We thought it was a betrayal of Los Angeles fire victims that the local government slow-rolled the building permit process to wait out property owners so the state could replace their homes with “low-income” apartments. It turns out, however, that the betrayal has just gotten worse.
We learn this week, thanks to the great work of a lone reporter at a small Southern California publication called Circling the News, that a whopping $100 million donated to help fire victims isn’t making its way to actual fire victims.
In the fires that started on January 7, 2025, about 6,800 homes were destroyed in the Pacific Palisades. Not all were mansions but all were on very valuable property in a tony section of Los Angeles that is close to Malibu and Santa Monica. In Altadena, a neighborhood close to leafy Pasadena, 9,400 homes and structures were destroyed in the fires.
Only a few weeks later, the biggest names in show business would come together to selflessly give their talents and time to put on a show that raised $100 million.
Hellbound and Down 