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“President Trump is the right person at the right time to tackle this issue. He is a developer, he thinks big and understands the tensions between the public and private sectors,” said my colleague in the Reagan Office of Counsel. My old boss, Richard Hauser, said this when I said that. has begun to address the enormous challenges facing Los Angeles.
I have practiced land use law in California for nearly 30 years, representing landowners large and small, public and private. California's land use laws are a confusing mess of regulations and authorities. Worst of all is the California Coastal Commission (which will almost certainly play the role of the villain in rebuilding the Pacific Palisades and Malibu), but it has no control over victims' lands in Altadena, Sylmar, Pasadena, and other areas at least several miles from the coast. lacks jurisdiction. . But large-scale land developments typically involve more than a dozen federal, state, and local agencies, and large-scale rebuilding of this type can quickly become a never-ending whirlwind of efforts.
“Rebuild LA” was founded in response to the 1992 riots. They rose with high hopes for rebuilding a region ravaged by a bout of violence after the first acquittal in the 1991 trial of a police officer charged in the Rodney King beating. The riots left more than 50 people dead, thousands injured, and fires and looting devastated the City of Angels. Peter Ueberroth was at the helm of L.A.'s rebuilding, but even the California giant revered for organizing the 1984 L.A. Olympics couldn't bring order out of chaos. That effort fizzled out and ended in failure. LA wasn't easy to govern then, and it still is. Or rebuilt. On Sunday's Meet the Press, California Governor Gavin Newsom used the phrase “reinventing LA” from 30 years ago: Bringing everyone together to reimagine LA 2.0 and more.
Last week's debacle (which is still ongoing and may certainly have recurred before this post) left behind far worse devastation than the 1992 riots. While attention has been focused on the extraordinary destruction of large parts of the Colony in Malibu and the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, the fires and the failure of governments at all levels to prevent and contain them have destroyed communities of all types. . At least dozens of lives were lost and thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed.
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I asked Hauser for his opinion because he spent many years at the helm of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Authority, saving it from falling into the bureaucratic malaise typical of the Progressive Era. We are organized as a wholly-owned federal corporation by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation Act of 1972, as amended (40 USC 871). The company was governed by a 15-member board of directors. When Hauser and his colleagues took the lead, the plan became a reality and the company oversaw an extraordinary revitalization of the country's most famous thoroughfare. The job was done and they disbanded in 1996. That's rare. (Mr. Hauser was the founder of the company, including many people, including its first president, Skidmore Owings Merrill, then-architect of the Capitol, Arthur White, and J. Carter Brown, then-director of the National Gallery.) An organization is quick to credit one individual for contributing to its success.
I asked Hauser to look up from the tee box and think about what Los Angeles could do with that model.
Newsom suspends California environmental law clearing 'roadblocks' for wildfire victims
“President Trump immediately ordered federal agencies to come up with the best ideas to deal with this situation and, perhaps more importantly, convened the best talent from the private sector, both domestically and internationally. They should be tasked with brainstorming and identifying steps forward,” Hauser said in an email.
“One of the first questions is: Should we simply rebuild the area the way it was, or should we rebuild it smarter and better, knowing what we now know about infrastructure, elevation, soil, hazards, etc.? Is there an opportunity to build imaginatively? Probably a combination of single-family, multifamily, mixed-use, park management, etc. A chalet convened for this purpose can be enlightening. ” he continued.
“One thing is clear to me,” Hauser said in an email. “We need a new governance structure focused on recovery and reconstruction.”
“It's an organization that can aggregate and streamline government benefits and provide the private sector with the confidence it needs to attract capital investment,” he continued. “We've done this on a small scale with the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, including the Presidio.”
A super scooper dumps seawater onto a hillside as the Palisades Fire rages on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Hauser's clever idea is that President Trump and Congress are using the Constitution's “spending powers” to make perfectly legal offers to states and cities, the proverbial “offer too good to refuse,” in other words, a lot of money in return. I would like to add that federal funding is available. Full control over the area to be rebuilt and its planning process. There is no Coastal Commission. There is no CalEPA, no Fish and Game Department, no Regional Water Quality Control Board. Certainly, there is no “control role” for Mayor Karen Bass and her army of city and county bureaucrats to interfere with Los Angeles' normal permitting and construction processes. There are no “interested parties” other than the property owner. School districts, water districts, professional districts, it's over. A unified control and authority that supersedes all other federal, state, and local governments.
If Congress and the new president make Los Angeles and California an offer they can't refuse, Mr. Trump, the developer, will know who to turn to to ameliorate the ruin of so many lives. The special purpose federal corporation has the power to compensate victims who wish to evacuate, facilitate the rebuilding of victims who wish to rebuild, and overcome the challenges of a God-given nation of extraordinary beauty and unique challenges. They could be empowered to build infrastructure that thrives and survives.
Irony aside, the man L.A.'s West Side hates could be overseeing its resurgence. In fact, put politics aside completely. I haven't seen anything even close to destruction in America in the last week. After living in Los Angeles from 1990 to 2015, reporting for radio and television, and returning again during this season of disaster, long-suffering property owners and taxpayers are now in a state of disrepair as Pete Wilson becomes governor. I deserve more than this “progressive project” has produced since I quit. 1998. There is certainly no need to create a new committee of the kind that would immediately paralyze Los Angeles and then set it on course for failure.
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After a quarter-century of cumulative government failure at all levels that led to this disaster, even California's deep-blue political class is ready to give a Republican president and Congress a chance to rebuild from the ruins. It should be. It may be true that the dry has become drier and the wet has become wetter. Santa Ana winds are a feature, not a major problem for life in Southern California, as Governor Newsom has said as he launches an effort to shift blame from the government to “climate change.” A week ago on Tuesday night they were so evil that they grounded a fire plane. But there have been such heights before, and there will always be such heights. It is the government's job to predict what needs to be done and to mitigate what cannot be prevented. California's many government agencies and hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats bankrupted California a week ago.
These images reveal that Ryan O'Neal's longtime Malibu beachfront home was completely destroyed in the Palisades Fire. Ryan lived in this house from 1976 until his death in 2023. (background)
That didn't have to happen. It could have been prevented. Restructuring can happen relatively quickly, but only if it is firmly vested in an organization that is empowered to make decisions and tell other institutions to sit back and do what they are told. . A key part of Hauser's proposal is that it creates a pathway to private sector solutions where investor capital would otherwise not arrive. Investors are unlikely to flock to reconstructed areas unless they have confidence in the regulatory and legal structures. There are many other safe investments. And for now, only a fool would trust California's system of “governance.” Now it is “post-governance”, with dozens of government agencies, with no accountability or authority other than to delay or deny. Reality: If you want to see the rebuilt City of Angels, get rid of the pension-seeking bureaucrats.
Hugh Hewitt is the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” broadcast weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network and simulcast on the Salem News Channel. . Hugh Wakes America up on more than 400 affiliates nationwide and on all streaming platforms where SNC is available. He is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel's News Roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier, weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio State and a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996, teaching constitutional law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show in 1990 from Los Angeles. Hewitt frequently appears on every major national news television network, hosts television programs on PBS and MSNBC, writes for every major American newspaper, has written 12 books, and hosts a Republican program. I served. Candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and the four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-2016 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and columns on the Constitution, national security, American politics, the Cleveland Browns and the Guardians. Over his 40 years on the air, Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republicans George W. Bush and President Donald Trump. This column previews the key stories that drive his radio/television show today.
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