Serving Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, and the Greater Wilshire neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 2011.

David Ryu’s First 100 Days

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Click to see the full size Report Card.

This weekend, City Council District 4 Member David Ryu celebrated his 100th day in office, first by releasing a “report card” on Friday, October 9, highlighting a number of things he’s ticked off the “to do” list put forth in his campaign for the office last spring…and then with a more formal commemoration on Sunday, October 11, with a celebration at the Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center Auditorium.

In an exclusive interview with the Buzz on Thursday, October 8, Ryu said the big issues that emerged during his campaign were transportation, neighborhood preservation, and street repairs, so that’s where he’s been concentrating his efforts in these iconic first days.  In our part of the district, he dove into the key issues very quickly, specifically introducing a resolution to institute an Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) to prevent teardowns in three CD4 neighborhoods – Sherman Oaks, Brookside and Sycamore Square – while the city works on revisions to its Baseline Mansionization Ordinance.  Ryu introduced the ICO motion on July 28, and the Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee approved it and sent to the full City Council on October 8.  According to Ryu, the progress of this measure has been faster than even he had anticipated, noting that the communities involved “were so engaged, so mobilized, that we were able to get it done.” (The item will be heard by the full City Council on October 21.)

Another big local issue is access to the Hollywood sign.  Ryu noted that this is a more complex issue and one that will take more time to sort out.  To aid that process, he and his staff held their first Town Hall meeting on the subject last week, at Cheremoya Elementary School in Hollywood.  There will be more such meetings in the near future.

The third issue that floated to the top in Ryu’s election campaign was street repair, particularly of the concrete streets in Hancock Park, which had become a major point of contention between local residents and the office of former CD4 Council Member Tom La Bonge.  Ryu has tackled the concrete streets issue by creating a pilot project that commits $500,000 to repair the worst of the Hancock Park streets.  He hopes it will become a model for concrete street repair in other neighborhoods around the city, which have also been struggling with the problem.  Concrete repair is about 10 times as costly as repairing streets with asphalt, but concrete streets last about 70 years instead of 20, which can add up over the thousands of miles of concrete streets in Los Angeles.  Ryu’s project will try to marry existing city funding for street repairs with other funding streams that can help meet the higher costs of concrete repairs. He said he hopes not to use CD4 discretionary funds for the repairs he has committed to (two streets and four intersections in Hancock Park), but that it might be a “last resort” if not enough funds can be found from other sources.

Ryu said the biggest surprise he encountered when taking office in June was that the job wasn’t all that surprising to him.  He said he felt “right at home” and “hit the ground running,” thanks to his previous experience working for Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke.  He said the biggest hurdles getting started were simply a lack of staff and basic items like office furniture.  The other challenge is that “there’s so much to do and not enough hours in the day,” noting that his staff commonly work 10-hour days.  (Ryu currently has 16 staff members and plans to hire at least a couple more in the near future.  Most council offices have between 18 and 22 staffers.)

Moving forward, Ryu said his major focus will be getting the ICO passed by the full City Council, delivering on his concrete street repair promises, and developing “mid- and long-term strategies for the Hollywood sign.” Also, for the longer term, he’ll be concentrating on building more robust communities, getting his Discretionary Funds Task Force up and running (it will review and make recommendations on the spending of CD4 discretionary funds, and had its first meeting last week), and also more “global” issues like homelessness and jobs development.  He said his first priority is making sure CD4 residents have faith in his office…and the key to that will be “transparency” in its operations.

For a slightly fuller picture of what a City Council Member’s first 100 days looks like, here’s a list that includes both official City Council actions and the kinds of things that happen between all the meetings:

ryuDavid Ryu’s First 100 Days Timeline:

June 28 – Sworn in

July 1 – Motion to establish advisory task force on allocation and spending of CD4 discretionary funds (passed on 7/28)
July 4 – Matilijian Parade in Sherman Oaks
July 16 – Brookside Homeowners Association meeting at Lebanese American Foundation
July 23 – Welcomes Special Olympics athletes at Torch of Hope run
July 24 – LAFD “Hero in You” event & unveiling of R.Hero sculpture
July 25 – Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council Community Resource Fair
July 28 – City Council votes to ban large-capacity ammunition magazines and new rules for gun storage
July 28 – Motion to create Interim Control Ordinance to prevent teardowns in Sherman Oaks, Brookside and Sycamore Square
July 29 – Motion to rescind approval for $600K in discretionary fund spending passed by Tom La Bonge

August 5 – Voted against City Council motion to weigh in on question of whether or not to allow ride services such as Uber and Lyft to serve customers at LAX
August 5 – Motion to ask Department of Transportation to report on sufficiency of driver background checks for services such as Uber and Lyft
August 6 – 50th anniversary of Voting Rights Act
August 8 – Meeting with Windsor Village neighbors
August 10 – Meeting with Transition Advisory Team
August 11 – City Council votes to support Mobility Plan 2035
August 11 – City Council Confirms Joel Jacinto nomination to Board of Public Works
August 14 – Celebration of 70th anniversary of Korean independence
August 18 – Honors Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program
August 20 – Lunch with Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce
August 24 – Independent Shakespeare Company with neighbors in Los Feliz
August 28 – Motion to urge Department of Transportation to report on development of traffic plan for 2024 Olympics and to start working on such a plan immediately.

September 3 – Tours neighborhoods of CD4
September 4 – LAPD graduation
September 5 – Supports 2024 Olympics bid, but have to “get it right”
September 5 – Thanks to Griffith Park Canyon firefighters
September 7 – Labor Day celebrations
September 8 – City Council vote to ban smokeless tobacco at all sports venues
September 9 – “Run to Remember” to honor fallen law enforcement officers
September 10 – Extends summer pool season at Pan Pacific Park
September 11 – 9-11 remembrance events
September 13 – Rosh Hashana activities
September 14 – Posts constituent survey
September 17 – Announces short and long term plans for concrete street repairs
September 23 – Yom Kippur activities
September 24 – City Council declares “homeless state of emergency”
September 25 – Requests Ethics Commission consider restricting election campaign contributions by businesses, labor untions and other groups

October 1 – First town hall meeting on Hollywood Sign
October 8 – First meeting of Discretionary Funds Task Force
October 9 – Releases First 100 Days Report Card
October 11 – Celebrates First 100 days in office

[10/13/15:  this story has been updated to add the date of the full Council vote for the ICO, and to correct the current number of staffers in Mr. Ryu’s office.]

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Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN but has lived in LA since 1991 - with deep roots in both the Sycamore Square and West Adams Heights-Sugar Hill neighborhoods. She spent 10 years with the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, volunteers at Wilshire Crest Elementary School, and has been writing for the Buzz since 2015.

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