Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
(Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass announced today during a news conference that as of 8 a.m. on Sunday, February 2, the checkpoints to enter the Palisades will be removed and passes will no longer be needed.
Who will be allowed in? Everyone. That will include looky loos, looters and people who want to sift through the rubble of another person’s house. But not to worry, according to Bass, for the first time in the history of the Pacific Palisades there will be a police presence.
The curfew will also go away, so anyone can go up to take a look at the ocean from the bluffs at midnight.
LAPD said the change is happening now because the National Guard will only be in place for another week, the rest of Los Angeles needs police presence and the new plan will allow contractors access.
Councilmember Traci Park represents the Pacific Palisades and strongly disagreed during the Zoom meeting that the Palisades should be wide open to everyone. “It’s premature,” she said, noting that many people have still not access to their lots because of evacuation.
She pointed out that the EPA is just starting to process lots and that the Army Corp of Engineers will begin debris removal as soon as lots are certified.
There are no stop lights in place on the streets and no traffic mitigation measures.
“Pacific Coast Highway should be open, and residents do need a streamlined process to get in.” Park has expressed her concerns to the Mayor and to LAPD, but so far the Mayor has not listened to her common sense recommendation.
Those on the Zoom meeting were told that law enforcement procedures will include a surge of resources and technology, including cameras and 30 different spots where there will be license plate readers. (How about those cars that are stolen, have fake plates or no plates?)
In the comment section of Zoom, the comments were immediate and sided with Councilmember Park. After 250 comments, city officials started deleting them. Not one resident wanted to allow outsiders in to come view the “carcass” of what was once a town.
Some of the comments included:
- PLEASE do not open this up to the public yet! Open PCH when possible, but let only residents and contractors access the Palisades via Sunset at PCH, Temescal, and Chautauqua and PCH and Chautauqua at Sunset Blvd. PLEASE listen to Traci Park.
- Mayor Bass – are you completely tone deaf?? We, the residents of Pacific Palisades, DEMAND that you do not open the Palisades to the public. There is an existing access permit process in place. The level of incompetence is unbearable.
- Mayor Bass – as Traci Park truly represents the majority preferences of Pacific Palisades, why is her recommendation not being followed?
- Answer the question this way. If you had a standing home, one of 15 standing, out of 800 burnt in the alphabet. What would you do? Live there? Board it up? Not worry?
- [Mayor]This call is not about fraud scams, you are telling us you are not listening. We are all saying we do not want the area opened. If you lock it down, you will need less police than all these patrols.
- Please Mayor Bass, please reconsider letting non-residents in. This is a recipe for disaster- can we please take a proactive approach for once in this city? Please do not let non-residents into the neighborhoods!
- Karen Bass, why don’t you prioritize the concerns of the actual residents of Pacific Palisades? How many residents who you consulted are in support of the full reopening on Sunday. I am not in support.
- Given that Pacific Palisades contributes approximately $550 million in property taxes in 2024, will you be implementing changes to ensure that our community receives a proportional amount of infrastructure and services? Currently, we have only two assigned police officers, aging and inadequate public schools, insufficient water reservoirs, decaying roads, and unreliable power infrastructure. With such a significant financial contribution, it is crucial to understand where our tax dollars are being allocated and how they will be used to improve essential services in our community. Where does all our money go?
- If things are so dangerous for one’s health, what reason is there for people to be in an unsafe area stirring up dirt and making things worse for residents? Health department should be alarmed about everything opening up to everyone.
- Mayor Bass, please, please, please listen to Traci Park. There is no need for the Palisades to be open to the public at this point.
During the Zoom meeting, District Attorney Nathan Hochman once again said that looters would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. One resident wrote in the comment section:
- I appreciate Nathan Hochman’s message, but we’ve had so many burglaries in the past where the perpetrators haven’t been caught. These people could easily come under the cover of dark with so many of our standing homes still not having power. PLEASE do not open the Palisades up to anyone – it’s going to be a chaotic disaster that the residents/we don’t need at this time.
RESiGN Karen Bass, you burned our town down
Thank, Sue – Your continuous reporting on the ramifications of the Palisades Fire is nothing less than Pulitzer Prize-winning quality…all our neighbors agree 100% !!
We used to have two existential threats to this town that LAPD failed to manage: homeless in hillsides setting off warming fires, cooking fires and meth fires PLUS a sustained period of illegal fireworks and explosives that LAPD failed to control. No end of public outrage made a difference . No solutions offered were embraced. The town burned despite many warnings that it could happen. My last warning on this to lAPdNd CD11 was on the or ing before the fire broke out in a unpatrolled hillside.
The system was blind, deaf, and DUMB. In every sense of every word.
Well.. yeah… let’s trust law enforcement to patrol a 26 square mile territory again. Perhaps they will manage “kooky loos, disaster tourism, looting, and squatters with warming fires, cooking fires, and meth fires and people with fireworks and explosives … oh wait, didn’t they fail to do that the first time around?
Let’s get the replay and the chat/question log and make it public please.
Excellent writeup.
Thank you to Traci Park for standing up for us. We need are in serious trouble and it’s about to get worse for our community. We need a solution.
I have sent this to others:
Primary Palisades LAPD Checkpoints posted for Residents, Business owners and Contractors:
All entry point streets off PCH:
-Entrada Dr
-W.Channel Rd/Chautauqua Blvd
-Temescal Canyon
-Tahiti Ave
-Entry to Palisades Bowl Estates
-Bay Club Dr
-Malibu Village Ln
-Sunset Blvd
-Porto Marina Way
-Coastline Dr/Surfview Dr (LAPD & LASD)
Other Ingress/Egress points:
-Ocean Ave at Adelaide Dr
-Entrada/7th St at Adelaide Dr
-Sunset at Allenford Ave
With several dedicated roving Patrols to mitigate looters and other incidents of fear of the Palisades Victims, through crime suppression and high police presence visibility. Due to the very real potentiality of those with nefarious intent accessing on foot from any of the many trails and hidden stairways, spread throughout the Palisades.
The checkpoint comment I posted are my recommendations, not what is currently planned.
It is such a shame to open the area prematurely like this. Given that the EPA has to conduct assessments of lots that could have items that could explode, which is why we’re being told that the EPA assessment and clearing must be done before the Army Corps of Engineers does their work, how is it okay for random people to be walking through the debris and the grounds that once were, and again will be, people’s homes? This act defies all reason. When you add to it that there are families who haven’t even been able to get to their lot, how do they get a chance at a peaceful, private moment to grieve, retrieve, and look for some sort of closure?
Mayor Bass’s decision goes against the will of the people of the Palisades. We don’t want Palisades to be open to those who are not residents of the area. By forcing her stupid decision once again she takes sides with criminals, looters and other perpetrators who have no business being in Palisades. It’s time to rethink why Bass is making these decisions who are detrimental to the people of Pacific Palisades? She should be stopped.
Please sign the petition to stop this:
https://www.change.org/p/urge-l-a-mayor-councilmember-park-to-extend-restricted-access-to-pacific-palisades?source_location=search
This is ludicrous! Next we will need to go to our insurance companies for theft!!!!!!!
It’s not time to open to the public…Don’t do this
This so not good. Just after christmas i found a naked man in my shower. Luckily there were builders around who helped to get him to move. Please do not take away our safety. Liz dalling.
Nice work, comrade Bass — boosting the Equity of D-I-E