August 5, 2026 • 31 mins
Hour 3 - Southern California cities grapple with the aftermath of July 4 mayhem—one city issued $240,000 in fines during a fireworks crackdown—and Newport Beach Mayor Lauren Kleiman joins the show to explain why city staff are asking for new curfews and mass‑gathering rules after the chaos. The hosts break down a looming LA voter decision on whether Palisades homeowners will get relief from the city’s so‑called “mansion tax,” and discuss USC’s new maps showing lead contamination across the county following the Palisades and Eaton fires
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
But if you haven't subscribed to the podcast that we
(00:01):
want to invite you to do that, just click that
follow button and then follow us on the social media's
as well at Monks and Merrill. At Monks and Meryll.
I should also note that we're gonna give a chance
to one thousand dollars coming up here in about fifteen minutes,
as well as tomorrow. You pitched a story today. They
didn't make it into the notes today, didn't make the
cut today, but I thought it was a really good story.
Is what Paramount and David Ellison is like the whole
(00:23):
reason that I'm being sued to stop this merger between
Paramount and Warners. You guys are worried I'm gonna script
your CNN. I thought, wow, do you think it's that simple?
I definitely think he's not wrong. Yeah, I don't know
that it's the whole reason, but I definitely think there's
something not the job. It's not the content, it's not
the consumer protections, it's the editorial independence of cable news network.
(00:46):
I do think there's an element to that. I've had
conversations with some people who shall remain unnamed to protect
you know, their their identity. But they say he's gonna
ruin CNN like he ruined CBS, and it's gonna be
the they're all very liberal people there. He's gonna turn it.
He thinks he's gonna compete against Fox News. Now that's
what they were. Don't they compete? I mean Fox News
(01:08):
is a runaway winner if you are a partisan. No,
they don't compete. Yeah, that's what I mean. It's all
that way right. There were there there could have been
a path to just be a straight kind of news organization.
But I was smart. He knew that there's more money
to be made if you just give confirmation by it.
I don't think there's any consumer base for just straight news. Yeah, no,
(01:28):
there's just isn't.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You need to have the best job. I think news
nations doing the best job.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
They're fine, But you know, I don't really want to
watch Cuoma was still I don't watch any of the
talk shows. Is anybody watch Chris Cuomo talk to Bill O'Reilly?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
But when they have their reporters on our you would
think would want to watch talk shows, but I don't.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I like watching the news. I like watching the news,
the news part. Yeah, and actually I would say Fox
News Channel, their news product is still okay. Yeah, well,
I mean, look we got them on right now, and
like The Five is on Fox News right now. This
is the most popular show on cable news. And I
know we probably have some listeners that are fans of it,
But I think this, These discussions are so ridiculous, and
(02:08):
you can tell when their guy's not in power, right, like,
so Biden's not the pro country, the worst country. They
don't have Biden to talk about anymore. So they spend
a lot of time talking about the mayor of New York.
Oh yeah, socialists, And now they're talking a lot about
this guy who won the Michigan primary. Yes, right, he's
gonna get smoked. There's a place to talk about the
(02:29):
New York mayor. There's a place to talk about the
Michigan Senate race, of course. But every day though you
have nothing else to talk about, and run against Mike Rodgers,
a former cabinet member, And L said, who won the
Democratic side, He's gonna un against Rogers, former congressman, was
a d and I trying to remember anyway, Rogers pretty
complshent Oh you mean national tell got got you got you?
(02:53):
But they don't talk about him. They just talk about
the bad guy. And again, I think this is all
about finding a foil. Yeah, speaking of which, born around
the fourth of July, we sure had a lot of foils,
uh for public officials. They said, we are going to
keep the streets safe, We're going to keep the sky safe.
We are going to enact strict laws to protect your fingers.
(03:14):
And I got to give credit to the City of Orange.
I think was it Orange that we talked to that
had like the drones that were going all out to
try to track down Yeah, we had the mara on
before fourth of July out and they said, look where
this is zero tolerance. Yeah, we're going to come after you.
Paid off. It did absolutely paid off. The City of
Orange says that they collected two hundred and forty thousand
(03:35):
dollars in fines. They laid out for two hundred forty thousand.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
They haven't necessarily collected it. Yeah, okay, so they did.
They said, look, we're going to use drones. We're going
to find you folks who are using illegal fireworks. My goodness,
it was so loud and flashy. I mean it was
so funny. On the fourth of July to stand on
my rooftop in downtown LA and watch the ring of
fire that I was surrounded by, especially in the context
(03:58):
of spending you know, a couple of weeks eating up
to it, talking to all these different city officials, or
highlighting the different public warnings that were coming out of
various government agencies, like no fireworks safe, insane only in
some cases none at all in most plays in you thought,
I don't think people got this memo. But in Orange
people could end up paying the price two hundred and
forty thousand dollars in fines, and that ain't nothing. I mean,
(04:18):
that's a good little chunk of change for a city.
I don't know what they'll use it for. I hope fireworks, genuinely,
would that be fun? Let's see fireworks. Large city or
stadium displays often cost between twenty and one hundred thousand
plus dollars for elaborate production. So they've got enough to
pay for a pretty elaborate firework show in the future
(04:38):
if they want to. What. I love public displays so
that you don't have to have them in you're cull
to sack as a snitch. I have to say, I
really like some of the details coming out of Orange,
because it wasn't just the drones that caught people. They
set up a hotline as well as police dispatch. They
had an app, they had an email box, and they
say between June twentieth and July fourth, three hundred and
(05:00):
eighty six total calls were received. Three hundred and eighty
four came from Michael's cell phone. Hey I see another one,
see another one. I told the mayor at that time,
how do I collect? How do I rat people out?
But they I don't remember. Were they offering a reward?
I think, I don't know if it was Orange, but
we did talk about there being some rewards for people
(05:21):
who rat it out?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The nitches and I thought I could make a few
bucks this, you could, I had no problem with it.
They'll side hustle for you. The first illegal discharge carries
a two thousand dollars administrative fine, The second costs four
thousand dollars. In every additional discharge, every single one costs
six thousand dollars. There was one number that there was
(05:45):
one property. So I was concerned that you kept saying
something about additional discharge bothered me greatly Jesse played the
sound from the talkback earlier. One tech is this the
woman who's shut up Meryl. We need to have that
rat at all times. So that's significant. And there was
(06:08):
one property on North Elmwood Street in Orange that accumulated
one hundred eleven thousand dollars. Oh my god, ridiculous. He
did say it. It's great. I love that. Here's what's
funny is that of their two hundred fifty, two hundred
and forty thousand dollars, nearly half of it comes from
(06:29):
that one place that just kept what they just kept saying.
