[1:39] Before we call the meeting to
[1:40] order, I would like to read the
[1:41] city
[1:42] s land acknowledgment.
[1:44] The West Hollywood City Council
[1:45] acknowledges that the land on
[1:47] which we gather and that is
[1:48] currently known as the City of
[1:51] West Hollywood is the occupied,
[1:53] unseeded, seized territory of
[1:56] the Gabrielenino Tova and the
[1:57] Gabrielinouh peoples. I
[1:57] m
[2:00] calling the DECEMBER 15, 2025,
[2:01] City Council meeting to order.
[2:03] It is 6:01 P.M. Final council
[2:05] meeting of the year. We have
[2:07] two very special, oh yes,
[2:07] that
[2:08] s worth applause.
[2:10] We have two very special guests
[2:11] with us tonight to lead us in
[2:14] the Pledge of Allegiance. Will
[2:18] Amani, Jane Gist and Sarah Lima
[2:20] Almeida. Please join us in the
[2:21] front of the room to lead us in
[2:34] the Pledge of Allegiance.
[2:36] States of America and to the
[2:38] Republics for which it stands,
[2:39] one nation
[2:42] under GOD indivis
[2:48] and military.
[2:50] Good job. Thank you so much.
[2:51] All right, c clerk, MAY we
[2:53] please have a roll call? Yes,
[2:58] Mayor, thank you, Councilmember
[3:00] Erickson, Councilmember Hang
[3:02] Councilmember Meister here,
[3:03] Vice Mayor Heilmann, Mayor
[3:04] Byers, I am here. We have a
[3:05] quorum. Thank you. We
[3:06] ll move
[3:07] to approval of the agenda. Are
[3:09] there any changes from staff
[3:10] tonight on the agenda.
[3:11] There are no changes from staff
[3:12] this evening. Ok, I
[3:13] ll look to
[3:14] Councilmember Erickson to make
[3:16] some changes on our end. Thank
[3:18] you very much, MADAM Mayer. I
[3:21] was wondering if we would move
[3:24] f3, consider consider revisions
[3:24] to the city
[3:25] s policy for
[3:27] recognition and memorials to
[3:28] consent.
[3:30] Okie dokie
[3:32] Um, I was hoping we could move
[3:34] f2, the construction agreement
[3:37] to consent. Ok. I love it. And
[3:40] I would love to see if we could
[3:42] move item f1 appointment of the
[3:44] city manager, adoption of the
[3:46] resolution improving Employment
[3:47] Agreement and amendment to the
[3:49] salary schedule to the to
[3:50] consent.
[3:52] Are there any public speakers
[3:53] on that?
[3:55] There are no public speakers on
[3:57] that item. I just have to read
[3:58] the compensation and benefits
[4:00] for the public before the
[4:01] contract is adopted, but you
[4:03] can move it to consent, ok, and
[4:07] Meyer, can I, uh, note my no
[4:09] vote on b7, b as in boy, that
[4:09] s
[4:10] on the delivery device
[4:11] ordinance.
[4:12] Yes, and I think we
[4:12] ll make
[4:14] sure we have you say that again
[4:15] when the consent agenda is
[4:18] formally adopted. I will.
[4:20] Ok
[4:24] So we have f1 with a note f2
[4:29] and f3 going to consent?
[4:31] He had a motion and a second to
[4:32] adopt the agenda. Thank you
[4:37] both.
[4:41] Yeah.
[4:43] Motion passes 50. We have an
[4:45] adopted agenda. Can we get any,
[4:46] um, uh, any reports of any
[4:48] Levinac disclosures that MAY be
[4:50] here tonight? No, seeing none.
[4:51] And then we
[4:52] ll go straight to
[4:53] our adjournment motions. I know
[4:55] Councilmember Meister, you have
[4:55] a few we
[4:56] ll get started with
[5:02] you. Thank you.
[5:04] Thank you, Mayor. Um, first, I
[5:06] would like to, uh
[5:07] adjourn in memory of the
[5:10] victims of the Bondi Beach mass
[5:11] shooting in Sydney. I would
[5:13] like to adjourn in memory of
[5:14] the victims of the mass
[5:15] shooting that occurred this
[5:18] past weekend on DECEMBER 14th
[5:19] at Bondi Beach in Sydney,
[5:21] Australia, during a Hanukkahh
[5:23] celebration attended by
[5:25] hundreds of people in this
[5:27] tragic attack, at least 15
[5:29] people were killed and more
[5:30] than 40 were injured, including
[5:32] members of the community and
[5:34] emergency responders.
[5:35] We extend our deepest
[5:37] condolences to the families and
[5:38] loved ones of those lost and to
[5:40] all those affected in the Bondi
[5:42] and Greater Sydney communities
[5:44] as they mourn this senseless
[5:46] act of violence. Our thoughts,
[5:47] our thoughts are with them
[5:49] during this difficult time.
[5:49] I
[5:51] d also like to adjourn
[5:51] tonight
[5:52] s meeting in
[5:54] recognition, uh, in memory of
[5:56] Rob Reiner and his wife
[5:58] Michelle Singer Reiner, who
[5:59] were tragically killed this
[6:02] past weekend. Rob Reiner has
[6:05] made an indelible mark on the
[6:06] arts and entertainment industry,
[6:08] directing and producing beloved
[6:10] films such as When Harry Met
[6:13] Sally, the Princess bride, Stan
[6:15] stand by me and a few good men.
[6:17] Michelle Singer Reiner was a
[6:18] talented photographer and film
[6:20] producer who met Rob on the set
[6:23] of When Harry Met Sally. She
[6:24] creatively contributed to film
[6:26] and media throughout her career.
[6:29] Beyond their cinematic
[6:30] contributions he and Michelle
[6:32] have been active in civic
[6:33] engagement and advocacy on
[6:35] important social issues.
[6:37] Locally in West Hollywood in
[6:40] 2018, I organized a rally
[6:41] entitled Families Belong
[6:43] Together actually it was it was
[6:45] a rally for sane policies, uh,
[6:47] also known as Families Belong
[6:49] Together, which were rallies
[6:51] that were happening all over
[6:52] the country to oppose the
[6:54] immigration crisis caused by
[6:56] the Trump administration
[6:56] s
[6:57] inhumane family separation
[6:59] policy. Rob proudly
[7:01] participated as a speaker at
[7:02] this event, lending his voice
[7:04] and platform to this critical
[7:06] cause. We extend our heartfelt
[7:08] condolences to Rob and Michelle
[7:08] Reiner
[7:09] s family and friends who
[7:11] are mourning this tragic loss,
[7:13] and we honored their lasting
[7:15] contributions. Thank you, Mayor.
[7:17] Thank you. Do any of my
[7:18] colleagues have other
[7:20] adjournment motions? No. If I
[7:21] um would like to then adjourn
[7:24] in the memory of the Brown
[7:25] University students who were
[7:26] killed in the shooting over
[7:29] this weekend. The two students,
[7:31] Ella Cook and Muhammaded Aziz
[7:33] Umar Khazov, were tragically
[7:34] killed following a mass
[7:35] shooting that occurred on
[7:36] DECEMBER 13th at Brown
[7:38] University during a final exam
[7:41] review session the same day the
[7:43] Sandy Hook Anterbuversary took
[7:44] place. 9 others were also
[7:45] wounded in the shooting
[7:46] We extend our deepest
[7:48] condolences to the families and
[7:49] loved ones of those affected
[7:50] and to the entire Brown
[7:51] University community as they
[7:53] mourn this senseless act of
[7:54] violence.
[7:55] Thank you all
[7:57] We will turn now to our
[7:58] presentations for the evening.
[8:00] First, recognizing the two
[8:02] fabulous young people who led
[8:03] us in the Pledge of Allegiance
[8:04] this evening. Thank you both
[8:05] Amani and Sarah, so much. Come
[8:06] back up here and we
[8:06] ll take a
[8:07] photo with you and give you
[9:04] these certificates.
[9:06] Absolutely one of the best
[9:07] traditions this council has
[9:08] done. I really enjoy the
[9:09] students. Thank you so much for
[9:10] coming out and being a part of
[9:12] it.
[9:13] Ok, and we
[9:14] ll move into our
[9:16] next presentation this evening.
[9:17] I think for many of us, we know
[9:17] what
[9:20] s coming.
[9:22] Tonight is truly bittersweet.
[9:24] It does mark the final city
[9:26] council meeting for our city
[9:28] manager David Wilson. We are
[9:29] truly so grateful for his
[9:30] leadership and service to the
[9:31] community here in West
[9:33] Hollywood and of course beyond
[9:34] across this whole region as he
[9:36] has made tremendous impact.
[9:36] And before myself and my
[9:38] colleagues share some remarks
[9:39] about David. I wanted to share
[9:42] this video from our supervisor
[9:48] Lindsay Horvath.
[9:51] Good evening. I am so pleased
[9:52] to congratulate city manager
[9:55] David Wilson on his retire.
[9:57] After 5 years of city manager
[9:59] and so many more serving the
[10:01] city of West Hollywood. I
[10:03] joined so many others in saying
[10:04] what we all know well.
[10:06] The city of West Hollywood is
[10:08] better because of you, David.
[10:09] During my time on the city
[10:11] council and as mayor, I was
[10:13] proud to work alongside you to
[10:15] steer the city through
[10:17] post-covid challenges, and your
[10:19] work to keep the city solvent
[10:21] and to navigate important
[10:22] fiscal challenges, a minimum
[10:25] wage increase, and the hotel
[10:26] workers protection ordinance
[10:28] made West Hollywood a more
[10:29] reliable partner for so many.
[10:31] David, while all of us are
[10:32] undoubtedly going to feel your
[10:33] absence.
[10:35] I wish you the best in
[10:37] retirement, and I wish the best
[10:38] to your family too. I know
[10:38] you
[10:40] ve been through a lot.
[10:41] This next chapter is going to
[10:44] be so great. I just know it.
[10:45] After giving so much to our
[10:47] city and to our region, I hope
[10:47] you
[10:49] ll have plenty of time to
[10:50] give back to yourself. I
[10:51] especially appreciate that
[10:53] amidst it all you took time to
[10:55] join our Blue Ribbon commission
[10:57] and to provide your expertise
[10:58] and support at a time that was
[11:00] so personally difficult, um,
[11:02] that you stepped up even bigger
[11:04] to help a broader region of
[11:05] folks. I just can
[11:05] t thank you
[11:07] enough for who you are and who
[11:08] you
[11:09] ve chosen to be for as long
[11:09] as I
[11:10] ve known you.
[11:11] Thank you so much
[11:13] All my best to you and to your
[11:20] family, and congratulations.
[11:23] And now I would like to read a
[11:26] proclamation prepared for David
[11:28] Wilson. Whereas David has
[11:31] dedicated more than 25 years of
[11:33] exemplary service to the city
[11:34] of West Hollywood, beginning
[11:37] his career in 1998 as an intern
[11:38] in the economic development and
[11:40] housing division, and in 1999,
[11:42] David was hired as a
[11:43] development specialist 1, where
[11:45] he played a key role in the
[11:46] East Side redevelopment project
[11:49] area and contributed to the
[11:49] city
[11:50] s influential economic
[11:52] summit report, and whereas
[11:53] through his professionalism,
[11:55] leadership, and commitment to
[11:56] public service. David has
[11:58] earned numerous promotions,
[11:59] including development
[12:02] specialists 2 in 2001. Project
[12:03] Development Administrator in
[12:05] 2003, Management analyst in
[12:08] 2004, senior management analyst
[12:10] in 2007, Budget and
[12:12] Compensation Manager in 2008
[12:14] and director of finance and
[12:15] technology in 2012, guiding the
[12:18] city through multiple two-year
[12:21] budget cycles, strengthening
[12:22] organizational operations and
[12:23] helping
[12:23] maintain the city
[12:24] s prestigious
[12:26] aaa bond rating. And whereas
[12:26] David
[12:28] s exceptional abilities
[12:29] and forward thinking leadership
[12:31] led to his appointment as
[12:33] deputy city manager in 2016.
[12:36] Assistant city manager in 2018
[12:37] and ultimately to his service
[12:39] as city manager beginning in
[12:41] 2021. And whereas, upon
[12:43] assuming the role of city
[12:45] manager, David provided calm,
[12:47] steady, and capable leadership
[12:48] through one of the most
[12:50] challenging periods in recent
[12:51] history, guiding the city
[12:52] through the covid
[12:54] -19 pandemic and its recovery
[12:55] while safeguarding public
[12:58] health, maintaining services,
[13:00] and preserving fiscal stability.
[13:01] And whereas under David
[13:02] s
[13:03] stewardship, the City of West
[13:04] Hollywood emerged from the
[13:06] covid-19 crisis with a balanced
[13:08] budget and a solid financial
[13:09] foundation, enabling the city
[13:11] to invest in infrastructure,
[13:13] community safety, human
[13:15] services, capital projects, and
[13:17] sustainable growth for the
[13:19] benefit of all residents and
[13:22] community members. And whereas,
[13:22] David
[13:23] s leadership in advancing
[13:25] major citywide initiatives,
[13:27] including the who 40 strategic
[13:28] Plan and the city
[13:29] s involvement
[13:30] with the government alliance on
[13:32] Race and Equity has
[13:32] strengthened the city
[13:33] s
[13:34] commitment to equity, inclusion,
[13:36] and community well-being that
[13:37] will benefit West Hollywood for
[13:39] years to come.
