← The Fame Game with Heidi & Spencer
The Fame Game with Heidi & Spencer
Rising From the Ashes: Nurturing the Land and Community with Jessica Rogers
00:49:29
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A
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- [01:33]
D
Oh, no, that's all glass.
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A
Oh.
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B
Hey.
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A
Welcome back to our house in Pacific Palisades. I'm Spencer Pratt. This is my lovely wife, global pop superstar Heidi Montag. And our special guest this week on the Fame Game is a fellow neighbor whose house looks very similar to ours currently. Please welcome. Everybody in the audience is clapping. I hear you. Jessica Rogers.
- [02:01]
B
Hi, Spencer and Heidi. Thank you so much for having me today.
- [02:05]
D
Yes, thank you so much for coming. And when you said thank you for welcoming me into your home, it like, really warmed my heart. So thank you for recognizing that it still is our home to us. And it is really nice coming back. It's like so bittersweet coming back, but it still feels like home. And I think people don't really realize that. So thank you for saying that because that kind of made my day.
- [02:32]
B
Yeah. You know, right before we started, we were talking about the time that we spend on our. I've changed the term home to lot because if I say home, it gets people confused and think that I actually have a standing house. But the truth is, is that I go to my lot every day. I'm growing pumpkins for the ymca. I water the plants. And it's a place where neighbors come and say hi, where people from all over town stop and ask questions about this disaster. It is literally the same as a war zone. And it is still our home. It's very close to our hearts. This is where you and I, what we share in common, is this is where our babies were born and grew up. And it's. It is. The land carries that energy still, and it's very meaningful. And so what we're going through as an entire community here, not just here in the Palisades, but in Malibu and in Eaton, we all have this common experience of experiencing the greatest disaster of all time. If you Google it today, you'll find out that this fire is actually the greatest disaster of all time on our planet currently in terms of the loss. And I don't believe we talk about it enough. So I just figured I'd put that out there for all of us to consider, what that means to be experiencing this together, this incredible disaster. And yet the world around us, you go a mile away, Is continuing as if nothing happened.
- [04:06]
D
It's so tricky with so much going on in the world, and it must feel that way to so many people and so many situations. But I feel like you're the first person to come here and relate to us in that sense and that still survivor mentality. I mean, it just happened a few months ago, and it's still so fresh and it seems like old news to everyone else, but we're still like, in the beginning of the struggles of still dealing with insurance and the loss and the emotions and our children and re just acclimating to life and getting over that loss is just. It's really challenging and significant. So just feels so nice to have you here, you know, with us, to be able to vocalize and voice that from your perspective and your experience and what you've been going through. The pumpkins, I saw them on the way up here and I was laughing and I was like, what are these pumpkins? This is so great. My son would love that. So thank you for answering the Great Pumpkin.
- [05:06]
A
We should definitely do that.
- [05:08]
D
Yeah, we should.
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B
We should.
- [05:11]
A
We got enough time to grow some before out.
- [05:14]
B
I'm not. I think you got it. I think you need to sign up for next year. But you can grow. You can still grow a lot of flowers, sunflowers, those kinds of flowers grow really fast. And they're great at sucking in all the toxins from the ground and bringing joy to your space. So I would suggest planting flowers and letting the earth regenerate for you here and making your space. I don't know if the cameras can tell, but they have a little flock of hummingbirds behind us, and I can hear them, and they are just the sweetest, happiest beings. And hummingbird energy is all about joy and regeneration. And so what a great thing that you. I don't know. You must have known that already. And so I'm just so glad that you are nurturing your land. What we have to do is nurture ourselves, nurture our land, nurture our community. And you are great role models at that. And you know what's wild is if people were able to be here and see what's going on in the Pacific Palisades. And I can't speak for the other communities, but I have a strong sense that they're probably going through the same as what we are in terms of recovering from the fires. Nothing's actually happening is what's happening. The construction that we have right now is very similar to the construction that we always had in the Pacific Palisades. It's such an incredible community, such a gift of a community that people are constantly, if a home gets sold, they want to rebuild. Most of our homes were built in the 50s and 70s, so construction is an ongoing activity in our community. In the 15 years that I was on my lot land, I had over six homes constructed around me. So construction of the Palisades is regular activity. And what we're witnessing now is really just the continuation of that. And we have yet to even begin to address the rebuilding from the actual disaster. And so, yeah, people need to know that this is happening and why it is that the streets are desolate, that there is no lighting on our streets, it's pitch black at night. That even though we have. What is it, 22% of the homes are still standing, 22% of structures only are still standing. That is a. If you can fathom that, look at your street, your neighborhoods. What does that mean? If you only had 22% left and that spread out over. What is it? I think it's like 82,000 acres or something. It is nothing to see what the environment that we are in. And most of those people who have standing structures are yet to be home. Those are all questions that I love for people to try to conceive of, because if you can't get here and See it for yourself. Maybe those words resonate. And it's only together that we're going to bridge this massive gap and that we're going to get all these structures back and up and built. And I say it out loud to everybody who wants to hear it all the time, and I know you do, too. There's a lot that needs to be done. And there's a lot that really more than anything that our general public, and not just people at our state level, but our national community needs to understand that the Pacific Palisades is really standing on their own. And the only real help that we've had has been from our federal government. That's also something that I think people don't know. Are you aware of that?
