Hollywood TV writer who became relentless citizen watchdog dies at 63

"The term "gadfly" often is bandied about local government to describe those who never miss a public meeting. But politicians and his family say the term doesn't quite do Preven justice. "You may not agree with him, but it wasn't just like [he was] shooting from the hip. He would do his research," said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who watched Preven testify for more than a decade. "He would let the facts speak for themselves.""

"In 2016, Preven and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California took a lawsuit all the way to the California Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor, finding the public had a right to know how much the county was paying outside lawyers in closed cases. Three years later he successfully forced the city to expand its rules around public testimony after he argued he'd been unlawfully barred from weighing in on a Studio City development."

"Eric Preven, one of L.A. County's most prominent citizen watchdogs, has died at 63, according to his family. Preven, a well-known government transparency advocate, garnered a reputation as an eagle-eyed observer of local meetings, a savvy wielder of the state's public records act, and a reliable thorn in the sides of his government. Relatives said Preven died Saturday in his Studio City home of a suspected heart attack."

Eric Preven died at 63 at his Studio City home of a suspected heart attack. Preven built a reputation as a government transparency advocate and an eagle-eyed observer of local meetings. A former Hollywood TV writer, he turned to activism after his mother's dogs were taken by animal control. He used the state's public records act to pry open information and led successful legal actions, including a 2016 California Supreme Court victory about county payments to outside lawyers and a later expansion of city rules on public testimony. He favored concise, researched, logical public remarks rather than diatribes.

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