[5:21] We can have you all take your

[5:25] seats. Before we call the

[5:26] meeting to order, I would like

[5:27] to read the city

[5:27] s land

[5:30] acknowledgments. The West

[5:31] Hollywood City Council

[5:32] acknowledges that the land on

[5:33] which we gather and that is

[5:35] currently known as the City of

[5:37] West Hollywood is the occupied,

[5:39] unseeded, seized territory of

[5:41] the Gabrieleno Tongva and the

[5:43] Gabrieleno quih peoples. I

[5:44] m

[5:45] officially calling this meeting

[5:47] of the FEBRUARY 18, 2025 City

[5:50] Council meeting to order at

[5:52] 6:05 and will Ari Strasnoy join

[5:54] us to deliver the Pledge of

[6:04] Allegiance, please. I pledge

[6:07] allegiance to the flag. The

[6:09] United States of America and to

[6:12] the republic for which it

[6:16] stands, one nation under GOD

[6:17] indivisible with liberty and

[6:25] justice for all. All right,

[6:28] thanks, Ari. City clerk, MAY we

[6:31] please have a roll call. Yes,

[6:32] Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember

[6:38] Erickson. Here Councilmemb Hang

[6:40] here Councilmember Meister here

[6:42] Vice Mayor Heilman here, Mayor

[6:44] Byers here we have a quorum

[6:45] terrific. City attorney, will

[6:46] you please provide us with a

[6:48] report of the closed session.

[6:50] Yes, thank you. Good evening.

[6:52] The city council convened close

[6:54] session this evening to discuss

[6:56] one piece of business listed on

[6:57] the posted agenda. There were a

[6:59] few pieces of written public

[7:00] comment that were submitted on

[7:02] the agenda item, but no members

[7:03] of the public present to speak

[7:05] on the item. The council

[7:06] discussed the one item of

[7:08] business and took no reportable

[7:09] action. The closed session

[7:10] concluded at 6 P.M. This

[7:12] evening. That concludes my

[7:14] report. Thank you so much. City

[7:16] clerk, are there any changes

[7:17] from staff to tonight

[7:17] s agenda

[7:19] as we move into agenda approval.

[7:21] Yes, Mayor, and just to

[7:23] reiterate for members of the

[7:25] public item c1 has been, uh,

[7:28] continued to a date uncertain.

[7:30] There are no other changes from

[7:31] staff from staff do my

[7:32] colleagues have any changes? Oh,

[7:33] Councilmemb Erickson, ready to

[7:34] go. Thanks. I

[7:36] ll start from the

[7:37] back potentially f7, Sister

[7:42] Cities program. I have comments,

[7:44] but I can make them under

[7:46] councilmember comments. Thank

[7:48] you. The Weeho loves local

[7:51] program expansion of new gift

[7:51] card program f6. I

[7:53] d like to

[7:56] hold that for discussion. Uh,

[8:00] f4, annual Juneteenth event.

[8:03] Great. Uh, f3, West Hollywood

[8:03] Design District Street poll

[8:05] policy update and approval of a

[8:06] licensure agreement between the

[8:07] city of West Hollywood and it

[8:07] won

[8:09] t read anymore. Great. And

[8:09] then I

[8:11] m going to try an f2 as

[8:19] well, the sunset strip, uh,

[8:19] street pole banner policy

[8:19] update and approval. Great. And

[8:19] I don

[8:20] t know if I have any more

[8:21] me up I do d1, an ordinance of

[8:23] the City of West Hollywood,

[8:26] proving amendments to Section

[8:27] 10.28.050 of the municipal code.

[8:34] Sounds great. Did you say? I, I

[8:35] did not, no. That

[8:38] s his. To

[8:39] move that to consent. Thank you.

[8:45] Terrific. So seeing nothing

[8:48] else, um, I have moved to

[8:50] consent item f2. Sorry, let me

[8:52] get there. F2, the sunset Strip

[8:54] Street pole banner policy

[8:55] update and approval license

[8:58] agreement, uh, f3, the West

[8:58] Hollywood Design District

[9:00] street pole banner policy

[9:01] update and approval license

[9:04] agreement, uh, for the annual

[9:06] Juneteenth event f5, the arts

[9:08] programming and recognition of

[9:10] Black History Month 2026, uh,

[9:12] f7, the Sister City program. Is

[9:16] that correct? Terrific. What

[9:19] about f1? I

[9:20] m fine with that

[9:30] one. Ok, so almost. Ok Seeing

[9:31] no other changes. I actually

[9:32] have a procedural question for

[9:33] the city attorney. I just

[9:34] wanted to ask real quick for

[9:36] clarity. MADAM City Attorney, I

[9:36] know it

[9:37] s been precedent that

[9:38] if a council member wants to

[9:39] hold an item, it

[9:40] s possible or

[9:43] to remove an item, but normally

[9:44] if it was requested, they would

[9:46] need 3 votes to approve an

[9:51] agenda, correct? In order to

[9:52] prove the agenda, you need 3

[9:54] votes, a majority of the city

[9:55] council. What

[9:57] s your specific

[9:59] question is 3 council members

[10:00] have given verbal

[10:00] acknowledgement up here to say,

[10:01] yeah, we can move that to

[10:03] consent, but one person likes

[10:04] to hold it. We

[10:05] ve normally done

[10:07] that out of tradition, but

[10:08] without actual procedural rules,

[10:10] right? Yeah, the courtesy has

[10:12] been that if 11 council member

[10:13] has questions to keep it on the

[10:14] agenda so that it can be heard

[10:16] in the regular course of

[10:18] business. Thank you. Thank you.

[10:21] So we have a motion to adopt

[10:32] the agenda in a second.

[10:35] Councilmemb Hang. Almost all

[10:36] votes cast. You cast your vote

[10:45] in the. Oh Almost Awesome, all

[10:48] votes in the motion passes 50.

[10:49] Thank you. Um, we

[10:50] ll move on to

[10:51] Levine Act disclosures, city

[10:52] clerk, I believe you have a

[10:55] comment. Yes, I do. So for

[10:57] items f2 and f3 which were

[10:59] moved to the consent calendar,

[11:01] um, they are not subject to the

[11:05] Levine Act under California

[11:07] government Code Section 843085b.

[11:08] So as the council looks at the

[11:10] items on the agenda for tonight

[11:11] to make their disclosures, just

[11:13] keep that in mind. Thank you.

[11:15] Terrific. Uh, with that, do my

[11:16] colleagues have any other

[11:18] Levine Act disclosures to

[11:18] report tonight looking through

[11:20] the agenda? No? Ok, see nothing,

[11:20] um, we

[11:22] ll move on to

[11:23] adjournment motions. Do any of

[11:25] my colleagues have adjournment

[11:27] motions? I have one. You have

[11:28] one? Ok, COUNCILMAN Erickson,

[11:28] we

[11:29] ll have to start with you.

[11:31] Thank you. I would like to

[11:31] adjourn tonight

[11:32] s memory of see

[11:33] Hendrick, who is the world

[11:34] s

[11:35] first openly gay imam who was

[11:37] shot dead in South Africa this

[11:40] past weekend. Thank you very

[11:42] much. Um, I have 3, so forgive

[11:45] me for a little bit of

[11:45] verbiness, um, but I

[11:47] m going to

[11:48] get started first tonight we

[11:51] will adjourn in honor of Donald

[11:52] Shope, a distinguished

[11:53] professor of urban planning at

[11:55] ucla who passed away on

[11:58] FEBRUARY 6th at the age of 86.

[11:58] Donald Shoup

[11:59] s groundbreaking

[12:00] research and decades of

[12:01] scholarship in the field of

[12:03] land use planning reshaped the

[12:05] way cities approach parking,

[12:06] transportation, and urban

[12:08] design. As a faculty member at

[12:10] ucla since 1917. Before he

[12:11] influenced generations of

[12:13] scholars, students, and urban

[12:16] planners. His work particularly

[12:18] landmarked in his book The High

[12:20] Cost of Free Parking challenged

[12:21] conventional thinking and

[12:22] sparked a global movement

[12:24] towards parking reform. Shupe

[12:24] s

[12:25] work illuminated how cities

[12:27] reliance on free parking spaces

[12:28] and excessive off-street

[12:29] parking requirements were

[12:30] contributing to traffic

[12:32] congestion, sprawl, pollution,

[12:34] and housing costs, ultimately

[12:36] halving urban environments. His

[12:37] innovative ideas led to

[12:38] widespread change with over

[12:40] 3000 cities. Adopting some of

[12:42] his suggested reforms. His

[12:43] contributions extended beyond

[12:46] academia as his research gained

[12:47] acceptance and recognition

[12:48] worldwide. She

[12:48] s legacy

[12:50] continues to inspire and shape

[12:51] urban planning practices and

[12:52] his influence will be felt for

[12:54] years to come. Beyond his

[12:55] academic achievements, Shupe

[12:57] was a beloved figure at ucla

[12:59] and a mentor to so many. His

[13:00] contributions to the ucla

[13:02] Luskin School of Public Affairs

[13:04] and his leadership of the ucla

[13:05] Institute of Transportation

[13:06] Studies cemented his place as

[13:08] one of the foremost experts in

[13:10] the field, even after his

[13:11] retirement in 2015, Shu

[13:13] remained an active and engaged

[13:15] member of the ucla community

[13:16] eagerly anticipated to teach

[13:17] his renowned parking class this

[13:18] spring. Donald Shoup

[13:19] s work

[13:21] will continue to inspire future

[13:22] generations of urban planners

[13:24] and his impact on the world of

[13:25] urban design will endure as we

[13:27] reflect on his remarkable

[13:28] legacy and life of

[13:29] contributions. We extend our

[13:31] deepest condolences to his

[13:32] family, colleagues, and all

[13:33] those who were touched by his

[13:36] wisdom and vision. Next tonight

[13:39] we adjourn in memory of Tahiri

[13:40] Broom, a 29-year-old black

[13:42] transgender woman who

[13:43] tragically lost lost her life

[13:44] to gun violence on the morning

[13:46] of FEBRUARY 9th in Southfield,

[13:48] Michigan, while visiting from

[13:50] Detroit from her hometown of

[13:51] Cleveland, Ohio. She was known

[13:52] by the nickname of Tokyo.

[13:55] According to her social media,

[13:56] she enjoyed pretty things, was

[13:58] a self-described shopaholic,

[13:59] and unabashedly earning money

[14:01] to buy things. She was a fan of

[14:02] Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. She

[14:04] loved Forever 21 and Hot Topic.

[14:05] She was a vibrant young woman

[14:07] who enjoyed life. Her favorite

[14:09] aunt, Patricia Bender,

[14:10] remembered Tahiri by saying, my

[14:12] baby is sweet, pure, giving,

[14:14] humorous, and will do anything

[14:15] for anyone and shines a light

[14:15] so bright you

[14:17] ll see it shine

[14:19] forever. Family is really

[14:20] hurting from this loss, but

[14:21] justice will be served.

[14:21] Tahiri

[14:22] s name will live on

[14:24] forever. Me Tahiri

[14:24] s light

[14:25] continued to shine in the in

[14:27] the hearts of all who knew her

[14:29] and made her memory inspire,

[14:30] inspire us all to work toward a

[14:31] world that is safer, more

[14:33] inclusive, and more

[14:34] compassionate for everyone. Our

[14:35] thoughts are with Tahiri

[14:35] s

[14:37] family and loved ones during

[14:39] this incredibly difficult time.

[14:40] And finally tonight we will

[14:42] endurn in memory of Sam

[14:44] Norquist, a 24-year-old

[14:46] transgender man whose life was

[14:47] tragically cut short under

[14:48] circumstances of profound

[14:50] cruelty. Originally from

[14:52] Minnesota, Sam moved to New

[14:53] York in SEPTEMBER 2024 seeking

[14:55] new beginnings and connection.

[14:59] His journey, however, So sorry.

[15:00] His journey, however, led him

[15:02] into a situation marked by

[15:02] unimaginable abuse and

[15:05] suffering. Sam was reported

[15:07] missing on FEBRUARY 9th. The

[15:08] subsequent investigation

[15:09] revealed that he had endured

[15:10] over a month of relentless

[15:12] torture before his life was

[15:13] taken. 5 individuals have been

[15:14] charged with second-degree

[15:15] murder in connection to his

[15:18] death. His death along with

[15:19] Tahiri Broom

[15:20] s death,

[15:21] underscore the vulnerabilities

[15:22] faced by transgender

[15:23] individuals and the urgent need

[15:26] for societal change to protect

[15:27] and uplift marginalized voices.

[15:28] Our thoughts and deepest

[15:29] condolences are with Sam

[15:29] s

[15:31] family, friends, and all who

[15:31] have been affected deeply by

[15:36] this tragedy. Thank you. Next

[15:36] we

[15:38] re going to move on to

[15:39] presentations. We have 2

[15:40] presentations this evening and

[15:40] first we

[15:42] re going to just

[15:43] recognize um Ari again who led

[15:45] us in the pledge tonight with a

[15:46] certificate, so if my

[15:48] colleagues will join and

[15:49] celebrate Ari for a great

[16:15] pledge of allegiance tonight.

[16:52] Uh Yeah So good job. Ok And

[16:55] next we have a presentation for

[16:57] the American Heart Association.

[16:57] I

[17:01] ll begin. Whereas

[17:02] cardiovascular disease remains

[17:02] the world

[17:04] s leading cause of

[17:05] death and disability impacting

[17:07] millions of lives every year.

[17:09] And in the United States alone,

[17:11] more than 350,000 people

[17:12] experienced cardiac arrest

[17:14] outside of a hospital each year

[17:16] with approximately 70% of these

[17:17] incidents occurring at home and

[17:20] tragically, only 1 in 10 people

[17:21] end up surviving, and whereas

[17:23] each year more than 23,000

[17:25] children under the age of 18

[17:26] experienced cardiac arrest

[17:27] outside of a hospital in the

[17:29] United States with nearly 40. %

[17:31] of these cases being sports

[17:34] related. And whereas

[17:35] cardiopulmonary resuscitation

[17:37] or cpr when performed

[17:39] immediately can double or even

[17:40] aaa person

[17:42] s chance of survival.

[17:44] Yet only about 46% of those

[17:45] people who experience cardiac

[17:47] arrest receive cpr from

[17:49] bystanders while waiting for

[17:51] emergency responders to arrive.

[17:52] And whereas effective solutions

[17:54] such as awareness campaigns,

[17:55] cpr training, the

[17:57] implementation of cardiac

[17:58] emergency response plans and

[18:01] access to automated. External

[18:02] to defibrillators or AEDs have

[18:04] been proven to save lives, but

[18:05] more education and

[18:07] accessibility are needed to

[18:08] empower communities to respond

[18:09] effectively during cardiac

[18:12] emergencies. It

[18:13] s all messed up,

[18:14] so sorry. And whereas this

[18:16] learning and properly

[18:17] performing cpr gives bystanders

[18:19] the confidence to act swiftly

[18:20] in cardiac emergencies,

[18:22] increasing the likelihood of

[18:23] survival and by prioritizing

[18:25] immediate action, calling 911,

[18:27] delivering high quality cpr and

[18:29] using an aed when available can

[18:31] save more lives. And whereas

[18:32] the American Heart Association

[18:34] has set an ambitious goal to

[18:36] double the survival rate from

[18:38] cardiac arrest by 2030,

[18:39] transforming bystanders into

[18:41] lifesavers and ensuring that

[18:41] everyone everywhere is prepared

[18:42] and empowered. To be a vital

[18:45] link in the chain of survival,

[18:46] whereas the city of West

[18:48] Hollywood commends the life

[18:48] saving efforts of organizations

[18:50] such as the American Heart

[18:52] Association, whose unwavering

[18:53] commitment to combating heart

[18:55] disease and cardiac arrest has

[18:56] advanced public education and

[18:58] inspired people to save lives.

[18:59] Now, therefore, be it resolved

[19:01] that the city council, the city

[19:03] of West Hollywood hereby

[19:04] recognizes the importance of

[19:05] the ongoing fight against heart

[19:07] disease and stroke, and the

[19:08] support and supports the

[19:10] efforts to double the survival

[19:11] rate from cardiac arrest. The

[19:14] city hereby Claims FEBRUARY

[19:15] 2025 as American Heart Month in

[19:17] West Hollywood and encourages

[19:19] all residents to engage in

[19:19] raising awareness, promoting

[19:22] heart health, and participating

[19:24] in cpr and aed trainings to

[19:25] save more lives. At this time,

[19:26] I would like to invite our

[19:28] representatives up from the

[19:29] American Heart Association to

[19:30] the diaspora photo, and to

[19:31] accept this proclamation. Thank

[20:24] you so much. Ok Thank you so

[20:25] much for this proclamation

[20:27] today. I am here today both as

[20:29] a marketer, as the cmo Foot

[20:30] Locker, but most importantly I

[20:32] am here for my passion as a

[20:34] board member of the American

[20:35] Heart Association. You rattled

[20:36] off all the things that I

[20:38] wanted to bring to light today,

[20:40] which is number one, more

[20:41] awareness and number 2, how do

[20:44] we, how do we get more people

[20:46] within West Hollywood to not

[20:47] only advance the importance of

[20:49] heart health, but also put meat

[20:51] behind those bones and actually

[20:51] do something about it, so I

[20:55] encour. All of you here to not

[20:56] only know your numbers but to

[20:58] also check our website for many

[20:59] ways that you can contribute

[21:01] within the community, but most

[21:02] importantly, take care of your

[21:04] heart, take care of your health,

[21:06] eat well and treat others

[21:07] kindly on behalf of the

[21:08] American Heart Association,

[21:10] thank you so much and we are

[21:12] very honored for this very

[21:13] great award. Thank you. Thank

[21:19] you so much. And with care for

[21:22] heart and mind, we will move on

[21:24] to public comment. Uh, the city

[21:25] council values your comments.

[21:28] However, Sorry, pursuant to the

[21:30] Brown Act, the council cannot

[21:32] take action on items not listed

[21:33] on the posted agenda. The

[21:34] public comment period is

[21:36] limited to 20 minutes with 2

[21:37] minutes allocated for each

[21:38] speaker. The public comment

[21:40] period is to address the city

[21:42] council on consent calendar

[21:43] items, other agenda items if

[21:44] the member of the public cannot

[21:46] be present at this time, uh,

[21:48] that the item is considered or

[21:49] items of general interest

[21:51] within the jurisdiction of the

[21:52] city council. Another period is

[21:54] also reserved for general

[21:54] comment later in the meeting

[21:55] for those that could not be

[21:57] heard at this time. Public

[21:58] hearing testimony will only be

[21:59] taken at the time of the

[22:01] hearing. If you signed up to

[22:03] speak on both consent calendar

[22:03] items and general public

[22:05] comment, as well as the items

[22:06] as, um, as well as an item that

[22:08] was moved to the consent

[22:09] calendar. You MAY take this

[22:10] public comment period to speak

[22:12] on the consent calendar items.

[22:14] You MAY also sign up to speak

[22:15] during the 2nd public comment

[22:17] period for your, for your

[22:19] general public comment. Lastly,

[22:20] speakers should not bring any

[22:21] items to the podium other than

[22:23] a prepared written statement or

[22:24] writing materials. MADAM City

[22:26] Clerk, how many public speakers

[22:28] do we have? We have 12

[22:29] individuals in chambers and no

[22:34] one in Zoom, ok. Can, uh, I

[22:36] will go ahead and read the

[22:37] first speakers. Um, I have my

[22:40] list here. So Jonathan Wilson

[22:41] will start there, followed by

[22:42] Christopher Clapp and Genevieve

[22:52] More after that. Well Mayor,

[22:53] vice mayor, and council members,

[22:54] i just want to say thank you.

[22:56] For moving forward with the

[22:57] Juneteenth event. I

[22:57] m very

[22:58] grateful for that. I

[22:58] m coming

[23:02] to you, Jonathan Wilson, as a

[23:03] member of society, I

[23:03] m a

[23:04] resident within West Hollywood

[23:06] as well as a business owner in

[23:08] West Hollywood. Um, one of the

[23:10] things is, yes, I, we

[23:12] appreciate this. Please note

[23:13] that um as we do planning,

[23:15] there MAY be a need for

[23:16] additional dollars. We

[23:16] re not

[23:18] too clear about that yet, but,

[23:19] you know, we

[23:19] re keeping things

[23:21] moving. The reason why I want

[23:21] to say there

[23:22] s to keep this,

[23:24] keep the idea open is that, you

[23:26] know, my company actually

[23:28] wanted to give some dollars, um,

[23:30] uccl they also want to give

[23:32] dollars um to the Juneteenth

[23:32] event only because it

[23:34] s such a

[23:36] big uh moment and right now in

[23:36] this time that we

[23:37] re in with

[23:38] with the federal government and

[23:40] some things that are changing.

[23:40] Maybe I shouldn

[23:40] t have said

[23:42] that, but I did. Um, some of

[23:43] the things that are changing

[23:44] out there, but the climate out

[23:46] there is really, really

[23:47] difficult for some people, and

[23:50] I think as we move away from

[23:51] dei in some circles, um,

[23:51] there

[23:52] s gonna be a need to

[23:53] uplift people in other ways.

[23:55] And so I just want to make sure

[23:55] that we

[23:57] re open to different

[23:58] ways of thinking. It was

[24:00] complex, I guess to have money

[24:01] come from my company and for

[24:03] money to come from ucla at this

[24:05] time for this event. So just

[24:07] please keep in mind that um

[24:09] just be open to future ways of

[24:10] thinking, um, as we go for the

[24:13] next 4 months. So, thank you

[24:15] again for pushing this forward.

