Que pasa?: PEOPLE AND EVENTS

The allure of public service is something that Ed Avila, a member of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works for the past five years, can’t resist. “I never seem to have a choice about it,” joked Avila, 46, who relishes his government career that started 20 years ago with Rep. Edward Roybal (D-Los Angeles).

Mayor Tom Bradley has named Avila a deputy mayor, succeeding Grace Montanez Davis. Bradley wants Avila to advise him on Latinos, homelessness, public improvements and other issues. Avila has run unsuccessfully for L.A. City Council, helped found the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and served in the Carter Administration.

* First, it was “from the classroom and the newsroom to the conference room” for Felix Gutierrez. “Now, it’s to the board room,” said the Eastside native. Six months after he was appointed the first dean of academic services at USC’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Gutierrez has been named a vice president for the Gannett Foundation, one of the nation’s largest philanthropic entities. Although Gutierrez, 46, is moving to Arlington, Va., the journalism professor will still be focusing on journalism education and professionalization.

* “I was interested to see what medicine was all about” is how Diana Larralde describes her love affair with health-care issues in East Los Angeles. From a 1979 fund-raising dinner, Larralde got hooked on La Clinica Familiar del Barrio. Working her way through a variety of volunteer jobs, and titles, the 35-year-old attorney now chairs the clinic’s governing board, currently known as the AltaMed Health Service Corp. She said the $5-million operation, which is building a new senior citizens center, is important because so few are designed to serve Latinos.