Developer wants Palisades to secede from LA

"Culotti argues the city's disaster response exposed deeper structural failures that threaten property values, rebuilding timelines and insurability across fire-prone hillside neighborhoods. In the days after the blaze, Culotti said state and local officials touted debris-clearing capacity that appeared robust until she realized the figures applied to all of California, not Los Angeles County or the Palisades specifically. As residents struggled through conflicting guidance and opaque timelines, Culotti said it became clear the city lacked the logistical capacity to handle a disaster of that scale."

"Culotti's, who starred on Discovery's Undercover Billionaire, makes the call after she devised an alternative debris-removal strategy dubbed Debris on Rail. It would have moved fire waste from the Palisades, Malibu and Altadena via rail lines to a processing facility in Puente Hills. The plan, she said, was vetted with FEMA, the governor's emergency services office and the Army Corps of Engineers and even pitched to federal appropriations staff in Washington. California ultimately declined to adopt it."

Elaine Culotti, a Santa Monica-based developer who lost roughly 20 percent of her real estate portfolio in the January fire, is pushing for the Pacific Palisades to secede from Los Angeles. She contends the city's disaster response revealed structural failures that threaten property values, rebuilding timelines and insurability in fire-prone hillside neighborhoods. State and local officials cited debris-clearing capacity that reflected all of California rather than Los Angeles-specific resources, creating conflicting guidance and opaque timelines. Culotti proposed a Debris on Rail plan to move fire waste via rail to Puente Hills; California declined to adopt the plan. She ties the breakdown to stalled permits, frozen valuations and mounting carrying costs for owners unable to rebuild, rent or sell damaged properties.

Read at therealdeal.com