A number of Bruins may find themselves roaming City Hall in the
near future.
The recent series of city advisory panel nominations by Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa has revealed a diverse cross-section of
community leaders from all around Los Angeles, including a portion
from the UCLA community.
In addition to growing the influence and prestige of UCLA, the
intersection of the university and local government is illustrative
of the kind of civic engagement encouraged within the
university.
“I think it’s a great way to represent UCLA and the
community,” said Victor Narro, project director at the
Downtown Labor Center, who was appointed to the Police Permit
Review Panel.
“It benefits the community when faculty and different
staff are involved in local government.”
The new panel nominations will also give many of the UCLA
nominees opportunities to work within their fields of expertise in
new ways.
Mary Nichols, director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment,
was nominated by Villaraigosa to become president of the Board of
Water and Power Commissioners.
She said this position will give her more direct access to the
decision makers in Los Angeles and hopes she can use this occasion
to benefit the community by improving public health.
“I now have an opportunity to work with one of the largest
emitters of pollution and to help them become a model of
sustainability,” she said.
In its “State of the Air 2005″ report, the American
Lung Association rated Los Angeles as the most polluted city in the
U.S.
A UCLA presence on these commissions may also increase the
chances for members of the UCLA community to become involved in
local government.
Nichols said she is “hoping and expecting that there will
be opportunities for colleagues to get involved.”
Some of the commissions will also directly affect the Westwood
community.
Narro said his Police Permit Review Panel will be pivotal in
issuing permits to businesses in Westwood and other areas.
The members of the UCLA community who were nominated by the
mayor were not chosen at random.
In order to fulfill the university’s public-service
mission, the office of UCLA Government and Community Relations
works to give UCLA experts the inside path to such panel
appointments.
Diana Brueggeman, executive director of UCLA Local Government
Relations, said she has both alerted the mayor’s office of
qualified experts and informed people on campus of opportunities to
serve in local government. And she said the mayor has been
responsive.
“Right out of the gate Villaraigosa came to UCLA to look
for people to serve,” Brueggeman said.
Shortly after being elected, Villaraigosa selected Chancellor
Albert Carnesale to serve on his mayoral transition team.
The mayor’s apparent predilection for Bruins may be due to
the fact that he is a UCLA alumnus, she said.
In the mayor’s recent appointments, UCLA has the most
nominees of any local college or university.
Brueggeman said UCLA is “just the obvious place to
look,” since it is the largest public university in the
region and has a large pool of highly qualified experts.
Among the other appointees from UCLA, Fernando Torres-Gil,
associate dean of the UCLA School of Public Affairs, was nominated
to the Board of Airport Commissioners; and Mark Schuster, a
pediatrics and public health professor, was nominated to the
Commission for Children, Youth and Families.
Villaraigosa still has more than 200 panel openings to fill.