[13:41] And whereas throughout his
[13:43] tenure, David has fostered a
[13:45] culture of collaboration,
[13:47] compassion, transparency, and
[13:49] responsiveness to empower city
[13:51] staff, engage community members,
[13:52] and ensure that local
[13:55] government serves all segments
[13:55] of West Hollywood
[13:55] s
[13:57] constituency. Now, therefore,
[13:58] be it resolved that the city
[14:00] council of the City of West
[14:02] Hollywood hereby recognizes
[14:03] David Allen Wilson for his
[14:05] outstanding leadership and
[14:06] commitment to service and
[14:08] wishes him the absolute best in
[14:09] his retirement.
[14:10] And at this time, I would like
[14:11] to open it up for my colleagues
[14:12] for any remarks that they would
[14:17] like to make as well.
[14:17] We
[14:18] ll start with Councilmember
[14:19] Meister.
[14:23] Thank you, Mayor, and David, um,
[14:23] I didn
[14:24] t prepare anything.
[14:26] But, uh, you know, during a
[14:28] very uncertain time you
[14:30] provided the stability that the
[14:32] city needed and, and I really
[14:34] appreciate that. I also
[14:35] appreciate our phone calls
[14:37] every other Friday morning, uh,
[14:37] even when you probably didn
[14:38] t
[14:40] want to talk to me. Um, knowing
[14:42] that there would be a difficult
[14:44] council meeting coming up the
[14:46] following Monday. I appreciate
[14:48] that you took the time to
[14:50] listen and also to look into
[14:53] things to be able to respond,
[14:54] and so, um, again
[14:58] I just, I really appreciate
[15:01] that um that you know, you, you
[15:02] were there, and you were
[15:06] present, um, and I also wish
[15:08] you the best in the next
[15:10] chapter, and hope you get your
[15:11] house rebuilt quickly, that the
[15:12] county doesn
[15:13] t hold you up too
[15:16] too much with all of their
[15:19] codes and um and that you get
[15:20] to really enjoy retirement
[15:22] because you deserve it.
[15:25] Thank you, Vice Mayor Heilman,
[15:27] David, I, I know you well and I
[15:29] know you hate this kind of
[15:30] public attention, so I
[15:31] m going
[15:33] to keep my remarks very, very
[15:37] brief. First of all, thank you
[15:39] for your incredible service to
[15:44] the city and to our community,
[15:45] um, rent stabilization,
[15:47] redevelopment, finance,
[15:48] everything you
[15:50] ve done, um,
[15:52] helping out during several
[15:53] lawsuits that we were
[15:54] involved with. You
[15:55] ve just been
[15:56] an incredible, incredible
[15:58] public servant, and I really,
[16:00] really thank you. And on a
[16:01] personal level it
[16:02] s been such a
[16:04] delight to work with you and
[16:06] run with you and run marathons
[16:09] and get to meet Jody and your
[16:12] kids and to share good times.
[16:14] You deserve your retirement and
[16:16] I look forward to keeping in
[16:18] touch and continuing to have a
[16:20] great relationship. Thank you
[16:21] for everything. Thank you,
[16:22] Councilor Erickson.
[16:25] Uh, thank you so much, David,
[16:28] you know, we go back quite a
[16:30] ways from when I was a little
[16:33] old intern, um, and you have
[16:35] just always been such a
[16:37] positive person, a solid voice
[16:40] of reason, and someone that
[16:42] never really rattled very
[16:44] easily. I knew that if
[16:45] something brought a little
[16:47] alert to your voice. I would go,
[16:48] Oh, ok, we should probably be
[16:50] paying more attention to that,
[16:50] but you
[16:52] re always very cool.
[16:53] You kept things together
[16:56] during some of the most um
[16:58] awful times that our city has
[17:01] faced, you know, whether that
[17:03] be what you shared at our
[17:05] holiday party working through
[17:07] 9/11 all the way up to covid to
[17:09] so many other things that
[17:09] you
[17:10] ve really seen our city
[17:12] through through the your
[17:14] executive leadership, as well
[17:16] as then moving into the city
[17:17] manager role. I
[17:18] ve always
[17:19] gotten to see your beautiful
[17:21] family and how they
[17:22] ve grown
[17:25] and your daughter who would
[17:26] contribute to my growing
[17:27] waistline with her cookies
[17:28] that she would sell through her
[17:30] red wagon that she would go
[17:32] through City Hall because I was
[17:34] always working past 6. I still
[17:35] remember the email I got from
[17:36] you saying John can
[17:36] t work
[17:38] anymore overtime hours. His
[17:39] internship is pretty much done,
[17:40] so we have to figure out what
[17:41] we
[17:42] re going to do here, um, but
[17:42] I
[17:44] ll never forget your
[17:45] attention to detail even back
[17:49] then, and then when I was first
[17:51] elected, seeing you not only
[17:53] rise up to become our next city
[17:55] manager, but truly becoming our
[17:56] city manager at a time of
[17:57] crisis when
[17:58] we had to make sure our
[17:59] employees were safe, our
[18:01] community was safe. The funding
[18:03] that we had was safe. You
[18:05] really saw a plan and a vision,
[18:07] and we would not be, and I say
[18:10] this, we as a city would not be
[18:13] where we are today without your
[18:16] financial stewardship of our
[18:17] dollars, as well as telling us
[18:18] no when we
[18:19] re spending too much
[18:21] and you always do that very
[18:23] tactfully, but on a personal
[18:26] level, the man that you are is
[18:27] truly a
[18:30] m ir able Um, when we met Becky
[18:31] when I was leaving the
[18:36] mayorship, um, and everything
[18:38] was happening with your family,
[18:39] um, you know, I, I had said to
[18:40] you, I think, well, David, you
[18:41] can
[18:42] t leave, you know, I, I
[18:44] need you. We need you. The city
[18:46] needs you, and you literally
[18:48] said, my family needs me.
[18:50] And
[18:53] man at that moment I knew that
[18:59] you were just a man. I hope and
[19:00] I hope that we can always
[19:01] continue to look up to that
[19:03] moral courage, and it means a
[19:05] lot, and I know out there it
[19:07] means a lot to everyone and
[19:08] even when people didn
[19:09] t agree,
[19:11] you always steadied the ship,
[19:13] and I appreciate that so much
[19:15] about you, and I will MISS You.
[19:16] I was already telling people
[19:17] you weren
[19:17] t showing up tonight
[19:18] because, you know, hey, we got
[19:19] Jackie and we
[19:19] re going
[19:21] to vote on it. But you know Kat
[19:21] knows. I said I don
[19:22] t think
[19:22] he
[19:23] s coming, but you know,
[19:23] we
[19:25] ll see you here, um, but
[19:27] first and foremost, thank you
[19:28] for being a friend. Thank you
[19:30] for being a mentor, and thank
[19:34] you for making my first term in
[19:36] office successful because you
[19:37] guided me through some really
[19:38] tough conversations, and I
[19:39] really appreciate you, and I
[19:39] ll
[19:40] never forget that.
[19:42] Congratulations, David.
[19:44] Councilembhang, thank you,
[19:47] Mayor. David, thank you for
[19:49] helping me get through my
[19:50] freshman year with patience,
[19:55] with love, with kindness and um,
[19:56] I mean, uh
[19:58] as soon as I got sworn in, the
[19:59] fires happened and you helped
[20:00] steady the ship.
[20:01] When the immigration rates
[20:02] happen, you helped steady the
[20:05] ship for our city. So thank you.
[20:06] Thank you for teaching me how
[20:07] to be a better person.
[20:10] And thank you for giving me
[20:11] advice and guidance, even
[20:12] sometimes when I didn
[20:12] t want it
[20:15] but knew they had to hear it.
[20:18] Um so that I really appreciate.
[20:19] I remember a month, not even a
[20:20] month after I was sworn in I
[20:22] went to dinner with you.
[20:22] And that
[20:23] s when you had said,
[20:24] you know, I
[20:24] m going to retire,
[20:27] and I was like, I just got here.
[20:27] You
[20:28] re already leaving and my
[20:31] eyes started tearing up at the
[20:32] table, um, you
[20:32] ve been a Steady
[20:34] presence sitting on my right
[20:35] side, um, and I
[20:35] m going to MISS
[20:37] You. Thank you for all you
[20:37] ve
[20:40] contributed to our city.
[20:41] Thank you, David, we
[20:44] re so, so
[20:46] grateful for you, personally,
[20:47] as the first councilmember
[20:49] sworn in since you became city
[20:51] manager to really get to work
[20:54] with you to be onboarded, to
[20:56] really understand what it means
[20:58] to support staff through your
[21:00] vision to support the city. I
[21:01] feel so supported and so lucky
[21:03] to have grown in my leadership
[21:04] under your tenure as city
[21:06] manager these 1st 3 years, and
[21:08] have served as mayor in your
[21:09] last year, we know
[21:11] how fortunate we are as a city,
[21:13] but I think we cannot impress
[21:15] it upon the public enough what
[21:17] it means to be a city so well
[21:19] situated financially to be able
[21:21] to take on the ambitious, you
[21:23] know, projects that we do,
[21:24] capital projects, but also
[21:26] having an ice rink in the park
[21:28] for our holiday season. We are
[21:30] able to do so much and give so
[21:31] much to the community because
[21:33] of the financial health that
[21:33] you
[21:33] ve brought and the
[21:34] stability you
[21:35] ve brought to the
[21:36] city through really difficult
[21:38] times, and it was an honor, so
[21:39] everyone knows we were able to
[21:39] give the
[21:42] key to the city to David at the
[21:44] Cityhood celebration, an event
[21:45] that he really helped imagine
[21:47] and dream up, and his family
[21:49] was present with us that night,
[21:50] a family that I think has
[21:52] really also invested so deeply
[21:54] in this city by way of your
[21:56] commitment being here. It truly
[21:58] takes everyone to support your
[21:59] ability to take those phone
[22:00] calls in the middle of the
[22:01] night or early in the morning
[22:03] or on the weekends, and so we
[22:04] think your family also for
[22:07] their support of the city
[22:08] through so much, and you
[22:09] re
[22:10] fully
[22:12] dedicated presence through all
[22:13] this time that you
[22:13] ve also been
[22:15] dealing with. We really
[22:17] appreciate you so much. So, um,
[22:19] we will wrap up the
[22:22] celebrations for you, but it
[22:24] will continue to ring very true
[22:25] that we are so grateful for all
[22:25] you
[22:26] ve given to the city and
[22:27] the legacy you
[22:28] ve built, and to
[22:30] hear that you recognize that
[22:31] legacy more than any of that
[22:32] sort of financial strength or
[22:33] health where all the things
[22:33] we
[22:34] re celebrating, but what
[22:34] you
[22:35] ve invested in the staff
[22:37] and the team here hearing those
[22:38] words from you at the holiday
[22:39] party meant so much. So it is
[22:40] truly
[22:41] an honor, and I will ask the
[22:42] whole council to join me at the
[22:44] dais to accept the proclamation
[22:45] and to take a photo with you
[22:47] and celebrate you one last time.
[24:20] Thanks, David.
[24:22] Well, so, as, as you all know,
[24:26] I am a person of few words. Um,
[24:29] fortunately, WeHhovie put my
[24:31] entire presentation at the from
[24:33] the 40th anniversary, I posted
[24:34] it online and so I won
[24:35] t make
[24:37] you all suffer through me going
[24:37] through another long
[24:38] presentation.
[24:40] But I do want to thank the city
[24:43] council. Thank you all for your
[24:46] kind words and all the memories
[24:48] that we shared and that brought
[24:52] to me, um, as well as our
[24:54] previous council members for
[24:55] their support, um, not only for
[24:56] me as city manager, but
[24:58] throughout my career here with
[25:00] the city. I also want to thank
[25:02] all of you community members,
[25:05] um, especially those who have
[25:07] reached out and thanked me for
[25:08] my service here and said
[25:09] goodbye
[25:11] and showed appreciation and all
[25:11] of those who haven
[25:12] t had the
[25:14] opportunity to do that. I truly
[25:16] do love this city and I
[25:17] ve
[25:18] really loved my experience here
[25:20] and all the time providing
[25:21] service to this community, and
[25:23] I know this community is really
[25:25] grateful for the service that
[25:27] we as a whole, the city staff
[25:29] provides and finally I just
[25:30] want to thank our city staff.
[25:32] It is an amazing staff. Thank
[25:35] you all for working so hard and
[25:37] making me look good because
[25:38] quite frankly, that
[25:38] s hard to
[25:39] do
[25:40] but I thank you all. I know I
[25:41] d
[25:42] leave the city in really good
[25:44] hands with this staff and with
[25:46] Jackie Rocco at the helm as
[25:49] city manager, um, as I retire,
[26:00] so thank you.
[26:02] I know we have a few
[26:04] dignitaries here to share
[26:05] remarks as well, and we
[26:05] ll do
[26:07] that under our public comment
[26:08] section, so we
[26:09] ll get into that.
[26:11] Uh, the city council values
[26:12] your comments. However,
[26:14] pursuant to the Brown Act, the
[26:15] council cannot take action on
[26:16] items not listed on the Posted
[26:18] agenda. The public comment
[26:20] period is limited to 20 minutes
[26:21] with 2 minutes allotted for
[26:23] each speaker. This public
[26:25] comment period is to address
[26:26] the city Counciluncil on
[26:28] consent calendar items. Other
[26:30] agenda items if the member of
[26:31] the public cannot be
[26:32] present at the time the item is
[26:34] considered or items of general
[26:34] interest within the
[26:35] jurisdiction of the city
[26:37] council. Another period is also
[26:38] reserved for general comment
[26:39] later in the meeting for those
[26:40] that could not be heard at this
[26:41] time. In public hearing
[26:43] testimony will only be taken at
[26:45] the time of the hearing. So
[26:45] we
[26:47] ll start first with
[26:49] Lieutenant Fannny Lapkin.
