based on sexual orientation. His measure outlawing employment discrimination against victims of AIDS was passed unanimously by the City Council, despite the fact that his mail on the subject was running heavily against it. Recycling In 1981, Wachs called for mandatory separation of recyclable materials from regular trash before collection to cope with the city's "growing refuse-disposal crisis". Artists Wachs successfully advocated for an ordinance change that would allow artists to live and work in commercially zoned districts. He also worked to create a city Cultural Affairs Department. Drug gear Wachs cast the only vote against a city ordinance prohibiting minors from purchasing drug paraphernalia, saying in 1983 he did not think police officers should spend their time raiding head shops. Dog leashing He proposed an eventually successful idea for the city to provide a number of dog parks, where Los Angeles' nearly 200,000 licensed dogs could run free. Law enforcement Wachs emerged as the sole City Council member who helped broker an agreement that enabled Police Chief Daryl Gates to resign his post in June 1992 and retire "in an orderly fashion" after a crisis occasioned by the March 1991 beating of Rodney King and the resulting riots—as well as the issuance of a final, critical report of the police department by the Christopher Commission. Wachs and Gates forged a bond of trust, it was said, when the councilman leaped to the chief's defense after the city Police Commission briefly removed Gates in the wake of the riots. Dan White Wachs went to Sacramento in January 1984 to unsuccessfully argue with state prison authorities that Dan White, the San Francisco supervisor who had killed gay leader Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, should be moved out of Los Angeles County, where he had been paroled after serving five years in prison for the killings. Sports arena Wachs was credited with forging a 1997 deal with the developers of a downtown sports arena that lifted some of the onerous provisions that would have worked to the financial disadvantage of the city. In return for the concessions, he agreed to exempt the arena from a ballot measure he was preparing to require voter approval for any subsidized sports stadiums. Slow-growth development Wachs was an advocate for slow-growth development and was one of the cowriters of Proposition U, along with Zev Yaroslavsky and Marvin Braude. Personal life Wachs was known for his