Latest news with #DepartmentofAngels
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Not running for president (yet), Ro Khanna visits the fire zone
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna came to Altadena last week to hear about fire recovery challenges. He got an earful: about balky insurance companies, charred businesses still not cleared away and how President Trump's tariffs on Canada will drive up the price of lumber for rebuilding. Homeowner Julian Saucedo pointed the Democratic congressman from the Silicon Valley to one bright spot: the speedy home debris removal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 'They followed their orders. They were champions for Altadena,' said Saucedo, a retired aerospace engineer. Saucedo stepped in close and added in a near-whisper: 'You can be the next champion ... if you can deliver on any of the things I mentioned,' like relocation assistance. Replied Khanna: 'We're gonna fight hard.' Though he is just one of 435 members of the House of Representatives, the California congressman is having a moment, or series of them, as the 48-year-old lawmaker is mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. As Khanna listened to homeowners, business people, clergy and nonprofit leaders in Altadena, I couldn't help but wonder how he would be received in Peosta (Iowa) and Goose Creek (South Carolina) — states that will be among the first to vote in the next presidential primary season. Khanna's team coordinated the visit with the Department of Angels, a nonprofit supporting community solutions in fire recovery areas and assuring the government does not lose focus on the huge rebuilding task. Khanna arrived in the San Gabriel Valley fresh off a bipartisan congressional visit with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and a tour of South Carolina, where he talked about Trump's slashing of the federal workforce and cuts that the Congressional Budget Office estimated would put at risk healthcare for more than 11 million Americans. Khanna told an audience in Goose Creek that he was focused on a 'new economic patriotism' of job creation, lowering costs, and ending 'dumb wars,' WCBD television reported. He also gained substantial cable news air time with a petition, supported by even some Republicans, to force the Trump administration to release more information about the Jeffrey Epstein case. 'Are you protecting the rich and the powerful, or are you protecting our children?' Khanna told the Post and Courier newspaper. In the past, Khanna has clearly relished being asked about a possible future presidential run. But during his Altadena visit, the topic never came up, and only one reporter came along. Unlike some politicians on a 'listening tour,' Khanna mostly listened when Altadenans talked. He praised business people as the 'lifeblood' of a community, embraced homeowners who wept as they told about their losses and promised to urge all 43 California Democrats in the House to keep pushing for recovery aid — all the stuff you might expect from a presidential candidate. Among the takeaways for Khanna: Try to help local businesses get government debris removal, just as homeowners did; help secure additional federal funding and see about lowering a Trump tariff that will drive up the price of Canadian lumber needed for reconstruction. Khanna said it would be 'unconscionable' if Trump and Republicans did not move expeditiously to approve the $40 billion in supplemental disaster recovery money requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom. He said that he supports federal relief for North Carolina and Republican-leaning states slammed by Mother Nature. A representative of Sen. Alex Padilla's office said that federal funds continue to flow into the fire zones in Altadena and Pacific Palisades and that 'we continue to have good discussions with Republican colleagues in the Senate about the need for disaster aid.' The White House said in a statement that Democrats should focus on their own failures, including Gov. Gavin 'Newscum's total failure to prepare for the California fires' and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass's failure to do more to speed issuance of rebuilding permits. Altadenans told Khanna they appreciated his attention. With homes and lives to rebuild, most weren't ready to talk about a president race that is more than two years away. 'I was very impressed. He seems like a good and decent person,' said one woman whose home burned down. She asked not to be named, explaining, 'I'm just too busy, trying to get it together over here.' Today's great photo is from Times photographer Juliana Yamada, who captured a free plant stand that aims to make Altadena a little greener in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire. Jim Rainey, staff reporterDiamy Wang, homepage internIzzy Nunes, audience internKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Snapchat co-founder, foundation leader launch community-centered fire recovery program
