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For people don't know who Rick Caruso is, he's a great developer. You walk into one of Caruso's places and it's
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safe, it's clean, you want to bring your kids. Ideology did not save the palisades.
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Competency would have running this city is running a business for the benefit of
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the residents. You've got to make good business decisions. It was predictable, Bill. What's predictable is preventable.
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Rick Caruso now has a golden road in the governor's race if he wants it. What's happened to LA over the last decade is
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just tragic. It's sad to watch. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Rick Caruso.
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[Music] Great to see you, brother. Thank you for coming. Thank you very much. All right.
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Make my rounds. Thank you. Good to see you. Good seeing you. Hello everybody. All right, Rick. Um, we're nine months
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out from the tragic fires. So much has happened. So much has happened. Karen Bass,
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so incompetent. Such a disgracad my my Italian brethren in here. But when you when you look at it in all
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seriousness, you know, you had some properties there and you've always been an innovator. Everybody knows the Grove.
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I spent so much time there with my beautiful daughter Lotus and and my my beautiful wife, um, Jade. Just
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what a gift you've given so many times over to this amazing city. And then you watched this horrible incompetence. And
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yet you innovated and you had these incred this incredible insight that when the fires were coming, you would get
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water in trucks and bring it to the Pacific Palisades. And then you found this unique group of innovators called
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firefighters and you also brought some of them. What did you see in this incredible moment of clarity that when
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the fires were coming that Karen Bass didn't see? Well, the first thing I did is I stayed
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in town. Um, which I I I think you didn't abandon the city. I think when you want to be a leader,
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you should probably be present. But, uh, good start. That's a good rule. Listen, we learned a
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lot when we were building our resort up in Monaceto in Myiramar. Uh we had fires
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there that were threatening the construction site. We were just under construction. And I had a very smart guy
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still do on the team name is Banyan. And he's the one that said, "We can bring in
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private firefighters. We can bring in our own water trucks. We can bring in retardant." And listen, here's another
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rule that's really important when you're in the commercial side of the business.
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You want the firefighters that are working for the city or the county first and foremost to protect the homes. And
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we know that they should be doing that. So, we want to have resources to protect
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our buildings so the resources aren't taken away from the residential areas. That's just I think being a good
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citizen. So, fast forward to Palisades. We know we're in a fire zone. We built it with
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all non-combustible materials. We designed it so there was no open vents that an ember can get into. About 90% of
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the homes in the Palisades and Aladena burned from the inside out. So, these wind warnings came, and I'm
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sure you all saw them to the point that I didn't even believe that they could be
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true. catastrophic life-threatening winds and our team rallied. We had our firefighters,
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our water, our retardant station there two days before the fire and we were ready to go. And I'm really proud of my
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team because they not only saved the village, but we saved the whole block uh of properties. And we were actually on
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the 7th loaning equipment to LA Fire Department who was running short of equipment. And we were actually loaning
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water cuz we were bringing in our water tanks when the water hydrants failed to work.
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Rick, it's been 8 months, I guess, since these fires. Um, how much of it is being
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rebuilt now? Not enough. I was out there last night. Um, it's slower than it should be.
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And what is slowing it down? slowing it down is an enormous amount of red tape. I mean, the previous speaker
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is talking about red tape in the state of California. We have red tape in the city of Los Angeles and the county.
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That's ridiculous. But let me just give you an example. Since co we have still not, we being the city has
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still not called back workers to city hall. So plan checkers in LA city are working from home. You just lost 7,000
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homes. You would think the first thing the mayor would do is say, "You 10 plan checkers are now out in the palisades in
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a construction trailer where the people need you." They're still working out of a home.
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Why did the people Why? I want to know why. Yeah. Why? That makes me angry. You'll have to call 1800.
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What's What's your I've I've tried to call that number a number of times. What is What is your sense of the incentives
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there? What is driving that? Is it a union thing? Is it uh you're going to get unelected because this voting block
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wants to work from home? What is the incentive for that? Incompetence makes no sense.
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Okay, I think this is what it is. I I think there's a level of incompetence that's combined with literally a
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stagnation and there's no urgency to do anything. So there's no decision-m and all of us have been in situations in
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business or whatnot where you meet somebody that is just not well equipped. And so what happens when you're not well
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equipped to make decisions and either easy situations or complex situations, you sort of freeze up.
