- Mar 14, 2023
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California governor asks Congress for nearly $40 billion for Los Angeles wildfire relief
Estimates of the total economic loss from the firestorm have been estimated to surpass $250 billion.
www.nbcnews.com
I'm not against the federal government helping American citizens who have been
brought low by natural disasters. We need FEMA.
But, it turns out, that the devastating fires in Los Angeles were caused by a combination
of wild weather swings (which will not go away), AND outdated building codes that
allowed houses to be built of flammable materials, and VERY CLOSE TOGETHER,
and gale force winds.
If Los Angeles wants federal funds to rebuild these neighborhoods, then a condition
should be that the L.A. housing codes FIRST be changed to require relatively
fireproof materials (such as adobe, and metal roofs), AND that the houses must
be spaced much further apart than the (almost) row houses that contributed to
the spread of the fires in residential neighborhoods.
The article does not mention changes in the housing codes.
Trump wants the aid to be linked to the ability of private investors to essentially
buy access to the California beaches, cutting out access to the public. This does
not address the problem of updating housing codes. (This would work for billionaires,
but NOT for the average American citizen.)
Trump would want to "fix" the availability of water to Californians, but this
ignores that California uses huge amounts of water (unsustainably) in order
to farm desert regions, and this unsustainable use of water should be reduced.
Also, the recent L.A. fires were not "caused" by a lack of water flow to the
burning neighborhoods, but to dangerous housing codes, and the 70-100 mph
winds that did not allow the air tankers to fly.
If updated housing codes would require houses to be built on much larger lots,
then this will require that many whose houses burned down, should leave
Los Angeles and seek out areas in the country where larger housing lots
are affordable.
Much of the real estate in California is over-valued, and using water at
unsustainable rates. NOW is the time to start to fix those problems.
