Filed under: notes
That “angry, negative, hateful, and ignorant jerk(s)” comment is from Sarah, quoted in Fires in Malibu ignite rage on the Web, regarding people who question allocation of media and fire fighting resources in Los Angeles County. I am generally-speaking probably “angry” on some issues, sometimes “negative,” I’m not so sure about “hateful,” but I am “ignorant” of many things. So there you go.
As you can see in the article, I was not the only person yesterday who noticed that it seems like Malibu gets tons of resources for recurrent problems and that firefighters seem to be spread a little thin elsewhere:
“Why are there enough fire assets to park a fire truck in every multi-million dollar, 10,000 sqft home in Malibu, but not enough fire fighters to save several neighborhoods in Canyon Country?” asked Mike in Northridge.
“When isn’t Malibu on Fire?” asked CaliforniaBeachGuy. “The City of Malibu and the County of Los Angeles have done absolutely nothing to deal with the brush all over the Malibu hills this year.”
The class issues in Southern California always loom just below the surface, but, if anything, I can say that there is definitely a sense in the community of being treated unfairly, not by individual firefighters, but by how the system has allocated resources.
And I would love to be proven wrong about that.
I was raised in Southern California and I have to say we got a little tired of Malibu burning each year… it would burn and then there would be rain and then mud slides. It is a pattern that has not changed in 30 or more years. Isn’t being crazy doing the same thing and expecting different results… I think perhaps Malibu is crazy.
Comment by jacqueline 10.23.07 @ 12:16 pmYes, indeed.
That article ends with a great quote about choosing to live in areas with fires and landslides. Though I have to say that one of the reasons we live so far out in fire country is that we couldn’t afford to buy closer in. I guess you can’t say the same about Malibu.
And I should note that I don’t wish anyone ill will. I just wonder.
Comment by Ms. Theologian 10.23.07 @ 5:38 pmFWIW, I watched the first 20 minutes or so of the 20/20 special that cancelled Boston Legal to show(talk about hitting the WASPs where it hurts…) Their focus seemed to be on the middle class. So that’s good, I guess.
Comment by Chalicechick 10.23.07 @ 7:27 pmYeah, I definitely think the focus has shifted (also the San Diegos fires have grown immensely too). I almost wonder if my media coverage was an LA issue or focus.
In any case, check out photos 23 and 24 in which we see that Jeffrey Katzenberg’s house (former CEO of Disney) with a firefighter on his roof with foam, and then this anonymous woman in Canyon country on her roof with a garden hose. I wonder who lives in Malibu.
Comment by Ms. Theologian 10.23.07 @ 7:42 pmLeave a comment
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