[24:15] I

[24:17] m very grateful, extremely

[24:18] grateful, and um. Thank you.

[24:21] Yeah Thank you, Christopher

[24:23] Clap. Followed by Genevieve

[24:32] More. Followed by Greg Rain.

[24:34] Good evening, Honorable Mayor

[24:37] Byers, Vice Mayor Heilman, and

[24:38] distinguished members of city

[24:39] council. Can you pull the mic

[24:41] down a little bit, yeah, thank

[24:41] you. I

[24:45] ll start again, uh. Good

[24:47] evening, Mayor by Honorable

[24:49] Mayor Byers, Vice Mayor Heilman,

[24:51] distinguished members of city

[24:54] council and uh all esteemed, uh,

[24:55] city staff of West Hollywood.

[24:56] Uh, my name

[24:57] s Christopher Clapp.

[25:01] I live in Los Angeles and uh I

[25:02] have operated a business here

[25:04] in West Hollywood, uh,

[25:05] Petrogian restaurants and

[25:07] boutique on Robertson. Um, I am

[25:08] currently the vice chair and

[25:09] treasurer of the West Hollow

[25:10] Design District. Uh, I just

[25:11] wanna reach out and say thank

[25:13] you, thank you for your support,

[25:17] um, of our local. Community, um,

[25:18] specifically the item tonight

[25:20] f3, uh, the banner program is

[25:22] absolutely essential to our

[25:24] operations. Um, I

[25:24] m inspired

[25:26] specifically by city staff

[25:27] Laura Bay, Laura d

[25:28] Ambrosia,

[25:29] and Paolo Kesperit, and I thank

[25:30] them for their guidance and

[25:32] continued support of our

[25:34] programming, um, so yeah, just

[25:35] uh a heartfelt thank you and I

[25:36] look forward to being of

[25:37] service to the constituents

[25:40] here in West Hollywood, um,

[25:42] thank you. Thank you. Genevieve

[25:44] More followed by Greg Rain and.

[25:47] Craig Williams after that.

[25:49] Thank you, Mayor. Good evening,

[25:51] Mayor, Vice Mayor, council

[25:52] members, Genevieve More,

[25:54] PRESIDENT, ceo of the West

[25:55] Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

[25:56] and good evening to all the

[25:58] members of the public and the

[26:00] staff. I ditto what MR. Clapp

[26:02] said. I want to thank you, uh,

[26:04] our appreciation for both the

[26:06] business improvement districts

[26:07] banner program licensing

[26:08] agreement and also protects all

[26:10] of us, you as well as us, and

[26:10] it

[26:11] s an agreement that hasn

[26:11] t

[26:13] been in place for all these

[26:14] years, but I think it

[26:14] s

[26:16] welcomed and I want to thank

[26:18] Laura, uh, Byron. Apollo,

[26:19] Casperad and David Wilson for

[26:20] all the work that they

[26:20] ve done

[26:23] on that. Um, I also want to

[26:25] thank Mayor Byers for the Weeh

[26:26] Ho Loves local extension

[26:27] program and Tom Keeley and his

[26:29] team at Visit West Hollywood

[26:30] and we talked about it today at

[26:33] a board meeting. The chamber is

[26:35] also launching a Weehoe gives

[26:36] Back program, and we think

[26:38] combined with the who loves

[26:41] locals, the city, the chamber,

[26:42] visits West Hollywood can all

[26:44] drive traffic, and we have some

[26:45] case studies from other

[26:46] chambers recently at a

[26:48] conference that my just went to

[26:50] last week about, um, local

[26:52] programs that have a chamber

[26:54] that bought like gift cards

[26:55] for restaurants and gave it to

[26:56] the customers if they visited

[26:58] there, and I think they spent

[26:59] $15,000 and it generated about

[27:01] 80,000 into the businesses, so

[27:03] we do think that this has legs,

[27:05] it has some strength and power

[27:06] if we all combine efforts. So,

[27:10] uh, you can go to WeHho

[27:10] Chamber.Com/WheeHhoGivesback uh

[27:11] for that pledge we

[27:11] re going to

[27:13] launch it on MARCH 1st and we

[27:14] have some media as well, so I

[27:16] just want to thank you for all

[27:19] that, um, because Right now we

[27:20] did do a survey, and we did get

[27:21] a good response from the

[27:23] businesses, and they are down

[27:25] about 25 to 50%. So while we

[27:25] weren

[27:27] t hit with the fires, I

[27:29] think the world thinks we

[27:29] re

[27:30] all burning or we have toxic

[27:31] air, so we

[27:32] re trying to say

[27:33] come into West Hollywood, we

[27:35] can help you and we can help

[27:36] the fire victims and first

[27:37] responders and give back to

[27:38] them and give back to everybody

[27:39] and our fellow businesses, but

[27:41] we all have to work together to

[27:42] give back and patronize our

[27:44] businesses, so thank you. Thank

[27:47] you. Greg Ring, followed by

[27:49] Craig Wil, Todd Holman

[27:56] after that. Good evening.

[27:58] Excuse me. Good evening,

[28:00] Honorable Mayor Byers, Vice

[28:01] Mayor Heilman, steamed City

[28:04] council, and city staff. I am,

[28:05] uh, Greg Grang, resident of Los

[28:07] Angeles and the current

[28:08] Executive director of the West

[28:09] Hollywood Design District,

[28:12] which is both a pleasure and a

[28:14] privilege, um, to hold that

[28:17] office, um, I spoke, um, via

[28:19] public comment on items b 11

[28:20] and f3 already, and I am simply

[28:22] here so you can see my face and

[28:23] hear my sincerity when I too

[28:24] say thank you for your support

[28:27] of. The Design District and our

[28:29] programming, um, I followed

[28:30] instructions and did not bring

[28:31] anything to the dais, but I do

[28:33] have with me maps for

[28:33] tomorrow

[28:35] s art walk as well as,

[28:36] um, promotional materials for

[28:38] Design West Hollywood, which is

[28:41] MARCH 4, 5 and 6. It was

[28:43] originally a two-day event, but

[28:44] through community engagement

[28:46] and support. We have extended

[28:47] it to 3 days, and we look

[28:49] forward to making that an

[28:51] annual event for the city and

[28:52] the community. Thank you so

[28:53] much. Appreciate your support.

[28:58] Thank you. Greg, Greg Craig,

[28:59] you give those handouts to me,

[29:00] I can make sure the council

[29:04] gives them. Thank you. Next

[29:05] speaker is Craig Williams,

[29:07] followed by Todd Holman and

[29:15] Sarah Adolfson after that. Good

[29:17] evening, Mayor Byers, Vice

[29:20] Mayor Heman and city council.

[29:21] Um, I

[29:22] m Craig Williams, and I

[29:24] have the pleasure of being a

[29:25] longtime West Hollywood

[29:27] resident and I wanted to speak

[29:29] in support of an increased

[29:33] budget for the Juneteenth

[29:35] celebration for 2025. Um, We

[29:36] re

[29:37] calling it an event, but I

[29:37] d

[29:41] like to. We purposed that to a

[29:43] celebration and a demonstration

[29:44] of our commitment to inclusion

[29:48] and diversity. There are 3

[29:51] things that I know for sure.

[29:52] The black people are

[29:55] entrepreneurs. Black people do

[29:56] spend money and the east side

[29:57] of West Hollywood has a lot of

[30:00] vacant storefronts. This is an

[30:05] opportunity for West Hollywood.

[30:06] To embrace and engage a

[30:08] demographic. That can

[30:10] accomplish those goals, and I

[30:11] think that the Juneteenth

[30:12] celebration, we hope to do that.

[30:16] Thank you for indulging. Mhm

[30:20] Todd Holman. Of Sara for the

[30:23] Human Services Commission. Good

[30:27] evening, We buyers. Vice Mayor

[30:29] Heilman and council members,

[30:32] Todd Hallman, 30-year plus West

[30:33] Hollywood resident, uh, Public

[30:35] Safety commissioner, but

[30:35] tonight I

[30:37] m speaking as a

[30:38] resident on behalf of

[30:40] Juneteenth. Thank you for

[30:43] proving the budget. I have been

[30:44] very open and honest with all

[30:46] of you how disappointed I

[30:46] ve

[30:48] been with this event over the

[30:50] years. I think this is a year

[30:53] for us to get it right. Um,

[30:55] social justice is on it. I know

[30:57] they have a subcommittee. They

[31:00] are meeting, they probably will

[31:01] need additional funding,

[31:06] because we need this to be a

[31:07] jubilant Juneteenth celebration,

[31:09] especially with what we

[31:09] re

[31:11] dealing with in this country

[31:14] today. Social justice is very

[31:16] important to us and I

[31:17] m also

[31:19] going to ask you to really

[31:21] stand behind this advisory

[31:24] board, not only for me as a

[31:26] black queer man, but for all of

[31:28] us, because their work is going

[31:31] to affect all of us because of

[31:33] the climate we live in. We also

[31:35] need to work on our diversity

[31:38] as a city. People of color

[31:40] coming on Friday and Saturday

[31:42] nights to West Hollywood does

[31:45] not diversity make. We need to

[31:47] do a better job and make West

[31:49] Hollywood more inclusive. I

[31:52] give a lot to the city. I love

[31:54] this city, but at the end of

[31:55] the day, I

[31:57] m a queer black man

[32:00] with a tribe in this city. I

[32:01] don

[32:02] t want the next generation

[32:06] to feel that way. So, please be

[32:08] there for social justice.

[32:10] Please be there for this event.

[32:18] We need this. Thank you. Thank

[32:19] Sarah Adolfsson Adolphen, sorry,

[32:20] I keep getting that wrong in my

[32:22] head. Thank you. And David Nash

[32:25] after that it all works. Uh,

[32:27] good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor,

[32:29] uh, council members. My name is

[32:30] Sarah Adolfson. I

[32:30] m here on

[32:32] behalf of the Human Services

[32:34] Commission. As you know, the

[32:35] commissioner attend city

[32:36] council meetings to share

[32:38] information about vital social

[32:39] services provided by the city

[32:40] and its partners. Tonight I

[32:42] want to highlight the

[32:44] importance of cervical cancer

[32:45] awareness and preventative

[32:47] services. While cervical cancer

[32:49] rates have declined significant

[32:51] disparities persist. This year,

[32:52] an estimated 13,000 women in

[32:54] the us will be diagnosed, and

[32:56] more. 4000 will die from the

[32:59] disease. Women of color

[33:00] experience the highest rates of

[33:02] cervical cancer, with a death

[33:03] rate nearly 80% higher than

[33:07] white women. Furthermore,

[33:08] transgender men face barriers

[33:09] to screening, including

[33:11] discrimination, lack of

[33:12] provider knowledge, and

[33:13] discomfort resulting in lower

[33:15] screening rates. Cervical

[33:17] cancer was once a leading cause

[33:19] of cancer deaths for women. But

[33:20] thanks to increased prevention

[33:22] and screening efforts, the

[33:23] mortality rate has been reduced

[33:27] by 50%. When detected early,

[33:29] survival rate is 92%. Even more

[33:31] encouraging, over 90% of

[33:32] cervical cancers could be

[33:34] prevented by the hpv vaccine.

[33:36] So what are we doing? The city

[33:38] of West Hollywood Partners with

[33:39] several nonprofit agencies to

[33:41] provide crucial and life-saving

[33:42] services, including Planned

[33:44] Parenthood, offering essential

[33:44] reproductive and sexual health

[33:47] services. Including screenings

[33:49] such as pelvic exams and Pap

[33:50] smears. The Audrey Lord Health

[33:53] Program at the la lgbt Center

[33:54] providing identity sensitive

[33:55] health services, including

[33:57] cervical and other cancer

[33:59] screenings and importantly,

[34:01] they offer self-collection test

[34:02] options for transgender men

[34:04] along with Pap smears and hpv

[34:06] testing. And then finally, the

[34:08] Saban Community clinic offers a

[34:10] range of services including

[34:12] obgyn checkups, Pap smears,

[34:14] screenings, lab tests, family

[34:15] planning, birth control, and

[34:16] cancer screenings. So if you

[34:17] re

[34:19] due for a screening, or you

[34:23] need supportive services,

[34:26] please

[34:27] visitehh.Org/humanservices or

[34:28] call 323-848-6510. Thank you.

[34:29] And Sarah, on behalf of all of

[34:31] us, I just want to offer our

[34:32] condolences to you and your

[34:33] husband on the loss of your

[34:35] father-in-law, and if we could,

[34:36] I completely forgot that in my

[34:36] notes, but we

[34:37] ll be adjourning

[34:38] in in their memory tonight as

[34:39] well. Thank you so much. That

[34:42] means a lot to us. Thank you.

[34:44] Next speaker, we have David

[34:47] Nash. Followed by Jacob Shaw

[34:55] and Tony Solano. I think I

[34:57] heard my name. My name is David

[34:58] Nash. I

[35:00] m a 26 year resident of

[35:02] West Hollywood. Good evening,

[35:04] Mayor Byers, Vice Mayor Heilman

[35:05] and city council members. I

[35:06] m

[35:07] here tonight to thank two

[35:08] people who are very special to

[35:10] me in the city of West

[35:13] Hollywood. First, Larry Block,

[35:15] who owns Block Party. He

[35:16] s been

[35:17] gracious enough to allow me to

[35:19] have a small art show in the

[35:20] back of his store through the

[35:24] end of the month. I greatly

[35:25] appreciate that opportunity.

[35:29] Both Larry and I share um a

[35:30] disability. We have very

[35:33] limited vision. And, uh, not

[35:34] just because it

[35:36] s me, but to,

[35:37] to renew and refresh your

[35:40] awareness of how people with

[35:41] disabilities can surprise you

[35:42] with their creative abilities.

[35:43] I

[35:44] d like each and every one of

[35:46] you to stop by and take a look

[35:48] at my art show in the back of

[35:51] the store. The very first

[35:54] customer I had first paying

[35:56] customer, I must say I greatly

[36:00] appreciate was Quartez Jordan,

[36:02] the manager of our aquatic

[36:05] center, he has become not just

[36:06] uh asset to the city, but a

[36:08] friend to me, I greatly

[36:09] appreciate that he purchased a

[36:13] picture. And uh I gave more

[36:15] thought to how much I

[36:16] appreciate Cortez, and I looked

[36:19] up the salaries in the city

[36:23] open list, and I noticed that

[36:26] his salary is about half of

[36:26] Danny Revis

[36:27] s and less than a

[36:30] quarter of the city manager.

[36:30] That

[36:31] s an extensive operation,

[36:33] those two pools up on the 4th,

[36:36] pardon me, the 5th floor here,

[36:37] and I think not just because

[36:37] he

[36:39] s been kind to me, but

[36:43] because of the quality of work

[36:44] that he supervises and the

[36:45] importance of the aquatic

[36:46] center, I

[36:48] d like to see Cortez

[36:50] Jordan get a raise. So thank

[36:52] you for listening to me. Please

[36:56] come to my art show and do give

[36:58] more money to support the

[36:59] Aquatic Center and Cortez

[37:03] Jordan. Thank you. Thank you.

[37:07] Jacob Shaw and Tony Solano. Or

[37:08] just Tony didn

[37:09] t make it. Good

[37:10] to see you, Mayor, Vice Mayor,

[37:12] city council members. Thank you

[37:14] for the opportunity to make

[37:15] this public comment. Uh, it

[37:15] s

[37:16] very simple we have partnered

[37:19] with ucla Health, Jacob Shaw

[37:20] and Tropicana have graciously

[37:22] offered their Place of business

[37:24] to host a blood drive. There

[37:25] are some new changes that have

[37:26] come about, so we

[37:26] re very

[37:28] excited to bring this about,

[37:30] this coming Friday from 10 A.M.

[37:31] To 3 P.M. If there

[37:31] s anybody

[37:33] that would like to make

[37:34] donations to first responders.

[37:35] We are hosting a table for that

[37:38] as well. If anybody would like

[37:39] to discuss potentially working

[37:40] with us to host another blood

[37:42] drive within the city of West

[37:42] Hollywood, our great city. I

[37:44] would love to have that

[37:45] conversation and I hope to see

[37:47] some of you there. Thank you

[37:50] very much. That this coming

[37:54] Friday from 10 to 3. And flyers

[37:56] around. Thank you so much. Uh,

[37:58] next speaker is Michael Nuttall,

[38:00] followed by Annie Gianpicente

[38:02] and Steve Martin will conclude

[38:02] our public speaker list. If

[38:04] anybody else is hoping to speak,

[38:06] please get your comments in.

[38:08] Thank you so much. Hi my city

[38:08] council. Uh, I

[38:10] m back to talk

[38:12] about trash. Um, one of the

[38:13] things that I like to talk

[38:16] about is trash, but currently

[38:16] I

[38:17] m at 650 bags that I picked

[38:19] up in the West. Community and

[38:22] the TriWest area to be specific,

[38:22] um, and the one thing that I,

[38:24] one thing that I found that I

[38:25] just like to educate people

[38:27] about is that of the trash that

[38:28] I find, I find water bottles a

[38:29] lot, which is probably no

[38:32] surprise to anyone, but what I

[38:34] find double that amount are the

[38:36] caps to water bottles, so my

[38:38] ask or something to keep in

[38:39] mind is that when we

[38:40] re making

[38:41] contracts or doing parties or

[38:42] events, the water bottles that

[38:44] have the caps that stay on

[38:45] instead of fully coming off,

[38:46] they can like, you know, pop it

[38:47] off a little bit, are much

[38:49] better. Then all the plastics

[38:51] that end up in our street, so

[38:53] just something to keep in mind

[38:53] when we

[38:54] re buying water bottles.

[38:56] And then the second thing I

[38:59] want to talk about was That

[39:01] orange turd in the White House.

[39:04] The National Park Service.

[39:06] Removing the tea from the lgbt

[39:08] plus, uh, the Stonewall

[39:09] Monument, I think it was

[39:09] repulsive. They

[39:10] re trying to

[39:14] erase the tea from lgbt plus

[39:15] and I just think with the voice

[39:17] that we have, the voice that I

[39:19] have, that I want to stand up

[39:20] and say that that part of the

[39:22] community, the entire community

[39:24] we love, we cherish them and we

[39:24] see them and we won

[39:25] t turn our

[39:27] backs on them and thank you.

[39:31] Thank you. Annie jumped Vicente,

[39:43] followed by Steve Martin. There

[39:45] it is, thanks, yeah, there was

[39:46] actually a news article written.

[39:47] Why did you, why did you all

[39:48] censor me last time I was here

[39:49] to speak, you wouldn

[39:50] t show my

[39:52] face. I know why, cause Chelsea,

[39:53] I told you right before I gave

[39:55] public comment exactly what I

[39:57] was gonna do. You knew exactly

[39:57] the public comment I was going

[39:59] to give, and you told the

[40:01] camera not to show you my face.

[40:01] How

[40:05] dare you? Yeah, uh,

[40:08] Michael, thank you for, um, for

[40:09] your, uh, uh, for your speech

[40:11] and saying that, you know, you

[40:15] stand with the t and lgbtqia

[40:16] plus, um, the problem is though,

[40:19] is in this city, I

[40:19] ve now had

[40:23] to, uh, I have been attacked

[40:25] every single weekend just for

[40:27] waiving the progressive pride

[40:28] flag around the streets. People

[40:31] call me, tell me that flag

[40:32] belong does not belong here.

[40:33] Why are you waving it? What

[40:37] even? Is that thing that flag.

[40:38] What makes you think you could

[40:41] wave it around? Why are you a

[40:42] coward for not showing your

[40:44] face just because how and I

[40:45] both agree we should be wearing

[40:51] masks. Did anyone catch that

[40:53] protest this weekend in San on

[40:54] Santa Monica Boulevard and

[40:54] Crescent Heights where, you

[40:56] know, trans people were very

[40:57] upset that the city

[40:57] s not doing

[40:59] anything. You know, it

[41:00] s been a

[41:04] trans sanctuary city for Far

[41:04] too

[41:06] long and you haven

[41:06] t

[41:07] done anything to strengthen

[41:12] that, like, Like you are

[41:13] allowing the federal government

[41:15] to come in and just take us out.

[41:19] I mean, like What what outrage

[41:20] was there over the ice signs

[41:22] that were, you know, on Santa

[41:24] Monica Boulevard too, like,

[41:25] like they

[41:25] re, they

[41:26] re coming

[41:26] for us and you

[41:27] re, you

[41:27] re just

[41:30] gonna allow it to happen. Do

[41:31] something to strengthen

[41:33] protections for trans people.

[41:33] We still can

[41:34] t afford to live

[41:36] here in a trans sanctuary city.

[41:39] None of us can. This is not a a

[41:41] sanctuary city. This is just

[41:41] not. It

[41:46] s a facade. Thank you,

[41:47] Steve Martin, I believe you

[41:47] ll

[41:54] be our final speaker today.

[41:56] Good evening, council members

[41:59] and Mayor, um. I, I guess it

[42:02] was about 500 years ago that

[42:04] the Pope decreed that the sun

[42:08] revolved around the earth. And

[42:10] It just seems odd that in 2025

[42:13] we would have a PRESIDENT Who

[42:15] would suddenly decree that

[42:15] we

[42:17] re all simply binary.

[42:17] There

[42:18] s only two genders, men

[42:22] and women, and Uh For some

[42:25] people that might be amusing,

[42:26] but it really impacts so many

[42:29] people. And tries to trivialize

[42:31] so many people. But I think we

[42:34] need to take a long view, uh,

[42:34] I

[42:36] m part of that generation

[42:39] that grew up illegal. Uh, there

[42:40] was basically nothing about our

[42:43] existence that we were allowed

[42:46] to do. And despite all the laws,

[42:50] um, as a young man, I was

[42:51] persistently perhaps stubbornly

[42:53] illegal, but the laws did

[42:56] change and we did make progress

[43:00] and what I think is most

[43:01] important is that despite being

[43:06] in a very long fight. Is that

[43:07] It was most important to remind

[43:11] people of our basic humanity.

