Yo, what's going on everybody? This is divine and Jay there it is. Let's do it. I love it, man You I know too did you twice born radio man is a third episode really excited about this woman before we just thought it Oh man, how had your a so weekend?
I don't know and it is the first day of March Any particular thoughts about this black history month that we just got through when he talks about this is an incredible beginning to 2025 It's crazy that it is already March. Oh my reference for time right now is really messed up because of the fires, right? And so my birthday is officially in a week and did not like it's just dawned on me today when people have been asking me like What's you doing for your birthday? I'm like, I mean like I'm not really focused on my birthday this year.
It kind of reminds me of 2020 The pandemic happened right they shut down everything like three days after my birthday We never got to have that big 40th birthday party and here we are five years later And I'm not really doing anything for 45 because of the fires right because in my mind I've got too much stuff to do Then time to celebrate you know, I mean like you know I got a lot of family out of homes and all that stuff And so I'm like really focused on how do I you want to know what my goal is right now And I know you didn't even ask me this question you just asked me how did we been I you know, we put out a video this week My mother and grandmother on my Facebook page and you know attack some family members and really trying to get people to kind of hear from my mother and grandmother, right? our their story and their narrative right without any influence from media and So I interviewed them like a week after the fires and everything we were able to get it out this past week But I started thinking about like short-term goals long-term goals and stuff like that And it's kind of a long-term goal because it were probably you know, at least over a year away But my goal right now, and this is why I'm not really trying to celebrate anything right now My number one goal. Okay, so my grandmother my grandmother to see her house to see me I mean like actually walk in to her new home. Oh She's 92.
Yeah, so, you know, there's a lot that hinges upon that. Yeah, right? Number one, you know and less than God so far for her great help But praying that she maintains that help also that she emotionally and psychologically maintains that help being 92 You know things can go, you know pretty quickly And if you watch the video, I mean she's she's still sharp, you know at 92 years old she's not sharp and will You know, I remember when I was you know, I had to tell her like, okay, move. I just need you to know like I'm not interviewing you today Don't answer me with my name Nor you know reference that you're talking to your grandson act like you're talking to somebody who you don't know, yeah But you know, she's very she's very sharp at the moment, you know, and she's been sharp all my life Yeah, that being said my prayer is that God will you know sustain her bring her through she'll be able to walk into her brand new home You know what I mean?
That's what I really would love and honestly that she could at least spend one evening Yeah, I mean granted. I want her to live out her days there, right? Right, but that she can at least Go into her home and see it as a complete home again, right? Because I would never wish that on anyone that their last days Would be in a place of I lost everything Well, and I don't want to say like even discomfort, but there's nothing like the comfort of your own home There's nothing like it.
You know what I mean? That's really even those who spend their last days in a hospital or their last days in a in a home You know things like that like my heart bleeds for you because there's nothing like the comfort of your own home So my number one mission right now is like how can we get this done efficiently? Not too fast to where there's gonna be issues with the house, but efficiently done correctly And then also make sure that you know, she's not done over or taken advantage of by the people who are doing building and all of that stuff Because there's a lot of fraud fraudsters and you know people that are out there to try to get some kind of gain out of this whole thing So that being said, I mean, that's my rant But it was something that kind of dawned on me this week after putting out that video is like, you know, my number one goal is really My grandmother really had an opportunity to go into her home and rest in her home. Yeah, man Yeah, man And yeah, we'll be in prayer for that as well.
And then if you can man I think you should leave the link in the description for the go funding at least for people to to be able to support, you know Yeah, absolutely Because well and I don't want to you know, I know we're having a whole different subject But how how far in the process is she with is she are they rebuilding the house that she that she lost or that she looked at Her whole other piece of land. No, okay. So the plan is to rebuild on the same plot of land, right? She still has the land the land still belongs to her and all of that stuff.
The only issue is that the house is gone It's, you know, literally gone. Oh, well, it's a powder rubble And when I say a power rubble, I mean rubble that has smoldered for days, right? It's basically just ashes. There are a couple pieces of wall left in this and the other But basically it's at point A is that they cleared out every hazardous material.
That's like step number one step number two is They will actually come by and take everything out. They will actually scrape the foundation It would take everything out of the house and the house itself and it'll be nothing but like a A plot of dirt got you essentially now One of the things like if you watch the interview that I did with her I asked her about her favorite part of her home And my grandmother is a she has a green thumb, right? She's a person who loves being in her garden. I remember, you know as a teenager when I would go to her house A lot of times she wouldn't answer the door Why because she's in the backyard in her garden on her knees planting something or pruning something or you know Just just getting it and every time I would go to her house.
She would send me home with with oranges lemons Great fruits, you know, I mean she would always give us like a bag or two grocery bag or two of fruit because she had fruit trees And so if you listen to the interview, I guess one of her main things is I don't know I hope my fruit trees made it well I took a video when I went up there and I took a video And she's been up there since that you know, it's not am I doing not of my doing but they did take her up there But her fruit trees are you know the first time I went up there some fruit on a tree And it looked healthy like the fruit looks like okay, this is good the next time that I went up which was like a week or two later All the fruit was dead dead dead dead Now The fruit was dead as if they were like the toxins area just like finish the tree the trees off. Yeah, like no These are not gonna happen again. So I don't know what they're going to do with the trees I know that is something that they are talking about countywide As in in these fire zones, what are we gonna do with the trees? Are we going to allow them to re sprout because if you know anything about like wildfires in the forest That's a normal occurrence in the forest you have fires the fires burn out the trees or they burn out the forest Yeah, but everything grows back Yeah, the difference is that this was not a forest this was a residential area Yeah, you have all kind of different contaminants that aren't there in the forest Yeah, you can let the forest do its forest thing But I don't know if they'll let these you know fruit trees in her backyard You know kind of try to do their thing and recover on their own or they're gonna knock them down if they knock them down And if they knock them down I will go and personally plant her some fruit trees Because I have to make sure that she has this is our favorite part of the house Yeah, I have to make sure that she has that you know So you know those are some of the the task and things that that have been you know on my mind and things that I want to do For her and make sure that you know those things are kind of taken care of but long story short long rant even longer I'm doing good man.
