City elections endorsements 2009: Wendy Greuel
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 2, 2009 10:00 p.m.
This board strongly endorses Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel to replace outgoing Laura Chick for Los Angeles city controller.
In comparison to the other candidates, Kathleen “Suzy” Evans and Nick Patsaouras, this board believes Greuel has the most comprehensive platform and the most experience to take over the position. Greuel has also received the endorsement of the Los Angeles Times, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
Greuel’s environmental platform particularly resonates with this board, because she plans to require that new buildings be built pre-wired for solar roofs, and plans to make Los Angeles World Airports participate in recycling programs.
She also has a plan to immediately relieve the city of its severe traffic congestion. As a councilmember, she has already banned street construction during rush hour and has created a plan to implement 450 left-hand turn signals in the next five years.
She also plans to create bicycle lanes to protect cyclists from the dangers of biking alongside the heavy traffic of Los Angeles.
Greuel was instrumental in passing California’s Parking Cash-Out Law, which makes businesses that provide their employees with free parking also provide equivalent monetary compensation to employees who use alternate modes of transportation, such as taking the bus or subway, walking, or riding a bike, to get to work.
This board is confident that we can hold Greuel accountable for her platform, because she has already implemented many of her ideas as a councilmember.
In his platform, Patsaouras discusses his new vision and the need for change, yet his platform is not as in-depth as that of Greuel. While he mentions using tax dollars to create smoother roads, schools and infrastructure on his Web site, we think that he is not specific enough in his plan.
This board also thinks that Evans has presented a superficial platform, and her lack of experience makes us wary of her candidacy. According to her Web site, some of her points are, “stopping wasteful spending, reducing your tax burden and making our city more beautiful ““ not more crowded.” These nonspecific points do not convey any concrete plan of how she will accomplish her goals.
As a councilmember, Greuel has made it clear that she understands the needs of the community she represents. She has our vote.