Forget you, copper, I'm gonna keep setting these off. They're
not going to collet two hundred forty thousand dollars because
the person who's setting off fireworks is not a responsible
individual who has an extra hundred and somehad grand. It's
a bit able to pay the fine. It's a bit
eccess not happening. In fact, we're talking about to do
throw me in jail for sitting out fireworks because I
love America. We're talking about all these calls that the
(06:51):
city got, people maybe ratting out their neighbors. But ultimately
that two hundred and forty thousand dollars sum it didn't
come for many. That Elmwood property and as well as
one on East Barkley Avenue. They both accounted for one
hundred and eighty thousand dollars, or seventy five percent of
the total. Yeah, okay, that's crazy to me. Only eight
properties actually got fines, but those are only pretty hefty fines.
(07:14):
I mean, I wonder if this actually carries weight, because
if you have one hundred and eight thousand dollars fine
from a government agency, that could end up with a
language in your house. Yeah, other problem renters. Yeah, nobody
sets a fireworks at a house to the own. They
might lose their house. What are you crazy? That's not true,
totally true. Let's go down to a Newport Beach where
the city put hundreds of officers on the streets, tripled
(07:34):
the fines, and clamped down on the curfew. But we
still saw what happened on the fourth of July. What
are they gonna do next to stop the next teen takeover?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
AM six forty more stimulating talk.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I had a kid on an e bike blow past
me on a dark street popped up Willie. He had
no running gear, no lights, his bike was black, he
had no helmet, and he was wearing black clothes.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
He was like a ninja.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
They're dangerous. They're gonna start killing people like Nina's right, Okay,
I like it. You're gonna die from the machines. Well,
I got good news for you. The City of Los Angeles.
He's gonna have a committee, yeah, to discuss. They're always
good at enforcing laws in the City of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Orange County would throw that kid's parents in jail, but
la Is they don't mess around committee. We remember the
scene over July four weekend in Newport Beach where it
just turned chaotic. All these kids from Arizona, Nevada came
into party at the beach and boy a, Newport Beach
shut that down fast, and now they're moving further. The
(08:51):
city Council's directed city staff to develop six potential ordnance
changes following that disturbance at the Balboa Peninsula, and the
proposals target young people, parents, social media organizers, and mass gatherings,
but the city has not settled on specific curfew hours, penalties,
enforcement powers, or a date for adopting the rules, So
let's see when we might get some clarity on the
(09:14):
timeline new for Peach. Mayor Laura Kleiman is with us
right now. Mayor Cleinman, thank you so much for being
with us. We appreciate the time that you're giving us,
and tell us what kind of discussions are the city
having based on what you experience on July four?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Sure well, thank you for having me on the show.
As I said, this was absolutely not what we wanted
for America's two fiftieth or any other day for that matter.
I've actually been reaching out to other mayors and police
chiefs around the country who have been experiencing this team
takeover trend, and sadly, it absolutely is very much a
(09:51):
growing nationwide trend.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Is all coming Arizona?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Please?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Is everybody having problems with kids traveling in from out
of city or out of state or is that kind
of a unique to Newport.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Some are definitely experiencing the same out of area trend
that we see here. Some are are not having the
same you know, it's more urban, But the trend, the
teen or TikTok takeover trend, is nationwide. We did have
a plan in place with a mobile Booking Station, Peninsula
(10:26):
Command Center, and Mutual Aid at the ready. And because
of that, we fared much better by comparison. We had
no major injuries or destruction or property, no use of
lethal force or tear gas or prepper ball, and as
you know, a record number of arrests. I actually received
a call from a parent in Utah who was looking
for some sort of clemency for his son, who he
(10:48):
was sure did not deserve to be arrested. But let
me be clear, this is not something that will be
tolerated in Newport Beach and there will be consequences for
everyone involved. Some of these out of state miners are
still being held in juvenile detention centers here. Others are
being transferred back to their home states like Arizona, as
(11:08):
you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So while our.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Police department works hand in hand with the District Attorney's
office for full prosecution, I've been focused on building on
the measures that we put in place over the last year,
not just in advance of the next Fourth of July,
but for any holiday weekend or any day that some
inciting post goes viral on social media or crowds simply
get to unwilled be to manage safely. This absolutely has
(11:34):
to be the standard for US and for the Coastal
Commission too. After the last fourth of July, we expanded
our Safety Enhancement Zone, which triples all fines for municipal
code violations. We instituted a one strike replication rule for
short term lodging permit folders during these high intensity periods.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Wait wait may so with that particular move on that
that is a targeted like people who operate Airbnb and
might rent out a room to people that are looking
to engage in chaos.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
So we do have a number of permits that we
issue for short term rental purposes and they are held
to certain standards. They don't always comply the way we
would like them to. Our code enforcement team does an
incredible job ensuring that they are in compliance, but we
definitely see an uptick in violations during these certain periods
(12:32):
of time, over holiday weekends, over spring break, et cetera.
And particularly the new trend with people coming in some
miners and some in their twenties with no chaperone and
you know, holding parties or in inviting others.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
That seems to be the goal. That seems to be
their goal. From the start right. Newport Mayor Lauren Cleman,
as you met mentioned earlier, you're talking about TikTok takeovers,
So it sounds like it sounds like the whole point
of their vacation is to have an evening where they
just raise hell. So what is the city able to
do when it comes to people on social media doing
(13:10):
these things? I mean, are you going to stop people
from trying to be influencers in Newport Beach? Is that
is that a solution? Or so how do you balance
people who are actually trying to promote the city or
some people trying to promote a TikTok takeover?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Sure, So we're definitely coordinating with other agencies and looking
to invoke new rules and penalties we last year initiated
are not a Newport social media campaign to try to
kind of target these young people where they generally get
their information. We've doubled down on productive enforcement leading up
(13:46):
to spring break and summer holidays, but we are looking,
as you mentioned, to adjust the minor curfew, which has
typically been ten pm, and you know, we're looking at
utments and modifications to that as well as our Safety
Enhancement's own ordinance, which we've been making refinements to over
(14:07):
the last year and a half or so so that
we can also allow our police chief to shut things
down when necessary for public safety, but.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Monitoring shut it down before it gets out of hand.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
That's that's right. But we are looking also to parent
accountability measures for miners who engage in this type of
unlawful or disruptive conduct. We are targeting mass gatherings on
lawful gatherings that are promoted online through social media, and
(14:44):
we're also looking to adopt a public nuisance ordinance that
mirrors the penal codes so we can impose the same
triple fines and prosecute without the DA But we are
now actively monitoring across all social media platforms. We're going
to continue new Hour not Newport campaign using the body
worn camera footage really getting the message out again. We
(15:06):
had over four hundred arrests on fourth of July weekend
and we will be prosecuting all of those individuals well.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
We will hope to stay updated on those plans, and
as those potential penalties become updated, we'll reach out to
you again. Newport meet excuse me, Newport Beach. Mayor Lauren
Climate has been with us good luck out there, Mayrow.
I think well done on cracking down on July fourth,
and hopefully people get the message now no clemency for
the Utah kids either, for you keep them locked up.
Did you have parents calling you a lot asking for clemency?
(15:38):
That seems like it's very old school. If see if
the mayor can offer clemency, that's weird.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I mean that was not the described request, but essentially
the reason for the call was looking for some kind
of exception to be made. It was interesting to me
that this kid was twenty years old and his father
was calling me here by himself, and you know, but no,
(16:06):
there will be no exceptions.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That's the kind of thing. That's the kind of kid
whose parents show up at a job interview with them,
you know, like that's that's what's wrong with society today.
Lauren Kleiman is the mayor of Newport. Thank you so much.
Mayor's been a pleasure having on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you, thank you again for having me care you're listening.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
To Monks and Merrill on demand from KF I am by.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I thought maybe i'd try to get you fired up
here before we hand things off to the godfather of talk,
John Cobbold, I'm curious, this is what your hot take
is going to be on this one. H LA voters
deciding in November, you're gonna have a chance here because
the city council just passed a measure to give you
one more thing to vote on. I believe a lot this.
(16:50):
This ballot is going to look like Warren Peace when
it shows up at your in your mailbox and see
is Hernandez is the only one who opposed this, and
that is to send to the ballot an opportunity for
you to suspend the mansion tax people whose homes were
destroyed in the Palisades fire and are rebuilding. Proposal offers
(17:11):
relief to original property owners through early twenty thirty, including
owners of investment properties, and offers nothing comparable to owners
that are affected by other fires. That's where I have
a real issue with this. Yeah, it's it's carved out
for the Palisades.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Of course, Measure ULA should probably have been given the
opportunity to be repealed. That would have been the ideal
scenario for people here to realize what a mistake it
was to adopt the mansion tax, and they had an
opportunity to repeal it. They decided they punted on the ballot,
but they know they have got to help expedite the
rebuild in the Palisades, and because that is a part
of the city that has such expensive housing stock, folks
(17:51):
who lost their homes at a fire would be subject
to this massive tax. Remember the which is unfair measure
ula the mansion tax that applies to a couple of
different rates between five and almost ten million dollars is
one rate of being additional tax. Huh, and then ten
millions in above is more tax. And it goes into
a fund that helps provide free lawyers to people who
(18:13):
don't pay their rent. And that's honest to god. One
of it's supposed to help affordable housing projects, but they
didn't build any affordable housing with the money. They haven't
built any housing, but they have funded a lot of nonprofits.
You told me you wanted me to be fired up.
I'm fired up now because you remind me of these
scam lawyers. I just wanted to know if you thought
the man, if you would supports his mensages have to
(18:34):
be voting on it. I would prefer that it be
citywide's exactly. Even the champion of the mansion tax. Councilwoman
Nitthia Rahman, who very well maybe the next mayor of
Los Angeles, has admitted what a mistake it's been the
mansion tax because it didn't build any of the houses
they promise. It just funded nonprofits. Here's where we give
free lawyers to freeloaders. Here's where I'm having an issue
with with doing a one time exemption for Palisades owners.
(18:59):
We're making a specially exemption, and that is evidence that
the law itself is broken. If your goal is to
put a mansion tax in and you've got actual mansions
that are being exempted, but you've got apartment complexes or
commercial buildings that are not being exempted, it is the
exact opposite of what the Democratic Socialists on the council
(19:19):
wanted to do. They wanted to at tax the wealthy
in order to help subsidize lawyers for people who are
being evicted. Whatever the issue is, I think this is
incredibly unfair. I think it's fair for the people in
the Palici. It's don't get me wrong, I don't think
I don't think the people in the Pali, Sads or
anyone else would have to pay this mansion tax but
what happens if you lost your house but it didn't
(19:41):
happen during the Paliceads fire? House would you have lost he?
I don't know. You have a house fire somewhere else
another time, just wasn't during the fire. Your house is
destroyed for one reason or another, you don't get that exemption.
No love for you. It's only if your house was
damaged or destroyed by the Palisades fire. So if you
(20:02):
live in a high rent district, you've got a nice home,
you've got some money, you've done well for yourself, and
let's say that an arsonist comes by and burns your
home down, no exemption for you. You will still be
paying the tax. It is another example to your point
of why the whole tax has to be scrapped. And
we're gonna keep voting for these minor carbouts. And what
we're doing is picking and choosing winners based on our
(20:24):
temporary sympathies. That's it. That's this fire affected people. I
was hurt by the fire. I don't like the fire.
I don't want to see people being punished because of
the fire. I'm going to vote for this, Okay, Well,
what about the guy whose house was run into by
a drunk driver whose car took a turn, flipped over
three times, and took out the second story. Oh that's
not good enough. No, you mean just another situation where
(20:48):
it wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault, right, but
it wasn't in a high profile fire. You're still gonna
have to pay that mansion tax. You're still getting screwed.
I have a feeling that's not why Council Wman Unitsies
Fernandez Stould opposed to it. Not on that principle. Oh no,
for herse she doesn't want to see the money go away.
She's exactly punished the people in the palace, yes, or
anybodyho owns property. Yeah yeah, oh you've got money. We
want to punish it, exactly. No, those are her base
(21:09):
And by the way, nobody cares that she's a terrible
member of the city council because she won in her
primary outright with about wasn't even freaking close. Keep in
mind she represents MacArthur Park. There are no consequences, not
for criminals, not for bad public officials. It's just constant reward.
Who cares, who cares whatever, who cares? Nothing matters. Monks
(21:32):
and Meryl show. It's a mantra.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
What a shame.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
It just blows my mind. Now there's a new report
out from a USC about what else the fires did.
It was more than just burned down houses. Okay, they
did damage some grounds. It also hit the water. What
they found next. As Monks and Meryl continues, you're.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Listening to Monks and Merrill on the air from kf
I AM sixty.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Available anywhere on the iart Radio app. This song takes
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If I AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Monks and Meryl Michael Monks here with Chris Meryl wrapping
(22:19):
up this Wednesday edition of the show. Don't forget if
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subscribe regardless of what the restraining order says. He's showing
(22:41):
up anyway. Researchers at the University of Southern California have
tested more than six thousand soil samples for more than
three thousand properties in La County following the Eton and
Palisades fire, and they have confirmed that the fires released
lad but the resulting contamination resembles a patchwork shaped by
drifting debris, earned building materials, decades of older pollution, and
(23:03):
wish portion of the yard gets tested. Oh so there
was already some lead in the soil space or lead
in sounds like there might have been lead in some
of the materials that burned and then blew away. That
was my interpretation of that. Yeah, I I think it's
interesting that they found that the fire released lead. I
don't think. I don't think lead is one of the
basic elements of fire. But it does. Excuse me, doctor no,
(23:26):
but I mean it sounds like just you're exactly what
you said. It basically brought things in like maybe the
lead paint and some old house. Yeah, and it burned
and then yeah, blew across and landed in someone's yard.
