UCLA aids mayor-elect’s transition
By Adrienne Lynett
May 31, 2005 9:00 p.m.
UCLA will be offering its university perspective to Los Angeles
Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa’s transition to office.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale, UCLA Downtown Labor Center Director
Larry Frank and UCLA Institute of the Environment Director Mary
Nichols were asked to advise Villaraigosa on recruiting and
appointing members of the mayor’s staff.
“The fact that there’s a group of UCLA people
represented indicates the important role that UCLA plays in the
Southern California region,” Nichols said. She added that the
presence of UCLA officials on the team demonstrates its prominence
in the community as a research institution, as well as a source of
professionals who will play an important role in the future of the
city.
The team, of which attorney and former-mayoral candidate Bob
Hertzberg will act as chairman, has 81 members, making it one of
the largest transition teams ever assembled for an incoming L.A.
mayor.
“We are honored to be asked by Mayor-elect Villaraigosa to
serve on this important team, and we look forward to sharing
UCLA’s expertise for improving the lives of the people of the
Los Angeles community,” Carnesale said in a press
release.
Nichols said that as director of the Institute of the
Environment, she will be able to advise Villaraigosa on
environmental issues affecting the Los Angeles area, including the
water supply and finding clean, low-cost energy sources.
“All of these (issues) are things that fall within the
gamut of the city,” she said.
“(Villaraigosa) is looking for people who are
knowledgeable and sensitive to environmental issues,” Nichols
said. “I was asked (to join the team) because the mayor-elect
knows that I have a wide circle of acquaintances … who have been
active in the environment.”
Nichols’ political experience includes work as secretary
of resources for California under former-Gov. Gray Davis, the
assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
under former-President Clinton and the secretary for environmental
affairs under former-California Gov. Jerry Brown.
Members of the team also include former basketball superstar
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, UC Regent and former CEO of
Paramount Pictures Sherry Lansing and former-Los Angeles Mayor
Richard Riordan.
Other appointees that are involved in higher education are James
Rosser, president of California State University, Los Angeles,
Carolyn Webb de Macias, vice president of external relations at
USC, and Tyree Weider, president of Los Angeles Valley College.