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So the kids run the class. Yeah. I'll throw out a theory and get your reaction to it, which is California
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is a one party state and Karen Bass doesn't really need to serve the people because historically we haven't really
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had competitive elections. What's important is that she satisfies this political machine that keeps her in
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office. She wasn't a particularly distinguished candidate or anything like that. She' just been around the block
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for a long time. And frankly, we had the best candidate to ever challenge Karen Bass, which was
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you, a successful businessman. Unbelievable. And and the proof of that is that I love this crowd, by the way.
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This crowd is intelligent. Yeah. Yes, they are. Yeah. And and the proof of that was was
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in the fires because I think it's pretty obvious that the Palisades wouldn't have
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burned to the ground if you had been the mayor because you would have made sure that there was water in the fire
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hydrants. David, what's amazing to me is, and we're waiting for this action a uh
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afteraction report, which is incredible. We don't even have it yet, but I am I was convinced nine months ago. I'm more
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convinced today that fire was completely preventable. And if you think I'm wrong
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and it wasn't completely preventable, the damage could have been significantly mitigated.
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The fire department was never pre-eployed. Where the fire started is the same exact place that there was a
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fire 7 days before. I think what we're going to see is the fire department did not put that original fire out. It
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smoldered and reignited. When it reignited, the winds were not here yet. The smoke was going straight
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up. We had the largest reservoir not filled with water. I mean, I got the call at night. The
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family was together. Your daughter's home is burning down and the firefighters, their hoses have stopped.
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There is no more water in the fire hydrants. And I said, "How can that be? We're the second largest city in the
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country. Impossible." But listen, I think all of it is fixable. So, I'm an optimist and with the right kind of
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leadership and I'm not saying it's me. I'm just saying in general in this state, in this city, and this country,
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with the right kind of leadership that is competent, eager, and willing to make decisions
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because they want to do what's best for the people they serve and not worrying about getting reelected,
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great things can happen. And that's my hope for the Why is this happening around the nation?
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When you look at Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, these cities around this country, we're seeing similar kind
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of systems of decay and degradation. But is it No, but what did you say? No, he said they're blue.
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But I I I want to like is that is that really what's going on or is there a social thing that's going on or a
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societal thing that's going on that's causing people to say let's let these cities kind of decay? Let's stop doing
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our jobs. let's keep kind of ballooning the the budgets but not delivering any results. What is it that's going on?
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I have a little bit different take. I have a different take that I think there's been a a sense of apathy. I
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think people have not gotten engaged. Not enough people vote and get involved and we don't hold our elected officials
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accountable. Uh people now that run for office believe they have an office for life. And I think that's very dangerous.
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That was never the intent of our founding fathers. It was to serve and then go back to your private life.
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That's right. And and now what we have is people just they cycle through it. And what we need
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to do is get more people active. I don't care what your political persuasion is.
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Get out and vote. And but what we have seen particularly are extremes that are very motivated to vote and they're
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moving these uh elected officials that are ideologues into positions. And this ideology, which may be well intended,
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has not had good results. Have the people of Los Angeles seen enough, do you think, to have the common
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sense to put competent leadership in? I hope so. Have they seen enough? We're going to find out in about a year.
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What do the politicians mean when I mean, I think I've heard Karen Bass say this. I think I've heard uh Gavin
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Newsome say this that they see that what happened in the Palisades as an opportunity to reimagine. What are
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they imagining there? Uh, and how is that different than just letting people rebuild their homes?
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I I I can't I can't see. I mean, I think they're talking about turning large parts of the Palisades
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into low-income housing or something like that. Is there I mean, should people be worried about this?
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I don't think so. I I think there's probably fringe people who would like to see zoning changes. I don't believe that
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there should be zoning changes on the backs of people who have lost their homes and their businesses. If you want
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to do that, you want to have that discussion, do it in an orderly fashion, but do everything you can to get people
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back into their communities, back into their homes. And I, this city and government has got to have this culture
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that we've got your back. We're here for you. And we don't have that. And you're not going to get people to
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reinvest in their own homes, and their own community unless they think the city's going to be there with them. How
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uh how much of the ineptitude of Los Angeles is derived from the ineptitude of the state of California?
