Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
Speaker 2: We got another hour together if you missed our first hour.
Speaker 2: We talked about a lot, talked a little bit about
Speaker 2: way Mo, We talked about immigration raids in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: and San Diego, we talked about some pushback. Finally, at
Speaker 2: La City Hall over Mare Bass declared homeless emergency and
Speaker 2: whether it should still be extended. And you also have
Speaker 2: to hear the cringiest chant you've ever heard at a
Speaker 2: local rally in support of a public bank, as backed
Speaker 2: by three members of the La City Council.
Speaker 3: You can always.
Speaker 2: Catch the entire two hours of Michael Monk's reports as
Speaker 2: soon as the show is over. It'll be in the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app or wherever else you get your podcast. Hope
Speaker 2: you'll take a listen and share it. We also want
Speaker 2: you to share your thoughts. This is a show for
Speaker 2: you and it's a show for me, and we can
Speaker 2: share this together. And we got a comment from Gail
Speaker 2: about that proposal for a public bank.
Speaker 4: Love your show, Michael, Thank you, Gail.
Speaker 5: Okay, Michael, So the city wants to form a bank.
Speaker 5: They can't account for over twenty four billion dollars, but
Speaker 5: they want the people of Los Angeles to entrust them
Speaker 5: with their money. Again, Really, Michael, it is so effing umbilie.
Speaker 2: I mean, the reactions are pretty predictable, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: this is a city that has mismanaged its budget, has
Speaker 2: found itself in a very serious financial crisis, and then
Speaker 2: ask you to take some of these proposals. Seriously, I'm
Speaker 2: not saying you shouldn't. We have to learn more about this.
Speaker 2: There may be some valid points here. It's just timing wise,
Speaker 2: it seems a little odd because you know, we just
Speaker 2: covered for the past several weeks how broke the city
Speaker 2: is now and aw, the folks behind this say, look,
Speaker 2: we won't find ourselves in these financial positions because we'll
Speaker 2: have our own bank. But whether or not that's true
Speaker 2: remains to be seen. We'll have to continue to follow.
Speaker 2: These three council members have put fifteen thousand dollars each
Speaker 2: from their own offices for a total of forty five
Speaker 2: thousand dollars to fund a study. There's a group of
Speaker 2: community activists who have created a group called Fire Rebuild,
Speaker 2: and they have put out their own study of what
Speaker 2: went down on January seventh and the days after that.
Speaker 2: And I'll note that this is a group that is
Speaker 2: highly critical of Governor Newsom, a group that is highly
Speaker 2: critical of Mayor Bass. So keep that bias in mind,
Speaker 2: although I know that bias is probably shared at this
Speaker 2: point by a lot of you folks, but maybe not
Speaker 2: so as a caveat, know that this is a group
Speaker 2: that is not happy with those two elected leaders. But
Speaker 2: they issued a report that they say was to critically
Speaker 2: examine the weather conditions surrounding the January seventh Pacific Palisades
Speaker 2: fire and to assess whether claims of unmanageable, unprecedented, or
Speaker 2: climate change driven conditions are supported by factual data. So
Speaker 2: they did a little research and they reached these conclusions
Speaker 2: that they say contradict the official narrative that we've heard
Speaker 2: from some of our elected officials. One, they say the
Speaker 2: wind conditions during the peak spread of the fire were manageable,
Speaker 2: They say, not unprecedented, that they remained well within manageable
Speaker 2: limits based on historical data from forty eight weather stations
Speaker 2: across the region. They say during critical period of potential
Speaker 2: containment from ten thirty am to four pm. That was
Speaker 2: about six hours five and a half hours when Cowfire
Speaker 2: reported the fire expanding from ten to two hundred acres
Speaker 2: Whether can conditions remained manageable. The highest sustained wind speed,
Speaker 2: they say, was thirty five point seven miles per hour
Speaker 2: in Malibu, about seven miles from the origin of the fire.
Speaker 2: The highest gust reached forty four miles per hour in
Speaker 2: the Santa Monica Mountains that's eleven miles away from the
Speaker 2: fire origin. They say the hurricane force winds began. The
Speaker 2: hurricane force winds begin at seventy four miles per hour,
Speaker 2: but the recorded winds on January seventh were well below
Speaker 2: this threshold. Do not support false claims that the fire
Speaker 2: spread under hurricane strength conditions or that it was unmanageable
Speaker 2: due to record breaking wind speeds. They also say the
Speaker 2: winds did not reach historical extremes. They say across the
Speaker 2: full day, the maximum sustained wind of forty point eight
Speaker 2: miles per hour and top gust of sixty miles per
Speaker 2: hour remained below the National Weather Services criteria for a
Speaker 2: high wind warning. Now keep in mind, if we go
Speaker 2: back to January seventh, I would certainly hear at KFI
Speaker 2: that day, and I know a lot of you were
Speaker 2: glued to the news because we knew it was dry
Speaker 2: and we had the Santa Ana winds and fire conditions
Speaker 2: were severe. These folks acknowledged that this group called Fire
Speaker 2: Rebuild and this new report they released, they say weather
Speaker 2: conditions were predicted in advance. These winds were also forecasted
Speaker 2: days in advance. They say between January three and January seven,
Speaker 2: multiple agencies, including the National Weather Service, utilities City of Malibu,
Speaker 2: issued early warnings about strong Santa Ana winds, extreme fire danger,
Speaker 2: and pre emptive power shut offs. They say this reinforces
Speaker 2: that the event was predictable and that emergency preparations had
Speaker 2: already been initiated. This group Fire Rebuild, also takes aim
Speaker 2: at the claims of drought conditions. They say drought conditions
Speaker 2: were normal for the region. The preceding drought, while ongoing,
Speaker 2: also followed well known southern California climate cycles. Two hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty six day dry spell before the fire was
Speaker 2: neither record breaking nor anomalous, and similar patterns of heavy
Speaker 2: rainfall followed by prolonged drought have occurred repeatedly in the
Speaker 2: last decade. They say that it was a false claim
Speaker 2: that vegetation growth from prior rainfall made this fire uniquely unmanageable. Lastly,
Speaker 2: they reached the conclusion that the fire that started on
Speaker 2: January seventh occurred under weather and climate conditions that were
Speaker 2: not only historically common, but also widely forecasted and manageable.
