The City Elf blog went out to Controller Laura Chick's panel on "Women at the Top" last night and posted a report. On the panel were some of the highest-powered women in city government:

· Cecilia Estolano, Chief Executive Officer, Community Redevelopment Agency
· Gail Goldberg, Director of Planning, Department of City Planning
· Gloria Jeff, General Manager, Department of Transportation
· Lydia Kennard, Executive Director, Los Angeles World Airports
· Karen Sisson, Chief Administrative Officer

City Elf posts:

The panel discussion was held in City Council Chambers - one of my favorite places - and the room was filled to capacity with women of every age, shape, and race....

Interestingly, Lydia Kennard's last day at LAWA is tomorrow, and she was very candid in her answers to the questions. For instance, in discussing her work at LAWA, she at one point said her clients were the airlines. I immediately turned to the friend with whom I was sitting and hissed, "That says a lot about how she did her job. She's a City employee - her clients are us, not the airlines." Less than five seconds later, Chick gently but firmly took Kennard to task, saying essentially the exact same thing: the local government's clients are the people of the City.

Other questions ranged from what the panelists like least about their jobs, whether they had mentors, and whether they were Girl Scouts. (That last question was from a group of three adorable Girl Scouts in the audience, who also recited the Girl Scout Promise for the crowd.) I was most consistently impressed with answers from Gail Goldberg and Gloria Jeff, both of whom are recent appointees from outside of Los Angeles.

[snip]

It was worth driving downtown for this and I applaud Chick for hosting these events, and her Director of Government and Community Affairs, Miriam Jaffe, for putting so much work into them. She does an amazing job, and by the way, she does not age. The woman is a stunner and she's looked the same since the day I met her nearly ten years ago.

Kennard's desire for a pretty lucractive consulting contract when she leaves has been the buzz of the airport department and in corners of City Hall.