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Well, I think it's part and parcel, you know, to be honest. But I also believe that
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so is Gavin Newsome helpful. Has he done stuff to help? Like when you when all the people in LA who are still, you
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know, dispossessed and out of a home called him, is he able to apply pressure to the city of California or is it just
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city of LA rather? Or is it just chaos? I don't think it's chaos. I think actually Gavin has done some good
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things. Waving SQA, waving the Coastal Commission. Those are really smart things that he's done. I'd like to see
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him do more. Well, what would you want him to do? What he could do is he could demand
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changes very quickly. Um, and if not, he could exert independent California authority to make
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changes. Th the these communities, Altadena and Malibu and Palisades, they need completely new infrastructure. They
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need all the power lines underground. They need new water systems. All of that has to be done. He's got the power to
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really make that happen. And frankly, we've got to figure out a way to get the federal government to help financially.
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And I think name calling uh probably is not a good way to build a relationship to get billions of dollars into the
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state of California. So, I'd like to see that stop. Where can you be more effective as mayor or governor of
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California? I think they're very different. Um, but I think either one of them. I really do.
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I think I think either one. But I think they have different They obviously have different authorities and
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different powers, but I think either one can be very effective. You You'd be great. You'd be great in
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either one. And um, it'd be it'd be great. You really would be great in either one.
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Thank you. It'd be great. It'd be great to get a to get an outsider, someone, you know, in into politics. The thing I
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I I worry about is in California, you've got ballot harvesting is legal and checking someone's voter ID is illegal.
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And I just wonder if the combination of those two things makes it impossible for
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someone outside the political machine to get elected. What do What do you think?
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Well, you know, it may, David, but I may I may give that a try. So, we'll see. We'll see if it works. Let me go the way
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it wanted to last time. Let me hold on. I got I got to follow up on this one. You're I know the people
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who have been having some of these conversations with you. There's one camp that's pushing you to governor and the
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other camp is pushing you to mayor. How do you make that decision? When are you going to make that decision? We've got 8
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minutes and 53 seconds left here. Can we get it done now? Can I get it done in 8 minutes?
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All right, let's start. Mayor, clap. Governor. Who wants him to go for mayor? And now governor. Governor.
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Wow. Whoa. Wow. You I just want to let you know right now, you have the full support of the
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all-in platform for whichever one you choose. The level of confidence you and I have
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developed a bit of a friendship. We talk on text and I every time I go to one of
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your facilities and we talk about the detail the detail that you have at the Grove Pacific Palisades this incredible
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Monteito property that I got to stay at recently. That attention to detail is what for free nights.
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This is not what he want. This is not the attention to I want you to talk about where did that
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where did this attention to detail the understanding of customers and consumers in your private sector life
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where did it come from? I love what I do. And if if you go to the root of what we do as a company and
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you ask anybody in the company, what is your business? Everybody in our company is going to say to bring joy and enrich
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people's lives. It sounds corny, but if you do that, it gives you a platform in business that gives you permission to do
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things that your competitors are not allowing themselves to do. It gives you permission to build a place called the
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Grove, which you and I talk about, and you get to run a trolley through the middle of it.
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Is it really that simple? Like, you're building a business and you're like, I'm just going to enrich the lives of my
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customers and make them happy. And your competitors literally don't do that. Are
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they My competitor is building an indoor mall with no trees or light and an escalator.
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And so, you're just shaking your head like, how is this how is this even possible?
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Well, don't you want to be in a place that feels good, makes you happy? You see trees, you have water, you have
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flowers, there's nice music. Nobody's feels like the perfect platform or or a stadium. So, that's where that
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platform gives you this incredible power and authority to go do things. I mean, you look at the Rosewood Miramar, our
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resort. We have a full train running through it. Everybody stayed away from that property. And when I announced
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we're going to build a five-star hotel, everybody said, "You're crazy. You got a
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train running through it." We made the train an amenity, right? We built a bar next to it with a bell
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that gets rung when the train comes by and people celebrate it. Yeah. So, that's enriching lives. I I just
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love watching people enjoy their life and that's what fuels my public service and it's what I really
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enjoyed when I worked for three mayors when I worked for Tom Bradley and Dick Re and and Jim Han. You can actually
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make changes in public service that makes people's lives better. How great is that?
