Mayor Eric Garcetti, LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz re-elected
By Madeleine Pauker
March 8, 2017 9:05 a.m.
Incumbent Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz was re-elected for a third term against challengers Jesse Creed and Mark Herd.
Koretz, whose district includes Westwood, made the issue of homelessness a central part of his platform, helping allocate $138 million in city funds to homelessness services. He also supports transportation improvements and environmental preservation.
Koretz said in an interview he would improve Westwood by fixing streets, reducing the homeless population and planting trees in the district.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was re-elected by a wide margin, with challenger Mitchell Schwartz receiving the second most number of votes.
Garcetti emphasized his record on job creation, raising the minimum wage, supporting affordable housing for the city’s homeless and co-authoring 2016’s Measure S, which expanded funding for public transportation and road improvement.
Incumbent school board member Steve Zimmer did not secure the majority vote needed to win the District 4 Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education seat, which represents Westwood and nearby neighborhoods. Because no candidate received at least 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election between the two most popular candidates will be held in May.
Zimmer received 47 percent of the vote and Nick Melvoin 31 percent. The two candidates will proceed to a runoff election in May because neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote
