Rebuild:LA
When the firestorms of January 2025 raged through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, they left nearly 30 people dead and historic destruction in their wake. Recovery will be a long, uphill road and rebuilding will take years and dedicated planning. This podcast takes a deep dive into the circumstances that led to the fires, how people can prepare for future wildfires - which are inevitable - and how Angeleños can come together to rebuild our beautiful city.
Rebuild:LA is the proud winner of the 2025 Award of Excellence from the Communicator Awards!
Rebuild:LA
Episode 029: UPDATED! Rebuild:LA - Delay, Deny, Discourage, and Underpay with Joy Chen of the Eaton Fire Survivors' Network
Five months after the Eaton Fire came charging out of the wildland and destroyed much of the historic city of Altadena, there are still hundreds of families who haven’t been able to return home or start the long process of recovering. This week’s guest says there is a correlation between a family’s insurance carrier, and their ability to recover their lives and rebuild their futures. Joy Chen is a former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, and the current CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute. But these days, she dedicates much of her time to the organization she co-founded, the Eaton Fire Survivors’ Network, and trying to get the insurance industry to pay out on the hundreds of claims coming from survivors. She believes there is a systematic approach of “delay, deny, discourage and underpay.” She and others in the Eaton Fire Survivors’ Network are pressuring California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to investigate the claims process and freeze any proposed rate hikes. The details of her group’s mission are detailed in this week’s episode.
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