Governor Newsom Touts New Online Dashboard to Track LA Recovery

This might make you spit your coffee – Governor Gavin Newsom just announced that his administration launched a “new dashboard to track LA recovery.”

I’m remembering his Covid dashboard and what an absurdity that was, as well as constantly (deliberately?) inaccurate.

But this new one for “LA Recovery” – it’s just a brag site – bragging about how many:

•People helped

•Schools reopened

•Properties cleaned up

•Water restored

•Air quality

Does Newsom ever stop crowing about his “accomplishments” when they aren’t? Maybe after the Palisades is rebuilt he can talk about “accomplishments.”

The news release about the new dashboard boasts:

“The new features build on the CA.gov/LAfires website, which was rapidly launched in the days following the start of the firestorms, and soon after was significantly overhauled to better integrate with in-person Disaster Recovery Centers.”

Wow, the LA Fires website was “rapidly launched in the days following the start of the firestorms,” but had to be “significantly overhauled”  – probably to be able to communicate with humans.

“Since its launch, there have been over 550,000 visits to the website.” More bragging. Who cares about how many visits to the website there have been? “This latest update means impacted Californians can access all of the same resources offered at Disaster Recovery Centers – completely online.”

Who writes this stuff? Aren’t there humans working in Newsom’s offices?

The far more important launch is, the “new recovery services finder tool that helps survivors and businesses connect with state and federal resources, including housing, individual assistance, personal document replacement, employment, cleanup timelines and more.”

And that is a far more helpful website with information and links that actually assist fire victims with information about returning home, insurance assessments, Phases 1 and 2 for the cleanup process, a listing of household hazardous waste, and more.

It’s nice that LA County is accepting Right of Entry forms, but when I spoke with Pacific Palisades homeowners last Thursday who lost everything, accessing a computer to do this is near impossible for many.

Residents can go to Disaster Recovery Centers:

• Where to Get It:
  • Complete the opt-in form online: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ca0e6e24c8db4598b5c49642b2ff4615
  • Download and complete a form: https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/lac/1176418_Opt-InForm.pdf
  • In Person: Right of Entry forms are available at Disaster Recovery Centers.

It’s reminiscent of the FEMA folks in North Carolina who claimed they were going door to door handing out flyers with information on how to access recovery information. Only, there weren’t many homes left. And those still standing didn’t have electricity and were also severely damaged.

How about you deploy teams to meet and talk with residents where they are? Or call neighborhood meetings, and have staff present to help?

At the meeting last Thursday in Pacific Palisades with President Trump’s Special Envoy Ric Grenell, and Trump’s White House representative on the ground in California, he got the word out to residents that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Major General Jason Kelly, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regional administrator Bob Fenton, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and many colleagues and staffers would be there to speak directly with them about how to get the Right of Entry process started, as well as understanding which agency is responsible for what, and the process and coordinating cleanup.

It was amazingly effective.

The “new dashboard to track LA recovery” is a vanity project for bureaucrats.

Get to work with the people on the ground – real people who need your help.