Good riddance to LADWP CEO – Latest News
Good riddance to Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quiñones, the official who left a native reservoir dry earlier than the devastating Palisades Fire in January 2025.
Quiñones joined LADWP in May 2024. On paper, she was certified. In observe: a catastrophe.
She is leaving her $750,000-per-year job to take over as CEO of Puerto Rico’s energy grid, LUMA.
One feels dangerous for the people of Puerto Rico: Haven’t they suffered enough?
The 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir above Pacific Palisades was already empty when Quiñones took over at LADWP. But she took no motion to end the repairs or refill the reservoir — not even after a December blaze in Malibu highlighted the pressing need for an emergency store of water.
Good riddance to Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quiñones. AP
The reservoir above Palisades had been constructed within the Nineteen Sixties exactly as a result of of the risk of wildfires within the Santa Monica Mountains, alongside the boundary between the town and the chaparral.
Yet when fire erupted on the morning of Jan. 7, the reservoir was offline. By night, fire hydrants iwere dry — partly due to a collapse in water stress as pipes burst from burned-out houses, but in addition due to the sheer lack of provide.
The reservoir had been drained to restore a cracked cowl that had been put in to adjust to federal rules. It was emptied again earlier this yr, after one other crack was discovered.
Also emptied: public trust in Quiñones and the LADWP, who refused to take accountability for the catastrophe. Instead, Quiñones accepted an award praising her for her management within the disaster.
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Quiñones is a certified engineer with expertise in public utilities management. But in her temporary tenure at LADWP, she harassed every part besides water and energy, specializing in “woke” priorities like variety and id politics.
In a LinkedIn post, Quiñones marked “a year as the first Latina to lead LADWP,” as if ethnicity mattered more than efficiency.
True, LADWP rushed to rebuild infrastructure after the fire — however that work is hardly completed, with ugly poles unexpectedly erected alongside the scenic Pacific Coast Highway, and no trace of funding but for the required job of burying cables underground.
LADWP has additionally been infamous at brushing apart residents’ considerations in regards to the sort of work it’s doing within the fire zone.
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It could also be coincidence, however it’s noteworthy that the announcement that Quiñones could be leaving got here shortly after a choose denied LADWP’s request to dismiss a lawsuit by Palisades residents.
With the lawsuit shifting forward, LADWP could have to reply to claims that management failures and poor infrastructure contributed to the catastrophe and to billions of {dollars} in injury.
It is feasible that Quiñones could have to testify, if the case comes to trial.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs claimed that LA Mayor Karen Bass had pressured Quiñones to go.
Whether that’s true or not stays to be seen.
What is evident is that Quiñones failed in her obligation as CEO, and by no means took accountability.
LA will not be unhappy to see her go.
