California is undergoing a crisis of competence. Surrounded by ashen heaps of what used to be thousands of homes and businesses, voters finally may realize that luxury beliefs sound nice at cocktail parties and the gym, but somebody should make sure there's water in the reservoirs and fire hydrants.
We learn that a crucial reservoir was down for maintenance during Santa Ana season, which left the fire hydrants dry. The latest reservoir was finished in 1979. Planning for the next one started in the 1950s and may break ground sometime allegedly in 2026. Gavin Newsom has taken down dams and patted himself on the back.
The man Newsom styled his look after, former Lakers Coach Pat Reilly, used to say, "The main thing is the main thing." The hairstyle stuck, but not the message. L.A. is spending other peoples' money on stupid things while pretending to do the main thing.
We're now up to $150 billion in losses so far in the 36,000-acre blaze that started Tuesday. The multiple fires have flattened Pacific Palisades, houses along the PCH in Malibu, and lovely old homes in Pasadena.
The LAFD Chief makes more than $439,000 per year for not checking the fire hydrants. A fire captain makes more than $800,000 a year because of overtime, double time, and aggregated time off.
The person in charge of DEI at the L.A. Fire Department makes $399,000 per year.
“You couldn’t carry my husband out of a fire.”
— Jasmine Keith (@Jasmine_Keith1) January 10, 2025
LAFD Assistant Chief: https://t.co/Vh8NGo1v1G pic.twitter.com/kSBZVsa690
Mayor Karen Bass earns $300,154 per year base pay, according to Open the Books.
Deputy Mayor Brian Williams was under FBI investigation for calling in bomb threats to city hall and was suspended from his job. Naturally, I wondered who was in charge when Karen Bass went to Ghana amid dire Santa Ana wind forecasts. We needn't have worried. There are plenty of deputy mayors at LA City Hall.
Here's a partial list:
- Deputy Mayor of Finance, Operations and Innovation
- Deputy Mayor of Energy and Sustainability
- Deputy Mayor of Public Works
- Deputy Mayor of Community Empowerment
- Deputy Mayor of Public Safety
- Deputy Mayor of Community Safety
- Deputy Mayor of Homelessness and Community Health
- Deputy Mayor for Business and Economic Development.
- Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood Services
They obviously weren't doing their jobs.
The people who keep the water and power going at the traditionally corrupt Department of Water and Power in L.A. are not doing too shabbily either.
The load dispatcher makes more than $857,000 a year.
I don't begrudge people making a living, not at all. But the next time one of L.A.'s or California's politicians starts talking about the latest corporation that makes too much money from "price gouging," I want you to show them this graph.
How long do you suppose voters will be willing to foot the bill for the overpaid expert class at city hall while also paying for the privilege of spending years to rebuild their homes under the heel of the environmental jackboots at city hall? Not long, I'll bet.
Mark Steyn points out Friday:
Seventeen years ago, I received a note from a reader advising me to lighten up - on the grounds that we're rich enough that we can afford to be stupid. Almost two decades later, some of us are rich enough to be able to afford a home in Pacific Palisades and are willing to indulge a monumentally stupid mayor who, as the first ciswoman of colour to go on a fact-finding mission to study West African emergency-services management, shattered the glass ceiling before it had a chance to burn down...
He believes that Californians aren't "rich enough that we can afford to be stupid" anymore.
Do they know it yet?
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