A Scramble for Power in Los Angeles as It Begins to Rebuild

Civic leaders in the region believe that side efforts are necessary to rebuild after the wildfires. They just can’t settle on which one.

Los Angeles was still burning two weeks ago when Mayor Karen Bass turned to one of this city’s most prominent developers and asked him to serve as her rebuilding czar after vast parts of the region were leveled by wildfires.

Steve Soboroff, a longtime civic leader and onetime resident of the Pacific Palisades, the coastal enclave that was particularly hard hit, would unite residents of the affluent community and the sprawling Los Angeles metropolis behind a common and urgent purpose, the mayor said. In a news conference, he was anointed the “chief recovery officer.”

But since his appointment, it has become clear that Mr. Soboroff, 76, will not be the only chief in the Los Angeles recovery effort. The latest sign came this week as Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer, announced his own commission of civic leaders to help spur the rebuilding.

“I hope that, like many crises do, this will bring people together to work together,” said Mr. Caruso, who ran against Ms. Bass for mayor in 2022 and has told associates he is considering a challenge to her again in 2026.

With Mr. Caruso’s entry onto the field, there are now four separate independent rebuilding committees and one mayoral rebuilding czar claiming leadership roles in what will be one of the costliest reconstruction projects in the history of the state. The early skirmishing, featuring some of the most powerful and wealthy people in Los Angeles, as well as a president and a governor, marks the beginning of what is shaping up as a long battle in which billions of dollars, and the future of Los Angeles itself, is at stake.