&npsp; Date: Monday, Nov 17, 2008,
Time: 6:45 PM - 8:30PM
Place:Galpin Ford - 2nd Floor meeting
Room,15555 Roscoe Blvd. [at the 405]
Parking: Free parking in the Galpin Lot on the West side of Orion
Please do not park in the customer service areas.
Wendy Greuel
Agenda
6:45PM- 7:30PM
Introductions
Reports by Valley VOTE Committees
( 5 minutes maximum for each including Q&A )
Housing Vic Viereck
MTA Universal Project Richard Bort / Polly Ward
Neighborhood Councils George Truesdell
LAWA Report Denny Schneider
DWP Update Jack Humphreville
Membership Richard Leyner
7:30 PM- 8:00PM Wendy Greuel
Wendy Greuel is President Pro Tempore of the Los Angeles City Council and represents the Second District in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. She was sworn into office on April 4, 2002. She is currently a candidate for Los Angeles City Controller.
A life-long resident of the San Fernando Valley, Wendy has worked tirelessly to be an independent voice fighting for the Valley’s fair share of city resources. Her leadership is inspired by her strong belief that a more responsive government, greater citizen participation, and empowered neighborhoods will improve the quality of life for all Angelenos and create safer communities, a strong local economy and a brighter future for our children.
As a member of the Audits and Government Efficiency Committee, Wendy has saved taxpayers millions of dollars by cutting wasteful government spending and identifying fraud and corruption in city government. She led the fight to restructure the city’s archaic business tax system to spur economic development and create jobs for Los Angeles’ working families. As the new Chair of the City’s Transportation Committee, she has banned road construction during rush hour, created anti-gridlock zones, which reduces traffic during rush hour, and lobbied Sacramento to ensure construction and completion of a Northbound 405 carpool lane. Wendy has made a priority of fighting to preserve precious remaining open space throughout the San Fernando Valley. She created the sixth largest park in the City of Los Angeles by purchasing 230 acres South of La Tuna Canyon.
Upon graduation from UCLA Wendy learned how to make things work for people at City Hall in the office of Mayor Bradley, where she was the mayor’s liaison to the City Council, City Departments and the community on public policy issues including child care, the homeless, the elderly, and health issues. She was instrumental in the creation of LA’s BEST, the nationally recognized after school program now serving school children in the Second District and throughout the city. While working for HUD from 1993 to 1997 she helped coordinate the 1994 Northridge earthquake emergency response and recovery programs.
Wendy currently lives in Studio City and is married to Dean Schramm. They have a three-year old son, Thomas.
We are pleased that Wendy has taken time out of her busy schedule to bring us up to date on current city hall issues.
8:00 -8:30 Aram Benyamin
Aram Benyamin is the Senior Assistant General Manager of the Power System at the L.A. Department of Water and Power. He will speak on Power Reliability and Renewable Energy.
Over the last 4 years power production from renewable sources have increased from 3% to 8%. Wind farm contracts including the addition of the Pine Tree Project and the Solar Rooftop program is expected to bring the LA DWP's renewable energy to 13% by 2009.
Power reliability Indices are showing a negative trend. There are plans and funding to address this issue by replacing and upgrading electrical infrastructure.
We look forward to Aram's remarks on these important issues facing the LA DWP.
Adjourn
Questions from the audience, as time permits, will follow each speaker's remarks. The public and press are invited to the meeting.
The next Valley VOTE meeting will be on Monday, January 19, 2008. Our featured speaker will Councilmember Greig Smith.
Please note there will be no meeting in December. Happy Holidays!!
Valley VOTE Mission Statement
Valley VOTE, a diverse coalition of San Fernando Valley residents, business people, educators, community activists, and organizations, is committed to exploring and fostering the implementation of programs that empower the people of the San Fernando Valley and the City of Los Angeles, to improve local governance, education and public participation on policy matters.
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