Alright, so get this – a roughly 11-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway is all set to reopen on Friday, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. This means that Malibu will finally be connected back to the Westside after being closed off for months. Sounds like a relief, right? But hold up, less than 48 hours before the big reopening, the state drops a bombshell – they have no clue what the city of Los Angeles is planning to do about security in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades area next to the highway.
According to Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl, the mayor does have a plan to keep the area secure and locked down for non-residents. He mentioned that there will be a strict security plan in place as PCH reopens, just like there has been for months. However, when asked if he shared the city’s plan with the state, Seidl didn’t have an immediate answer. The head honcho of the state’s emergency services agency wasn’t too thrilled about this lack of communication. In fact, they sent a pretty harsh letter to a senior official in Mayor Karen Bass’ team, calling them out for dodging questions despite weeks of attempts to reach out.
Seidl did mention that the city will be setting up new checkpoints, but he didn’t spill the beans on the details. The Palisades, an upscale neighborhood that’s been off-limits to the public since a massive wildfire in January, has some tough decisions to make now that the California National Guard is packing up and leaving at the end of the month. Everyone seems to agree that the area should stay closed to outsiders, but how exactly that’s going to happen is still up in the air. Current checkpoints are keeping people out at major entry points, but with PCH reopening, there’s a need for more checkpoints.
Nancy Ward, the big cheese at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, threw some shade in her letter, saying that the City of Angels hasn’t been very forthcoming with their plans. She even mentioned that the city might want to delay the PCH reopening for a few weeks, which didn’t sit well with the state considering all the hard work that’s gone into getting things ready for Memorial Day. The letter was addressed to Robert Clark, the deputy mayor in charge of public safety for Bass. Traci Park, the city council member for the Palisades, is also feeling the frustration. She’s been pushing for a solid safety plan for months now, but it seems like she’s been hitting a brick wall.
It’s been a rollercoaster ride with the Palisades – first, they were going to reopen, then they weren’t, and now it’s all up in the air again. Governor Newsom had mentioned that PCH would be back in action by the end of May, but he didn’t give a specific date. His office didn’t have much to say about the letter either. The stretch of highway that’s reopening will have two lanes in each direction, running from Chautauqua Boulevard near Santa Monica to Sweetwater Canyon Drive in Malibu. Looks like there’s still a lot of back and forth happening, so who knows how this will all play out in the end.
