. I will never be accused of letting perfection be the enemy of good. Just go. See where things play out. Make movement. Everything is a decision, whether you say yes or no. Say yes and see what happens.

Exploring and learning was the key for creating this Substack. Input and feedback helps move things along and engage the community. I wanted to do this rebuild differently. I wanted people to understand the happenings instead of it happening in the dark of night. I am sure the Substack has upset some, but the goal always has been to provoke, to engage, and to provide something to attack in the absence of a void. It has been also to examine what has been said and discuss how the proposed could be negative or positive so the community has the information. If the community has the information, it could shape what it wants to do going forward. Choice allows the release of something magical. Sure it makes the process messier, but back to the original post in April, it is about not solving the problem, but creating a new reality instead of solving something in the existing reality. At least, if the community has the choice, the chance, the opportunity to offer something, then whatever happens, the community had its chance to shape it or not, which is choice too.

The fire is that moment where we can reimagine Altadena, our response, and how we can do it differently. The fire forced issues to the forefront, issues lying in wait. Washington gave us the initial change. The usual model does not work and the money will not be there (as of now). We took a different approach, looking for money that did not exist and figuring out how to get it to a specific purpose (AB 797). The model can be applied beyond. How do all these events affect what will come? We have to engage to know. Let the creativity release.

Building on the creativity, are other multipliers like Opportunity Zones and reimagine the money inside foundations they pay for excise taxes, available to tap the same as the banks and the Community Reinvestment Act? The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA as it is now called) did not include the excise taxes (though there is still a lot of money available there), and there is a path for Opportunity Zones we can explain in a later post but it was not explicit for disasters, leaving us some room to work there.

Additionally, we looked at whether there can be more local control and whether we want rebuild authorities. These are the big questions we have right now for Altadena. There are two current paths in legislation. The community has to decide where it sits and whether it can even do anything about it. Unification of goals and purpose is critical but there is a divide in the community as there are multiple groups going in different directions. Who speaks for the community? There will be people saying “I am with you” in one room and then “I am with another” in another room. Politics.

There are some dreams being pitched, like the idea of using other cities to rebuild Altadena (SB 782), which means the situation can be reversed in the future. Sounds good on in theory but, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander as they say. In other words, once we rebuild, our tax dollars can be reallocated to another, more well off, city as a result of SB 782 to address climate related concerns. It is about ensuring the right questions are asked and answered before we turn around and look at things 5-10 years from now and cannot protest because we have the “checks and guardrails” removed from these efforts in that bill. In contrast, SB 549 is a large authority, controlled by the County to implement it all, but that one, seemingly, still has the protest component installed.

Could they all be combined (SB 549, SB 782, and AB 797)? Sure. You want to have two layers of government on top of the current county and then finance through AB 797? That solution sounds like complexity and not creativity.

As we sit here 6 months later, there is a lot of information. We figured out some of the answers. There are others remaining elusive. Nobody has the full answers because there are a lot of different competing interests. Billions of dollars for Altadena will do that for you. People want to get theirs.

First, the question of alignment needs to happen. Then people need to figure out how to fill in the blanks. Where do people slot in? Low to Moderate Income Housing? The rebuilding gap between insurance and the actual cost to rebuild (underinsurance)? Infrastructure? Economic Development? How will each of these be accomplished? Who will lead it all? Who gets the community and the questions/answers? How do you bring these groups together?

Is it SB 549? Is it SB 782? Both? Neither? Is it something different like say, Steadfast LA? Is it another group we do not even know?

Here is where we stand on July 4th Altadena. Choices. Provoking fear. The house of cards is teetering. Adding to it all, Washington further shuffled the deck with the OBBA and cutting funding which will pressure local and State governments more to find funds and unleash new approaches. Nobody knows what those changes will look like. Here we go, unleashing energy and creativity. That release is what is great about our nation. It is scary. It is unique. It is what makes the experiment 250 years ago so fascinating. We have a say today. It does not mean we get our way, but at least we can try. Sometimes you catch lightning in the bottle. Sometimes you do the unthinkable. They did it 250 years ago. It was not perfect. It was messy. It was ugly. Compromises were made. But, in the end, it was done.

Happy 4th of July. Hope you get some time off.