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Los Angeles Councilman Jack Weiss – who represents Westwood, much of the Westside and parts of the San Fernando Valley – announced Feb. 2 that he intends to run for city attorney.

Weiss’ plans to run for higher office hinge on how current City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo fares in his 2007 bid for state attorney. If Delgadillo wins, Weiss said he would run in a special election that would likely be next year, two years before his second term as city councilman ends. If Delgadillo loses, Weiss said he would run in 2009, when Delgadillo’s term ends.

“I’m running because I’ve been a prosecutor,” Weiss, a former federal prosecutor, told the Los Angeles Times. “I know what it means to look a defendant and jury in the eye and I want to be in a law enforcement position.”

Weiss’ announcement last week left some Westwood business owners feeling jilted.

“It’s exactly what I thought he was going to do all along,” said Philip Gabriel, owner of Scrubs Unlimited on Weyburn Avenue. “He’s using this district as a stepping stone to higher office. He has no major investment emotionally to the Westside.”

Sandy Brown, president of Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association, said replacing Weiss after the councilman’s premature departure would slow city services — like tree trimming and sidewalk repair.

“It often takes years until the district gets enough money to get it done and for a new councilperson there’s a learning curve,” Brown said.

Weiss has often acted as an ally to local homeowners during his five years in office,

Last year, the second-term councilman helped pass a regulation lowering the heights of new buildings on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood to six stories.

Weiss also pushed the Palazzo Westwood development, a pet project of Westwood homeowners currently being constructed on Glendon and Weyburn avenues near Ralphs.

The plot will eventually hold 350 new residential units and 50,000 square feet of retail space, Brown said.

“His staff is on top of things,” Brown said. “They’re usually very conscious about issues we have.”

Weiss’ relationship with Westwood merchants has not been as chummy, as the councilman has come under fire for doing little to develop the Village.

“He hasn’t done anything to improve the quality of living in the Westside. He hasn’t helped the merchants one iota,” Gabriel said.

Though he pushed for the multi-level parking garage on Broxton Avenue, Weiss has taken criticism for not doing enough to alleviate the Village’s parking shortage.

No one at Weiss’ office was available for comment Monday.

Former state Assembly speaker and mayoral candidate Bob Hertzberg also announced his intention to run for city attorney Feb. 2.

The former lawyer rose to city-wide prominence last year when he challenged current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

After being edged out of the runoff election by then-incumbent mayor Jim Hahn, Hertzberg joined forces with his former roommate Villaraigosa and played a major role in the newly elected mayor’s transition team.

Weiss, a relative unknown compared to Hertzberg, won re-election last March in a landslide.

His district includes Westwood, Century City, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Valley Village and the Fairfax District.