[26:50] And then we
[26:52] ll go to Mandy. I
[26:52] m
[26:54] sorry.
[26:54] I
[26:55] m sorry. It says lieutenant
[26:55] here. I
[26:56] m just reading the
[26:58] screen. Captain Fanny Lapkin,
[27:00] everyone knows and everyone can
[27:01] correct the record.
[27:05] I respond to all of it. Lanny
[27:07] Lapkin Captain Lieutenant, um
[27:10] David, um, this is a, a, a
[27:12] small token of our appreciation
[27:13] from the Alley County Sheriff
[27:14] s
[27:16] Department. We have a
[27:18] proclamation for your amazing
[27:20] leadership, mentorship that
[27:20] you
[27:21] ve had throughout the city.
[27:22] I know me being young here on
[27:24] the with the city, you
[27:24] ve been
[27:25] an amazing friend and a great
[27:27] mentor. Um, in recognition of
[27:28] your outstanding leadership as
[27:30] city manager of West Hollywood.
[27:31] Your partnership over the years
[27:32] has brought meaningful and
[27:34] lasting improvement to the
[27:35] community. On behalf of the men
[27:36] and women of Los Angeles County
[27:37] Sheriff
[27:37] s Department. We
[27:38] appreciate your commitment to
[27:40] the community and the role you
[27:41] have played in keeping West
[27:42] Hollywood safe. So this is on
[27:45] behalf of our Sheriff Fluna.
[27:48] Proclamation. Can I approach
[27:51] and just take a clerk.
[27:52] Thank you. We
[27:53] ll MISS You and
[27:56] we love you. Thank you.
[27:58] Next we have Mandy Laughlin
[27:59] representing Supervisor
[27:59] Horvath
[28:05] s office.
[28:06] Hi, David and Joshua
[28:07] s gonna
[28:07] come up with me too. We
[28:07] re
[28:08] we
[28:08] re gonna, we
[28:10] re gonna speak
[28:12] together, um, on behalf of
[28:14] myself as a resident, I want to
[28:16] say thank you for, um, for all
[28:16] the support that I
[28:17] ve seen you
[28:18] give the city while I
[28:18] ve lived
[28:20] here and also while I was a
[28:21] commissioner here, um, your
[28:23] leadership is a parent and I, I
[28:25] feel that you bought a a
[28:26] certain calmness to, um,
[28:27] operations in the city too that
[28:29] I know is really well
[28:31] appreciated and then be on
[28:33] behalf of um la County, I want
[28:34] to thank you for your service.
[28:36] 25 years is a really
[28:38] long time. And, uh, I know that
[28:39] you are a big part of what
[28:41] makes West Hollywood so special
[28:41] and what
[28:43] s made West Hollywood
[28:44] so successful for, for the
[28:45] tenure that you
[28:47] ve been here.
[28:49] Thank you, Mandy, and, uh,
[28:49] David, I
[28:50] ll say I
[28:50] ve I
[28:50] ve only
[28:51] been in Wehho for about a
[28:53] couple of years now, but I
[28:54] quickly learned just how big
[28:56] your impact and your legacy has
[28:58] been here in this city, so it
[28:58] s
[28:59] been an honor to get to know
[29:01] you and on behalf of Assembly
[29:02] Members of birth, thank you for
[29:11] your many years of service.
[29:11] We
[29:12] ll continue with public
[29:14] comment. I have Kevin Burton,
[29:15] then followed by Darius
[29:16] Anderson, followed by Wendy
[29:27] Goldman.
[29:28] Good evening, Councilmembers
[29:30] Kevin Burton, City of West
[29:31] Hollywood.
[29:32] I just don
[29:35] t want to say a few
[29:37] comments on item f3, which is
[29:38] the city
[29:40] s policy on
[29:43] recognitions and memorials and
[29:46] that includes plaques and
[29:49] certification and other honors
[29:51] um, I represent the West
[29:52] Hollywood Bicycle Coalition,
[29:55] and we would like to urge the
[29:58] city to add another type of
[29:59] memorial to the array you
[30:01] already offered to the city,
[30:06] and that is memorial sign at
[30:08] locations of traffic deaths due
[30:11] to crashes. This is done by
[30:12] several cities around the state.
[30:13] You
[30:16] ll see these signs in la
[30:18] and Pasadena, Pasarobos up
[30:19] in the Central Coast. Several
[30:21] other cities, and they serve
[30:24] two purposes. One is to
[30:26] memorialize the people who
[30:28] suffered those tragedies at
[30:30] those locations and to show
[30:31] that we don
[30:32] t forget them. The
[30:35] second is as a reminder to
[30:38] drivers to drive carefully.
[30:40] That people can get killed when
[30:40] you don
[30:42] t drive carefully and
[30:43] in la you
[30:45] ll see messages very
[30:48] brief on such signs to that
[30:48] effect, and it
[30:49] s usually
[30:51] related to what happened.
[30:51] So
[30:54] we hope that you will consider
[30:57] adding that kind of memorial to
[30:59] your recognitions program.
[31:02] And so that the city will make
[31:04] a statement that those who have
[31:07] died tragically are not soon
[31:08] forgotten. Thank you.
[31:09] You.
[31:11] Darius Anderson, followed by
[31:12] Wendy Goldman, followed by
[31:20] David Eicman.
[31:22] Esteemed members of West
[31:25] Hollywood. I wanna talk to you
[31:27] about b5 um.
[31:29] Which particularly pertains to
[31:31] unhoused individuals in West
[31:32] Hollywood. Uh, myself having
[31:34] been an unhoused individual in
[31:36] West Hollywood. I would like to
[31:38] say that I understand that the
[31:40] issue is a concern for personal
[31:43] property in this city, um
[31:44] I would also like to mention
[31:45] that the mission of the
[31:47] Environmental Quality Act is to
[31:49] preserve the ecology of this
[31:50] environment. Uh, and the
[31:51] welfare of the people. It is
[31:53] the intent of this council to
[31:55] identify critical thresholds
[31:56] for the health and safety of
[31:58] the people of West Hollywood,
[31:59] uh, we are a community. More
[32:00] than that, we
[32:01] re a team. I
[32:04] believe that the unhoused Bill
[32:06] of Rights introduced by
[32:07] Representative Corey Bush in
[32:10] 2021, intended to stop the
[32:11] criminalization and mandate
[32:12] federal actions to end
[32:13] transience by the end of
[32:15] this year. I would remind you
[32:17] guys that uh we
[32:18] re a community
[32:21] and that the unhoused made
[32:22] simply need a place to store
[32:24] their property during this time
[32:27] and that there are um
[32:29] organizations out there willing
[32:31] to help. Uh, those including
[32:34] the bin by the by Chrysalis, um,
[32:35] which could be implemented in
[32:37] the city to help preserve some
[32:39] of the property of the unhoused
[32:40] while they
[32:41] re here. Um, again,
[32:41] that
[32:41] s all I
[32:42] d like to say.
[32:44] Thank you
[32:45] Wendy Goldman, followed by
[32:47] David Eicman, followed by David
[32:50] Eckert.
[32:52] Good evening, Wendy Goldman,
[32:54] City of West Hollywood, on
[32:55] behalf of Cynthia Sunset
[32:57] Neighborhood Watch. I would
[32:59] like to publicly thank
[33:01] Genevieve Morell for her
[33:04] unending support for us, for
[33:05] Sunset Strip, restoration, and
[33:07] for her humor during the 15
[33:08] years that she has been
[33:10] PRESIDENT Of the West Hollywood
[33:13] Chamber of Commerce. While we
[33:15] have disagreed on occasion. Jen
[33:16] has proved to be a woman of
[33:18] valor who strives for the best
[33:20] in dealing with business
[33:21] leaders, community members
[33:23] and city council. Her values
[33:25] are top-notch, and I admire the
[33:27] way that she has led since the
[33:29] pandemic and recovery from the
[33:31] tremendous economic loss to our
[33:33] local businesses. As the sunset
[33:35] strip continues to face
[33:36] uncertainty with many
[33:39] struggling or closed businesses,
[33:40] pedestrian obstructions,
[33:42] stalled developments galore and
[33:44] a severe lack of green space. I
[33:45] trust that the work that
[33:48] Genevieve has done will be
[33:51] continued by new ceo Len Ladzy
[33:51] in the
[33:52] same good faith. I
[33:53] d also like
[33:54] to thank the members of the
[33:54] city
[33:56] s boards and commissions
[33:57] who invest in improving many
[33:59] aspects of life in West
[34:00] Hollywood in partnership with
[34:03] city staff. Your service is so
[34:04] appreciated. Happy holidays to
[34:06] all and remember to stay aware
[34:08] of your surroundings and help
[34:10] improve public safety. Thank
[34:11] you.
[34:12] David Ekeman, followed by David
[34:13] Eckert, followed by Scott
[34:17] Schmidt.
[34:19] Good evening, MADAM Mayer, MR.
[34:20] Vice Mayor, Councilmember David
[34:23] Eichman, chair of the city
[34:23] s
[34:25] transportation and mobility
[34:26] Commission. I too want to first
[34:28] thank David Wilson for his many
[34:30] years of service to this
[34:31] community, and I want to
[34:34] commend the council on its
[34:36] wisdom in selecting Jackie
[34:39] Rocco as our next city manager.
[34:40] Um, she has already served the
[34:41] city admirably, and I look
[34:42] forward to working with her.
[34:44] Congratulations, Jackie.
[34:46] On a somber note, um, my heart
[34:49] also goes out to the Jewish
[34:52] community in Australia. So to
[34:53] show what a small world we live
[34:54] in
[34:56] one of my Dartmouth classmates
[34:57] is on the town council in
[34:59] Waverley, which is the area
[35:00] that includes Bondi Beach. He
[35:02] is Jewish. The mayor had asked
[35:05] him to go to two events that
[35:07] night celebrating Hanukkah. He
[35:09] was finishing his speech at the
[35:11] first event and about to head
[35:13] over to the beach. Um,
[35:15] thankfully, he is ok, but as
[35:16] you can imagine, he is shocked.
[35:16] It
[35:17] s a, it
[35:19] s a fairly small
[35:21] Jewish community in Sydney. Um,
[35:23] so everyone there is impacted
[35:24] and
[35:25] this just shows this can happen
[35:28] anywhere. So my charge to
[35:30] everyone tonight is if you hear
[35:33] someone make an anti-Semitic
[35:35] comment. Call it out, please,
[35:36] by being silent, you
[35:37] re not
[35:39] helping. Rid the world of
[35:41] anti-Semitism. So with that in
[35:43] mind, happy holiday.
[35:45] David Eckert, followed by Scott
[35:46] Schmidt, followed by Rich
[35:50] Magana.
[35:52] Good evening, City Council.
[35:53] David Eckert, uh, resident of
[35:55] West Hollywood. Uh, this is the
[35:57] time of the year where I just
[36:00] want to uh say I am grateful
[36:01] for every single one of you. Uh,
[36:03] you are all beacons of lights.
[36:05] You have all such great souls.
[36:07] You inspire me daily. We might
[36:10] disagree at times, but I so
[36:11] value each and every one of you.
[36:13] You make the world a better
[36:15] place, and I hope people
[36:17] watching at home realize how
[36:19] selfless every one of these
[36:21] people are. They represent our
[36:21] city.
[36:22] This includes everyone at city
[36:23] staff that I
[36:24] ve ever dealt with,
[36:25] um, it
[36:26] s time that we all look
[36:27] at each other in this world
[36:28] with everything that
[36:29] s happened
[36:31] lately, it breaks my heart that
[36:31] we as individuals can
[36:32] t look at
[36:35] people and see the differences
[36:37] you do. I so appreciate that.
[36:39] David Wilson, I hope that when
[36:40] you build a home, you build a
[36:41] bigger wall for all the
[36:43] accolades that you have
[36:44] received, um.
[36:45] And again, I just from the
[36:47] bottom of my heart, I want to
[36:49] say thank you. Um, and for
[36:50] something to look forward to
[36:52] next year. I would love the the
[36:54] lights along Santa Monica
[36:55] Boulevard are beautiful. I
[36:57] would love for the park to be
[36:58] lit up just as well. We get
[37:01] people out of the cars. Let
[37:01] s
[37:03] become a community where we
[37:05] actually come together and
[37:07] celebrate, um, thank you again
[37:08] from the bottom of my heart.
[37:09] Love you all.
[37:11] Scott Schmidt, followed by Rich
[37:13] McGonna, followed by Nick Royal.
[37:16] Good evening. Scott Schmidt,
[37:17] resident of West Hollywood,
[37:19] executive director of Emerald
[37:20] Village West Hollywood. Uh,
[37:21] first, let me thank you, Dave,
[37:22] for your service. It was a
[37:24] pleasure serving alongside you
[37:26] for 91 days as a colleague, and
[37:27] the last couple of years, uh,
[37:29] working with Emerald Village,
[37:31] uh, the staff has been, uh,
[37:32] wonderful to work with and also
[37:33] to you, Genevieve Moorrell in
[37:34] the audience, thank you for
[37:37] your service to West Hollywood.
[37:38] Uh, if I look forward to
[37:40] working with Lynn Lanzey at the
[37:41] Chamber. I
[37:42] ve known him for
[37:43] since
[37:44] the turn of the century and uh
[37:44] i
[37:46] m excited about him coming
[37:46] here and I think he
[37:46] s going to
[37:48] be an asset to the city as well.