- [09:06]
A
Well, yeah. I love that Karen Bass and Newsom and the city council, they always brag about record debris removal. First off, the word debris to me is always so offensive. It should be record removal of everyone's possessions, livelihood, existence. Like to go and just call it debris to me is just. Every time it just hurts my soul. So they brag about it first off, like, that's something special. But it's the Army Corps that did it. A federal agency. It is federal money. It's the federal government. You did nothing. You just did photo ops with the Army Corps. And a lot of people weren't happy with the Army Corps experience. We had a great Army Corps guy, John, who are probably going to have on the podcast and talk about that whole process. Because what people don't understand is the Army Corps had to outsource to private contractors. So they can't be. Everyone can't be perfect. So each lot doesn't have like a perfect contract team. So you can't. It's not a reflection of the Army Corps and the bigger picture. It's just, it was. It's. There weren't designed to do this. So we're definitely going to follow up. But, yeah, they did nothing. And they also blamed this. I didn't learn until I went to Washington. They blamed the EPA for everybody not being able to get onto their lots and like, dig for possessions that maybe they could find in the, in the, in the wreckage. And they said it was the epa. It was not the epa. It was the LA county. And they just blamed the epa. And I learned this from the epa and they said that's absolutely not true. So, yeah, it's unbelievable. And back to this feeling like a house and the energy and Heidi bringing our kids home from the hospital. Last week, somebody trespassed on Our lot and tagged us in photos doing shirtless selfies. And I lost it. I mean, I fully lost it, because to me, it was a home invasion. It was an intruder. And there are people like, oh, my God, I love you, Spencer, but you're turned into a Karen. Like, oh, you're that get off my lawn person. I'm like, no, no, actually, they're standing in my bathroom. They're in my. In our. In our bathroom. Next to our bedroom is where I see them standing, not on our lawn. And then they're like, oh, you put a Heidi Wood thing and you think people aren't going to take photos? Like, again, it's on our private property, not visible from the street. You have to go past five no trespassing signs through a locked gate that you must have climbed over to get to the sign. And I also painted that to promote my wife's music so that we could potentially one day build a house. It's not to have people come take selfies. It's not a wall in West Hollywood, the pink wall, you take photos and you get your coffee. That's not what it is. So I ended up deleting the post because the guy reached out, ends up allegedly. You never know. But it sounds legit that his family house down the street burned down. And he was a huge supporter of Heidi and I and what we're doing, trying to help the Palisades. And he said it was a very stupid thing when he looks back at it. But, you know, again, people make mistakes. So I deleted it and we're good. But the takeaway was how many people were defending the trespassing and the behavior and acting like this wasn't a sacred place. It is sacred to us. That's why we drive two hours to do our podcast here, because this is our life right here. That was stolen from us. It was robbed. And the people that got away with it have moved on. Don't even talk about it. Pretend like it doesn't happen. Talking about national politics all day long when their local politics, what they're responsible for, is an absolute disaster. And they do the misinformation. They talk about the president or they this or different states and all this going on when they what they are responsible, what our tax money is paying for them, what they're in charge of is an absolute greatest disaster in the history of the world. And so, yeah, it's our home.
- [13:17]
D
Yeah, it definitely felt very intrusive. And it's.
