ENCINO : Braude Aide Is Leaving to Study Abroad

What does art have to do with developing neighborhoods and sweeping crime from communities?

If you ask Rosalind Wayman, the answer is everything.

“Art may be in the development of Sepulveda Boulevard, the cleanup of a neighborhood or the maintenance of the Sepulveda Basin,” said Wayman, 44. “That’s all about art and culture.”

Now, Wayman, a field deputy for Councilman Marvin Braude for the last seven years, is taking this outlook on the San Fernando Valley to London, where she will study art history at Richmond College.

Wayman’s last day at Braude’s office in Encino was Friday.

During her years with Braude, Wayman helped to establish the Delano Street Community Impact Team to eliminate crime and blight from the neighborhood.

She also worked with motel owners to reduce prostitution on Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys.

“I loved every minute of it,” Wayman said. “But art is a lifelong passion.”

An advertising and marketing executive before she went to work for Braude, Wayman believes she can easily adapt to college life. But she knows that she will still have the San Fernando Valley on her mind during her semester overseas, even though her eyes are fixed on images of Picassos and Rembrandts.

This fall, the Metropolitan Transit Agency is expected to consider the expansion of the Red Line from North Hollywood to Warner Center, a project she has supported for the past seven years.

“We have to learn to get out of our cars and into other options,” she said.