Hello and welcome. We’re glad you found Build the Future Together.
We’re a group of volunteers from Pacific Palisades California.
We lost our homes and community in an urban fire that should never have been allowed to happen.
We hope you’ll join our effort to drive change that will help save others from the loss and trauma our entire community has endured.
Merritt David Farren
I’m Merritt Farren, the founder of Build the Future Together™.
I founded Build the Future Together to help California overcome key problems plaguing our state – starting with the failure of our government at all levels – city, county and state – to keep us all safe from fire and with the insurance crisis gripping our state which is largely driven by lack of safety from fire.
There’s a lot of talk about fire risk in wildfire prone areas in or close to the wilds, but my home was not close to the wilds. It was well over a mile from natural space and had thousands of homes, sunset boulevard and all of downtown Pacific Palisades between it and natural space.
My insurance company didn’t even condsider it to be in a high fire risk zone. It was a suburban home in a suburban home community like those throughout Los Angeles and throughout the state.
I’ve lived in California nearly all my life. Despite its many problems, I still believe in our state and what it should be and can be. I want to see it be the beautiful, clean, thriving, well-run placed it should be. A place that combines the best in natural beauty and human innovation. The best place in the world for dreaming and realizing your dreams.
The January 2025 Pacific Palisades fire killed 12 people and destroyed 6,837 structures — almost all of them family homes. It was driven by massive winds stemming from an unusual whether event, but it never would have started and never would have done such extensive damage if not for lack of vision and massive incompetence on the part of City of Los Angeles, county of Los Angeles and California State officials.
Brush areas adjacent to the Palisades that could have and should have been cleared to protect the city were not. The main reservoir built years ago to provide water in the case of fire sat neglected and empty for over a year ahead of the fire.
Multiple water pumps that should have been tested to ensure they would work during a fire failed. A fire in the hills that posed an obvious threat of reignition was unwatched, despite meteorologist warnings that a massive wind and fire risk was approaching.
When fire hydrants ran dry or had no water pressure – just hours after the fire broke out – fire personnel stood back and let the fires rage. The community, abandoned, was left to burn. Pool water that could have been used to put out fires wasn’t. Back-up fire fighting teams that should have been summoned immediately to come in from throughout the state weren’t called in.
Most homes burned down without a single fire man or woman making any attempt at all to save them. Fire trucks and other equipment were out of service due to overdue repair work as money that should have been used to protect the community from fire was spent on homelessness services instead. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass cut the budget for the fire department ahead of the fires. The city of Los Angeles spent over a billion funding homelessness services organizations in 2024, and well less than a billion on fire prevention.
My home and my entire community was destroyed due to unfathomable neglect and incompetence.
For most who lost their homes in the fires, the aftermath has been just as devastating as the initial loss. So many challenges. Stress. Families split apart. A major lack of planning and coordination on cleanup and rebuilding. The realization hit three to four weeks after the fires: The same people who landed the community in disaster are the ones in place to clean it up.
Uh oh.
For most, the worst of the post fire nightmare has been dealing with insurance. The struggles and frustrations are epic and don’t end. And the fact that they mirror those suffered by those who lost their homes in other recent fires has made the struggle even more disheartening. It would be one thing if the insurance suffering caused by insurance companies in the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires was new. But it is not. The fact that it’s not, and that those in our government positioned to fix the problems plaguing consumers haven’t fixed them, is especially frustrating.
And our top leaders? Our state and city leaders failed to play the key role they should have played to ensure the community was protected before the fires and, when the fire erupted, failed to play any meaningful role to ensure it was put out quickly and citizens were protected.
Neither Mayor Bass nor Governor Newsom have properly acknowledged their responsibility.
Nor have they done what they should have done to determine what truly allowed the destruction to happen and what – more importantly still – needs to be done to ensure it is not repeated. They point to a fire a week ahead of the Palisades fire set by an arsonist as the cause, but that fire is no explanation for the killing and destruction the community suffered. Documents and records of what happened asked for by the press have been hidden from public view. Those who lost and suffered have yet to see the investigation they deserve.
What can Build the Future Together do to help? We’ve started with involvement in the State Farm rate approval proceedings and the accountability and insurance reform efforts described on this site. Modest steps, but important ones.
With your help and support, we’ll expand our activities over time.
I hope you’ll join me in supporting our efforts and helping make California the place for dreams and dreamers it can and should be.
Thanks – and queue the Mamas and Papas song, please.
Merritt
Read About Merritt’s Representation of the Interests of Consumers in the Ongoing State Farm Rate Hike Proceedings
Merritt’s Path to Intervening in the State Farm Insurance Rate Approval Proceedings.
Build the Future Together’s founder Merritt David Farren is an active participant in the ongoing State Farm Insurance Rate Proceedings – Representing the Interests of all California Consumers in the Proceedings. Under California law, insurance companies that want approval from the California Department of Insurance for a major rate hike, need to show their need…
Get to Know Merritt and Our Other Volunteers.
Meet Alison
Alison MacCracken is a visionary real estate strategist and community builder with over two decades of global experience in residential and commercial markets across the U.S., China, India, and Mexico. Continue Reading
Meet Frank
Frank Renfro is a seasoned software developer and entrepreneur with a passion for creating solutions that strengthen communities. He has built hyper-local, consumer-focused apps like Naybur and SoNeighborly, designed to connect neighbors and simplify local engagement. A longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, Frank lived in the neighborhood with his family, coaches AYSO soccer, and serves on the Palisades Rebuild Council, where he helps guide recovery efforts after…
Meet Merritt
Merritt David Farren has spent his professional life where business and law come together, in media and technology. More recently, motivated by the suffering he saw in the Pacific Palisades community post fire, he’s shifted his time and energy to community service. Merritt is currently serving as a party in the State Farm rate increase proceedings before the California Department of Insurance, representing the interests of consumers.…