“MICHAEL KEMPS (incumbent)
”The City is blessed to have a City Manager with knowledge, having responded to an actual emergency in a high fire zone location. Mr. Prestwich is uniquely qualified, with experience and collaborative knowledge associated with planning, recovery, and response to a critical fire emergency.

PVE and its residents have no choice but to collaborate and execute on the Los Angeles County Fire Department requirement of 200 feet of fire clearance. This must be done in collaboration, with effective communication and management, as well as the inclusion of city employees and contractors. Residents who strongly opposed clearance did so initially because of lack of communication and understanding. A new RFP must be issued, as the previous contractor did not meet its contractual commitments. Staff should collaborate with the community, Council, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department to ensure that on a combined basis we are meeting requirements intelligently, while maximizing value versus cost. Large tree branches that are left behind by policy create risk. These are unsightly; we need to understand what is involved in their removal. The city should reconsider joining other Peninsula cities that clear brush with goats.

Efforts by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes to evaluate and install fire detection cameras are to be applauded. Our city needs to continue its collaborative work with RPV, surrounding Peninsula cities, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Monitoring, alerting, and communication are keys to reduce fire risk and increase public safety, particularly in areas that are larger and unpopulated spaces.””

“VICTORIA LOZZI (incumbent)
”The first line of defense lies with each homeowner keeping their individual properties free from hazardous conditions. L.A. County’s “Ready, Set, Go” program has a lot of good information and tutorials, but most residents do not seem to be aware of the program, so we need to push that out to our households. Similarly, the City needs to ensure that its own properties are cleared of hazardous brush, particularly areas of open space that are near homes and other structures. More challenging are the canyons and ravines that have thick brush, but the terrain makes it difficult to maintain. This is an area where pay-as-you-go will not work. This is very important, but expensive, maintenance that must have a long-range plan for implementation.””

“DAVID MCGOWAN (incumbent)
”PVE is designated as a highest fire risk area. Several areas in Southern California that are substantially less dense in vegetation and brush than is PVE have been devastated by fire. Clearly, the City’s fire risk is high and largely unrecognized by many residents. Some residents have even opposed brush clearance in our parklands.

Fire risk in our parklands is another area that proper maintenance has been deferred due to fiscal constraints. City staff is developing a plan regarding the level of investment that needs to be made to bring this fire risk under control. I expect that the City needs to make a substantial investment in the near term to compensate for the deferred maintenance, then in subsequent years a sustaining budget will be required to maintain the required safety levels. These expenses also are among the missing critical components of the Long-Range Plan which we should have in place shortly.

PVE has recently utilized goats to clear brush and our residents appear to “love” it. This is not only an effective control method, but it also makes more apparent the critical need for brush clearance.

The same need for city tree maintenance also exists. Again, the city has deferred such maintenance and now has view problems as well as risks of falling limbs. Recently, near my home a resident was walking by a tree as a large limb fell to the ground nearby.

Our community should not be exposed to these high fire, safety, and view obstruction conditions.””

“DESIREE “DEZ” MYERS
”Fire Safety and awareness:

• PVE residents should utilize Rolling Hills’s posted youtube videos providing tips to reduce fire risks on their personal properties
• Plantings required by the city for occupancy and PVHA should consider fire risks in their requirements
• PVE is in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone which has caused some residents to lose fire insurance
• PVE has averaged one fire per year. This year we had a fire on Via Visalia and another in RPV close to the PVE boundary.
• LA County Fire has stated they need a 200’ cutback to keep our homes safe. If homes/life is lost because PVE did not meet LA County’s fire standard, this becomes a legal liability for PVE and the basis of a lawsuit.

We need to do a better job at trimming to minimize damage to healthy trees:
The last fire abatement cutting went badly and this needs to be improved before the next time: Next time we need to:
o Remove the heaps of kindling created from the cuttings, because it creates a fire hazard
o Retain the fire-retardant plantings, like ice plant
o Retain healthy trees as allowed per standard
o Remove dead trees near homes (Via Del Monte, other?)
o Separate Eucalyptus treetops per standard, preventing fire from traveling tree to tree

We need to better communicate the necessity, but also listen and evolve the practice so healthy trees are not damaged.””