A group founded by leaders in technology and philanthropy, aimed at bolstering homeowners and businesspeople who otherwise might be forgotten during a prolonged rebuilding effort, has joined the thicket of organizations and high-profile individuals driving Southern California's wildfire recovery. Evan Spiegel, co-founder of the photo-sharing app Snapchat, and Miguel Santana, chief executive of the California Community Foundation, said this week that they are joining with scores of other groups to form the Department of Angels, whose mission will be to listen to how people in Altadena and Pacific Palisades want to rebuild, then to try to advance that vision with the government and private groups responding to last month's twin calamities. The Department of Angels joins separate efforts led by developer Rick Caruso, sports and entertainment figures Magic Johnson, Casey Wasserman and Mark Walter, and Times Executive Chairman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, to support what is predicted to be the most expensive natural disaster reconstruction in American history. Another prominent civic leader, real estate developer Steve Soboroff, was named by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass as her chief recovery officer. Questions have been raised about whether the organizations and individuals heading them — some of whom have criticized Bass' initial actions after the fires erupted Jan. 7 — can put aside rivalries and avoid duplicating efforts. The leaders of the new Angels group, and the others that have formed recently, all pledged to cooperate. 'What's the famous saying? It's amazing how much can get done if you don't care who gets the credit,' said Spiegel, who said the fires had displaced more than 150 Snap Inc. employees. (Snap Inc. owns the Snapchat app.) Sitting across a conference table at the company's Santa Monica headquarters, Santana agreed: 'This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. Instead of thinking about this as competing interests, I think we should think about it as it's going to require all of this, plus a lot more.' Read more: Rick Caruso launches foundation to help rebuild L.A. after wildfires Spiegel and Santana, who had worked together previously on COVID-19 relief efforts, convened a meeting last week to kick off the new initiative. Spiegel has gained a reputation for his philanthropy, including his 2022 gift that paid off the debt of every student graduating from the Otis College of Art and Design. Santana has deep ties in government and civic circles, after serving as the top administrator with both the county and city of Los Angeles. Those who attended the initial Department of Angels gathering included residents of both the Palisades and Altadena, religious leaders, businesspeople, academics and philanthropists. Also taking part were Tim Cadogan, chief executive of GoFundMe; Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and biomedical entrepreneur; and Maria Salinas, the top official at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. They were joined by individuals who led fire recovery efforts in Northern California and other communities. The California Community Foundation, Snap Inc., Spiegel and Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy have committed a total of $10 million in seed money to get the Department of Angels started. Spiegel already donated $5 million to a group of four universities, including Harvard and UCLA, that will study the short- and long-term impacts of the fires on air and soil quality and human health. The Department of Angels founders said they plan to meet for years with people in Altadena, Pasadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu. They added that staffers will then help answer questions and break through the bureaucracy, while conveying the needs of locals to insurance companies and recovery agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. 'The Department of Angels is not a government or private-sector initiative; it is a grassroots, community-driven network focused on ensuring impacted residents have control over their recovery,' a statement from the group said. The group said it might support a 'block captain' model adopted following the Santa Rosa fire of 2017, in which neighborhood leaders took charge of much of the recovery effort. Department of Angels staff members, yet to be hired, would then help the block-level groups navigate insurance, planning or government hangups. It 'takes more than brick and mortar construction to rebuild communities,' the group said. 'It requires community organizing and sustained attention.' It is the latest effort by prominent Angelenos to help lead the recovery. Soon-Shiong said in a full-page announcement in The Times that he had formed a Leadership Council to get private sector leaders into the rebuilding effort. In an interview Tuesday, he said Robert A. Bradway, chief executive of biotech giant Amgen, helped conceive the idea and he has asked several others, including Gene Sykes, a former chief executive of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, to join the effort. Soon-Shiong said his group will focus in part on bringing 'subject matter experts' to assure that the best practices from science and other fields are applied to the rebuilding. He called his 'greatest concern' assuring support for less financially secure residents of Altadena. The Times' owner said his group, which is in the formative stages, stands ready to help the others, and that he wants his news outlet to be a resource for the public about recovery programs, while also continuing to study what went wrong in the initial fire response. On Monday, Caruso introduced the Steadfast LA foundation to the rebuilding ecosystem. He committed unspecified 'millions' of dollars and said his group will focus intensively on clearing hurdles to reconstruction. 'I think it's great, the more people who are leaning in and shining a light on the issues, that can't be anything but good,' Caruso said. 