City officials on April 24 gathered in the Pacific Palisades to mark 100 days since the wildfires that damaged homes in the community and to thank the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for accelerated debris removal that officials said is speeding recovery and rebuilding.

Mayor Karen Bass and other city leaders visited the site of the Palisades branch library, one of the properties cleared during the city's recovery effort. In prepared remarks, the mayor said, "The recovery in the Palisades is on track to be the fastest in California history." She described permits and utility restoration timelines, saying the city had "issued permits to rebuild twice as fast as after the camp and Woosley fires," that water was restored "nearly a year and a half faster than after the campfire," and that power was restored in "just 2 months." At the library site the mayor said there had been "a 30 day window to complete it. They did it in 6 days."

At the event and in a later interview, Deputy Mayor for Infrastructure Randall Winston reiterated the pace of work and provided additional operational figures. Winston said the Army Corps had increased crews and was clearing parcels at a rate that he described as "moving at a clip of 40 parcels per day," and that as of his remarks "we're at today about 1,300 parcels or lots that have been cleared of debris, months ahead of schedule." Other statements in the meeting noted broader clearance figures: a presenter said the recovery effort had cleared "about 4,400 properties," of which "about 2,300 are fully complete," and that the library was among the completed clearances.

Officials at the site stressed rebuilding and people returning to homes as the primary goal. A resident at the event described the library as "a true community center" and said the community is "rebuilding homes. It's reopening schools, and it's restoring a community." City leaders said permits have already been issued for some rebuilding projects and urged continued urgency to finish clearances so reconstruction can proceed.

Why it matters: Rapid debris removal, restored utilities and early permitting are prerequisites to rebuilding homes and community infrastructure. City leaders presented the numbers as evidence that interagency coordination is accelerating recovery work in the Palisades; officials also compared progress with other recent disasters to explain the perceived pace.

Speakers at the site included Mayor Karen Bass and Deputy Mayor Randall Winston; the Army Corps of Engineers was singled out by officials for completing work faster than initial targets.