Councilman Rosendahl: His Plate is Full

What does Bill Rosendahl know about Los Angeles real estate? Plenty. Ask him about affordable housing, view ordinances, Proposition H, why there needs to be a moratorium on condo conversions and the push for mixed-use development (combined retail/residential space) in a town such as Pacific Palisades, and he will be happy to engage you–for hours. Then there’s his personal real estate portfolio. Buying property ‘is the best investment I’ve ever made,’ said the District 11 councilman in an interview in his Westchester district office last week. In 1986 he bought a fixer-upper on a small lot in Venice a few blocks from the ocean for $160,000. After putting in some skylights, a new kitchen and turning the garage into a guest room he sold it in 1991 for $300,000 “which gave me the down payment I needed to buy a house with more land, which was very important to me.’ After searching for months in Brentwood, Santa Monica and the Palisades, Rosendahl said he found exactly what he was looking for and in his price range in Mar Vista for just over $600,000. He purchased a house on a double lot with an ocean view which was 15 minutes away from Adelphia Cable in Santa Monica, where he worked as an executive and on-air host at the time. The Mar Vista house was also a fixer. Rosendahl estimates he spent about $200,000 on improvements, putting in new plumbing, electricity, windows and opening up three small rooms. ‘Now I have a big stove is the middle of the kitchen,’ he explained, ‘which I like because people can gather around while I cook.’ His specialties? ‘I make a great leg of lamb, turkey stuffing, also spare ribs.’ Rosendahl, who does not eat sweets as he is diabetic, lives with his German shepherd Lulu, who is expecting a litter in December, and two cats, Rocky and Black Lady. They share the large garden with several chickens who provide a steady stream of fresh eggs. White or brown? He didn’t say. While the councilman “has heard” that his property in Mar Vista, which happens to be not only the largest community in the 11th District but almost in the center of it geographically, is currently worth ‘from $1.5 million to $ 2 million’ to him ‘it’s monopoly money” and doesn’t really matter unless you’re ready to cash in, which he does not see doing any time soon. In fact, he enjoys his property so much that ‘I have no intention of leaving until I die!’ Rosendahl, 61, said that it was at his home in Mar Vista that he made the decision to enter politics shortly after he was laid off in March 2003 from Adelphia, where he had worked for 22 years. He said that one day as he was pondering what he would do next (he had 10 months to decide, which is how much severance he was given) he looked out at the view from his balcony and it hit him. ‘I thought that instead of just talking about the issues that maybe I could help do something about them.’ His timing could not have been better. Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski was termed out and he had only one serious opponent: Flora Gil Krisiloff, who was endorsed by the Los Angeles Times. Rosendahl kicked off his campaign at a fundraiser held at Bill and Cindy Simon’s home in the Huntington Palisades. At the time a lot of people didn’t quite know what to make of Rosendahl, who is a great glad-hander, knows how to smile for the camera, and announced at the private gathering that he was gay. ‘NOT IN MY BACKYARD’ Since taking office in July 2005 Rosendahl has focused on limiting the expansion of LAX (favoring regional airports), promoting mass transit, improving public safety, and giving neighborhoods a greater say in decision-making through his Empowerment Congress. Asked whether he thought the Palisades Community Council should remain independent or become an official neighborhood council (there are currently 88), Rosendahl conceded that PPCC ‘would give more than it would get, given the amount of experience it has. On the other hand, Palisadians would learn some things too. It’s not just about what happens in their backyard.’ Rosendahl said that even if the community may not want it, there needs to be more discussion on affordable housing in the Palisades, which currently represents only 2 percent of the 9,600 households. ‘How it is going to happen there is the challenge. But the reality is, where are all the service workers going to live–the nannies, gardeners, waiters and clerks? That’s why there’s no place to park in the village anymore because these people have to drive there from somewhere to work.’ When asked about the plan to locate the 20 affordable housing units required as part of the Tramonto 82-condo hillside project (slated to be built above PCH and Sunset starting next year) offsite, Rosendahl said he was opposed to such a practice. ‘Affordable housing needs to be in the same community where the condos are being built. When developers say it doesn’t pencil in, I say get new pencils.’ When asked about the failure to save Lincoln Place in Venice–which was once the largest complex (800 units) providing affordable housing on the Westside–Rosendahl said that ‘at the point where I came in there were only 240 families left. We did, I think, the best we could for them by getting Amoco, the owner who does in fact have the right to go out of the rental business, to offer more generous settlements and we have been able to get several extensions for the remaining tenants. Now there are only six or seven tenants left. It will be a sad day when they go.’ After an 18 year-battle, the last of the tenants at Lincoln Place are expected to be evicted by the end of the month. Rosendahl said that even though he tried to help even before he was elected to City Council, ‘I felt the deck was stacked against me.’ CAMPAIGN PROMISES ‘This job is 24/7,’ said Rosendahl, who spends half his time on L.A. City Council business (attending meetings and serving on committees) and half at community events, ranging from ceremonial ribbon-cuttings to block parties to participating in Town Hall meetings, a format he enjoys. The councilman is chairman of the Public Works Committee, which is responsible for most essential city services such as tree-trimming, street repair, street lighting, street beautification projects and capital improvements. Does he really care that much about potholes? ‘When the rubber hits the holes in the road we have to be ready to respond. That’s our job, the city’s job. But all we can really do is go out there and fill them in,’ he explained. ‘The problem we have right now is that our roadways have been so neglected that it would take 80 years to do just what needs to be done to clean them up. Eighty years! So I’m going to be introducing a bond measure for the 2008 ballot to accelerate that process. It’s time we cleaned up our streets.’ Asked how a rookie Council member like him got to chair the PWC, Rosendahl said it was a case of quid pro quo. ‘When Eric Garcetti asked me to vote for him as Council president I said I would, and that if he won I wanted him to appoint me chair of that committee which he did.’ Besides serving on three ad hoc committees (Public Debt, Gang Violence and Homelessness, which he helped initiate), Rosendahl also serves on the Budget & Finance committee, as well as Transportation. During his campaign for office, he promised to work on traffic issues. Two weeks ago he participated in the groundbreaking of the Exposition Light Rail Line, which will connect downtown Los Angeles with Culver City. ‘This is the first baby step in getting real mass transit extended to the Westside,’ Rosendahl said in a press release. ‘The next step is extending the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica. This second phase will really help to alleviate the gridlock plaguing the Westside.’ LITTLE GREEN ARROWS Although mass transit is still years away, Rosendahl is not the least bit deterred. To his delight, City Council just approved $250,000 to study intersecting the Green Line (from LAX) with the Expo Line in Santa Monica. The councilman, who often finds himself in gridlock as he bombs around town between his two district council offices (one in West L.A., the other in Westchester) and City Hall downtown in his electric-blue Ford Hybrid SUV, has another reason to be pleased. Acting on a central promise of his campaign, one of the first things he did was get the Department of Transportation to work on left-turn signals at 12 of the most congested intersections in his district (which he refers to as the ‘Dirty Dozen’), including one at Sunset and Via de la Paz. “I was fed up with the paralyses. Making a left turn in L.A. had gone from hard to nearly impossible,’ said Rosendahl, who pointed out that there were either too few left-turn arrows or arrows that don’t stay green long enough ‘and are emblematic of the traffic crisis that grips our city. We can’t tolerate the gridlock any longer.’ Now, in discussing DOT’s progress, you’d think Rosendahl invented the left-turn, even though there is still no left-turn arrow at Via and Sunset. (Editor’s note: The 11th District includes the communities of Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Mar Vista, Palms, Marina del Rey, Playa del Ray, Playa Vista, Venice, West L.A. and Westchester.)