[43:11] And that

[43:12] s what

[43:13] s so important

[43:15] in this particular fight with

[43:16] the trans community because we

[43:19] have so many people on school

[43:21] boards in Congress and in the

[43:24] White House and in the federal

[43:26] bureaucracy who are really

[43:29] trying to eradicate and

[43:29] trivialize people

[43:29] s lives and

[43:31] you know, I heard a great

[43:33] interview from a military

[43:36] person who happened to be trans

[43:38] who was so effective in talking

[43:39] about what a wonderful

[43:41] opportunity. They had to serve

[43:43] to work in the military and how

[43:45] much support they had from

[43:47] their comrades in arms and how

[43:51] wonderful it was to serve as in

[43:53] the army and as to serve the us

[43:55] people or serve the people of

[43:56] America, and I just think that

[43:59] we need to be there and remind

[44:00] people that we are talking

[44:02] about friends, neighbors, and

[44:03] people with real humanity.

[44:06] Thank you. I believe that

[44:06] concludes our public comments.

[44:08] Any anybody show up in Zoom or

[44:12] any other slips come in?

[44:14] Additional speakers in chambers

[44:16] or Zoom. Terrific. Then I

[44:16] believe we

[44:18] ll turn to the

[44:18] staff

[44:20] s table over here for our

[44:20] city manager

[44:27] s report. Good

[44:29] evening. Thank you, Mayor. Good

[44:31] evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and

[44:32] city council members. Um, I

[44:34] will be providing the city

[44:34] manager

[44:37] s comments from the

[44:39] staff table today. Happy Black

[44:40] History Month. FEBRUARY is

[44:41] Black History Month. It

[44:41] s also

[44:44] the time when we provide our

[44:46] annual update on the city

[44:48] s um

[44:48] equity and inclusion

[44:52] initiatives, um, the city is

[44:54] continuing with our deia

[44:55] initiatives regardless of the

[44:56] direction that the federal

[44:58] government is going. At this

[45:01] time. Uh, joining me is Jamaica

[45:03] Carter, our equity and

[45:03] inclusion officer. She

[45:05] ll be

[45:07] buying a brief presentation of

[45:07] the city

[45:09] s equity and inclusion

[45:10] efforts over the last year.

[45:25] Thank you. Hello. Good evening,

[45:26] Mayor, Vice Mayor, council

[45:28] members, and community members.

[45:30] Thank you for the opportunity

[45:32] to speak to you today. My name

[45:34] is Jamaica Carter, and I serve

[45:35] as the equity inclusion officer

[45:39] for the city of West Hollywood.

[45:41] Tonight I will provide an

[45:43] overview of our equity

[45:44] initiatives, highlight our

[45:47] vision for an inclusive city,

[45:49] discuss our partnership with

[45:51] gar, the government alliance

[45:53] for Race and Equity and outline

[45:55] the steps we are taking to

[45:56] strengthen equity within city

[45:59] operations. I will also share

[46:02] updates on our draft city

[46:03] organizational equity statement

[46:09] and discuss what lies ahead. As

[46:11] we shape our vision for equity

[46:13] within our city, we recognize

[46:15] that equity is not just an idea,

[46:16] it

[46:17] s an it

[46:18] s an essential

[46:20] framework for how we operate as

[46:22] a city. We envision a city

[46:24] where all community members can

[46:26] thrive regardless of their

[46:27] identity or background. Our

[46:29] goal is to lead in creating

[46:31] policies that are truly

[46:33] inclusive and equitable,

[46:34] ensuring that every individual

[46:36] has access to opportunities,

[46:39] resources, and representation.

[46:39] Our vision is important because

[46:41] it serves as a guiding

[46:44] framework for our work. When we

[46:46] prioritize equity, it creates a

[46:46] stronger, more connected

[46:49] community. And a strong vision

[46:51] can inspire collective action

[46:53] around shared goals and will

[46:54] continue to shape our city into

[46:56] a place where everyone has the

[47:03] opportunity to thrive. In 2020

[47:05] we joined the garr network.

[47:08] Gare is a dyna dynamic peer to

[47:09] peer learning and practice

[47:11] network dedicated to advancing

[47:13] racial equity in government.

[47:15] This created a foundation for

[47:17] our racial equity work during a

[47:18] critical time and providing

[47:21] staff with the tools to deepen

[47:22] their understanding and

[47:23] implement strategies for

[47:26] advancing equity in their work.

[47:28] The importance of our

[47:30] partnership with ga cannot be

[47:32] overstated. The equity

[47:33] challenges we face today are

[47:35] just as urgent as they were 4

[47:40] years ago and even before that.

[47:41] Addressing structural

[47:42] inequities requires long-term

[47:45] commitment and action and garr

[47:46] provides essential support for

[47:49] embedding racial equity in our

[47:50] government systems through

[47:52] training, coaching, and

[47:53] strategy development. We can

[47:56] better align our efforts with

[47:57] best practices across cities

[47:58] and ensure sustainable progress.

[48:03] We also have gut team goals,

[48:06] the gear teams are made up of

[48:06] staff from various divisions,

[48:08] and they have been making

[48:10] significant progress over the

[48:12] past few years and will

[48:13] continue and we will continue

[48:16] to support these efforts by

[48:18] providing citywide training,

[48:20] divisions specific training,

[48:21] coaching support, long term

[48:23] strategy development. This is

[48:26] important because without

[48:28] Intentional action within the

[48:29] organization inequity

[48:30] inequities will continue to

[48:36] persist. And it

[48:37] s necessary for

[48:38] our infrastructure to address

[48:40] these challenges, to ensure

[48:42] that racial equity is not an

[48:43] afterthought but a foundational

[48:48] principle in governance. Over

[48:49] the past few months, we have

[48:52] taken a deep dive into the

[48:53] equity landscape, engaging with

[48:56] divisions to understand their

[48:56] efforts and identify

[48:58] opportunities to enhance and

[49:00] expand their impact. Through

[49:03] these conversations, several

[49:06] key themes emerged. Equitable

[49:07] resource allocation and access,

[49:09] ensuring that fair distribution

[49:10] of city services and

[49:11] opportunities for both staff

[49:14] and the community. Inclusive

[49:16] language and communication,

[49:18] fostering clear, accessible and

[49:22] cultural responsive messaging.

[49:24] Internal and community dia

[49:25] education and training to

[49:27] ensure that we equipped staff

[49:28] and community members with the

[49:29] knowledge and tools to drive

[49:32] meaningful change.

[49:33] Collaborative and community

[49:35] centered engagement, partnering

[49:36] with residents to co-create

[49:37] solutions that reflect and

[49:38] serve our city

[49:40] s diverse needs.

[49:42] These insights are key to

[49:45] guiding our our equity efforts.

[49:47] And over the next year we will

[49:48] remain focused on embedding

[49:51] equity into all city functions.

[49:53] We are committed to focusing on.

[49:57] Equity strategies aligned with

[49:57] broader city strategic plan

[50:01] goals. An equity action plan

[50:04] driven by community input.

[50:06] Continued training for staff,

[50:09] elected and appointed officials

[50:11] and also community members as

[50:11] well as community equity

[50:17] initiatives. Furthermore, I am

[50:19] happy to share that equity is

[50:20] not just an aspiration for the

[50:22] city of West Hollywood as we

[50:24] see here, our commitment to

[50:26] equity is reflected in ongoing

[50:26] initiatives that drive

[50:29] meaningful change. From our

[50:31] engagement with gar to

[50:34] centering equity and public

[50:36] safety and health initiatives,

[50:37] addressing disparities through

[50:38] responsive community training

[50:41] and support services. We are

[50:43] taking action. These efforts go

[50:45] beyond statements, create real

[50:46] change and lasting impact

[50:55] across the city. Last year we

[50:57] began a collaborative process

[50:59] to draft a citywide equity

[51:01] organizational statement.

[51:02] Through staff input, group

[51:04] discussion, and shared

[51:05] perspectives we created a

[51:07] statement that reflects our

[51:09] values and aspirations. An

[51:10] organizational equity statement

[51:13] serves as a formal commitment

[51:14] to equity and inclusion guiding

[51:16] our decision making and

[51:18] fostering trust. It unites

[51:20] staff, leadership, and

[51:22] community members around shared

[51:23] values and drives collaboration.

[51:25] Towards a more inclusive

[51:27] environment. I

[51:27] m going to go

[51:29] ahead and read the equity

[51:32] statement. The city of West

[51:34] Hollywood is committed to

[51:35] fostering a thriving inclusive

[51:37] community where all people have

[51:39] access to opportunities,

[51:41] resources, and representation.

[51:43] We recognize that equity is a

[51:44] shared responsibility and an

[51:46] ongoing practice that informs

[51:48] our policies, programs and

[51:49] services rooted in our

[51:50] foundational values of

[51:52] inclusion and advocacy, we

[51:54] acknowledge that systematic

[51:56] barriers and historical

[51:59] injustices have had have

[52:00] impacted marginalized

[52:03] populations including bipoc,

[52:05] lgbtq plus displaced, disabled,

[52:07] and aging communities. We

[52:08] commit to actively dismantle

[52:09] these barriers through

[52:11] practices and systematic.

[52:14] Change, that prioritizes

[52:16] meaningful engagement, resource

[52:17] distribution and empowerment

[52:18] for residents and visitors

[52:21] alike. This includes empowering

[52:23] our city staff through

[52:24] equitable opportunities for

[52:27] development, decision making.

[52:29] An active participating in

[52:30] active participation in shaping

[52:31] the city

[52:32] s future. Through

[52:34] transparency, accountability,

[52:35] and collaboration, we will

[52:38] address current and historical

[52:39] injustices and work

[52:40] continuously to build a city

[52:41] where everyone has seen, heard,

[52:44] and supported. Together we

[52:46] strive to uphold equity as the

[52:48] foundation of our policies,

[52:50] practices, and vision for. West

[52:51] Hollywood

[52:55] s future. A strong

[52:56] equity statement is important

[52:57] and it provides clarity and

[52:59] accountability. It serves as a

[53:00] framework for decision making

[53:02] and ensures that our actions

[53:04] align with our values. It helps

[53:06] reinforce our commitment to

[53:09] inclusion and serves as a

[53:09] foundation for continuous

[53:15] improvement. So I was, so as we

[53:17] look ahead, we know that equity

[53:19] is not a one-time effort. It is

[53:20] a continuous process that

[53:24] involves. That evolves with

[53:25] community needs, so it

[53:26] s

[53:27] critical to keep these goals in

[53:29] mind. Equity as a continuous

[53:31] commitment, collaboration and

[53:33] shared responsibility.

[53:37] Sustainability and active and

[53:38] adaptive strategies by

[53:40] maintaining our commitment,

[53:41] fostering strong community

[53:42] connections and adapting our

[53:43] strategies. We ensure that our

[53:45] city remains a model for

[53:47] inclusive, uh, inclusion and

[53:53] progress. Our work in equity

[53:55] and inclusion is ongoing and it

[53:56] and it

[53:59] s, excuse me, and it

[53:59] s

[54:01] success relies on continued

[54:03] commitment from city leadership

[54:05] staff and the community. Even

[54:08] as we face external challenges.

[54:09] Including efforts in the at the

[54:11] federal level to undermine and

[54:12] discredit deia work. It is

[54:14] imperative that we remain

[54:16] committed. Equity is not a

[54:17] political trend. It

[54:18] s a

[54:20] fundamental, a fundamental

[54:22] necessity for a thriving and

[54:24] inclusive city by continuing to

[54:25] prioritize these efforts, we

[54:27] protect the rights and

[54:28] well-being of all. Together we

[54:29] can create a city where

[54:31] individuals are valued,

[54:32] empowered, and included. Thank

[54:44] you all for your time. Thank

[54:48] you, Jamaica. Um, just one

[54:50] other announcement. Wee Hores

[54:52] will be presenting power and

[54:53] progress during Black History

[54:56] Month. This is an online

[54:57] presentation via Zoom and

[55:01] YouTube. It will be FEBRUARY 26

[55:04] from 6:30 P.M. To 8 P.M. Um,

[55:08] for more information, please

[55:09] visit WeHho.Org/WheeHhoreads

[55:10] and that concludes my comments,

[55:12] Mayor. Thank you so much, City

[55:15] manager, and we appreciate the

[55:15] presentation tonight. Um, we

[55:16] ll

[55:17] move on to the fiscal impact on

[55:18] the consent calendar. City

[55:20] clerk, what is the fiscal

[55:21] impact on tonight

[55:21] s consent

[55:23] calendar. Thank you, Mayor. The

[55:24] fiscal impact on tonight

[55:25] s

[55:27] consent calendar with the

[55:32] addition of items f2, f3, f4,

[55:39] f5, and f7 is $988,968 in

[55:44] expenditures, $102,750. In

[55:46] revenue and $6,584 in waived

[55:48] fees. We do have a motion and a

[55:49] second to adopt tonight

[55:49] s

[55:58] consent calendar. Terrific. And

[56:04] the motion passes 50. Amazing.

[56:06] So noting item c1, the public

[56:07] hearing has been continued to a

[56:08] date uncertain. We

[56:10] ll move on

[56:11] to legislative item d1, an

[56:12] ordinance of the city council,

[56:15] the city of West Hollywood,

[56:18] approving amendments to Section

[56:20] 10.28.050 of the municipal code

[56:21] regarding utilizing the parking

[56:29] credits pool. Thank you to our

[56:29] staff representatives who are

[56:36] making their way to the table.

[56:36] Whenever you

[56:38] re ready, will you

[56:39] please introduce yourself and

[56:43] present the staff report. Good

[56:44] evening, Mayor and members of

[56:45] the council. I

[56:45] m Jennifer

[56:46] Alcaer. I

[56:46] m the assistant

[56:47] director of Community

[56:48] Development, and I

[56:48] m going to

[56:50] give a brief overview of what

[56:51] this item is all about and then

[56:51] I

[56:53] m here with um Bill Bortfield

[56:55] and Vince Guarino who are going

[56:56] to help us answer any questions

[56:59] you MAY have. So, um, We don

[57:00] t

[57:01] have a PowerPoint, so I

[57:01] m just

[57:03] gonna, just gonna go, uh, the

[57:05] parking credits program was

[57:06] established in 2012, and at the

[57:09] time, it was a tool that was

[57:11] used to help businesses that

[57:12] wanted to expand or property

[57:15] owners that wanted to lease

[57:17] their tenant spaces to um to

[57:19] other types of businesses to

[57:21] allow flexibility for that and

[57:23] to allow our commercial

[57:25] corridors to um flourish and

[57:29] thrive. Um, at that time,

[57:30] additional parking was required

[57:32] for those types of changes, and

[57:34] so that was a tool that we used

[57:37] at that time. Since then, we in

[57:40] 2018, uh, the city lowered

[57:42] parking requirements for many

[57:44] of the commercial uses and

[57:46] changed how and when new

[57:46] parking requirements were

[57:49] applied for a small conversions

[57:52] and where um where those things

[57:55] were required and in 2023, the

[57:56] state adopted ab 2097, which hi

[58:00] bi t s the city from applying

[58:02] uh, minimum parking standards

[58:04] to new projects and so now we

[58:06] have because of those changes,

[58:06] we

[58:08] ve got more tools in the

[58:10] toolbox to help businesses

[58:12] expand and to help those tenant

[58:13] spaces be used by different

[58:16] types of businesses, um, so the

[58:18] parking credits program is, is

[58:19] not as critical, and in fact,

[58:21] now we have a certain set of

[58:23] businesses that pay the fees

[58:24] for parking credits because

[58:24] they

[58:25] re required in their

[58:25] conditions of approval, and we

[58:26] have new business. Services

[58:28] that come in and they aren

[58:28] t

[58:29] required to pay those fees

[58:29] because they

[58:30] re not required to

[58:31] have parking credits. They

[58:31] re

[58:33] not required to provide that

[58:34] off-street parking. And so in

[58:36] order to try to make those

[58:37] equal and provide equity to the

[58:38] different types of businesses

[58:41] that are long standing and new,

[58:42] um, the most, the easiest and

[58:43] most straightforward way to go

[58:45] about that is to just eliminate

[58:47] the fee associated with those

[58:50] parking credits, so that nobody

[58:52] has to pay that extra amount.

[58:54] Uh, we did think about changing

[58:55] the conditions of approval to

[58:56] not require the additional

[58:58] parking. But that takes a lot

[59:00] of extra steps on the part of

[59:01] the business owners. So while

[59:03] that MAY be a long term

[59:04] solution over time at this

[59:06] point in time, um, it, it

[59:07] presents an, uh, an

[59:09] administrative challenge and it

[59:10] presents extra extra steps for

[59:12] those businesses that maybe

[59:12] aren

[59:12] t um aren

[59:13] t equipped to do

[59:14] that, um, to go through those

[59:16] steps with the city. So that

[59:16] s

[59:16] what we

[59:17] re recommending at this

[59:19] time is to just eliminate the

[59:20] fee and move forward and I

[59:21] m, I

[59:22] and the team are here with

[59:25] Quest for any questions. Like

[59:26] Terrific. Do any of my

[59:26] colleagues have questions to

[59:27] start, uh, Councillormer

[59:31] Meister. Yeah, thanks. Thanks,

[59:34] Jennifer. Um, so the fee, uh,

[59:34] as it

[59:37] s even showed in the um

[59:39] in the staff report went

[59:41] towards the parking improvement

[59:45] fund. So how then do we improve

[59:47] how do we, you know, have funds

[59:49] then for the parking

[59:52] improvement fund if we don

[59:52] t

[59:54] charge for parking credits. So

[59:55] I

[59:56] m gonna pass that question on

[59:57] to, um, my partners from the

[59:59] parking division. I

[1:00:00] m mayor,

[1:00:02] vice mayor and council members

[1:00:04] Vince Greeno parking services

[1:00:06] manager, uh, that is one of the

[1:00:09] impacts that it will have, uh,

[1:00:09] uh, we

[1:00:10] ll have to figure out

[1:00:11] how we

[1:00:12] re gonna address that uh

[1:00:17] revenue shortfall. Ok. Um, and

[1:00:22] then my other question was, um,

[1:00:24] The program required uh staff

[1:00:27] to do a parking credit survey,

[1:00:29] I believe every 6 months. Can,

[1:00:31] do we, when was the last time

[1:00:34] we actually did that survey? It

[1:00:37] was uh before covid, we haven

[1:00:37] t

[1:00:39] had the demand for the parking

[1:00:40] credits, so it hasn

[1:00:40] t been

[1:00:43] necessary to do the survey, um,

[1:00:45] because we have less and less

[1:00:48] businesses utilizing it. Ok, um,

[1:00:51] ok, that makes sense. Well,

[1:00:52] those are my only questions. I

[1:00:54] might have comments, but I

[1:00:54] don

[1:00:55] t want to, if there

[1:00:55] s, I

[1:00:55] don

[1:00:57] t know if there

[1:00:57] s public

[1:00:58] speakers. I don

[1:00:58] t have any

[1:00:59] public speakers on the item

[1:01:00] Vice Mayor Heilman, did you

[1:01:05] have comments? I had Sort of

[1:01:07] one related comment. I know

[1:01:09] that when we did the parking

[1:01:10] s

[1:01:13] credit, parking credit program,

[1:01:15] it was utilized fairly

[1:01:18] frequently around here with the

[1:01:20] understanding that the parking

[1:01:22] structure here would be

[1:01:24] available for people. I have

[1:01:26] come in on several occasions

[1:01:27] where it

[1:01:28] s very difficult to

[1:01:32] find a parking space at all in

[1:01:33] the parking structure and um

[1:01:33] I

[1:01:36] ve raised this. Previously,

[1:01:39] but the overflow in the library

[1:01:39] doesn

[1:01:40] t always work either

[1:01:43] because we have so many spaces

[1:01:45] that are not utilized or not

[1:01:48] able to be utilized because we

[1:01:51] have the devices there and if

[1:01:52] there aren

[1:01:52] t aren

[1:01:53] t valets or

[1:01:55] people there to assist, you

[1:01:56] can

[1:01:58] t utilize those spaces, so

[1:01:58] I

[1:01:59] m completely supportive of

[1:02:01] the item, and I appreciate you

[1:02:03] bringing it forward, but I, I

[1:02:06] hope that you will look at What

[1:02:08] is causing those kind of

[1:02:09] impacts because they are

[1:02:11] impacting people who want to

[1:02:13] utilize the library and utilize

[1:02:15] the park, and I think some of

[1:02:20] it is people who are employees

[1:02:22] of other businesses, not to

[1:02:24] mention the bdc where they

[1:02:25] charge substantially more for

[1:02:27] parking than we do, so maybe

[1:02:28] that

[1:02:28] s something that needs to

[1:02:29] be looked at. That

[1:02:33] s all. Other

[1:02:35] Any other questions? What? Go

[1:02:40] for it. Um, how do we monitor

[1:02:42] and police the five-story

[1:02:43] parking structure to follow up

[1:02:45] on Vice Mayor Heilman

[1:02:45] s

[1:02:47] comments, uh, so specifically

[1:02:50] if you park there, you can go

[1:02:52] into the library and can you

[1:02:52] still get validated for that,

[1:02:53] or do you need to be in the

[1:02:56] library a lot? Have we fixed

[1:02:58] that little ticket snafu that I

[1:03:00] realized when I was a Uh, when

[1:03:03] I worked here at City Hall. So,

[1:03:04] so we don

[1:03:05] t the the validations

[1:03:08] for the library only work in

[1:03:12] the library garage. Great. Um.