Speaker 2: Neither wind speeds nor drought conditions were extreme or record breaking,
Speaker 2: and no evidence supports the notion that climate change conditions
Speaker 2: were extreme or record breaking. Excuse me played or direct
Speaker 2: role in this event. They say, instead, the only aspect
Speaker 2: of this fire that can be considered truly unprecedented was
Speaker 2: the failure to contain it, despite the availability of early warnings,
Speaker 2: known fire behavior patterns, and decades of historical precedent. They
Speaker 2: go on to say, misrepresenting the fire as a product
Speaker 2: of uncontrollable or climate driven forces undermines the accountability of
Speaker 2: fire management agencies and public safety planning, especially when the
Speaker 2: data makes clear that this was a foreseeable and manageable emergency.
Speaker 2: Your thoughts on that are welcome. Open up the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: click on the talkback button and we will play some
Speaker 2: of your comments in our last segment. Coming up, I've
Speaker 2: got a guest coming up for you, who lives in
Speaker 2: the Palisades is also angry with the government response, specifically
Speaker 2: around debris removal. Now, we did hear some protests early
Speaker 2: on in this process that folks living near the landfills
Speaker 2: didn't want this debris moving through their neighborhoods and towards
Speaker 2: those landfills. Our next guest, who you may know from
Speaker 2: Undercover Billionaire, says there's a better way to do this,
Speaker 2: but no one's listening to her, so she'll join us next.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: K I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI
Speaker 2: News with you till nine o'clock tonight. The Army Corps
Speaker 2: of Engineers has begun wrapping up its work removing debris
Speaker 2: in Pacific Palisades, but that doesn't mean all the wildfire
Speaker 2: debris is gone. Aline Colotti is a real estate developer,
Speaker 2: a farmer, and you may recognize her from Undercover Billionaire.
Speaker 2: She says she's got a solution to all this toxic
Speaker 2: debris piled up. But she also says the clock is ticking.
Speaker 3: And she joins us.
Speaker 2: Now, Eline Colotti, thanks so much for being with KFI today.
Speaker 6: Hi, how are you, Michael. It's so good to Steeven.
Speaker 6: Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good to have you with us. You live
Speaker 2: in the Palisades. Let's just start there. What was the
Speaker 2: situation like for you?
Speaker 6: You really want to start with that. Let's lead with
Speaker 6: the Palisades. It's rough going over there. It's like living
Speaker 6: in Gaza. It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, I don't think people understand. It's a
Speaker 6: complete wipeout of the community. There's no schools, there's no
Speaker 6: grocery stores, there's no gas station. There's one gas station.
Speaker 6: The banks are gone, there's one bank. All the community's gone.
Speaker 6: There's I know, they're time about getting back to things.
Speaker 6: I mean, thank god for the high school. Those high
Speaker 6: school kids are super into coming back, but there's nowhere
Speaker 6: for them to live. So it's just insane. I can't
Speaker 6: really quite describe it. Also, it's a bustling, busy community,
Speaker 6: you know. I was just saying last night God, I
Speaker 6: were really having dinner at Angelini, Like there's it's all gone.
Speaker 6: So even what's left is gone because it's all closed.
Speaker 2: I've been wondering this because as a reporter, I was
Speaker 2: in the Palisades covering this disaster.
Speaker 3: I've seen the aftermath of it. It is shocking.
Speaker 2: I didn't live there, though, I didn't really experience the
Speaker 2: community the way someone like you did and your neighbors did,
Speaker 2: or people who work there did, or even if you're
Speaker 2: a commuter who passes through there on the regular. The
Speaker 2: impact for me is obviously different, even though I can
Speaker 2: kind of understand the devastation, but not intimately like you, folks.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering this is a question that I've had for folks.
Speaker 2: When anyone loses their house in a fire somewhere in
Speaker 2: the city, a candle, cigarette, something causes a fire, it's
Speaker 2: a terrible experience. I'm wondering what it must be like
Speaker 2: for everyone to lose their homes in a fire like that.
Speaker 2: How is it different than that individual situation that might
Speaker 2: happen across town somewhere.
