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Newsom Envisions 'LA 2.0' After Smoke Clears

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a conference in 2019.

Fires still blaze on both sides of Los Angeles, but California’s governor is gearing up for rebuilding, invoking one of the most ambitious recovery initiatives in U.S. history.

Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press over the weekend to discuss the historic fires that have caused an estimated $150B in damage over less than one week. 

“We’re already organizing a Marshall Plan, already have a team looking and reimagining LA 2.0,” Newsom said on the program Sunday. 

The Marshall Plan was a $13B U.S. initiative launched in 1948 to help rebuild the economies of Europe after World War II.

Newsom offered little in the way of specifics, citing the nascent status of rebuilding plans as crews work to extinguish fires that have killed 24 people and burned more than 40,000 acres along the coast in luxury neighborhoods and in middle-class areas on LA’s east side. 

But he said his administration is working together with civic and business leaders as well as nonprofits and labor organizations. 

Also on Sunday, Newsom announced an executive action suspending review processes under the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act to help impacted property owners rebuild with less red tape.

“We have got to be thinking three weeks, three months, three years ahead. At the same time, we're focusing on the immediacy, which is life, safety and property,” he told NBC.

Many in the Los Angeles area have called for reduced or waived regulations as property owners rebuild, but Newsom’s order is the only change announced so far.

In addition to the enormous task of rebuilding an estimated 12,000 structures, most of which are single-family homes, Los Angeles is on deck to host major international sporting events in the coming years. Eight games of the FIFA World Cup are scheduled to take place in LA in 2026, and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games will follow soon after.

There is no way to know for certain how long the rebuilding process will take as leaders race against the clock to repair damage in the city. Rebuilding in Los Angeles after the 1992 riots took decades, according to The New York Times.

During five days of rioting following the acquittal of four white police officers charged with beating Rodney King, an estimated $1B in damage occurred and roughly 1,000 structures were damaged or destroyed.

The fires have slowed their pace after explosive growth in the middle of last week, but winds are expected to whip back up this week, potentially causing more rapid expansion.