You know, I always want to pivot because I one of the things you were talking to me about was especially when the fires were happening Was how much attention was not on? Altadena felt like the tension came to Altadena once everything was pretty much burned It felt like majority of the and this is not you know Comparative suffering as much as it was a lot of the news outlets were going towards the Pacific pal say's and you know And also Dina for the most part if you're from Southern California You understand how to do that you understand Pasadena you understand the difference between the two yet of the other but from a worldwide perspective Most people have never even really heard about it in outside of that milk company You know I'm saying they really even heard of that city and I don't think people understood into after the fires How much black history was lost? You know you spoke you spoke you grandma and like those fruit trees in the back like you don't think people understand how difficult it is In certain parts of Southern California to even have that as a tradition where you can grow fruit trees Just given how the spaces are and stuff like that It's like the difference out here where I'm at in Houston and Texas and stuff in the south There's so much space. They're always building but like places like New York, LA Chicago it is so fortified that the space is already set right so like if you're there you're there So people in out to be in there for a big grandma just on that like generations.
They have been in that city. Yep, absolutely You know what you're right we're pivoting we can we can come back to that other topic another time and the reason why is because Now I'm interested whether we're talking to fires, right? So it is what it is so so Pete you're absolutely correct So It there was a bit of comparative grief innocence, you know or comparative tragedy You know what I mean because while this whole thing is happening while this whole thing is happening and mind you okay So we have a group chat in the family and all my family lives in Altadena. Yeah, my dad lives in Pasadena and The fire starts and the group chat is going off.
Yeah, the wind is how well Even where I'm at in West Covina, which is like, you know 30 miles southeast of that's in Alsina I go in my backyard and and it's windy like we got we got like 70 mile an hour winds over here I go in my backyard. I look towards Altadena and I can see the fire on the mountain now. I see the fire my family is talking One of the things I had to do is I down in my backyard because I knew it wasn't gonna survive the winds That's why I went outside. Okay.
I see the fire and I'm like this thing is getting crazy out of control I'm also recognizing the direction that the wind is blowing at my house It's blowing a different direction than it normally blows for Santa Ana winds Santa Ana winds normally go from From like the ocean from the west to the east all the way out today the IE well this time the wind was actually blowing from the Northeast to southwest so it's literally blowing from From what would be the mountains down into the neighborhood of Altadena, okay? So comparatively where I'm at I'm feeling the direction of the wind and I'm knowing that if this fires on the mountain It's blowing down. This is going to be a problem for Altadena Mind you I see the fire on the mountain I'm watching the news and the news is talking about palisades How do I say it's actually did light up the day before yeah? I've already been on fire for for like a day, right?
It was that night that Altadena let up or that guy fire in the fire and eaten Canyon lit up now You guys don't see it, but I'm air quoting eating Canyon a lot of people from out to Dina understand why I might air quote eating Canyon Even though they named the fire that eaten fire That was a disservice to people who know Altadena Oh say more about that because because what okay? So eating Canyon is on the northeast corner actually it's more just on the east corner of Altadena close to the Altadena passing aboard, okay, right? Well, if the fires over there we're thinking okay. Well, it's gonna go up the mountain and it'll be no video They did the opposite it went up the mountain and blew down into Altadena Oh, so while it started in eating Canyon The longer you called it eaten fire the more we thought it was just eating Canyon that was where the concern is eating Canyon is like Um, it's like a very small neighborhood and it's not even really a neighborhood.
It is a trail It is a hiking trail area Okay, so when you name the fire after the hiking trail, we think the fires in the hiking trail Well, that's only where it started Wow notice this they never said that there was a home lost in eating Canyon Where were all the homes lost out of Altadena because the fire was an out to Dina It started in eating Canyon, but the longer you called it eating Canyon the more disservice you did to the people of the area That's true. This is why a lot of people did not leave because they were like, oh, it's an eating Canyon You know we do it'll never get over here to the west side of Altadena. Yeah. Yeah, well, guess what?
It burned all of Altadena the whole city of Altadena gone now And this is this is where we're talking about someone like the deficiencies from a media standpoint, right? They called it the eating fire number one. I get it. You call it where it started I get it but at some point you got a shift to where is the fire burning?
Yes, right the palisades fire burned through palisades Right, which makes sense. It's lining up. Yeah, this makes sense. They eat in Canyon fire burned through Altadena Why not just call it the Altadena fire?
We get it. We'll understand it'll make more sense to the people who live in Altadena Because if I live on the west side of Altadena, which is three four miles away from where the fire started I'm not worried about that that fire will never get over here Man Because it has to go through miles and miles of neighborhood in order to get here Yeah, well guess what the fire did go through miles and miles of neighborhood to get to the west side And it literally burned everything in its path. Just swept through that So that's number one. Number two.
I would say this and this is this is one of the frustrations that I had Okay, I don't want to be impartial. Well, no, I'm gonna be very impartial Um because I love my city. Right. Right.
I'm from Pasadena My first house was in Altadena when I was a when I was a baby the first house I lived in was in Altadena Actually my grandmother's house the one that burned down. Yeah, um But then at the age of five we moved to Pasadena at my dad's my dad's, you know where he currently lives It's Pasadena. Um, but if you're from Pasadena or Altadena and you if you got Pasadena, Altadena family in both areas It's all dina. That's how we look at it.
Right now outside of some some, you know Early 90s gang stuff. You don't you don't have much separation between Pasadena and Altadena once you go out of you know The young teenage years you're realizing it's all about dina period, right? and so what happens is is that We're trying to find out what's going on in Altadena We can't find out what's going on in Altadena because what all of the news coverage is in pacific palisades. Yep Now this stuff that's happening in pacific palisades is devastating.
Yeah, it's absolutely devastating. However, there's something else that's devastating That's not being recorded Now, let me tell you the difference between Altadena and palisades. Altadena is historically black Yeah, it is one of the only areas that black folks were able to buy in the county because of redlining Palisades is a very well-to-do area People with a lot of money You know a lot of people that are prevalent in hollywood and all of that stuff and this may be where some of those other things that i'll talk about later Uh come in but so what ends up happening is is that there is this large Contingent media that is covering what's happening in pacific palisades very few bits of Altadena now the Wednesday morning Wednesday morning, I call into work and i'm like I've got family members in Altadena. I cannot i'm not working today I'm headed over to my dad's house because that's where all the family went They went from Altadena down to my father's house in pacific pasa.