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C
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- [14:22]
D
It'S hard to come back sometimes. It's hard to, like, have guests here, you know, so, like sensitive and vulnerable and so to have people here and like disrespecting that. And like Spencer said, you can't just come here.
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B
And I don't want to cry every.
- [14:41]
D
Podcast, but it is like, so it's hard coming back, you know, it is like a very hard situation. But yeah, to have someone come here, you know, I appreciate the support and promotion, but it's not appropriate and it is trespassing and it's not being sensitive to what we're actually going through and towards our property and towards there's just no respect with it. And that's probably, that's part of the infuriating part of the loss of the Palisades is the lack of sensitivity and respect for it and people being like, well, it's a rich community and, you know, just horrific things I've heard people say. It's like, this is our home that we worked really hard to live and to be a part of. And most people are living out of their means to be a part of this community and to have children. And I know that you were saying earlier that you're here representing yourself and you're such a big part of this community. So I just wanted to also touch on that note.
- [15:36]
B
Yeah. So yes, I am a leader in this community and I do represent several nonprofits and I'm here today just as a resident, speaking as a homeowner, as a parent who has also lost absolutely everything. I lost my income in this fire. You know, I lost my baby's home. The dreams that we had of My son walking to Pali High, and he just started this year, and now he's basically in Skid Row south, which is in Santa Monica. And I drive by at least 30 unstable people every day when I go and pick him up. This is not the dream that we had dreamt up, and we're looking forward to rectifying that as soon as possible and getting our kids back to school. School in the Pacific Palisades and away from crime and the devastation that certain politicians in Los Angeles seem to be comfortable with. The good news is, in this community, we've never been comfortable with that, and that's why we're willing to pay the heavy taxes for it. When you talk about people invading your space, and I'll tell you what's never talked about, for example, this is just one of many examples, but within the first three weeks of the fire, every single lot, and like I said, 78% of structures in the Palisades were decimated. Most structures had had all their piping redone. And so they didn't have galvanized pipes, they had copper pipes. And the overwhelming majority of all those structures were robbed of tens of millions of dollars worth of copper piping. And we saw one criminal, I think it was four, five, six months into the devastation, who got pulled over and arrested because he actually had an open bed truck filled with copper piping that he was driving out of the community. And he got pulled over by, I think it was a CHP officer that is the only one that we actually heard of that is being held accountable for the crime that he committed. So there's a. So that type of violation. I remember going back into the community and actually where I live, for the first three weeks, we weren't even permitted to go in. I had to go in with special press passes. Every time I went, something in the wreckage of my home had been displaced. And that was a terrible violation for me. Still trying to grasp what it was that I was looking at the vestiges of my whole life of what I had created for 15 years with my family, you know, what's not discussed enough is that there is severe trauma that comes from an event like this. And what I actually got a lot of experience with is a lot of the employees who were hired by the main contractor, ECC for the Army Corps of Engineers, came from military backgrounds. I had ex seals on my lot. I had all kinds of different veterans who were there. And they explained to me, this is the worst that I've ever seen. And I've been through quite A few wars. So this type of devastation does a lot to your psyche. And another thing nobody ever discusses is how many pets were lost in the devastation, how many hundreds of pets died inside our homes. People don't talk about that because it's very uncomfortable. We are blessed and we are very lucky, and it is an absolute miracle that more people did not die, given the fact that we have zero evacuation procedures for the Pacific Palisades and that we have very few ingress and egress points to this community. So the trauma that we have just trying to get out on that day, for most residents, tens of thousands of people trying to escape, and then the trauma of coming back and not having anything to hold on to, we're talking like tiny little pieces of pottery or just a little mangled something made out of metal or a piece of paper that flew, you know, a couple hundred feet away. I mean, I know you went through all of that. This is the thing that people don't understand is that the trauma is severe. And we're only, you know, through the grieving process, we're only actually getting in touch with that