[37:50] And also before I get going, I
[37:52] realized just now Lauren and
[37:54] and and John Heilman. A year
[37:54] from now we will be here
[37:56] celebrating your service to
[37:57] this city, uh, and honestly
[37:58] some o the best public
[37:59] servants that West Hollywood
[38:01] has known, and I hope maybe we
[38:03] take a whole night to celebrate
[38:04] them separate from the council
[38:06] meeting because, uh, we
[38:07] couldn
[38:08] t do them justice in
[38:11] just the the this part. Uh, now,
[38:13] moving on, a year ago, uh, you
[38:14] renew you, you gave us a
[38:16] contract for Emerald Village,
[38:17] uh, to fund through the first
[38:18] of the year. I said that I hope
[38:19] I could come back and tell you
[38:20] that we had improved cannabis
[38:23] sales in West Hollywood by 10%
[38:24] compared to the statewide
[38:26] average. In the third quarter
[38:28] of this year from JULY to
[38:29] SEPTEMBER.
[38:31] Cannabis sales were up 4.8% in
[38:36] West Hollywood, down 5.4%
[38:37] statewide compared to where we
[38:38] were a year ago. We
[38:40] re selling
[38:43] $82 more per capita than the
[38:45] rest of the state. And
[38:46] to do the math, that translates
[38:50] to about 3000 or $3 million in
[38:51] additional revenue that has
[38:53] been generated in the last year,
[38:54] um, in the last since I last
[38:55] saw you, we
[38:56] ve done a lot. We
[38:57] crowned a new Queens of Emerald
[38:59] Village Paradisa Darling. We
[39:00] judged the Amsterdam Coffee
[39:02] Shop Awards. We spoke at mj
[39:04] BizCon and we hosted the first
[39:07] ever Rainbow Royale lgbt after
[39:08] hours party at mj BizCon, and
[39:09] we
[39:10] ve got some great things
[39:12] coming up in 2026, including
[39:13] thanks to your support,
[39:15] FEBRUARY 28th, the
[39:16] Cannabis Culture and Change
[39:17] Conference in this very
[39:18] building. Thank you.
[39:20] Rich McGona, followed by Nick
[39:22] Royel, followed by Genevieve
[39:25] Morrell.
[39:26] Greeting council members. My
[39:26] name
[39:27] s Rich Mganny. I
[39:27] m the
[39:29] founder of Queer and Cannabis.
[39:29] We
[39:32] re an organization focused
[39:34] on preserving um the extensive
[39:36] lgbtq history specifically
[39:38] within the cannabis space. Um,
[39:39] as, as Scott mentioned, we are
[39:40] partnering up with him for the
[39:44] cannabis, um, culture and
[39:46] change symposium where we
[39:47] ll be,
[39:48] um, screening the unreleased
[39:50] documentary of Join the Club,
[39:52] which is a documentary focused
[39:54] on the intersection of the lgbt
[39:56] community, cannabis and hiv aid
[39:56] d s It
[39:58] s often an under an
[39:59] untold story. It
[40:00] s definitely a
[40:01] story that, uh, the majority of
[40:03] people within my industry know,
[40:05] so I just wanted to thank
[40:06] everyone here for giving us the
[40:07] platform to be able to share
[40:09] this story, um, to, to a larger
[40:12] population. So thank you very
[40:14] much. Nick Royel, followed by
[40:21] Gevieve Murrell.
[40:22] Hi, Mayor and vice mayor and
[40:24] council.
[40:24] I don
[40:27] t know about any of you,
[40:28] but this weekend has been
[40:29] really tough.
[40:30] Um
[40:33] in many
[40:36] areas, um, I teach
[40:38] um first year students at
[40:39] CalArts English.
[40:42] And the incidents at Brown
[40:44] shook me. I, I have friends who
[40:47] also teach at Brown.
[40:51] On the 2nd night of Hanukkah
[40:53] in these moments, I often turn
[40:56] to a rabbi
[40:59] by the name of Abraham Joshua
[41:00] Heschel.
[41:02] Rabbi Heschel
[41:04] often
[41:05] helps me connect with my heart
[41:08] and my soul.
[41:09] And gives me the grounding that
[41:11] I need when my nervous system
[41:12] is bumped up.
[41:13] When I don
[41:14] t quite have a
[41:17] language
[41:19] for these difficult incongruous
[41:20] feelings, right? These feelings
[41:22] that are scared and lonely.
[41:24] And and tired
[41:25] So
[41:28] to the city of West Hollywood,
[41:30] I share this from Rabbi Hasel
[41:33] on the 2nd night of Hanukkah.
[41:37] I would say about individuals.
[41:39] Uh individual dies
[41:42] when they cease to be surprised.
[41:46] I am surprised every morning
[41:48] when I see the sun
[41:51] shine again.
[41:55] When I see an act of evil.
[41:55] I don
[41:58] t accommodate.
[41:58] I don
[42:00] t accommodate myself to
[42:02] the violence that goes on
[42:03] everywhere.
[42:06] I am still so surprised.
[42:11] That is why I am against it.
[42:16] We must learn to be surprised
[42:17] City of West Hollywood and
[42:19] council
[42:21] I am constantly surprised by
[42:24] the depths of our love and care.
[42:25] MAY we extend that more than
[42:28] ever tonight. Thank you.
[42:30] Genevieve Moorrell, we are our
[42:33] final speaker in Chambers.
[42:36] Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor,
[42:37] councilmembers, Genevieve Morre,
[42:39] PRESIDENT And ceo of the West
[42:40] Hollywood Chamber for another,
[42:41] I don
[42:42] t know how many days,
[42:45] hours, or seconds. Uh, but
[42:46] until JANUARY 12th when Len
[42:50] comes in, um, but I, I know you
[42:50] haven
[42:51] t taken action on it yet,
[42:53] but I wanted to thank outgoing
[42:56] Mayor Byers for her service was
[42:58] stellar, exceptional, and
[43:01] welcome, uh, Mayor, uh, the new
[43:02] Vice Mayor Heilmann, to be our
[43:03] new mayor. Hopefully,
[43:05] if you vote on it, I, um, I
[43:06] ve
[43:08] seen, uh, Councilmember
[43:09] Heilmann, Vice Mayor Heilmann,
[43:11] many times over as mayor, so I
[43:11] know you
[43:13] ll do a great job. And
[43:16] then, um, I also just wanted to
[43:19] thank our outgoing city manager
[43:20] David Wilson. David, uh, you
[43:22] came in on a really tough time.
[43:24] It was a tough time for the
[43:27] business community as well. Um,
[43:31] you, you got through with such,
[43:33] um, respectful, stellar, dign
[43:36] ity with my emotional craziness
[43:39] and how many battles we waged,
[43:41] but you took it all in and you
[43:43] were just amazing and helping
[43:44] us get through all that. Um,
[43:46] thank you, Councilmember
[43:48] Erickson, uh, for all the years
[43:49] and I
[43:50] ve known you a very long
[43:52] time as well through some of
[43:54] that internship you talked
[43:56] about and Councilmember Hang as
[43:57] the new council, we
[43:57] ve just
[43:58] started to get to know each
[44:00] other, so thank you. Andelember
[44:02] Meister, thank you so much.
[44:03] Sorry about your eyes. You will
[44:04] see later, so there
[44:05] s just too
[44:06] much to say. And then, of
[44:09] course, welcoming Jackie Rocco,
[44:11] um, Jackie is just the best
[44:13] thing ever. Um, so I just want
[44:13] to say it
[44:14] s my last meeting and
[44:16] I only have 19 seconds left, so
[44:18] not a lot of time, but my last
[44:19] council meeting here, next
[44:21] council meeting, I MAY come in
[44:23] JANUARY with our new person,
[44:24] but I
[44:25] ve created a
[44:26] relationships I treasure. Thank
[44:28] you so much for 25 years in
[44:30] West Hollywood. It
[44:31] s been the
[44:33] most important moments in my
[44:34] life have
[44:35] been here, and the
[44:36] relationships all treasure
[44:37] forever. Thank you so much.
[44:43] Thank you
[44:44] You got to come back for your
[44:45] reward, Jen. So I guess we
[44:47] ll
[44:49] see you in MARCH.
[44:50] I don
[44:51] t believe we have any
[44:52] speakers signed up in Zoom, so
[44:53] we can go straight into our
[44:54] city manager
[44:58] s report.
[45:02] Thank you, Mayor, uh, Vice
[45:04] Mayor and Counciluncilmembs.
[45:05] Thank you, community members
[45:06] for your public comment. Um,
[45:09] tonight, we only have an update
[45:10] from our community safety
[45:12] department and our public
[45:14] safety partners on the work
[45:14] that they
[45:15] ve been doing, um,
[45:16] and so it
[45:18] ll be a very brief,
[45:20] maybe 10 minute update um an
[45:22] overview of some of our
[45:23] community safety projects and
[46:03] programs.
[46:04] Great, sorry about the delay.
[46:06] Um, and good evening, Mayor,
[46:07] Vice Mayor and members of the
[46:08] city council. I
[46:09] m Danny Revis,
[46:10] director of Community safety
[46:12] for the city. I
[46:13] m also joined
[46:15] this evening with various
[46:17] members of our community safety
[46:18] team, our West Hollywood
[46:20] sheriff station captain,
[46:23] Captain Fannie Lapkin. We have
[46:25] our assistant division fire
[46:27] chief who serves as our fire
[46:28] chief for West Hollywood, Drew
[46:30] Smith, and then we have um
[46:32] Anita Shandy, our public safety
[46:34] manager. We also
[46:36] have our general manager of our
[46:38] allied security services, which
[46:40] provides oversight of our
[46:42] security ambassador program,
[46:43] and then we have Jessica
[46:45] Benitez and Alisa Lopez, who
[46:47] are both a code enforcement
[46:48] supervisors in our neighborhood
[46:50] and businesss Safety division.
[46:52] Um, so essentially, the
[46:53] community safety department
[46:55] does provide public safety
[46:57] services to protect life and
[46:58] property and to improve the
[47:00] quality of life for residents,
[47:01] businesses, and visitors in
[47:03] West Hollywood. So up on the
[47:04] screen is essentially the
[47:05] structure and the
[47:07] representatives that I just
[47:09] explained. Um, this
[47:10] presentation is focused on
[47:11] measurements that were
[47:13] established as a part of the
[47:15] department as part of the
[47:16] current budget cycle that we
[47:16] re
[47:19] in, um, and in addition to that,
[47:19] you
[47:19] ll see
[47:21] 11 priorities that are outlined
[47:24] as well. Again, all of this
[47:25] information is directly tied to
[47:26] the work plan for the
[47:27] department that highlights,
[47:29] right, what measurements,
[47:31] performance metrics, etc. That
[47:33] we are looking to acquire
[47:35] throughout the year, as well as
[47:37] the priorities that each of the
[47:39] functions in the community
[47:40] safety department are focused
[47:42] on.
[47:43] And so for our neighborhood and
[47:46] business Safety division, most
[47:47] community members are
[47:48] accustomed to that being called
[47:50] a code compliance, but we did a
[47:52] name change of the division,
[47:54] maybe about 2, 2.5 years ago as
[47:56] a part of that process. And so
[47:57] our operations though have not,
[48:01] have not changed. And so that
[48:03] includes code enforcement that
[48:05] provides 7-day services. Our
[48:07] business license and permitting
[48:08] function, um, serving as the
[48:09] liaison to the business license
[48:12] commission and it also includes
[48:12] oversight
[48:14] of our animal care and control
[48:16] contract that we have with Los
[48:18] Angeles County.
[48:20] Ares of focus and you
[48:21] ll see in
[48:23] parentheses for each of uh of
[48:25] these areas of focus, whether
[48:25] or not it
[48:26] s tied to a
[48:27] measurement or whether it
[48:27] s
[48:28] tied to a priority that I
[48:30] mentioned early on. If you see
[48:31] the check mark to the box to
[48:32] the left, that
[48:33] s meaning that
[48:34] we are meeting that um and if
[48:35] you just see the box without
[48:38] the check mark, that means that
[48:40] we are working towards that
[48:41] goal, or we are, um, you know,
[48:43] in progress or or maybe it
[48:43] s
[48:44] something that we haven
[48:44] t yet
[48:46] got to. So you are seen as a
[48:47] part of our measurement in the
[48:48] neighborhood and business
[48:50] Safety division that
[48:52] maintaining respond times is
[48:54] being met. Um, we also are
[48:55] continuing to look at municipal
[48:58] code amendments, you know, we
[49:00] recently did I won
[49:00] t say too
[49:02] recent, but we did make an
[49:03] amendment to our vacant
[49:04] property ordinance, and I know
[49:05] our city council
[49:05] s familiar
[49:06] with that because obviously we
[49:08] brought that item forth and as
[49:10] a part of that item, it
[49:13] included the ability to issue
[49:15] demolition orders as part of
[49:17] vacant properties due to calls
[49:19] for service, um, and ultimately
[49:20] as it relates to an umbrella
[49:21] right through our public safety
[49:22] agencies. So if our fire
[49:23] department, our sheriff
[49:23] s
[49:24] department, our code
[49:26] enforcement folks are receiving
[49:27] calls for service, then that
[49:29] amendment allows us now to
[49:31] exercise the ability to um
[49:33] order a property to be
[49:36] demolished under that. Policy
[49:37] program compliance is currently
[49:39] being met. You know, the focus
[49:41] in code enforcement in
[49:43] neighborhood business safety is
[49:45] high on vacant properties as
[49:46] well as short-term rentals,
[49:47] which have been a number of
[49:48] items that had come before
[49:49] council as well.
