2014 FESTIVAL HONOREE: LEN NGUYEN
The Mar Vista community is very pleased to announce that the 2014
Festival Honoree is Council District 11 Field Deputy Len Nguyen. Len has
served our community for many years, first with Councilmember Bill Rosendahl,
and currently with Councilmember Mike Bonin. Len has been the go-to
person for all in the community who are in need of services, responses, or
advice from the City of Los Angeles. And his intelligence, charm,
patience, and knowledge of how the City actually works, have proven invaluable
to all of us who have found ourselves trying to get things done with the City
bureaucracy and political establishment.
Len’s path to his current position started in Clovis,
California, where his parents, who were fleeing Vietnam as war refugees,
arrived two months before Len and his twin brother were born. Growing up in
the Fresno area, he moved to San Diego to attend the University of California
at San Diego, studying Economics and Political Science. Upon graduating
he joined an investment consulting firm in Santa Monica. In 2002 Len
moved to the Palms neighborhood, and was instrumental in founding and
organizing the Palms Neighborhood Council, serving as that Council’s President
from 2002-2005. As part of that process he met Bill Rosendahl as a guest
panelist on Bill’s cable TV show, and after volunteering for Rosendahl’s first
campaign for City Council, was invited to join the victorious Councilmember
Rosendahl’s staff. The rest, as they say, is history.
Len
serves as the primary contact for residents, businesses, and community
organizations in Mar Vista and West Los Angeles. His responsibilities include
representing Councilmember Mike Bonin at various community events and meetings
and serving as a liaison for constituents to City Hall. Len has been at
the center of most of the community issues that Mar Vista has struggled with
over the past few years, and his willingness to engage and support the
individual stakeholders, along with his persistence in pursuing solutions
within the City political and bureaucratic structure, has been instrumental in
resolving many of the problems the community has encountered.
To quote a few Mar Vista
stakeholders:
"Len isn't just a
community problem-solver and liaison to the City--he's a friend and advocate
for his constituents." Ken Alpern
"Len has the ability to
listen to a constituents problem and seem to be genuinely
interested." Tom Ponton
“Len is a determined--and
compassionate--problem solver!” Sharon Commins
“Len really has his finger on
the pulse of Mar Vista. He seems to always know of and be one step ahead of any
issue.” Bill Koontz
“Len is that rare combination
in a city official….the first one there to solve a problem and the first one to
reach out as a friend.” Sherri Akers
And in closing, Len
states: "I love working with Mar Vista because of the friendly,
can-do spirit of it's people. I'm grateful to Councilmember Mike Bonin and
former Councilmember Bill Rosendahl for the opportunity to serve Mar
Vista."
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