Adam Carolla rips California rebuilding red tape: 'Everything's in triplicate'
Adam Carolla tried to warn us.
The contractor turned podcast star spent years telling Californians how hard it is to build anything in the Golden State. Decades, to be more accurate.
Carolla calls politicians like Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass 'somewhere between incompetent and nefarious.'
It’s a red-tape nightmare under one-party rule, Carolla cautioned.
Now, six months after wildfires devastated large swaths of the greater L.A. area, locals are learning that lesson the excruciating way.
No progress in 'progressive'
Carolla is tracking the rebuilding effort, or lack thereof, on his podcasts and YouTube channel.
“You don’t get how pernicious these regulations are. Everything’s in triplicate. It makes it really hard to build stuff,” Carolla says.
He hates being right, but so far, the state’s Democratic machinery has proved to be as slow as predicted. He can see the results — or lack thereof.
“I’ve scoured the place on almost a daily basis,” the California native tells Align of looking for signs of construction in the afflicted areas. “There are a couple of structures, maybe three I’ve seen in the Palisades area being rebuilt. Zero in Malibu that I’ve seen.”
Newsom has suspended some environmental restrictions to allow for speedier recovery efforts, but even the left-leaning Wired admitted the progress has been agonizing.
Home-building chops
Carolla, who flexed his home-building chops on his “Catch a Contractor” TV show, knows the visual cues that accompany a work site. Flatbed trucks. Stacks of plywood. Cement mixers.
All of the above are in short supply, he laments.
The hard-working comic started a new YouTube-based series chronicling the rebuilding process. “The Malibu Fires: 6 Months Later” video generated more than 900,000 views in two weeks along with 4,600 comments.
He’s struck a nerve following the wildfires, but it’s a lament he began during his days co-hosting the syndicated “Loveline” radio show in the 1990s with Dr. Drew Pinsky.
“Nobody ever gave a s**t about what I said,” he recalls.
Early warning
Carolla broached the subject anew after leaving his Malibu home in early January. He recorded a raw, 45-minute monologue from a hotel room that day, and it swiftly went viral.
“Be prepared to deal with the city of Los Angeles, the red tape, the coastal commission,” he recalls saying at the time. He added insurance nightmares would only complicate the rebuilding efforts.
Carolla interviews a crush of personalities on “The Adam Carolla Show,” from celebrities to influencers. He even quizzed then-Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2013, a hardball Q&A that left the future governor reeling.
Out of office
The Democrat isn’t likely to revisit their chat, and Carolla assumes other state Democrats will avoid his podcast studio, too. He calls politicians like Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass “somewhere between incompetent and nefarious.”
“They’re process people. They don’t know how to build anything,” he says. "[Bass] didn’t get elected to do this. She wants to fight ICE.”
RELATED: Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass to California: 'Look what you made us do!'
Carolla cracks wise for a living, but highlighting the California rebuilding process is no laughing matter. Some could consider his commentary “clapter,” the kind of political banter that plagues the now-canceled “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert.
Carolla makes sure to bring some wit to his monologues.
Room for humor
“I use half my comedic brain and half my construction brain,” he says, understanding that lives have been disrupted, or much worse, by the fires. “My job is to be accurate.”
He relies on a tried-and-true comic technique to broach the challenging subject.
“If you watch the vlogs, the humor is I’m the butt of the joke ... so as long as I’m the one who ends up looking foolish, there’s always room for some humor,” he says.
Carolla isn’t hopeful that the rebuilding efforts will suddenly pick up, mostly based on local restrictions. The state is still a relentlessly blue region, although for fellow Los Angelenos, the fires represent a “rock bottom” moment where voting preferences might change.
Might.
“I don’t know about California,” he says. “There’s still a broad Democratic stupidity that goes on in this state.”
Carolla already has his sights set on Nevada as his future home, but he sees a glimmer of hope for the Golden State.
He recalls spending time with the Army Corps of Engineers and has faith in the American people rolling up their sleeves when given the chance.
“When the workforce is unleashed, they’re pretty miraculous,” he says.
Watch 'furious' California residents tackle, detain suspected arsonist: 'Wrong neighborhood, buddy'
Video shows a group of concerned citizens in California chase down, tackle, and detain a man suspected of committing arson, according to multiple reports.
Around 4:32 p.m. on Monday, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office received reports that a man set a fire in a neighborhood outside of Los Angeles.
'When deputies searched the suspect, they found a lighter in his pocket, a small sum of cash, and a car battery jumper kit.'
Several people were seen on video chasing down the arson suspect in the neighborhood of Chatsworth — roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Brandon Taylor — a photographer with Traffic News LA — captured footage of the tense situation.
Taylor told KTTV that the arson suspect was behaving suspiciously.
"It just seemed a little strange that there was a guy there after a brush fire was reported just a quarter-mile up the road," Taylor said. "And he's in the bush doing something."
Taylor continued, "The residents were furious. They've gone through the Woolsey Fire, which started just a mile from there. With all the dry vegetation, they were really concerned about him starting another fire and losing their homes."
Video journalist Gabe Cortez was also at the chaotic scene and shared footage of the confrontation on Instagram.
Cortez told the Los Angeles Times about the arson suspect, "He was avoiding the group following him. He seemed to be telling them to pass him up. And then you can see in my video that someone started to chase him, and he appeared scared.”
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Office said in a statement, "The witnesses pointed to the suspect and told deputies they witnessed him lighting a brush fire near Knapp Ranch Road and Woolsey Canyon Road. The witnesses stated the suspect lit the fire and left the location. The witnesses followed in their vehicle."
Officers with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office quickly responded to arrest the arson suspect.
While police officers were handcuffing the suspect, a woman is heard on video telling Martinez: "Wrong neighborhood, buddy."
Police identified the suspect as 41-year-old Alejandro Martinez.
Authorities said there was already a warrant out for Martinez’s arrest but did not provide any specifics.
KTTV reported, "When deputies searched Martinez, they found a lighter in his pocket, a small sum of cash, and a car battery jumper kit."
Martinez is facing a felony charge of arson of a structure or forest and one count of aggravated circumstance of increasing seriousness of prior convictions. If convicted of all charges, Martinez reportedly faces up to six years and eight months in prison.
Martinez is being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
Authorities said there was a fire burning near the location where Martinez was apprehended.
The fire burned about a 100-square-foot area of brush before being extinguished by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Cortez noted, "Thank God there were no strong winds, because it could have gone so much worse. Given all the recent fires, communities and people are just so much more aware of these types of things now, and they’re on high alert."
KNBC-TV reported that the suspect attempted to light two fires near Box Canyon in Canoga Park.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement, “As we continue to recover from the devastation of recent wildfires, this case is a stark reminder of the grave threat alleged arsonists pose to our communities. We have seen firsthand the destruction, displacement, and loss of life caused by these senseless acts. Let me be clear — if you intentionally set fire to our land, endanger our residents, and threaten our first responders, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
An investigation has been launched by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Arson/Explosive Unit.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Arson/Explosive Unit at (323) 881-7500.
KTLA reported that Martinez is the 27th suspect charged in cases related to the wildfires in Southern California.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, only the Palisades fire is currently smoldering, but it is reportedly 100% contained. The blaze – which first started nearly a month ago – has killed 12 people, destroyed 6,831 structures, and scorched 23,707 acres.
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