[49:50] Our licensing permitted and
[49:51] code enforcement case
[49:53] management systems. That
[49:53] s
[49:54] something that staff continues
[49:57] to work with our it division on
[49:59] um in terms of making
[49:59] improvements, trying to
[50:02] streamline processes, but
[50:03] ultimately um updating our
[50:05] current system from where it
[50:08] currently is right now. Um, our
[50:09] multi-family proactive
[50:11] inspection pilot program is
[50:13] something that the council
[50:15] provided direction on and there
[50:17] has been an update earlier this
[50:18] year as a part of the
[50:19] semi-annual Community Safety
[50:21] Update. And so right now we
[50:21] re
[50:23] in our 2nd year of that program.
[50:25] Um, staff has essentially gone
[50:28] through about 50% of a
[50:30] multi-family properties in the
[50:31] city and we
[50:33] re on track to
[50:34] completing the four-year cycle.
[50:36] So essentially we got another 2
[50:39] years to complete the
[50:40] multi-family proactive
[50:42] inspection pilot program, and
[50:42] we
[50:43] ll continue to provide
[50:44] updates to the city council as
[50:47] part of semi-annual updates.
[50:48] Major event compliance, you
[50:48] know, our
[50:49] neighborhood and business
[50:50] safety division issues special
[50:52] event permits to brick and
[50:54] mortar businesses. Obviously
[50:54] there are a number of
[50:56] businesses that activate during
[50:58] Pride and Halloween. And so, um,
[50:59] that is what that is
[51:00] referencing in addition to
[51:01] making sure the business is
[51:02] closed when they
[51:03] re supposed to,
[51:05] that the occupancy levels are
[51:07] being maintained and so forth
[51:08] and then trying to do their
[51:10] very best to address any sort
[51:12] of unpermitted street vending
[51:13] or other types of activities
[51:14] that aren
[51:16] t approved. Um, there
[51:17] is a box here that you
[51:17] re
[51:18] seeing on this
[51:20] this page here, the update to
[51:22] park rules. Um, that is a
[51:23] shared responsibility between
[51:24] both neighborhood and business
[51:26] safety and public safety. It is
[51:27] in progress. We
[51:28] ve gotten some
[51:29] input and feedback from our
[51:30] city prosecutor
[51:31] s office, and
[51:31] then the next step is we
[51:32] re
[51:33] going to be working with our
[51:34] city attorney
[51:36] s office, holding
[51:37] meetings internally with
[51:39] various different departments,
[51:40] recreation, public works, right?
[51:42] All of the folks that we know
[51:44] have input and feedback or are
[51:45] going to be directly impacted
[51:47] by that. And the idea behind
[51:48] this is to
[51:50] codify this in our municipal
[51:52] code, which it currently is not.
[51:55] Our park rules and regulations
[51:57] are in place and are adopted by
[51:58] resolution, but what we
[51:58] re
[52:00] looking to do is transfer that
[52:01] on over right and codify that
[52:03] in the municipal code.
[52:04] Um, here
[52:05] s a snapshot in terms
[52:07] of calls for service. We did
[52:10] provide data going back to 2019,
[52:12] which is prior to the pandemic.
[52:14] It is a little unusual when you
[52:16] look at other slides as it
[52:17] relates to data, um as you
[52:18] ll
[52:20] see in 2020 as a result of the
[52:21] covid-19 pandemic, you
[52:22] ll see
[52:24] calls for service a drop, but
[52:24] we
[52:25] ve seen an increase, and the
[52:27] reason for that is our code
[52:30] enforcement team actually was
[52:31] responding and enforcing
[52:33] various health orders adopted
[52:34] at the time and
[52:35] were quite busy. The folks, as
[52:38] we know, were at home and
[52:40] teleworking, etc. And so there
[52:41] were a lot of noise related
[52:43] calls and various calls that
[52:44] code enforcement responded to.
[52:45] You
[52:47] ve seen we had our greatest
[52:49] uptick in 2023. Um, but last
[52:52] year we seen a slight decrease
[52:53] and then this year
[52:54] s data, what
[52:54] you
[52:56] re seeing here to date is
[52:59] from actually JANUARY to today.
[52:59] Um, so it looks like we
[53:00] re
[53:01] going to be under where we were
[53:05] at for for last calendar year.
[53:07] So now as it relates to our
[53:09] public safety division and
[53:11] community safety department.
[53:13] And so this division is small
[53:14] but very mighty. It has our
[53:16] division manager, emergency
[53:18] management coordinator and
[53:20] public safety specialists, and
[53:21] they really serve as the
[53:23] liaison and oversight of our
[53:24] contract with the Los Angeles
[53:25] County Sheriff
[53:25] s Department,
[53:27] liaison to La Sanches County
[53:29] Fire Department, Oversight and
[53:31] contract management to our
[53:32] security ambassador program,
[53:34] serves as a liaison to the
[53:35] public safety commission and
[53:36] then emergency
[53:37] preparedness both internally
[53:39] within the city with city staff,
[53:41] as well as out in the community
[53:43] is their primary focus.
[53:45] Um, that includes also
[53:46] engagement with the community
[53:47] as it relates to liaison and
[53:49] and hosting meetings with our
[53:51] neighborhood watch groups,
[53:53] homeowners Association boards,
[53:54] and again providing the
[53:56] training that I mentioned Cert,
[53:58] which is offered twice a year,
[54:01] cpr, aed first aid training, uh,
[54:01] community academy training
[54:02] that
[54:02] s in partnership with the
[54:04] West Holly Sheriff Station, our
[54:06] public safety awards, of course
[54:07] our national night out, and we
[54:09] just recently have an actor
[54:10] shooter training as well and
[54:12] any sort of public safety town
[54:13] hall meetings at the community
[54:15] requests or that neighborhood
[54:16] watch groups or homeowners
[54:18] associations invite us to
[54:19] participate in.
[54:21] Um, so there are areas of focus
[54:23] again tied to measurement and
[54:25] priority is ensuring that
[54:26] response times with our various
[54:28] public safety agencies, so
[54:29] security ambassadors, West
[54:30] Hollywood Sheriff Station, fire
[54:32] department, etc. Are being met.
[54:36] Um, and we are meeting that, um,
[54:38] providing major event safety,
[54:39] including event action plans,
[54:41] and so we work with all those
[54:42] partners very closely and spent
[54:45] a significant amount of time
[54:47] ensuring that events and
[54:48] prevention of any sort of
[54:49] activity, right?
[54:51] That is unwanted is is
[54:52] addressed and able to be
[54:53] responded to, um, and that we
[54:56] have a plan for that. Um,
[54:57] providing emergency
[54:58] preparedness trainings to the
[54:59] community. I mentioned some of
[55:02] those, sir, um, aed first aid
[55:04] training, etc. And of course
[55:05] crime and reporting, so that
[55:05] s
[55:07] working directly with our
[55:09] public safety agency partners.
[55:10] This is provided on a monthly
[55:13] basis to our public safety
[55:14] commission and other
[55:15] commissions and advisory boards
[55:17] and so making sure that that
[55:19] data is being provided on a
[55:20] monthly
[55:21] basis, timely, and that it
[55:21] s,
[55:21] it
[55:23] s easy to follow and easy to
[55:25] read and able to identify and
[55:26] allow the community to identify
[55:28] trends as well. Um, the local
[55:29] hazard mitigation plan and
[55:31] emergency preparedness training.
[55:32] I think that goes without
[55:32] saying, but that
[55:33] s definitely a
[55:35] priority, and all of these are
[55:36] currently being met. Um, what
[55:36] isn
[55:38] t being met at this time,
[55:41] and these are all um in
[55:43] progress, um, is our unarmed
[55:44] alternative programs. Um,
[55:44] that
[55:46] s relating to our security
[55:48] ambassador program and our
[55:49] community safety officer
[55:50] program. So
[55:50] as the council
[55:51] s aware, we did
[55:55] a request for proposal process.
[55:58] We selected vendors at that
[55:59] point. We
[56:00] ve implemented the
[56:01] Security ambassador program,
[56:02] but on the community safety
[56:02] officer
[56:04] s side in that program,
[56:04] we
[56:06] re still in the works as a
[56:08] part of that process and so
[56:08] that
[56:09] s the reason why that box
[56:10] is not checked off. Public
[56:12] safety technology is also
[56:13] something that has come before
[56:15] the city council several times.
[56:16] So that relates to our drone as
[56:18] first responder program that we
[56:19] are currently working with our
[56:21] West Hollywood Sheriff Station
[56:23] and the department as a whole.
[56:24] And so the the latest and
[56:27] greatest as it relates to that
[56:30] update is that um they are at
[56:33] the 9090 percentile rate if you
[56:36] will, of 100% of of coming back
[56:38] and providing us with a draft
[56:41] of what that department policy
[56:42] would look like. I know that
[56:44] they need to get some input and
[56:45] some feedback from the
[56:47] bargaining units within the
[56:48] department as well. And so, uh,
[56:49] hopefully we
[56:49] ll be able to
[56:51] receive an update um by the end
[56:52] of this month in terms of what
[56:54] that looks like. And so we are
[56:56] eager, of course, to get the
[56:58] drone as first responder
[56:59] program up and running and so
[57:01] as soon as we hear from the
[57:02] sheriff
[57:03] s department, on where
[57:03] they
[57:03] re at. And so we
[57:04] re
[57:05] looking at hopefully the the
[57:07] first quarter of next calendar
[57:09] year of being able to come back
[57:11] with the city council with some
[57:13] updates. Um, our emergency
[57:15] response plans and
[57:16] communication, the sheriffs,
[57:17] sorry, our Public Safety
[57:18] division, of course, that is a
[57:19] priority for them
[57:21] working in tangent with our
[57:21] sheriff
[57:22] s station and our fire
[57:24] department as well in terms of
[57:25] continually updating that,
[57:28] there was a report and update
[57:29] that community safety
[57:30] department was involved with,
[57:32] with communications in all the
[57:33] departments and that update, of
[57:35] course, was presented to the
[57:39] city council this year.
[57:41] So our security ambassador
[57:45] program is a 24/7 operation
[57:46] with the transition that
[57:48] occurred in OCTOBER this year.
[57:49] Nothing has changed in terms of
[57:50] the level of services that have
[57:52] been provided aside from the
[57:54] change in uniforms. We did a
[57:56] rebranding of the kiosk that
[57:57] you see out and about. You see
[57:58] the number that we have
[58:03] highlighted in red as well, the
[58:06] 323-8486500 number and that
[58:08] provides the ability for folks
[58:10] to call in and also text. The
[58:11] community locations of where
[58:14] you see ambassadors has not
[58:15] changed either.
[58:17] Uh, Ares of focus for them is
[58:20] maintaining major event safety
[58:21] reporting on a monthly basis,
[58:24] ensuring that their ambassadors
[58:27] are trained adequately to the
[58:27] city
[58:29] s expectations, and so all
[58:30] of those are currently being
[58:32] met. Um, the citywide mailer
[58:33] with a magnet. I wanted to
[58:34] highlight that because that was
[58:35] a request that we
[58:35] ve heard not
[58:36] only from the city council but
[58:37] from the public safety
[58:39] commission as well. It is a
[58:39] priority and I
[58:41] m happy to
[58:42] report that the mailer should
[58:44] be going out next week, and so
[58:45] folks would be able
[58:46] to replace this new magnet with
[58:50] their older magnet that will
[58:53] highlight that 323-848-6500
[58:53] number.
[58:55] Uh, maintaining public safety
[58:56] response time for security
[58:58] ambassadors. This is still a
[59:00] work in progress under our
[59:02] current agreement, the Security
[59:04] ambassador program is expected
[59:06] to respond within 15 minutes,
[59:08] so the bulk of those instances
[59:09] are being met, but there are
[59:11] some instances that we
[59:11] re
[59:13] finding via text message that
[59:15] there is a delay and so we
[59:15] re
[59:16] continuing to work that with
[59:18] our partners and so that is why
[59:20] you are not seeing that box
[59:22] checked off.
[59:23] And now with our Los Angeles
[59:25] County Fire Department. We are
[59:26] serviced by fire stations 7 and
[59:28] 8, you know, I want to say on
[59:32] the east side of the city,
[59:34] obviously for Fire Station 8
[59:36] and then Fire Station 7 more
[59:38] towards the west side of the
[59:41] city. It is 24/7 operations and
[59:42] of course our fire department
[59:44] partners provide services to
[59:45] protect lives, property, and
[59:46] the environment. They do
[59:48] collaborate with our cities on
[59:50] how services program as well
[59:53] and are a huge component to our
[59:54] major events and the safety and
[59:56] our event action plans that we,
[59:57] we bring forth. Um, I don
[59:57] t
[1:00:00] have a slide as it relates to
[1:00:02] um their calls for service, but
[1:00:03] I will tell you that looking at
[1:00:05] the year to date from this year
[1:00:09] compared to last year, we are
[1:00:12] over a 6600 calls for service.
[1:00:14] The bulk of those calls are
[1:00:16] trending and have always been
[1:00:16] trending towards
[1:00:19] medical-related calls. Um, so
[1:00:19] nothing has changed
[1:00:21] significantly in terms of what,
[1:00:21] what we
[1:00:22] re seeing, what we
[1:00:22] re
[1:00:23] observing.
[1:00:25] And how our firefighters, of
[1:00:27] course, are responding.
[1:00:29] And then we have our, our West
[1:00:30] Hollywood sheriff station.
