The following story appeared in the Park Labrea News and Beverly Press 70th Anniversary issue, published April 21. To view the entire issue, click here.

If you need a guy, call Scott Epstein. He’s the man in Mid City West.

(Scott Epstein)

Epstein is the guy who somehow makes it to every community meeting.

He’s the one pressing city leaders and officials on pedestrian safety, and he’s the guy who helped get funding from Metro for the Bicycle Friendly Streets Plan.

He’s the guy organizing homeless counts, and he’s one of the guys who started the Midtown Los Angeles Homeless Coalition.

Epstein is the guy fighting for affordable housing and for renters’ rights, and he’s the guy who everyone knows.

Epstein is a research analyst at UCLA, and he has been the leader of the Mid City West Community Council (MCWCC) for more than three years – a position that is nearly a full-time job itself.

Epstein grew up in New York. He was living in Washington, D.C., when his then-girlfriend and now-wife Liz, applied to film school in Los Angeles. In 2007, they moved to the Mid City area and found their new home.

“I fell in love with the community,” he said. “What’s exciting about Mid City is that it is the heart of the entire city. If you were to pinpoint the geographic center, it would actually be Mid City West.”

He was drawn by the community’s rich diversity and how each neighborhood offers something different.

“We’re a cultural center and a center for so many other things,” he said.

His involvement in social issues comes from his interest in public policy – a subject he earned a Masters Degree in at Georgetown University – and from wanting to make the community a better place to live.

He said he is driven by the results he sees from the community council’s efforts.

“It’s exciting to get things done. You really can do that with the neighborhood council system. I love to problem solve, it’s just my natural inclination,” he said.

In addition to taking on the homeless crisis, one of his focuses moving forward will be to make the streets safer for everybody with the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate pedestrian deaths.

“The idea is that it shouldn’t be OK that people die on the streets,” he said. “There are ways to reduce those collisions. The cities that have taken [Vision Zero] on have seen great results.”

Epstein said through enforcement and educational outreach, the MCWCC can make a big difference.

“I’m excited about really taking that issue head on,” he said.

The rest of his focus will be on “comprehensive” planning for the neighborhood to determine problems and ways to help.

Epstein is running for re-election next month, and many hope he will win, because he is the man in Mid City.