'There's no sense of ownership. Everybody just wants to reach the end goal. How we get there, or who gets credit for it doesn't matter, certainly not to me.' California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his rebuilding initiative on Jan. 28. LA Rises is headlined by Walter, the Los Angeles Dodgers chairman; Johnson, the Lakers legend turned entrepreneur and part-owner of the Dodgers; and Wasserman, the entertainment industry super agent who leads the Olympics organizing body LA28. Walter said the Dodgers' foundation would provide as much as $100 million to jump-start LA Rises fundraising. The group said it hoped to attract more donations and to provide a place for the kind of inspired altruism that emerged after the fires. Read more: Trump surveys Pacific Palisades devastation: 'It's incredible. It's really an incineration' In late January, President Trump also waded into the rebuilding question, suggesting that he would appoint a federal commission to oversee the effort, but he hasn't clarified what that group would do or who would serve on it. Previous disaster recoveries have required multibillion-dollar interventions by the state and federal government. Trump has sent mixed signals on that front, both saying he would get the problem "fixed" and that he would hold up federal money until California imposes a photo identification requirement on voters. Perception of the efforts may be shaded by the possible political ambitions of the principals. Newsom's name repeatedly comes up in discussions of potential 2028 presidential candidates. Caruso, who lost the 2022 mayor's race to Bass, is thought by some to be positioning to run again, or to run for governor. That provokes speculation about how much electoral politics might play into the responses. Caruso made it clear that he does not plan to let up on his criticism of Bass' initial fire response, even as he tries to work with the city in rebuilding. Trump and Times owner Soon-Shiong also continue to be critical of the mayor. "The Private Sector Must Lead the Rebuild" because "government moves too slowly," Caruso said Wednesday in posts on X. Ten days after the fires began, Bass appointed Soboroff — previously associated with major developments such as Playa Vista, Staples Center (Now Arena) and the Alameda Corridor rail expansion — to work with her and city departments on reconstruction. Bass and Soboroff haved said they welcome the growing ranks of fire recovery groups, regardless of who leads them, or what they have said about the mayor. 'I would rather have too many rather than too few,' Soboroff said. 'I applaud what people are doing, whether their intentions are 100% pure or 95% pure.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
06-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Snapchat co-founder, foundation leader launch community-centered fire recovery program
A group founded by leaders in technology and philanthropy, aimed at bolstering homeowners and businesspeople who otherwise might be forgotten during a prolonged rebuilding effort, has joined the thicket of organizations and high-profile individuals driving Southern California's wildfire recovery. Evan Spiegel, co-founder of the photo-sharing app Snapchat, and Miguel Santana, chief executive of the California Community Foundation, said this week that they are joining with scores of other groups to form the Department of Angels, whose mission will be to listen to how people in Altadena and Pacific Palisades want to rebuild, then to try to advance that vision with the government and private groups responding to last month's twin calamities. The Department of Angels joins separate efforts led by developer Rick Caruso, sports and entertainment figures Magic Johnson, Casey Wasserman and Mark Walter, and Times Executive Chairman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, to support what is predicted to be the most expensive natural disaster reconstruction in American history. Another prominent civic leader, real estate developer Steve Soboroff, was named by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass as her chief recovery officer. Questions have been raised about whether the organizations and individuals heading them — some of whom have criticized Bass' initial actions after the fires erupted Jan. 7 — can put aside rivalries and avoid duplicating efforts. The leaders of the new Angels group, and the others that have formed recently, all pledged to cooperate. 'What's the famous saying? It's amazing how much can get done if you don't care who gets the credit,' said Spiegel, who said the fires had displaced more than 150 Snap Inc. employees. (Snap Inc. owns the Snapchat app.) Sitting across a conference table at the company's Santa Monica headquarters, Santana agreed: 'This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. Instead of thinking about this as competing interests, I think we should think about it as it's going to require all of this, plus a lot more.' Spiegel and Santana, who had worked together previously on COVID-19 relief efforts, convened a meeting last week to kick off the new initiative. Spiegel has gained a reputation for his philanthropy, including his 2022 gift that paid off the debt of every student graduating from the Otis College of Art and Design. Santana has deep ties in government and civic circles, after serving as the top administrator with both the county and city of Los Angeles. Those who attended the initial Department of Angels gathering included residents of both the Palisades and Altadena, religious leaders, businesspeople, academics and philanthropists. Also taking part were Tim Cadogan, chief executive of GoFundMe; Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and biomedical entrepreneur; and Maria Salinas, the top official