Okay. Well, you know, he's in pacific pasa. That's the state place to be So they're all there. I'm up.
I'm ready to head over to my dad's house and my plan was i'm going to go shopping and i'm gonna feed the family I'm just gonna feed everybody and you know just be there with them, you know, and just we're just gonna pray that everything is okay right so I'm getting ready to walk out to go get in my car to go to pacadena. My father calls me Calls me back because my job is like hey, i'm on my way over there. He calls me back and he says hey, uh, we just got a notification that we need to leave Wow He said we need to go. I said we'll come over here And so everyone that was at his house well, not everyone a couple people actually straight off and went to two other locations But most of the people that were at his house came over then to my house Okay, some of the folks did not find out they lost their homes until they were at my house Or on their way to my house Have you crazy around the bro?
Yes in the meantime my mother and grandmother I get in contact with them. They were down at the shelter Um at the civic center, um and actually getting ready to go check in at the shelter and I said no, no You're not going to a shelter. I'm like first and foremost. How come you told me by now?
Um, I was also getting myself up over having not called them, you know Like what's going on because in my mind i'm thinking about, you know, the family i'm chatting with back and forth Yeah, not even thinking about the fact that hey, this fire might make it all the way over there If they had to go then sort of my mom and my grandmother I don't know why but they just hadn't dawned on me My mom and my grandmother get there my family all get here one of my dad's neighbors comes over And I see was like hey, can my neighbor come and I was like she lives on our mother she lives on our street She's family. She's yes. Absolutely. Come on.
She had her dogs with her bring them. I don't care I put mine away and they can have a yard and you know, come on, you know, this is You know, this is what we do like we take care of those who need to be taken care of, you know, I mean just let's go bring everybody over here so everybody's here, um I actually Am on the phone with two of my cousins. I call them because I know that they're they're checking the sites. They're going to the houses They're going to the sites and I'm talking to them and they're telling me okay Our home is gone.
This home is gone. That home is gone. This aunt this aunt this aunt this aunt Um this cousin this cousin this cousin still has her house, but her garage is gone. Dada.
Dada. All right. Cool Well, your mom just got here. So let me go give her a hug because y'all just lost your house Hang up the phone with him I go I hug my auntie and I'm like, hey, I'm sorry.
I love you. Please come in have a seat You know, take a load off, you know Relax for a moment. We'll we'll we'll chill out here You just stay however long you need to you know until everything is sorted out. You y'all got free run out of the house Yeah, well in the midst of that it dawns on me They're driving around out to Dina.
I didn't check on my mom and my grandmother's house. So I call him right back I'm calling Marcus my cousin Marcus the moment he picks up the phone. He says I know I know he said I he said I'm headed there right now Because he realized that we had talked about every house except for my grandmother's house now mind you Marcus is on the on my father's side of the family. Okay So Most of the houses that we lost were on my father's side of the family.
Only one house was lost on my mother's side of the family Which is my mother and my grandmother's house, right? Um, so he calls me. He says I know and I said yeah, can you just you know drive down territory for me? He said we're headed there right now and he drives by and he's like it's gone Jay It's gone.
Jeez man. Now mind you my mom and my grandmother at my house and they have no idea that it's gone That is gone. My grandmother had actually got up and went to the restroom She's 92. So it takes you know, it's an event for her to do anything at this point, right?
She's two canes and you know all of that So I call my mom outside my mom coming here and you come outside and I have to break into her on the porch Your house is gone. And so we stood there we hugged and we cried and you know, we talked about It's like we got to tell move. How do we do this? Do you want me to do it?
Do you want to do it? How do you want to you know break it to her? And she was just like I can't do it. I said all right.
Well, I'll do it, you know, and so we told move And uh, you know, she was heartbroken. Yeah, she was heartbroken, you know, and you know by the by the the interview Um They left the house with the thoughts up. We'll be back tomorrow And I can't tell you how many people had this same sentiment. I grabbed what I didn't need for a day Because I knew I would be back the next day It's just yeah, I mean And they lost everything bro.
I just I don't think people understand me and like how Out of the out of the ordinary fires are out of the ordinary for us in sevin california at all It's we actually have a fire season But exactly and we were at the tail end of that fire season january is a tail end actually Oddly enough it does not start until like october like late september early october, which is very weird Yeah, because we have 100 degree weather in the summertime. Right, which is Do you know what I mean? Yep. Yeah, but You know, this is this is the reality of it.
It was that you know, they thought they were going back So they grabbed what they thought they needed and so um It was it was the outpouring of love and care and you know those different things that they felt Yeah, that that really was what kind of brought on a lot of the tears, you know Um one of the things that my mom and my grandmother actually stayed here for a couple days That very next day. So that was wednesday that very next day Okay, so later on that day my mother gets a text message from one of her neighbors your house made it Yes, so this is how messed up things are right. This is what they got your house made it Mind you we know the house did not make it the house absolutely did not make it However, I I don't know I don't know I to this day I do not know why this person sent that text but I had to go look at it for myself So thursday while everything is still smoldering we had to sneak into alton dina And I want the people to understand when you're from a place It doesn't matter how many blockades you have on the street It doesn't matter how many ways they try to keep you out If you want to get to a place that you've always been to there are ways there And so we we we absolutely snuck in Founstina You would think that there's only one way in one way out there isn't there's a million ways in So we snuck in so we go around and we go to all the sites. I took a video of my grandmother's house um one of the reasons why I also went is that morning at thursday morning we started the father insurance claim and I had to make sure the car was gone as well because the car was in the garage I grabbed this car And so I had to make sure because I couldn't see from the picture that someone had sent I could not see that whether the garage was there or not because it kind of goes down around the driveway So I Ended a video and I saw the car sitting in the garage, right?
Not intact. This is a charred piece of metal shell Yeah, basically just a shell of a vehicle and so Um, I wanted to make sure that the car was actually fully damaged and not replaceable and you know or not not replaceable But not operable it was like really bad and we needed an insurance claim So, um, I did all that documented all that got pictures of everyone's house and everyone's site We went by all nine of the houses we went by some extra houses. Um, my godmother's house Uh later on I went to another god, um parents house. Um, and you know just I can tell you that I don't know that I will ever be able to really process what I saw Right, bro videos pictures none of that do any justice if you go up there today It is it looks really bad.
