If you want to talk about clobbering an economy, think natural disaster which would include, but not limit to: earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, floods, hurricanes, landslides, heavy rains, heatwaves, fires, volcanos, and I’m sure the list goes on.
So, by those standards, this year in Southern California was a good one as the Santa Ana winds didn’t kick up quite as much, bringing peace of mind – and no evacuations — to millions of business and home owners from Los Angeles to sunny San Diego. And since a natural disaster didn’t strike, what did the local government due with monies set aside for such catastrophic events?
2003 was a scary time in San Diego, where many awoke to discover a fine layer of ash covering their homes, back decks, pool chairs, etc. What would have started as a beautiful day, was about to be ruined.
In the near distance there was the distinct smell of wood burning, typically a hearat-warming aroma, but that day it meant trouble, big trouble. The appreciation of local tv news was rekindled as local newscasters chased down the fast-traveling flames that no one was tending to, no one was putting out!
And that’s when it hit me, that bad politics can cost us a fortune.
By nightfall, the only thing on everyone’s mind was escaping the flames and the bellowing smell of smoke. Neighborhood watch dogs kept neighbors informed of how near or far the fires had come and news reporters did a magnificent job, playing a crucial role, in keeping viewers updated, therefore safe.
But where were the fire trucks? Where were the overhead planes dropping water and dousing out the rising flames?
As bad luck would have it, many of San Diego’s firemen and limited equipment had been released to the Los Angeles fire chiefs, as they had their own crisis that started a few days earlier. And, as we later learned, once fire trucks are dispatched, it’s up to the receiving fire chief to release them. Protocol is such that the fire chief who had control of them and then released them, relinquishes his/her power to call them back home. Therefore, with firemen and equipment dispatched, San Diego was caught with its pants down! Crazy politics, huh!
So in spite of the taxes paid into a system, San Diego was ablaze.
California Wild FIRES Santiago Canyon Fire
This photo was taken on October 23, 2007 by Caesar Sebastian.
“This is my neighborhood. The firefighters made their stand in our neighborhood and fought the fire from a couple of homes down. You don’t wanna be in this situation. Our neighborhood was saved.” Caesar Sebastian
It was impossible to get near a gas station and the super markets were jammed with everyone stocking up. Many hopped planes and got out of Dodge and others retreated to beach areas (Southern Cal has many) where fires weren’t traveling to. In fact, at the very same time, San Diego had a supermarket strike so the smaller, independent food markets were booming. Proving, once again, that politics plays a key role in the successes and failures of businesses.
In 2003, Mayor Dick Murphy was in office (later to step down thanks, in part, to a pension fund corruption scandal with fingers pointing to his cabinet) and I recall that on Day 2, fires still ablaze, he flew into a fire zone (probably not all that close!) and as he disembarked from the plane (or was it a helicopter) he waved to cameras. That’s when I knew poor politics costs us a bloody fortune.
So there was Mayor Murphy, finally arriving to assess the situation, before – finally — calling in the federal government for assistance. If you caught President Bush’s interview where he was chastised for taking so long to help during Katrina, he explained how his hands were tied until local governments release jurisdiction allowing the feds in to assist.
Imagine all the federal taxes you pay, all the resources the federal government has available to them, and know that their hands are tied until your local officials invite them in.
So 2011 proved to be a good year. Maybe not so much for vacationers as the weather was cooler, but definitely for locals who skirted by with a chillier Santa Ana season. The combination of the Santa Ana winds and dry air turns dry wood into lethal weapons with the potential of burning down thousands of acres in its path and, worse yet, people’s homes and businesses (in 2007 California fires burned down 1,500 homes, destroying over 500,000 acres) displacing thousands of tax paying citizens getting a raw deal by being in the right place at the wrong time.
Renegade Financial Planner