[1:03:14] Are we or have we implemented a

[1:03:15] better valet program on the 5th

[1:03:17] floor. When do we offer valets

[1:03:21] up there on the top floor. Uh,

[1:03:22] typically during uh council

[1:03:23] members or during uh the

[1:03:25] council meetings if we have the

[1:03:27] demand. Has there ever been a

[1:03:29] need to implement it or added

[1:03:32] during the weekends when we see

[1:03:34] more individuals um driving to

[1:03:36] the dog park, um, but you know,

[1:03:37] driving in general and parking

[1:03:39] there, would it be beneficial

[1:03:41] to have an option like that

[1:03:42] exists on Saturdays and Sundays.

[1:03:45] We can, we can look into that,

[1:03:46] uh, one of the challenges is

[1:03:50] that it, it tends to be uh the

[1:03:52] folks doing the ballet or the

[1:03:53] folks are coming in don

[1:03:54] t like

[1:03:56] to use the valet typically, but

[1:03:56] we

[1:03:56] ll, we

[1:03:57] ll see what we can do.

[1:04:01] Yeah, the only reason I ask is

[1:04:03] I think any of us that know how

[1:04:04] to park and where to park in

[1:04:06] the city. No, not to park in

[1:04:07] the five-story parking

[1:04:08] structure, uh, when we need to,

[1:04:09] it

[1:04:10] s very nice. I appreciative

[1:04:12] of it. However, I think if

[1:04:12] there

[1:04:14] s ways that we can

[1:04:15] increase the opportunity for

[1:04:17] people to park. I know the

[1:04:18] weekends are very busy with a

[1:04:20] lot of our events and so the

[1:04:21] more accessibility we can have

[1:04:23] for people to park there. It

[1:04:23] s,

[1:04:24] it

[1:04:24] s better, but that

[1:04:25] s just a

[1:04:26] general comment. Councillor

[1:04:31] Meister. Thank you, Mayor. Um,

[1:04:34] I would like to suggest that we

[1:04:36] have some type of parking needs

[1:04:40] assessment study done. For that

[1:04:41] parking garage because I mean,

[1:04:42] maybe you

[1:04:43] ve done it, but now

[1:04:46] that the arc has opened and

[1:04:48] programming keeps increasing.

[1:04:50] We are seeing that it is harder

[1:04:53] and harder to park in the

[1:04:56] five-story garage and um I

[1:04:58] remember when Oscar Delgado was

[1:04:59] here and we had a project come

[1:05:01] before us that wanted to reduce

[1:05:04] their parking by 100 spaces and,

[1:05:07] you know, at that time, no one

[1:05:08] from staff said anything about

[1:05:10] Well, maybe we

[1:05:11] ll need those

[1:05:12] spaces because of arc, but the

[1:05:15] truth of the matter is that we

[1:05:18] probably did need those spaces,

[1:05:20] so I think we need to see

[1:05:22] numbers around, around the

[1:05:23] parking garage and and what the

[1:05:25] needs are, especially as we

[1:05:26] keep increasing programming at

[1:05:29] the arc. Thank you, Councilor

[1:05:36] Buring. Thank you, Mayor. Uh,

[1:05:38] thank you for the presentation.

[1:05:40] Um, I just wanted to note that

[1:05:42] Cars are getting bigger too,

[1:05:42] and I

[1:05:43] ve noticed that in the

[1:05:44] parking lot. It

[1:05:45] s hard to park

[1:05:46] when cars are just getting

[1:05:47] bigger, trucks are getting

[1:05:48] bigger, people are driving them

[1:05:50] and parking them in there,

[1:05:52] taking over more than one spot

[1:05:54] 1.5 spots, so that

[1:05:54] s something

[1:05:55] that can be looked into. It

[1:05:55] s

[1:05:57] something that we can control,

[1:05:58] but you know, cars are just

[1:06:03] getting bigger. Vice Mayor, I

[1:06:06] see a motion. Yeah, I was going

[1:06:08] to move the item with the

[1:06:09] direction that

[1:06:10] s been given to

[1:06:13] investigate the issues of

[1:06:15] parking shortages and in the

[1:06:17] five-story parking lot and also

[1:06:19] looking at the issue of ballet

[1:06:23] and when we utilize it and also

[1:06:25] looking at the library parking

[1:06:27] lot and see whether that

[1:06:27] s

[1:06:28] properly configured for maximum

[1:06:31] use, so. Thank you, and we have

[1:06:32] a second on the table. Are

[1:06:34] there any other comments or

[1:06:37] questions from my colleagues? I

[1:06:39] question. Does, does your

[1:06:40] motion include the idea of a, a

[1:06:42] needs assessment. I mean, you,

[1:06:45] it sounds like it. Well, I, I

[1:06:45] wasn

[1:06:46] t authorizing them to go

[1:06:48] and hire a consultant to do a

[1:06:50] needs assessment, but to

[1:06:52] investigate and if they do need

[1:06:54] a consultant to do a needs

[1:06:56] assessment, then that would,

[1:06:58] they would come back to us with

[1:06:59] that terrific. I

[1:07:01] m trying to

[1:07:04] not go too far afield from what

[1:07:05] was actually agenda I guess I

[1:07:06] would just ask, do you need a

[1:07:08] consultant to do I mean, you

[1:07:09] usually do parking studies all

[1:07:12] the time. I mean, the parking.

[1:07:15] Division There we go. I was

[1:07:17] having trouble with my

[1:07:20] microphone, uh, uh, we, we do

[1:07:22] some of the surveys internally,

[1:07:24] yes, but in this instance, I

[1:07:25] think we would want to go out

[1:07:30] and get a consultant. Could we

[1:07:31] bring that back as a different

[1:07:33] agenda item. Yeah, we

[1:07:34] ll look

[1:07:36] into it if we need to come back

[1:07:37] for for with an item for a

[1:07:38] consultant, we

[1:07:39] ll do that. It

[1:07:39] d

[1:07:40] be great. Ok, so we have a

[1:07:42] motion in a second on the table.

[1:07:42] I believe we

[1:07:43] re prepared for a

[1:07:44] vote with the direction

[1:07:48] included by Vice Mayor Heilman.

[1:07:53] Terrific. Motion passes. Thank

[1:07:55] you so much for your

[1:07:56] presentation. We

[1:07:56] ll move on to

[1:08:00] uh Unfinished business, item e1,

[1:08:02] the mid-year update on fiscal

[1:08:05] year 2024, 2025 operating

[1:08:06] budget and progress on work

[1:08:19] plan priorities. Good evening,

[1:08:20] whenever you

[1:08:36] re ready. Ok. Um,

[1:08:36] while we

[1:08:37] re waiting for our

[1:08:42] PowerPoint to load. Ok. It

[1:08:43] s on

[1:08:44] there. You just have to close

[1:08:55] out of that. Thanks. There it

[1:09:06] is. One second. Great, thank

[1:09:10] you. Thank you for your

[1:09:12] patience. Um, my name is

[1:09:13] Christine Seret. I am the

[1:09:15] assistant to the city manager

[1:09:16] with me tonight is Melissa

[1:09:18] Linley, the budget officer, and

[1:09:18] sitting at the dais with you,

[1:09:20] of course, our city manager

[1:09:21] David Wilson. We will be

[1:09:24] presenting a report to you on

[1:09:26] um the fy 25 mid-year budget

[1:09:28] update and Melissa Linley will

[1:09:30] be doing the, the presentation

[1:09:37] for you this evening. Good

[1:09:39] evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and

[1:09:40] council members. I don

[1:09:40] t think

[1:09:40] that

[1:09:49] s. Ok. Good evening. I

[1:09:50] m

[1:09:51] happy to be here this evening

[1:09:53] to present the city

[1:09:53] s midyear

[1:09:54] budget. We

[1:09:56] ll start by

[1:09:56] recapping last fiscal year and

[1:09:58] then dive into the current

[1:10:00] fiscal year, including where we

[1:10:01] are midyear and our projections

[1:10:03] for the end of the year. We

[1:10:03] ll

[1:10:06] also update you on some

[1:10:07] proposed organizational changes,

[1:10:09] then touch on our departmental

[1:10:11] work plan priorities and look

[1:10:12] ahead to the next budget

[1:10:15] process. Let

[1:10:17] s begin with last

[1:10:18] fiscal year. All of the amounts

[1:10:20] in this table are rounded to

[1:10:26] the nearest million. Fi 24 was

[1:10:26] another successful year

[1:10:27] financially. As you can see

[1:10:29] from this chart, we

[1:10:30] re

[1:10:30] providing some historical

[1:10:33] context, starting with f I 20

[1:10:34] and fy21, which, as you

[1:10:35] ll

[1:10:36] recall, were significantly

[1:10:39] impacted by the covid-19

[1:10:40] pandemic. You can see the

[1:10:44] revenue surge in fy 22 and fy

[1:10:46] 23 as we rebounded. Some of

[1:10:48] that growth was due to

[1:10:48] recovering from the pandemic

[1:10:50] and some was thanks to new

[1:10:51] revenue streams like Measure

[1:10:54] e-sales tax. And our digital

[1:10:57] advertising programs. Are

[1:10:59] adopted budget for fy 24 back

[1:11:03] in JUNE of 23 was 151 million.

[1:11:05] We made some adjustments

[1:11:06] throughout the year, ending

[1:11:09] with the revised mid-year

[1:11:12] budget of $153.5 million. The

[1:11:14] final results were better. Our

[1:11:16] actual revenues shown here in

[1:11:20] blue came in at 161 million.

[1:11:20] That

[1:11:22] s 7 million above budget.

[1:11:25] And we spent less than

[1:11:28] anticipated with actual

[1:11:31] expenditures of 147 million 6.4

[1:11:32] million below budget. This

[1:11:34] resulted in a healthy surplus

[1:11:38] of $14 million. While fy 24 was

[1:11:39] a strong year. It

[1:11:40] s important

[1:11:41] to note that revenue growth was

[1:11:43] more moderate than the previous

[1:11:46] 2 years. Our biggest revenue

[1:11:49] sources, sales tax and hotel

[1:11:50] tax saw slight dips. We also

[1:11:52] had a temporary waiver of

[1:11:53] business tax certificate

[1:11:56] renewal fees, which impacted

[1:11:58] revenues. However, we saw

[1:12:00] growth in property taxes,

[1:12:02] permits, and interest earnings,

[1:12:04] which resulted in an increase

[1:12:05] from the previous year of $0.9

[1:12:10] million. On the expenditure

[1:12:13] side, we saw increases across

[1:12:14] all categories. This reflects

[1:12:16] the return of services and

[1:12:17] events that were deferred

[1:12:20] during the pandemic, along with

[1:12:21] some key investments, which

[1:12:23] included the first year of

[1:12:25] field operations for the care

[1:12:27] team, increased support for the

[1:12:30] pride in Halloween events and

[1:12:32] economic study, marketing

[1:12:33] support for local businesses

[1:12:35] and some one-time capital

[1:12:37] expenditures, including

[1:12:37] construction and

[1:12:38] pre-development costs for the

[1:12:39] Holloway and Durim housing.

[1:12:41] Program and the log cabin

[1:12:46] renovation. Now let

[1:12:46] s talk

[1:12:49] about the current fiscal year

[1:12:52] fy 25. The city

[1:12:53] s financial

[1:12:54] financial position remains

[1:12:58] solid. Our fy 25. We adopted a

[1:13:00] budget of 161 million for both

[1:13:03] revenues and expenditures in

[1:13:05] JUNE of 2024. Looking at the

[1:13:06] mid-year numbers, which are

[1:13:08] JULY through DECEMBER. We

[1:13:08] re

[1:13:11] right on track. Revenues were

[1:13:15] 72 million, which is 45% of the

[1:13:16] original budget and

[1:13:18] expenditures were 76 million or

[1:13:22] 47% of the original budget.

[1:13:23] With supplemental expenditures

[1:13:25] previously approved by council

[1:13:27] and recommended mid-year budget

[1:13:29] adjustments, the proposed

[1:13:30] mid-year budget is balanced

[1:13:34] with revenue and expenditure

[1:13:36] budgets of 162.5 million and a

[1:13:37] projected year-end surplus of

[1:13:43] $30,000. Tonight we

[1:13:43] re

[1:13:45] recommending a few mid-year

[1:13:46] budget adjustments. We

[1:13:47] re

[1:13:48] proposing a $1.9 million

[1:13:50] increase in general fund

[1:13:53] revenue, driven by higher than

[1:13:54] anticipated interest earnings.

[1:13:54] We

[1:13:57] re also recommending a

[1:13:59] $180,000 adjustment to general

[1:14:01] fund expenditures, including

[1:14:03] 42,000 for recreation safety

[1:14:06] training and programming, and

[1:14:08] 138,000 as a one-time

[1:14:10] allocation for hearing examers

[1:14:11] hearing examiner services

[1:14:13] related to parking. This will

[1:14:14] allow us to maintain these

[1:14:16] services while we complete a

[1:14:19] request for proposal process to

[1:14:20] secure more cost-effective

[1:14:23] services in the future. We also

[1:14:24] have some minor adjustments

[1:14:26] proposed for the proposition a

[1:14:28] and parking improvement funds

[1:14:29] detailed and attachment aid to

[1:14:34] the staff report. As a recap,

[1:14:36] The council has already

[1:14:38] approved supplemental

[1:14:40] expenditures of 1.7 million for

[1:14:43] public safety technology,

[1:14:43] Halloween Carnival production

[1:14:47] costs and a haunted trolley.

[1:14:47] Local business marketing

[1:14:49] support, the Women

[1:14:49] s Freedom

[1:14:51] Festival, and outdoor ice

[1:14:53] skating rink, an additional

[1:14:54] funds for special counsel

[1:15:00] programs. This chart provides a

[1:15:02] helpful comparison showing

[1:15:04] prior your actuals. The

[1:15:06] original fy 25 budget and our

[1:15:07] proposed mid-year budget

[1:15:10] highlighted in blue. The

[1:15:12] proposed mid-year revenue

[1:15:15] budget of 162.5 million is 1.9

[1:15:17] million higher than last year

[1:15:17] s

[1:15:19] actuals. This is primarily due

[1:15:21] to the reinstatement of

[1:15:22] business tax certificate

[1:15:23] renewal fees and some

[1:15:25] conservative budgeting for

[1:15:27] revenues like hotel taxes and

[1:15:30] city permit revenues. The

[1:15:32] proposed mid-year expenditure

[1:15:35] budget of 162.5 million is 15.4

[1:15:36] million higher than last year

[1:15:37] s

[1:15:39] actuals. This difference

[1:15:40] reflects the 6.4 million in

[1:15:42] savings we realized in fy 24,

[1:15:45] as well as new expenditures

[1:15:47] included in the fi-25 budget to

[1:15:49] support the city

[1:15:49] s priority

[1:15:51] areas in areas like financial

[1:15:54] stability, community safety,

[1:15:55] infrastructure development,

[1:15:57] community services, arts and

[1:15:58] culture and community

[1:16:00] engagement. With the

[1:16:02] recommended adjustments or

[1:16:03] projecting a balanced budget

[1:16:05] and any excess revenues will be

[1:16:07] allocated to reserves and our

[1:16:13] capital program. Moving on to

[1:16:14] organizational changes,

[1:16:15] reflecting counsel

[1:16:15] s direction

[1:16:17] to consolidate staff and the

[1:16:19] billboard program within the

[1:16:20] community development

[1:16:20] department. We

[1:16:22] re recommending

[1:16:24] 3 new positions. A senior

[1:16:26] planner, a project development

[1:16:27] administrator and an

[1:16:29] administrative specialist.

[1:16:30] Additionally, hr is

[1:16:32] recommending a reclassification

[1:16:35] of an engineering position from

[1:16:37] traffic management program

[1:16:37] specialist to assistant

[1:16:39] engineer. Funding for these

[1:16:42] changes will be included in the

[1:16:47] proposed fi26 budget. Finally,

[1:16:49] let me point out a few things.

[1:16:50] The attachments to the staff

[1:16:54] report. Attachment aid details

[1:16:55] the approved and proposed

[1:16:56] budget adjustments for the

[1:16:58] general fund as well as minor

[1:17:01] adjustments to the Prop a and

[1:17:02] parking improvement funds.

[1:17:04] Attachment b outlines our

[1:17:05] departmental work plan

[1:17:07] priorities which are key

[1:17:08] initiatives and ongoing

[1:17:09] programs developed as part of

[1:17:13] the fy 25 and 262-year budget.

[1:17:15] It also shows our progress so

[1:17:18] far in fy 25. Attachment c

[1:17:20] provides an overview of the

[1:17:22] budget schedule, looking ahead,

[1:17:22] we

[1:17:24] ll continue to monitor

[1:17:25] economic conditions and ensure

[1:17:27] the long-term financial health

[1:17:29] of the city. Planning for the

[1:17:31] next budget process, the 2nd

[1:17:33] year update starts now. There

[1:17:34] will be several opportunities

[1:17:36] for input throughout the

[1:17:37] process with two meetings of

[1:17:39] the Finance and budget

[1:17:41] subcommittee, and 2 meetings.

[1:17:43] With city council or receive

[1:17:46] and file item in MAY and the

[1:17:48] fy26 budget adoption in JUNE.

[1:17:49] Thank you, that completes the

[1:17:50] report for this evening and

[1:17:51] we

[1:17:52] re happy to answer any

[1:17:54] questions. Thank you both so

[1:17:55] much. Which is my colleagues

[1:17:57] like to begin comments, and we

[1:17:58] do have one public commenter so

[1:17:59] far, so we take that first, and

[1:17:59] we

[1:18:01] ll come back. Ok, great.

[1:18:03] Kevin Burton, have you signed

[1:18:07] up to speak. Anybody else would

[1:18:09] like to speak? Get your slips

[1:18:12] in Good evening, counsel. I

[1:18:13] m

[1:18:14] Kevin Burton, a resident of

[1:18:15] West Hollywood, and I

[1:18:17] m with a

[1:18:18] group of community emergency

[1:18:20] response team members here in

[1:18:22] West Hollywood. We owe research.

[1:18:24] I know this is about, this is

[1:18:26] an update of the budget. I

[1:18:26] think it

[1:18:28] s a good opportunity

[1:18:29] to start thinking about next

[1:18:30] year

[1:18:31] s budget. I want to

[1:18:35] comment on, um, emergency

[1:18:35] communications, which are

[1:18:38] touched on in the work plan of

[1:18:39] the community safety Department

[1:18:40] where they say they

[1:18:40] re going to

[1:18:43] work on Depending the Nickho

[1:18:45] Program where you can receive

[1:18:47] email from the city or the

[1:18:47] Sheriff

[1:18:48] s Department during an

[1:18:49] emergency. That

[1:18:49] s all very good.

[1:18:50] Uh, that

[1:18:53] s one of many channels

[1:18:55] the city can use, but it was

[1:18:57] obvious listening to a

[1:18:58] discussion among yourselves,

[1:18:59] comments from the public at the

[1:19:01] same occurred at the public

[1:19:03] safety commission. That many

[1:19:05] people in the city did not know

[1:19:08] what was going on the night of

[1:19:11] the Runyon Canyon sunset fire

[1:19:13] and uh just did not pay

[1:19:15] attention to the channels the

[1:19:16] city was using, so I

[1:19:17] d like to

[1:19:19] suggest that the city resume

[1:19:21] our program at used to have,

[1:19:24] perhaps our council member

[1:19:27] Heilman remembers the city had

[1:19:28] emergency sirens in Plumber

[1:19:30] Park, West Hollywood Park, and

[1:19:31] I think those should be

[1:19:33] considered. For next year

[1:19:34] s

[1:19:35] budget and the sirens of

[1:19:37] yesteryear are not those of

[1:19:39] this year, because many cities,

[1:19:41] Sierra Madre Rolling hills,

[1:19:43] especially Beverly Hills, use

[1:19:45] modern sirens which each can be

[1:19:47] individually activated, not

[1:19:50] only do they siren, but they

[1:19:52] broadcast messages. What is the

[1:19:53] siren about? Where can you go

[1:19:56] to get information. So I was

[1:19:56] suggest you seriously consider

[1:20:00] that. And speaking of

[1:20:04] information about emergencies,

[1:20:05] our website WeHhoresearch.Org

[1:20:09] focuses on information. About

[1:20:10] West Hollywood during

[1:20:12] emergencies and also links to

[1:20:13] the city

[1:20:14] s own emergency

[1:20:14] preparedness webpages. Thank

[1:20:19] you. Thank you. Ok, back to us,

[1:20:20] which of my colleagues would

[1:20:21] like to begin? Vice Mayor

[1:20:22] Heilman, looks like you

[1:20:22] re

[1:20:27] preparing. My only comment is

[1:20:30] thank you for the presentation

[1:20:32] and I support the revisions

[1:20:33] that you

[1:20:34] ve made, they all make

[1:20:36] sense to me, and I look forward

[1:20:39] to working with the mayor on

[1:20:41] the upcoming budget. Get

[1:20:42] started very soon. Councillor

[1:20:43] Erickson, did you have comments?

