Commission Proposes New Local Authorities for Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Malibu

A blue-ribbon commission established by Los Angeles County after the Palisades and Eaton Fires suggests creating new local authorities for the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Altadena to manage their own rebuilding.

The report was compiled with help from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), specifically the ” Luskin Center of Innovation, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge.”

Though it focused on “climate” as the framework within which to deal with the fires, it also included several practical suggestions that were more specific than the general issue of climate change.

One suggestion was to create a “Resilient Rebuilding Authority,” a new local authority. The report explained:

A Resilient Rebuilding Authority (Authority) with broad financing and land acquisition powers can help residents and business owners overcome many of the choke points and barriers to rebuilding, while expediting the restoration of civic and commercial infrastructure that anchors and facilitates a community’s recovery.