CicLAvia announced today that former Deputy Mayor Romel Pascual will be its new executive director, which he called his “dream job.”
“CicLAvia is one of the best things about L.A. and the region,” said Pascual, a board of directors member since 2013 of the organization that conducts events in which streets usually reserved for car traffic are closed off for a few hours to give access to bicyclists, pedestrians and others.
“It’s about re-imagining what is possible and delivering what is memorable and transformative.”.
Pascual, a deputy mayor on energy and environmental issues in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s administration, will succeed Aaron Paley, a co-founder of CicLAvia who will become its executive producer.
CicLAvia board chair Stephen Villavaso said the board “firmly and unanimously believes that Romel will take us to a stronger position of organizational sustainability and community impact.”
Before serving in the Villaraigosa administration, Pascual worked on environmental justice issues for Gov. Gray Davis and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Paley said he is “thrilled that the board has found the perfect person to lead CicLAvia,” adding that Pascual’s “intimate knowledge of CicLAvia and our collaborative relationships with local government means we will not miss a beat during this transition.”
