The Army Corps of Engineers has begun the process of clearing debris from burned out properties throughout the Eaton and Palisades burn area. It’s an almost unimaginably massive undertaking, but it’s not the first time the Corps has tackled a major challenge in the Los Angeles area. Join us for a look at the local history of the Corps and some of the projects—good, bad, and sometimes almost impossible—that they have had a hand in over the past hundred years. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Digital Collections. Cover concept and design by Urs Baur
We are already a quarter of the way through the year, and the recovery effort following the devastating Palisades Fire is fully underway. When TNT went to press, Phase 1 hazardous household materials clearance was complete at 6000 of the 7000 damaged and destroyed properties in the Palisades burn area. Phase 1 will be rolled into Phase 2 for the remaining 1000 properties that have been deemed too dangerous for EPA crews to safely enter, and Phase 2 is already underway.
The highly contentious EPA hazardous waste sorting and transport facility located at the former site of the Topanga Ranch Motel has ceased operations. The facility, used to organize materials like batteries and paint, for transport to disposal sites, will not reopen. Any additional hazardous waste will be processed in Pacific Palisades at the former site of Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Remediation at the Topanga Beach location is reportedly already underway, but will take weeks to complete.
We wish we could report that lower Topanga Canyon Blvd. and Pacific Coast Highway will be reopening soon, but they won’t. Caltrans has still not revealed how extensive the damage is on PCH, but there continue to be reports that in some areas the only things holding up the road are the bulkheads, seawalls and caissons originally built to support and protect the houses that have burned. Much of this damage is not visible, but it still poses a threat to safety.
The damage to TCB is even more extensive and recent rains have further complicated the situation. Miles of roadway still has to be dug out from under tons of debris. Guardrails and storm drains have to be replaced, hillsides stabilized, and in several places, the road has to be rebuilt. It’s not going to be a quick process, and it will be a long time before this part of Topanga Canyon Boulevard is scenic again, although nature has amazing powers of recovery.
The Topanga Town Council has been tirelessly monitoring all of these situations and is working with Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office to make sure community concerns are being heard and addressed. It’s a reminder that grassroots activism is important. We may not have the power to change things at the federal level, but we can make a difference locally, and sometimes those ripples can spread out over a remarkable distance, becoming a tsunami of resistance and positive change that begins at home with volunteers.
And speaking of resistance, nationwide protests against the new policies being implemented by the Trump Administration are being planned for April 5 by the activism group Indivisible, but local groups are already on the march, gathering in Downtown LA every weekend. On Saturday, local protesters joined a nationwide effort to march on Tesla dealerships. Topanga residents have historically taken a stand for human and environmental rights even when the odds have seemed impossible. When the roads were shut down and the EPA was moving into the Topanga Ranch Motel site, Topanga residents were there, respectfully, peacefully, exercising their First Amendment rights. We know many neighbors who will be headed to Downtown LA on April 5. Anyone planning to participate in a peaceful protest might find it helpful to review the guidance provided by the ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights
The news is bad. Relentlessly, appallingly bad, but that is sort of the point, isn’t it? Overwhelm people and make them feel helpless. We aren’t helpless. We still have voices. We can call our elected officials at every level, or email them and let them know what we think about what they and their colleagues are doing. We can all stand up for the things that we value that are at risk, and refuse to be ignored, belittled or erased. Just because the pendulum has swung a long way in one direction doesn’t mean it can’t swing back again, or that we don’t still have the power to bend that arc towards justice.
The spring equinox occurred this week. The mountains are green with new growth. We’ll be missing the beautiful white ceanothus flowers in the parts of the Santa Monica mountains that burned, but give it time and they’ll regenerate and bloom again. I know this to be true, because all over the Woolsey Fire burn scar beautiful white flowers, like a dusting of sweet snow, are beginning to bloom where five years ago there was nothing but dust and ash.
Stay safe, be well.
