Zev Yaroslavsky reflects on life in Los Angeles politics

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The clock is winding down for one of the longest-tenured political figures in Southern California. After four decades of service to the city and county of Los Angeles, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is stepping down at the end of November.

He sat down with me on Thursday to look back at his long career in public life.

A walk down the hallway at Yaroslavsky's office is like a walk through L.A. history -- and it should be. He's been helping shape it for 40 years. Now all those memories are being packed away.

"My daughter called me on Election Day and said 'How do you feel, Dad?' And I said 'My back is sore from lifting boxes,'" said Yaroslavsky.

Yaroslavsky admits he might not be leaving this job if it weren't for term limits.

"My bet is there's a 50-50 chance I might have decided to stay," said Yaroslavsky. "But I'm glad I didn't have the choice because it enabled me to step back and come to terms with the fact that four decades is long enough for anybody to be an elected official."

Yaroslavsky was just 26 years old in 1975 when he ran for L.A. City Council.

"I had to borrow money from my mother-in-law. Imagine how desperate I was," said Yaroslavsky. "And a funny thing happened to me on the way to the rest of my life as I got elected to the City Council."

Tom Bradley was the mayor then. Yaroslavsky was known at the time as a social activist and occasional protester. He defeated Bradley's favored candidate in an upset.

"At my swearing-in at the city council in June of 1975, he said 'Welcome to City Hall, Zev. You are now part of the establishment.' And my retort was, 'That's true, but the establishment is not part of me,'" said Yaroslavsky.

Yaroslavsky proved that time and time again, butting heads with colleagues on the council over the pace of the city's growth. When they defeated his motion to limit high-rise construction in L.A., he co-authored a ballot initiative that would do the same thing, and the voters passed it.

When the LAPD was caught spying on law-abiding citizens and public officials like the mayor and City Council members, including Yaroslavsky, he took on then-Chief Daryl Gates and department leaders.

"When I find that every address in which I've lived is in this file, a picture of my driver's license, a reproduction of my driver's license is in the file -- Do I think my privacy was violated? Yeah," said Yaroslavsky at the time.

Yaroslavsky championed gay rights at a time when no straight politician felt safe to do so.

"I picked and chose my battles, because you can't battle all the time," said Yaroslavsky. "But boy when I cared about something, I went to the mat."

After nearly 20 years on the City Council, Zev Yaroslavsky was elected to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 1994.

He went from representing about 250,000 people as a council member to 2 million as a supervisor, becoming one of the most powerful local elected officials in the country.

His signature achievements on the Board: the Orange Line busway, the MTA's most successful transit project.

He helped keep the county financially sound during the Great Recession.

And when the Walt Disney Concert Hall project was all but dead, Yaroslavsky lent a million dollars from his district discretionary fund to help keep it alive. He was there to cut the ribbon when it opened.

"I've achieved just about everything I set out to achieve when I came to the Board of Supervisors 20 years ago," said Yaroslavsky. "I laid out an agenda for myself and I've checked off all the boxes."

The boxes he's filling now contain 40 years of memories of a career in public service. Zev Yaroslavsky says he's not looking back -- he's looking ahead to the next phase of his life.

"Most importantly, I have two granddaughters and a grandson on the way," said Yaroslavsky. "And I love 'em. So I'm not going to have to ration my time with them anymore."

What does his future hold? Yaroslavsky says he's not sure.

About his successor on the Board of Supervisors, Sheila Kuehl, Yaroslavsky says she will likely be surprised at how different this position is from any other she has had. But he says she is sharp, capable, progressive, and will do a good job.

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