The Fools’ Blame Game

THE VIEW FROM HERE - Angelenos do not use elections to plot a wiser course of conduct for Los Angeles, but rather they prefer to play a fools’ blame game.  The idea that Karen Bass is responsible for the Palisades Fire because she wasn’t in Los Angeles is so utterly simplistic that it is amazing anyone could utter such nonsense. There is nothing that anyone could have done.

The Eaton Fire

Nithya Raman acts as if the 2023 Eaton Fire, which happened at the same time as the Palisades Fire, never occurred.  The Eaton in Altadena and parts of Pasadena fire burned 9,414 structures while Palisades lost 1/3 less, 6,837.  Nineteen (19) were killed in Easton; twelve (12) were killed in the Palisades.  Just how did Mayor Bass’ being in Ghana cause the devastation in the Eaton fire?  It did not, just as her being in Ghana played no role in the destruction in the Palisades.

People are far more interested in venting their rage and frustration than they are in paying any attention to the real factors.  Nithya Raman is flaming the flames of irrational emotionalism at Mayor Bass (ignoring the fact that she has been a city councilmember 6 years and did nothing to address the need to beef up the fire department.  Raman’s absurd reference to former police chief Daryl Gates (1978 to 1992) highlights how very little she knows about the city of Los Angeles.  She praised the worst police chief in modern history whose reign resulted in the LAPD’s being placed under control of US Department of Justice. The LAPD had its own “parole officer” in the form of U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess.  The LAPD was on parole until May 16, 2013.  Los Angeles’ experience with the nightmare conditions under Daryl Gates is relevant to people like Nithya Raman as it shows how extremely ignorant Nithya Raman is of LA history. She did not move to LA until 2013 when she was 32 years old.

Los Angeles’ History With Wildfires

Los Angeles has the Santa Ana winds for at least 5,000 years. The local chaparral and shrubland ecosystem periodically have cycles of intense, wind-driven wildfires for over five millennia.  While original Angelenos were unaware of this history, the city quickly learned. There had been disastrous fires from the earliest days.

1. The 1919 Los Angeles Fires, swept through much of Los Angeles county.
2. 1933 The Griffith Park Fire, where 29 civilian laborers were killed fighting the blaze.  
3. The 1948 Topanga Canyon Fire destroyed 25 homes and set a terrifying precedent for wind-driven fires burning all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
4. 1956 Newton Fire (Malibu) consumed 26,000 acres, destroying 100 homes, and claiming one life
5. The 1961 Bel Air - Brentwood Fires were significant as they were in exclusive, dense metropolitan neighborhoods. The fires scorched over 6,000 acres, destroyed 484 homes, and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents.

Although there was a comprehensive analysis of the manner in which construction of homes and infrastructure in Los Angeles contributed to the Bel Air Fire, politicos and residents alike ignored the warnings.

Unchecked Population and Density:

Instead of curbing construction in high-risk chaparral ecosystems, the city allowed higher population density, larger and more expensive homes, and wider road networks into the exact same fire-prone canyons.  Because high density construction raised property values, the city’s revenue from property taxes increased with higher density.  The fact that the denser the city, despite the adverse consequences, is a major reason all city councilmembers and mayor support ever increasing density.

Water Infrastructure Strain:

Los Angeles did not maintain adequate water reservoirs.  Worse yet, the city council refused to authorize the construction off adequate pumps at sea level to replenish reservoirs and fire hydrants in the hills.  Simple math showed that if there were a serious fire in any of Los Angeles hills, the hydrants would run dry as there was no way to pump water from the sea level upon into the hills.  

The Deliberate Underfunding of the Fire Department

Anyone running for LA Mayor has a duty to not only know the decades of Los Angeles’ experience with out-of-control wildfires, but also with the city’s failure to prepare.

On May 20, 2005, USA Today ran a story about the slow response times of the LAFD, The Price of Just a Few Seconds Lost: People Die, by Robert Davis.  Obviously, LA had been neglecting the fire department for years in order for the story to be written in 2005.  These things do not happen overnight.  Did Los Angeles remedy the underfunding? No. In 2012, Mayor Garcetti cut LAFD budget. In June 2013, the County Civil Grand Jury found the danger to Los Angeles to be so serious that it ordered Garcetti to restore the funding.  He did not. For example, Garcetti downsized the proposed 2-acre Hollywood Regional Fire Station #82 by 75% and moved it to the Northeast corner of Van Ness and Hollywood Blvd. Not only was the station only 1/4 the necessary size, but its response times to the Hills were longer.

Blaming Karen Bass for the lack of preparedness of the Palisades fire is not only absurd, but also very harmful to Los Angeles because it conceals the reasons that the disaster was so horrible.  The Mayor most blame worthy is Eric Garcetti.  Had Garcetti not ravaged the fire department, but instead build up the department, the devastation would have been far less.  For one thing, there would have been adequate sea level water pumps to constantly supply the fire hydrants in the hills.  The DWP would have increased the reservoirs in the hills. 

Only a fool blames Karen Bass for the Palisades fire.  If she had physically been in Los Angeles, there was nothing she could have done to save one home or save one life.  That script had been written long before she was mayor.

(Richard Lee Abrams is a former Los Angeles-based attorney, an author, and political commentator. A long-time contributor to CityWatchLA, he is known for his incisive critiques of City Hall and judicial corruption, as well as his analysis of political and constitutional issues. Abrams blends legal insight with historical and philosophical depth to challenge conventional narratives. A passionate defender of civic integrity and transparency, he aims to expose misuse of power and advocate for systemic reform in local government.  You may email him at [email protected])