Speaker 6: Well, I think the most devastating thing for me, because
Speaker 6: first of all, I've never seen anything like this and
Speaker 6: I've seen a lot. I'm construction wise, I've seen huge,
Speaker 6: big construction, but the community's gone, and when community's gone,
Speaker 6: communication is gone, and so it's very difficult to sort
Speaker 6: of circle the wagons and have conversations that are forward
Speaker 6: facing and can get you to the next level. And
Speaker 6: even the news media isn't hanging around the palisades anymore.
Speaker 6: Like it was a big glam for a little bit,
Speaker 6: but now it's like a little bit like Gaza and
Speaker 6: a little bit like martial law. I can't how to explain.
Speaker 6: Every entrance is blocked and it's either police. It was
Speaker 6: army Corps and National guardment that's all kind of changed.
Speaker 6: Now it's really police and they've also hired private security.
Speaker 6: And it's uncomfortable. But if you don't have it, you
Speaker 6: have help. Bridge and theft and it's people can't leave
Speaker 6: their trucks there at night, Like there's a lot of
Speaker 6: workers and there's tools and trucks and things like that.
Speaker 6: It's not just the housing and people that are there
Speaker 6: to help. They can't get in and out because the traffic.
Speaker 6: So you know, I've also learned a lot about like
Speaker 6: PCCh is really a bloodline to Malibu. You cut pch Off,
Speaker 6: you kill Malibu, which we did, sixty percent of the
Speaker 6: people out, like Nobu had to be let. I mean,
Speaker 6: it's crazy what we did to Malibu. And while I
Speaker 6: know they've reopened it, at the end of the day,
Speaker 6: like it's better when it's closed for progress because you
Speaker 6: can move faster. So we've got a lot of adjustments
Speaker 6: to do to get through this whole process and survive
Speaker 6: with something.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about the state of the economy
Speaker 2: there in the Palisades and the West Side in general
Speaker 2: because of these and what we see coming after that.
Speaker 2: But first let's talk more about the Army Corps because
Speaker 2: their deadline is here. They're pulling out. These are the
Speaker 2: guys who were sent in to remove the debris, and
Speaker 2: what are your concerns about the Army Corps taking off?
Speaker 6: Well, the most important thing to remember about the Army
Speaker 6: Corps is that they're a military operation, so they are
Speaker 6: order driven. They get an order, it's a task driven order,
Speaker 6: and they punch through it like an army would do.
Speaker 6: It's one, two, three, four, we're gone. So as the
Speaker 6: sun rises on June the first, which was quoted, they're
Speaker 6: done with their optimse their work is complete, and they're
Speaker 6: not like another contractor would they give you a change
Speaker 6: order and just hang around and just keep milking the system.
Speaker 6: There's a million places that the Army Corps engineers is
Speaker 6: needed and they are headed there. So we're on our own.
Speaker 6: And when we're on our own, along with them leaving
Speaker 6: leaves all that organization and management.
Speaker 2: When you say opt in, you're talking about the folks
Speaker 2: who had the opportunity to say, yes, Army Corps, we
Speaker 2: give you permission to come into our property and to
Speaker 2: take this debris away for us.
Speaker 6: That is correct, That's exactly what often meant.
Speaker 2: Okay, And so how has it gone? Has it been smooth?
Speaker 2: Has it worked well for you?
Speaker 6: Well? The math is all over the place. I'm not
Speaker 6: sure really, Like I've been told a lot of different
Speaker 6: things by Army Corps and etc. And government officials and
Speaker 6: official notes. So this is my best assessment. By the
Speaker 6: end of March, they had forty eight hundred opt ins,
Speaker 6: so they extended fifteen days, and during that fifteen days
Speaker 6: they got additional opt ins. Maybe they got two thousand more,
Speaker 6: but it wasn't ten thousand. And they have cleaned those
Speaker 6: lots and those are single phase, you know, simple lots.
Speaker 6: So those are lots that are small, flat, easy to
Speaker 6: get in because the second lots were tasked to later.
Speaker 6: So a lot is not always a lot is a
Speaker 6: lot Okay? When they count lots, they're counting hillside, flat,
Speaker 6: big and small. The majority of the lots of opted
Speaker 6: in were the smaller lot us, the tiny lots. Remember
Speaker 6: they only do the envelope, so there's all this other debris.
Speaker 6: My opinion is they did an incredible job. They're an
Speaker 6: amazing outfit. But we are about thirty percent cleared.
Speaker 2: And of that leftover uncleared area. What does that mean?
Speaker 2: Because even though you know I was there, our listeners,
Speaker 2: people who watch TV news, they've seen the images, we
Speaker 2: see it on social media. It's a completely different thing
Speaker 2: again to be up close to it. What does it
Speaker 2: mean to have seventy percent not cleared?
Speaker 6: That means we have a big problem. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 6: if seventy percent is not cleared and Army Corps leaves.
Speaker 6: Along with them leaving, their organization goes, their task management goes,
Speaker 6: their mobilization goes. They're hauling route goes. They're hauling route
Speaker 6: takes debris to certain dumps. It's attached to Army corps.
Speaker 6: When you're in a business of picking up trash, you
Speaker 6: have to go go to the city and you have
Speaker 6: to obtain a hauling route. It's usually done through a hearing,
Speaker 6: and that hearing will designate which roads you go on
Speaker 6: to what dump you're going to with the armcre leaving.
