The Hive is an eatery in Marina Del Rey where Palisadians gather on Monday morning to discuss everything about the fire and rebuilding.
Monday morning, April 14, Maggie, a woman at a weekly informal meeting at the Hive where people discuss their lives after the Palisades Fire summed up the rebuild. She said the steps to do that in Pacific Palisades are simple, “Bring the families back. That means the schools, parks, churches and synagogues need to be reopened.”
That woman, whose adult children grew up in Pacific Palisades and attended local schools and participated in Junior Lifeguards among other activities, said it’s the younger parents who are now wrestling with the question of returning. The reasons are many.
The woman said her neighbor with three boys might not have the money to return.
Another couple moved their family of three children to Santa Barbara and are now having a great experience with the schools and recreational opportunities. Do they rebuild and move back, or do they stay in their new home?
Twenty-five percent of the Palisades are seniors, who may now take this opportunity to move closer to their adult children, but Pacific Palisades is at risk of losing the cornerstone of the community: its families.
LAUSD is planning to rebuild Palisades schools in record time. Some churches are standing, others are in debris clearance mode.
A new park and recreation center is planned and on a 1Pali April 14 Webinar Rick Caruso said that he hoped a new center would start construction in a year and then take a year to rebuild.
How do you get families back in, who may not have the money to rebuild? Maggie, thinking outside the box, suggested financial compensation. Any family committing to rebuilding and staying in the Palisades could be entitled to a bonus, as an incentive to helping them stay here.
Cheers to Maggie who is thinking creatively! Maggie is absolutely correct about the families being the cornerstone…..and how do we bring them back?