It looks really really bad, but it's nothing like it was that Thursday Man, the reason I say that is because it was everything was still smoldering So the smoke is still coming up, but just not so Smoke is still coming up from the house. You're not seeing a whole lot of flames. However, you are seeing flames coming out of every Gas for every house the gas pipes. That's right The gas was still on in every house the gas company for some reason or another they did not shut off the gas So we were actually my cousin is a plumber Okay, he has the big channel locks and we're literally turning off gas at every house in the neighbor in the surrounding You know areas of the houses that we went to we're turning off gas because we can see the flames coming out Or we can see the gas just shooting out which if you I don't know it depends on how sad you are with gas, but you can see the gas coming out.
Yes, I know what you mean Right, you can hear it and you can see it's just shooting out Uh, it's not like a cloud of smoke or anything like that But it is an altered reality of what you're looking through and it just looks like Basically looks like the predator when he's in that cloak type of situation. Yeah, yeah, so you know what's there You know, that's that's gas coming out and so we were shutting off the gas of the neighbors for the homes Um and every house that we went to but that being said One of the things that bothered me about the media coverage as well was simply that at the time that I left the house On Thursday, Thursday morning the news was still we're putting that 100 structured hat 100 structures have burned in altedina That that couldn't have been accurate It couldn't have been even close to accurate when I tell you that I didn't see a hundred structures still there Man, yo, you know what I mean? And I'm talking about a densely populated area. It's not apartment buildings.
It's homes. Yes. Yes And it was rare that you saw a home like there weren't even I wouldn't even say there wasn't even an average of a home or two per block That's crazy. And we're talking about blocks that had 50 homes on them I mean, that's crazy.
You can see clear up From from altedina like let's just say if you're at my grandmother's house on tears I could see clear up to to los florists, which is not normal Um, no, because you got trees. You got houses. You got you know all these things you have to look through it But there was nothing to look through it So so to give our listeners context, um if you've ever seen father of the bride with steve martin There's a house like a neighborhood that's over in a city called monrovia Which is a few cities over But all of these cities are essentially on the hillside like the hillside of the mountains if you ever go down to southern california Correct. It's those mountains altedina kind of sits nestled in like That curvature of the mountain So like being able to see from one part of altedina going all the way through would be the equivalent of you like standing in downtown L.A.
At staple center and being able to look all the way down the 405 without any kind of interruption Like it's just it's you can't fathom it You don't it doesn't you can't calculate in your head because nobody in generations would have been able to see that You had to be in that city at its inception at the last time It probably was at that place where you know, there's a and he says densely popular you understand that especially for the redlining districts You know, they made sure that they made those houses as packed as possible Right, so I mean you had space but it ain't the space like you have in other places Um, and so that's just like they're like wow 7500 square foot lots lots just a decent size lot right decent size lot and these homes probably on average anywhere from you know 1300 to 3500 square feet and I'll say 3500 Because some of the houses there are some areas that you know have some really nice size homes and big lots But i'm saying on average. That's what we're talking about now. We're also talking about Million dollar homes Yes, yes, but these are not million dollar mansions. These are million dollar homes The pricing of alta dina has gone up over the last like, you know, 20 years or so Um, it's prime real dude due to yes, it's very it's very prime real estate of Unfortunately a lot of the the african-americans or americans of african-cent Um have actually moved out and I say that all the time because people get touchy on how we're represented Me personally i'm black so it is what it is But you know, I feel like there's a lot of people who moved out of the area And sold their homes now I bring that up because there is also a push and has been a push for a long time to get hands on this property And this is why it's important for us to rebuild because if we lose that property we lose that legacy Man That's why you see campaigns alta dina is not for sale.
Yeah, yeah, we will rebuild You know, there's campaigns about this and and you know We want to make sure that there's a couple things that are happening people are trying to make sure that you know Even the tradesmen that work on these homes going forward are local. Yes. Yes, you know Keep it in-house because there are so many people from out of state trying to get into the area. Yeah, you know, um There are people that are said hey, look, I'm not rebuilding.
I'm selling and they're already selling their lives And I'm talking about the lot by itself going for $600,000 $800,000 Just a lot. There's no house there just a lot I low-key want to throw you. I'm gonna I'm gonna throw you an audible right quick. I think this is gonna be great Um, I have a good friend of mine in la her name is collet stewart who does insurance is black woman And she has been doing seminars essentially since the fires Helping our community figure out like this is what the insurance company's gonna try to do This is what you need to do to combat that.
This is what you need to know when they're using certain language I was while while you were talking and we pivoted. I was like, um, um, I was like, I need to get I need to get her on here I want to get her on here just like five or six minutes Uh, because I think in the context of what uh what we're talking about I think it would be good for us and especially for you because you know again I gotta keep referencing this I am from california and from la Um, I I grew up in rialto california, which is about 30 45 minutes away um from From the inlum. I mean from alcid to pass it Jason is from there like I didn't bend his daddy's house by the rose bowl Um and the whole nine what up colle? Hi So this is this is mad and prompt too, but just but I want to make sure people kind of have an idea of this So um, co just so you know, no one's gonna be able to see you.
We do audio only on this so nice We're video right now. So you good. I would never throw you on there without giving me an apple time Uh, we were not supposed to be talking about this, but we pivoted Um, so just get you know, this is my best friend Jason Also father to my children This is this is this is my baby sister colle Um, and um, jason's entire family is altodina The entire county altodina pass it in effect. They were on a good morning america after the fires Um, um, because their family lost 7 8 9 10 houses in that fire nine homes.
Oh my gosh Um, so we were just talking about you know that process and insurance and that's why I hit you I was like you have been on a campaign Um helping and I know there's like we have the dance the line because I know you have I know you work for a company Um, and I don't want to get you in any trouble. Um, you know, I work for a public agency now So there's now zero conflict of interest. Okay. Okay.
