Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Friday appointed longtime civic official, businessman and developer Steve Soboroff to lead rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the devastating wildfire that wiped out the majority of Pacific Palisades and other surrounding areas.
“Steve Soboroff’s name is attached to hope,” Bass said in naming him the city’s chief recovery officer. “It is attached to energy, and it is attached to many, many accomplishments. He will recommend a comprehensive city strategy for rebuilding and for expediting — expediting is a very important word here — we want to expedite the return of residents, businesses, schools, nonprofits and parks.
“Steve has agreed to give himself to Los Angeles once again. He knows our communities. He knows how to activate City Hall. He’s been in City Hall several times, called to duty on several different occasions.”
Bass said “no one is better equipped to create a rebuilding plan” than Soboroff, former president of the city Police Commission and a longtime businessman who spearheaded development the arena now known as Crypto.com Arena downtown and the Playa Vista community. He also led efforts to coordinate the complex move of the space shuttle Endeavour through the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center.
“People in L.A. are hurting,” Soboroff said. “They are frustrated, like the mayor said. They’re confused. They want to know what they can do today. They can’t get back to their homes to find the pictures of their loved ones. And a whole lot of people are out of work, as a community has been wiped off the face of the Earth. A community that’s about 120 years old. I lived in it. My kids grew up in it for 40 years.
“… What we need is and what I hope people will start out with today is hope,” he said. “There is an A-to-Z for each one of us. And `A’ is today, and we’re going to get there step by step. And the city is going to help to the extent it can, and we will have to outsource to the extent it can’t.”
For people critical of the city’s efforts in response to the fires, Soboroff said, “If people want to get on the bus with us, get on it. If they want to spend their time throwing embers right now and next Tuesday when it’s windy by spending time on that kind of stuff, just don’t get on our bus.”