Speaker 6: That also leaves. That's not to say that there isn't
Speaker 6: incredible relationships with certain companies with certain jumps. That exists,
Speaker 6: and some people will will have no problem, but independent contractors,
Speaker 6: like eighty thousand of them will not have a place
Speaker 6: to take the debris, not willingly anyway.
Speaker 2: And we already know that there are dumps that can
Speaker 2: take some of this debris here locally, there are neighbors
Speaker 2: of those landfills who are saying, please don't bring this here.
Speaker 2: We don't want this. We feel for our neighbors in
Speaker 2: the impacted fire zones, but please don't bring that garbage here.
Speaker 3: We can't do it.
Speaker 2: You've got an idea, and it sounds kind of old school.
Speaker 2: It's trains.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, if you think if you think railroads
Speaker 6: old school, I think railroad is the future of transportation
Speaker 6: and supply chain. We just ignore it because it's a
Speaker 6: lot of work, it's cumbersome. But here's the problem, Azusa, Calabasas,
Speaker 6: film are all of the places where we're taking are
Speaker 6: trash don't want it. They don't want it, and they
Speaker 6: don't want it because they don't know how clean it is.
Speaker 6: Certain environmental restrictions were waived by Caraenvass in order to
Speaker 6: expedite the removal of this debris that was done on
Speaker 6: behalf of the Army Corps engineers so that they could,
Speaker 6: you know, they could get it out quicker. Great, I
Speaker 6: understand that. But if it isn't clean, why are we
Speaker 6: putting it in Calabasas. That's ridiculous. They say that these
Speaker 6: lawsuits that have been filed will eclipse the cost of
Speaker 6: removing the debris at a further distance away. So we
Speaker 6: shouldn't be mincing words. We should just do this other
Speaker 6: program without thinking about it, because what it will do
Speaker 6: is it will minimize the damage that's done to these
Speaker 6: other communities from our debris, and anything we can do
Speaker 6: to mitigate that we should be doing.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk more about your plan involving trains
Speaker 2: coming up.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: A six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. This
Speaker 2: is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
Speaker 2: We continue now with Elane Colate. She says she has
Speaker 2: a better idea for how to get rid of all
Speaker 2: that wildfire debris still piled up in the Palisades. Elaine,
Speaker 2: thanks for sticking around. Before we went to break, we
Speaker 2: were talking about trains and I like trains too, like
Speaker 2: I take the Metro pretty frequently. Took at the Long
Speaker 2: Beach Show last weekend, had a great time. You know,
Speaker 2: I live downtown, I'm on the on the train pretty frequently.
Speaker 2: I've never been on a freight train, and I think
Speaker 2: that's what you're talking about here. And when last we
Speaker 2: left you, we were discussing the possibility of not using
Speaker 2: the local landfills for the debris removal from the local
Speaker 2: fire zones and possibly loading it on a train and
Speaker 2: sending it out. Now we saw the reaction locally, Elaine,
Speaker 2: what place on this planet would be willing to have
Speaker 2: those trains roll through with all of that debris?
Speaker 6: Oh well, come on, now, you know there's plenty of
Speaker 6: people that will take it for money. It's just about
Speaker 6: paying for it. The problem that we have, and we're
Speaker 6: going to continue to have it in California, is that
Speaker 6: it's kind of the you know, good old boys club.
Speaker 6: The Democratic you know regime of California is a good
Speaker 6: old boys club. They we we don't see it that way,
Speaker 6: you know. We think they're here to help us, and
Speaker 6: the reality is of the hill to help themselves. We've seen
Speaker 6: so much, let's help ourselves from our government officials instead
Speaker 6: of helping the real community. And a perfect example of
Speaker 6: that is dumping debris and local landfilles. What are we doing?
Speaker 6: There are plenty of landfills that we could take it to.
Speaker 6: And one by the way that I found is six
Speaker 6: hundred million cubic feet and it's not open. It's closed
Speaker 6: and empty. That's not just enough for our landfill. That's
Speaker 6: enough for the Tijuana River cloud clean up.
Speaker 3: That's in California.
Speaker 6: It is. It's over by Glamous and Imperial Valley, missis
Speaker 6: ski area over there where where by the way, it
Speaker 6: can handle this kind of debris. Moreover, it's rail served. Now,
Speaker 6: once it gets rail served, it gets more complicated to
Speaker 6: get in and out. You got to pay more. But
Speaker 6: it's away from us, and we have a lay down yard.
Speaker 6: Do you know what a lay down yard is?
Speaker 3: No? No, I don't, Golotti, I don't.
Speaker 6: We got to start using a lay down yard that's
Speaker 6: rail served, because what we're doing then is we're touching
Speaker 6: it less. We don't want to touch it so many times.
Speaker 6: We don't want to take it off, put it up,
Speaker 6: take it off, because that costs a lot of money.