So so now I want this is where you and j really Uh, this is really more for y'all Tell us kind of the things that you've had to talk about in seminars. I know you did more for painful central Um, just like what are the things that that jason's family should be thinking about looking at when it comes to these insurance claims Well, the biggest thing I feel like people need to hear right now is that there's a lot of eyes Lots of eyes on los angeles in general and lots of eyes on how claims are being handled right now More so than any other time period because you know the stories came out about them dropping insurance and all these other things So a lot of people don't realize that there are rules and regulations out there called california fair settlement practices And that's something that insurance companies have to adhere to regardless But right now the reason I say that there's lots of eyes on it is that you know Insurance companies are going to make sure that they're following that to a t and one of the biggest Uh, california fair claim practices is that you make the insured whole To where they were prior to this accident or prior to this loss And what that means is that they can't skip on whatever you have coverage wise That's what they are to pay up to and not to skip any other way. Yes. So that's kind of the biggest thing Um, another big thing I know a lot of people in eltadena were concerned about where when they looked at their insurance coverage You know, they see the dwelling coverage and they say why do they have my house at 250 or 350 000 Only for coverage when my home is worth upwards of 1.2 1.3 million dollars And that big thing is that that is the cost to repair your home from the foundation to the roof That doesn't take into account any market value the land it doesn't take into consideration anything other than the walls From the bottom to the top.
So what an actuary does which is someone who prices your insurance policies They take information about your home based on what you give your agent or when you set up that policy and they say okay Well, we value that to build your home from bottom to top again is going to be 376 000 Okay, but zillow is telling you your house is 1.2 So that's the biggest Hang up for a lot of people is that they don't understand that they're going to get the cost to repair that some people are a lot of people are Going to get the cost to repair their homes fully. They just can't get over those two numbers The difference is they're focused on what it's worth and they're thinking that they're going to get checked for what it's worth Yes Yeah No, you're not getting 1.2 you're getting the 400 it's going to take the rebuild it. Yes, so my question doesn't take 1.2 to be able to 1.2 No, it doesn't take that amount to you know to make you whole value. Yeah, so yeah, absolutely So in a sense then could this explain why some of the people are selling their land now?
Yes because So here's my thing. I don't want to go through the process of rebuilding. Yes, which I completely understand I completely I'm gonna take a long time. Yeah, let me let me just notice out here though And I'm saying this from a emotional racial place Because black people in california have very little and I saw this one they started building that so fi stadium And I saw how much they offered my aunt to buy that house and I know it's not worth that and she took it And I said well, I can't be mad at you get your check But I that's when I started noticing like white people walking their dogs, you know what I mean in Inglewood Yeah, man, I say hold on man like this has been like This is a staple so like I'm starting to notice that like it's almost like people were taking advantage of that Because I don't really hear people like trying to buy the land in the palisades It's like they're going straight to where the black people are and like let me tap in real quick Yeah, and that yeah, I was just mad at this because this is actually really funny to me I don't know if you know this but they're just run Building up into a dome for um for the first stupid clippers if you prepare there's actually a house right next door to the dome I heard about this lady would not sell her property She would absolutely she was like 80 something years old and she says I'm not selling They offered me to you know to buy my home and pay for my moving expenses and all that she said But I'm not starting over.
I'm here. They literally built a wall around her house Like it's like nine feet tall around her house and around her property so that it does not look like her property is there Because she would not sell and I feel like that is kind of the attitude that we kind of need to have is like I'm not selling Yeah, I've been here this long and I'm not selling now granted. I do understand There were people on the fence that were ready to move anyway, and this is what sent them over Just to know what I mean, I'm I'm going to go live in somewhere where it's flatland I don't have to deal with no forest and all that stuff, but you know I was just gonna say I'm on top of that you rebuild and now you've got you still have the issue of whether or not you're going to be able to have coverage after that That's absolutely true. That's a wild thing.
I didn't even think about that. I mean, it's like a movie Uh, many companies are gonna just drop California As soon as that wait as soon as that moratorium is over and the expiration date hits those insurance companies are literally going to be salivating to just be like All right, let's cut it. Yeah, you know, there's only like two or three insurance companies that offer a vehicle insurance in California. Yeah, what you mean?
There's only a couple companies like you can't a lot of the companies have left California They're not the covering people for car insurance unless you have a like a handful you just have to find them So that's the thing you can't find them like a I'm gonna hop on geico.com really quick and get myself a quote You got to go to a independent broker who's got they have systems that they can tap into For other companies that still right in the area It's just a lot of the larger name companies are pulling back and record numbers I know you're not in One after the fraud, you know, I I don't want to you know, I don't want to say this is probably an insensitive time to say it But we don't got that problem in texas Listen, here you go. I'm not trying to advocate for anybody moving, but we got that problem in texas I'm saying we got I have too many options. Do you know we have over 30 electric companies In the city alone Governor when you guys had a freeze hot wheels. I don't know where that man got was Vacation, yo, this is crazy.
Okay, so let me ask this last question. I'm gonna let you go coz I know you have my knees where she She's with my grandmother on her way here. Oh, you should put her on the podcast Okay, so my question would be for jay's family What are some of the the pitfalls they should look out for? I know there's a lot of practice and laws in place insurance wise to protect them But there's always a way when it comes down to the dollar to have some verbiage thrown in that will throw people off in the end So is there anything during this process?
They should be really paying attention to that can end up biting them behind later on if they're not careful The only thing that would be biting a lot of people in the behind and it's not a like a It's not a tactic. It's just something that's written in the policy. A lot of people don't know is replacement cost versus actual cash value And so what that is is like You have your home in it's which a lot of people in el cedina do have their home in a lot of its original condition And so when they're writing you to replace your fixtures or flooring your cabinets those kind of things They're going to put the cost of to replace them and they're going to take away depreciation Based on the number of years. So you can't expect that you're going to have 1976 cabinets and then get brand new 2025 cabinets They are going to take um Depreciation off of that and a lot of people don't realize that but some people know that and have that written into their policy is like a cousin of mine Who her house was completely leveled she actually had a pretty decent policy where she was going to be getting replacement cost So replacement cost is brand new from the box rip it open brand new actual cash value is going to be taking depreciation So if you don't have that written in your policy as like an endorsement They're only going to ask you what year did you get this done?