[1:20:44] Yes, thank you so much and

[1:20:47] thank you, Kevin. Um, I, I saw

[1:20:48] that public comment and was

[1:20:49] that you that did that public

[1:20:51] comment? Well, someone did a

[1:20:52] public comment about sirens and

[1:20:53] someone who lives next to

[1:20:54] Plumber Park. I don

[1:20:54] t know if I

[1:20:57] would know a nuke was falling

[1:20:59] or something was happening and

[1:21:01] there would be scared to hide

[1:21:02] underneath a table or something

[1:21:04] like that if I heard a siren,

[1:21:04] but that

[1:21:05] s neither here nor

[1:21:08] there. Um, thank you very much,

[1:21:09] uh, Christine and David and

[1:21:10] staff for putting this together.

[1:21:11] Couple of questions and I

[1:21:12] ll

[1:21:12] get into my comments and I

[1:21:13] ll

[1:21:16] do that. How much um did the

[1:21:19] offset of the business tax, uh.

[1:21:24] Um Application cost or impact

[1:21:24] the city

[1:21:25] s budget. Is there a

[1:21:29] dollar amount? Um, I think I

[1:21:29] don

[1:21:30] t have the exact number

[1:21:32] with me right now. You can, you

[1:21:33] can rough it. We had

[1:21:34] anticipated it was going to be

[1:21:36] about $2 million. We reduced

[1:21:39] the budget for. And we did that

[1:21:39] this last year, but didn

[1:21:40] t we

[1:21:42] do it the following year, the

[1:21:43] previous year to that or some

[1:21:44] version of that. Yeah, we

[1:21:45] ve

[1:21:47] had two rounds of it, one

[1:21:48] initially during covid, the

[1:21:50] early part of covid, and then

[1:21:53] we did it again this past year.

[1:21:53] It

[1:21:54] s businesses were still

[1:21:56] being impacted. Yeah, I think

[1:21:57] definitely our businesses are

[1:21:58] still being impacted in some

[1:21:59] way. I think it

[1:22:00] s a small

[1:22:01] gesture of goodwill that we can

[1:22:03] continue to look at and explore

[1:22:04] if my colleagues would be

[1:22:06] interested in that um to help

[1:22:06] our businesses out. It

[1:22:08] s it. It

[1:22:09] is a nominal amount per

[1:22:10] business and how you

[1:22:10] re

[1:22:11] registering, but every dollar

[1:22:12] helps that we can give to our

[1:22:14] business community. So if

[1:22:15] that

[1:22:16] s something my colleagues

[1:22:17] be willing to explore or I

[1:22:20] guess I can just give direction

[1:22:20] if that

[1:22:22] s possible. I would be

[1:22:22] really interested in seeing

[1:22:25] what that looks like in our

[1:22:26] budget, um, uh, in regards to

[1:22:28] the tax that was passed by the

[1:22:32] voters this year, David, that

[1:22:35] comes into effect when and how

[1:22:36] much is that estimated to bring

[1:22:37] in again? We

[1:22:38] re talking about

[1:22:43] the city tax, um, I do like the

[1:22:46] 1/3 of a 3 cent tax that we

[1:22:48] passed overwhelmingly this past

[1:22:50] year that was whh and it did

[1:22:53] pass in NOVEMBER, and it is a

[1:22:54] contingency tax so it only

[1:22:57] comes into effect if another

[1:23:00] regional entity attempts to

[1:23:01] place a tax measure that

[1:23:02] impacts our local cap, and if

[1:23:04] it did go into effect, we

[1:23:06] estimate it would be somewhere

[1:23:08] in the neighborhood of 5 to

[1:23:09] million dollars per year. Great.

[1:23:11] And are we expecting a ballot

[1:23:14] measure from the county to do

[1:23:16] that, I believe that is up in

[1:23:16] the air. That

[1:23:20] s what. I No,

[1:23:20] it

[1:23:23] s not measure a, but that

[1:23:25] did not, that did not, was not

[1:23:28] subject to the cap, and so it

[1:23:30] did not trigger measured whh,

[1:23:30] the city

[1:23:33] s tax right now that

[1:23:34] taxes is like is active and

[1:23:35] sitting in the wings. We are

[1:23:37] not collecting any revenue

[1:23:38] because there hasn

[1:23:38] t been a

[1:23:41] trigger event. And the soonest

[1:23:43] that could be is 2026. It would

[1:23:44] have to be a next regular

[1:23:50] election. So we wait and see.

[1:23:51] Wonderful, because I was

[1:23:52] wondering about that because I

[1:23:52] didn

[1:23:53] t know if it had triggered

[1:23:54] it yet, so that

[1:23:56] s helpful

[1:23:57] information and clarity in

[1:23:59] regards to the budget

[1:24:01] presentation for how we receive

[1:24:02] it in JUNE. I know there

[1:24:03] s a

[1:24:04] number of infrastructure

[1:24:06] projects that have really high

[1:24:07] dollar amounts associated with

[1:24:10] them. I know that we have a, a

[1:24:13] memo and things about major

[1:24:14] development project updates,

[1:24:15] but I know some of these

[1:24:18] projects are going to cost

[1:24:19] Significant investments in our

[1:24:21] budget in the coming 5,, 1015

[1:24:23] years. If there

[1:24:23] s a way

[1:24:25] specifically that we could see

[1:24:27] how or The city is paying for

[1:24:28] that. I know we

[1:24:28] ve talked about

[1:24:29] bonds and we

[1:24:30] ve done bonds

[1:24:31] before, that would be helpful

[1:24:34] to see how then we can

[1:24:34] prioritize certain

[1:24:36] infrastructure projects for the

[1:24:37] dollar amounts that are there

[1:24:38] specifically I

[1:24:38] m looking at the

[1:24:40] carb grant with some of the

[1:24:41] projects that are happening on

[1:24:43] our streets. I know that helps

[1:24:44] pay for and offset some costs.

[1:24:47] So what is the dollar amount

[1:24:48] there additionally. In the next

[1:24:50] 1 to 2 years, I believe we

[1:24:50] ll

[1:24:53] be dealing with the full

[1:24:53] renovation and amazing

[1:24:55] opportunities that are log

[1:24:57] cabin, and I know our log cabin

[1:24:58] community, um, the West

[1:25:00] Hollywood recovery community

[1:25:01] has been asking about rents,

[1:25:01] and we

[1:25:02] ve spoken about, I

[1:25:02] ve

[1:25:04] spoken with David about this,

[1:25:05] but if we can nail down on how

[1:25:08] we would be able to continue to

[1:25:10] support the recovery community

[1:25:11] with just landing the plane and

[1:25:11] how much they

[1:25:12] re going to have

[1:25:13] to pay every month. I know that

[1:25:14] they

[1:25:15] ve initiated their own

[1:25:16] fundraising efforts, but I

[1:25:17] would like to address that

[1:25:20] sooner rather than. Um just for

[1:25:21] peace of mind with them. I

[1:25:21] ve

[1:25:23] spoken with a number of them

[1:25:24] and I understand those concerns,

[1:25:27] but something along those lines

[1:25:27] with our infrastructure

[1:25:28] projects, and then additionally

[1:25:29] because there was a slide in

[1:25:30] here and I know we

[1:25:33] ve gone down

[1:25:34] this road regarding staffing

[1:25:35] where are and how are we

[1:25:38] supporting some of our most

[1:25:39] critical staffing areas. I know

[1:25:40] that you

[1:25:42] ve added 3 positions

[1:25:44] with the billboards, projects

[1:25:45] which we all approved a couple

[1:25:47] of meetings ago, but there are

[1:25:48] some other departments that I

[1:25:49] think do require some looking

[1:25:50] at. I

[1:25:51] m looking at Nick and

[1:25:52] Jennifer down here, everyone

[1:25:52] s

[1:25:53] favorite floor, the second

[1:25:55] floor, I do think some more

[1:25:56] attention to that. I do know

[1:25:58] Parks and Rec is someone that

[1:26:00] might be needing some more

[1:26:01] staffing opportunities to

[1:26:03] comment on the public

[1:26:05] commenters around the pools, um,

[1:26:07] and then looking at

[1:26:09] administrative or financial aid

[1:26:11] assistance, uh, in on the

[1:26:12] whatever floor the finance

[1:26:13] department is on now, but

[1:26:14] looking at how we

[1:26:15] re continuing

[1:26:16] to engage in our bargaining

[1:26:18] units and our negotiating.

[1:26:20] Opportunities there to help

[1:26:21] support staffing at those

[1:26:22] levels. I know we don

[1:26:22] t give

[1:26:23] direction on staffing. I want

[1:26:25] to make that very clear so

[1:26:25] everyone

[1:26:28] s aware that

[1:26:28] s

[1:26:28] something David we

[1:26:28] ll figure

[1:26:30] out, although we did get into a

[1:26:33] little bit of a gray area with

[1:26:36] directing 3 positions. From the

[1:26:38] da to the city to higher, which

[1:26:39] are now immediately in the next

[1:26:39] year

[1:26:41] s budget, so I think the

[1:26:43] public and the city can

[1:26:45] understand the confusion there

[1:26:45] with if it

[1:26:46] s that easy for us

[1:26:47] to say, you just need more

[1:26:50] staff, so boom boom boom, there

[1:26:51] it is, right? And I

[1:26:51] m not

[1:26:52] saying that we shouldn

[1:26:52] t have

[1:26:54] more staff or need more staff,

[1:26:55] but I want to make sure it

[1:26:56] s

[1:26:57] very clear for the public and

[1:26:58] internally with our staff on

[1:27:00] how these processes work and

[1:27:01] where the need and demand is. I

[1:27:03] have spoken with the bargaining

[1:27:04] units. I hear their concerns,

[1:27:05] and I agree. With them and I

[1:27:07] just want to make sure that

[1:27:07] we

[1:27:08] re addressing the critical

[1:27:09] needs in our in our amazing

[1:27:10] city hall to support the great

[1:27:12] work that you all are doing,

[1:27:15] that we all ask you to do more

[1:27:17] um a lot, and I think about it

[1:27:19] and I look at events and parks

[1:27:19] and everyone, they

[1:27:20] re doing a

[1:27:21] lot more, so those are all my

[1:27:23] comments. I support this item

[1:27:23] and I

[1:27:24] m looking forward to the

[1:27:25] continued work and thank you

[1:27:27] very much. Thank you, and I

[1:27:28] just have one clarification for

[1:27:30] the record that our city clerk

[1:27:32] asked me to make, which is that

[1:27:33] related to the reclassification

[1:27:34] of the traffic management

[1:27:36] program specialist. That is

[1:27:38] correct and the staff report.

[1:27:40] It is being proposed to reclass

[1:27:42] to an assistant engineer, civil

[1:27:44] engineer within the engineering

[1:27:44] division. It

[1:27:46] s not an assistant

[1:27:47] city engineer. So I just wanted

[1:27:48] to clarify that for the record,

[1:27:50] and thank you for your comments.

[1:27:52] I think David did want to

[1:27:53] respond. I was just going to

[1:27:55] add that yes, as part of the

[1:27:57] budget process for the next

[1:27:57] year

[1:27:58] s budget update, we will

[1:28:00] be having discussions with the

[1:28:02] budget subcommittee, um, we

[1:28:04] always have the departments and

[1:28:05] divisions submit budget. Us

[1:28:07] based on their needs. We

[1:28:08] re

[1:28:10] also doing a classification and

[1:28:11] compensation study, um, this

[1:28:14] year right now currently that

[1:28:15] will help inform the city on

[1:28:17] some of those needs, um, so

[1:28:17] there

[1:28:18] ll be lots of

[1:28:19] opportunities over the next

[1:28:22] several months to talk about

[1:28:23] staffing um for the next year

[1:28:24] s

[1:28:25] next fiscal year

[1:28:25] s budget. You

[1:28:26] hear that, Vice Mayor. We have

[1:28:28] lots of work to do.

[1:28:30] Councilmember Meister, so yeah,

[1:28:33] in the same vein I was going to

[1:28:34] ask or say uh how many program

[1:28:36] changes have Occurred since the

[1:28:38] budget was approved that are

[1:28:39] scheduled for the current

[1:28:42] budget year. So how many of our

[1:28:45] initiatives and program changes

[1:28:45] have happened that that would

[1:28:49] affect You know, staffing and

[1:28:51] other things that haven

[1:28:51] t been

[1:28:53] necessarily addressed. And you

[1:28:58] know, in this mid-year budget.

[1:29:02] Well, I can tell you from a, a,

[1:29:04] a budgeting perspective in the

[1:29:05] supplemental expenditures that

[1:29:06] have been approved at the

[1:29:08] council level. It looks like we

[1:29:09] have somewhere in the

[1:29:12] neighborhood of 10 to 12 items

[1:29:13] that came through with budget

[1:29:15] requests, um, and those are

[1:29:16] things that are on the work

[1:29:19] plan and are being implemented,

[1:29:21] um, expeditiously. We also have

[1:29:22] items that come in through

[1:29:24] council and or that are

[1:29:26] adjusted on an ongoing basis

[1:29:28] from our executive team

[1:29:29] prioritization and repriorit.

[1:29:31] Ization and that happens on an

[1:29:32] ongoing basis, but items from

[1:29:34] council, I believe they

[1:29:34] re, um,

[1:29:37] as I noted, there were, uh, I

[1:29:39] think 10 to 12 they

[1:29:40] re noted in

[1:29:40] attachment a. They

[1:29:41] re in one of

[1:29:43] the pages on attachment a, uh,

[1:29:44] and then there

[1:29:45] s also, um,

[1:29:47] There are also other items that

[1:29:48] the city council brings that

[1:29:51] get added to our kind of daily

[1:29:52] and monthly look ahead

[1:29:54] calendars. Yes, so I guess my

[1:29:56] point is just that You know,

[1:29:59] how is it, how is it affecting

[1:30:06] staff. So, you know, 10 to 12.

[1:30:07] Initiatives can be very um you

[1:30:09] know, taxing on staff and or or

[1:30:12] not. Um, so I think that as we

[1:30:15] go into Uh, Our next year

[1:30:15] s

[1:30:18] budget, we have to, we have to

[1:30:19] sort of incorporate that

[1:30:20] possibility. So that we

[1:30:21] re

[1:30:24] ready for it as opposed to You

[1:30:26] know, putting these through and

[1:30:29] then and not having the budget

[1:30:32] for it to increase staff or Or

[1:30:34] whatever else is needed. So

[1:30:34] that

[1:30:36] s, that would be my

[1:30:38] suggestion, um, and then I just

[1:30:40] wanted to say that I agreed

[1:30:43] with Kevin Burton, and I do

[1:30:45] think that public safety

[1:30:48] communications, um, have to be

[1:30:50] looked at and uh I think that

[1:30:52] the emergency sirens and

[1:30:54] broadcasting system would be

[1:30:57] well worth its uh whatever

[1:30:58] investment it would take. Thank

[1:30:59] you, Councilmember.

[1:31:00] Councilmember Hang. Oh, I

[1:31:00] m so

[1:31:02] sorry. Yes, please, so yes, we

[1:31:05] are looking at that. As part of

[1:31:07] our response to the wildfires.

[1:31:09] We have a committee of staff

[1:31:10] looking at that and what we

[1:31:12] were reporting back on that.

[1:31:12] We

[1:31:13] re not looking specifically

[1:31:15] at the sirens at this point,

[1:31:15] but that

[1:31:17] s something that we

[1:31:17] can consider for next year

[1:31:18] s

[1:31:18] budget as we

[1:31:19] re looking at it.

[1:31:21] Um, as far as staffing, I

[1:31:21] m

[1:31:24] sorry, well, I guess staffing

[1:31:26] and priorities and all the new

[1:31:27] initiatives that we do have, um,

[1:31:29] we are looking at coming back

[1:31:32] in APRIL to have a priorities

[1:31:32] discussion. We

[1:31:33] ll get a lot of

[1:31:34] that from the budget

[1:31:36] subcommittee, but I think it is

[1:31:38] important to hear from the full

[1:31:39] council as we

[1:31:40] re developing our

[1:31:42] work plans because there are a

[1:31:43] lot of new initiatives and

[1:31:46] things added during the year,

[1:31:48] so having a discussion like

[1:31:49] with everything incorporated

[1:31:50] together and Including those

[1:31:51] things that have been added

[1:31:52] over the next year, MAY be

[1:31:54] helpful for all of us. Sounds

[1:31:56] great. Thank you, City manager,

[1:32:00] Councillor Hang. Thank you,

[1:32:01] Mayor. Thank you for the report.

[1:32:02] I know that

[1:32:03] s very arduous and

[1:32:04] long, so I really appreciate,

[1:32:06] we all really appreciate the

[1:32:09] numbers, um, speaking of

[1:32:10] critical need of staff, the

[1:32:12] three new hires, the senior

[1:32:14] planner position, the project

[1:32:15] development administrator

[1:32:17] position and the administrative

[1:32:19] specialist for position. Would

[1:32:20] you happen to have an idea of

[1:32:23] when they will be onboarded. As

[1:32:24] they will be revenue generating.

[1:32:31] So this helps to begin the

[1:32:32] recruitment process typically

[1:32:33] recruitments can take anywhere

[1:32:35] from 3 to 4 to 6 months. It

[1:32:40] just depends on the positions,

[1:32:40] but we anticipate towards the

[1:32:43] end of this fiscal year to

[1:32:44] hopefully have those positions

[1:32:47] filled or close to filled so

[1:32:47] they

[1:32:48] ll be ready and up and

[1:32:51] running for the start of the

[1:32:51] next budget cycle which starts

[1:32:55] JULY. Thank you. And with

[1:32:58] regards to the staff, um, does

[1:33:00] The city usually promote from

[1:33:02] within, or are we going to do

[1:33:05] an open requisition for it. It

[1:33:08] depends. We often promote from

[1:33:11] within some of our positions

[1:33:14] require an internal recruitment

[1:33:15] first before external some

[1:33:17] positions do not, and we go

[1:33:18] external, but often higher

[1:33:20] internally for those as well,

[1:33:22] so it really just depends, but

[1:33:23] we always try to promote from

[1:33:26] when then when there are people

[1:33:27] who have the experience and

[1:33:29] expertise for the position.

[1:33:31] Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I

[1:33:32] really appreciate these 3 new

[1:33:34] hires. I think the creation of

[1:33:34] this new billboard unit is

[1:33:36] going to be vital to generating

[1:33:38] more revenue for our city and

[1:33:39] providing more staff to

[1:33:41] actually carry that work out,

[1:33:44] the important work, um, you

[1:33:46] mentioned that the tot tax was

[1:33:48] kind of on a kind of on a dip.

[1:33:48] I know they

[1:33:50] re not here, but on

[1:33:51] a high level, do you know what

[1:33:53] visit West Hollywood is doing

[1:33:55] that hopefully bring those

[1:33:59] numbers back up. That

[1:34:00] s a great

[1:34:02] question. Is Laurayry here?

[1:34:05] Laura, do you, do you feel uh

[1:34:06] able to answer that question,

[1:34:07] or would you like us to, to get

[1:34:08] a response from Visitw West

[1:34:11] Hollywood. Ok, we

[1:34:11] re we

[1:34:11] re

[1:34:13] going to see if they can get us

[1:34:14] a response, but if not, we

[1:34:14] ll

[1:34:15] come back and provide one as a

[1:34:19] memo. Thank you. And then, um,

[1:34:19] when

[1:34:22] s the last time the city

[1:34:23] updated its fee schedules every

[1:34:26] couple of years, every year.

[1:34:35] Every year. Every year. Every

[1:34:35] year there

[1:34:36] s an item we look at

[1:34:38] our fees and there

[1:34:39] s an item

[1:34:41] from staff for any updates, and

[1:34:42] then every and I don

[1:34:43] t know if

[1:34:43] Annie

[1:34:45] s here every 2 to 3 years

[1:34:47] and we actually do a study and

[1:34:49] it MAY be more like 3 to 5

[1:34:51] years we actually do a full

[1:34:52] study where a consultant comes

[1:34:55] in and looks at our fees, but

[1:34:57] generally every year we

[1:34:59] reevaluate internally like the

[1:35:00] actual impacts of certain

[1:35:02] things in the related piece.

[1:35:05] Great. Thank you. Do my

[1:35:06] colleagues have any other

[1:35:07] questions? Is he Vice Mayor

[1:35:09] with a motion on the table. Did

[1:35:11] you have any comments to add

[1:35:13] for? Oh, and we got a second.

[1:35:14] Um, I just wanted to add to, um,

[1:35:15] you know, it

[1:35:16] s a mid-year

[1:35:16] report, and I

[1:35:17] m aware that most

[1:35:19] of the conversation tonight has

[1:35:21] been about staff capacity. I

[1:35:23] know we are great contributors

[1:35:25] to the workload that staff is

[1:35:26] constantly dealing with, so I

[1:35:27] appreciate that and just

[1:35:28] recognize our responsibility as

[1:35:30] a council and making sure that

[1:35:31] the items we

[1:35:32] re putting forward

[1:35:34] to are truly reflective of the

[1:35:34] community

[1:35:36] s needs at this time,

[1:35:38] um, that balance of being a

[1:35:38] counsel that so few are in this

[1:35:41] way that actually bring items

[1:35:42] forward on our agenda, I

[1:35:44] believe, is what has made us

[1:35:45] such an amazing city that

[1:35:46] s so

[1:35:46] responsive, and I

[1:35:46] m deeply

[1:35:47] aware that we can only

[1:35:48] accomplish what we can

[1:35:50] accomplish on behalf of the

[1:35:51] community if staff

[1:35:51] s able to

[1:35:52] accomplish it, so we

[1:35:53] ll be

[1:35:54] recognizing that balance as a

[1:35:56] counsel. I certainly will, as

[1:35:58] somebody who brought multiple

[1:35:59] items together tonight as we

[1:36:01] move forward and just want to

[1:36:02] reflect and honor our role in

[1:36:04] the whole conversation as well,

[1:36:04] so if there

[1:36:05] s nothing else they

[1:36:07] see a motion and a second on

[1:36:08] the table. Vice Mayor Hellman

[1:36:09] and I have acknowledged our

[1:36:11] work to do for the next budget

[1:36:12] cycle. We

[1:36:13] re excited for that

[1:36:16] and my vote is in. Terrific.