[1:00:31] These are the last couple of
[1:00:34] slides, of course, the
[1:00:37] operation 24/7. We have
[1:00:39] maintained our three special
[1:00:40] teams. So we have a
[1:00:42] community-oriented policing and
[1:00:43] problem solving team, our cops
[1:00:45] team, they operate Monday
[1:00:47] through Friday, traditionally
[1:00:49] or primarily from, you know, 8
[1:00:50] A.M. To 5 P.M. I know those
[1:00:51] aren
[1:00:52] t their specific hours,
[1:00:53] but more or less that
[1:00:53] s when
[1:00:55] you typically will see our our
[1:00:57] cops team, and then we have our
[1:00:58] entertainment policing
[1:01:00] team deputy, um, deputies, and
[1:01:02] they operate from Wednesday
[1:01:04] through Saturday in the later
[1:01:05] part of the hours, um, you know,
[1:01:08] and get off around 4 A.M. Um
[1:01:08] and we
[1:01:10] ve also maintained our
[1:01:11] mental evaluation team and so
[1:01:14] West Hollywood continues to be
[1:01:17] the sole contract city still at
[1:01:18] this time that is maintaining a
[1:01:21] mental evaluation team, um, and,
[1:01:22] and that is as a result of
[1:01:23] their currently being a
[1:01:26] moratorium still in place that
[1:01:27] does not allow contract cities
[1:01:29] to add any
[1:01:31] additional sworn or non-sworn
[1:01:33] personnel to their contracts. I
[1:01:34] know there have been some other
[1:01:35] contract cities that have
[1:01:36] expressed interest, of course,
[1:01:38] of creating their own met unit,
[1:01:40] but we are still the only
[1:01:42] contract city to maintain that.
[1:01:44] Um, and of course the major
[1:01:47] events is a huge component as
[1:01:49] well of our emergency
[1:01:50] operations bureau with our
[1:01:50] sheriff
[1:01:51] s department and our
[1:01:52] station staff as well. They do
[1:01:54] a great job in terms of
[1:01:55] providing input and feedback
[1:01:57] and developing of that event
[1:01:58] action plan.
[1:01:59] Um, areas of focus, you
[1:01:59] re
[1:02:01] seeing, uh, the bulk of these
[1:02:03] measurement and priorities that
[1:02:04] are currently being met. Um,
[1:02:07] you know, with, uh, the
[1:02:09] incident that that did the
[1:02:10] tragic incident that occurred,
[1:02:13] um, in, in Australia, with our
[1:02:14] Jewish community and the
[1:02:16] importance, right, and the
[1:02:18] priority that we provide to our
[1:02:20] community here. We did develop
[1:02:22] a Jewish community safety plan.
[1:02:24] That plan is currently in place.
[1:02:27] Um, and so deputies are, are on
[1:02:28] alert and and prioritizing
[1:02:29] making
[1:02:30] contact with our Jewish faith
[1:02:32] groups here in the city of West
[1:02:33] Hollywood and making sure that
[1:02:35] additional patrols are
[1:02:36] occurring and of course our
[1:02:38] crime prevention plan, ensuring
[1:02:39] that any issues that we
[1:02:40] re
[1:02:41] coming across or identifying or
[1:02:43] seen on a weekly, monthly basis
[1:02:44] are being responded to
[1:02:46] appropriately. So here is our
[1:02:50] Part one crime, which is a huge
[1:02:52] factor in priority within our
[1:02:54] measurement that we decrease
[1:02:56] our Part 1 crime levels, and
[1:02:57] these are, these are the
[1:02:59] serious crimes that
[1:03:00] every police department and
[1:03:05] agency supplies to the fbi on a
[1:03:06] regular basis. And so you can
[1:03:09] see from 2019 on 4th in 2020,
[1:03:13] it took a dip. Um, 2022, we
[1:03:13] definitely seen the highest
[1:03:15] that we
[1:03:16] ve seen and experienced,
[1:03:18] but things that have continued
[1:03:20] to trend downwards. Um, year to
[1:03:22] date that does not include the
[1:03:23] month of DECEMBER, so we
[1:03:24] re
[1:03:26] still one month out, um, but
[1:03:26] that
[1:03:27] s 11 months
[1:03:28] worth, and it
[1:03:28] certainly
[1:03:30] looks like based on the trends
[1:03:30] that we
[1:03:32] ve seen for this year
[1:03:32] that we
[1:03:33] re going to be actually
[1:03:35] under where we were at last
[1:03:37] calendar year. So that is a
[1:03:39] great testament to the great
[1:03:40] work that our sheriff station
[1:03:42] deputies, as well as our
[1:03:43] security ambassadors, our
[1:03:44] community members as well,
[1:03:46] right, that report on
[1:03:48] suspicious activity, etc. And
[1:03:49] so I just wanted to highlight
[1:03:52] that as well. Um, Ares of focus,
[1:03:52] um, you
[1:03:53] re seeing all of these
[1:03:55] boxes are checked off because
[1:03:55] they
[1:03:57] re currently being met, um,
[1:03:58] and that con
[1:04:00] clu de s the presentation and
[1:04:01] updates for community safety,
[1:04:01] and we
[1:04:02] re of course happy to
[1:04:03] answer any questions the
[1:04:05] counsel MAY have.
[1:04:06] Thank you very much. Are there
[1:04:07] any questions from the council
[1:04:09] at this time?
[1:04:10] Councilor Berrickson Councilor
[1:04:11] Councilor Berrickson, thank you
[1:04:12] so much for that report and
[1:04:13] thank you for all the proactive
[1:04:14] work you
[1:04:15] re doing. I had the
[1:04:18] great chance to do a ride along,
[1:04:19] most recently with Gregor right
[1:04:20] there. No, I don
[1:04:20] t know why
[1:04:20] he
[1:04:21] s here. Maybe he wants to
[1:04:22] keep an eye on me, but no, I
[1:04:22] m
[1:04:24] joking. But, um, and I just
[1:04:27] want to say I really want to
[1:04:30] thank the deputies for the
[1:04:33] advanced knowledge and
[1:04:33] attention they
[1:04:34] ve been provided
[1:04:35] to the community. I also
[1:04:37] publicly want to shout out my
[1:04:38] friend over there because I
[1:04:40] have never seen a deputy who
[1:04:42] knows every individual on our
[1:04:43] streets who connects with them
[1:04:45] and who provides care and
[1:04:46] compassion and connects them
[1:04:47] with services, and I know
[1:04:47] that
[1:04:49] s the type of work you all
[1:04:50] promote and I
[1:04:50] m really thankful
[1:04:52] for that personally, especially
[1:04:54] during really trying times in
[1:04:56] terms of the ongoing incidents,
[1:04:58] many of which were eluded here
[1:05:00] today by some of our public
[1:05:01] commenters. Have you been
[1:05:03] getting any more calls or have
[1:05:05] you been in direct contacts
[1:05:07] with Temple Kol Ami or other
[1:05:08] individuals to make sure that
[1:05:08] we
[1:05:09] re
[1:05:10] proactively doing everything we
[1:05:11] can. I think I know the answer,
[1:05:12] but just for the public
[1:05:13] certainty, that
[1:05:14] d be great. I
[1:05:14] don
[1:05:15] t remember and maybe the
[1:05:17] mayor does or someone does when
[1:05:19] the next when the Chabad
[1:05:21] lighting is but wanted to make
[1:05:21] sure we
[1:05:23] re in touch with Rabbi
[1:05:25] Morty to make sure that he
[1:05:26] knows because that
[1:05:26] s a very
[1:05:28] highly visible event at the
[1:05:29] location, I won
[1:05:30] t say publicly,
[1:05:30] but it
[1:05:31] s available if people
[1:05:32] want to go look, but I just
[1:05:32] want to make sure we
[1:05:32] re being
[1:05:34] as proactive as we can,
[1:05:36] especially during heightened
[1:05:39] times of hatred and um target
[1:05:40] attacks
[1:05:41] on our communities. Absolutely.
[1:05:42] One of the things I got on
[1:05:43] Director Rivas has mentioned,
[1:05:45] the Jewish safety plan, so on
[1:05:47] the onset of the unfortunate
[1:05:48] tragedy in Australia, we
[1:05:49] implemented that, so our
[1:05:51] deputies increased their patrol
[1:05:53] checks to all of our, um,
[1:05:55] Jewish organizations and our
[1:05:56] schools. As a matter of fact,
[1:05:57] today they were at one of our
[1:05:58] schools, you know, welcoming
[1:06:00] the kids, uh, you know, and the
[1:06:02] rabbis and the parents were
[1:06:04] extremely grateful for to see
[1:06:05] the deputies there, but that
[1:06:05] s
[1:06:08] something a plan that um we
[1:06:09] initiate the minute that
[1:06:09] s
[1:06:09] something
[1:06:11] that happens. So we increase
[1:06:12] our patrol checks. We have
[1:06:13] deputies park in certain
[1:06:15] locations if they need to write
[1:06:16] a report. Um, so that um the
[1:06:17] community feels that they
[1:06:17] re
[1:06:19] safe and there are no threats
[1:06:22] here, you know, in our city or
[1:06:23] um I know that the fbi put
[1:06:24] something else on coming out
[1:06:25] for New Year
[1:06:26] s just, you know,
[1:06:27] have the community be safe,
[1:06:29] that there are no threats in
[1:06:31] our city and also in the
[1:06:31] sheriff
[1:06:32] s department
[1:06:33] jurisdiction. So, but we have
[1:06:36] crime analysts that throughout
[1:06:38] the department that scour the
[1:06:39] internet and all the different
[1:06:39] platforms
[1:06:40] that we have to see if there
[1:06:40] s
[1:06:42] are, there are any threats, and
[1:06:42] that
[1:06:43] s something that we put
[1:06:44] out to our community to
[1:06:44] increase our patrol checks.
[1:06:46] Have we been able, thank you
[1:06:47] very much for that. Have we
[1:06:48] been able to, or I
[1:06:49] m guessing
[1:06:51] we have reached out to all of
[1:06:53] our nightlife um bar,
[1:06:54] restaurant owners, especially
[1:06:56] along the strip to make sure
[1:06:59] that their heart keenly aware
[1:06:59] of what
[1:07:00] s going on, especially
[1:07:01] going to the holidays and the
[1:07:01] New Year
[1:07:04] s. I know sometimes
[1:07:07] our city dips in attendance for
[1:07:08] nightlife activity. Doesn
[1:07:09] t
[1:07:09] feel that way.
[1:07:10] if you
[1:07:12] ve driven down, um, but
[1:07:12] specifically are we in
[1:07:14] proactive touch with them? Are
[1:07:15] they aware that, you know,
[1:07:17] keeping your cameras on and
[1:07:18] everything else so that way we
[1:07:19] can have more eyes on the
[1:07:21] streets, and those are things
[1:07:22] that we communicate with them
[1:07:23] even without any heightened
[1:07:25] threats. So our entertainment
[1:07:27] policing team, they actually
[1:07:28] conduct foot beats and check in
[1:07:30] with management and security
[1:07:31] staff there to see if there
[1:07:31] s
[1:07:33] any issues that they have and
[1:07:34] they, they exchange phone
[1:07:37] numbers, they exchange um
[1:07:38] information, and we do. I mean
[1:07:40] we rely like Danny said, we
[1:07:41] rely on our community, um,
[1:07:41] because we can
[1:07:42] t do it alone,
[1:07:43] so we rely on the business
[1:07:44] owners so if they see any
[1:07:46] trends or if they see any, you
[1:07:47] know, suspicious individuals,
[1:07:48] they, they know that they have
[1:07:49] to call us so that we can flush
[1:07:51] that out, so we can figure out
[1:07:51] whether or not there
[1:07:52] s a threat
[1:07:52] or not. But no, yes, our
[1:07:53] entertainment police and our
[1:07:55] patrol deputies are in constant
[1:07:57] contact with them. Great. And
[1:07:57] the last thing I
[1:07:58] m saying, and
[1:08:00] this is not planned, I
[1:08:02] apologize, but I, um, I
[1:08:02] ve been
[1:08:05] seeing
[1:08:08] an alarming amount of traffic
[1:08:10] collisions on everyone
[1:08:10] s
[1:08:13] favorite street.
[1:08:16] Fountain Avenue, um, alarming
[1:08:17] to the point where even i
[1:08:18] m
[1:08:20] going, what is, what are people
[1:08:20] drinking? It
[1:08:21] s in the water.
[1:08:24] Like I mean I like
[1:08:26] we saw something at 6 in the
[1:08:27] morning on Fountain Avenue and
[1:08:29] I was doing my ride along or
[1:08:32] half of a car was taken out.
[1:08:33] Half of our car, I don
[1:08:33] t know
[1:08:35] what they were doing at 6 A.M.
[1:08:36] But like
[1:08:37] I know I
[1:08:38] ve expressed this to
[1:08:39] you privately, but publicly I
[1:08:40] know people have been reaching
[1:08:42] out to me, but
[1:08:44] are we looking at increasing, I
[1:08:45] know you
[1:08:47] re doing the proactive
[1:08:48] drinking and driving campaign
[1:08:50] as you always do, but I mean,
[1:08:50] I
[1:08:51] m asking you a big question
[1:08:52] here about what
[1:08:53] s going on? How
[1:08:54] can we help?
[1:08:56] Patrol more in that area, but I
[1:08:58] have a lot of residents coming
[1:09:00] up to me going, Look, we
[1:09:00] ve
[1:09:02] lived here for 30 years, and
[1:09:02] it
[1:09:04] s always, you know, bad, but
[1:09:05] like it seems like people are
[1:09:06] like, you know, I
[1:09:06] m not going
[1:09:08] to get in an accident on Santa
[1:09:09] Monica right now. I
[1:09:09] m going to
[1:09:11] drive up to Fountain and do it.
[1:09:12] I mean, it
[1:09:13] s been really wild.
[1:09:13] I don
[1:09:14] t know if my colleagues
[1:09:16] would read. I mean, we all read
[1:09:17] the reports regardless how we
[1:09:18] feel, it
[1:09:18] s, it
[1:09:19] s a, it
[1:09:20] s a lot.
