In a community still rebuilding from one of the most devastating coastal fires in recent memory, Thursday’s gathering in Pacific Palisades was less about ceremony and more about control - who has it, who does not, and who is willing to take responsibility for restoring it.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a candidate for governor, spent the afternoon touring the burn zone with developer Rick Caruso and Councilmember Traci Park before sitting down with roughly 40 local leaders at a recovery roundtable convened by Palisades Recovery Coalition founder Maryam Zar.
Inside the room, the tone was technical and urgent focused around Insurance, infrastructure, land management, evacuation planning, and federal funding were not discussed as abstract policy debates, described as daily obstacles for families trying to come home.
Caruso used the moment to publicly underscore his support for Mahan’s gubernatorial run, framing the endorsement around execution rather than ideology. “He is the only candidate who has come here, walked the burn areas, and sat with the community to understand what this really looks like,” Caruso said. “We need leadership that knows how to manage large-scale operations. Rebuilding thousands of homes at once is not symbolic. It is logistics, sequencing, capital, infrastructure. It requires discipline.”
Caruso argued that what Mahan has implemented in San Jose with performance metrics, accountability structures, and operational oversight; offers a model for statewide application. “What he has done there can be scaled,” Caruso said. “We have an opportunity to change direction in California with a common sense, moderate leader who understands both the private and public sector.”
Insurance quickly surfaced as the central barrier to recovery. Rather than focusing solely on premium increases, several leaders addressed what they described as a deeper structural problem; insurers are not meaningfully integrated into rebuilding conversations.
Tim Schneider and other participants emphasized that communities are discussing resilience at the block level, undergrounding utilities, vegetation management, evacuation routes, yet underwriting decisions continue to be made without direct engagement in those efforts.
Palisades Recovery Coalition Founder and President Maryam Zar called for a different approach. “If we want insurability to return, insurers need to hear directly what communities are willing to do to mitigate risk,” Zar said. “There needs to be transparency. There needs to be commitments on both sides.”
Participants proposed a formal convening between state officials, insurers, lenders, and local leaders to align incentives rather than rely exclusively on mandates. Ideas included state backed guarantees tied to community mitigation, clearer underwriting pathways for hardened neighborhoods, and coordinated capital deployment to prevent rebuilds from stalling mid-process.
The conversation repeatedly returned to one point that money drives recovery. Without predictable capital flow, neighborhoods remain frozen.
Infrastructure was described as inseparable from insurance stability. Decision Construction's Founder Justin Skaggs, who has been advocating for undergrounding utilities across Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Altadena, argued that insurability cannot improve while overhead power lines remain in high fire severity zones. Skaggs added that many of the most destructive fires in California have been tied to utility ignition, raising questions about long term risk exposure.
“If we rebuild the same way, we recreate the same risk,” one participant said.
Michelle Shea, a Malibu resident and Pacific Coast Highway safety advocate, noted that utilities elsewhere have begun undergrounding not for aesthetic reasons but because the long term economics justify prevention.
Land management surfaced as another interconnected issue. Tracy Price, a multigenerational Palisades resident, described how mechanical clearing and fuel break maintenance on adjacent lands had diminished over time. Participants called for renewed state commitments to vegetation management in high fire severity zones, arguing that insurance reform, infrastructure modernization, and land stewardship must move together.
Evacuation planning and public safety protocols were also scrutinized. Community leaders described confusion during red flag conditions and urged the development of clearer statewide standards for multi day monitoring, pre-cleared fire breaks, and coordinated emergency communications.
When Mahan addressed reporters afterward, he centered his remarks on accountability and federal coordination.
“The single biggest thing is to get those FEMA dollars to flow,” he said. “The state has allocated significant funds, but without federal dollars moving, progress slows. We need to act with urgency.”
He emphasized that political differences cannot obstruct disaster recovery. “As governor, I would go to Washington and make it a win win to rebuild this community,” Mahan said. “Government’s job is to deliver for people, not to allow politics to get in the way.”
Caruso echoed that focus on execution. “This is about results,” he said. “Clean and safe communities. Infrastructure that works. An insurance market that stabilizes. A coordinated plan. California can do this, but it requires leadership willing to manage complexity.”
Councilmember Park stressed that the stakes extend beyond the Palisades.
“If we can implement a coordinated model here,” Park said, “we can apply it across the Westside and throughout California. Disaster recovery is not just about rebuilding structures. It is about rebuilding systems.”
For residents, the urgency remains immediate. Thousands of properties are still navigating insurance claims, financing hurdles, environmental health questions, and infrastructure uncertainty.
What Thursday’s gathering made clear is that Pacific Palisades is no longer just a neighborhood in recovery. It has become a proving ground for how California handles climate driven disasters, and for which leaders voters trust to guide that process. The fire may be out. The test of governance is not.