Speaker 6: We want the trucks to be able to go to
Speaker 6: a laydown yard that goes to rail. And there's one
Speaker 6: in Puente Hills, and that one is twelve and a
Speaker 6: half miles from Maltadena. It's thirty four point eight miles
Speaker 6: from the ground zero in Palisades Malibu, and it's all
Speaker 6: highway and it gets them off the roads. It gets
Speaker 6: us out of the infrastructure, it stops destroying things. It
Speaker 6: allows us to do it faster. There's no reason not
Speaker 6: to do it except getting the big guns at the
Speaker 6: top to listen. And the reason they don't want to
Speaker 6: listen is because they don't know what they are doing.
Speaker 6: As long as they don't know what they are doing,
Speaker 6: they don't even know the questions.
Speaker 2: To ask my understanding is you are taking this to
Speaker 2: the big guns at the top, including Governor Gavin Newsom.
Speaker 2: Do you have a relationship with him? Are you able
Speaker 2: to get in front of him with this idea?
Speaker 6: He has it in his email box and it was
Speaker 6: given to him by somebody who has a very good
Speaker 6: relationship with him, and he knows it's there. He has
Speaker 6: to take the time to read it. And if he
Speaker 6: doesn't understand it, he's going to call me and I'll
Speaker 6: explain it to him. I mean, it's clear that like
Speaker 6: it's complicated. I get that, but it's doable. And just
Speaker 6: because something's complicated, if you are the leader of the state,
Speaker 6: it is your job to lead and that means you
Speaker 6: delegate that thing to the right people and have it
Speaker 6: explained to you like you're too It's okay if he
Speaker 6: doesn't you know what I would say if I was
Speaker 6: Kevin Newsom, I got this email in my email box.
Speaker 6: This sounds great, but I don't understand it. Who do
Speaker 6: I go to to talk to. Let's get this girl
Speaker 6: in here, Let's get to the right people and let's
Speaker 6: see if we can do this. That's what and you
Speaker 6: should be doing it too, sweet, Like right.
Speaker 2: Now, what's the response from your neighbors, Elaine, about this
Speaker 2: proposal that you have, because you spelled out it seems
Speaker 2: to make sense. We'll get to why the government hasn't
Speaker 2: acted on it momentarily. But have you been able to
Speaker 2: sell it to your neighbors? Are they on board?
Speaker 6: Oh, my neighbors. All the people that I know and
Speaker 6: work with would will. Absolutely, they'll task it, They'll help
Speaker 6: do it. The problem is is that it's a massive
Speaker 6: undertaking if you don't have support from community leaders. Tracy
Speaker 6: Parks is our council woman. She was good on homeless
Speaker 6: in Venice. She shifted her energy to something she knows
Speaker 6: nothing about. It's not to say that she does have
Speaker 6: good intentions, but construction and this kind of a disaster,
Speaker 6: it's you have to have a skill set and if
Speaker 6: you don't have it, you have to ask the right
Speaker 6: people and you have to listen to the right people,
Speaker 6: and she they're not doing that. Karen Bass. I can't
Speaker 6: even get into Karen Karen Bass like the whole thing
Speaker 6: in the jetway. I've said it like it's a leadership issue,
Speaker 6: you know, it's not. She came late to the party.
Speaker 6: I don't blame her for the fire it's like a
Speaker 6: lot of people. I don't have any course in that race,
Speaker 6: but what I am saying is right now, get surrounds
Speaker 6: yourself by the right people. You know, call up the
Speaker 6: right people. And when people are coming to you and saying, hey,
Speaker 6: flag white lie, I can help you. Over here, here's
Speaker 6: some refuge Go to them, Walk to them and ask them,
Speaker 6: how can you help me? Ask the questions. That's what
Speaker 6: they're not doing.
Speaker 2: Eline Colati is a Palisades resident, a real estate developer,
Speaker 2: a farmer, owner of Big Z Ranch, and you might
Speaker 2: also know her from Undercover Billionaire, and she is our
Speaker 2: guest right now on Michael Monks Reports here on KF
Speaker 2: I do want to talk about Mayor Karen Bass, not
Speaker 2: just the early days, but what's happening now with the mayor.
Speaker 2: You are seeing more public comments from her social media
Speaker 2: posts from her basically saying, look, we're moving well in
Speaker 2: the Palisades recovery process. The permits are flowing, the construction
Speaker 2: is happening. I can tell by the look on your
Speaker 2: face you kind of dispute that characterization.
Speaker 6: It's just sinsannity. First of all, she has no idea
Speaker 6: what's ahead of us. She doesn't have any knowledge of
Speaker 6: what's a hud. Are we going to get it all back?
Speaker 2: But she's talking about the red tape, she's cutting the
Speaker 2: red tape.
Speaker 6: I have no idea. She doesn't have a clue. She
Speaker 6: has no idea what it takes to rebuild a city, Like,
Speaker 6: what does that take at the level that you're gonna
Speaker 6: have to rebuild. She doesn't understand mobilization. She doesn't know
Speaker 6: what a critical path schedule is. She doesn't know what
Speaker 6: a schedule of values is. They don't know the difference
Speaker 6: between repair and infrastructure and improve infrastructure. And on top
Speaker 6: of all of that, let's put a sugar on the top,
Speaker 6: little sugar cube on top. We don't have any money.
Speaker 6: We have no money. So if you don't have any
Speaker 6: money and you don't have any know how you know
Speaker 6: what means? You have no power. You have no power.
