More Voices, More Strength

In many ways, the bureaucratic backsliding of federal and local officials is far worse than the landslides that wiped out a row of West Hills houses in February. The ground, at least, could not help itself. Saturated by heavy El Nino rains, it collapsed under its own weight and dragged the dreams of five families down with it. But officials charged with helping those in need should know better. Their response to the situation has shifted as unpredictably as the ground between hostile, helpful, indifferent and just plain wrong. Those unpredictable responses, in turn, forced neighbors to turn on each other at the very time they should have been cooperating to solve a common problem.

To their credit, Los Angeles city officials backed down earlier this month from threats of fines and jail terms for families who have yet to shore up the hillside and repair or demolish their houses. It was a preposterous situation: A group of homeowners--many of them retired on fixed incomes--lose everything and the city tries to strong-arm them into making repairs estimated to cost as much as $2 million. Although the city’s goal of removing a potential public hazard was right, its heavy-handed tactics were not. City officials have enormous power but must remember who they work for.

Faced with jail time, the neighbors turned on each other. Since almost no insurance policies cover landslides, all but one of the families along the street have retained lawyers and are prepared to duel in court over who’s responsible for fixing the hillside. Rather than band together, they broke apart--an action that greatly increases the likelihood that lawyers will cash in and that a neighborhood will collapse into a collection of pointing fingers and bankrupt homeowners. Without the city’s threats, neighbors should feel more comfortable working together.

It will take all their efforts to fix the hillside and pry help out of disaster officials in Washington and Sacramento. Earlier this month, three California congressmen announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would launch a program to buy homes ruined by winter mudslides. Problem was, they were wrong. It may have been an oversight, but it was an irresponsible announcement that unreasonably raised the expectations of families who already have endured too much. In fact, FEMA officials are working on a program to provide relief to mudslide victims, but their efforts would be helped considerably by an expansion of the Disaster Relief Act to specifically cover certain types of landslides.

In the meantime, FEMA lawyers are looking for a loophole that would allow the agency to help some homeowners. Their efforts would gain greater urgency if the residents in West Hills seek out some of the 300 other Los Angeles homeowners in similar binds. The more voices the better. Their problems cannot be allowed to slide any further.