[1:36:18] Thank you both for the

[1:36:19] presentation. You too, City Man

[1:36:20] David Wilson, we appreciate it

[1:36:23] and we can move on to item e2.

[1:36:24] Our update on major development

[1:36:30] projects. And I don

[1:36:31] t believe

[1:36:33] we have a staff presentation in

[1:36:34] our full report for this, but,

[1:36:36] um, would you? No? Oh, he

[1:36:36] s got

[1:36:48] some. Ok, great. Maybe we do.

[1:36:48] I

[1:36:50] m happy to provide an

[1:36:51] overview. Sure, ok, good

[1:36:53] evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor,

[1:36:55] counsel Nick Marisic, director

[1:36:56] of community development,

[1:36:57] joined by our assistant

[1:36:58] director Jennifer Alkier and

[1:37:00] our building and safety manager

[1:37:02] Ben Galan. Item e2 is the

[1:37:03] quarterly update on the status

[1:37:05] of major development projects

[1:37:06] around the city back in JUNE of

[1:37:08] 2023, the council requested to

[1:37:09] receive these reports, and

[1:37:10] we

[1:37:11] ve expanded them over time

[1:37:13] to a compass additional project

[1:37:15] types such as those requesting

[1:37:16] approval under the builder

[1:37:16] s

[1:37:17] remedy provisions of state law

[1:37:20] and for the first time with

[1:37:21] this report a list of

[1:37:22] standalone billboard projects

[1:37:24] being proposed under the Sunset

[1:37:26] Arts and advertising program.

[1:37:27] Attachment a covers major

[1:37:29] projects and builders remedy

[1:37:30] projects and attachment b

[1:37:32] includes a map of these

[1:37:34] projects, uh, the additional

[1:37:35] billboard projects are listed

[1:37:36] in attachment c and are shown

[1:37:38] on a map in attachment d. I

[1:37:40] know that the first project

[1:37:42] listed in attachment a, the

[1:37:43] Melrose Triangle project has

[1:37:44] been a long standing item of

[1:37:47] interest, and we do have a

[1:37:48] significant update with this

[1:37:50] report on this project. The

[1:37:52] entitlements for the previously

[1:37:52] approved project have now

[1:37:55] expired. And there is no new

[1:37:57] project that has been proposed

[1:37:59] by the owner for the site at

[1:38:01] this time. Given the excavation

[1:38:02] work that took place on the

[1:38:04] site, the city has required the

[1:38:06] applicant to secure the

[1:38:08] necessary permits to backfill

[1:38:09] the excavated area and to

[1:38:10] restore the site in a timely

[1:38:16] manner. Part of the permitting

[1:38:18] process requires a community

[1:38:19] preconstruction community

[1:38:21] meetings to be held, and the

[1:38:21] applicant we

[1:38:23] ve been informed

[1:38:24] has been scheduled that meeting

[1:38:27] for a Wednesday, FEBRUARY 26th

[1:38:32] at 10 A.M., 3 P.M., and 6:30

[1:38:34] P.M. Via Zoom, and they, uh,

[1:38:34] the additional information

[1:38:37] including the Zoom meeting

[1:38:38] instructions and access

[1:38:41] information has been sent out

[1:38:41] to adjacent businesses and

[1:38:44] residents within 200 ft. It

[1:38:45] also can be found on a website

[1:38:50] that the owner has set up,

[1:38:52] which is

[1:38:54] www.Melrose-triangle.Com.

[1:38:54] That

[1:38:55] s Melrose triangle.Com and

[1:38:57] the owner has also set up an

[1:39:00] email address, Melrose

[1:39:00] triangle@gmail.Com where

[1:39:01] community members can reach out

[1:39:03] if they have questions and just

[1:39:05] showing here a copy of the

[1:39:06] notice which they provided to

[1:39:08] us at the end of last week. Um,

[1:39:09] finally, I would like to note

[1:39:10] that we

[1:39:11] ve submitted a

[1:39:11] memorandum this afternoon with

[1:39:13] updated in additional

[1:39:14] information for attachments a

[1:39:15] and c, and this is available

[1:39:17] for the public through the

[1:39:18] posted online agenda, and thank

[1:39:19] you to the city clerk team for

[1:39:22] their assistance in getting

[1:39:23] that distributed this afternoon.

[1:39:23] The staff

[1:39:24] s recommendation is

[1:39:25] for the council to receive and

[1:39:26] file this report. We

[1:39:26] re

[1:39:27] available to answer any

[1:39:29] questions. Thank you. Thank you,

[1:39:30] Councilmemb Erickson is ready

[1:39:34] to go. Thank you. Um, a couple

[1:39:35] of items around Melrose

[1:39:38] Triangle. Um, do you know

[1:39:40] specifically how long it would

[1:39:41] be so the community meetings

[1:39:44] happen. And then what is it a

[1:39:48] rough timeline. So the

[1:39:50] community noticed that they

[1:39:50] ve

[1:39:52] distributed now or are

[1:39:52] distributings says, quote, It

[1:39:54] is anticipated that it will

[1:39:56] take between 6 and 9 months to

[1:39:58] fill the hole depending on

[1:40:00] weather conditions and

[1:40:01] availability of film materials.

[1:40:03] Ok, so I have 2 questions to go

[1:40:04] along with that. Now I had one

[1:40:07] actually, but now 2.1. Are we

[1:40:08] going to be making sure that

[1:40:10] the dirt that they bring in is

[1:40:11] tested to make sure it

[1:40:13] s not

[1:40:16] coming from any potential toxic

[1:40:18] or environmentally unsafe area.

[1:40:20] I have been asked by some

[1:40:20] community members. There

[1:40:21] s a

[1:40:22] lot of dirt out there right now

[1:40:25] and some of that dirt might be

[1:40:27] be removed from areas that were

[1:40:28] victims of fires and who knows

[1:40:30] what could be going on, but is

[1:40:31] there a testing requirement to

[1:40:33] that, and if not, I want to

[1:40:35] make sure that we add that to

[1:40:36] whatever goes in there because

[1:40:36] I don

[1:40:39] t want what. Anyways, you

[1:40:40] get where I

[1:40:40] m going to, is

[1:40:43] there a way in which we can

[1:40:44] collect on any financial bond

[1:40:46] or anything that we

[1:40:46] ve had

[1:40:47] there in with them if we didn

[1:40:47] t

[1:40:50] have one, I understand, but um

[1:40:52] 6 to 9 months is unacceptable

[1:40:54] in my opinion. Is there an

[1:40:55] expedited timeline that we can

[1:40:58] give to them, I mean, I know

[1:40:59] this seems like reductionist

[1:41:01] and I understand I don

[1:41:01] t have a

[1:41:03] background and you know filling

[1:41:05] holes in dirt, but like I did

[1:41:07] grow up in the Midwest like how

[1:41:08] long does it take to fill a

[1:41:11] with dirt, I guess, really. I,

[1:41:12] I, I mean, I don

[1:41:13] t mean to be

[1:41:15] like joking about it, but like

[1:41:16] my my niece has filled a hole

[1:41:17] that she

[1:41:18] s built in the

[1:41:19] backyard quicker than I think

[1:41:21] this. Possibility. I I just

[1:41:22] don

[1:41:24] t get it. I

[1:41:25] ll, I

[1:41:25] ll ask

[1:41:27] Ben to respond to some of those

[1:41:28] questions. I will say that we

[1:41:29] are anticipating a significant

[1:41:32] number of truck trips required

[1:41:34] in order to fully refill the

[1:41:35] excavated area and Ben can

[1:41:37] speak to that more. Sure, thank

[1:41:39] you for the question,

[1:41:41] COUNCILMAN Erickson. Uh, first

[1:41:43] question was regarding

[1:41:44] certification of the infill, so

[1:41:47] both in the building code and

[1:41:48] in our requests to the

[1:41:50] developer, uh, the info does

[1:41:52] have to be certified on site

[1:41:53] before it gets shipped to West

[1:41:54] Hollywood. So that

[1:41:54] s already in

[1:41:57] play. And regarding the second

[1:41:58] question, it was regarding how

[1:41:59] long it

[1:42:00] s going to take to fill

[1:42:05] the hole, so That holds about

[1:42:07] 270,000 cubic feet and each

[1:42:08] dump truck is about 10 cubic

[1:42:09] feet, so we

[1:42:11] re going to have

[1:42:12] about 27,000 trucks coming in

[1:42:16] to infill that that hole, so,

[1:42:20] um, again, as uh Director Nick

[1:42:24] mentioned, it all depends uh

[1:42:24] there

[1:42:24] s there

[1:42:25] s a few factors

[1:42:27] that play into it, um,

[1:42:27] obviously the weather, they

[1:42:27] re

[1:42:29] not going to be moving dirt in

[1:42:30] there when it

[1:42:33] s raining, um,

[1:42:35] and uh also it

[1:42:35] s availability

[1:42:36] of infill, um. They

[1:42:37] re going to

[1:42:39] have to be going outside of the

[1:42:40] county to to find material to

[1:42:43] bring that in. So, uh, the

[1:42:44] developer has identified 3

[1:42:44] sites where they

[1:42:47] re going to be

[1:42:47] bringing material into the city.

[1:42:50] So, again, it

[1:42:51] s between 6 and 9

[1:42:53] months. Great. Is there a

[1:42:54] deadline that we can place on

[1:42:55] there as a city to say if it

[1:42:55] s

[1:42:58] not done by DECEMBER 30th, 2025,

[1:43:00] you now have to pay $10,000 a

[1:43:05] day or anything like that. I

[1:43:05] mean, they don

[1:43:07] t have

[1:43:09] entitlements on the property

[1:43:10] anymore and um is there any

[1:43:11] type of financial penalty that

[1:43:12] we can apply to them. We

[1:43:13] ve

[1:43:14] been working with the city

[1:43:15] attorney

[1:43:16] s office to initiate

[1:43:18] this process, so I would um

[1:43:21] defer to her. I would, I would

[1:43:23] defer to attorney advice on any

[1:43:25] possible options with respect

[1:43:27] to that. Understood the urgency

[1:43:29] to get this filled as much as

[1:43:29] possible. We

[1:43:31] ve, you know, sent

[1:43:33] them letters. We have them in

[1:43:33] the plan check process just to

[1:43:35] get permits to be able to

[1:43:37] do the film. So it

[1:43:37] s a long

[1:43:39] complicated process, and we

[1:43:40] will put whatever pressures we

[1:43:42] can on them both through our

[1:43:43] legal remedies and through our

[1:43:44] permits that we can to get this

[1:43:46] done as quickly as possible. I

[1:43:47] mean, I just think that every

[1:43:50] tool should be on the table

[1:43:51] with this aspect, I think, you

[1:43:54] know, I was councilmember,

[1:43:54] land

[1:43:56] s deputy when this project

[1:43:58] first was going through

[1:43:59] Councilmember Meister, I think

[1:43:59] you weren

[1:44:00] t on the council yet.

[1:44:02] We, I know Vice Mayor Heilman

[1:44:05] was, but you know, this. Been

[1:44:07] reiteration after iteration. So

[1:44:09] if it is legally feasible and

[1:44:10] our my colleagues agree, I

[1:44:12] would like to implement or look

[1:44:13] at some type of penalty

[1:44:16] structure for not getting it

[1:44:19] done in 9 months max, 6 months

[1:44:19] at the best. I don

[1:44:20] t know what

[1:44:21] those possibilities are. Is

[1:44:23] there a bond on this project?

[1:44:26] Yeah What are the requirements

[1:44:27] for us to collect? I don

[1:44:27] t

[1:44:29] think the amount of the bond

[1:44:32] was, it was lower than the cost

[1:44:34] to fill the hole. It was, it

[1:44:35] was much less than the actual

[1:44:39] cost to fill the hole, um. Yeah,

[1:44:40] so I did that

[1:44:41] s just my only

[1:44:42] comment on this item and that

[1:44:42] s

[1:44:43] all thank you very much. Thank

[1:44:45] you, Councilor Meister. Thank

[1:44:48] you, Mayor. Did you say 27,000

[1:44:53] trucks. Yes. Oh Approximately,

[1:44:57] yes, trucks, trips are trucks

[1:44:59] Trips are, yeah, each, each

[1:45:05] truck is a trip. 27,000 and and

[1:45:06] did it take 27,000 trips to get

[1:45:11] the Get it out, so That

[1:45:12] s not

[1:45:13] really included in in an

[1:45:17] environmental Impact Is there,

[1:45:19] was that, was there an

[1:45:20] environmental impact report on

[1:45:23] this? There was for the

[1:45:24] original project. No, I

[1:45:25] understand that. I

[1:45:26] m saying

[1:45:29] that for this specifically.

[1:45:31] This is a slightly different

[1:45:31] process. It

[1:45:33] s somewhat of an

[1:45:34] enforcement measure to get them

[1:45:37] to fix a condition that they

[1:45:37] created, so it

[1:45:38] s not, it

[1:45:38] s

[1:45:39] going through a building permit

[1:45:40] process, but it

[1:45:42] s not going

[1:45:44] through a normal discretionary

[1:45:45] planning review process because

[1:45:45] it

[1:45:46] s essentially an enforcement

[1:45:47] matter to get them to fix it,

[1:45:48] but shouldn

[1:45:49] t there be

[1:45:52] mitigation? I mean, if there

[1:45:55] are environmental impacts from

[1:45:56] 27,000 trips that hasn

[1:45:56] t been

[1:45:57] accounted for in the original

[1:46:05] eir. Hellman. Well, I, I

[1:46:08] suspect that there were, um,

[1:46:10] the study of all of the

[1:46:11] construction trucks that would

[1:46:14] be going there if it had been

[1:46:15] built, so I

[1:46:17] m sure that the eir

[1:46:19] considered not only all of the

[1:46:21] trucks that were going to be

[1:46:23] there for the demolition, but

[1:46:25] then all of the trucks to pour

[1:46:27] concrete, etc. So I

[1:46:29] m sure the

[1:46:31] eir studied probably well more

[1:46:35] impacts than this is. Creating.

[1:46:39] Thank you. Um, And then, um,

[1:46:41] Did you say that it was 200 ft

[1:46:46] for the notice. Or 500 ft. I

[1:46:46] believe it

[1:46:48] s 200 ft. That was

[1:46:52] what was given to us from the

[1:46:53] owner representative when we

[1:46:54] received the notice, but I

[1:46:55] would defer to our colleagues

[1:46:58] in neighborhood and business

[1:46:59] safety who enforced this

[1:47:00] provision of the code if

[1:47:00] there

[1:47:01] s a question as to

[1:47:02] because shouldn

[1:47:04] t it be 500 ft

[1:47:04] if it

[1:47:08] s 500 ft. For notice of a

[1:47:10] of anything. You know, uh, uh,

[1:47:14] uh, commission meeting, um, it

[1:47:17] seems to me 200 ft barely gets

[1:47:20] into onto Rangeley. I mean

[1:47:21] that

[1:47:22] s not very, how many

[1:47:25] people were actually noticed.

[1:47:28] Or being noticed maybe we could

[1:47:31] ask Vito. At a Midas to join us

[1:47:32] here for that question. Thank

[1:47:35] you. And to confirm the notice

[1:47:37] I received included the 200 ft,

[1:47:43] not 500. Uh, thank you, um.

[1:47:45] Kilmer Meister staff is happy

[1:47:47] to double check the noticing

[1:47:50] that was done for the project.

[1:47:52] Next Wednesday is the first

[1:47:53] neighborhood outreach meeting

[1:47:55] and the notices and postcards

[1:47:56] are being mailed out. I

[1:47:56] m

[1:47:59] trying to confirm if it was

[1:48:02] given the size of the project

[1:48:03] that we increased the

[1:48:04] notification, but we

[1:48:04] ll confirm

[1:48:07] that for you, ok, because when

[1:48:08] the project went before council,

[1:48:10] it was at least a 500 ft notice.

[1:48:12] 200 ft doesn

[1:48:13] t even get you

[1:48:16] barely across Santa Monica

[1:48:18] Boulevard to the Norma triangle

[1:48:20] or uh that area. So I just

[1:48:23] think that it should be a 500

[1:48:24] ft notice for this because

[1:48:25] otherwise residents aren

[1:48:25] t even

[1:48:27] going to get it. Understood. So,

[1:48:30] and I also would ask that uh

[1:48:33] that staff, please reach out to,

[1:48:35] you know, West Hollywood, West

[1:48:40] Residents Association, uh, and,

[1:48:40] uh, the Norma Triangle to let

[1:48:43] them know. In case they haven

[1:48:43] t

[1:48:44] already seen or heard, you know,

[1:48:47] when these meetings are

[1:48:48] happening because 27,000 trips

[1:48:52] are an awful lot of trips, um,

[1:48:55] And then, uh, separate from the

[1:48:56] Melrose Triangle. Uh, so thank

[1:48:58] you for that. Separate from the

[1:49:00] Melrose Triangle, I just, I, I

[1:49:02] had asked to have the developer

[1:49:05] names, uh, included in our, in

[1:49:08] this, in this report and I

[1:49:09] specifically asked for it

[1:49:11] because, as you know, there are

[1:49:14] several There are some

[1:49:16] developers that have multiple

[1:49:18] projects, and I think it

[1:49:18] s

[1:49:21] important for the public and

[1:49:24] for counsel to, uh, to be aware

[1:49:26] of that. So when we look at

[1:49:29] these and we see that projects

[1:49:33] are sitting there for 123, 12

[1:49:36] years, um, that, that when they

[1:49:38] come back to us to ask for a

[1:49:41] development agreement or a

[1:49:41] public benefits project, uh,

[1:49:44] where they

[1:49:44] re getting more and

[1:49:47] more and more over and above

[1:49:49] our zoning ordinance that we

[1:49:52] consider You know, it

[1:49:52] s

[1:49:53] discretionary that we consider,

[1:49:54] are they ever going to build

[1:49:57] anything? And so I think it

[1:49:57] s

[1:49:58] really important. That

[1:49:58] s why,

[1:49:59] and I thank you for adding the

[1:50:00] names. The one thing I would

[1:50:02] say though is there are a

[1:50:04] couple that are like, um, you

[1:50:07] know,,,, 8920 Sunset Boulevard

[1:50:08] llc and it

[1:50:10] s not really the

[1:50:11] owners or the developer

[1:50:12] s name,

[1:50:13] and this was something that I

[1:50:16] talked to John Kiho about, uh,

[1:50:18] the former community

[1:50:19] development director or

[1:50:21] developer whatever services

[1:50:23] development services, uh, that,

[1:50:25] that they would that they would

[1:50:28] collect the. Actual names of

[1:50:30] the developer versus just llc

[1:50:31] because that doesn

[1:50:32] t really

[1:50:37] tell us anything because You

[1:50:39] know,, 8500 whllc, the same

[1:50:41] developer could be 80, you know,

[1:50:41] I

[1:50:43] m just making this up, but

[1:50:45] 8800, you know, Santa Monica

[1:50:46] Boulevard llc, and we wouldn

[1:50:46] t

[1:50:49] know. So I think it

[1:50:49] s important

[1:50:51] for us to have the actual

[1:50:51] developer

[1:50:53] s name, in addition

[1:50:55] to the whatever the official

[1:50:58] name is, um, and then Um,

[1:51:01] lastly, I would like to, um,

[1:51:03] Ask about construction art

[1:51:04] fencing, what

[1:51:04] s happening with

[1:51:06] that? There are certain

[1:51:08] projects that are sitting there

[1:51:09] and not being developed even

[1:51:11] though they have their

[1:51:13] entitlements, um, But they

[1:51:14] don

[1:51:15] t have their construction

[1:51:17] art fencing yet. So, um, and

[1:51:20] they, and just by the way, the

[1:51:21] the Melrose Triangle

[1:51:23] construction art fencing is not

[1:51:24] being maintained. Um, but I

[1:51:26] know that there are other

[1:51:27] projects that have started, you

[1:51:30] know, demolition, etc. I think

[1:51:32] I think actually the one on La

[1:51:33] Cieca and Santa Monica

[1:51:34] Boulevard. I don

[1:51:35] t think I

[1:51:35] ve

[1:51:36] seen construction art fencing,

[1:51:40] and they have They have started

[1:51:43] work there, um, So I think it

[1:51:43] s

[1:51:45] important that we, uh, you know,

[1:51:47] follow up on that construction

[1:51:49] art fencing and make sure that

[1:51:50] even though they

[1:51:50] re doing

[1:51:52] nothing that, you know, that we

[1:51:54] get our construction on fences.