Like if you did do a remodel try to be as precise to the year If you did a remodel five years ago, you want to say five years ago because you don't want them to just assume 10 or 15 years now You've taken off unnecessary depreciation from your um your cabinets and stuff like that So that that's the biggest kind of thing that's going to get people hung up because well I don't remember I think it was the 90s. It maybe it wasn't the 90s Maybe it was 2010 and you just don't remember but you want to yeah and you another thing and relate it to that is that you don't have to You can support your own number So if they give you a number and you're like that that doesn't sound right if you have some sort of documentation Or something that can prove a different price than that's always people don't realize you can go back and prove your case to insurance companies Okay Off to what I'm telling them. Okay people use integrity Use that's great information though. That is great information number one because it sets you up for clarity and understanding going in Especially if that is the verbiage that's in your policy if you see that verbiage then you understand okay I'm not getting brand new I can't go look on home people and say this is how much I should get for my cabinets That's the price right that craigslist um so there is some depreciation in there So, you know, I think that's that's great information that people need to hear so thank you for that But you're not going to be left hanging so I just I feel like you know, you're not going to be left hanging It just puts it to me it just puts it into perspective for certain people because this is just my own experience I remember going out and I would be going to some of these houses in LA and you can see that it was Sanford in sometime Like it was time you Sanford in son.
I was a kitchen and these people were like well, you know I'm gonna go remodel and you know, they were in expectation that now they're gonna get a full remodel Which they are essentially you're gonna be getting a full remodel, but you're not gonna be getting the top of the line So now you're not thinking I'm gonna go into home depot and you're giving me the bet give me the pine give me the pine wood I want all of it, you know, you're not going in there making it rain I'm not a person in perspective Making it rain with insurance money is the most fantastic thing I've thought about since since you said like that's incredible I mean, it's I mean to a certain extent you kind of are though. I mean, I'm gonna drop some cash I love that Co-I thank you for hopping on Okay, guys, I'm gonna put all her social media information so you guys can bombard her with questions She is a I'm critically fine with that. She loves it, man She is a beautiful USC grads who loves the Lord and she's single-rated minkles you don't tell me say that I'm gonna say anyway Just hop on hop on in them dms and let her know that you're available and then I'm gonna reach out to you as well though because I have There's another podcast that I'm actually gonna be on in a couple weeks But it's called out to me the talks and they talk about things like this And it's really like a repository of information And they you know, they're seeking more professionals to talk to about this kind of information and I think that that will be great You know great information to share. Yeah, I love to share it to our people I love to share because we don't I put it like this and I tell people this all the time I had to be sent away to Texas for two weeks and in Boston for three weeks to learn this stuff So I can't imagine I had to go for five weeks to learn this So how do we expect these people who were in a whim just lost everything to automatically know exactly what they signed up for?
They don't absolutely You should be starting a consulting business on some level. I'm just knowing it out there I'll see why you will talk to you soon, sir. All right, I appreciate it. All right Yo, I love me some coal man.
She's she sure yeah, dog She has great information in yeah, and she and like literally she like what happened was she hopped on social media one day And she was just like she started spitting information and I was like coal I was like what like people don't know this and then I run through the same day her church She's she is a member of Faithful Central her church was like called like a town hall meeting You know I'm saying and and they and they called her in to do the same thing she did right now man So that's dope. I'm glad she hopped in I was gonna ask you a question because you said something about seeing your grandmother step back in her new house Yes, I guess my question for you And I really am asking you on behalf of the people in Altadena What what can people like me do man like you know I have a connection not only to you but you know I have a connection to Southern California connection to that city But more than anything there's so many who are just so disconnected again didn't even know Altadena existed And so now you know it's out of the news what we're talking about that no more talking about the last thing Trump said So the question is like you know, I know there's gonna be a long road of recovery for the city and the individuals in it What can we do to help aid in that process from a distance while people are trying to rebuild? So there's a couple things first and foremost. I think you mentioned it Right the news has already changed.
We're not hearing about it like we were And the only people that are hearing about it are still here in Southern California They're not talking about this in Texas no more. No not even a bit. They're not talking about this in Florida. They're not talking about this in Minnesota There's always something else that happened right?
Unfortunately today we woke up to the news that that anti-stone passed away. Yeah, right? And so so that's the conversation. We also had the boycott yesterday, right?
Don't spend any black dollars We have all these different things that are happening, right? Yep, no one's talking about Altadena California anymore And so one of the things that I think that that you can do the listeners can do is keep it on the forefront Yeah, keep sharing the stories keep sharing the the go-fund me links keep sharing because there are plenty of people that are out there That don't necessarily believe in the larger companies For donations, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah the the the the red cross Um, you know all of these large donation companies that over the years have actually shown to have some you know Some some backdoor issues so to speak, you know, they got they got such a large overhead How much actually goes into the community? You know what I mean?
So if you want to give it's always better to give directly To the people who are in need, you know what I mean? How do you know that the people who are in need get what they need? I don't know there's there's go-fund me accounts that are all over the place I know we have probably I have at least nine in my family and probably you know 30 more that I'm pushing You know what I mean? And and as they're shared I'm sharing them Yeah, and I'm hoping that people will continue to share them I made the video for my mother and my grandmother the go-fund me link is on there for them specifically Um, I have plans to do other interviews with other family members to keep the narrative in our control Yes, right because the news would have you go to sleep and just give you a checkup every six months.
Hey, remember what happened in octadina? Where here's where we are now? You know what I mean? Yeah, and so I think what the people can do is number one they can give Um, or number one they can share I really would like for them to share share the information continue to share the information number two You can give you can give um one of the things I did during this whole process is I actually posted something on my social media page Because I'm from Pasadena and I literally just said hey if you're from Dina do not toil over who to give to just share every page that you see Man Because you don't know who on your timeline wants to give to somebody Don't go focusing because I know I know at least 60 people that have go fund me is that that need and it's like what am I gonna do give a Quarter to each of them?