trauma now. It's going to be years for all of us to fully heal and recover from the trauma of such an incredible event. And I think the hardest part for us is being in such an affluent neighborhood, in a community that's well known across this nation, and still feeling like we're not getting enough support. And the reason that we're being given is, well, our state doesn't have any money. Our city is broke. You know, we can't guarantee that we're going to cover your permitting fees, because even though you didn't ask for this to happen, and you've been paying your taxes diligently for years, you've even been paying your insurance company, but hey, guess what? They dropped you, too. I got dropped and currently do not have insurance to rebuild a home. And that's all illegal. But a lot of these people are getting away with it. The real trauma is not just losing this. It's then that feeling, the tremendous feeling of abandonment that we have and the structure. The way it keeps being explained to me is the federal government can't just come in and rescue us even if it wants to. They came in. FEMA was able to come in because it was an emergency situation. And then the Army Corps of Engineers were able to come in and do what has never been done before. And maybe they didn't do it perfectly, like Spencer explained, but they did what has never been done before in less than nine months. They cleared more debris than has ever been cleared. And I know it's a touchy subject. More wreckage, more the vestiges of our life, whatever it is. They took away the toxins and the mess that was caused by the fire in the shortest time ever in our history. And they did it with such effectiveness, with so much structure and discipline and the greatest of care. Even if, again, they're hiring contractors, you don't know if that contractor is going to be having a bad day when he hits your lot. But regardless, they made miracles happen for us. And they are funding most of all that clearance. The money that is taken from those who do actually have insurance, who have to pay for it, is going to the county, not to the federal government. The federal government is just forking out all the money, all the work that we've seen DWP do, all of the assistance that we've had from our police officers. All of that funding comes from a federal government, but it is only in agreement with the demand from our city and our state. What residents need to know is we need to continue to push really hard and tell our local leadership, tell the mayor, tell our governor, you need to be asking for more. You need to be doing more for us. You might be broke, but our federal government can help us. And we're desperately in need of that. And if we don't do it, we're going to be sitting here years from now with a decimated community. And we know that's not what we want. It's either going to be a decimated community or it's going to be owned by a different country. And none of us want that. And the messaging isn't getting out there. I believe. And tell me what you two believe. I truly believe that the messaging is being blocked. And. And you know, the media posts are telling them that everything is in order and everything's happening. And that's not what I'm sensing because if I keep having to repeat myself, it means it's not happening.
- [23:51]
D
I think they just don't care. I think they're wiping their hands with it. They're sweeping it under the rug. It's their fault and they're not taking any accountability and they're just doing a bait and switch. It's so political. They're making it political when it's not. They're not taking care of their people. They're more worried about the next presidency or their campaign or their TikTok. Like Spencer said, they're so focused on national politics, they're Completely abandoning what they are supposed to be taking care of because it makes them look bad, because they are wrong, because they are inefficient of what they were supposed to do and they're responsible for it. So instead of taking that accountability and trying to dig in and help us. And I'm worried about other places in California. I'm worried about, well, what about the scar? Scar, like why aren't they doing that in other places? How are they being preventative of other towns and other cities? Because I don't want this to continue to happen, especially now that I know it's preventable or at least to this magnitude. Are they checking the water everywhere? What is going on? This cannot continue to happen. So that's the infuriating part, is that they don't care and that they aren't even pretending to. They just say like, oh yeah, this not. And it was all great and, and it's just infuriating giving a different narrative to what actually we are going through. And so Spencer's done such a great job and continues to do such a good job advocating for this community and standing up for the community and being a voice because it's not just him doing it. And obviously you can speak for that, but there are so many lawyers and, and people who are concerned such someone as yourself who you know is in communication with Spencer and what do you think about the dense housing that they're trying to put on, single family homes and the apartments and how do you.