[1:51:56] Thank you. Thank you,

[1:51:57] Councilmember Meister. Do, are

[1:51:59] there any other comments or

[1:51:59] questions from my colleagues,

[1:52:03] Vice Mayor Hellman. Thank you

[1:52:07] for Thank you for the update on

[1:52:08] the projects. I really

[1:52:12] appreciate it. Um. I, I share

[1:52:13] some of the frustration. I know

[1:52:15] you have frustration, we have

[1:52:17] frustration that some of these

[1:52:17] projects haven

[1:52:20] t been built, um,

[1:52:22] obviously the financial

[1:52:23] conditions have changed

[1:52:24] interest rates have changed

[1:52:27] since some of these projects

[1:52:29] were approved, um, market

[1:52:30] conditions and market demand

[1:52:32] has changed and and that

[1:52:33] s, um,

[1:52:34] so it

[1:52:35] s understandable that

[1:52:36] sometimes projects don

[1:52:36] t go

[1:52:41] forward. But I also think that

[1:52:43] um we need to have some kind of

[1:52:46] strategy as a city, and I think

[1:52:48] maybe, um, you know, your, your

[1:52:52] role is really to process the

[1:52:53] applications and evaluate them,

[1:52:56] and maybe we need to be looking

[1:52:58] at bringing in somebody, um,

[1:53:02] who has, um, some real estate

[1:53:04] development expertise who can,

[1:53:06] uh, from a city standpoint,

[1:53:10] help us figure out uh How to

[1:53:12] navigate these challenges, um,

[1:53:14] You know, turning to the

[1:53:19] Melrose Triangle, I, I hear my

[1:53:20] colleagues very frustrated and,

[1:53:23] but I also know that I don

[1:53:23] t

[1:53:25] really want the hole filled in.

[1:53:29] I want the project built, um,

[1:53:29] and it

[1:53:30] s not likely going to be

[1:53:32] built. Obviously the permits

[1:53:35] have lapsed, um. So that means

[1:53:37] that the hole does need to be

[1:53:38] filled in until they figure out

[1:53:38] what

[1:53:40] s going to be done. I

[1:53:40] don

[1:53:42] t want to make it more

[1:53:44] onerous for them, and, you know,

[1:53:48] we can widen the, the, um,

[1:53:48] noticing to the neighborhood,

[1:53:50] but the neighbors are the ones

[1:53:52] saying we want this hole filled

[1:53:52] in. It

[1:53:53] s ugly, it

[1:53:53] s, it

[1:53:54] s

[1:53:55] terrible. It

[1:53:57] s an eyesore, so

[1:53:57] I

[1:53:59] m not, I think sometimes

[1:53:59] we

[1:54:01] re being a little bit

[1:54:03] inconsistent in terms of how we

[1:54:06] deal with these. Situations. I,

[1:54:09] I do think we also have to be

[1:54:13] realistic that some of our own

[1:54:15] actions have impacted the

[1:54:17] ability of some projects to

[1:54:20] move forward, um. You know, I,

[1:54:20] I

[1:54:23] ve heard from some people

[1:54:26] that have hotel projects that

[1:54:28] getting hoteliers to sign off

[1:54:31] on it is challenging because of

[1:54:34] the the wage ordinance and

[1:54:36] because of the demand and in

[1:54:40] this area. So It might be

[1:54:42] helpful for us as some of these

[1:54:45] projects are being looked at to,

[1:54:47] to have somebody who can come

[1:54:49] in and provide us and provide

[1:54:54] our staff with some Expertise

[1:54:56] almost from a development from

[1:54:57] a developer

[1:54:59] s, uh, viewpoint as

[1:55:01] opposed to from the staff

[1:55:01] s

[1:55:02] viewpoint, uh, and I don

[1:55:02] t know

[1:55:04] who that person would be or who

[1:55:07] that entity would be, but I, I

[1:55:10] just think, I think we all want

[1:55:12] these projects to get built, uh,

[1:55:13] at least the ones we voted for,

[1:55:15] the ones we voted against, we

[1:55:17] might be happy they aren

[1:55:18] t

[1:55:18] aren

[1:55:20] t built, but I, I, I worry

[1:55:24] that that, uh, obviously, I

[1:55:26] think we get played sometimes

[1:55:29] by developers. I think we, you

[1:55:31] know, and I think sometimes

[1:55:33] they come forward with projects

[1:55:36] to get approval. And they don

[1:55:36] t

[1:55:37] know themselves whether they

[1:55:38] can actually be built because

[1:55:38] they

[1:55:40] re kind of doing it on

[1:55:44] spec, hoping that some, uh,

[1:55:45] hotel or some housing developer

[1:55:48] we partner with them. So anyway,

[1:55:51] those are my comments, but I, I

[1:55:52] really appreciate the update.

[1:55:54] It gives us a greater awareness

[1:55:54] of where we

[1:55:56] re at with all

[1:55:57] these projects, Councilmember

[1:55:59] Erickson. Yes, thank you so

[1:56:01] much. I, I agree with what Vice

[1:56:03] Mayor Heilman was saying, and

[1:56:05] and then on the flip side is

[1:56:06] why aren

[1:56:07] t certain buildings

[1:56:08] that are approved being

[1:56:11] demolished. I look at Robertson

[1:56:12] Lane continuing to be an

[1:56:13] eyesore, the old buildings that

[1:56:15] are just going to be demolished

[1:56:17] anyways, and I

[1:56:17] m wondering why

[1:56:19] those buildings are just still

[1:56:21] even there. Why haven

[1:56:21] t we

[1:56:23] demolished them? We passed an

[1:56:25] ordinance. I mean, my

[1:56:26] understanding is they meet all

[1:56:27] the requirements. Maybe I

[1:56:27] m not

[1:56:29] hearing. Other sides of the

[1:56:30] story, but those buildings

[1:56:31] should just be demolished and

[1:56:33] we could add temporary parking

[1:56:35] for the businesses in that

[1:56:36] district at this time being,

[1:56:38] which I believe the developer

[1:56:42] has offered to do to help

[1:56:44] offset that the building not

[1:56:45] being built yet, I think

[1:56:46] personally some of these

[1:56:47] buildings might not want to

[1:56:48] fill in the hole. I totally

[1:56:51] understand um. You know,

[1:56:52] opening up Pandora

[1:56:53] s box there

[1:56:54] with having to redo the whole

[1:56:56] project, but there are projects

[1:56:56] we

[1:56:57] re waiting on and I won

[1:56:58] t go

[1:57:00] into depth anymore about about

[1:57:01] them, but why isn

[1:57:02] t or why

[1:57:03] haven

[1:57:06] t, uh, the items along

[1:57:07] Robertson between Melrose and

[1:57:08] Santa Monica been demolished

[1:57:09] yet. I know the developers

[1:57:13] requested it. I believe with

[1:57:15] respect to that issue, I don

[1:57:15] t

[1:57:16] think we

[1:57:18] ve received a new

[1:57:20] request from the property owner

[1:57:21] since the council enacted those

[1:57:24] changes, so if they sent you a

[1:57:25] request tomorrow to demolish

[1:57:27] the property. Would you be ok

[1:57:29] with that? We would it

[1:57:30] consistent with the code as it

[1:57:33] exists now. Yes, thank you. And

[1:57:35] they would have to improve the

[1:57:36] property for parking or

[1:57:37] something they couldn

[1:57:37] t just

[1:57:39] put dirt, yeah, no, I

[1:57:40] understand there was a dirt

[1:57:41] conversation before, so I get

[1:57:44] that. And I see I would never

[1:57:45] go against Jennifer. I see her

[1:57:47] shaking her head, but these are

[1:57:48] the types of things where I

[1:57:50] think we could add some

[1:57:51] benefits to the community,

[1:57:52] parking, whatever it needs to

[1:57:55] be there, space for pride, once,

[1:57:56] uh, some of these bigger

[1:57:58] projects happen in the next few

[1:58:01] years, so look for that email.

[1:58:02] Thank you, uh, Councillor Mur

[1:58:08] Hang. Thank you, Mayor. Um,

[1:58:11] just, I just had one. Quick

[1:58:14] question, uh, for 9200 has, I

[1:58:15] know that since the last

[1:58:17] council meeting we gave clear

[1:58:19] direction to bring it back to

[1:58:20] the planning commission and to

[1:58:23] back to the council, um. Do we

[1:58:24] have any movement with the

[1:58:26] developer? Are they keeping

[1:58:29] that design or Yes, we

[1:58:29] ve had

[1:58:30] conversations with them, and

[1:58:30] they

[1:58:31] re coming back with a

[1:58:34] revised design. It was very

[1:58:37] exciting. Thank you. Ok, are

[1:58:40] there any other comments,

[1:58:41] questions, terrific. Um, yeah,

[1:58:42] that 27,000 trucks number will

[1:58:44] be sitting in my head all night,

[1:58:45] um, but thank you all so much

[1:58:47] for your work on these updates.

[1:58:51] I guess I do have questions and

[1:58:51] um and understand there

[1:58:51] s

[1:58:54] conversations going about our

[1:58:54] inclusionary zoning ordinance

[1:58:56] changes to that. I

[1:58:57] m concerned

[1:58:57] that it

[1:58:58] s an amazing program

[1:58:58] and there

[1:58:59] s costs that get

[1:59:00] added there. I don

[1:59:01] t know how

[1:59:02] realistic that slice of the

[1:59:05] cost pie is in terms of all the

[1:59:06] other costs underground parking

[1:59:07] when we build. Underground I

[1:59:08] know costs rise and if we

[1:59:08] re

[1:59:10] filling holes in the long run

[1:59:11] anyhow, so I just, you know,

[1:59:12] have some, so many different

[1:59:13] things on my mind about what

[1:59:14] else is contributing to costs,

[1:59:15] and if we

[1:59:16] re having honest

[1:59:17] conversations about that,

[1:59:17] there

[1:59:18] s probably a lot of

[1:59:19] things that we need to be

[1:59:20] looking at, um, but that

[1:59:20] s not

[1:59:20] for now, it

[1:59:22] s for later. I

[1:59:23] appreciate this conversation

[1:59:24] and thank you all. I think

[1:59:24] we

[1:59:25] re all set. We can move

[1:59:26] forward and there

[1:59:26] s no need for

[1:59:28] direction, just lots of

[1:59:30] conversation, so thank you. Um.

[1:59:33] We can move on to a new

[1:59:37] business item f1. Right? Yes. A

[1:59:38] request for a commitment letter

[1:59:39] for a ground lease and

[1:59:41] authorization to issue a loan

[1:59:42] from the Affordable Housing

[1:59:44] Trust Fund in the amount of $1

[1:59:46] million for development of an

[1:59:47] affordable housing project at

[1:59:50] 1047, 1057 Crescent Heights

[1:59:52] Boulevard and $200,000 for

[1:59:54] associated plan check fees.

[1:59:57] Perfect timing. Good evening

[1:59:58] council members. I have a brief

[1:59:59] presentation if you want it or

[2:00:01] if we have questions, I

[2:00:01] m I

[2:00:01] m

[2:00:02] seeing we

[2:00:03] ve got one comment.

[2:00:05] Ok, and I think we also have

[2:00:10] some public speakers maybe So

[2:00:12] no presentation, just ok. I

[2:00:14] think we can allow our public

[2:00:15] speaker, public comment speaker

[2:00:17] to come up first, Tara

[2:00:17] Barasskis, so I sing that?

[2:00:20] Sorry. Thank you for coming out

[2:00:28] tonight. Good evening, Mayor

[2:00:29] Byers and members of the city

[2:00:31] council. My name is Tara

[2:00:31] Barauskas. I

[2:00:33] m the executive

[2:00:34] director of Community Corp.

[2:00:34] We

[2:00:36] re very excited to be here,

[2:00:37] um, to get started with the

[2:00:39] first step in this exciting

[2:00:41] affordable housing project at

[2:00:43] 10:47 at 10:57 Crescent Heights

[2:00:44] Boulevard. So just to give you

[2:00:46] a quick update, we

[2:00:46] ve currently

[2:00:48] started working on our

[2:00:50] conceptual drawings with our

[2:00:52] architect Koenige, uh,

[2:00:53] Eisenberg architects and, um,

[2:00:54] we will be conducting our

[2:00:56] community outreach in the

[2:00:57] coming months. Um, so with that,

[2:00:57] We

[2:00:58] re hoping that you

[2:00:58] ll be

[2:01:01] supportive of this, um, ground

[2:01:02] lease and loan commitments so

[2:01:03] that we can keep our project

[2:01:04] moving. So we

[2:01:05] re happy to

[2:01:05] answer any questions you might

[2:01:08] have. Thank you so much,

[2:01:09] Councillorm Meister, I believe

[2:01:10] you had one comment. Yeah, I

[2:01:10] don

[2:01:10] t, I don

[2:01:11] t know if it

[2:01:11] s a

[2:01:13] question. I, I just want to

[2:01:15] make sure that we have

[2:01:16] something in the commitment

[2:01:17] letter like we

[2:01:18] ve done in the

[2:01:20] past that there is

[2:01:22] collaboration and communication

[2:01:25] with our, um, with that, with

[2:01:29] Udas with our urban design and

[2:01:30] architecture studio because

[2:01:32] especially because this is our

[2:01:32] property. It

[2:01:33] s not like it

[2:01:33] s

[2:01:34] another, you know, it

[2:01:34] s

[2:01:35] somebody else

[2:01:36] s property, um, I

[2:01:37] would like to see that in the

[2:01:38] letter, so it

[2:01:39] s in Section 7 of

[2:01:40] the commitment letter. It

[2:01:40] s the

[2:01:42] same language, so it

[2:01:42] s

[2:01:43] architecture design section on

[2:01:45] page of the commitment letter,

[2:01:47] which is attachment b. It

[2:01:47] s

[2:01:48] page, it

[2:01:49] s the 3rd page, and

[2:01:49] it

[2:01:51] s the same language that

[2:01:51] we

[2:01:52] ve refined. We pulled it

[2:01:54] from our last project, and I

[2:01:55] know that specifically we did,

[2:01:56] we went line by line with the

[2:01:58] city attorney and I went with

[2:01:59] you and we pulled the same

[2:02:01] language, so so long as you

[2:02:01] re

[2:02:02] comfortable with that and

[2:02:02] they

[2:02:03] ve reviewed this as well,

[2:02:05] and so at this point in time

[2:02:05] everybody

[2:02:06] s comfortable with

[2:02:09] Section 7. Thank you so much.

[2:02:10] Thank you so much. I think

[2:02:10] we

[2:02:12] re all set on this item then

[2:02:12] tonight we

[2:02:15] ll, thank you. All

[2:02:28] right, thank you. Fantastic.

[2:02:30] Item f2, f3, f4 went to consent.

[2:02:32] . 0, f5 did as well. Wow, I

[2:02:33] think we

[2:02:34] re on item f6. We do

[2:02:36] have one public commentary. I

[2:02:37] know you had questions,

[2:02:40] comments, vice mayor. I believe

[2:02:40] she

[2:02:41] s left. She did say it in

[2:02:43] her comments earlier. So we

[2:02:43] ll

[2:02:45] start with you, Vice Mayor. I

[2:02:46] can present if you

[2:02:46] d like, no,

[2:02:48] no, thank you for bringing this

[2:02:50] forward. I think it

[2:02:51] s a great

[2:02:54] suggestion and I just have

[2:02:57] concerns about how the Weeho

[2:03:00] loves locals program, um, Uh,

[2:03:03] existed or how it was

[2:03:04] implemented last time. Last

[2:03:08] time we got a poster, postcard

[2:03:10] in the mail with no really

[2:03:12] indication of who it was coming

[2:03:15] from or what it was about and

[2:03:17] it was just Weeho loves local

[2:03:20] go on a website. I just think

[2:03:20] it wasn

[2:03:23] t very effective in

[2:03:26] terms of getting people to

[2:03:28] patronize local businesses, so

[2:03:31] I just wanted to, to Uh,

[2:03:32] emphasize that, and I

[2:03:33] m hoping

[2:03:35] that as this program is

[2:03:36] implemented, it

[2:03:37] ll be

[2:03:39] implemented in a much different

[2:03:43] way where we actually are, um,

[2:03:43] communicating with our

[2:03:46] residents in a way that will

[2:03:48] encourage them to patronize

[2:03:49] local businesses as opposed to

[2:03:51] what was done last time, which,

[2:03:54] again, and and I heard from a

[2:03:56] number of businesses who said

[2:03:58] they got no business whatsoever

[2:03:59] from it. They, they didn

[2:03:59] t even

[2:04:01] know about. The program. So I

[2:04:02] appreciate that feedback.

[2:04:03] That

[2:04:04] s great. Councilor Meister,

[2:04:05] yeah, I, I would, I would

[2:04:09] wonder. If we were, if we were

[2:04:11] able to figure out metrics for

[2:04:13] that last program so that we

[2:04:15] could see how it, if it did

[2:04:17] increase or not increase

[2:04:18] business. I think that would be

[2:04:19] important and it would be

[2:04:21] important for this as well. Um,

[2:04:24] I actually just wanted to see

[2:04:26] if uh my colleagues would be

[2:04:28] interested in under this

[2:04:30] program to give residents and

[2:04:31] visitors free parking on small

[2:04:35] business Saturday. One day, you

[2:04:39] know, let, let people just come

[2:04:42] and park wherever and uh and

[2:04:44] now not park wherever park at

[2:04:45] meters for free right in front

[2:04:47] of your house is what you

[2:04:47] re

[2:04:48] saying meter for free. They

[2:04:52] have 2 hours. Um, but pocket

[2:04:55] meters for free and um and give

[2:04:57] our small businesses an

[2:04:58] opportunity to to see those

[2:05:00] people come out. Yeah, I, I

[2:05:02] love that idea. Sorry, there

[2:05:04] you go, I, I think you know if

[2:05:04] that

[2:05:05] s feasible, I

[2:05:05] m happy to

[2:05:07] support it. Um we love parking.

[2:05:09] I was just having this

[2:05:11] conversation, we love parking,

[2:05:14] not parking minimums, but in my

[2:05:16] opinion, but I was also um when

[2:05:17] I was passing the lot at

[2:05:18] Crescent Heights in Santa

[2:05:20] Monica Boulevard, which Helen

[2:05:22] made so sure got done so

[2:05:24] quickly, you know, it

[2:05:24] s it

[2:05:24] s

[2:05:25] fairly empty, and the reason,

[2:05:27] you know, I know people want to

[2:05:28] have other things built there,

[2:05:28] but if there

[2:05:29] s any outreach, we

[2:05:31] could specifically due to that

[2:05:32] community and those businesses

[2:05:32] too. I don

[2:05:32] t know if they

[2:05:33] re

[2:05:34] aware of it. I know it

[2:05:34] s a big

[2:05:35] empty parking lot, but it

[2:05:36] s

[2:05:38] another way to promote their

[2:05:39] abilities to have that be in

[2:05:42] that, that busy area too. Uh,

[2:05:43] Vice Mary, did you want to make

[2:05:47] a comment? Well, one, the issue

[2:05:48] of free parking isn

[2:05:48] t on our

[2:05:49] agenda, so I don

[2:05:51] t think we can

[2:05:54] really address that tonight. I,

[2:05:57] I am very skeptical of it, um,

[2:05:58] particularly on Saturdays,

[2:06:00] which are already very popular

[2:06:04] in West Hollywood, but What,

[2:06:04] what we

[2:06:05] ve seen happen if we

[2:06:05] re

[2:06:07] talking about parking meters,

[2:06:07] that

[2:06:08] s where people are going

[2:06:11] to park who are not turnover

[2:06:13] customers, so if we

[2:06:13] re talking

[2:06:16] about doing something in our

[2:06:17] parking structures that might

[2:06:18] be something that we could ask

[2:06:21] our staff to look at, um, and

[2:06:24] so I, I, I have concerns about

[2:06:25] us just doing it tonight. One,

[2:06:26] it

[2:06:28] s not on the agenda, and 2,

[2:06:29] we don

[2:06:30] t, we don

[2:06:31] t know the

[2:06:33] full impact of it. So Uh, I, I

[2:06:34] think we should avoid any

[2:06:36] discussion. Yeah, I appreciate

[2:06:38] that. And just to bring back to

[2:06:39] the program as this is, I

[2:06:39] didn

[2:06:41] t, you know, invent the

[2:06:42] Weeh Ho Locals program. It

[2:06:43] existed and I think it

[2:06:44] s a

[2:06:45] great model that needs to be

[2:06:47] built on. Um, I know it did

[2:06:49] give some businesses

[2:06:50] opportunities to connect and

[2:06:51] using that framework that

[2:06:53] existed already. I thought this

[2:06:54] gift card program, which, as

[2:06:56] you saw in the staff report is

[2:06:57] a program that a number of

[2:06:59] other cities have run. It was

[2:07:00] the city of Concord, California,

[2:07:02] and a conversation I had with a

[2:07:03] councilmember last summer. It

[2:07:04] got me really excited about

[2:07:05] what this opportunity could

[2:07:06] look like. I knew then that we

[2:07:09] were in the middle of our

[2:07:11] economic study that um and soon

[2:07:12] later learned that the

[2:07:13] lunchtime hours and what we

[2:07:15] were experiencing here as a

[2:07:16] city, um, was that there was a

[2:07:18] lot of decline in business and

[2:07:20] so many of our own residents

[2:07:22] are people who can better

[2:07:23] participate in our businesses

[2:07:25] with maybe a little leg up, and

[2:07:26] I recognize that many of our

[2:07:28] residents are living on fixed

[2:07:30] or limited incomes that often

[2:07:31] precludes them from being able

[2:07:33] to participate in the

[2:07:34] incredible business scene that

[2:07:35] we have here, um, because of

[2:07:36] some of that. Economic divide

[2:07:38] that does exist in our

[2:07:39] community, so my hope was in

[2:07:41] delivering a gift card program

[2:07:43] that could be sort of of the um

[2:07:44] you know, purchase buy in and

[2:07:47] then the city contributes an

[2:07:48] additional percentage and that

[2:07:49] way people have a, a, you know,

[2:07:51] tab that goes a little bit

[2:07:52] further at one of our local

[2:07:53] businesses, um, so I

[2:07:54] m really

[2:07:55] grateful to visit West

[2:07:56] Hollywood for their willingness

[2:07:57] to be a part of this. I spoke

[2:07:59] with Tom Keeley last week,

[2:07:59] grateful for the chamber and

[2:08:01] their help in getting this out,

[2:08:03] but as Vice Mayor Hellman said,

[2:08:03] it

[2:08:04] s key that our residents

[2:08:05] know about this. One thing that

[2:08:05] wasn

[2:08:07] t. Included in this and I

[2:08:08] believe would be essential as

[2:08:09] this comes back and gets

[2:08:11] implemented and goes out to the

[2:08:12] community is especially stops

[2:08:14] at our boards and commissions.

