Agenda setting findings

Agenda setting for LA wildfires recovery: Exploring community feedback

The agenda setting phase of the Los Angeles wildfires recovery engagement is complete. During this phase, community members shared thousands of comments about what they need most for recovery and rebuilding. You can download the comments to see what people said.

Download the full dataset

Breaking down the complexity

Residents responded with overwhelming volume and a wide range of views. We made data visualizations to simplify this complexity. They organize and show comments by topic and theme. This tool will help you explore what the community said and see patterns in the feedback.

We designed the analysis and visuals below to help you:

See the full range of community perspectives on recovery priorities
Understand how different viewpoints cluster around key issues
Explore the complexity of challenges facing fire-affected communities
Prepare for upcoming community discussions

Note: The info on this page does not offer final answers or solutions. Instead, it shows us the questions and tradeoffs we need to work through together. During the deliberation phase, we'll find the best way forward. Community members will work through these complex issues in a thoughtful manner.

We will invite California residents to help us with this. Sign up to stay informed.

How to interpret these charts

Each chart shows the comments made about one topic.

Each dot represents an individual comment.
Dots are color-coded, with each color representing a group that came up in the comments.
We used AI to identify themes. The comments that were identified as similar appear closer together on the chart.

Data visualizations

Topic area

The community's environmental concerns are valid and intricate. They include long-term land safety, environmental justice, and future fire-prevention measures.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Altadena-specific concerns

Habitat restoration and natural fire prevention

Satisfied with debris removal

Soil and other environmental testing

Other

The community wants accountability for fire prevention.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Accountable utilities and buried lines

Controlled burn management

Fire-safe home enforcement

Government fire prevention accountability

Other

Residents want to be heard. They want to help shape long-term recovery and future resilience. Residents want safe and lasting infrastructure. The decisions made now will determine long-term safety and resilience for recovery.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Community preparedness

Fire resistant building and landscaping

Fire-safe infrastructure management

Other

Residents want safe and lasting infrastructure. The decisions made now will determine long-term safety and resilience for recovery.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Altadena infrastructure

Broadband access

Climate resilient infrastructure

Underground power lines

Other

Ensuring fast, safe evacuation and disaster communication is crucial for wildfire-prone communities. Community members view transparency and accessibility as key concerns.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Emergency response improvements

Emergency warning systems

Evacuation planning

Next-gen wildfire readiness

Other

Rebuilding quickly is important. But without policies that focus on equity, some residents may face permanent displacement.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

ADU considerations

Affordability, density, and fire-safe rebuilding

Streamline rebuilding process

Temporary housing

Other

Survivors often find it hard to navigate aid systems. They need legal protections and financial assistance to rebuild.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Building code and permitting reform

Financial relief navigation

Insurance reform

Other

Effective communication in an emergency is vital. How can officials share important updates and connect with residents at key moments?

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Emergency alert apps

Emergency alert systems

Post-emergency communications

Other

Many small businesses closed after the fire, and workers lost jobs. Residents want to know how economic recovery can be equitable and forward-thinking.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Grant distribution oversight

Importance of supporting local businesses

Incentives for small business recovery

Other

Wildfire survivors, especially those cleaning up debris, face long-term health risks. They need easy access to mental health care.

Data visualization

Each dot represents one comment made about this topic. Grouped comments have their own color.

Conversation groups

Expand the sections below to see the comments (shown in their original language).

Counseling access through healthcare

Free emergency counseling

Mental health support

Other

Agenda setting findings

How we built these charts

Below is a step-by-step explanation of the methodology for these charts.

Process and restructure the data

We did this for all the comments within a topic. We turned each comment into numerical data, or semantic embeddings. These embeddings show the meaning of the comments in a way that computers can understand and use. We did this using Snowflake Cortex Embed Text 1024.
Find conversation groups

We used the BERTopic framework to group comments within each topic area by similarities. This helped us sort them into different categories based on common themes. We then used UMAP to reduce the dimensionality of the comments. This tool made complex data simpler to visualize. We used density-based clustering with HDBSCAN and then tuned the algorithm settings for each opportunity area.
Label the conversation groups

We grouped the comments by topic, then used the 'Claude 3.5 Sonnet' model to create the initial label for each group. Our team of data analysts then reviewed and edited these labels for clarity. Each label is a short phrase that reflects the main idea or topic that the comments have in common.
Plot the comments

We used a topic-supervised UMAP. We tuned it for each topic.This allowed us to turn all the numerical data into two simple coordinates that we could plot on a 2D chart. The comments are color-coded by conversation group. This makes it easy to see patterns and connections.

Download the data

The comments dataset does not contain personally identifying information. We have not edited or modified the comments in any way.

Download the full dataset

Data definitions

These are the columns in this dataset and their definitions.

Comment ID

A unique value to identify each comment.

Comment

The full text of a comment submitted by a participant. Comments have not been edited for clarity, content, grammar, or for any other reason.

Topic

This column lists the topic a commenter was responding to. There were 10 topics.

Emergency communication
Debris removal and environmental recovery
Financial and legal assistance
Emotional and mental health support
Housing and rebuilding
Economic recovery and small business support
Infrastructure and utilities restoration
Wildfire prevention prioritization and accountability
Climate and community resilience
Evacuation and emergency coordination

We also included comments that were not in response to a specific topic. We labeled those comments with “general comment.”

Conversation group

The conversation group a comment aligns to.