Letters to the Editor: Officials’ reservoir conclusion won’t placate frustrated Palisades fire victims

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To the editor : Political strategist Lee Atwater was credited in the 1980s with saying, “perception is reality.” This expression — cliche by now — has been widely adapted to political strategizing, where the way something appears (the “optics”) is often prioritized over the underlying substance.

Politics aside, the recent report by state officials concluding that the Santa Ynez Reservoir being empty at the time of the Palisades fire was not a significant factor in hampering firefighters’ ability to stamp out the devastating flames will be a hard sell to the angry, frustrated residents of Pacific Palisades ( “Even a full reservoir wouldn’t have ensured water in Palisades fire, Cal