Yeah, you know what I mean? No, I'm gonna do that but here's what I am gonna do I'm gonna give as much as I can but I'm also gonna share even more Because it's the sharing that gets it out because my network is not just passing out My network goes all the way to other countries matter of fact, I have a buddy who reached out to me from New Zealand I was like hey, did your family get out there? And I was like now we lost nine homes and this I never met He hit me up about the podcast. He said it's just new So shout out to Alexi Mervitt The point is is that you know, there's there's really uh, there's a lot that can be done But I think sharing the information is good And the reason why I think sharing the information is so good is because there's a lot of people that don't believe in those big companies That understand that those companies have so much overhead that very few of the dollars that are actually don't need to get to the people who are actually in need And so um, there are people, you know, who are reading and hearing and seeing these heart-wrenching stories and they want to give They want to give to somebody.
Yeah, I'm not saying you got to give it all to my mom and grandmother You know what I mean? All I'm saying is is that you give to to you know, those who you feel like are going to do something with it or Those that are in need. Yeah, now also Keep in mind traditionally from a from a christianity standpoint when you're giving once you give it You know, a guy will do the rest. Yeah, you know, I can do a lot with a little So don't think that that that that two dollars you got ain't gonna do nothing Yeah, because he can multiply that two dollars into two thousand or two million You know what I mean?
He can do that real real. Oh, so I don't want to even want to be discouraged about how much they give Yeah, it's not about how much you give. Yeah, it's not really about how much you give what it's about is really like One of the things that I would say is the humanity that has come from this tragedy has been amazing Mm-hmm. I mean my cousin said it specifically because he grew up in past in altsadina his whole life He said Pasadena y'all came through for us.
That's heavy. He said Pasadena y'all been coming through for us We feel that Dina love man Because mind you there's no more altsadina like it's it's all leveled. Yeah They can't eat the people whose homes are still there can't even go back to their homes Visit yeah, they can go visit their house, but they don't have no utilities And they got smoked damage. They got all kind of so they can't live there inhabitable Man, I just I wish I had some images that I could throw up.
I mean, yeah, it's bad bro. It's bad Listen, I have one uncle who still has his home While everybody else lost theirs matter of fact my cousin lived next door to my uncle My cousin lost his home. My uncle's home is still there My uncle was having the hardest time dealing with the fact that his home was still there Survivors remorse. Yeah, man Jesus like really trying to deal with that and I told him I said, um I understand I understand trust me.
I understand But you have to understand that you were not in control of this say that nor was anyone else It just so happens that your house is still standing. But guess what you can't go to it You're still displaced. Yeah, so understand that you're still a victim at the end of the day Still the victim now granted we're victors like we don't we don't sell the victim mentality, right? But I didn't want him to have the survivors or more like don't get too caught up into that.
Yeah, that's what you can't You can't control. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like for instance this whole thing with Angie Stone right and the way that she passed if there's somebody from that crash who who actually Survived There were more said they're gonna have crazy. It should have been me.
It should have been me. You know what I mean? It's like but you can't yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, and that's that's it I mean everybody's affected so you know what I'm saying like that just what you said man if you survived You're affected if you lost that stuff and here's what somebody made a comment.
My father is the same way Even though he was in Pasadena. Yeah, right? He's like all my sisters lost their homes My niece is a nephew's lost their homes and he's like I don't know what to do. I said there's nothing for you to do The only thing I want you to do that is stop trying to be Superman man You can't go up there and rebuild their houses right now.
You gotta let the process be the process There's nothing you can do. What you can do is you can support them. That's it. That's all you can do Jesus That's all you can do, but it's you know, I don't think it's a generational thing But he personally just kind of feels the need to be the protector of his sisters because he's the only one of his brothers that is still here in California So um one uncle's in Pittsburgh where they're all originally from one uncle's in Atlanta and one uncle is in Vegas I mean when it's in Vegas is just you know, just getting through cancer treatments Like he's he just got a clean bill of health.
You know what I mean? So my dad and his mind is like well, I gotta be the savior of of the family. Yeah, I'm like Don't don't put on a cape that's too big for you You know what I'm saying? Yeah, like like You can't put it this way You okay, so uh, we're watching um The new spider-man joint, right?
Yeah, okay. So you remember in the in the beginning of the spider-man joint Um how his his uniform just didn't look like it fit and it was really just very insufficient. Yep Don't go don't go out there and be that that first that first level spider-man because you're gonna be that Real quick because you're gonna have an opponent that's gonna have a better outfit than you he's gonna be more equipped than you Yeah, and if that's not your calling if that's not your calling Don't do that stay away from it. Don't do that.
Yeah, just you know, know your role. You know what I mean? Like I try to tell them, you know, I just I just want you to take time for yourself to process and be able to Support your sisters. There you go.
They need your support. They don't need you out there trying to reveal their houses, right? Not yet. The time will come now.
Remember my dad is also an electrician my trade. Yes So I got plumbers electricians mechanics. I got um carpenters. We got everything in the family The time is going to come when we're gonna be able to reveal and we'll play a part in that Yeah, but now it's not the time this tragedy just happened these houses haven't even been cleared yet We don't even have a clear plot of land to build on and we're not no we are not going up there to clean up these homes ourselves Let the professionals do it.
Yeah. Yeah, let the professionals do it So I see it Yeah, yeah, so I mean it's just one of those things man and honestly It's been tough for the family to kind of navigate this whole thing I wanted to bring up as well is that there has been an effect On the family and and I want to say it's a mental effect that is had on the family I don't want to talk about this. So um It's 2025. Yeah, right in 2020.
We went through the pandemic. Yep Right pandemic officially lasted about two years. Yeah, we're basically couldn't leave the house You know, you could you could leave the house, but you were taking risks into your own hands by leaving the house Right of catching cobia Less stuff and everybody had to work from home and all these different things that were happening right man and so One of the things I want to talk about for a quick second is the children Oh, yeah, this is a nephews. I got nieces and nephews that went through the pandemic My own kids went through the pandemic School from home The mental yeah, you know aspects and and told that that took on them because now they can't mingle with their friends Now they got to be at home right now the ones the nieces and nephews that I have that are in school right now and I That lost their homes Are they had to deal with the pandemic now?
They're dealing with the fact that they lost every possession that they had That's crazy. They lost their homes And school burned down And so like they are going through it. You know what I mean? So one of the things that's important is that we give them space to talk to share Talk about what's on their mind get them some mental health um help You know what I mean if they need counseling, please get them the therapy that they need because what you don't want them to do is not talk about it Just internalize it because it's gonna pop up later It's gonna pop up later and you're gonna find that this trauma that I went through changed the course of my life And I'm covered.
