A Mayor for All of Los Angeles – Op-ed by Wendy Greuel

03 Apr A Mayor for All of Los Angeles – Op-ed by Wendy Greuel

By Wendy Greuel

I am running to be a mayor for all of Los Angeles because people in every part of the city deserve a mayor who will listen to them and deliver for them.

Those are the principles that guided me when I worked in Mayor Tom Bradley’s administration, for President Clinton at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, at DreamWorks, on the City Council and today as city controller.

As mayor, I’ll work to create jobs by bringing businesses back to Los Angeles. We need someone in City Hall who is committed to creating good family-wage jobs, making sure that Angelenos are the ones getting hired for our major infrastructure investment projects and that we’re investing in job-training programs.

We need to demand that our children have the highest quality schools and that youth have access to comprehensive wraparound services. More than twenty years ago, I worked with Mayor Bradley to start the after-school program LA’s Best, which has grown from ten to 189 schools. For me, fixing our education and youth-services systems is personal: I’m the only candidate in the race who graduated from LAUSD and who has a child in public school.

As mayor, I will focus on combating homelessness, improving re-entry services for the formerly incarcerated, investing in job training and fighting to end the current reality where it’s easier to get a gun than it is to get mental health services. I will be a champion for expanding our public transit infrastructure and bringing a Metro station to Leimert Park.

I began my lifetime of public service as part of Mayor Bradley’s Youth Leadership Council and am committed to bringing youth voices back to City Hall. I am proud to have the support of future leaders groups like Black Los Angeles Young Democrats.

I plan to partner with faith leaders as we tackle the challenges facing our city. I am deeply honored to have the support of spiritual leaders including Bishop Charles E. Blake of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Bishop Noel Jones of City of Refuge church and Rev. Dr. Cecil “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First AME Church. Reverend Murray and I worked together to bring good jobs to South Los Angeles residents more than a decade ago while I was at DreamWorks.

I’m proud to have earned the support of a broad coalition of endorsers: more than twenty-five labor unions, including those representing police officers and firefighters; the region’s leading business groups; and leading reformers including police commissioner and former Los Angeles Urban League President John Mack and Advancement Project President Connie Rice. I have opened campaign offices in every part of our city—South L.A., the Harbor, the Valley and Boyle Heights.

When I become mayor, I look forward to partnering with organizations like Community Coalition and grass-roots activists across Los Angeles to make sure that no part of our city is left behind.