After a 15-month stint at the Trust for Public Land, Carolyn Ramsay is returning to Councilman LaBonge’s office as Chief of Staff effective September 1.
“This is a great job to be chief of staff, I am really looking forward to it,” said Ramsay, who spoke to the Buzz this weekend while on vacation with her family.  Ramsay said she was thrilled to be coming back because she really missed working at the city. “I missed the diversity of issues, I missed my colleagues and I missed knowing what’s going on!” said Ramsay.
“I am very excited that Carolyn is coming back,” said Councilman Tom LaBonge.  “I would put up a big old-fashioned banner across Larchmont Blvd announcing it, but I don’t want to violate the city’s sign ordinance!”
Ramsay is coming back to city hall where she worked for six years on LaBonge’s staff, first as a field deputy, then communications director and her last position was deputy chief of staff for major projects. Councilman LaBonge is termed out and will leave office in March 2015. Ramsay said she came back to help La Bonge complete his almost 40 year legacy as a civil servant.
“Chief of Staff is a completely different job,” said Ramsay, who plans to “help Tom get some of the things done that he has wanted to do for a really long time.” Among those is completion of the median on North Larchmont Blvd, which has been approved but will not begin until 2014 and converting some of the 138 acres beside the Hollywood Sign to create more parking for hikers in Griffith Park.
Ramsay ran the Los Angeles office for The Trust for Public Land whose mission is to create public space.  She previously worked as a newspaper and magazine reporter for 15 years, including 3 years as a correspondent for People Magazine. She also founded the nonprofit organization, Olive Branches, to raise funds to develop school gardens and landscape features in Los Angeles. A former president of the Windsor Square Association, Ramsay served as the fundraising chair for the Larchmont Median project. Ramsay serves on the board of trustees of Temple Israel of Hollywood and the advisory board of the University of Southern California Center for Sustainable Cities.