Speaker 6: She has the power of the bully pulpit. She can talk,
Speaker 6: but it's all nonsense. They have no idea what they're
Speaker 6: up against. They need people. The best guy really to
Speaker 6: be there now would have been Rick Carriso. But Dad,
Speaker 6: we have somebody who has no skill set for this,
Speaker 6: and she needs to just step down and let somebody
Speaker 6: else handle it. Give him the mayorial job for the cleanup.
Speaker 6: Just go to him and say let's do it, or
Speaker 6: give it to me, or give it to somebody who
Speaker 6: knows how to do this. I know she kind of
Speaker 6: went out and tried to hire that guy sober Up,
Speaker 6: but that's not You got to hire somebody who really
Speaker 6: understands how to delegate. This is a CEO job of
Speaker 6: the biggest construction company in the world. She's like ron tutor.
Speaker 6: She doesn't she doesn't understand what's in front of her.
Speaker 2: Elaine Coulotti, real estate developer, farmer and undercover billionaire. Elaine,
Speaker 2: thanks so much for talking to us today. We appreciate you.
Speaker 6: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: Up next, the Eagletz had Big Bear finally take flight,
Speaker 2: and we got more bad news for the Hollywood film
Speaker 2: industry from right here in Hollywood.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3: How that John Coblt never mince his words, does he? Crypt?
Speaker 2: This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
Speaker 2: Let's finish things up on really what was a nice,
Speaker 2: beautiful evening here in Los Angeles County, certainly around Burbank
Speaker 2: a little warm. We're gonna see some cooler temperatures over
Speaker 2: the next several days. But the National Weather Service in
Speaker 2: LA has given us another update on those storms that
Speaker 2: moved through Ventura and Santa Barbara County. They say it
Speaker 2: was quite the lightning show today across Ventura in Santa
Speaker 2: Barbara Counties. They show on their Twitter page their ex
Speaker 2: account if you want to look them up. At NWS
Speaker 2: Los Angeles, They've got an image from Google Earth showing
Speaker 2: all of the lightning strikes. They say there were twenty
Speaker 2: five hundred cloud to ground strikes observed today in those
Speaker 2: two counties. They say overall, very impressed day and that
Speaker 2: the threat of showers and thunderstorms will continue overnight, so
Speaker 2: stay safe, stay dry out there got a comment on
Speaker 2: my Twitter, by the way, follow me on X Instagram
Speaker 2: TikTok if you like Mike Monk's La at Mike monks
Speaker 2: LA that's m I c nks LA. One comment on
Speaker 2: X says Elaine, our previous guest, Elaine Colada, you talked
Speaker 2: about the debris removal in the palisage. This person says Elaine,
Speaker 2: comparing the Palisades to Gaza is mind blowing. But a
Speaker 2: more favorable comment about Elaine has come from listener Denise.
Speaker 7: Okay, hell yeah, this woman is so impressive.
Speaker 8: I love her.
Speaker 7: Please put her in a position to run something, do something,
Speaker 7: change something.
Speaker 4: This is wow.
Speaker 7: I love seeing a woman this smart, this possessed, this knowledgeable.
Speaker 7: Let's go.
Speaker 2: I'm sure Elaine will be delighted to hear that comment
Speaker 2: from you, Denise. And and we've talked about a lot
Speaker 2: over the past couple of hours, and our friend doctor
Speaker 2: Ron in Huntington Beach is winging in on the public
Speaker 2: bank proposed by three members of the Los Angeles City Council.
Speaker 9: Hi, Mike, doctor Ron from Huneken Beach. This whole thing
Speaker 9: about the city making its own bank, it reminds me
Speaker 9: of a couple of years ago when we all realized
Speaker 9: that the marijuana businesses couldn't use regular banks. I don't
Speaker 9: know if that's still the situation, but here's a way
Speaker 9: that the state and the city can watch out retaches
Speaker 9: by depositing all of the marijuana business intel. Just the thought.
Speaker 6: Have a great day.
Speaker 3: Thank you for that, doctor Ron.
Speaker 2: We do appreciate you listening and taking the time to participate. Also,
Speaker 2: at the top of the show, you heard me talk
Speaker 2: about Catalina Island. Last week, I solicited tips from a
Speaker 2: lot of you on what I should do, how I
Speaker 2: should get there, where to go once I'm there. And
Speaker 2: that was because my family was visiting this week and
Speaker 2: we were going to head over, and then we got
Speaker 2: the Long Beach to look at the ferry and just
Speaker 2: realize that the town was dead that day. I guess
Speaker 2: everybody was worn out from a very busy Memorial Day
Speaker 2: weekend and we kind of had all the coast along
Speaker 2: Long Beach's you know, main entertainment area to ourselves and
Speaker 2: decided that the hour long ferry ride there, another hour back,
Speaker 2: an hour to and from on the metro to downtown.
Speaker 3: It was just a lot and we didn't go.
Speaker 2: And I'm so sorry because you guys are so great,
Speaker 2: But I have bookmarked all your comments. I really did
Speaker 2: document everything. The spouse and I are going to head
Speaker 2: over there at some point this summer because I'm excited
Speaker 2: to see it. And we got a comment about something
Speaker 2: else that we can do on Catalina Island.
