Printed for personal use only  Control Central  Does city
insider Wendy Greuel have what it takes to be the next mayor of
Los Angeles? A conversation about fixing the metropolis
Photograph by Christina Gandolfo  Wendy Greuel got her first
taste of city hall politics when she served on Mayor Tom
Bradley’s youth council while in high school. After being
elected to the city council a decade ago, she helped get so many
potholes filled, she earned the nickname “Pothole Queen.”
Indeed, Greuel’s attention to detail can border on the
obsessive. She used to comb through the accounts of her father’s
building-supply and trucking company, looking for the extra
penny to make the ledgers balance. Since taking the job of Los
Angeles controller three years ago, Greuel, who turns 51 in May,
has been trying to do the same with the city’s books. She’s
harangued city departments for handing out too many cell phones,
and she’s accused the Department of Animal Services of not
collecting enough license fees from dog owners. She ar