To the editor: L.A. County Public Works chief Mark Pestrella makes an attempt to deflect the failures of his workplace onto town of Malibu, saying county water tasks have failed to maneuver ahead as a result of town doesn’t need them, and charging that town has at occasions used inadequate water entry as an excuse to limit new development. (“Officials were warned of failing water system before Palisades fire. Fixes never happened,” Jan. 24)
I used to be intimately concerned in Malibu metropolis authorities from 1994 to 2024 as both mayor, metropolis council member or planning commissioner. No sane individual would accuse town of being pro-development, however the metropolis by no means discouraged the county from creating water infrastructure and by no means restricted new improvement based mostly on water entry.
The company that did typically impose water-based restrictions was the L.A. County Hearth Division, an company that town authorities is powerless to manage and even affect.
Jeffrey D. Jennings, Malibu
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To the editor: After all, issues that occur might have been prevented if this or that was finished. We name that sort of rearview considering “Monday morning quarterbacking.”
A delicate message in your article on water fixes that have been delayed or by no means occurred is that the fires have been somebody’s fault due to a scarcity of planning.
A lot of the dialogue is about budgeting. Oh, if we solely all had as a lot cash as we have to plan for any potential drawback, then we’d be all set!
Dan Hennessy, Arcadia