[2:08:14] I

[2:08:16] m thinking about the older

[2:08:17] adults advisory board first and

[2:08:18] foremost because again it was

[2:08:19] sort of targeted with those

[2:08:21] folks in mind, people who

[2:08:21] haven

[2:08:22] t maybe felt that they

[2:08:22] re

[2:08:24] the businesses in our city are

[2:08:26] accessible to them, um, and by

[2:08:27] way of starting there and

[2:08:28] helping everybody feel like

[2:08:29] this is a community in a space

[2:08:31] that you can be a part of that

[2:08:33] we can start to invest more

[2:08:34] deeply into our business

[2:08:35] community. So that was the

[2:08:36] mindset I approached this. I

[2:08:37] deal with, although it

[2:08:37] s

[2:08:39] clearly open to everyone, um,

[2:08:40] and I would hope that as this

[2:08:42] comes back, staff also brings

[2:08:44] maybe a cap or an investment

[2:08:45] total that we could um put this.

[2:08:48] I see that some cities started

[2:08:50] with like $20,000 and once it

[2:08:51] reached that threshold, they

[2:08:52] were able to invest again. I

[2:08:54] think that will also help us

[2:08:55] understand some of the data

[2:08:55] that we

[2:08:57] re asking for, but I

[2:08:59] also understood was that in the

[2:09:00] gift card model, we

[2:09:01] re able to

[2:09:02] actually see which businesses

[2:09:03] are using that and so I think

[2:09:04] it

[2:09:05] s a good opportunity for

[2:09:05] businesses to further

[2:09:07] communicate. Their services and

[2:09:09] resources to our residents in

[2:09:10] new ways too as part of that,

[2:09:10] so that

[2:09:12] s not our job as a city

[2:09:13] to promote businesses, but I

[2:09:14] hope this helps close the gap

[2:09:16] and get people connected in new

[2:09:17] ways. I saw that there was

[2:09:18] another speaker that popped up

[2:09:19] while I was going to

[2:09:20] Councilmember, Hang, do you

[2:09:21] want to jump in? Thank you,

[2:09:23] Mayor. I think this is a great

[2:09:23] item. It

[2:09:25] s going to support our

[2:09:26] local businesses. It

[2:09:26] s, you

[2:09:27] know, they

[2:09:28] re suffering.

[2:09:29] Everyone is suffering. So

[2:09:31] anything we can do as a counsel

[2:09:32] to promote within our city. I

[2:09:32] think it

[2:09:34] s a great idea. The

[2:09:35] card will provide metrics like

[2:09:37] you just said to our local

[2:09:38] businesses as well in terms of

[2:09:39] their services, so I

[2:09:40] m in full

[2:09:42] support of this item. Thank you.

[2:09:44] Thank you. Are there any other

[2:09:45] questions, comments? Great,

[2:09:45] we

[2:09:46] ve got a motion on the table.

[2:09:48] No, no, it

[2:09:49] s all great. It

[2:09:49] s

[2:09:50] nice other people supporting it.

[2:09:56] Terrific. Thank you all so much

[2:09:56] and great news. That was the

[2:10:04] last item tonight. Woohoo. Um,

[2:10:04] We don

[2:10:05] t have any items on

[2:10:06] excluded consent. Do we have

[2:10:07] any final public comments

[2:10:09] signed up for the evening? One

[2:10:10] individual signed up, but

[2:10:11] they

[2:10:12] re not in chambers anymore.

[2:10:13] All right, um, then we

[2:10:13] ll move

[2:10:16] on to councilmember comments

[2:10:17] and meeting attendance reports,

[2:10:21] who would like to begin? Ok,

[2:10:21] we

[2:10:22] ll start with Councilmemb

[2:10:24] Erickson and then over to

[2:10:24] Councilmember Hang after. Thank

[2:10:27] you so much, MADAM Mayor. Um,

[2:10:29] in terms of meetings I attended

[2:10:30] the subcommittee ad hoc

[2:10:31] committee non-Brown Act

[2:10:33] Committee of the Commission and

[2:10:35] Advisory Board meetings with

[2:10:36] Councilmember Meister. I

[2:10:37] attended the liability Trust

[2:10:38] Fund board and oversight

[2:10:39] meeting. I attended the West

[2:10:40] Side City

[2:10:41] s cag meeting where I

[2:10:42] was appointed the voting

[2:10:44] delegate for the cag to the

[2:10:46] Santa Monica Bay Restoration

[2:10:47] Commission and congratulations

[2:10:48] to our own mayor, who is now

[2:10:50] the vice chair of the West Side

[2:10:52] Cities coc. Um, and then

[2:10:53] additionally, I know that we

[2:10:56] are going to be prioritizing

[2:10:58] some infrastructure updates in

[2:10:59] the coming meetings and I just

[2:11:01] wanted to highlight some facts

[2:11:03] to make sure that the record is

[2:11:04] reflective of some things that

[2:11:04] we

[2:11:06] ve talked about in the past

[2:11:08] in terms of paving history

[2:11:09] Fountain Avenue was last paved

[2:11:12] 20 years ago and sealed 4 years

[2:11:13] ago. Santa Monica, the

[2:11:14] streetscape was completed in

[2:11:16] the year 2000. I was a freshman

[2:11:19] in high school. 60% repaved in

[2:11:21] the last 3 years. Beverly is

[2:11:23] Concrete street only patched

[2:11:26] since cityhood, meaning 1984.

[2:11:27] Melrose was paved last year

[2:11:28] from croft to San Vicente and

[2:11:30] only patched from San Vicente

[2:11:33] to Doheny since cityhood. Major

[2:11:33] infrastructure improvements.

[2:11:34] This is something that I would

[2:11:36] like us to focus on later as we

[2:11:37] talk about what we should

[2:11:40] prioritize. Fountain Avenue. No

[2:11:42] recent major improvements ever.

[2:11:44] In terms of the street. Santa

[2:11:47] Monica. Streetscape project in

[2:11:49] 2000 bike lanes added from

[2:11:49] Doheny to King

[2:11:51] s Road, Beverly,

[2:11:52] no major recent improvements.

[2:11:54] Plans for a streetscape with

[2:11:55] bike lanes and utility

[2:11:56] undergrounding are in

[2:11:58] development. Melrose, a

[2:11:59] streetscape plan completed from

[2:12:00] Croft to San Vicente and the

[2:12:02] next phase includes San Vicente

[2:12:04] Rohini. Um, these are just

[2:12:05] important information that we

[2:12:06] should keep on the top of our

[2:12:08] mind as we talk about how our

[2:12:09] infrastructure is lagging and

[2:12:10] outdated, and these are just

[2:12:11] the facts to support that.

[2:12:13] Thank you, City staff for

[2:12:14] helping provide that

[2:12:14] information. That

[2:12:16] s all. Thank

[2:12:17] you, Councillor Marrickson.

[2:12:19] Councilor Maur Hang. Thank you,

[2:12:21] Mayor. Um, I have nothing to

[2:12:23] report as far as meeting

[2:12:24] attendants, um, I just wanted

[2:12:28] to say that, you know, last

[2:12:30] week there were signs that were

[2:12:31] posted in West Hollywood in the

[2:12:34] Rainbow District. That

[2:12:36] indicated a ice as well as

[2:12:36] ice

[2:12:38] s phone number. I spotted

[2:12:41] those signs. I reported them

[2:12:43] immediately to our director of

[2:12:45] Community safety who then had

[2:12:46] Coke complis who took swift

[2:12:49] action to have code compliance,

[2:12:51] walk Santa Monica Boulevard to

[2:12:52] remove all those signs. Um,

[2:12:54] those signs were put up with

[2:12:55] the intention to intimidate

[2:12:58] people, to intimidate certain

[2:13:00] members of our community and um

[2:13:02] we will not be intimidated here

[2:13:03] in West Hollywood. Thank you,

[2:13:06] Mayor. Thank you account number

[2:13:08] Ha. Councilormer Meister. Thank

[2:13:11] you, Mayor. Uh, attendance, I

[2:13:13] participated in the joint

[2:13:15] policy committee meeting and

[2:13:17] scag Regional council meeting.

[2:13:21] I attended uh Virtually uh as a

[2:13:25] as a just a Visitor and uh

[2:13:27] Public speaker, uh, the West

[2:13:30] Side Cities cag meeting. Um, I

[2:13:32] was wondering uh if maybe the

[2:13:34] city manager could answer a

[2:13:34] question about what

[2:13:35] s happening

[2:13:36] with the lighting in West

[2:13:42] Hollywood Park. Trailers. Helen,

[2:13:44] come up and answer that. Um. I

[2:13:45] know we

[2:13:47] ve been waiting on the.

[2:13:48] New lights to be installed

[2:13:59] there. So just to give you a

[2:14:02] brief overview, um, the light

[2:14:05] base in on all the 41 light

[2:14:07] structures in the park, um, we

[2:14:08] saw deterioration on those

[2:14:10] light bases, so we removed them

[2:14:13] for safety, um, during the last,

[2:14:13] it

[2:14:15] s been about a year actually

[2:14:15] we

[2:14:16] ve been in conversations

[2:14:18] with the manufacturer going

[2:14:21] back and forth on, um, getting

[2:14:23] replacements. Um, we haven

[2:14:23] t

[2:14:24] come to a mutual agreement on

[2:14:26] what would be a suitable

[2:14:27] replacement that we would agree

[2:14:27] that wouldn

[2:14:28] t. Deteriorate over

[2:14:31] time, like the initial base. So,

[2:14:34] um, we are. Currently in uh

[2:14:36] final discussions with them and

[2:14:36] we

[2:14:37] re looking at other options

[2:14:40] to move forward. Um, so in the

[2:14:40] interim, we don

[2:14:41] t have a, a

[2:14:45] solution, but we are looking at

[2:14:47] possibly either finding a new

[2:14:48] base or looking at different

[2:14:49] types of lighting in the park.

[2:14:50] So we

[2:14:51] ll be coming back to

[2:14:53] council in the near future with,

[2:14:54] um, our options to move forward.

[2:14:57] Thank you, Helen. Thank you,

[2:15:00] Vice Mayor Hellman. Thank you,

[2:15:03] Mayor. Um, I attended the Weh

[2:15:06] Hope Pride subcommittee. I also

[2:15:07] attended various community

[2:15:09] events including the winter

[2:15:10] sounds. I did have some

[2:15:12] comments on the sister cities

[2:15:15] program, and I want to thank

[2:15:18] you and uh councilmemb Hang for

[2:15:19] bringing this forward, as you

[2:15:22] noted, there was a previous

[2:15:25] initiative to try to establish

[2:15:26] a sister cities

[2:15:27] relationship,

[2:15:28] um, I, and I

[2:15:29] ve asked staff to

[2:15:31] try to retrieve. The files so

[2:15:33] you can have access to it or

[2:15:35] staff can have access to it. I

[2:15:36] think it

[2:15:37] s very important as we

[2:15:40] move forward with this

[2:15:42] initiative that we have clear

[2:15:44] understanding of what our goals

[2:15:47] are in establishing this, um,

[2:15:51] are we trying to create an

[2:15:53] economic relationship with

[2:15:55] tourism and trade. Are we

[2:15:58] trying to establish more of a

[2:16:02] political relationship and

[2:16:04] Expressing our alliance with a

[2:16:07] community that MAY have similar

[2:16:09] political leanings or be under

[2:16:12] attack. Are we trying to

[2:16:15] establish relationships where

[2:16:18] we have uh local torchbearers

[2:16:20] who could champion this

[2:16:22] relationship. Part of the

[2:16:24] reason, last time we were

[2:16:27] unable to move forward, there

[2:16:28] were people who had different

[2:16:31] views of what a sister. Cities

[2:16:33] relationship should be. There

[2:16:35] were certainly people who were

[2:16:37] associated with the Visitors

[2:16:40] bureau who wanted to have a

[2:16:41] sister cities

[2:16:42] relationship

[2:16:45] with Mexico City or a city in

[2:16:47] Mexico because of the the

[2:16:49] tourist possibility. There were

[2:16:50] people from the Russian

[2:16:54] speaking community who were

[2:16:56] advocating for communities from

[2:16:57] their home country or there

[2:16:58] s a

[2:16:59] particular arts district in St.

[2:16:59] Peter

[2:17:01] s. Pittsburgh that would

[2:17:04] have been a great partner,

[2:17:04] obviously that

[2:17:06] s not on the

[2:17:08] table anymore. Um, and then

[2:17:11] there, there were also people

[2:17:14] who had advocated for the Mora

[2:17:17] district of Paris because of

[2:17:19] the high concentration of arts

[2:17:21] design and the lgbt community,

[2:17:24] so I hope that as we move

[2:17:26] forward, there will be some

[2:17:28] thought about that and also

[2:17:30] thought about those within the

[2:17:32] community who are not part of

[2:17:34] the city who will be part of

[2:17:36] this initiative because it

[2:17:36] can

[2:17:39] t just be the city. It

[2:17:39] s

[2:17:41] got to also engage the business

[2:17:44] community and the residents, so

[2:17:47] those are just my suggestions

[2:17:49] for thought as we move forward,

[2:17:49] but I

[2:17:51] m very excited about it

[2:17:52] and you know, I

[2:17:53] ll have some

[2:17:56] free time in 2 years, so I, I

[2:17:58] might want to be part of that,

[2:18:01] yeah. I know you

[2:18:02] re just trying

[2:18:05] to send me away right now. I

[2:18:08] got your comments earlier. I do

[2:18:10] just want to follow that up and

[2:18:12] say it has been in my time on

[2:18:14] council and just the few short

[2:18:16] years, a real honor and

[2:18:17] inspiration to be a part of

[2:18:19] some of the small conversations

[2:18:20] and delegations that have come

[2:18:23] to the city, mostly for some of

[2:18:25] the political purpose and in

[2:18:25] the exchanges we

[2:18:26] ve had with

[2:18:27] the Australian consul general,

[2:18:28] you know, I know that they

[2:18:29] re

[2:18:30] looking to invite us as a pride

[2:18:31] speaker in the month of JUNE to

[2:18:33] go speak at their private event.

[2:18:33] That

[2:18:35] s a place where we have

[2:18:36] multiple sort of relationships,

[2:18:36] so there

[2:18:36] s just so many

[2:18:39] different opportunities. There

[2:18:39] and with the Olympics coming

[2:18:41] and the Pride House coming, it

[2:18:42] felt all the more important to

[2:18:43] really plant this seed and as

[2:18:44] you said, sort of build

[2:18:45] intention to what we

[2:18:45] re really

[2:18:46] trying to do. So just thank you

[2:18:48] and thanks for sharing the

[2:18:48] history. It

[2:18:49] s really important

[2:18:49] and I

[2:18:50] m looking forward to

[2:18:53] growing this in a bigger way. I

[2:18:54] wanted to, and I just got a

[2:18:55] note that we do have the old

[2:18:55] staff reports, so we

[2:18:56] ll get

[2:18:57] them shared very soon. Thank

[2:18:59] you so much. I

[2:19:00] ll continue with

[2:19:02] my attendance and then wrap up

[2:19:04] with my comments, my meeting

[2:19:04] attendants included the

[2:19:06] National League of Cities

[2:19:07] Transportation Ad advocacy

[2:19:09] meeting, which was Very

[2:19:11] frustrating look at how things

[2:19:13] are changing very rapidly in

[2:19:14] relationship to the cities, and

[2:19:17] I also attended the lgbtq

[2:19:18] elected leaders, local elected

[2:19:20] leaders meeting the West

[2:19:21] Hollywood Pride subcommittee

[2:19:21] meeting. It

[2:19:22] s crazy. We

[2:19:23] re back

[2:19:25] planning again for this year.

[2:19:26] The Metro Service council

[2:19:28] meeting and the la County City

[2:19:29] Selection Committee meeting, as

[2:19:30] well as the West Side cdc cog

[2:19:31] meeting where, as Councilor

[2:19:33] Erickson said, I was elected

[2:19:34] vice chair, very excited to

[2:19:35] serve that term and represent

[2:19:38] our city in that capacity, um.

[2:19:40] I was a speaker at Troy Masters

[2:19:42] celebration of life this past

[2:19:45] week and was just so honored to

[2:19:47] reflect the many stories and

[2:19:48] relationships that Troy shared

[2:19:50] with our city and the many

[2:19:51] staff members and members of

[2:19:53] this council whose lives he

[2:19:55] touched, so just really a

[2:19:56] special night in celebration of

[2:19:58] a very incredible human who we

[2:19:59] all MISS Very deeply. I want to

[2:20:01] give my thanks to the residents

[2:20:02] of the domain apartments for

[2:20:03] hosting my first meet and greet.

[2:20:03] There

[2:20:05] ll be more to come. Look

[2:20:05] forward to continuing to

[2:20:06] connect with folks in the

[2:20:08] community in that capacity. And

[2:20:10] just in terms of my comments, I

[2:20:12] have to say I was very moved by

[2:20:14] the equity statement read

[2:20:15] earlier tonight and our city

[2:20:15] s

[2:20:16] ongoing commitment, especially

[2:20:17] in these times, to the values

[2:20:19] of diversity, equity, and

[2:20:21] inclusion, and it happened very

[2:20:23] quickly, but we did approve two

[2:20:25] items tonight, one in

[2:20:26] recognition of Junetee

[2:20:27] Juneteenth with an expanded

[2:20:28] budget for that social justice

[2:20:29] advisory board to get to work

[2:20:30] with. We

[2:20:31] re very excited to see

[2:20:33] what happens there as well as

[2:20:35] new programming for Black

[2:20:36] History Month in 2026 brought

[2:20:37] with my councilmemb Erickson,

[2:20:38] so thank you for that. That

[2:20:41] idea, um, uh, just wanted, uh,

[2:20:42] you know, reflect how important

[2:20:43] it is these continued

[2:20:44] investments and just thank the

[2:20:46] city for our ongoing commitment

[2:20:48] to this work, um, I want to

[2:20:50] also recognize that the 22 of

[2:20:52] the adjournments I read tonight

[2:20:54] for the transgender community

[2:20:56] members who were killed because

[2:20:57] of who they are, where a

[2:20:59] request that I received from

[2:21:00] several members of the

[2:21:02] community. I had multiple

[2:21:04] people reaching out requesting

[2:21:06] those that both of those

[2:21:06] individuals be recognized, and

[2:21:08] I deeply appreciate. The

[2:21:09] recognition of our city

[2:21:09] s role

[2:21:12] in voicing and naming and

[2:21:13] uplifting those individuals and

[2:21:14] their stories in this way and

[2:21:15] we

[2:21:17] ll continue to be here to do

[2:21:20] that work. Um, I want to just

[2:21:21] also recognize as councilmemb

[2:21:23] Hang said the I signs we were

[2:21:25] quick to respond and spent a

[2:21:26] long day of media responses and

[2:21:28] making sure that people knew

[2:21:30] what our city is truly all

[2:21:31] about the sanctuary city that

[2:21:32] we have long been. I look

[2:21:34] forward to the Know your rights

[2:21:35] campaign information that will

[2:21:36] come out and in the meantime

[2:21:38] encourage people to be more

[2:21:40] familiar with your rights and

[2:21:41] share this information, the

[2:21:42] county Office of Immigration

[2:21:44] has an incredible resource page.

[2:21:44] They

[2:21:46] re also beginning to host

[2:21:46] events throughout the

[2:21:49] communities, um, specifically

[2:21:50] starting in East la, but

[2:21:50] they

[2:21:51] re making their way around

[2:21:52] the county, and I believe it

[2:21:52] s

[2:21:54] really important that all of us

[2:21:55] take time to understand our

[2:21:57] rights and help empower those

[2:21:59] around us with that full

[2:22:00] information and just finally I

[2:22:02] said it really quickly at the

[2:22:04] end in my in the last item on

[2:22:06] the Weeh Ho Locals program, but

[2:22:07] I also would be remiss if I

[2:22:07] didn

[2:22:09] t. Think Laura and Paulo

[2:22:11] specifically for your help um

[2:22:12] both in researching this

[2:22:14] initiative early on, but also

[2:22:15] spurring my own encourage

[2:22:16] enthusiasm and excitement for

[2:22:18] this program. It really takes

[2:22:19] all of us. I just want to thank

[2:22:20] you both and recognize your

[2:22:22] hard work behind the scenes in

[2:22:23] support of our business

[2:22:24] community, so unless there

[2:22:25] s

[2:22:26] anything else, I said a lot to

[2:22:27] wrap it up. I think we

[2:22:27] re all

[2:22:29] set. Ok, so we have one more

[2:22:31] special meeting adjournment. We

[2:22:33] are adjourning this city

[2:22:35] council meeting to this joint

[2:22:36] study session of the city

[2:22:37] council and planning commission,

[2:22:39] very exciting meeting which

[2:22:41] will take place here on Monday,

[2:22:43] FEBRUARY 24th at 6 P.M. At the

[2:22:45] West Hollywood Park Public

[2:22:46] public meeting room council

[2:22:46] chambers. We

[2:22:47] ll see you all

Adjourned Regular City Council Meeting - Feb 18th, 2025

Agenda

Transcript