Joel Wachs

Re "In TV Interview, Wachs Reveals That He Is Gay," Nov. 13: How could it be "natural and appropriate" for a dedicated public servant like Joel Wachs to feel that he must wait until he's 60 years old before he can safely reveal his sexual orientation? Contrary to Scott Seomin's claim that "when any public official comes out, it sends a wonderful message . . . to gay closeted youth struggling with their sexual orientation," Wachs' announcement actually sends a dismal and disturbing message to gay kids: Our society is still so intolerant that you'd better stay hidden until well after you're eligible to join the AARP.

One of Manhattan's least known architectural landmarks, the Bayard Building near Washington Square, has all but disappeared behind scaffolding while undergoing renovation. Few passersby even glimpse the vertical terra cotta moldings and ornate reliefs on the facade of the 1897 structure--much less guess that it's the only building in New York designed by Louis Sullivan, the architect known as the father of the skyscraper.

Re "Sports Arena Is a Winner for City and Taxpayers," editorial, Oct. 10: Maybe it's been so long since a local elected official went to bat for the voters that you don't recognize the behavior. Does Joel Wachs' stubbornness in the face of peer pressure from the City Council, mayor, cardinal and The Times look like "grandstanding" to you? Maybe you should get out of the luxury boxes, and check out the view from the bleachers. Looks like a home run from here. It is disturbing that the sight of a guy trying to respond to his constituents' wishes looks suspect to The Times.

Joel Wachs looks peppy for a man of 63 as he stands on 7th Avenue across the street from the Manhattan hotel he called home for six months. Sliding into a restaurant booth for breakfast, he's beaming. It's not exactly what you might expect of someone who moved to New York last year in defeat, walking away from three decades of public service in Los Angeles after losing his third race for mayor.

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs will discuss the Universal Studios expansion plan tonight at a special meeting of the Cahuenga Property Owners Assn. The $1-billion expansion project proposes an additional 3.3 million square feet of studio, office and retail space on the 415-acre site. Universal scaled down its original plan by 44% because of public opposition to the project.

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, long known as a pro-police politician, carried his personal fight against crime to a new level Thursday, when he teamed up with a Sparkletts water deliveryman to help officers arrest an alleged intruder. Wachs was having a cup of coffee just before 9 a.m. when he heard breaking glass and discovered a man trying to get into his Studio City home.

Joel Wachs is at it again. The veteran Los Angeles councilman, who has earned a reputation as City Hall's most tenacious fiscal watchdog, has sunk his teeth into what he says is another example of government waste. But unlike previous cost-cutting crusades, such as his efforts to consolidate city warehouses or modernize an antiquated purchasing system, this holy war has put him at odds with some of the city's most powerful business leaders and his closest allies in City Hall.

Of the 52 candidates for mayor of Los Angeles, only one--City Coucilman Joel Wachs--counts the art community as a major source of support. And his mayoral campaign reaches well beyond Southern California. A coast-to-coast spate of fund-raisers for Wachs includes everything from cocktail parties sponsored by Los Angeles' cultural movers and shakers to a gathering of New York artists in a TriBeCa restaurant.

The Los Angeles City Council should promote the breakup of the huge Los Angeles Unified School District, two San Fernando Valley-based councilmen said Friday, even as a powerful state legislator from the Valley warned that such a task could take many years. The comments by Councilmen Hal Bernson and Joel Wachs and Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) reflected the growing support by Valley politicians for a movement to secede from the Los Angeles district and establish a separate Valley district.

City Councilman Joel Wachs is trying to parlay his 22-year record at City Hall, his ties to the art world and ideas for change--including breaking up the Los Angeles school district--into a winning run for the mayor's office. The strategy relies heavily on the personal mettle of the tireless Wachs, a regular fixture at mayoral candidate forums who also has proved to be one of the field's most combative members.

Voters go to the polls today to fill the 2nd District seat on the Los Angeles City Council. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The three candidates are Van Nuys businessman James Cordaro, DreamWorks SKG executive Wendy Greuel and Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Panorama City).

For the first time in three decades, 2nd District voters will elect a representative Tuesday to the Los Angeles City Council from a ballot that does not include Joel Wachs. The former dean of the council resigned in October to head an arts foundation in New York, forcing a special election and creating the first wide-open race since he was first elected in 1971.

Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), DreamWorks executive Wendy Greuel and businessman James P. Cordaro filed papers Monday to run for the City Council's 2nd District seat, vacated last week by Joel Wachs. Potential candidates have until Friday to file declarations of intent to become candidates in the special election, to be held Dec. 11. The candidates then must file nominating petitions with the city clerk to be placed on the ballot.

After 30 years on the Los Angeles City Council, Joel Wachs said goodbye Friday to his colleagues, who praised him as a voice of independence and integrity at City Hall. Wachs is moving to New York City, where he will serve as president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Although he is leaving, the council maverick said he has great confidence in the future of Los Angeles. "It's grown up," he said. "It's a great international city. It's the center of culture and commerce.

A special election will be held Dec. 11 to fill an expected vacancy in the east San Fernando Valley's 2nd Council District seat, the Los Angeles City Council decided Wednesday. But the council split over when to allow candidates to begin fund-raising, an issue with potential political implications. Council President Alex Padilla, who has backed Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) in the race, sought unsuccessfully to block any fund-raising until Councilman Joel Wachs vacates the seat Oct. 1.

Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) said Friday he has decided to give up his candidacy for California secretary of state and instead run for the Los Angeles City Council seat being vacated in October by Joel Wachs. He had raised $600,000 for the state race. Cardenas announced at a breakfast with legislative and labor leaders Friday that after the exhausting budget battle that just concluded in Sacramento, he wants to stay in Los Angeles, closer to his family, and tackle more local issues.

City Councilman Joel Wachs may still be on the city payroll, but you wouldn't know it, some constituents say, by his absence from Los Angeles City Hall in recent weeks. Since announcing two months ago that he would quit in October, the Studio City resident has missed 13 of 19 council meetings, drawing criticism in and out of City Hall.

Wave bye-bye, L.A. Say goodbye to the career politicians. Fifty-some years on the public payroll between the two of them. Five decades of suckling at the taxpayer's teat. Finally, they're leaving. And this city will miss them when they're gone.