José Huizar

José Luis Huizar (born September 10, 1968) is an American elected official and a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing District 14. He was elected on November 8, 2005 in a special election to fill the seat vacated by current Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and was reelected to a full four-year term in March 2007. Huizar also serves on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board of Directors, which oversees transportation planning and operations for the County of Los Angeles, and chaired the Education Coordinating Council for the past five years—a multi-jurisdictional organization composed of school districts, cities, county departments, and the courts, which seeks to improve the educational outcomes for foster and probationary youth. In March 2011, Huizar was re-elected yet again to a full four-year term by an overwhelming margin.

Background

Previously, Huizar had served as a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, representing the Second District of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Huizar was elected to that position on April 10, 2001. Huizar served two terms as Board President from July 2003 through June 2005. As Board President, Huizar oversaw planning and implementation of the largest school construction program in United States history, which included 160 new schools. Education continues to play a role in his public life and he gives out awards and scholarships annually to deserving elementary, middle school and high school students in his district.

Prior to his service on the Board of Education, Huizar was an attorney in several law firms, a Deputy City Attorney in the Real Estate and Environmental Division of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, and an appointed member of the East Area Planning Commission.

Huizar was selected to serve on Board of Trustees of Princeton University. He is the first Latino to serve on that Board. The Los Angeles Business Journal named him one of the 25 figures in the Los Angeles Area that "stand out for their potential to shape lives" and Hispanic Business magazine named him one of the “100 most influential Hispanics” in the United States.

Huizar is a naturalized American citizen, a native of the Mexican state of Zacatecas. Huizar was raised in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East of Los Angeles and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from U.C. Berkeley, a Master’s in Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning from Princeton University, and his Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law. He still lives in the community he has called home most of his life, the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles^[1], with his wife Richelle, their daughters Emilia and Isabella Rose, Aviana, and son Simon.

References

External links

• Los Angeles City Council - Official Website