Paul Koretz

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Paul Koretz
Member of the Los Angeles City Council from the 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2009
Preceded by	Jack Weiss
Member of the California State Assembly from the 42nd district
In office December 4, 2000 – November 30, 2006
Preceded by	Wally Knox
Succeeded by	Michael Feuer
Member of the West Hollywood City Council
In office 1988–2000
Preceded by	Alan Viterbi
Succeeded by	John Duran
Personal details
Born	(1955-04-03) April 3, 1955 (age 66) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Gail Koretz
Children	1
Residence	Fairfax District, Los Angeles
Occupation	Politician
Website	cd5.lacity.org councilmemberpaulkoretz.com

Paul Koretz (born April 3, 1955) is a council member on the Los Angeles City Council, representing the Fifth Council District. He was previously a member of the California State Assembly and the West Hollywood City Council. A member of the Democratic Party, Koretz is running for Los Angeles City Controller in 2022.

Early life and career[]

Koretz earned a bachelor's degree in history from UCLA in 1979, where he was a founder of the "Bruin Democrats".^[1] While he was a student at UCLA during the 1970s, he was defeated for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. Koretz then served as an aide to then-Los Angeles City Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky in 1975, and then served as an aide to Los Angeles City Councilmember Marvin Braude in 1984. After his marriage to Gail, the Koretz family moved less than a mile away from his parents' home to an area where his father originally lived upon moving to Los Angeles.^[2]

City of West Hollywood[]

In 1984, Koretz supported the creation of the City of West Hollywood from what was then unincorporated Los Angeles County. Koretz campaigned for the City's incorporation while managing the City Council campaign of Alan Viterbi and served as Viterbi's deputy after his election. Upon Viterbi's retirement in 1988, Koretz was elected to the West Hollywood City Council.^{[citation needed]}

As Councilman, Koretz appointed Kevin Norte to the City's Rent Stabilization Commission in 1992, that commission's first openly gay chair for two one-year terms. Koretz also appointed former Log Cabin Republicans member and Equality California^[3] leader attorney John Duran^[4] to replace Norte as Koretz's appointee to the Rent Stabilization Commission. Duran would go on to succeed Koretz on the West Hollywood City Council.

Also during his council tenure, Koretz played a major role on many high-profile issues. In 1988, Koretz sponsored a citywide ban on semi-automatic rifles, which built momentum for a subsequent statewide "assault weapons" ban. In 1996, Koretz co-sponsored the City's ban on "Saturday Night Specials." The city was the first to enact such a ban, which survived various legal assaults by the National Rifle Association. Koretz also sponsored an ordinance limiting handgun purchases to one gun per month in order to cut the resale of guns on the black market.^[5] Koretz served as Mayor and City Councilman for twelve years before being elected to the State Assembly.

Koretz's former colleague on the West Hollywood City Council, Abbe Land, was a candidate for Koretz's seat in the California State Assembly, and faced former Los Angeles City Council member Mike Feuer in the June 6, 2006 Democratic primary. Koretz endorsed Feuer, who defeated Land, winning 52.4% of the vote to her 36.3%.^[6]

California State Assembly (2000–2006)[]

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Koretz represented the 42nd district in the California State Assembly from 2000 to 2006, serving the maximum 3 terms allowed under California term limit law. The district includes West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Universal City, and the portions of the City of Los Angeles encompassing the Sunset Strip, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Los Feliz, Westwood, Brentwood, Studio City, Encino, Sherman Oaks, and North Hollywood/Valley Village.

During his six years in the Assembly, Koretz served as the Chair of the Assembly Labor Committee since his first year in the Assembly. He also chaired the Assembly Select Committee on Gun Violence and the Assembly Select Committee on California's nursing shortage. Koretz was also a member of the Health, Public Safety, Business & Professions, Insurance and Natural Resources committees.^[7]

As a state Assemblymember, Koretz introduced legislation in the State Assembly to increase the smoking age to 21. As a City Councilman, Koretz had authored West Hollywood's ordinance banning smoking in restaurants, and developed the strategy of making it a regional ban by having neighboring cities pass the same ban at the same time. This provided momentum to help pass then-Assemblyman Friedman's historic AB 13.^{[citation needed]}

Koretz was the first Southern California Director of the California League of Conservation Voters and served as Administrative Director of the Ecology Center of Southern California. In the Assembly, he introduced legislation requiring retailers profiting from the most commonly littered items to share some of the costs of removing trash from storm water runoff, and he is the joint-author of legislation to ban the use of dry cleaner solutions found to be carcinogenic. [2].

Post-legislative service[]

In November 2006, Koretz ran for the West Basin Water District, but narrowly lost the seat by a little more than 1% of the vote.^[8]

In June 2007, Koretz was nominated by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to the California Board of Podriatic Medicine.^[9]

Los Angeles City Council (2009—)[]

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In 2009, Koretz took the oath of office to begin his first term as a City Councilmember representing the 5th District of Los Angeles. He has been re-elected twice to the role, in 2013 and 2017. In 2017, Koretz secured 65.88% of the vote in the city's primary election.^[10]

In 2018, Koretz lobbied successfully against California Senate Bill 827, with a goal of preventing new development. He stated that the bill would "have a neighborhood with little 1920s, '30s and '40s single-family homes look like Dubai 10 years later".^[11]

Koretz declined $50 million state dollars for the "Uplift Melrose" project, a plan to revitalize Melrose Avenue, create raised crossroads and increase tree canopy cover and separated bike-lanes, citing NIMBYism as his motivation, despite broad local support. He said in a letter that the plan would impact emergency responders. ^[12]

In 2020, Paul Koretz voted against reducing the LAPD budget in the wake of protests against police violence, which passed by an 11-3 vote.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[]

Koretz's wife, Gail, serves as local government liaison for the office of Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti.^[13] They have one child, Rachel. The Koretz family resides in the Beverly-Fairfax District of Los Angeles.^[14]

References[]

External links[]

• 5th District Website
• - Join California Paul Koretz