Chief Recovery Officer Steve Soboroff, Mayor Bass Visit Pacific Palisades

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Mayor Karen Bass and Chief Recovery Officer Steve Soboroff met on Monday, January 27, at Palisades Recreation Center to discuss recovery efforts.

Bass named Soboroff Chief Recovery Officer to lead the charge of the city’s response to the fire.

Soboroff—who lived in the Palisades and raised his five kids in the community—and Bass were joined by several members of the press, as well as local residents, including Pacific Palisades Community Council President Sue Kohl and Chair Emeritus Maryam Zar.

Standing in front of a plaque with his name on it for fundraising efforts for the park, Soboroff addressed those gathered to hear him speak.

“This community loves this community,” Soboroff said, adding that he has two clients: the people who reside in Pacific Palisades and those who work there: “Every one of them has an individual path back.”

He said that path has mental health and financial hurdles, but that he wants to help each one.

“We’re working a system for each one to minimize how long it takes to them to get to Z … it’s really from A to Z,” Soboroff said. “The only way to do that … it’s a huge project and there’s going to be thousands of people helping.”

Soboroff said that his initial conversations with agencies charged with aiding the recovery efforts, including FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have been “as exciting” as conversations surrounding bringing places like Staples Center to fruition.

“Let’s go do this and let’s go do it together,” Soboroff said, before calling the present residents up to join him and Bass at the podium.

Soboroff and Bass took questions, including about the two phases of debris cleanup: first, hazardous household materials, which is now underway and being conducted by the EPA, and second, private property debris removal, which will be done by the Army Corps of Engineers or a private contractor hired by residents.

There were questions about timelines for cleanup, especially phase one, but Bass said it was “difficult” to provide an exact timeframe at this point in the efforts.

Bass and Soboroff then led a walk from the rec center to the Ralphs parking lot. While they walked, they both shared several ideas surrounding the next steps for Pacific Palisades, including rebuilding community hubs, like Palisades Branch Library, to draw the community back when things reopen.

When asked by Zar where a one-stop-shop with 12 agencies for permits and information that has been mentioned during several community meetings and town halls might be set up, Bass said the city wants it to be at the rec center, but they’re not sure they will be able to, as they want to get it running in the next week or two: “It will be located on the Westside until they can clear out the smoke. We want it here … as soon as we clear out the smoke—I don’t have a timeline on that, but it’s not going to be long.”

Some of the ideas Soboroff pitched were having a grocery store that lost its space, like Ralphs or Gelson’s, to set up a pop-up shop at the former Pharmaca space on Sunset Boulevard, which appears largely undamaged following the fire. Soboroff said he was in talks with Rick Caruso on rebuilding efforts as well.

He also said, pending the clearing of hazards, he would welcome the Fourth of July parade as soon as this year, and a “user-friendly” app is in the works for residents to use to access information about their properties and get questions answered.

The Palisades fire, which first began on January 7, has burned through 23,448 acres, destroying thousands of businesses and residences in its wake.

Soboroff is a former police commissioner and real estate developer. He also served as president of the city of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission.