The Case for Optimism, Rebuilding After the LA Fires' Cognitive Dissonance
Waymo, Trua, CMT & Ualett Head to Curbivore
The Friday before last, as I found myself escaping the path of the Palisades Fire’s destruction, wife and newborn in tow, I found myself thinking “well at least it all makes sense now.” For days prior, the greatest challenge wasn’t just the fire itself but the cognitive dissonance it created. Tragedy unfolded on an unimaginable scale, yet much of the city remained absolutely unchanged: the mail got delivered, grocery shelves were stocked, and the skies were even an eerily clear blue.
Southern California’s famously vast and polycentric scale makes it both a resilient giant and a puzzle for outsiders to understand: it’s a rather illegible place, full of contradictions. Adding to the disaster’s confusion are the many of half-truths and misdiagnoses that’ve spun up in the fires’ wake: no, you don’t actually want to do controlled burns of chaparral, no urban water delivery system would have successfully delivered the volume of water it takes to fight thousands of simultaneously burning structures, and no “strong mayor” type of leader would make a difference in a recovery effort that spans so many different jurisdictions. (Some have even proclaimed they wish we had a Mayor Giuliani for this moment, as if that worked out well in the long run.)
I believe, perhaps counterintuitively, that this same overwhelming breadth that makes Greater LA so hard for some to read will ultimately be the region's saving grace in our recovery efforts. Because in a way, LA has always been dissonant; from Raymond Chandler to Joan Didion, it's always been the capital of the end of the world. Angelenos are so used to seeing their city destroyed, physically or fictionally, that we were halfway done grieving before the disasters even started.
The scale of destruction may seem daunting: over 10,000 structures lost in the inferno. But in a thriving mega-city, replacing those buildings should look like a surmountable rise, not an overwhelming wave. LA County regularly built over 50,000 housing units per year, decade after decade. And while mid-century America had many inequitable shortcomings, Southern California in its boom years offered much we should envy today: a strong economy, low housing costs, an inventive culture that championed both technology and the arts, less segregation than peer cities and a growth form that’s often mischaracterized as mere “sprawl” but is in fact dense, urban and incredibly diverse.
While that may sound like a long time ago, I'm optimistic that the enormity of today’s challenges will get people to finally fix some long-standing issues, now that there's no other choice. We’re already seeing this to a degree: emergency rebuilding orders at the state, city and county levels are working to resolve outmoded Coastal Commission and CEQA processes, speed up permitting and inspections, protect renters from price gouging, temporarily waive well-intentioned but costly rules around issues like home energy use, and more.
The real opportunity, however, lies in learning from both our past challenges, and the current rebuild. Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood within Los Angeles, will adopt different rebuilding rules than Malibu, an independent municipality. Twenty-five miles away in Altadena, an unincorporated part of the county, the response will differ even more. These variations present a unique chance to experiment with policies and approaches that can inform broader reforms across the region.
The hope is that these expedited efforts will remind us of the lost art of building. Cities are not static; they require continuous effort to thrive. If we can apply the lessons of this recovery to the rest of Los Angeles — to neighborhoods that still look like picture-perfect postcards from 1890 or 1990 — we might not just rebuild, but reimagine, what LA can be.
In the end, LA’s wabi-sabi nature — its imperfect, transient beauty — remains intact. For every beloved landmark we’ve lost, there’s the opportunity to create something new, something equally odd and iconic. This is the essence of Los Angeles: a city that thrives not despite its contradictions but because of them.
MEET CURBIVORE’S LATEST PARTNERS
We're less than three months away from Curbivore 2025, and we're excited to share the latest partners coming together in Downtown LA. On April 10th and 11th, we're bringing together the mobility and delivery sectors' most luminous leaders — will you be there?
Meet the latest organizations partnering with us to make Curbivore such a uniquely important event: Waymo, Trua, Ualett, Cambridge Mobile Telematics, Throne and the Open Mobility Foundation.