So third, and what part of the yard are they
testing too? Precisely. Okay, thirty nine percent of the samples
exceeded California's residential lead screening level of eighty parts per millions,
(23:50):
where we get a little too two of the weeds
on the math. I don't know what it means, but
it let's just say it exceeds what the state says
is okay. Does that mean that every yard that goes
in now has to have a Prop sixty five warning
on it? Probably? They note that when they compared two
samples from the same property, one typically contained approximately twice
(24:10):
as much as the other, and that variation was more
pronounced on some properties inside the fire zones. There was
one extreme example that USC shared with us. They found
more than Again, this is numbers that I don't really
know the meaning of, but seventeen hundred parts per million
of lead in one backyard were debris from an adjacent
nineteenth century building had fallen during the Eaten fire. Okay.
(24:33):
Other samples from that same property range from approximately thirty
to three hundreds, and again, California's limit is eighty, So
if you've got one that's at seventeen hundred, That's the
point I was making, is that there are some old properties,
especially in Altadena, that burned, and if it's a nineteenth
century building, it might have had some materials that we
might frown upon. These are lead and stained glass windows.
(24:53):
I'm wondering if maybe the let is use in stained
glass windows to join individual pieces of glass into unstable,
flexible panels while allowing designs. I wonder if maybe that
the church did this. I don't think that are you
blaming the church the wrath of God man? You have
taken the side of a guy who wanted to kill
President of today. You want the Palacidians to pay more
to rebuild, and now you're blaming the church for the
(25:16):
eating fire, the Palacidians, Palisadians. I meant, I'm sorry, Pallasadians,
gonna get the dminems correct. I've said enough people today.
They did not lead from old paint, leaded gasoline, traffic, aviation,
industrial emissions, legacy, pesticides, those at all accumulated here for decades.
But they found that proximity to the fire and heavy
smoke alone did not reliably predict the soil lead levels.
(25:39):
Which one do you think was worse Eaten or Palisades.
I would have guessed, yeah, because they have a lot
of the older housing stock, older buildings in that part
of the area. Median lead inside, yeah, median lead inside
the Eaton burn area was seventy nine parts per million,
which is right at California, right at the level in Palisades,
it was much thirty one. So we were right, that's right.
(26:03):
So eating excuse me. Basically Alta Dina was getting screwed
over again. Everybody's taking care of the Palisades. Everybody's ignoring Altadena. Unbelievable.
The interesting thing to remember, though, is if this stuff
is in the soil and it's not good for us
to be around or to build on, we have to
keep in mind that when those federal crews came in
to remove the fixed the ground, you know, we thought
(26:26):
that we could rebuild. They only took the top six inches,
and you got to go deeper than that. You gotta
go deeper. Usc fountain lead and scraped footprints was approximately
thirty eight percent lower, and the surrounding portions of the
(26:46):
same property. Although researchers lacked before and after samples needed
to prove scraping caused the reduction, they said higher readings
appeared more frequently in yards, gardens, and other areas beyond
the former building footprint a partial Therefore, so what's the
consequence kids are going to get to cancer if they
play in the yard. It doesn't sound like it. I
(27:07):
mean it sounds like there are some There was some
higher lead levels, and you know that's a consequence of
lead being in the environment anyway, the built environment, the
transportation environment over the course of a century. And how
much of this do you think is because of the fires?
(27:28):
In other words, we don't have we don't have something
to we have a baseline. We don't know what the
lead levels were outside that church before the fire came through.
We only know that the church in Altadena burned down
and or nineteenth century building I'm sorry, nineteenth century building
had fallen during the Eaton fire. Why do you think
it was a church? You were talking about staying glass windows? Yeah,
(27:51):
I don't know why I was thinking that that building
we're talking about was the church. But whatever it is,
we don't know what it was beforehand, so it could
have been high prior to the fires too. I don't
know how much the fires contributed to it. I don't
have any doubt that they contributed some. But basically, what
I'm seeing is Palisades things are taking care of Altadena people.
Sure you can build out that. Sure we're not going
(28:13):
to test the dirt. Sure it's fine. No, I don't
think that's what before the fires.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
No, Yes, well, well before the fires, before the fires,
we just don't know how contaminated it was. There's no
before the fire test to compare it to. Yeah, that's
my point. Yeah, I guess Altadena was they had the
older built environment then Palisades did so. Yeah, they weren't
looking for much lead. In fact, I think they ate
(28:39):
lead for breakfast in the nineteenth century. Is that right.
It's very important to them in the flakes, the researchers.
But it was lead flakes. It very popular first course,
all right, good stuff. That's why people lived to twenty
three back then, Okay had grandchildren at twenty six. The
USC researchers did also look get the ocean water. They
(29:01):
collected some samples, and they found that the coastal waters
were back at their typical levels within just months. Now.
I don't know if that means it can live longer
in the soil. No, this goes back to something I
told you before, that dilution is the solution to pollution.
So if you have seventeen hundred parts per million, what
(29:22):
you need to do is add an awful lot of
dilution to a water is the easiest thing to do
that with, and that's going to redistribute that around a
larger area, which will then lower the parts per million.
It's going to lower the concentration. Once you've got lead
levels that are hitting the ocean, the ocean is going
to turn that on its own and it's going to
dilute it on its own, which is why it returned
so quickly to the normal levels. But when it's in
(29:43):
the soil, it's not going anywhere unless you're able to
add I mean, if you get heavy, heavy rain showers,
that might do something, but you'd have to have those
for weeks on end in order to have the dilution
necessary to make your concentration drop down. What do What
do I do about all of your delusions? Solutions? They're
not delusions, they're solutions. What am I supposed to do Friday?
(30:05):
Hope we should warn the audience that Chris Merrill is
not going to be here on Friday, and it's going
to be Monks's first level form based code. Yeah, this
is like Jackie in Shadow kicking an eaglet out of
the nest. Fly on your own, little bird, and you
know I would be attacked immediately by some sub adulties.
I see you talking with the producers. You're already trying
to think about stuff for Friday, and I thought a
(30:26):
lot of things could change between now on Friday. Way
worried about that it's two days away. I just like
the idea that I'm going to do the show I
want to do. I think it's going to be a
full hour of form based code, different zoning regulations, a
little bit of historic preservation. Oh my gosh, this is
something and how we can save the buildings that matter
to us. That's coming up Friday on Monks and Monks.
In the meantime, you got the godfather of talk radio,
(30:48):
the Great John Cobbolt said to set it a step
into the padded room, and one more show of Monks
and Merril this week tomorrow, starting NOWONISH. I am six
forty live everywhere, and then I hurt radio app Oh
my god, Merril, you're ridiculous. This is KFI on demand.
