OPINION:
The Simi Valley/”Sandy” wildfire has brought renewed attention to last year’s devastating fire in the Palisades section of Los Angeles. Voters could end up electing a man who lost his home in what was the worst wildfire in the city’s history.
The Simi Valley fire, which as of May 20 had covered 1,698 acres, remains only 5% contained. Still, efforts to contain the blaze are a model of efficiency compared to the way in which Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass handled the Palisades fire.
At least those fighting the Sandy fire have a ready source of water. Ms. Bass, who was on a junket to Ghana when the Pacific Palisades fire broke out, allowed the Los Angeles Reservoir to be drained.
And 17 months later, it’s still bone-dry, because the mayor decided repairing a cover on the Santa Ynez Reservoir for clean drinking water was more important than having water available to fight the next wildfire.
At the time of the Palisades blaze, Ms. Bass had cut $17.6 million from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget to pay for her favorite diversity, equity and inclusion programs, such as giving sterile needles to homeless addicts.
Today, there are actually three dozen fewer firefighters than there were in January 2025. Now, the mayor wants to pay for new teeth for methamphetamine addicts. She says that without them, the addicts will never get jobs. But there aren’t many homeless meth heads lining up for jobs that require dazzling smiles.
Spencer Pratt, formerly a reality-TV star, is running for mayor based on Mrs. Bass’s incompetence in handling the Palisades fire, where he lost his home, along with thousands of other residents.
Mr. Pratt is running commercials that show him standing in front of a trailer where his home used to be. Like most of the victims, he has yet to receive the permits needed to rebuild.
A man with no prior political experience, Mr. Pratt is speaking common sense. He notes that because the Los Angeles reservoir had been drained, instead of the 30-second load-and-return helicopters fighting the Sandy fire, LA copters had to fly miles away to a water supply — and the fire escaped.
Mr. Pratt’s message is gaining traction with voters. With the primary on June 2, he’s running at 22% to the mayor’s 30%, with a socialist candidate in third place.
It seems some voters prefer common sense to politics as usual. They would prefer a Los Angeles real estate market that wasn’t red hot, so to speak.
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