Calabasas Mayor Elected President Of Advocacy Organization

CALABASAS, CA — Calabasas Mayor James R. Bozajian assumed his position as president of the Los Angeles County Division of the League of California Cities on Thursday, becoming the second Calabasas mayor to take on the role representing 86 cities in the County.

Bozajian served as the secretary treasurer of the league in 2019 and vice president in 2020, two roles that feed into the presidency. He has long been involved in municipal politics in many ways, now serving his sixth term as Calabasas mayor and having served on the executive board and as president of the California Contract Cities Association.

Bozajian was sworn in Thursday by former division president and Calabasas Mayor Dennis Washburn, alongside new executive board members. Developer Rick Caruso spoke at the ceremony.

“It’s a great honor. I was really honored to be chosen. I know that the position is very sought after, and I felt lucky when they chose me,” Bozajian said. He added: “I’m really grateful to the league for giving me this opportunity. I hope to do a good job, and I’m pretty open minded about all different points of view, and I hope that we have a nice diversity of opinion on the board.”

The league is a political advocacy organization that represents all 482 cities in California. The Los Angeles County Division is the largest of the league’s 16 divisions.

Bozajian said one of his main priorities in this new role is making the league more proactive when dealing with federal governance, a priority he emphasized in his acceptance remarks on Thursday.

Bozajian said he believed his involvement in these organizations benefited his work in Calabasas.

“It helps benefit Calabasas [for me] to be involved in these things because it puts us in the center of the major debates of the day, and cities do have similar issues with regard to what happens,” Bozajian said. He added: “Calabasas always comes first."

The league will hold its annual convention in Sacramento in September after hosting last year's convention virtually for the first time in its history.