In Tricksy Los Angeles, ‘Expedited’ Doesn’t Mean What They Want You to Think It Means

In the world of Democrats and particularly their progressive politicians…

PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES

…fly as easily and quickly from their lips as excoriations of anything remotely common-sense do. Only, in most cases, the earnest assurances and promises aren’t worth the video they’re captured on and will often wind up being forgotten, repudiated, or completely ignored somewhere down the road.

I NEVER SAID THAT – CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE CHANGED

In the case of the rictus-grinned gargoyle still planted in the mayor’s catbird seat in Los Angeles, the promises of Karen Bass were ardent and defensive in a confrontation with the President of the United States with the still-smoking and smoldering embers of people’s lives surrounding their conference table.

Holy sh*t! They took away Karen Bash’s microphone after she smarted off to Trump.

Needless to say, Trump absolutely DESTROYED her. pic.twitter.com/n0kkTXzOX7

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) January 25, 2025

‘Everything’s hustling right along, and I’m not the problem.’

To be clear, Karen Bass was in the same meeting with the Public Works Director when he said debris would not be removed for 18 months.

This meeting took place hours before the roundtable with Trump and wildfire victims.

Bass sat there and lied to their faces. pic.twitter.com/M7PJd7I5Ar

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) January 25, 2025

To make foot-dragging excuses even more difficult for the mayor and her team, Lee Zeldin’s EPA got in there and got the Phase 1 hazardous removal clean-up done in record time.

Surely, the Los Angeles powers that be were on a roll now.

Let EXPEDITED REBUILDING COMMENCE!

First, a message from the helpful, expeditious gargoyle: CLEAN UP OR ELSE

There are illegal encampments and abandoned homes everywhere in LA but the fire victims are the public nuisance? Can we declare @MayorOfLA a public nuisance?

— Elizabeth Barcohana (@E_Barcohana) March 23, 2025

Seventy-five days later, I’ll bet it looks like a beehive of activity with all the foundation clearing, hammering, and…OH.

With over 6000 structures destroyed, the city has issued just FOUR permits.

F-O-U-R

It’s been 75 days since the Los Angeles wildfires broke out and despite Karen Bass vowing to streamline the recovery process and spending 10 million taxpayer dollars on a consulting firm, ONLY FOUR PERMITS HAVE BEEN ISSUED to rebuild in the Pacific Palisades. pic.twitter.com/yc7aCBwq6e

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) March 25, 2025

One home builder has been waiting on his permit for a month and a half, and there are other home builders or those who install manufactured homes in the comments on his thread explaining what they’ve been going through with LA officials. (The ‘ADU’ he refers to is an Accessory Dwelling Unit)

I was told yesterday that all pending permits are currently not being to be issued. Only RTI ready until they have clearance. This is from One-Stop Permitting center on Sawtelle for the Palisades.

— Bobby Shokri (@BobbyShokri) March 25, 2025

There are any number of excuses from the city for the slow crawl of the ‘expedited’ permitting process. While Pacific Palisades residents want to remain optimistic – one said it’s a ‘blessing’ to have the opportunity to show the world how to do this rebuilding ‘effectively’ [insert eyeroll] – the rest simply want to get some damn answers and get moving.

…Residents in the Palisades Fire zone are trying to figure out how to move forward, but there are several obstacles in the way — including the city’s permitting process and L.A.’s looming budget deficit.

People gathered at a City Council committee hearing Monday to try to get answers, but more concerns are being raised as the city tries to rebuild from the devastating fire.

“We want to get going,” one Palisades resident said at the meeting, held on the Westside.

“The blessing here is that we have been given an opportunity to show the world how you do disaster relief and rebuilding effectively,” said Jessica Rogers, president of the Pacific Palisades Residents Association.

They’re also kind of torqued about the mayor handing out a consulting contract to a company to handle what the city already had the resources to do, and is now, in many cases, hampering the recovery efforts with another layer of bureaucracy.

…Mayor Karen Bass hired a private consulting firm to oversee the recovery effort. The contract with Hagerty Consulting is worth $10 million. Some councilmembers say that raises questions.

“We have city departments who know how to do this recovery, who have been involved in recovery efforts in the past,” Councilmember Monica Rodriguez told ABC7. “And yet they can’t be afforded the opportunity to hire the personnel that they need, but we can give a $10 million contract to an outside agency to help write a report for us.

“For me for me, it’s just — it’s obscene,” Rodriguez said.

Hagerty Consulting has its own issues with its disaster relief work in the past, and there are serious questions about both how the firm was chosen and why Bass thought they were necessary.

…Hagerty’s Troubled History in Disaster Recovery

Hagerty Consulting, located in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, has worked on some of the nation’s largest disaster recovery efforts, including Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and recent California wildfires. However, the firm’s reputation has been clouded by federal fraud cases involving two of its former consultants as first reported by Joel Pollak, a Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and Palisades resident displaced by the fires. 

…Both cases were prosecuted as part of an effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the New York City Department of Investigation to “hold accountable those who exploit federal disaster relief programs.”

Despite these convictions, Los Angeles has yet to explain whether Hagerty’s history was considered in awarding the contract.

…Calls for Independent Oversight Grow

With both [Disaster Czar] Soboroff’s appointment and Hagerty’s contract under scrutiny, some city leaders are calling for greater oversight of disaster recovery spending.

…For residents of Pacific Palisades, frustration is mounting. Many are questioning whether the city’s wildfire recovery efforts are being handled responsibly. 

A questionable $10M award and only four permits were issued, even as Karen Bass was heading to Sacramento to beg for a handout from the state for being really short of funds.

Karen Bass traveled to Sacramento & asked legislatures for $2 billion to cover the budget shortfall in Los Angeles

Ashley Zavala: What do say to California taxpayers outside of LA?

Karen Bass: Fortunately we have a Democratic supermajority & Gavin Newsom pic.twitter.com/SCmNsloQKP

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) March 25, 2025

On top of all of this, there are indications that the cultists are using the pressure of the tragedy to enforce what they cannot do legally – make you rebuild without your natural gas hook-ups.

That is, if you want a roof over your head any time soon.

If you do, as the mayor’s ‘streamlined’ program goes, you’ll just have to do without.

…The executive order directs the Department of Building and Safety to provide recommendations within 60 days for a streamlined permit process for those who choose to go all electric in the construction of their homes or businesses. They’ll also have 90 days to draft suggestions to promote fire-resistant materials in construction to align with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order that requires “an ember-resistant zone” for buildings and homes in high fire risk areas.

The Department of Water and Power has 30 days to update its incentives program for those who choose to go all electric for the rebuild.

The order also has Bass’ office working with the California insurance commissioner’s office to provide and explore insurance options for residents. And they will provide residents with pricing for building wildfire resistant homes.

Nifty how that works, huh?

Promises, promises.