Council President
Los Angeles City Councilmember
SPEAKER INFORMATION
Email: Lynnette.Amerian@lacity.org
Website: www.ericgarcetti.org
SESSION DESCRIPTION
Morning Keynote
The focus of this year’s conference is Los Angeles and the ways in which this region is dealing with the new challenges facing it: increasing density, and need to live more sustainably. Who better to discuss this than Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti? A fourth-generation Angeleno who was raised in a suburban home in the Valley, Garcetti is now a firm advocate of smart growth - even when it earns him criticism - and has been a leader in using legislation to promote green design. Garcetti is in the vanguard of reshaping Los Angeles to meet today’s needs. To cap his appeal to Dwell readers, he loves good Modern architecture.
SPEAKER BIO
A fourth-generation Angeleno, Eric Garcetti grew up in Los Angeles and was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2001, becoming one of the youngest city councilmembers elected in the city’s history. In his first term in office, he has emerged as an effective local problem-solver and a progressive voice on citywide and national issues. Councilmember Garcetti serves as the council’s Assistant President Pro Tempore and chairs the Housing, Community, and Economic Development Committee. Since his election, Councilmember Garcetti led the creation of the nation’s largest Affordable Housing Trust Fund, overseen the economic and cultural revitalization of Hollywood, initiated programs to build more parks and clean up our drinking water, and helped fight to reduce the city’s business tax and bring more than five thousand new high wage jobs to Los Angeles and his district.
Prior to his election, Eric Garcetti taught public policy, diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College and the University of Southern California and was active with numerous community and non-profit groups including Human Rights Watch, the Pobladores Fund, and the Roth Family Foundation. He has worked on human rights issues on four continents. Eric Garcetti studied urban planning and political science at Columbia University , where he received his B.A. and M.A. in International Relations. He studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and the London School of Economics. He is an avid photographer, jazz pianist and composer. He lives in Echo Park with his partner of ten years, Amy Elaine Wakeland.
