Magic Johnson to lead philanthropic LA fire recovery initiative

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Los Angeles Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter, LA Lakers legend-turned-entrepreneur Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Casey Wassermann, the president of the 2028 LA Olympics organizing committee, will head a private-sector philanthropic effort to help rebuild the fire-ravaged city.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced the launch of LA Rises, a unified recovery initiative as part of which the private sector leaders will support rebuilding efforts led by the city of LA, LA County and the state.

Walter, the Mark Walter Family Foundation and the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation have committed up to $100 million to seed LA Rises, the governor said.

“LA is a special place, and what it makes it special is that it’s build on the private sector and the public sector working together,” Wasserman said during a press conference at Dodgers Stadium in downtown LA. “We have an incredible history of it—it’s what makes this place unique, it’s what allows the things that happen here to continue to world breaking and extraordinary, and that is what this effort requires.”

Wasserman, the grandson of movie mogul Lee Wasserman, heads an eponymous, far-flung sports, music and entertainment management company. He led the city’s effort to bring the 2028 Olympics to LA.

The private sector has to come together, Wasserman added, both operationally and philanthropically as part of the rebuild and, in many ways, the rebirth of LA. The rebuild effort, he said, will not be a short-term endeavor but will shape the way LA will look for the next 50-to-100 years.

The fires that erupted Jan. 7 in the Pacific Palisades, an affluent neighborhood at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking the ocean, and in Altadena, an eclectic enclave nestled against the San Gabriel Mountains east of downtown LA, were the most devastating wildfires in the city’s history.

The firestorms, fanned by extreme winds and fueled by parched vegetation in the canyons, destroyed most of the neighborhoods. They are estimated to have caused more than $250 billion in economic damage, making them the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history. Cleaning up and rebuilding the devastated parts of the city is likely going to take years.

“My focus will be on Altadena because those people may be left behind,” Johnson said at the press conference. “I want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Whereas the Pacific Palisades has numerous celebrity residents who lost their homes this month, including Anthony Hopkins and Paris Hilton, Altadena is a less glamorous community that is home to a more diverse population. President Donald Trump, on his visit to LA last week, toured the destruction in the Palisades but skipped Altadena.

The Palisades Fire burned more than 23,400 acres, destroyed close to 7,000 structures, and killed 12 people. The Eaton Fire that tore through Altadena burned more than 14,000 acres, destroyed over 9,400 structures, and killed 17 people.

The LA Rises initiative will contribute to the rebuilding effort through fundraising and expanding access to philanthropic and private capital, according to the governor in his announcement, as well as through formulating financing strategies to close the gap between available resources and the cost to rebuild.

LA Rises will also receive financial support from California Rises, a statewide recovery initiative founded by Newsom and First Partner Siebel Newsom after the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California.

“This effort is about spirit,” Newsom said at the news conference. “It’s about pride, it’s about those intangibles, the things that you can’t legislate, things you can’t manifest — they just take shape because people come together.”

Walter — who is also the CEO of asset management firm Guggenheim Partners — and Johnson are both part of Guggenheim Baseball Management, the owner of the Dodgers Major League Baseball team.

“The LA fires have wreaked havoc on LA’s neighborhoods," Walter said in the announcement. “It’s time for those with means to come forward and make a positive impact to build back better.”

More than 180,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes during the worst of the fires.

Separately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that it has been assigned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency with the first stage of the overall recovery and cleanup. This will include removing lithium-ion batteries and to survey, remove and dispose of hazardous materials from properties burned by wildfires.

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