By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-15 16:25:15 | Updated at 2025-01-15 18:42:40
2 hours ago
Published: 16:12 GMT, 15 January 2025 | Updated: 16:13 GMT, 15 January 2025
With the LA wildfires still raging, this is not a time to be finger pointing, but it is the time to be learning from our mistakes. And mistakes have been made.
While I can't be certain that anyone could have stopped these fires in its tracks, something could have been done to mitigate the damage.
The first place to start is the stupidity of some of our politicians - and their misplaced priorities.
They have decreased funding for the fire and police departments - Mayor Karen Bass cut nearly $18 million from LAFD's budget last year - all while lavishing money on ridiculous projects.
Take the $100 billion set to be poured into the absurd bullet train from Bakersfield to Merced. That is not set to be finished until 2033 at the earliest and it will be completely outdated by the time it's done because we'll have autonomous vehicles.
Jason Oppenheim has slammed Californian politicians who failed residents amid the wildfires
At least 24 people have died across the Los Angeles area and approximately 180,000 people have been forced from their homes
No one's going to want to drive to a train station to take some dumb ass train for four hours when they could just have driven there watching their television and reclining in their safe self-driving car.
Politicians are so focused on doing the sexy things that get them re-elected, instead of doing the hard dirty work to protect us and keep us safe.
Forestry is not sexy. Water pressure, retention and availability is not sexy.
Spending millions of dollars on helicopters and fire suppressant just in case of something happens, is not sexy.
But politicians need to set aside their egos and focus on the things that actually help save us in times of need.
I am trying to do my part.
I donated $100,000 today to the Los Angeles Fire Department and police department, largely in an effort to bring some attention to the need to fund them more.
Over the weekend, I called out landlords attempting to capitalize on the wildfires by illegally increasing rental prices.
Mayor Karen Bass cut nearly $18 million from LAFD's budget last year
Jason has called out politicians for being too 'focused on doing the sexy things that get them re-elected'
They are taking advantage of the fires and its victims by raising their prices online.
Sure, landlords have had it difficult the last couple of years. Often they can't even cover their costs. But now is not the time to be trying to take advantage of a situation and profiting off the 92,000 people who are displaced and enduring the worst.
So many people have been affected, and have lost not just their family homes, but decades worth of memories.
Paris Hilton lost her home where she raised her two young children. Bella and Gigi Hadid lost their childhood home, and Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt lost their home and all of their belongings.
Now should be about giving back: at the very least to be offering your property at no more than the market value before these fires.
There might be some who are unknowingly breaking the law, but at this point they need to know: We are under an emergency order right now that restricts the increase of rents above 10% from pre-disaster market value.
A number of celebrities have lost their homes, including Paris Hilton whose Malibu house burned down last week
Candy Spelling's $24million home on Malibu's Pacific Coast Highway was lost in the wildfires
I think that agents have a responsibility not to enable landlords to act in this manner and I've sent an email directive to all my agents just to clarify our responsibilities.
I also sent a letter to the governor's office and the mayor's office, explicating some things we can do to help the victims of these fires.
In addition to cracking down on price gouging, the state can list lease properties online and make them available to everyone. That will eliminate the ability of brokers to hide properties from the public, known in the industry as 'pocket listings.'
Finally, some of the people who lost their homes will choose to rebuild, but many will end up selling to developers. My hope is that they receive fair prices for their land, perhaps the government can have a role in that as well.
These people have suffered enough, and we need to do what we can to ensure as real estate agents, and as a community, that they're receiving appropriate value for their land.
Jason urges politicians to set aside their egos and focus on the things that actually help save us in times of need
There are things that we can do to expedite development, to make things easier on those that do opt to rebuild. We owe it to them.
I'll conclude with this - despite all this tragedy and heartbreak - I'm hopeful for the future.
Houses will be re-built better. Fire-suppression technology and awareness will improve. Los Angeles will emerge from the ashes reborn, but I'm not oblivious to the challenge.
It's going to take five to seven years to rebuild the Palisades. There will be tremendous hard work ahead - and the real estate community must be a part of it.
