Denny’s career has been defined by bold ideas and the tenacity to turn them into lasting public good. Graduating from Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda’s Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), Denny was co-manager of Santa Monica's rent control campaign in 1979 and co-founder of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.  Later, as Mayor of Santa Monica, he led the transformation of downtown Santa Monica into the Third Street Promenade, a vibrant, walkable destination that set a new standard for urban revitalization.

At the Coalition for Clean Air in the 1990's, he initiated the legislative campaign which created the Carl Moyer Program providing funding for advanced clean alternatives to diesel trucks. 

In 2008, when he was 60 years old, he started Move LA to work with LA Mayors Antonio Villaraigosa and Eric Garcetti to build a broad coalition to win voter approval for Measures R (2008) and M (2016) securing up to $2.4 B per year to expand our transit system and service across Los Angeles County. 

Building on this momentum, in 2017 Denny and Move LA worked with LA County Supervisor Ridley-Thomas to win Measure H to provide funding to end homelessness.  Denny then convened the coalition that developed and won Measure ULA in the City of LA in 2022 and in 2024 Move LA was a core participant in the coalition that sponsored and won Measure A in LA County.  These measure together will provide nearly $1.5 B per year to expand development of affordable housing and provide services to prevent homelessness and assist the unhoused. 

All totaled these measures now generate nearly $4 B each year and will do so without sunset. 

Denny and Move LA are now working on a new ballot measure for LA County to raise nearly a billion dollars per year to advance a program for clean air and climate health. 

Here, we honor Denny’s decades of leadership, his relentless work to address our need for transit system expansion, to build affordable housing and to prevent and end homelessness, and to fight for clean air and climate health;  his coalition-building magic, and of course, his signature humor and storytelling. This Toast & Roast is a celebration of his legacy, his tenacity and his impact, and the community he inspired. Let’s raise a glass to Denny Zane: mayor, movement-builder, and advocate for a better future for Angelenos and beyond.