You've been listening to Monks and Merrill. Here the show
(31:09):
live weekdays from noon to three on KFI Am six
forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
But if you haven't subscribed to the podcast that we
(00:01):
want to invite you to do that, just click that
follow button and then follow us on the social media's
as well at Monks and Merrill. At Monks and Meryll.
I should also note that we're gonna give a chance
to one thousand dollars coming up here in about fifteen minutes,
as well as tomorrow. You pitched a story today. They
didn't make it into the notes today, didn't make the
cut today, but I thought it was a really good story.
Is what Paramount and David Ellison is like the whole
(00:23):
reason that I'm being sued to stop this merger between
Paramount and Warners. You guys are worried I'm gonna script
your CNN. I thought, wow, do you think it's that simple?
I definitely think he's not wrong. Yeah, I don't know
that it's the whole reason, but I definitely think there's
something not the job. It's not the content, it's not
the consumer protections, it's the editorial independence of cable news network.
(00:46):
I do think there's an element to that. I've had
conversations with some people who shall remain unnamed to protect
you know, their their identity. But they say he's gonna
ruin CNN like he ruined CBS, and it's gonna be
the they're all very liberal people there. He's gonna turn it.
He thinks he's gonna compete against Fox News. Now that's
what they were. Don't they compete? I mean Fox News
(01:08):
is a runaway winner if you are a partisan. No,
they don't compete. Yeah, that's what I mean. It's all
that way right. There were there there could have been
a path to just be a straight kind of news organization.
But I was smart. He knew that there's more money
to be made if you just give confirmation by it.
I don't think there's any consumer base for just straight news. Yeah, no,
(01:28):
there's just isn't.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You need to have the best job. I think news
nations doing the best job.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
They're fine, But you know, I don't really want to
watch Cuoma was still I don't watch any of the
talk shows. Is anybody watch Chris Cuomo talk to Bill O'Reilly?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
But when they have their reporters on our you would
think would want to watch talk shows, but I don't.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I like watching the news. I like watching the news,
the news part. Yeah, and actually I would say Fox
News Channel, their news product is still okay. Yeah, well,
I mean, look we got them on right now, and
like The Five is on Fox News right now. This
is the most popular show on cable news. And I
know we probably have some listeners that are fans of it,
But I think this, These discussions are so ridiculous, and
(02:08):
you can tell when their guy's not in power, right, like,
so Biden's not the pro country, the worst country. They
don't have Biden to talk about anymore. So they spend
a lot of time talking about the mayor of New York.
Oh yeah, socialists, And now they're talking a lot about
this guy who won the Michigan primary. Yes, right, he's
gonna get smoked. There's a place to talk about the
(02:29):
New York mayor. There's a place to talk about the
Michigan Senate race, of course. But every day though you
have nothing else to talk about, and run against Mike Rodgers,
a former cabinet member, And L said, who won the
Democratic side, He's gonna un against Rogers, former congressman, was
a d and I trying to remember anyway, Rogers pretty
complshent Oh you mean national tell got got you got you?
(02:53):
But they don't talk about him. They just talk about
the bad guy. And again, I think this is all
about finding a foil. Yeah, speaking of which, born around
the fourth of July, we sure had a lot of foils,
uh for public officials. They said, we are going to
keep the streets safe, We're going to keep the sky safe.
We are going to enact strict laws to protect your fingers.
(03:14):
And I got to give credit to the City of Orange.
I think was it Orange that we talked to that
had like the drones that were going all out to
try to track down Yeah, we had the mara on
before fourth of July out and they said, look where
this is zero tolerance. Yeah, we're going to come after you.
Paid off. It did absolutely paid off. The City of
Orange says that they collected two hundred and forty thousand
(03:35):
dollars in fines. They laid out for two hundred forty thousand.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
They haven't necessarily collected it. Yeah, okay, so they did.
They said, look, we're going to use drones. We're going
to find you folks who are using illegal fireworks. My goodness,
it was so loud and flashy. I mean it was
so funny. On the fourth of July to stand on
my rooftop in downtown LA and watch the ring of
fire that I was surrounded by, especially in the context
(03:58):
of spending you know, a couple of weeks eating up
to it, talking to all these different city officials, or
highlighting the different public warnings that were coming out of
various government agencies, like no fireworks safe, insane only in
some cases none at all in most plays in you thought,
I don't think people got this memo. But in Orange
people could end up paying the price two hundred and
forty thousand dollars in fines, and that ain't nothing. I mean,
(04:18):
that's a good little chunk of change for a city.
I don't know what they'll use it for. I hope fireworks, genuinely,
would that be fun? Let's see fireworks. Large city or
stadium displays often cost between twenty and one hundred thousand
plus dollars for elaborate production. So they've got enough to
pay for a pretty elaborate firework show in the future
(04:38):
if they want to. What. I love public displays so
that you don't have to have them in you're cull
to sack as a snitch. I have to say, I
really like some of the details coming out of Orange,
because it wasn't just the drones that caught people. They
set up a hotline as well as police dispatch. They
had an app, they had an email box, and they
say between June twentieth and July fourth, three hundred and
(05:00):
eighty six total calls were received. Three hundred and eighty
four came from Michael's cell phone. Hey I see another one,
see another one. I told the mayor at that time,
how do I collect? How do I rat people out?
But they I don't remember. Were they offering a reward?
I think, I don't know if it was Orange, but
we did talk about there being some rewards for people
(05:21):
who rat it out?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The nitches and I thought I could make a few
bucks this, you could, I had no problem with it.
They'll side hustle for you. The first illegal discharge carries
a two thousand dollars administrative fine, The second costs four
thousand dollars. In every additional discharge, every single one costs
six thousand dollars. There was one number that there was
(05:45):
one property. So I was concerned that you kept saying
something about additional discharge bothered me greatly Jesse played the
sound from the talkback earlier. One tech is this the
woman who's shut up Meryl. We need to have that
rat at all times. So that's significant. And there was
(06:08):
one property on North Elmwood Street in Orange that accumulated
one hundred eleven thousand dollars. Oh my god, ridiculous. He
did say it. It's great. I love that. Here's what's
funny is that of their two hundred fifty, two hundred
and forty thousand dollars, nearly half of it comes from
(06:29):
that one place that just kept what they just kept saying.
Forget you, copper, I'm gonna keep setting these off. They're
not going to collet two hundred forty thousand dollars because
the person who's setting off fireworks is not a responsible
individual who has an extra hundred and somehad grand. It's
a bit able to pay the fine. It's a bit
eccess not happening. In fact, we're talking about to do
throw me in jail for sitting out fireworks because I
love America. We're talking about all these calls that the
(06:51):
city got, people maybe ratting out their neighbors. But ultimately
that two hundred and forty thousand dollars sum it didn't
come for many. That Elmwood property and as well as
one on East Barkley Avenue. They both accounted for one
hundred and eighty thousand dollars, or seventy five percent of
the total. Yeah, okay, that's crazy to me. Only eight
properties actually got fines, but those are only pretty hefty fines.