Speaker 4: Hey, months, you do a good job.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: Listen, you were talking about Katleena Island. This is where
Speaker 4: you go. I've been going there for years. You go
Speaker 4: to Hamilton Cove. You'll get it's a condo, it's overlooking
Speaker 4: the Orishen beautiful.
Speaker 3: You'll get a.
Speaker 4: Golf cart and a little expensive, but it's worth it
Speaker 4: if you I spend a couple of nights there, so
Speaker 4: check it out. Beware of stairs.
Speaker 2: That sounds like a great tip, and we will certainly
Speaker 2: beware of the stairs. Also at the top of the show,
Speaker 2: we talked about Santa Monica residents upset with WAMO, the
Speaker 2: driverless cars that you can see on Los Angeles streets
Speaker 2: and other streets around the county, and they go to
Speaker 2: rest at night at Santa Monica, and some folks there
Speaker 2: are really upset the noise these cars make when they're
Speaker 2: going into their bed. And played some information on there.
Speaker 2: I made a little remark that I'm not that sympathetic
Speaker 2: to Santa Monica because I live in downtown a lad.
Speaker 2: I'd much rather hear whatever this noise is, which is grating.
Speaker 2: It is a loud, disgusting noise, But I live downtown
Speaker 2: and I hear these terrible screams from homeless people people
Speaker 2: having mental health crises, and I suggested that my situation
Speaker 2: was worse. I did get a comment on my Instagram
Speaker 2: that says, you're wrong about Santa Monica. My friends live
Speaker 2: in a building where they get poisoned daily and have
Speaker 2: been getting sick daily for eight years. The city knows
Speaker 2: everything and does nothing. Homeless people scream all night, and
Speaker 2: five hundred people are trying to sue the city because
Speaker 2: homeless people have physically assaulted them, destroyed their businesses, and
Speaker 2: crime is destroying everything. All this while local leaders pose
Speaker 2: for photographs knowing all the marine life that were decimated
Speaker 2: by fire, debris and repulsive catastrophic pollution. Look at Harris
Speaker 2: Silver or Santa Monica Coalition if you want the truth.
Speaker 2: My friend's eyes were burned by indoor chemical exposure and wildfires.
Speaker 2: This is what a heart looks like, and gives the
Speaker 2: heart emoji and says please send it out to Santa
Speaker 2: Monica City Council. Our friend required two brain surgeries after
Speaker 2: a homeless person hit them on the head. And that
Speaker 2: is a very fair comment to my flippant remark earlier
Speaker 2: in the show. The homeless crisis is all over the place,
Speaker 2: and Santa Monica has certainly been devastated by what this
Speaker 2: situation has caused.
Speaker 3: There as well.
Speaker 2: You heard in the newscast from Heather Brooker this breaking store.
Speaker 2: Two police officers in Baldwin Park had been shot in
Speaker 2: the forty two hundred block of Philhurst Avenue. That's according
Speaker 2: to the La County Fire Department. One of those officers
Speaker 2: was taken to a hospital by air, the other by
Speaker 2: ground ambulance. Some video from k COW shows a large
Speaker 2: law enforcement presence in the residential neighborhood. We're going to
Speaker 2: keep an eye on that and keep it tuned to KFI.
Speaker 2: Heather Brooker will update you throughout the evening on that
Speaker 2: developing story as well. Something I have talked to Heather
Speaker 2: Brooker about multiple times, even on this program is her
Speaker 2: Hollywood theme. You know, she just comes in here when
Speaker 2: she's not busy making You know, you may recognize her
Speaker 2: from TV's the Office.
Speaker 3: I always love that you that you bring that up.
Speaker 8: I'm obsessed with it because literally no one would recognize
Speaker 8: me from the office.
Speaker 3: I know, and I don't know why.
Speaker 2: I like to tear this wound open, because actresses like
Speaker 2: you dream of these opportunities, like you work your tail off.
Speaker 2: You have all this talent, and Goodness knows you're talented,
Speaker 2: and then you get a on the Office and you
Speaker 2: got cut. But they loved you so much, because why
Speaker 2: wouldn't they. They brought you back for another episode.
Speaker 8: Only two they cut you again, cut me again twice.
Speaker 8: But here's my one redemption of this amazing experience that
Speaker 8: I had on the Office. It's now airing on streaming
Speaker 8: on Peacock, so you could watch both of my scenes
Speaker 8: from both episodes of the Office. So I still am there.
Speaker 8: It lived to tell another to see another day. And
Speaker 8: I also still get residuals for it. Praise be Yeah,
Speaker 8: that's great. I'm glad.
Speaker 2: I know you're the richest person in the office right now,
Speaker 2: So well done for you.
Speaker 3: Yes, you do you get the blue envelopes or the
Speaker 3: blue envelopes?
Speaker 7: Is that?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 8: They just come on regular old white envelopes. Some of
Speaker 8: the international ones come in pink envelopes.
Speaker 3: Oh that's fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you never really know how much is going
Speaker 2: to be in those envelopes, right, It's always exciting. Sometimes
Speaker 2: you're you're excited by what you see and sometimes maybe
Speaker 2: a little.
Speaker 3: Disappointed, mostly disappointed. It's seventy three cents.