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That's great. People don't know this widely uh but tomorrow is the 175th anniversary of the state of California
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and Governor Nuomo uh it's a great state and um it's an amazing place. Governor Nuome is giving his state of
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the state tomorrow morning. If you were in that seat, what would you say at the state of the state tomorrow? What's your
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read on the state of the state of California? I think the state of California should
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lead the nation in everything that we do. I think the state of California should have the best housing. It should
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have the best school system, the lowest crime rate. We should not have homeless living on the streets. We should have
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opportunities for people to grow a business, raise their family, feel good about life, be enriched, and we should
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be in the top of every category that you want to measure quality of life. If if you say we're the fourth largest economy
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in the world, which our elected officials say very often, then act like it. And the people of California should
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be benefiting from being the fourth largest economy in the world. How would you deal with homeless? You
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got these encampments. We're driving around here downtown LA. It had such a renaissance for a short
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period of time. It feels like it's devolved again. It has. And it just seems to me that
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there just should be zero tolerance for camping on the street. Yet here we are again with encampments everywhere. What
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would be your approach? Well, my approach was simple when I ran is you can't allow encampments on the
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street, but you've got to give people who are on the streets an opportunity to have a productive life. So give them the
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services they need, build the housing that they need. We are spending in the city of Los Angeles
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$900,000 per person that they're removing from the streets. $900,000 per year or
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Yeah. Oh my god. There's billions and billions of dollars wasted. redirect that to organizations
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that have incredible track records of being successful in Los Angeles of housing people, giving them the services
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for mental health and drug addiction. And the first thing you do is you do not allow the sale of drugs on the street
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right now. We do I mean this that's a crime. It's illegal. Don't allow it. It is a crime.
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Yeah. I I mean if you look at fentinol, it is just a different category of drug. We've
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seen the president who you don't agree with everything on, but he's taking a pretty hardline stance to the point at
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which he's activating the military. Pretty controversial. What's your take on that?
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I think we should actually have secure borders and shut down the drugs 100%. Absolutely.
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So, in full agreement with the president? Yeah. I I don't know how you can say I
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want to have a livable society, a quality of life, allow people to build a business, raise a family, and then at
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the same time, you allow drug dealing to go on the streets. You just can't do it.
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We have an area out here called the Seulva Basin. I got a call from a resident yesterday, and this poor
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resident that lives out in Enino was talking about the amount of encampments in Seulva Basin. And what they have done
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now, the homeless, he's telling me, is they've made these booby traps and connected homemade bombs to them.
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Oh my god. So when the police of the fire department try to go in there, this one
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firefighter was severely injured, lost an ear because it hit a trip wire and he had called the mayor. The mayor
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said, "Well, it's very complicated to try to figure out how to get in there to clean it up." It's not complicated. You
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go in there and clean it up. Period. Full stop. Period. full stop. We just got to do
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that. So, one of the complications here is the Democrats don't seem to want to clean up
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these cities. The president has checkmated them by saying, "If you don't clean it up, I'll clean it up." Seems
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like a midterm driven approach. What's your take on the National Guard being sent into these cities? Because if Karen
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Bass won't clean it up, if JB Pritsker won't clean it up, is there an argument for the president to send the National
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Guard, it seems like overreach in one way, but we're sitting here talking about absolute incompetence and a
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refusal to deal with this issue. The people who are affected by it are like, "Yeah, send the National Guard in if
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that's what it takes." What's your take? Well, my take on it is sending in the National Guard in Washington DC is a
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very different situation than sending the National Guard into LA or Chicago because Washington DC is a federal
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territory. So, that's different. What I think should be done is we should hold our elected officials accountable to
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have a police department that's fully engaged and given the authority to enforce the laws. And we're not doing
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that. You're not backing They're not backing up the cops. They are not backing up the cops. The
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cops are not allowed to clean up the streets. The cops are not allowed to hold people accountable for selling drug
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on the streets. There's a whole bunch of protocols in the city of Los Angeles that do not allow the cops to do their
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job. The any kind of federal interference, I think, should be the very very last resort. So, I don't
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support that. I don't support it. But I do support a fully engaged leadership system that require that the laws be
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enforced and give police the opportunity and not only that demand that they enforce the law.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the next governor and mayor of California, Los Angeles, Rick Russo.
00:22:47
Thank you. That was fantastic. Great. Thank you very much. That was great. My gosh. Appreciate you, brother.