[1:09:22] So I do want to make sure we
[1:09:24] stay higher level because we
[1:09:24] don
[1:09:26] t have any individual
[1:09:28] projects or programs agendas
[1:09:28] for this item. It
[1:09:29] s supposed to
[1:09:31] be a high level overview of
[1:09:32] what the department
[1:09:33] s doing. So
[1:09:34] Fannny can certainly ask answer,
[1:09:36] but I just want to make sure
[1:09:37] that we stay very high level
[1:09:40] and not like focus on
[1:09:42] particular areas or sites. So
[1:09:42] I
[1:09:44] ll rephrase my question for
[1:09:44] David
[1:09:46] s direction as his last
[1:09:49] meeting, jeez Louise, thank you.
[1:09:51] Could you explain why
[1:09:51] everyone
[1:09:52] s losing their minds
[1:09:54] on our streets of the city of
[1:09:55] West Hollywood in the
[1:09:57] last couple of months, um, in a
[1:09:59] very broad, open-ended way. So
[1:10:01] all I could, I can tell you is
[1:10:02] that it doesn
[1:10:03] t matter the date
[1:10:05] or time or it just, it
[1:10:06] s
[1:10:08] inattention, um, drivers are
[1:10:10] not paying attention. It
[1:10:10] s not
[1:10:12] speed has not been a factor.
[1:10:12] It
[1:10:14] s been inattention, failing
[1:10:17] to change lanes, um, not, um,
[1:10:19] looking before turning onto a
[1:10:21] crosswalk. I mean, those have
[1:10:23] been from seeing the reports,
[1:10:23] but it
[1:10:24] s not like you could see
[1:10:24] from the public safe
[1:10:25] ty you know, commission report
[1:10:28] that we sent out. We 61 total
[1:10:32] citations and found, but 88
[1:10:34] overall traffic collision. So I,
[1:10:36] we continue to, um, enforce, we
[1:10:38] continue, we focus on specific
[1:10:41] street, but I, I can give you a
[1:10:43] reason because it does, if I
[1:10:43] could tell you it
[1:10:44] s only
[1:10:45] happening at night, then we can
[1:10:46] focus, but it
[1:10:47] s throughout the
[1:10:48] day and it
[1:10:49] s, and unfortunately
[1:10:49] it
[1:10:49] s, it
[1:10:50] s a lack of attention.
[1:10:50] That
[1:10:51] s the end of the day, it
[1:10:53] s,
[1:10:55] um, um, you know, a card
[1:10:56] traveling and wants to make a
[1:10:57] left and the vehicle behind
[1:10:57] them doesn
[1:10:58] t check. It doesn
[1:10:58] t
[1:10:59] look at the distance. I mean, I
[1:11:01] can go on on those, but, but
[1:11:02] those are, uh, so that, that
[1:11:03] s
[1:11:04] the only trend is the lack of
[1:11:06] attention from our drivers.
[1:11:07] Great. And my last question and
[1:11:07] the mayor
[1:11:08] s going to kill me,
[1:11:09] but because I said, I want to
[1:11:12] be done by 7, but at 7:10.
[1:11:14] Um is having been issuing a lot
[1:11:17] of citations in regards to
[1:11:18] people when they
[1:11:18] re driving,
[1:11:19] touching their phones. Have you
[1:11:21] been noticing an uptick on that
[1:11:22] at all? I don
[1:11:23] t have the answer
[1:11:24] to that, but let me double
[1:11:25] check on that, and I can, I can
[1:11:25] present that. I don
[1:11:26] t have an
[1:11:27] answer. Thank you.
[1:11:28] Thank you. We
[1:11:28] ll go to
[1:11:29] Councilmember Hang. Thank you,
[1:11:30] Mayor. Thank you, Director
[1:11:33] Rivas, for the, uh, very robust
[1:11:34] presentation. I wanted to say
[1:11:36] thank you, um, about 2 or 3
[1:11:37] weeks ago, a lot of the
[1:11:38] businesses in the Rainbow
[1:11:39] District reached out to me.
[1:11:40] They were concerned with crime
[1:11:43] on the streets, with people
[1:11:45] being overserved and
[1:11:47] overintoxicated, causing fights
[1:11:48] in the middle of the street, so
[1:11:50] you, we had a call with
[1:11:51] yourself and the assistant city
[1:11:54] manager, and thank you for uh
[1:11:55] increasing the foot beats. The
[1:11:57] business owners have called me,
[1:11:57] um,
[1:11:59] they have said that they, that
[1:12:00] they have that there are deputy
[1:12:02] sheriffs going into their
[1:12:04] businesses to talk to the
[1:12:05] managers, what
[1:12:06] s going on? Is
[1:12:08] everything ok? Um, so your
[1:12:09] presence is noted on Santa
[1:12:10] Monica Boulevard, so thank you
[1:12:13] so much um for all that and um,
[1:12:15] you know, thank you for keeping
[1:12:16] our community safe. I do
[1:12:17] appreciate seeing the
[1:12:19] statistics that crime is going
[1:12:22] down, and I hope that continues
[1:12:23] and
[1:12:23] thank you. That
[1:12:24] s all
[1:12:27] Councilmember Meister
[1:12:30] Thank you. Um, so in the, in,
[1:12:32] in your report, I didn
[1:12:33] t see
[1:12:36] anything about um the
[1:12:38] communications. We were looking
[1:12:41] at uh in the it was a couple of
[1:12:43] years ago talking about getting
[1:12:46] a communications person, a
[1:12:47] non-sworn for local, for the
[1:12:50] local station. I just wondered,
[1:12:52] uh, what the status was on that.
[1:12:53] Yeah, and i
[1:12:53] ll I
[1:12:54] ll let if
[1:12:55] Captain Lapkin has anything to
[1:12:58] add, um, so the moratorium that
[1:13:00] I mentioned that the sheriff
[1:13:01] s
[1:13:02] department has been exercising
[1:13:04] with all the contract cities,
[1:13:06] right, us included, prevents us
[1:13:08] from adding any non-sworn. So
[1:13:08] originally when we did bring
[1:13:10] this to council, the thought
[1:13:11] was that we were going to be
[1:13:13] able to bring on a pio of some
[1:13:15] sort, right, or a community
[1:13:18] liaison that would be a
[1:13:20] non-sworn position and that
[1:13:20] s
[1:13:21] just not something, you know,
[1:13:23] with our discussions with the
[1:13:23] sheriff
[1:13:23] s department that
[1:13:23] they
[1:13:24] re that they
[1:13:25] re able to
[1:13:26] provide us at this time, um,
[1:13:29] let alone, you know, a sworn
[1:13:31] deputy as well. And so right
[1:13:31] now we
[1:13:33] re at a standstill. We
[1:13:35] did have a law enforcement
[1:13:37] technician which is a non-sworn
[1:13:40] position, um, assisting with
[1:13:42] that effort along with our
[1:13:43] sergeant of one of our special
[1:13:44] teams. That wasn
[1:13:45] t the primary
[1:13:46] function, of course, but it was
[1:13:48] just a kind of assist, get some
[1:13:50] information out on social media,
[1:13:51] be a little more present on
[1:13:52] social media.
[1:13:54] Being able to send out Nixel
[1:13:56] alerts, etc. Right, in a timely
[1:13:57] manner and so I
[1:13:57] ve been trying
[1:13:59] to work that through the best
[1:14:00] that we can in terms of working
[1:14:00] with the sheriff
[1:14:01] s station, but
[1:14:02] of course we don
[1:14:02] t want to take
[1:14:04] away or pull from their, their
[1:14:05] primary duties as well. And so
[1:14:05] it
[1:14:06] s, it
[1:14:07] s, it
[1:14:07] s really been
[1:14:09] juggling in terms of doing that,
[1:14:11] but in terms of hiring a
[1:14:12] dedicated person. The reason
[1:14:12] why we haven
[1:14:13] t been able to do
[1:14:14] that is because the moratorium
[1:14:17] in place. Ok, so since we ended
[1:14:18] up paying for it anyway, maybe
[1:14:20] there is something we can do in
[1:14:23] the new year where our staff
[1:14:23] and I
[1:14:24] m not sure if that would
[1:14:26] be communications or public
[1:14:27] safety can take on some of the
[1:14:28] that role if it
[1:14:29] s, if it
[1:14:29] s
[1:14:31] appropriate. Um
[1:14:32] because, you know, we
[1:14:32] re we
[1:14:33] re
[1:14:34] paying for it and we would be
[1:14:38] paying for it anyway if that if
[1:14:40] that staff person was, was
[1:14:41] there at the sheriff
[1:14:41] s station,
[1:14:43] so whether we pay for it with
[1:14:44] the
[1:14:46] there or we have a non, uh, you
[1:14:48] know, a civilian person here
[1:14:50] working in uh at, you know, at
[1:14:51] the city, that
[1:14:51] s something to
[1:14:53] think about. Um, the other
[1:14:55] thing I wanted to bring up is
[1:14:56] that we know that there
[1:14:56] s
[1:14:58] always an uptick of crime
[1:15:01] during the holidays. Uh, so I
[1:15:03] just wanted to mention that and
[1:15:03] make sure that we
[1:15:04] re
[1:15:06] doing whatever we need to do
[1:15:09] So we do just to, um, we have a
[1:15:09] holiday car that
[1:15:10] s going to be
[1:15:13] focused on, on patrolling
[1:15:15] during business hours on, on
[1:15:15] the major business
[1:15:17] thoroughfares. So that holiday
[1:15:19] car is going to be um a
[1:15:20] vigilant and parking lots
[1:15:20] because that
[1:15:21] s what we see
[1:15:22] unfortunately we see the
[1:15:24] vehicle that you know, the
[1:15:25] vehicle thefts, um, the thefts
[1:15:27] of, of proper of property
[1:15:29] packages, that kind of stuff in
[1:15:30] the vehicles because they
[1:15:31] re
[1:15:32] visible and their vehicles, and
[1:15:33] those are the things that these
[1:15:34] deputies are going to be trying
[1:15:36] to address when they see
[1:15:37] individuals, um,
[1:15:38] leading packages that are
[1:15:40] visible in their in their
[1:15:42] backseat of their vehicles or
[1:15:44] people that go shopping, drop
[1:15:46] all their, their packages and,
[1:15:47] and, um, in the trunk of the
[1:15:49] car, people are constantly
[1:15:51] watching. So if if we recommend
[1:15:51] that you don
[1:15:53] t do that, and if
[1:15:54] you do move your vehicle so
[1:15:56] nobody sees where you parked,
[1:15:58] but again, parking is, is, uh,
[1:15:59] uh, an issue, but we are
[1:16:02] focusing on the major major
[1:16:03] businesses and we
[1:16:03] re, we
[1:16:04] re, um,
[1:16:05] the, the holiday car is going
[1:16:06] to be working during the
[1:16:07] business hours.
[1:16:07] What we
[1:16:07] ve, what I
[1:16:08] ve seen in
[1:16:12] the past is an uptick of
[1:16:15] residential burglaries. So in
[1:16:16] the past during the holiday
[1:16:18] season, so it would be great if
[1:16:20] we had increased visibility of
[1:16:22] patrol cars in our residential
[1:16:24] areas.
[1:16:24] I
[1:16:25] ll go back to Councilmemberur
[1:16:27] Hang
[1:16:29] Thank you, Mayor. Um, Director
[1:16:33] Revas, uh,
[1:16:35] obviously our community
[1:16:35] anti-Semitism
[1:16:36] s on the rise
[1:16:39] everywhere. When
[1:16:42] will the city reevaluate the
[1:16:43] Jewish safety plan because
[1:16:43] there
[1:16:44] s other organizations
[1:16:46] other than koame. We have Jindi
[1:16:47] imamorists, that
[1:16:47] s an
[1:16:49] elementary school here, um, so
[1:16:50] that, you know, it, it, it is
[1:16:52] pretty scary out there, um, do
[1:16:53] we know when we
[1:16:54] re going to
[1:16:56] revisit that plan, maybe update
[1:16:57] it to um
[1:16:58] to further protect our
[1:16:59] community members. We
[1:17:00] d look at
[1:17:00] updating, I
[1:17:00] m sorry, I
[1:17:00] m gonna
[1:17:01] add, I
[1:17:02] m gonna add to this
[1:17:03] because we update it every year.
[1:17:04] So JANUARY, it
[1:17:04] s something that
[1:17:07] as a matter of fact, I spoke to
[1:17:08] the sergeant um earlier today
[1:17:08] that that
[1:17:09] s something that we
[1:17:10] look at every year. We contact
[1:17:11] every organization, make sure
[1:17:12] that the contacts are still the
[1:17:13] same. Make sure that the emails
[1:17:14] are still the same, so every
[1:17:16] year is something that that we
[1:17:18] update. We update the dates of
[1:17:20] the holidays so that when the
[1:17:22] deputies have to look at that
[1:17:23] um Jewish plan. They have all
[1:17:24] the, the most current
[1:17:25] information. So it
[1:17:25] s something
[1:17:26] that we
[1:17:26] ll have to update.
[1:17:27] Thank you. And so I
[1:17:27] m, I
[1:17:28] m
[1:17:29] hoping there will be a
[1:17:31] continued presence, not just
[1:17:31] when there
[1:17:32] s a high holy days
[1:17:33] of obligation. No, absolutely.
[1:17:35] Thank you.
[1:17:38] Vice Mayor Heilman. Yeah, I
[1:17:40] want to echo Councilmember
[1:17:41] Hangs, thank you for all of
[1:17:43] your work, all year long. I
[1:17:45] just hope that you will be able
[1:17:48] to give us an update at some
[1:17:51] point on the status of the
[1:17:54] drones and the security cameras.