- [25:39]
B
So what are your thoughts on that? It's just the horror of what we went through on January 7th. One of my closest friends is in her car with her two year old toddler and little dog and she's stuck on Sunset, the iconic Sunset Boulder Boulevard. Cars are all packed up, firefighters on both sides of her. She's on the phone with her mother who's literally a couple hundred feet away, but she couldn't get to her. And then her mother gets forced to. The firefighters force her to push into a parking lot at the self realization center. And so now she's lost her daughter, she can't see the vehicle anymore. And then the daughter's forced out of her vehicle while the flames are engulfing both sides sides of the road. And she's being told she has. And this is all getting caught on camera by the way, by some local reporter. And she's running down the street towards the ocean with her little toddler in tow. And the toddler has to walk because she's got the two bags that she was able to rescue from the vehicle and the little dog in her hands because the little dog, it would be too dangerous for the little dog. It is just that image alone is burned and engraved into my mind forever. Meanwhile, I'm on the phone with my ex husband who's stuck up in the Highlands. 1200 homes with only one entry and exit point. And most all of the residents are stuck up there and being told, you need to shelter in place. Meanwhile, the entire community is burning down. It was the most challenging time of my life, thinking what will I tell my children if he doesn't make it out? And meanwhile I'm still not, I'm still stuck as well. And so you asked me about density and I just go like. Because the first thing I get to is that image and thinking. We have been begging our local leadership for a proper evacuation plan for this community. Not for a decade, for several decades. We have been saying forever. You can't keep building up and down sunsets. You can't keep adding, adding density, taking away parking. You've got to stop building bike lanes in these areas. By the way, the only thing that got me out of this community was driving through the bike lane on that day. It saved me 45 minutes, which could have been critical. 45 minutes if the fire was blowing just a little bit differently. That could have. If I could not use that lane, I could have died. This is this problem that we have in, especially from my experience in the state of California, is our leaders, and you mentioned it, they're so focused on political ideology. We're going to ram this program, we're going to ram this policy down your throats and we're going to push it whether it makes any sense or not. It doesn't matter how much upheaval we have. We're going to fund an opposition team and an opposition pack that will say exactly what we want to say. We're going to use our youth and we're going to brainwash them to the point of, you know, wishing, telling them about peace, love and happiness and how whatever policy it is that they're pushing is so great for you and we understand you, the money that has been invested in pushing policies that make absolutely no sense, that have no rationale. And when you look and you start digging, all of it is around development and money and big, big, big dollars. Now, we understand that the way of the world these days is around that. But I am a very spiritual person and I'm fully aware that the more we chase the shiny objects, shiny objects totally not against them. I love them myself. But the more we push for things that go against our human nature, just the very basics of human care, of what we need in order to thrive. People need shelter, they need food, and they need safety. Those are the very basics. The more we take that away from people, the more chaos we will see. And what happened here in the Pacific Palisades is they took away our safety. And if you continue to take away people's safety, you will experience a lot more chaos. And the next time, it won't just be tens of people dying and massive destruction of lives and complete trauma. And the other thing people don't discuss is the true death toll after a disaster like this. There are people still passing away today that are dying of heartbreak, that are dying of what comes with the stress involved, of losing everything. There have been suicides since this fire. People aren't talking about that, but the toll is real. It's going to take the form of cancers for many people. And these are things that we have to consider as a whole. And despite all of that, despite mentioning the big and the very obvious, one thing we do have an opportunity in every disaster is because I believe in polarity. So when something really bad happens, you have an equal opportunity or more for the positive. So we have an opportunity here. We might not see it in our leaders, but we as individuals, as residents, as people who care about. Because the truth is, I believe humans actually have more good than bad. There are lots of bad out there. But people tend to want to help each other. By being on my lot every day and meeting people, I witness it. Complete strangers come up and they just want to share a message of encouragement, of support, of care. So if we can harness that out of this disaster, we can create real change for the future. What you say, Heidi, about is like, you're outraged, right? I'm outraged, too. I'm thinking I trusted my government. I used to think that they would just take. You know, I have a sister who says, your government always does what's best for you. I'll never forget when she said that, because I was like, no, I've experienced the opposite. I promise you that's not the case. That's beautiful thought, and we wish that to be the case. But unfortunately, the government's managed by humans, and humans aren't perfect. And there are lots of humans who don't have good intentions. And so, sadly, a lot of them like to be in power. So. But we do have a real opportunity here. And what you're doing is you're Educating people on what the issues are. And the more we educate people on what the issues are, the more we can make change. In good times, we get complacent, and we're living our lives and we're partying and we're having fun. We're being creative, we're raising our children. We're enjoying the fabulous weather, going to the beach, hiking, living fabulous lives. It's in times like this where we create real change. Because now the fire's pushed it all forward, and we really have no choice but to fight back.
- [32:53]
A
Speaking of deaths after the fire, I just found out this weekend when I was in Las Vegas for a jujitsu tournament, this guy came up to me at the bar and he's like, oh, yeah, I know where you live. My house burned down the street. And he showed me photos of his house, and I was. He's like. And then he's like, you know your neighbor died. I was like, no, I saw her after the fire a few days later. And he goes, no, she died of smoke inhalation. I was like, no, you're wrong. I was like, I saw her. Like, she told it was good. He's like, no, she died.
