Tangentially related, Folsom, CA still knows how to build stuff in a hurry:

https://www.theonion.com/preemptive-memorial-honors-future-v...

Separately, they completed the spillway upgrades about 10 years after that video was produced, so 1 for 2?:

https://ascecapitalbranch.org/geotechnical-aspects-of-the-fo...

California can move mountains when they really need to - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekUROM87vTA covers the Oroville dam disaster and recovery (the disaster was averted, and the recovery was fast).

In things that are NOT obviously life and death is where it gets bogged down by people "trying to help".

i know its hard to believe but https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-orders-4-million-mckinsey-stu...