Residents at Pacific Palisades mobile home park frustrated after property remains untouched with debris
The place where Jon Brown and his family called home remains untouched after the Palisades Fire tore through their mobile home community.
CBS LA anchor Chris Holmstrom first met Brown in March, when nothing but devastation replaced his community. Fast forward to now and not much has changed.
"The park is still not cleaned up from a year ago and it sits across the street from public beaches and so there's been dozens of rain storms and like still all this toxic debris is just sitting here and we just at least we want to see it cleaned up so we can start feeling like there's a little bit of progress heading home," Brown said.
Brown blames the property owners. The owner told CBS LA that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied their request for help clearing the lot.
CBS LA reached out to FEMA for a response and their statement said in part, "The Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates was not eligible for the federal Private Property Debris Removal because it did not meet the criteria for rare and exceptional cases eligible for federal assistance. The PPDR program focuses primarily on owner-occupied residential properties. Debris removal from private commercial property is typically the responsibility of the property owner, who is expected to use their private insurance to cover the costs."
The property was left untouched and in October, the city of Los Angeles declared the site a public nuisance.
"The Department of Building Safety declared as a public nuisance, which the city has been telling us once they get that, it is going to be their responsibility and then they'll have the authority to go in and clean it up," Brown said. "It's still not cleaned up. What's going on? They're saying they don't have the money."
CBS LA reached out to Councilmember Tracy Park since the Palisades Bowl is in her district.
"Although the city declared the Palisades Bowl a public nuisance, the owners have still not cleared the debris, which has been sitting there now on PCH for nearly a year," Park said.
Park introduced a motion to secure funding for the cleanup. The motion was approved, but shortly after, the property owners came forward saying they would pay for the cleanup themselves.
For displaced residents, the waiting game continues. Palisades Bowl resident Beverly Narayan wants to know when she'll have a place to come home to.
"Hopeful, still hopeful and I think that that's why we are asking other people to stand with us to not give up hope," said Palisades Bowl resident Steve Snook.
Strength in numbers has become their motto, even as many say they feel worn down.
"I'm just not ok with this and we need to continue to really push people to not be ok with the bureaucracy of this city," Brown said.
A year later, the debris remains, as does the uncertainty. Families are still waiting to see if this community will ever feel like home again.
