Wendy Greuel
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Wendy Greuel is President Pro Tempore of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 2nd District, which includes portions of the San Fernando Valley. Greuel is Chair of the City Council's Transportation Committee; Vice-Chair of the Budget Committee; Member of the Audits and Government Efficiency and Energy and the Environment Committees; and Chair of the Ad-Hoc Business Tax Reform Committee.[1]
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[edit] Early Life, Education, and Early Political Career
Wendy Greuel was born in the San Fernando Valley, and her first experience with public service began as student body president of Kennedy High School. She continued her education at University of California, Los Angeles, during which time she held internships in the office of Councilman Joel Wachs and Mayor Tom Bradley. Upon graduation, Gruel worked in Mayor Bradley’s office for 10 more years. She was the Mayor’s liaison to the City Council, City Departments and the community on public policy issues including child care, the homeless, the elderly, and health issues. She was also instrumental in the creation of LA'S BEST, a nationally recognized after school program now serving school children throughout the city of Los Angeles.
From 1993 to 1997, Greuel worked in the administration of President Bill Clinton. She served with Cabinet Secretary Henry Cisneros as the Field Operations Officer for Southern California for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) where she became involved in projects offering opportunities for homeownership, job creation, economic development, and social services for the less fortunate. She was instrumental in coordinating HUD’s 1994 Northridge Earthquake emergency response and recovery programs.
In 1997, Greuel joined the Corporate Affairs Department of DreamWorks SKG where she worked on the company’s government and community affairs. She coordinated the company’s legislative activities at the local, state, and national levels.
[edit] City Council
Greuel was elected in 2002 to fill the remainder of the term of Councilman Joel Wachs. She was reelected in 2003 and in 2007. She has recently announced her campaign for Los Angeles City Controller, a post currently held by Laura Chick.
A life-long resident of the San Fernando Valley, Wendy has worked to be an independent voice fighting for the Valley’s fair share of city resources. She believes that a more responsive government, greater citizen participation, and empowered neighborhoods will improve the quality of life for all residents and create safer communities, a strong local economy and a brighter future for children in Los Angeles.
[edit] Transportation
Wendy Greuel has been chair of the City’s Transportation Committee since August 2005. Since she has been on the committee, it has implemented many changes in the Los Angeles public transportation system. The Metro Orange Line bus has been particularly successful, with 26,000 passengers each day and a planned extension to Chatsworth. During Greuel’s term as chair, she has overseen the extension of the Metro Gold Line and the groundbreaking of the new Metro Expo Line. The Expo Line will be completed in 2010, and it will run from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.[2] The committee has also gotten the federal legislation lifted that banned funding for the Subway to the Sea. In order to encourage more people to use public transportation, they have also created the Parking Cash-Out program, which provides funding for companies with over 50 employees to use public transportation, rather than the companies using their own funds for employee parking.
Greuel and the committee have also focused on making surface roads less congested. They have synchronized 75% of traffic signals and have installed 250 new left-hand turn signals, with another 200 planned. They have banned road construction during rush hour and have increased fines for illegally parking during rush hour through the creation of anti-gridlock zones. Greuel also supports a reversible lanes program, which would create additional lanes on the busiest streets during rush hour. She is currently leading the city's efforts in securing and managing transportation funds from the state's 2006 Infrastructure bond – Prop. 1B.
In 2008, Greuel unveiled the city’s first Strategic Transportation Plan since the 1980’s. The plan clearly articulates the City’s transportation vision and goals and includes initiatives and priority projects. The plan includes public transit projects, planning policies, and a strategy for receiving state and federal funding.
[edit] Public Safety
Keeping Los Angeles Safe is Councilwoman Greuel's top priority, and she has led the efforts on the City Council to increase the LAPD force by hiring 1,000 new officers. Greuel has also created the Office of Public Safety, which consolidated the city’s many security forces into one safety unit to better protect the neighborhoods and save money.
Greuel also created the Police Fund, a program through which any councilmember who roots out inefficiencies can contribute the money saved to hiring police officers. She personally added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the fund by streamlining the city’s toll free 1-800 numbers and updating the 3-1-1 “One call to City Hall” service. In 2005, Greuel developed the Stolen Vehicle Recovery Program, which allows Department of Transportation officers to tow stolen vehicles instead of Los Angeles Policemen, allowing LAPD officers more time to focus on more serious crime.
