With new policies changing the map in the San Fernando Valley and beyond, Senator Stern is running for the position of chief – Daily Bulletin

SHERMAN OAKS – Senator Henry Stern announced his candidacy for the third district seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Directors on Thursday, December 16, which will be vacated by Sheila Kuehl next year.

“I didn’t want to stand for this office without knowing who I would represent,” said Stern, referring to a new district supervisory card that was approved by a reallocation commission on Wednesday. “That really didn’t feel right. This job is not a political stepping stone. The work of a district overseer is not about politics or gender. It’s not about playing high-level games … this job is about doing the work on site. And it doesn’t work. We are judged in LA according to the competence of our county. “

Stern emphasized his roots in the west of the San Fernando Valley at a lunchtime press conference – on Stern Avenue and Ventura Boulevard – and said he was ideally positioned to represent a newly redrawn district that now encompasses the northwestern San Fernando Valley.

Citing his work as the state senator for the 27th Star, he highlighted the need to deal with addiction and mental illness on the streets of LA while pushing for policies that develop “healing homes”. He pointed to what he said was a “wrong choice” between funding public security or restorative justice.

The district’s current overseer, Kuehl, has served on the board as a leading proponent of reforming the district’s criminal justice system. But the residents of the San Fernando Valley have longed for a carer from the Valley.

The new county map – which in District 3 loses some more liberal areas in the Southeast Valley to the Hollywood Hills and Westside while gaining the more conservative Northwest Valley – played into his decision to run.

Shortly after the Los Angeles County Citizens Redistricting Commission set new boundaries for the five regulatory districts Wednesday night, Stern’s campaign emailed the media informing them that Stern would announce his candidacy to Sherman Oaks.

“This is home. This is who I am. Damn right, it counted,” Stern said of the role the new card played in his decision. “We wanted to wait for this commission to do its job, not try to mess up this process and let it play. “

Stern will join a field that includes West Hollywood Councilor Lindsey P. Horvath, Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, and Rep. Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica. Horvath was assisted by Kuehl, Supervisor Janice Hahn and the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti.

Senator Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, told political news website Politico on Tuesday that he was “seriously considering” running for the seat of the San Fernando Valley and Westside.

Elected to the state Senate in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, Stern represents a district stretching from Encino to eastern Ventura County and north to the Santa Clarita Valley, including Malibu. He has been chairman of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water since 2018 and of the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management since December 2020.

Stern, D-Los Angeles, has sought to raise state preparedness for forest fires, get the state to address climate change, change state electoral laws, help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and help the elderly and disabled .

Stern was named one of the three co-chairs of the Board of Governors for Holocaust and Genocide Education by Governor Gavin Newsom in October along with Attorney General Rob Bonta and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

The council was inspired by the Never Again Education Act introduced by Stern in February, which aims to provide teachers with training and resources for classroom content such as genocide within the existing curriculum and social science framework.

“With the generation of survivors dying in many of our families, it is important to find alternative ways to express the effects of hatred and bias to ensure that atrocities like the Holocaust, Armenian genocides and Rwanda never happen again,” said Star in October in connection with the appointment.

“Education is a key piece of the puzzle for telling the stories of our community long after they are dead.”

Stern is a sixth generation Californian who has graduated from Malibu High School and Harvard University, where he plays water polo at both schools, and the UC Berkeley School of Law. Stern served the then representative as an advisor. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, taught law at UCLA and UC Berkeley and founded a tech incubator.

He is the son of actor Daniel Stern, best known for his roles in Home Alone and City Slickers and their sequels, and as the voice of adult Kevin Arnold in the 1988 ABC comedy The Wonder Years -93. “

The younger star delivered the penultimate line of the series in a voiceover as Arnold’s son, calling out to his father, “Hey Dad, do you want to play catch?” to which his father replied: “I’ll be right there.”

The City Intelligence Service contributed to this report