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LEADING THE WAY

“I am most comforta-

ble and at my best

when I am out in the

district with my con-

stituents.”

-Mitch O’Farrell

In This Issue

A Letter from Mitch

Mitch’s Priorities

Community Highlights

Photos

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Team Mitch gives a thumbs up for the Councilmember in Your Corner event in Hollywood

O’Farrell fostered a sense of pride and community activism through a monthly event called Councilmember in Your Corner. Each month, the Councilmember selected a different neighbor-hood to visit in the 13th District. He was joined by volunteers who walked door to door. They greeted neighbors and distributed im-portant numbers to better connect constituents with City services. Those who answered the door were pleasantly surprised to see their local Councilmember on a Saturday morning asking how he can help or what he can do to make the neighborhood even safer.

Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell—13th District June 2014

Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell was elected on May 23rd and sworn into office on July 1, 2013. The Coun-cilmember represents 250,000 constituents in the most cultural-ly diverse Council District in the City of Los Angeles. In the first 12 months, O’Farrell and his staff were relentless in their out-reach to constituents. The Councilmember organized 11 com-munity walks -one each month- to meet neighbors and make sure residents had everything they need from their local govern-ment.

“There was no stopping the Councilmember, and when he was-n’t going door-to-door, he was personally removing bulky items, filling potholes, and removing graffiti,” said Miguel Luna of Elysi-an Valley. “And Mitch fostered this sense of neighborhood pride with his constituents through a variety of community events .”

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Contact Mitch:

City Hall 200 N Spring St, room 450 Los Angeles CA 90012 213-473-7013 District Office 5500 Hollywood Blvd, 4th floor Los Angeles, CA 90028 323-957-4500 email: councilmem-ber.ofarrell@lacity.org

http://cd13.com Facebook: Councilmem-berMitchOFarrell Twitter: MitchOFarrell Instagram: MitchOFarrell

Friends:

I want to take a moment to acknowledge our first year of working to-gether to make the 13th Council District an even greater place in the City of Los Angeles.

We have accomplished so much in just a year.

We fought for the Los Angeles River, and won greater support from the federal government to return our urban waterway to its natural riparian state, finally giving us hope of removing its concrete harness.

We took the affordable housing crisis head on, and started conversa-tions about securing funds to build more units to house our veterans, seniors, homeless, and young professionals that have been priced out of our market.

We partnered with the school district to kick start a program to distribute millions of free lunches to young kids this summer in City parks and recreation centers.

And we protected our urban wildlife from inhumane snares that maim or kill, and stood with dozens of other humane cities around the world to put our foot down on elephant bull hooks.

All this while my staff and I worked to preserve neighborhoods, advo-cate for more city services, and promote the quality of life we all de-serve wherever we live and work.

Folks, together we are truly making our district and the City of Angels an even better place to live work and play. We have a lot to celebrate today, and as we reflect on this milestone together, I want us to keep in mind I plan on accomplishing even more with you in the months and years ahead..

I want to personally take the op-portunity to say thank you for be-ing part of Team Mitch and ask for your support to continue our fight for even better neighborhoods in the years ahead.

Warm regards,

MITCH O’FARRELL Councilmember, 13th District

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Team Mitch Cleans the Streets The Councilmember and his staff also organized weekly cleanups throughout the district. O’Farrell wants his constituents to feel em-powered to create positive change in their neighborhood, and this starts with taking pride and ownership in your surroundings. A great example of this was the community cleanup in the Drew-Estara neighborhood of Glassell Park. O’Farrell organized a tree trimming and bulky item pick up in the area, and finished the morning with a community bar-b-que as a way of saying thanks to those who gave time that morning.

HIGHLIGHTS JULY - O’Farrell holds first monthly community outreach event AUGUST - O’Farrell officially sup-ports Alternative 20 for the LA Riv-er SEPTEMBER - O’Farrell launches revamped cd13.com OCTOBER - O’Farrell announces new chapter for Hollywood with Tour Bus Ordinance NOVEMBER - O’Farrell wins coun-cil support for LA River Alt 20 DECEMBER - O’Farrell, Felipe Fuentes introduce affordable hous-ing motion JANUARY - O’Farrell delivers first State of Hollywood speech ‘ FEBRUARY - O’Farrell secures funding for Blessed Sacrament homeless outreach program MARCH - Joins constituents to beautify Occidental Rounders APRIL - Breaks ground on Sunset Streetscape improvements MAY - Announces sidewalk im-provements at Echo Park Lake JUNE - O’Farrell hosts inaugural LA River Day at City Hall

**Please see cd13.com for a detailed list of work**

Mitch with Echo Park constituents

O’Farrell removing a bulky item during a cleanup event in Glassell Park

Dozens of Drew-Estara neighbors joined O’Farrell to trim trees in Glassell Park

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Mitch’s Priorities LOS ANGELES RIVER As the chair of the City’s Arts, Parks, Health, Aging, and Los Angeles River committee, Councilmember Mitch O’Far-rell oversees all river policy that will help facilitate its future. O’Farrell is committed to restoring the river habitat and creating even more recreational opportunities that will enhance the quality of life in local neighborhoods. O’Farrell believes everyone deserves to enjoy the river and is focused on protections that will preserve affordable housing stock and jobs along our urban waterway. O’Farrell joined a delegation in Washington to show his support for the United States Army Corps of Engineers $1B plan to restore the River, and later celebrated the win for Angelenos dur-ing his inaugural LA River Day at City Hall. AFFORDABLE HOUSING Councilmember O’Farrell is taking the lead on finding solutions for the affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles. In his first year, he worked with the Housing and Community Investment Department and his Council Colleagues to change policy and create more affordable housing. O’Farrell introduced a motion, that was approved by the Housing Commit-tee, that will establish a dedicated permanent funding source from the former Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) tax increment funds, earmarking a percentage for the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. While working to fix the crisis, O'Farrell is proud of the fact that the 13th District has more affordable housing projects in the pipeline than any other district. EDUCATION AND NEIGHBORHOODS Councilmember O’Farrell believes education happens at every age, and this learning must take place in safe, healthy neighborhoods. In his first year, O’Farrell advocated for safer access to our schools, kick started a City partnership with LAUSD to provide a summer lunch program to distribute 4.5 million free meals to kids, and led an ordinance change to regulate electronic cigarettes to minimize exposure and harm to our students and workforce. He also se-cured funding for the Echo Park Senior Center. ANIMAL WELFARE As a long-time champion for the rights of animals and protecting the wildlife in our urban environment O'Farrell has

guided policy while in office that insists on the humane treatment of animals. O’Farrell joined his council colleague

Paul Koretz and created new laws prohibiting the use of bull hooks on Elephants. The Councilmember led the way to

ban snares that trap and maim wildlife, and is supportive of the ban on rodenticides that are linked to the once-

deteriorating health of P-22 in the Santa Monica Mountains. O’Farrell is also working with his partners with Animal

Services to bring free spay and neuter vouchers to our communities