How Altadena’s community is leading its fire recovery efforts

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Under the rally cry of “Altadena Is Not for Sale,” the people of the multi-racial, middle-class town of Altadena, California, are aiming to take charge of their own recovery and rebuilding from the Los Angeles Eaton fires, which killed 17 people, burned more than 14,000 acres, and destroyed over 9,000 homes and businesses. Three community organizations and the local Native American tribes reflect the various perspectives, and collective unity, on how Altadena might avoid the fate of other communities whose recovery ended up being controlled by big developers.

Altadena: Not For Sale, My Tribe Rise, and Altadena Strong are three community organizations who have cohosted events to bring together the Altadena community for recovery and rebuild. The Fernandeño Tatavian band of Mission Indians, Gabrielino San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, and the San Fernando Band of Mission Indians have been involved in mutual aid, fighting fires, and are working closely with officials to implement Indigenous fire management practices to prevent future fires. 

[L to R] Melissa Michelson and other Altadena: Not for Sale members set up a table at the Altadena Strong Event. [Photo: Dori Tunstall] 

Altadena: Not For Sale 

Altadena: Not For Sale states that its mission is to “help the under and non-insured to be able to stay” in Altadena and “not fall prey to predatory land speculators.” Organized by Melissa Michelson, the organization held a protest on January 18th at which they shared their list of seven demands, including the establishing a land trust, zoning regulations to prevent over development, group deals with architects and contractors, and educating residents on their rights. The organization has set up information booths at various local events to have residents order yard signs saying “Altadena: Not For Sale” to show their solidarity.

“This is a project. It’s a very unfortunate situation to be in,” says Michelson. “But maybe we could build something from it and be a community that doesn’t sell out to developers and that keeps the people in place. It’s not going to be a 100% back to normal, but maybe Altadena can be revived with such strong community effort. That’s my hope.”

Alphonso Browne, an Altadena: Not For Sale volunteer and 39 year resident of Altadena, lost his home of 34 years and two close neighbors to the Eaton fire [The Bowne Family Go-Fund Me]. His insurance company canceled his 20-year-old fire insurance policy just one month before the fires.  

“The opportunity is for us to build a stronger community bond,” says Browne. “Most of us was middle class, so the money doesn’t move us in our living. We want a very strong tight-knit community and that is what we have the opportunity to now build it.” 

My Tribe Rise and Altadena: Not For Sale brought community organizations and fire-affected residents together to connect, heal, and organize. [Photo: Dori Tunstall]

My Tribe Rise

My Tribe Rise was started in 2019 by Victor Hodgson and Heavenly Hughes to increase neighborhood peace and reduce the stigma of gang affiliation, especially in West Altadena. They are ensuring that the 18% Black and 30% Hispanic communities, who boasted a 75% home ownership rate, do not get displaced from the fires.  

My Tribe Rise is adapting its mutual aid network and community organizing into the cohesive infrastructure by which Altadena can lead its own recovery efforts. “When the [COVID-19] Pandemic was here, we led our community through it. And in this catastrophe, we will do the same thing,” says Hughes. “We focus on food and housing insecurities. We focus on economic development. We focus on ways and solutions to end violence in our community. And personally, I feel like the folks that are trying to steal our property, that is violence. And so, we’re going to address violence in our community.” 

A community-led recovery is required in Altadena because it is an unincorporated town in Los Angeles County, which means that it does not have a mayor or city hall to represent its recovery and rebuild interests. It does have a voluntary town council, but it is only advisory to Kathryn Barger, the Los Angeles County Supervisor for the 5th District, who has oversight of “portions of 20 cities, 63 unincorporated communities, 15 neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles.”  

The absence of a mayor and others is seen as a positive opportunity. My Tribe Rise and Altadena: Not For Sale cohosted a community event on February 8 to bring together the various organizations, such as Altadena Strong and the LA Fires Survivor’s Committee, who are also focused on co-building a community-led recovery. 

“There’s an opportunity to build something long-lasting because it won’t get corrupted or muddied with profit,” says Gabriela Garcia of LA Fires Survivors. “It’s coming from a place of true care for the community.” 

[L to R] Tucker Davis, Gabriela Garcia, Sam Taylor, and Christine Rodriguez of LA Fire Survivors gathered at an Altadena community event. [Photo: Dori Tunstall] 

Altadena Strong 

Altadena Strong was founded by Altadena resident Freddy Sayegh, whose extended family lost seven homes and two businesses in the Eaton fires. Though driven by attachment and emotion, Altadena Strong offers a practical argument for the community to come together to decide how to spend its possible $25 billion in economic resources. On Feb. 5, Sayegh organized a community town hall meeting attended by over 200 residents, government officials, and representatives from the Red Cross, FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Small Business Administration.

“Only Altadena is going to save Altadena. No one in Los Angeles or Sacramento is thinking about us,” he said in the meeting, “There are certain things that we can negotiate directly with the manufacturer. We’ll call Canada and order the wood direct. And we will order enough and have it here. We can have a bunch of architects and contractors on salary. And a team that we organize will lay concrete. It’s going to be 20 to 30 cents on the dollar. It’s the only way it’s going to work. We must get together.”

Freddy Sayegh of Altadena Strong hosted over 200 Altadena home owners and renters at his community town hall. [Photo: Dori Tunstall]

Collective Unity 

To succeed in its community-led recovery and rebuild, Altadena requires the fusion of the various community groups and Tongva tribal leaders into a council who can design and implement the plan for Altadena’s recovery and rebuild. On February 13, an virtual community meeting was called by Altadena Strong and others to form the Altadena Coalition with the goal to “form community teams, establish the largest non-profit organization dedicated to collective purchasing, negotiations, development, and revitalization, and ensure that Altadena’s future is built by its residents.” 

Community teams identified to be filled  included leadership and strategy, volunteer coordination and community support, procurement and rebuilding logistics, fundraising and financial support, communications and public awareness, and legal, policy, and compliance. Several community members volunteered their services during the call.  

Community members across the different organizations recognize the challenges in aligning the competing interests within its diverse inhabitants, most of whom have been scattered across Southern California. They understand that the work is a minimum commitment of three years. And they mostly likely will not get paid, as a mayor or city council would, for doing the work. What brings them hope for success is their shared commitment to the deep heritage of the Altadena as a place where intersectionally Indigenous, Black, Hispanic, immigrant, and queer folks could build intergenerational homes for themselves and their families from life to death and life again.

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