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Krekorian's First 6 Months Earns a Thumbs Up from Daily News

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L.A. City Councilmember Paul Krekorian who represents a large swath of the San Fernando Valley -- from Sherman Oaks to Shadow Hills -- has been in office for six months now. Today the Valley-based Daily News today gave him good ratings:

In City Hall, Krekorian has proven to be a thoughtful leader. He hasn't been a grandstander or a go-along voter. He was willing to buck the City Hall machine by voting against the DWP electrical rate increase, and he's become a leading advocate for neighborhood councils. Krekorian pleased neighborhood council activists when he worked to preserve their funding, and he developed a compromise to preserve the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, or DONE, after the mayor proposed merging it with another city agency - though some may question whether keeping DONE is ultimately a good use of taxpayer dollars. And, in a nod to the realities of the city's financial situation, Krekorian took a 5percent pay cut as of July 1, down to $169,849 a year. And he cut his council office's budget by $400,000, to $1.2 million. He maintains a staff of 23 and has one take-home city vehicle for the entire office, which is the one he uses.

The paper hints that it will be watching Krekorian's work on a controversial project proposed in his district that is just starting to heat up. In Sherman Oaks, Il Villaggio Toscano, a large mixed-used development that includes 500 apartments and a grocery store, may seek exemptions to development guidelines for the Ventura Boulevard area. A campaign promise of his was reportedly to oppose such exemptions.
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