- [33:26]
D
And they stayed and they saved their house and they fought the fires. And, you know, when Spencer's gone back and forth so much, I'm like, I should have stayed. I'm like, you could have died. Then later, the damage, you don't know what it would have done.
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C
So you say you'll never join the Navy, that you'd never track storms brewing in the Atlantic.
- [33:46]
A
And skydiving could never.
- [33:48]
C
Be part of your commute.
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A
You'd never climb Mount Fuji on a.
- [33:53]
C
Port visit or fly so fast you.
- [33:56]
A
Break the sound barrier.
- [33:59]
C
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- [34:17]
B
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- [34:19]
C
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- [34:27]
B
Stitch also cute and fluffy.
- [34:29]
C
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- [35:09]
A
This week. Speaking of that, the LA fire chief went on CBS and he said that the only chance for people to save their homes is if they stay.
- [35:18]
B
So.
- [35:18]
A
So we have now come from where Newsom was yelling at everybody, saying there's no memorials for structures. Get out of there. Leave now. And we all left because we assumed we were going to get 3,000 fire engines from Los Angeles, Cal Fire. We had water and reservoir, all these things that we should have never assumed. And for us thinking Newsom was actually going to worry about us, that's, that's. I'll take that. That's on me. And now the LA fire chief, again on cbs said, your only chance for your house to save is if you stay behind. And the people that Heidi and I are talking about, they're elderly people, so those people should leave. But if you're. I would say at the time before I was more able bodied and I could have stayed if I had had a plan. And that's why in Malibu, somebody I grew up with, Keegan Gibbs, who we're going to have on the podcast after he experienced his house burned down in Malibu and nobody saving his family's house, he created the community Brigade. And now it makes complete sense to me because I argue with like, you know, initially in my head I'm like, yeah, that's cool, but I'd rather have 3,000 fire trucks. But now I get. They don't actually come. They are told to stand down, to let structures burn, just worry about people. Which actually that's not true because when I called 911 for my dad, they said no emergency personnel could go get him. So that story of when they said, oh, we're not worrying about structures, just human life. Nah, I'm gonna get the 911 call. When they say they actually nobody's gonna get your dad. So the takeaway that I would. If anyone is listening to this, that has a swimming pool, spend the $3,000. You get this generator that connects to your swimming pool and you get the hose and just get plans in place and you start researching because nobody in California, if there is a wildfire that Newsom lets happen again, which we have one more year of him, so guaranteed another big fire, he's not going to save your house or anything. And they will not care. And then they'll Be fine if people from China buy your property or if you're a restaurant. Like the real inner that was there for 36 years. And Newsom State park that surrounded it, that was overgrown. All the dead brush that he didn't clear burned down the restaurant. And now Newsom State park is saying that Reel in cannot come back and build their restaurant back. They said if they want, they could apply to maybe have a food truck in their lot. But it's a competitive bidding process for the food truck, and it can only be potentially for three years. So, long story short is save your own house. And every day I wish I had stayed here or at least stayed at my dad's house because he had a pool and he tried to save. You know, obviously I didn't have the generator.
- [38:11]
D
We didn't have. We don't have a pool.
- [38:12]
A
Yeah, no, we would have been here was a. I should have stayed until it was a loss, then headed to my dad's house.
- [38:20]
D
It's a risk, though, and that's the risk you're taking. Do you want to.