(07:14):
I mean, I wonder if this actually carries weight, because
if you have one hundred and eight thousand dollars fine
from a government agency, that could end up with a
language in your house. Yeah, other problem renters. Yeah, nobody
sets a fireworks at a house to the own. They
might lose their house. What are you crazy? That's not true,
totally true. Let's go down to a Newport Beach where
the city put hundreds of officers on the streets, tripled
(07:34):
the fines, and clamped down on the curfew. But we
still saw what happened on the fourth of July. What
are they gonna do next to stop the next teen takeover?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
AM six forty more stimulating talk.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I had a kid on an e bike blow past
me on a dark street popped up Willie. He had
no running gear, no lights, his bike was black, he
had no helmet, and he was wearing black clothes.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
He was like a ninja.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
They're dangerous. They're gonna start killing people like Nina's right, Okay,
I like it. You're gonna die from the machines. Well,
I got good news for you. The City of Los Angeles.
He's gonna have a committee, yeah, to discuss. They're always
good at enforcing laws in the City of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Orange County would throw that kid's parents in jail, but
la Is they don't mess around committee. We remember the
scene over July four weekend in Newport Beach where it
just turned chaotic. All these kids from Arizona, Nevada came
into party at the beach and boy a, Newport Beach
shut that down fast, and now they're moving further. The
(08:51):
city Council's directed city staff to develop six potential ordnance
changes following that disturbance at the Balboa Peninsula, and the
proposals target young people, parents, social media organizers, and mass gatherings,
but the city has not settled on specific curfew hours, penalties,
enforcement powers, or a date for adopting the rules, So
let's see when we might get some clarity on the
(09:14):
timeline new for Peach. Mayor Laura Kleiman is with us
right now. Mayor Cleinman, thank you so much for being
with us. We appreciate the time that you're giving us,
and tell us what kind of discussions are the city
having based on what you experience on July four?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Sure well, thank you for having me on the show.
As I said, this was absolutely not what we wanted
for America's two fiftieth or any other day for that matter.
I've actually been reaching out to other mayors and police
chiefs around the country who have been experiencing this team
takeover trend, and sadly, it absolutely is very much a
(09:51):
growing nationwide trend.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Is all coming Arizona?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Please?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Is everybody having problems with kids traveling in from out
of city or out of state or is that kind
of a unique to Newport.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Some are definitely experiencing the same out of area trend
that we see here. Some are are not having the
same you know, it's more urban, But the trend, the
teen or TikTok takeover trend, is nationwide. We did have
a plan in place with a mobile Booking Station, Peninsula
(10:26):
Command Center, and Mutual Aid at the ready. And because
of that, we fared much better by comparison. We had
no major injuries or destruction or property, no use of
lethal force or tear gas or prepper ball, and as
you know, a record number of arrests. I actually received
a call from a parent in Utah who was looking
for some sort of clemency for his son, who he
(10:48):
was sure did not deserve to be arrested. But let
me be clear, this is not something that will be
tolerated in Newport Beach and there will be consequences for
everyone involved. Some of these out of state miners are
still being held in juvenile detention centers here. Others are
being transferred back to their home states like Arizona, as
(11:08):
you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So while our.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Police department works hand in hand with the District Attorney's
office for full prosecution, I've been focused on building on
the measures that we put in place over the last year,
not just in advance of the next Fourth of July,
but for any holiday weekend or any day that some
inciting post goes viral on social media or crowds simply
get to unwilled be to manage safely. This absolutely has
(11:34):
to be the standard for US and for the Coastal
Commission too. After the last fourth of July, we expanded
our Safety Enhancement Zone, which triples all fines for municipal
code violations. We instituted a one strike replication rule for
short term lodging permit folders during these high intensity periods.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Wait wait may so with that particular move on that
that is a targeted like people who operate Airbnb and
might rent out a room to people that are looking
to engage in chaos.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
So we do have a number of permits that we
issue for short term rental purposes and they are held
to certain standards. They don't always comply the way we
would like them to. Our code enforcement team does an
incredible job ensuring that they are in compliance, but we
definitely see an uptick in violations during these certain periods
(12:32):
of time, over holiday weekends, over spring break, et cetera.
And particularly the new trend with people coming in some
miners and some in their twenties with no chaperone and
you know, holding parties or in inviting others.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
That seems to be the goal. That seems to be
their goal. From the start right. Newport Mayor Lauren Cleman,
as you met mentioned earlier, you're talking about TikTok takeovers,
So it sounds like it sounds like the whole point
of their vacation is to have an evening where they
just raise hell. So what is the city able to
do when it comes to people on social media doing
(13:10):
these things? I mean, are you going to stop people
from trying to be influencers in Newport Beach? Is that
is that a solution? Or so how do you balance
people who are actually trying to promote the city or
some people trying to promote a TikTok takeover?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Sure, So we're definitely coordinating with other agencies and looking
to invoke new rules and penalties we last year initiated
are not a Newport social media campaign to try to
kind of target these young people where they generally get
their information. We've doubled down on productive enforcement leading up
(13:46):
to spring break and summer holidays, but we are looking,
as you mentioned, to adjust the minor curfew, which has
typically been ten pm, and you know, we're looking at
utments and modifications to that as well as our Safety
Enhancement's own ordinance, which we've been making refinements to over
(14:07):
the last year and a half or so so that
we can also allow our police chief to shut things
down when necessary for public safety, but.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Monitoring shut it down before it gets out of hand.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
That's that's right. But we are looking also to parent
accountability measures for miners who engage in this type of
unlawful or disruptive conduct. We are targeting mass gatherings on
lawful gatherings that are promoted online through social media, and
(14:44):
we're also looking to adopt a public nuisance ordinance that
mirrors the penal codes so we can impose the same
triple fines and prosecute without the DA But we are
now actively monitoring across all social media platforms. We're going
to continue new Hour not Newport campaign using the body
worn camera footage really getting the message out again. We
(15:06):
had over four hundred arrests on fourth of July weekend
and we will be prosecuting all of those individuals well.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
We will hope to stay updated on those plans, and
as those potential penalties become updated, we'll reach out to
you again. Newport meet excuse me, Newport Beach. Mayor Lauren
Climate has been with us good luck out there, Mayrow.
I think well done on cracking down on July fourth,
and hopefully people get the message now no clemency for
the Utah kids either, for you keep them locked up.
Did you have parents calling you a lot asking for clemency?