Speaker 8: I mean, it's those episodes are so old, especially with
Speaker 8: the Office, They're so old. But yeah, you're worrying, like
Speaker 8: the five six bucks. You know, people think actors were
Speaker 8: making millions. I mean I was not on Friends. I
Speaker 8: was not a serious regular on Friends. Okay, I'm not
Speaker 8: set for life, but I certainly you know, might see
Speaker 8: at five bucks in the mail.
Speaker 3: Every now and then, you know, sure, of course.
Speaker 2: And look, Hollywood is not as lucrative as it used
Speaker 2: to be for a lot of actors, mainly because the
Speaker 2: landscape of how we consume television has changed. We don't
Speaker 2: even necessarily watch it on a television. There aren't twenty
Speaker 2: two episodes a season. There aren't lucrative syndication deals and
Speaker 2: reruns playing all over the place where actors, even somebody
Speaker 2: like like you who gets like a one off role
Speaker 2: on an episode, will cash residual checks for a long time.
Speaker 2: But the companies themselves and the production environment is also
Speaker 2: decimated and struggling. Right now, there's another new report from
Speaker 2: the Milken Institute Heather, and it basically says what we've
Speaker 2: talked about before. We've heard it from the industry. We've
Speaker 2: heard it from the politicians. It's too expensive to make
Speaker 2: entertainment and the entertainment capital of the world.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I read this and I kind of
Speaker 8: was like, duh uh, it's true. This is a story
Speaker 8: we've been this is something we've been talking about for ages.
Speaker 8: It's expensive to make movies here, so filmmakers are going elsewhere.
Speaker 8: And I think the reason that this report, at least
Speaker 8: what I got from it, is shining a light on
Speaker 8: this is because we need to figure out this is
Speaker 8: like an emergency situation for this industry, to figure out
Speaker 8: how we can make it more affordable, how we can
Speaker 8: make it more attractive to keep this industry here, keep
Speaker 8: jobs here, and keep people wanting to film in California.
Speaker 8: It's why we've got that proposed seven hundred and fifty
Speaker 8: million dollar tax credit that is in you know, in
Speaker 8: the California legislature.
Speaker 6: Right now, it's kind of on hold.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 8: Haven't really done much with it in the past couple
Speaker 8: of weeks. I've been keeping an eye on it, and
Speaker 8: it's just sitting in the committees. And it's why here locally,
Speaker 8: Karen Bass just a few weeks ago came out and
Speaker 8: said we need to cut fees that hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 3: No, let's talk about those fees.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is this paper from the Milkin Institute
Speaker 2: says LA's permit application for making film or TV three
Speaker 2: seven hundred and twenty four dollars, while the fee in
Speaker 2: New York City's one thousand dollars. In London it's five
Speaker 2: hundred and forty dollars. In Atlanta it's four hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just so expensive to do anything. And
Speaker 2: here you leave your house, seventy bucks falls out of
Speaker 2: your pocket just for breathing the air. But to build
Speaker 2: a house, to fill up your gas tank, and really
Speaker 2: to make the thing that made Los Angeles an international
Speaker 2: destination the Hollywood industry, it's too expensive to do that
Speaker 2: as well. Listen, you're gonna need more walk on rolls
Speaker 2: to buy us some dinner around here. I know, I
Speaker 2: can tell you this, Heather, I understand why the two
Speaker 2: eglits in Big Bear are ready to leave Southern California.
Speaker 2: They are close to bailing out of their nest. We
Speaker 2: learn today that these two eglits, what are their names?
Speaker 2: It's a Sonny and Gizmo, the kids of Jackie and
Speaker 2: Shadow there in Big Bear. They're girls, they're sisters, they're ladies,
Speaker 2: and they have taken flight very minimally. They look like
Speaker 2: they're sleeping right now.
Speaker 8: They've been sleeping all day there it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've been flapping and they're tired from it. I
Speaker 2: understand completely. But keep an eye because their major first
Speaker 2: flight is apparently nigh. It is nigh, So keep an
Speaker 2: eye on their live cam if this is something that
Speaker 2: you've been obsessed with, like so many across California and
Speaker 2: the friends of Big Bear Valley dot org always keeps
Speaker 2: a daily log so you can see what's been brought
Speaker 2: in to eat and what Jackie and Shadow are up to,
Speaker 2: and what these two little sisters are doing as they
Speaker 2: prepare to take on the world. Well, we've had a
Speaker 2: great time doing Michael Monks Reports with you today. Let
Speaker 2: me thank Kenneth for this comment.
Speaker 4: Thank you, mister Monk's great job covering the real issues.
Speaker 4: Love the show, Keep it up.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. We appreciate you being here every Saturday
Speaker 2: night from seven to nine. If you miss any part
Speaker 2: of the show, you can dial it up on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. I'll be
Speaker 2: back again next Saturday with another edition of Michael Monk's Reports,
Speaker 2: and you can catch me doing the news money day
Speaker 2: through Friday here on KFI, making appearances on all of
Speaker 2: your favorite shows during the week as well. My thanks
Speaker 2: to our technical director Raoul Cortes, our news anchor Heather Brooker,
Speaker 2: and all of you for listening.
Speaker 3: Up.
Speaker 2: Next is Malcolm Gladwell and Revisionist History here on KFI
Speaker 2: AM six
Speaker 1: Forty, KFI AM six forty on demand