Zev Yaroslavsky

WEST LOS ANGELES -- When it comes to getting things done in L.A. one politician that you really need on your side is county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

For the past 34 years, Yaroslavsky has either served on the Los Angeles City Council or on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and has, over the years, developed a tough as nails reputation. Most opponents find getting in the Democrat's crosshairs to be a big mistake.

That's why when Yaroslavsky wrote a personal column on his Web site this week, it really turned heads. While it wasn't a secret that the career pol was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a few years back, his column is downright inspiring to those suffering from the chronic and life-shortening disease.

Here's the supervisor's piece:

Former Fleishman Hilliard Exec Doug Dowie has surfaced and is working at Marathon Communications.

For those who don’t know, Dowie is an ex-Marine and an editor at the Daily News who became one of Los Angeles’ most powerful public relations execs. He led the FH office when it had close ties to former Mayor Jim Hahn’s administration and the firm held some significant contracts with the City and the Dept of Water & Power.

Dowie was accused and subsequently convicted of padding the firm’s bills and FH repaid the City a considerable sum of money.

Everyone knows that Zev means Wolf, but how many people know that Yaroslavsky translates into hypocrite. The Los Angeles Times Opinion section ran a piece about the powerful County Supervisor and former Los Angeles City Councilman as being the “undeveloper”.

Interestingly, virtually everyone who travels the Wilshire Corridor, or almost anywhere else on the Westside of Los Angeles, is bogged down in traffic primarily caused by Zev Yaroslavsky as “the over-developer”. During most of his dozen or so years on the Council, Zev allowed more high-rise development and high density housing than any Councilmember in memory. Nor did he care that all of the housing he created catered to the rich and the super-rich. Only rarely did he work hard for market-race or affordable housing. He also stopped the building of a subway line from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. A mass transit necessity for all of Los Angeles, especially those who babysit the children and clean the toilets of the super- wealthy who Zev helped build housing for.

It’s rare when a seat on the LA County BOS is open, but with Yvonne Burke’s retirement, it is the first open seat in 12 year. A solidly Democratic seat, heavily rooted in the Black community, though had certain Latinos shown any guts, they could have had a shot at winning. The race has boiled down to Senator Mark Ridley Thomas and Councilman (and former LAPD Chief) Bernard Parks.

Labor is throwing everything they have into Thomas’ campaign and expect to spend at least $500,000 (by any other accounting standards than the unions, it means $1 million) into an Independent Expenditure effort for him.  If they are successful – which is doubtful – labor has virtually nothing to gain by their efforts, except for throwing hard earned workers’ money away.

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is poised to announce Marcus Allen to become the city’s new CAO. Allen served as the Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff until last July when he left to join prominent lobbying/public affairs firm Berghoff/Englander & Associates. An African American former UCLA Track star with an MBA previously served in City Hall as Chief of Staff to Controller Laura Chick and also spent 10 years in the Chief Legislative Analyst’s Office. Respected by everyone, and feared by many, Allen brings a no-nonsense approach to running City government. He will be the first African American to hold this position and he is expected to shake up City Hall with his approach and his intellect.

L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has been riding the wave of anti-growth sentiment that has become SOP for liberal politicians in Southern CA. Last week, Zev (Hebrew for Wolf) took LA Times columnist on a joy-ride throughout Los Angeles pointing out all of the bad planning decisions leading to more traffic on the area’s already choking roads and freeways.