(15:38):
That seems like it's very old school. If see if
the mayor can offer clemency, that's weird.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I mean that was not the described request, but essentially
the reason for the call was looking for some kind
of exception to be made. It was interesting to me
that this kid was twenty years old and his father
was calling me here by himself, and you know, but no,
(16:06):
there will be no exceptions.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That's the kind of thing. That's the kind of kid
whose parents show up at a job interview with them,
you know, like that's that's what's wrong with society today.
Lauren Kleiman is the mayor of Newport. Thank you so much.
Mayor's been a pleasure having on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you, thank you again for having me care you're listening.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
To Monks and Merrill on demand from KF I am by.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I thought maybe i'd try to get you fired up
here before we hand things off to the godfather of talk,
John Cobbold, I'm curious, this is what your hot take
is going to be on this one. H LA voters
deciding in November, you're gonna have a chance here because
the city council just passed a measure to give you
one more thing to vote on. I believe a lot this.
(16:50):
This ballot is going to look like Warren Peace when
it shows up at your in your mailbox and see
is Hernandez is the only one who opposed this, and
that is to send to the ballot an opportunity for
you to suspend the mansion tax people whose homes were
destroyed in the Palisades fire and are rebuilding. Proposal offers
(17:11):
relief to original property owners through early twenty thirty, including
owners of investment properties, and offers nothing comparable to owners
that are affected by other fires. That's where I have
a real issue with this. Yeah, it's it's carved out
for the Palisades.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Of course, Measure ULA should probably have been given the
opportunity to be repealed. That would have been the ideal
scenario for people here to realize what a mistake it
was to adopt the mansion tax, and they had an
opportunity to repeal it. They decided they punted on the ballot,
but they know they have got to help expedite the
rebuild in the Palisades, and because that is a part
of the city that has such expensive housing stock, folks
(17:51):
who lost their homes at a fire would be subject
to this massive tax. Remember the which is unfair measure
ula the mansion tax that applies to a couple of
different rates between five and almost ten million dollars is
one rate of being additional tax. Huh, and then ten
millions in above is more tax. And it goes into
a fund that helps provide free lawyers to people who
(18:13):
don't pay their rent. And that's honest to god. One
of it's supposed to help affordable housing projects, but they
didn't build any affordable housing with the money. They haven't
built any housing, but they have funded a lot of nonprofits.
You told me you wanted me to be fired up.
I'm fired up now because you remind me of these
scam lawyers. I just wanted to know if you thought
the man, if you would supports his mensages have to
(18:34):
be voting on it. I would prefer that it be
citywide's exactly. Even the champion of the mansion tax. Councilwoman
Nitthia Rahman, who very well maybe the next mayor of
Los Angeles, has admitted what a mistake it's been the
mansion tax because it didn't build any of the houses
they promise. It just funded nonprofits. Here's where we give
free lawyers to freeloaders. Here's where I'm having an issue
with with doing a one time exemption for Palisades owners.
(18:59):
We're making a specially exemption, and that is evidence that
the law itself is broken. If your goal is to
put a mansion tax in and you've got actual mansions
that are being exempted, but you've got apartment complexes or
commercial buildings that are not being exempted, it is the
exact opposite of what the Democratic Socialists on the council
(19:19):
wanted to do. They wanted to at tax the wealthy
in order to help subsidize lawyers for people who are
being evicted. Whatever the issue is, I think this is
incredibly unfair. I think it's fair for the people in
the Palici. It's don't get me wrong, I don't think
I don't think the people in the Pali, Sads or
anyone else would have to pay this mansion tax but
what happens if you lost your house but it didn't
(19:41):
happen during the Paliceads fire? House would you have lost he?
I don't know. You have a house fire somewhere else
another time, just wasn't during the fire. Your house is
destroyed for one reason or another, you don't get that exemption.
No love for you. It's only if your house was
damaged or destroyed by the Palisades fire. So if you
(20:02):
live in a high rent district, you've got a nice home,
you've got some money, you've done well for yourself, and
let's say that an arsonist comes by and burns your
home down, no exemption for you. You will still be
paying the tax. It is another example to your point
of why the whole tax has to be scrapped. And
we're gonna keep voting for these minor carbouts. And what
we're doing is picking and choosing winners based on our
(20:24):
temporary sympathies. That's it. That's this fire affected people. I
was hurt by the fire. I don't like the fire.
I don't want to see people being punished because of
the fire. I'm going to vote for this, Okay, Well,
what about the guy whose house was run into by
a drunk driver whose car took a turn, flipped over
three times, and took out the second story. Oh that's
not good enough. No, you mean just another situation where
(20:48):
it wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault, right, but
it wasn't in a high profile fire. You're still gonna
have to pay that mansion tax. You're still getting screwed.
I have a feeling that's not why Council Wman Unitsies
Fernandez Stould opposed to it. Not on that principle. Oh no,
for herse she doesn't want to see the money go away.
She's exactly punished the people in the palace, yes, or
anybodyho owns property. Yeah yeah, oh you've got money. We
want to punish it, exactly. No, those are her base
(21:09):
And by the way, nobody cares that she's a terrible
member of the city council because she won in her
primary outright with about wasn't even freaking close. Keep in
mind she represents MacArthur Park. There are no consequences, not
for criminals, not for bad public officials. It's just constant reward.
Who cares, who cares whatever, who cares? Nothing matters. Monks
(21:32):
and Meryl show. It's a mantra.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
What a shame.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
It just blows my mind. Now there's a new report
out from a USC about what else the fires did.
It was more than just burned down houses. Okay, they
did damage some grounds. It also hit the water. What
they found next. As Monks and Meryl continues, you're.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Listening to Monks and Merrill on the air from kf
I AM sixty.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Available anywhere on the iart Radio app. This song takes
me back when it was an exotic dancer. Career didn't
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If I AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Monks and Meryl Michael Monks here with Chris Meryl wrapping
(22:19):
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subscribe regardless of what the restraining order says. He's showing
(22:41):
up anyway. Researchers at the University of Southern California have
tested more than six thousand soil samples for more than
three thousand properties in La County following the Eton and
Palisades fire, and they have confirmed that the fires released
lad but the resulting contamination resembles a patchwork shaped by
drifting debris, earned building materials, decades of older pollution, and
(23:03):
wish portion of the yard gets tested. Oh so there
was already some lead in the soil space or lead
in sounds like there might have been lead in some
of the materials that burned and then blew away. That
was my interpretation of that. Yeah, I I think it's
interesting that they found that the fire released lead. I
don't think. I don't think lead is one of the
basic elements of fire. But it does. Excuse me, doctor no,
(23:26):
but I mean it sounds like just you're exactly what
you said. It basically brought things in like maybe the
lead paint and some old house. Yeah, and it burned
and then yeah, blew across and landed in someone's yard.