- [38:23]
A
It's not, though, because you can always go. I have. Right Now, I have 4,000 videos, realistically. 4,000. Anyone that has a video of a fire, I have what it looked like in all the towns, the fires. Everyone's walking in the streets, they're riding bikes. You go into the middle of the street. If it gets too much, I mean, I truly have 4,000 videos of it. So the idea that this fire just comes over and it just wipes everything out like an atom bomb. That's not what happens. I got. There was more people in the town looting than there were stopping fires. That's the other thing that nobody talks about. Everyone's houses were getting robbed. And it's a fact. It's not even a maybe. And it's one of the biggest, craziest things that they let people just come rob everyone's house and it was not stopped. And people are like, oh, that didn't. It happened. Everybody knows they saw it on their ring doorbell. We're going to have a guest. They call him the sheriff. He was a gold medal Olympic volleyball player. And he stayed behind and saved a block. Just him and this other guy, Martin. Literally blocks of houses. They stayed for two weeks and they watched. They stopped multiple looters coming into the houses. And that's just on one street. So, yes, it's a risk. But, you know, with the right plan, the right gear, right preparation, I'm saying in our situation that day, I couldn't Have. But I knew in Malibu, same patient three weeks before. When this happened, I started saying, I need to get hoses. I need to get this. I should have got a contact for my own private water tender like Rick Caruso had. I should have saw the writing on the wall like the insurance company saw. That's why they dropped everyone, because they go, oh, Newsom in Karen Bass, they don't care if the whole entire palace is burned down. Why would we insure this place?
- [40:15]
D
So, you know, so, Jessica, what do you tell your son? What is helpful as a mom, as a victim of this situation? How is he doing? How are you guys doing as a family? And. And what does the Palisades need to move forward? How can we move forward with it being the most similar to the community that we all loved before?
- [40:37]
B
So one of the most critical components to rebuilding and saving a community is to keep the spirit of the community alive. Because the community, as much as we were attached to the structures that we lived in, it was the energy that we put into those structures, the memories that we created inside of them that we were so attached to, and the object that reminded us of something that really warmed our hearts. And it's the same with the community as a whole. It's the events that occurred. It's the time that you walked down to the froyo shop and had to negotiate with your kids how much ice cream they got to have that day. It's the Elise Walker having her annual sale, and everybody gets to. To go to that. It's going to the farmer's market and running into your, you know, the people that you always say hi to at the farmer's market. It's all these memories. It's when Santa Claus comes once a year and the kids get to go and enjoy that. It's the pumpkin patch. It's all these strictly Palisades memories and activities. It's the AYSO time of year where somebody gets, you know, I don't know if it's happened to you or not, but somebody gets, you know, coaxed into volunteering to support your kids in that process. And so it's all these fabulous memories that create the energy of our community, and that's what needs to stay alive if we can keep that going, which is why AYSO has started up again. You know, it's our hiking trails. It's nourishing them. I don't know if you know this, but we have had people literally out with a little shovel. I had a little old man on Les leones the first 15 years ago, I would go hiking there every morning and there he was, six o' clock in the morning with his shovel, just cleaning up the trail, knowing that the, you know, hundreds of hikers were going to go through that trail that day. And he was a local and he did it out of love and care for our community. And before him came many, many, many, many Palisadians who just took it upon themselves to build these gorgeous hiking trails for us. And we're going to need to do that again. They all got wiped out in the fire. So community is the key component, creating a sense of belonging. One of the reasons why we need to bring people home is because we are the community. Us together, our memories, waving at each other when we're at a restaurant or whatever it is, seeing each other in our schools, those are our memories. You know, I always love to talk about Ms. Sheard at Canyon Elementary. I know she retired, but she was the heart of that school and she created the magic at that school for decades. So that's what we have to hold onto. That's what we have to fight for. That's what we have to keep encouraging people. If you don't have insurance, get your unmet needs met, find a way, let's help each other. You know, we created a long term recovery group in the Pacific Palisades. They get created for every five, but we have one. And that is a place where people who have absolutely no means to go and see how can I get home? What can be done? But the thing is we have to stay connected. We have to keep talking to each other, we have to create events, we have to keep educating people. And despite what our government does for us, us as a community, the residents of this community, we have to unite more than ever and get incredibly creative because it's our hearts that will bring us home. And it's our hearts that will make it that three to five years from now, what we love so much about this community, the energy of this community will survive. We have the most vibrant community. We're an active community. People come here and are drawn to this place. And as I was driving up here, I was remembering my very first time driving through the Pacific