In Los Angeles, there’s an almost palpable buzz building around billionaire real-estate developer Rick Caruso: Will he or won’t he run for office?
The speculation—among politicos, reporters, and longtime denizens who pine for LA’s fading glitz—has reached a boiling point as the city has inched closer to January 7. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the fires that ravaged the Pacific Palisades; Altadena, north of downtown; and parts of the Hollywood Hills.
The fires left countless Angelenos—and Californians more broadly—wondering who was in charge and how this could have happened.
The politics of this place, I wrote the morning after the fires broke out, “will be upended.”
Now, we’re fast approaching the first big elections since then. The mayoral election in LA and the gubernatorial primary in California are both scheduled for June 2.
Officially, Caruso—who’s spent the past few decades building high-end shopping centers like LA’s The Grove and The Commons at Calabasas—hasn’t made up his mind. Last month, when I inquired about his political plans, he sounded vaguely surprised—as if I had paid him a visit to discuss his next construction project.
