No Priors Ep. 99 | With Rick Caruso

This week on No Priors, Elad sits down with Rick Caruso, LA real estate developer and runner-up in the 2022 mayoral race. With experience serving under three LA mayors, as well as on the police commission and the board of water and power, Rick offers a unique perspective on the systemic failures that contributed to the devastation of the January 2025 wildfires in communities like the Palisades and Altadena. He discusses the steps he took to build more resilient infrastructure in his properties and how California can rebuild smarter to better prepare for future disasters. They also explore the state’s water management, rising crime, and how to leverage California’s vast natural resources and budget to create a better future for all residents. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @RickCarusoLA Show Notes 0:00 Introduction 0:56 Caruso’s history in business and public service 3:36 Failures in fire prevention and response 5:58 How Caruso’s properties survived 8:26 Water shortages and infrastructure failures 9:47 Arson, looting, and crime in LA 15:03 Rebuilding 20:50 Allocating California’s resources effectively 26:15 Caruso’s future plans

Elad GilhostRick CarusoguestSarah Guohost

Jan 30, 202527mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Rick Caruso Blasts LA Leadership, Outlines Faster, Smarter Wildfire Rebuild

Rick Caruso discusses the recent catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires, arguing they were worsened by decades of poor brush management, underfunded firefighting infrastructure, and empty reservoirs rather than being a pure act of nature. He contrasts his private preparedness playbook—non-combustible design, rapid-response protocols, private firefighting resources—with what he calls government negligence and budget misallocation. Caruso links the fires to broader structural issues in LA and California, including rising crime, weak law enforcement, homelessness spending with little impact, and decaying infrastructure. He advocates treating the rebuild like a business project: parallelizing cleanup, infrastructure upgrades, and permitting so residents can begin rebuilding within a year while modernizing systems for the 21st century.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Wildfire damage was magnified by preventable policy and infrastructure failures.

Caruso argues the Palisades fire was fueled by 40 years of unmanaged brush, empty reservoirs in a gravity-fed system, and an underfunded fire department, turning a severe event into a historic catastrophe.

Proactive, resilient design can materially change outcomes in disasters.

Palisades Village survived because it used non-combustible materials, had backup water systems, private firefighting teams, and pre-defined rapid-response protocols—demonstrating how design and preparation can save structures and jobs.

Treat rebuilding like a business project with parallel workstreams.

Instead of a slow, linear government process, Caruso recommends dividing the region into quadrants, using multiple contractors, and running cleanup, design, and infrastructure upgrades in parallel under incentive-based timelines to enable rebuilding within a year.

Use the disaster to modernize infrastructure, not just restore the old.

He advocates using the rebuild to underground power lines, upgrade water and hydrant systems, implement recycled water use, and integrate advanced technologies, rather than recreating the same vulnerable systems.

Public safety requires both proactive policing and real accountability.

Caruso ties arson, looting, and overdose deaths to a wider pattern of non-enforcement, loss of officers, and lenient prosecution, arguing for empowered proactive policing, tougher stances on serial offenders and gangs, and better paths away from crime for those who want second chances.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

To be in the second-largest city in the United States and to run out of water and have fire hydrants empty is completely insane.

— Rick Caruso

Maybe you couldn’t have prevented the fire. I’m completely convinced you could have substantially mitigated the fire.

— Rick Caruso

If we approach this thinking like a government, it’s gonna take years. If we approach this thinking like a businessperson, you could have people building again in a year.

— Rick Caruso

Why would you build the same system when you know you’re in a fire hazard area? It doesn’t make any sense.

— Rick Caruso

This isn’t about politics. The problems we have now are so much bigger than politics.

— Rick Caruso

Rick Caruso’s background in real estate development and public service in Los AngelesCauses and mismanagement behind the recent LA and Palisades wildfiresDesign and operational choices that protected Palisades Village from fire damageUnderfunding and policy failures in LA’s fire, water, and emergency infrastructureRising crime, arson, drug epidemics, and shifts in policing and prosecutionRebuild strategy: timelines, permitting, infrastructure modernization, and parallel executionCalifornia’s budget choices, lost surplus, and ideas like a sovereign wealth fund

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