Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander is stepping down from his seat at the end of the year to work for a company headed by former AEG sports executive Tim Leiweke.

The Oak View Group, a “global sports and entertainment advisory, development and investment company,” announced Thursday that Englander will be serving as their executive vice president of government affairs starting Jan. 1.

Englander was first elected in 2011 to represent the 12th District, which encompasses several northwest Valley communities, including Chatsworth, Granada Hills and Porter Ranch. He previously served as chief of staff for the same district, under Councilman Greig Smith, for eight years.

There are still about two years left on his term, his second after being re-elected in 2015. Colin Sweeney, a spokesman for Englander’s office, said a caretaker will be appointed for the district.

“Serving on the Los Angeles City Council has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire life and has gone way beyond a career,” Englander said in a statement. “If I ever dreamed of fulfillment beyond what being a council member has brought me, it would be to make a significant difference in even more lives and communities.”

Englander said the new job is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” to work with Leiweke, Irving Azoff, Francesca Bodie and the rest of the team at Oak View Group.

The described the company as “a force that has become a positive disruption to business as usual in the sports and live entertainment industry. In the last year, the company reportedly pursued a city contract to operate the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park.

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“Beyond that, this is an opportunity to work with the most respected and brilliant minds in their industry,” he said. “They are not only passionate about their work, they care deeply about improving lives in every community they work in.

“While I didn’t seek this out, sometimes tremendous opportunities find you,” he said in a “personal statement” he sent out in an email blast.

Leiweke and Azoff praised Englander as being “extremely well-respected inside City Hall and well-liked all around the city.”

“He brings with him a wealth of Los Angeles governmental experience and a fresh perspective,” their statement said. “We are thrilled to welcome him to OVG.”

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Englander has a background in public relations, working on political and advocacy campaigns. He founded a government consulting and crisis communications firm. He has worked for his uncle Harvey Englander, a political consultant, and met his future employer Smith while running Keith Richman’s campaign for Valley mayor before the 2002 secession election.

In 2016, Englander ran unsuccessfully for the 5th District seat on the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, which was ultimately won by Kathryn Barger.

Englander is the 15-person City Council’s sole Republican. He is also an LAPD reserve officer, serves as the council’s president pro-tempore and chairs the Public Safety Committee.

Council President Herb Wesson called Englander a “champion not only for the Valley, but all Angelenos.

“His ability to reach across parties and personalities to deliver for his constituents is invaluable,” he said. “His leadership on the Los Angeles City Council will be missed.”

Englander was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and lives in Granada Hills with his wife Jayne and two daughters.

Although he appeared to enjoy positive and cordial relationships with his council colleagues, Englander is known for a sometimes-aggressive and combative style compared to other members, and often was not shy about berating a city official, particularly during meetings of the Public Safety Committee.

At a meeting in August, he engaged in a tense back-and-forth with Marcel Porras, the chief sustainability officer for the Department of Transportation, as to why his department was not enforcing a moratorium on dockless transportation programs.

“Do you think we just put motions in and just take our time to do this for some other reason?” Englander sarcastically asked Porras. The exchange and tone was not unusual for Englander when he felt a department was lagging in its duties or slow to respond to an official request from the council.

Englander often spoke about how gun violence has impacted him personally. His uncle was shot and killed by gang members in 1994 during a robbery, a crime that he said drove him into public service.

Over the last year, Englander has pushed for rules restricting what potentially dangerous items can be brought to public protests, supported a linkage fee on developers for affordable housing, called for a faster time frame on street and sidewalk repairs before the 2028 Olympics and supported changes to the much-debated Deferred Retirement Option Plan for police and firefighters. He made some headlines when he proposed that Los Angeles International Airport install marijuana amnesty boxes where passengers could surrender cannabis before departing on flights.

Englander also pushed for tougher laws to crack down on illegal street racing, which has long plagued his district, and also for tougher regulations on the natural gas industry. His district includes the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility, the scene of a massive 2015-2016 methane leak near Porter Ranch that displaced thousands of residents.

“Together, we’ve weathered horrific emergencies and tragedies from fires, to train collisions, the largest gas blowout in U.S. history, and more,” Englander wrote in his personal statement. “Throughout these crises, our community always came together — never running away from, but always toward danger in order to help each other. We became even stronger.”

One of the last things Englander will have done before stepping down is to have a privately funded 50-acre park in Porter Ranch named after his late mother and sister, whose surnames were Bloom. The developer for the park had initially suggested Bloom Park, which broke ground Oct. 5, be named after Englander, but the councilman said he turned down that suggestion.

City News Service contributed to this story.