Bill Rosendahl

Biography

Rosendahl won election to Los Angeles City Council in May 2005. He represents the 11th District, which includes the communities of Brentwood, Del Rey, Mar Vista, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, West LA and Westchester.

Rosendahl is the Chair of the Transportation Committee, Vice Chair of the Trade, Commerce &Tourism, he's a member of Budget & Finance, Vice Chair of the Ad Hoc Stadium Committee, a member of the Ad Hoc on Economic Recovery & Reinvestment, and a member of Board of Referred Powers.

Serving as chairman of the Transportation Committee, he plans to use his unique position to ease traffic congestion in America's most congested city, using Measure R funding to push for subway construction from finally completing the Green Line to expanding the Expo Line creating new bus routes, and seeking innovative solutions to mitigate the traffic problem. He serves as vice-chair of the Commerce Committee, which oversees Los Angeles World Airports, including Los Angeles International Airport. Rosendahl is also a member of the council’s Transportation Committee, Budget & Finance Committee, and Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness, which he co-founded. He is also the chair of the Southern California Regional Airport Authority and one of the city's appointees to the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission and the Exposition Light Rail Construction Authority.

Since taking office in July 2005, Rosendahl has focused on: stopping the expansion of Los Angeles International Airport, promoting mass transit, enhancing public safety, curbing overdevelopment, standing up for tenants’ rights and for affordable housing, seeking solutions to the problem of homelessness, and giving our neighborhoods a greater voice in city decision-making. His most notable achievement so far has been the historic agreement between LAX and airport neighbors, ending airport expansion and promoting regional aviation.

A resident of Mar Vista, the largest community in the 11th District, Rosendahl is the first openly gay man elected to the Los Angeles City Council, and is the city’s highest-ranking LGBT official.

Prior to his election, Rosendahl was an educator and an award-winning television broadcaster with a long record as a leader in Los Angeles civic affairs.

While he served as Distinguished Professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills until his election, Rosendahl is best known as producer and moderator of critically acclaimed public affairs television shows. As host of Local Talk, Week in Review and Beyond the Beltway, Rosendahl created a needed forum for discussion of public affairs. An advocate of empowering people through information, Rosendahl produced more than 3,000 programs over 16 years, opening the airwaves to all viewpoints and steering thoughtful dialogue on the most complex and controversial issues.

As a cable executive, Rosendahl fought tirelessly for better service, upgraded technology, more local programming choices, and better wages and working conditions for his employees.

Rosendahl's public service won him the Cable Ace Award, The Diamond Award, the Freedom of Information Award, the Los Angeles League of Women Voters Public Service Award and the Beacon Award for Cable's Free Air Time Project.

Rosendahl also engaged himself in civic life. He chaired the California Commission on Tax Policy in the New Economy, served as president of the Los Angeles Press Club, as chairman of the Cable and Telecommunication Association and was a member of the education fund of the Los Angeles League of Women Voters. He was a regular moderator of community forums, steering discussions on various issues including charter reform, secession and the formation of neighborhood councils.

Prior to his cable TV career, Rosendahl was a White House appointee to the State Department as Chief of Operations for the U.S. Trade and Development Program, served as an associate in philanthropic work for John D. Rockefeller, III and worked on many political campaigns, including Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential bid.

A Vietnam-era veteran, Rosendahl served in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971, spending a year as a psychiatric social worker, counseling troops returning from combat. As special assistant to the commanding general at Ft. Carson, Colorado, he won national recognition for reorganizing the base and boosting morale of the service people. Rosendahl is currently a member of The American Legion, Post 283, in Pacific Palisades.

Rosendahl holds a Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & Economics from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

Personal life

Prior to being elected in May 2005, Rosendahl was an educator, television broadcaster, and a vice president at Adelphia.

Rosendahl, like former councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, is openly gay.