Palisades. I actually at the time, this is almost 30 years ago, didn't know it was called the Pacific Palisades. I just remember I grew up in France. I'm there for the summer, staying near the Chateau Marmont. I'm driving down Sunset, believe it or not, to go to Zuma beach with my siblings and you know, we're young and having fun and partying, and we drive down Sunset Boulevard, and I said, what is this place, this magical community? I said, I didn't even know this existed in California. It's like little white picket fence homes and single families. And it's just this peaceful, sweet environment with beautiful trees everywhere, clean, wide streets. So different from the Hollywood vibe. And I just remember thinking, these people are so lucky to live here. And I didn't know that at some point in my life that this would become home for me. It's home because. And it becomes home because people who live here take such great care of it. So that's what we have to do. We have to really push our way through. And one of the things I'm experiencing is I'm trying to come back. I'm trying to rent a home while I figure out this rebuilding process. A lot of the realtors are renting to non residents. And I'm surprised by that because I'm thinking, who would want to actually live in this war zone? But the Palisades is so desirable that you have lots of people who are trying to get into our community. I would say let's band together. Let's work together with the homeowners who still have structures standing. Let's support residents, let's support the love of this community. Let's make sure we get our schools built back. Let's make sure we do things that make sense. I heard that we're trying to put a library on two of the tennis courts when we have a tennis team that could potentially go to the Olympics. I'm hearing things and I'm like, where's the common sense here? Come on, let's work together. Who is going to go to a library that has lots burned all around them? You know, that's not a peaceful time or place to be reading a book. So, you know, there's a lot of things that need to be done, and I think that we can get there. I believe we're going to get there. I'm absolutely 100% determined to make that happen. And I think it's really working together, sharing this energy. And the. The fire that we have in our bellies from this is focusing on that, just making sure that we harness that energy and we create the positive out of it. Remembering we are rebuilding. We're not reimagining the Palisades. That's what I think is critical. We don't want to reimagine. We don't want to push political ideology on this community. We want to restore the magic that was always there and that's still dormant in our lots.
- [47:29]
D
It's shocking that yeah. Isn't just a no brainer and that's not what's happening. But thank you so much for everything you are doing for this community and as a mom, as a hard working woman, as everything that you're doing. Thank you for being an inspiration and continuing to lift up this community and you know we are here for it and hopefully you know it can be rebuilt and not reimagined as you said. That's such a great reference. So thank you for your time and coming here and being in our home.
- [48:00]
B
Thank you so much for having me.
- [48:02]
A
Do you have like a newsletter or website or ig? Are you pretty off the.
- [48:08]
B
I personally I don't and since I'm not representing any of the organizations. Great.
- [48:14]
A
So I'm sorry. So there it is.
- [48:15]
B
I'm a mystery.
- [48:16]
A
Keep listening to this episode and you want to hear her voice again?
- [48:19]
B
You can, I mean you can look up Jessica Rogers, Pacific Palisades and you'll find out all the things that I do in this community. But I don't have anything to share on that end. But you can. If you need to find me, you can find me.
- [48:32]
A
Well, thank you so much.
- [48:33]
D
Only with the kindness and greatest intentions and support or else you don't want the repercussions. But anyways, thank you so much to everybody for watching this. And please make sure that you pre order Spencer's book that is coming out soon. It's on Amazon, it's on lots of different platforms that you can find it and it's going to be a bestseller. So thank you all for watching this. Please leave a five star review and incredible amazing comments and we appreciate your time being here with us.
- [48:57]
A
And don't forget to stream Heidi's music. And if you can buy the album, Heidi would that would be even better. But if you don't, it's free to stream.
- [49:05]
D
And my new single icon.
- [49:06]
A
Okay.
- [49:14]
C
Olivia loves a challenge. It's why she lifts heavy weights and likes complicated recipes. But for booking her trip to Paris, Olivia chose the easy way With Expedia she bundled her flight with a hotel to save more. Of course she still climbed all 674 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You were made to take the easy route. We were made to easily package your trip. Expedia made to travel flight inclusive packages are atoll protected. Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change your receipt did the sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small co for just $5 only at McDonald's for a limited time. Prices and participation may vary.
- [49:59]
B
When the Moore family dished cable Internet and switched to Ziddly fiber, they got so much more. Mr. Moore got more upload speed for next level gaming and live streaming to the masses. With reliable service, Mrs. Moore is no longer her family's IT guru, leaving her more time to stream games into overtime. Let's go. And young Mason Moore got more done quickly uploading HD product demos and video conferencing without freesync. The numbers look good.
- [50:22]
D
Brad. You're on mute.
- [50:23]
B
Switch from cable Internet to Zibly Fiverr and get more of what you love for $65 less per month than cable@ziply fiverr.com.