Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Friday, Jan. 17, appointed longtime civic official, businessman and developer Steve Soboroff to lead rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the devastating wildfire that destroyed much of Pacific Palisades and burned the surrounding areas.
“Steve Soboroff’s name is attached to hope,” Bass said in naming him the city’s chief recovery officer. “It is attached to energy, and it is attached to many, many accomplishments. He will recommend a comprehensive city strategy for rebuilding and for expediting — expediting is a very important word here — we want to expedite the return of residents, businesses, schools, nonprofits and parks.
“Steve has agreed to give himself to Los Angeles once again. He knows our communities. He knows how to activate City Hall. He’s been in City Hall several times, called to duty on several different occasions.”
Bass said “no one is better equipped to create a rebuilding plan” than Soboroff, former president of the Los Angeles Police Commission and a longtime businessman who spearheaded development of the Playa Vista community and the arena now known as Crypto.com Arena downtown.
Soboroff also led efforts to coordinate the complicated move of the space shuttle Endeavour through the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center.
“People in L.A. are hurting,” Soboroff said. “They are frustrated, like the mayor said. They’re confused. They want to know what they can do today. They can’t get back to their homes to find the pictures of their loved ones. And a whole lot of people are out of work, as a community has been wiped off the face of the Earth. A community that’s about 120 years old. I lived in it. My kids grew up in it for 40 years.”
He said, “What we need is, and what I hope people will start out with today, is hope,” he said. “There is an A-to-Z for each one of us. And ‘A’ is today, and we’re going to get there step by step. And the city is going to help to the extent it can, and we will have to outsource to the extent it can’t.”
For people critical of the city’s efforts in response to the fires, Soboroff said, “If people want to get on the bus with us, get on it. If they want to spend their time throwing embers right now and next Tuesday when it’s windy by spending time on that kind of stuff, just don’t get on our bus.”
Without offering any specifics, Bass said she plans to sign a series of executive orders next week aimed at expediting the recovery effort.
“We are going to do everything we can to clear the way so people can get back home,” she said.
She also said the city will also initiate a full after-action investigation into the handling of the fire disaster — following criticism ranging from the preparedness of the fire department to respond to the blaze, and the availability of water and adequate water pressure in the Palisades area.
Bass said the city will conduct an investigation of its own, but there would also be an external review.