Because graffiti is tied to violence and gang activity, Councilwoman Greuel launched a districtwide anti-graffiti campaign in March of 2007. The results have been tremendous, with an increase in graffiti removal in her district by 52% and an increase in the number of Neighborhood Watch organizations by 25%. As part of her efforts to clean up neighborhoods, Greuel has sponsored town hall meetings on public safety attracting over 1,000 residents and a mural program for 300 elementary and middle school students. In addition, she has led residents to adopt over 40 graffiti hotspots, sponsored and installed 100 new street lights in alleys, and secured funding for 13 motion activated Q-star cameras.
[edit] Pro-Business
From an early age, Councilwoman Greuel learned the importance of making Los Angeles more business-friendly, having worked at her family’s building supply and trucking company. She has always supported the business community, and believes what’s good for business is good for LA. Greuel led the fight to reform the city’s business tax so that it could be more competitive among local jurisdictions. These reforms were designed to spur local economic development and create jobs for working families. These reforms led to the elimination of business taxes for 60% of the city’s small businesses. In 2007, Councilwoman Greuel led the council to approve an additional business tax reduction of 4%, which brings the total reduction to 11%. Since its inception, the new business tax system has saved local businesses nearly $100 million.
Because the film industry supports Los Angeles and drives much of the economy, Greuel is working to keep it from being lured to other cities and countries. She has created incentives for film and entertainment production in the Los Angeles tax system, so that the jobs that the industry brings stay in Los Angeles.
[edit] Ethics
Councilwoman Greuel successfully worked to ban fundraising and independent expenditures by City Commissioners on behalf of politicians and elected officials. She has constantly said that cronyism and pay-to-play politics should have no role in City government. She believes that while the vast majority of citizens participating on the City's commissions are honest, dedicated volunteers, we must create a system that is free from even the perception of "pay to play."
In 2007, she introduced a motion to expand the city ethics code to ex parte communication with City Commissioners. Under the proposed policy, City Commissioners will make all their decisions completely in view of the public. Councilwoman Greuel also created the Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Investigative Unit in the City Controller’s office to strengthen oversight of the city’s semi-independent departments. Greuel is also a member of the Audits and Government Efficiency Committee, which identifies fraud and corruption in city government and cuts wasteful government spending.
[edit] Neighborhood Services
Another one of Greuel’s top priorities has been the prompt and efficient delivery of basic city services. She created the 50/50 Sidewalk Program, which shortens the waiting list for communities that need sidewalks repaired or replaced. There is currently an 80-year waiting list for sidewalk repairs. Through Greuel’s program, if the constituents are willing to pay 50%, then the sidewalk will be repaired within a few weeks. The program has increased the mileage of sidewalks fixed in her district by 20% without spending additional city dollars. Councilwoman Greuel has also started a pilot program around the schools in her district called the School Safety Valet Program. The valets greet the schoolchildren and get them safely to class.
In the past 4 years, in Council District 2: Potholes filled : 54,316 Miles of street repaved: 71.23 miles Trees trimmed: 16,755 Trash removed: 32,304 tons of illegal dumping Trees planted: 819 General code enforcement cases: 9,945 opened; 9,123 closed
[edit] Environment
Councilwoman Greuel has fought to preserve the remaining open space in the San Fernando Valley. During her time in office, Greuel has preserved nearly 1,000 acres of open space in the Verdugo Mountains. In February 2007, Greuel raised $2.1 million to purchase 225 acres for the City of Los Angeles, creating the 4th largest park in the San Fernando Valley. She secured the passage of the Scenic Preservation Corridor Plan and secured proposition K funds to purchase a park adjacent to Big Tujunga wash. Greuel also supported the proposal to require all new buildings in Los Angeles to be built with the capability of installing solar panels.
[edit] External links
- District 2 Homepage
- Backing Kulaks Woodshed to Los Angeles City Council against Van Nuys Criminal court order
- Assembly Measure is Tailored for Firm
- Greuel Reviews City Budget Measures
- Greuel Gets OK to Install Cameras to Catch Lawbreakers
- $25K Offered After Attack on Jewish Man in NoHO
| Preceded by Joel Wachs |
Los Angeles City Councilman 2nd district 2001—present |
Succeeded by ' |
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