So third, and what part of the yard are they
testing too? Precisely. Okay, thirty nine percent of the samples
exceeded California's residential lead screening level of eighty parts per millions,
(23:50):
where we get a little too two of the weeds
on the math. I don't know what it means, but
it let's just say it exceeds what the state says
is okay. Does that mean that every yard that goes
in now has to have a Prop sixty five warning
on it? Probably? They note that when they compared two
samples from the same property, one typically contained approximately twice
(24:10):
as much as the other, and that variation was more
pronounced on some properties inside the fire zones. There was
one extreme example that USC shared with us. They found
more than Again, this is numbers that I don't really
know the meaning of, but seventeen hundred parts per million
of lead in one backyard were debris from an adjacent
nineteenth century building had fallen during the Eaten fire. Okay.
(24:33):
Other samples from that same property range from approximately thirty
to three hundreds, and again, California's limit is eighty, So
if you've got one that's at seventeen hundred, That's the
point I was making, is that there are some old properties,
especially in Altadena, that burned, and if it's a nineteenth
century building, it might have had some materials that we
might frown upon. These are lead and stained glass windows.
(24:53):
I'm wondering if maybe the let is use in stained
glass windows to join individual pieces of glass into unstable,
flexible panels while allowing designs. I wonder if maybe that
the church did this. I don't think that are you
blaming the church the wrath of God man? You have
taken the side of a guy who wanted to kill
President of today. You want the Palacidians to pay more
to rebuild, and now you're blaming the church for the
(25:16):
eating fire, the Palacidians, Palisadians. I meant, I'm sorry, Pallasadians,
gonna get the dminems correct. I've said enough people today.
They did not lead from old paint, leaded gasoline, traffic, aviation,
industrial emissions, legacy, pesticides, those at all accumulated here for decades.
But they found that proximity to the fire and heavy
smoke alone did not reliably predict the soil lead levels.
(25:39):
Which one do you think was worse Eaten or Palisades.
I would have guessed, yeah, because they have a lot
of the older housing stock, older buildings in that part
of the area. Median lead inside, yeah, median lead inside
the Eaton burn area was seventy nine parts per million,
which is right at California, right at the level in Palisades,
it was much thirty one. So we were right, that's right.
(26:03):
So eating excuse me. Basically Alta Dina was getting screwed
over again. Everybody's taking care of the Palisades. Everybody's ignoring Altadena. Unbelievable.
The interesting thing to remember, though, is if this stuff
is in the soil and it's not good for us
to be around or to build on, we have to
keep in mind that when those federal crews came in
to remove the fixed the ground, you know, we thought
(26:26):
that we could rebuild. They only took the top six inches,
and you got to go deeper than that. You gotta
go deeper. Usc fountain lead and scraped footprints was approximately
thirty eight percent lower, and the surrounding portions of the
(26:46):
same property. Although researchers lacked before and after samples needed
to prove scraping caused the reduction, they said higher readings
appeared more frequently in yards, gardens, and other areas beyond
the former building footprint a partial Therefore, so what's the
consequence kids are going to get to cancer if they
play in the yard. It doesn't sound like it. I
(27:07):
mean it sounds like there are some There was some
higher lead levels, and you know that's a consequence of
lead being in the environment anyway, the built environment, the
transportation environment over the course of a century. And how
much of this do you think is because of the fires?
(27:28):
In other words, we don't have we don't have something
to we have a baseline. We don't know what the
lead levels were outside that church before the fire came through.
We only know that the church in Altadena burned down
and or nineteenth century building I'm sorry, nineteenth century building
had fallen during the Eaton fire. Why do you think
it was a church? You were talking about staying glass windows? Yeah,
(27:51):
I don't know why I was thinking that that building
we're talking about was the church. But whatever it is,
we don't know what it was beforehand, so it could
have been high prior to the fires too. I don't
know how much the fires contributed to it. I don't
have any doubt that they contributed some. But basically, what
I'm seeing is Palisades things are taking care of Altadena people.
Sure you can build out that. Sure we're not going
(28:13):
to test the dirt. Sure it's fine. No, I don't
think that's what before the fires.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
No, Yes, well, well before the fires, before the fires,
we just don't know how contaminated it was. There's no
before the fire test to compare it to. Yeah, that's
my point. Yeah, I guess Altadena was they had the
older built environment then Palisades did so. Yeah, they weren't
looking for much lead. In fact, I think they ate
(28:39):
lead for breakfast in the nineteenth century. Is that right.
It's very important to them in the flakes, the researchers.
But it was lead flakes. It very popular first course,
all right, good stuff. That's why people lived to twenty
three back then, Okay had grandchildren at twenty six. The
USC researchers did also look get the ocean water. They
(29:01):
collected some samples, and they found that the coastal waters
were back at their typical levels within just months. Now.
I don't know if that means it can live longer
in the soil. No, this goes back to something I
told you before, that dilution is the solution to pollution.
So if you have seventeen hundred parts per million, what
(29:22):
you need to do is add an awful lot of
dilution to a water is the easiest thing to do
that with, and that's going to redistribute that around a
larger area, which will then lower the parts per million.
It's going to lower the concentration. Once you've got lead
levels that are hitting the ocean, the ocean is going
to turn that on its own and it's going to
dilute it on its own, which is why it returned
so quickly to the normal levels. But when it's in
(29:43):
the soil, it's not going anywhere unless you're able to
add I mean, if you get heavy, heavy rain showers,
that might do something, but you'd have to have those
for weeks on end in order to have the dilution
necessary to make your concentration drop down. What do What
do I do about all of your delusions? Solutions? They're
not delusions, they're solutions. What am I supposed to do Friday?
(30:05):
Hope we should warn the audience that Chris Merrill is
not going to be here on Friday, and it's going
to be Monks's first level form based code. Yeah, this
is like Jackie in Shadow kicking an eaglet out of
the nest. Fly on your own, little bird, and you
know I would be attacked immediately by some sub adulties.
I see you talking with the producers. You're already trying
to think about stuff for Friday, and I thought a
(30:26):
lot of things could change between now on Friday. Way
worried about that it's two days away. I just like
the idea that I'm going to do the show I
want to do. I think it's going to be a
full hour of form based code, different zoning regulations, a
little bit of historic preservation. Oh my gosh, this is
something and how we can save the buildings that matter
to us. That's coming up Friday on Monks and Monks.
In the meantime, you got the godfather of talk radio,
(30:48):
the Great John Cobbolt said to set it a step
into the padded room, and one more show of Monks
and Merril this week tomorrow, starting NOWONISH. I am six
forty live everywhere, and then I hurt radio app Oh
my god, Merril, you're ridiculous. This is KFI on demand.
You've been listening to Monks and Merrill. Here the show
(31:09):
live weekdays from noon to three on KFI Am six
forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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