Dennis Rodriguez began his government career with the office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Bernard C. Parks in 2003 and served at the pleasure of the Councilmember until joining Kindel Gagan in 2011. Ultimately, during his service with the Councilmember, he rose to the level of senior legislative staff member. He was responsible principally for policy oversight related to planning, transportation, economic, business and community development, land use, environment, energy and public finance. He was also responsible for the development and execution of a comprehensive planning, transportation and development strategy.
Dennis was the lead staff member on several major regional projects, including the construction of Phase I of the Exposition Light Rail line, the design and planning of the Crenshaw Light Rail project, the entitlement and design of the USC Specific Plan, the rehabilitation of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza and the entitlement and environmental review process of the Baldwin Hills Oil Field. All told, Dennis was directly involved in over $4 billion dollars in development activity while at the Council Office.
Part of his regular activities also involved lobbying elected officials and various groups on behalf of public policy or land-use projects. Other roles Dennis handled included advocating, testifying and articulating the Council Office’s positions on various projects and processes to a wide variety of audiences, including media requests. Part of this advocacy also included serving, in an ex-officio capacity, on seven South LA Redevelopment Project Area Advisory Committees, six Neighborhood Councils and numerous other local boards.
Dennis also drafted correspondence, briefings, policy papers and speeches for the Councilmember.
A frequent guest lecturer while with the Council Office, Dennis has been invited to formally present by some of Los Angeles’ most prominent groups, such as; the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works, the Central City Association, the Los Angeles Urban League, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, USC’s School of Public Policy and Design, Mount Saint Mary’s College and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative.
Dennis also taught as an adjunct faculty member at ITT Technical Institute in Sylmar, California from 2007-11. In this capacity, he taught classes on State and Local Government and covered the structures of city, county and state governments with an emphasis on the Los Angeles region. While there, he also handled English-related classes, such as Composition I, Composition II and the Fundamentals of Qualitative Research.
Dennis earned his J.D. in 2003 from the University of Notre Dame Law School. While there he participated in the London Programme, studying law abroad while living in London, England in 2001-02. He also holds a B.A. in English from California State University, Northridge. He graduated in 2000 with multiple honors. Dennis was recently appointed to the Urban Land Institute’s Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) Committee, which reviews and advises regional land use and planning projects. Dennis is a native Angelino and currently resides in downtown Los Angeles.
