West Hills Neighborhood Council | Events | Letter from Interim CD12 Councilmember Greig Smith

Dear Friends,
When I retired from the City Council in 2011, my wife and I enjoyed having free time and traveling. I worked on projects such as Devonshire PALS, North Valley YMCA, Oakridge Estate Park, building a mental hospital for mostly homeless patients in Riverside, and continued my work with the LAPD as a Homicide Detective.

In October, Mitchell Englander announced his resignation from the City Council effective January 1, 2019. For the past 50 years the unofficial policy of the City was to leave the Council seat empty pending a special election. Councilman Englander felt very strongly that the policy was inappropriate and would leave the 12th District residents without a voice. Council President Herb Wesson agreed, and asked me if I would consider being appointed to fill the vacancy with all responsibilities and rights of a full Councilmember, until the outcome of a special election can be determined. When I discussed the idea with my wife Chris, she said the perfect thing, “You need to do it, not for you but for our community.”

During my years as your Councilman we accomplished great things for our communities. We added over 50 acres of new parkland to the area, rebuilt the closed Northridge Pool and added an additional all-abilities pool, opened two new Police Stations (the first new stations in LA in over 40 years), built the new LAPD PALS Youth Center, opened a new Fire Station, and rebuilt two Libraries. Also, during that time this district had the most miles of street repairs, trees trimmed, and sidewalk repairs in the City, every year for eight years.

While in the six months between now and the special election, we will not be able to get those kinds of projects completed, it is my goal to continue the work that I and Councilman Englander have achieved over the past 15 years. I am maintaining the current staff and keeping the field office open during regular hours. We will keep everything working as normal until you choose a new Councilmember.

Until then, I am honored and excited to be working for you once more.

Best Wishes,
Greig Smith
Councilmember, 12th District