I haven't been able to recover You know and that's the that's the thing that we're talking about right with the survivors remorse. Yep Um the same thing for um, you know people my age, you know going through this There's a struggle there. Yeah, right and then we also have our parents who lost their homes And so we have to try to you know These homes 30 40 50 years and they're everything just burnt down Some of them are widows or widowers man You give what I'm saying? Absolutely.
And so if they've lost everything all they have is their home And now you don't have that gone. So mentally that takes a toll on you Jesus, you know what I mean? And so there's been evidence already from some of the family members of you know Situations where and I said it from the jump during this time family. We got to give each other grace Yeah, man You've got to give each other grace because you're gonna argue you're gonna fight and you're gonna be frustrated and these times of frustration are gonna divide you Jeez man If you're not on alert for them already Yeah, because somebody's gonna get snappy and you're not the person who hears that snappy.
It's not gonna have grace Or vice versa. Yeah, and so my cousin actually came up with a little thing where what he did was he talked to his family He has a media family. He said look, you know, um If daughters, this is what we're gonna do if you need a second call it out that you need a second and we'll give you the space that you need I don't care if we're in public or we're anywhere But if it's becoming too much for you step away and take a break. Yeah, yeah That's real good Yeah, because it's necessary man.
It's necessary and now you got schools that are intermingling Which is you know what I mean? Because my school burned down now. We're at another school We're intermingling with kids from another school and those kids don't want you at day school. Nope.
Nope. And you should be here You're a visitor. You better respect me and you're gonna say now mind you we're talking about childish things But still but it's still gonna happen. It's still gonna happen.
No, you know, they're there are fights on the school yard for no reason right now Yeah in the middle of the school year now you have overcrowded classes Some of these people are getting ready for graduation that all of that is shifting You're not sleeping in your own bed. God knows where these kids are sleeping If you were an athlete trying to get to college or jukeo You're not you're not on a team. You're like it's I think what you just said man I think is is is part of the reason why we're even doing this and why we pivoted it is because That tragedy happened, you know a couple of weeks ago a few weeks ago and the long lasting effects of that are gonna be For a long time and we don't we don't necessarily recognize it in the media But the media's job is not to stay on stories. It's to keep up with stories So their job is not to not to stick with you out to the end of the move on They have to find out what's next ratings and yada yada.
It is January the seventh Is when the story the seventh is when it happened and today is March the first and March 1st And we're still like you got like Jason keeps saying it, but I just want to keep reiterating it They have people cannot go back to their plot on land yet. Correct This from January 7th y'all and they can't go like forget the fact they're trying to deal with I don't have a home They don't have a home and a lot that they do own and here's another thing and I think some Cleared yet hasn't been cleared yet. Like I don't have anything anything that I did I don't want to get too far into it, but like they don't even realize how much they've lost yet You gotta say like you gotta remind yourself like when these houses get built again and they get back in They're gonna go reach for something go look for something and it's gonna hit them. That's gone That anymore then pictures is gone.
I don't have that no more. I can't go pull my silver ale for Thanksgiving That's gone like that's gonna it's gonna be like a war veteran come back from war. It's going to keep hitting You know I'm saying so like I'm really glad we took that pivot man. I think today was like a really good episode You know shout out Angie so we were definitely gonna touch on that Let me say one more thing real quick.
Yeah, and this is this is something that I want people to think about Um one of the things that I asked my grandmother in that interview and I ended up having to cut it out Just because the interview was very long but I asked her about the house And one of the things that we settled on in conversation was accessibility Grandmother's 92 years old that house was not built for a 92 year old. Wow You understand? Yeah, so you know homes that were built in the 20s and 30s We're not built for wheelchair access. They were not built for people who were not as skinny as a rail That's right.
You know what I mean? The door jams and all that stuff are very thin. Yeah, all that plays are very small And so one of the things that we're praying for is accessibility within this new design Good. So that she'll be able to get around.
Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah I was just I was thinking about that and I wanted to put that out there because Thinking about you know Planning phase of you know what I do and rebuild but I think that's an important thing accessibility You want to build something that's accessible? Yeah, which puts even more emphasis on y'all hitting that go fund me link again Jay's not advocating for everybody to give all their money to his grandmother but You know combination of the interview and and the story with his family on good morning america And even what we just talked about now, um, I think it's important that we you know connect the stories and support as much as we can man So, you know cold kind of touched on it, you know, they're gonna make you whole, you know, and your insurance claims But again Move was I don't know how how old she was when she was in that house. Clearly she's gonna have different needs now Which means some of that stuff's gonna have to come out of pocket So, um, if you can in the description Uh, when we post you guys don't we have a facebook page.
We have an instagram page now holla. Let's go Uh, we're gonna make sure we post those links so that you guys can support Um jay has already uploaded the video if you guys want to get a glimpse of Uh jay's mom and his grandmother, um, and then you guys can kind of just get a brief history or synopsis of like how we ended up where we are Um, and then supporting and support support support. We need that. We want to see If you want to see the video, I can post it too.
So yeah, just post a link Um, I'll post a link to the to the actual interview with my mother and grandmother Uh, that way you guys have more context to talk about it. Yeah, and you can see how much jay looks like his mom It is Absolutely. Wow. Um, I really enjoyed this episode man.
I can't wait for this next one. Um, so y'all please do me a favor Share this please leave commentary on here. Shout out to soundcloud, shout out spotify, apple music Um, all y'all have been listening. We appreciate it.
We've been getting great comments apparently from New Zealand. That's a new one That's great. Yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah, um, some of our friends that we you know, we play call with duty with it They checked in all nine.
So we're asking you how to keep growing this movement. This is not a video. Yeah Yeah Over a decade we just had long breaks in between like Yeah, we like a jay-z record. We've come out with a feel like it.
Um, and we appreciate it, man. So this is your boy davon Any boy, Jason, we think before y'all ears, man. We think before your ears and we're even more thankful for your hearts. We appreciate y'all Just like a preacher.
All right, y'all. Check y'all later. We out