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HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
Congested curbs: Kicking the year off with a blast of fresh data, both TomTom and INRIX found NYC to have the country’s most congested downtown. On an international level — Instanbul and Barranquilla, Colombia also seem to have the slowest streets. New York’s numbers ought to look better next year, as congestion pricing finally went into effect on January 6th (meaning that day will now at least have one positive association in perpetuity…) Travel time into the CBD is already notably faster.
Big Apple, smaller scaled mobility: NYC has a lot of pressing mobility needs that could use those congestion dollars. On one hand, the city just launched an e-bike charging pilot, putting battery cabinets on sidewalks. Another pilot, around delivery microhubs, also looks promising. On the other hand, even though shared micromobility is taking off, the city is looking to make life harder for Veo and Bird. All the while, Citibike prices are on the rise, again — maybe city hall could cough up some subsidy dollars?
Transit expansion slows: New analysis from The Transport Politic shows it’s been a slow decade for new public transit projects, with the next few years also likely to see little progress outside of SoCal, Honolulu and the DC suburbs.
NTD confirms: Looking even further back, the FTA shows it’s been a rough decade for American transit; even prior to covid, ridesharing was eating into ridership in most cities. And much of the new transit that did open — streetcars — was better at catching eyes than attracting riders. 3/4s of the nation’s transit ridership occurs in just eight regions.
Other fun data tidbits: Pedestrian speeds are up 15% since 1980s, as cities became less comfortable to linger in. Segway scooter sales hit $300M. 15% of Americans primarily telework. McKinsey prognosticates that AV operating costs will fall 84% by 2035, while remote driving may be a profitable bridging technology.
Ruck raises $5M: SLC-based Ruck closed a $5M round, led by SNAK Venture Partners and ANIMO Ventures; the startup is building an on-demand delivery marketplace for construction materials. Anyone that’s tried doing a “big and bulky” delivery from one of the main 3PDs knows how tough this segment is, that alone led me to personally invest a few bucks (disclaimer!) into an earlier round.
Other startups looking up in ‘25? Indigo’s SmartWheel catches Gov. Healey’s attention in Massachusetts. Pebble previews eye-catching electric RV. Moody’s acquires Cape Analytics — expect to see geospatial heat up as climate “resilience” becomes part of underwriting. eBay buys Caramel. Veho partners with ShipHero. UPS buys Frigo-Trans and BPL. DHL acquires Inmar. Kyte partners with Expedia. EV TNC upstart BluSmart raises $50M. Harbinger hauls in $100M. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (RIP?) doled out $44M to some familiar names: LACI, Automotus, It’s electric, ChargerHelp!, Lyft, Zipcar, Lime, Bird and more.
We live in a hell of our own making! Trump nixes IRA climate spending, begins DEI witch hunt. Austin scales back light rail plans, smaller system will mostly run slowly at street level. Hindenburg Research shutters — they were a must-read source that helped deflate many a SPAC balloon.
“I’m pretty good at driving.” Loving the humility behind Sony Honda Mobility’s driver assistance features. On a cheerier note, it’s good to see a new EV that’s not an SUV.
The underwhelm? Miami has opened a half mile segment of its “Underline” linear park, which runs aside its elevated Metro tracks. While it’s nice to activate any urban space, I suspect a real park in a poorer part of town would have been far more beneficial; at this point it’s quite possible that NYC’s High Line has done more harm than good by inspiring so many middling copycats…
A few good links: Modii launches in West Hartford, CT. EV sales crater in Japan. MobilityVC’s Sam Baker shares thoughts on why 2025 is looking good for new mobility. LA’s Pizza Alliance steps up post-fires.
Get your Curbivore tickets!
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew
Well said, "I'm optimistic that the enormity of today’s challenges will get people to finally fix some long-standing issues, now that there's no other choice."
After disasters, communities build back better and stronger.