Meet Sheila Irani: Candidate for Los Angeles City Council, District 4
July 1, 2014, Washington, D.C. – Sheila Irani, an entrepreneur in Lake Hollywood, recently announced her candidacy to represent District Four of the Los Angeles City Council.
Born and raised in the Hollywood Hills, Irani holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology as well as an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the founder of Pathways Strategic Communications, a full service communications firm specializing in transportation, environmental, and social issues. Her firm has received numerous trade awards and has maintained a roster of clients and municipalities throughout the country, including the Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Denver, and Atlanta regions.
Having a desire to serve the public in the city she loves, Irani also worked as a Field Deputy and then Director of Special Projects for two years in the office of LA City Councilmember District 4 Tom LaBonge. As Director of Special Projects, Irani oversaw the budget and timeline for over 45 projects within the district, including park improvements, acquisitions, and openings, fire station openings, a 5K LA river run and river cleanups, and new transit projects, such as the Bus Rapid Transit lanes and the Purple Line extension.
“I know the power that resides in the many intelligent, active Angelenos and want to give them a source and a leader who will listen and work with them to solve our city’s problems,” said Irani, when asked why she was running for office.
Irani told PAAIA that there are many critical issues facing her district today, including traffic congestion, lack of transportation alternatives to automobiles, mansionization of historical neighborhoods, tourism in the residential hillside areas reducing security and creating congestion, infrastructure failure, the lack of affordable housing, the loss of jobs in the entertainment sector, and education that is not training students for the job market.
“I see the current problems in the city arise from a lack of fiscal discipline, lack of responsiveness to constituents’ solutions, and infrastructure decay, and my success in the private, non-profit, and government sector has convinced me that I would be the best leader to get our house in order,” she told PAAIA.
A proponent of community service, Irani is currently the Chairperson of the CHAMPION Fund, a non-profit organization which supports the innovative programs and services of the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She is also the founder of “Women and Words,” an annual conference which since 2004 has promoted women writers and raised funds for foster children’s services throughout Los Angeles County.
The office of Councilmember District 4 is currently held by Tom LaBonge until June 30, 2015.
District 4 is at the center of Los Angeles and stretches from Koreatown to Miracle Mile in the south through the Hollywood Hills, into Sherman Oaks and Toluca Lake in the San Fernando Valley. The district also includes much of hillside residential areas from Los Feliz to Franklin Canyon, including Griffith Park, and parts of Silver Lake.
Click here to learn more about Sheila Irani and her campaign.