at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. They were joined by individuals who led fire recovery efforts in Northern California and other communities. The California Community Foundation, Snap Inc., Spiegel and Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy have committed a total of $10 million in seed money to get the Department of Angels started. Spiegel already donated $5 million to a group of four universities, including Harvard and UCLA, that will study the short- and long-term impacts of the fires on air and soil quality and human health. The Department of Angels founders said they plan to meet for years with people in Altadena, Pasadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu. They added that staffers will then help answer questions and break through the bureaucracy, while conveying the needs of locals to insurance companies and recovery agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. 'The Department of Angels is not a government or private-sector initiative; it is a grassroots, community-driven network focused on ensuring impacted residents have control over their recovery,' a statement from the group said. The group said it might support a 'block captain' model adopted following the Santa Rosa fire of 2017, in which neighborhood leaders took charge of much of the recovery effort. Department of Angels staff members, yet to be hired, would then help the block-level groups navigate insurance, planning or government hangups. It 'takes more than brick and mortar construction to rebuild communities,' the group said. 'It requires community organizing and sustained attention.' It is the latest effort by prominent Angelenos to help lead the recovery. Soon-Shiong said in a full-page announcement in The Times that he had formed a Leadership Council to get private sector leaders into the rebuilding effort. In an interview Tuesday, he said Robert A. Bradway, chief executive of biotech giant Amgen, helped conceive the idea and he has asked several others, including Gene Sykes, a former chief executive of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, to join the effort. Soon-Shiong said his group will focus in part on bringing 'subject matter experts' to assure that the best practices from science and other fields are applied to the rebuilding. He called his 'greatest concern' assuring support for less financially secure residents of Altadena. The Times' owner said his group, which is in the formative stages, stands ready to help the others, and that he wants his news outlet to be a resource for the public about recovery programs, while also continuing to study what went wrong in the initial fire response. On Monday, Caruso introduced the Steadfast LA foundation to the rebuilding ecosystem. He committed unspecified 'millions' of dollars and said his group will focus intensively on clearing hurdles to reconstruction. 'I think it's great, the more people who are leaning in and shining a light on the issues, that can't be anything but good,' Caruso said. 'There's no sense of ownership. Everybody just wants to reach the end goal. How we get there, or who gets credit for it doesn't matter, certainly not to me.' California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his rebuilding initiative on Jan. 28. LA Rises is headlined by Walter, the Los Angeles Dodgers chairman; Johnson, the Lakers legend turned entrepreneur and part-owner of the Dodgers; and Wasserman, the entertainment industry super agent who leads the Olympics organizing body LA28. Walter said the Dodgers' foundation would provide as much as $100 million to jump-start LA Rises fundraising. The group said it hoped to attract more donations and to provide a place for the kind of inspired altruism that emerged after the fires. In late January, President Trump also waded into the rebuilding question, suggesting that he would appoint a federal commission to oversee the effort, but he hasn't clarified what that group would do or who would serve on it. Previous disaster recoveries have required multibillion-dollar interventions by the state and federal government. Trump has sent mixed signals on that front, both saying he would get the problem 'fixed' and that he would hold up federal money until California imposes a photo identification requirement on voters. Perception of the efforts may be shaded by the possible political ambitions of the principals. Newsom's name repeatedly comes up in discussions of potential 2028 presidential candidates. Caruso, who lost the 2022 mayor's race to Bass, is thought by some to be positioning to run again, or to run for governor. That provokes speculation about how much electoral politics might play into the responses. Caruso made it clear that he does not plan to let up on his criticism of Bass' initial fire response, even as he tries to work with the city in rebuilding. Trump and Times owner Soon-Shiong also continue to be critical of the mayor. 'The Private Sector Must Lead the Rebuild' because 'government moves too slowly,' Caruso said Wednesday in posts on X. Ten days after the fires began, Bass appointed Soboroff — previously associated with major developments such as Playa Vista, Staples Center (Now Arena) and the Alameda Corridor rail expansion — to work with her and city departments on reconstruction. Bass and Soboroff haved said they welcome the growing ranks of fire recovery groups, regardless of who leads them, or what they have said about the mayor. 'I would rather have too many rather than too few,' Soboroff said. 'I applaud what people are doing, whether their intentions are 100% pure or 95% pure.'