[1:17:56] So, um, when you have that
[1:17:57] information, if you can provide
[1:17:58] that to the council, it would
[1:18:00] be really useful. Thank you.
[1:18:01] We do have comments from a
[1:18:02] member of the public, David
[1:18:03] Eckert. I
[1:18:03] ll bring you to the
[1:18:07] mic.
[1:18:09] Good evening, David Ecker once
[1:18:11] again. Uh, just a comment on
[1:18:13] the security ambassadors, just
[1:18:15] a comment and maybe a
[1:18:17] suggestion for for their safety,
[1:18:18] for the ambassadors and for the
[1:18:20] public. I was wondering if the
[1:18:22] kiosk won, it gets dark very
[1:18:25] early, and many of these kiosks,
[1:18:27] the poor, ambassadors are
[1:18:28] standing in the dark. You can
[1:18:28] t
[1:18:29] see them whatsoever. I don
[1:18:29] t
[1:18:30] know if there
[1:18:30] s a way we can
[1:18:32] get some light to them. Also,
[1:18:34] if the vinyls on those kiosks
[1:18:36] could be changed over to
[1:18:37] reflective vinyl that you can
[1:18:38] actually read the numbers at
[1:18:38] night
[1:18:40] Might be a little helpful for
[1:18:42] the community. Um and then with
[1:18:43] the Jewish community, I don
[1:18:43] t
[1:18:44] know if any of those kiosks can
[1:18:47] be moved in front of the
[1:18:49] synagogues and things as a uh
[1:18:51] you know, proactive measure
[1:18:53] just for safety and concerns at
[1:18:56] this time. Thank you.
[1:18:59] Thank you, Councilor Meister.
[1:19:00] I, I appreciate, uh, David
[1:19:00] s
[1:19:02] comments, but I can tell you
[1:19:04] that for example, Mammonides, I
[1:19:06] did see a patrol car there this
[1:19:06] morning. I don
[1:19:07] t know if it was
[1:19:08] the sheriff or lapd since
[1:19:09] they
[1:19:10] re in both cities, but
[1:19:12] they have security. They, a lot
[1:19:14] of the places do have their own
[1:19:16] security as well, that should
[1:19:17] be working, you know, in
[1:19:20] conjunction with you, um, and,
[1:19:22] and Hemanides their security
[1:19:26] has has uh guns, so
[1:19:29] thank you. I wanna comment
[1:19:30] response. Ok, thank you. Um,
[1:19:31] thank you so much for this
[1:19:34] update. I know this is part of
[1:19:35] what the city manager had
[1:19:37] brought forward as part of
[1:19:38] regularly scheduled department
[1:19:39] updates, but can you remind us
[1:19:42] of when the next regularly
[1:19:43] scheduled community safety
[1:19:44] update will also take place.
[1:19:45] Absolutely, Mayor. It
[1:19:46] ll be the
[1:19:47] first meeting in FEBRUARY. I
[1:19:48] have to look at the calendar,
[1:19:48] but we
[1:19:49] re definitely shooting
[1:19:50] for that. And, and the reason
[1:19:52] why is because we want to give
[1:19:55] our public safety agencies
[1:19:56] enough time to close out the
[1:19:57] end of the year with
[1:19:58] the statistics, etc. And so we
[1:20:00] will be presenting the next
[1:20:01] semi-annual and having updates
[1:20:03] and responses to the comments
[1:20:04] made. Terrific. So the
[1:20:05] community can look forward to
[1:20:06] FEBRUARY 2nd, I think, is that
[1:20:08] first meeting in FEBRUARY. I
[1:20:09] know last year it took place
[1:20:10] the same night that I was sworn
[1:20:12] in as mayor on top of the fires
[1:20:13] happening, so there
[1:20:13] s a lot
[1:20:15] going on that night, but
[1:20:16] looking forward to that more
[1:20:17] full update taking place and
[1:20:19] thank you all so much for a
[1:20:21] really tremendous year of work,
[1:20:22] and it was council we get the
[1:20:23] regular updates and what I
[1:20:24] m
[1:20:27] really moved by is these
[1:20:28] incidents happen, the robber
[1:20:29] ies burglaries, but we see the
[1:20:31] follow through and that your
[1:20:32] detectives are truly doing the
[1:20:33] work, finding these people,
[1:20:34] apprehending them, putting them
[1:20:36] through the process, so that
[1:20:38] has given me real strength that
[1:20:40] this is working with
[1:20:42] unfortunate incidents happen
[1:20:42] and we
[1:20:43] re on the downside of
[1:20:44] that happening, but that the
[1:20:46] work all the way through is
[1:20:47] really there and so I just want
[1:20:48] to really give kudos to the
[1:20:49] detectives at the la Sheriff
[1:20:50] s
[1:20:51] Department, but also the fire
[1:20:52] department for what a
[1:20:52] tremendous year you
[1:20:53] ve all
[1:20:56] taken on, and we know in many
[1:20:57] ways the winds are still to
[1:20:57] come
[1:20:59] and for this region. So just
[1:21:00] again thank you so much for all
[1:21:01] the diligent and hard work you
[1:21:02] do on behalf of this community.
[1:21:04] We appreciate you so much.
[1:21:06] Ok. With that, I think that
[1:21:07] concludes our city manager
[1:21:07] s
[1:21:09] reports. Um, we will go to the
[1:21:10] fiscal impact on the consent
[1:21:12] calendar and during this time
[1:21:12] I
[1:21:13] ll also make sure our city
[1:21:14] attorney has a chance to read
[1:21:15] those terms of the contract
[1:21:17] into the record.
[1:21:19] City clerk will go to you first.
[1:21:22] Ok, thank you, Mayor. The
[1:21:24] fiscal impact on tonight
[1:21:24] s
[1:21:26] consent calendar with the
[1:21:33] addition of items f1, f2, and
[1:21:40] f3 is $17,329,755 in
[1:21:44] expenditures, $0 in revenue and
[1:21:46] $0 in waived fees. Terrific.
[1:21:48] Thank you. Um, with approval of
[1:21:50] the agenda, item f1 was also
[1:21:51] moved to the consent calendar,
[1:21:53] which would include appointment
[1:21:54] of city manager and adoption of
[1:21:56] a um employment agreement for
[1:21:58] the new city manager upon city
[1:21:58] manager Wilson
[1:22:01] s retirement. So
[1:22:02] before you vote on it, I just
[1:22:03] have to read the terms of the
[1:22:04] agreement into the record. The
[1:22:06] agreement would take take
[1:22:08] effect JANUARY 8th, 2026.
[1:22:10] Um, the term would be for 24
[1:22:12] months with a renewal of 12
[1:22:13] months beginning available on
[1:22:15] JANUARY 8th, 2028. Uh, the
[1:22:20] salary would be $368,500 with
[1:22:21] cost of living increase
[1:22:22] provided annually and a
[1:22:24] discretionary 5% annual
[1:22:26] increase. There will be no
[1:22:28] change to the Calpers terms
[1:22:29] because MS. Rocco is a
[1:22:31] long-term city employee. Same
[1:22:32] with the benefits vacation and
[1:22:33] sick leave, except for an
[1:22:35] additional city manager life
[1:22:36] insurance policy. The Deferred
[1:22:37] Compens
[1:22:38] ation will be 3% of the base
[1:22:40] salary. Um, auto and business
[1:22:42] expense reimbursement, $250 a
[1:22:43] month, which is no change for
[1:22:45] the current employment. Cell
[1:22:47] phone allowance, $100 a month.
[1:22:49] Also no change and a severance
[1:22:52] of 6 months, and those would be
[1:22:54] the terms of the employment
[1:22:55] agreement if you approve it on
[1:22:56] consent, and we have a motion
[1:22:58] and a second to adopt the
[1:23:04] consent calendar.
[1:23:06] And the consent calendar passes
[1:23:10] 50, noting the no vote of
[1:23:11] Councilmember Meister on item
[1:23:13] b7. Thank you. And an official
[1:23:15] congratulations to Jackie Rocco.
[1:23:34] We will go to item c1, the
[1:23:36] first of two public hearings.
[1:23:38] These are public hearings
[1:23:40] brought on urgency ordinance,
[1:23:40] so we
[1:23:42] ll have the first reading
[1:23:43] and as vice mayor always
[1:23:45] reminds us these are things the
[1:23:47] state is basically making us do,
[1:23:47] so we don
[1:23:48] t need too much or
[1:23:50] any presentation at all, maybe
[1:23:51] just a quick sentence of what
[1:23:51] we
[1:23:52] re doing here in that regard,
[1:23:53] but I
[1:23:54] ll officially open the
[1:23:56] public hearing, c1 urgency
[1:23:56] ordinance, and first reading of
[1:23:58] an ordinance adopting the
[1:24:00] reference titles 26, 27, 28, 29,
[1:24:01] 30, 3
[1:24:03] 1 and 33 of the Los Angeles
[1:24:04] County Municipal code
[1:24:06] incorporating the California
[1:24:08] State Building Code standards,
[1:24:10] or any disclosures from
[1:24:12] councilmembs? No? Ok. City
[1:24:13] clerk, how was this hearing
[1:24:15] noticed as required by law.
[1:24:16] We have our staff
[1:24:17] representatives here. I
[1:24:17] ll turn
[1:24:18] it over to you quickly.
[1:24:20] Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor,
[1:24:21] councilmembers, and community.
[1:24:22] Nick Meisic, director of
[1:24:23] Community Development. I
[1:24:23] m
[1:24:25] joined by Jennifer Alkayer, our
[1:24:26] assistant director, and Ben
[1:24:27] Galan are building and safety
[1:24:29] manager, also the city
[1:24:29] s
[1:24:30] building official who will be
[1:24:31] providing the overview. Thank
[1:24:34] you. Thank you.
[1:24:35] Good evening by Mayor Byers,
[1:24:37] Vice Mayor Hellman, and City
[1:24:37] Council. Again, my name
[1:24:38] s Ben
[1:24:38] Galan. I
[1:24:40] m the building and
[1:24:41] safety manager. Uh, the item
[1:24:43] before you is a routine code
[1:24:45] adoption. Uh, every 3 years,
[1:24:47] the state updates and adopts
[1:24:49] new building codes because our
[1:24:50] city is also serviced by the
[1:24:52] county of Los Angeles, West
[1:24:53] Hollywood also adopts the
[1:24:54] county amendments to the stake
[1:24:55] codes.
[1:24:57] Traditionally, the board of
[1:24:58] supervisors adopts their
[1:25:00] amendments a few weeks before
[1:25:02] the new code becomes effective
[1:25:04] on JANUARY 1st. The recent
[1:25:06] amendments were adopted on
[1:25:08] NOVEMBER 25th. Uh, this code
[1:25:10] cycle, the division is
[1:25:11] introducing an administrative
[1:25:12] amendment to the expiration
[1:25:13] period of Plant check
[1:25:14] applications.
[1:25:16] Currently, the building code
[1:25:18] requires applicants to pull
[1:25:21] permits within 12 months of
[1:25:23] their project submittal or
[1:25:25] either their application
[1:25:25] expires or they
[1:25:26] re required to
[1:25:28] pay extension fees.
[1:25:29] Applicants have been
[1:25:31] experiencing review delays with
[1:25:33] our outside agency partners,
[1:25:34] and this amendment will extend
[1:25:36] the expiration period from 12
[1:25:37] months to 18 months.
[1:25:39] The amendment will benefit our
[1:25:42] homeowners, developers, and
[1:25:43] businesses experiencing
[1:25:45] prolonged reviews by utilities
[1:25:46] and county agencies.
[1:25:47] Due to the county
[1:25:47] s year-end
[1:25:49] adoption, the city is faced
[1:25:52] with very short time period to
[1:25:53] update its building municipal,
[1:25:53] it
[1:25:54] s building and municipal
[1:25:56] code and have them ready for
[1:25:57] enforcement.
[1:25:59] By JANUARY 1st
[1:26:01] Staf requests that City Council
[1:26:04] approve the urgency ordinance
[1:26:07] 25-25u adopting reference title
[1:26:12] 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 33
[1:26:13] of the la County municipal code.
[1:26:15] Incorporating California that
[1:26:16] incorporate the California
[1:26:18] State Building Standards Code
[1:26:21] and introduced for first
[1:26:23] reading ordinance 25-26. Thank
[1:26:23] you and we
[1:26:24] re open for any
[1:26:26] questions. Thank you. I don
[1:26:26] t
[1:26:27] see any questions from the
[1:26:27] council, and I don
[1:26:28] t see any
[1:26:29] members of the public who wish
[1:26:30] to speak, so I will go ahead
[1:26:32] and close the public testimony
[1:26:34] portion of this public hearing,
[1:26:36] and we do have a motion to
[1:26:38] adopt in a second. Was there
[1:26:40] any other questions? I think
[1:26:40] we
[1:26:41] re ready to move forward
[1:26:42] with the vote then. Thank you
[1:26:43] very much.
[1:26:44] I will actually just quickly
[1:26:46] say in seeing some of the
[1:26:48] progress in Culver City on
[1:26:50] single staircase, a policy that
[1:26:51] they were able to move forward
[1:26:52] with because they are outside
[1:26:54] of the county building codes. I
[1:26:56] want to continue our city
[1:26:56] s
[1:26:59] advocacy for these issues, and
[1:26:59] we
[1:27:00] ll make sure that in this
[1:27:00] coming year we
[1:27:01] re submitting a
[1:27:04] letter of advocacy to the
[1:27:05] county for these measures that
[1:27:06] I think we would want to see at
[1:27:08] the city level. I know Culver
[1:27:09] City was able to do it
[1:27:10] themselves. Santa Monica found
[1:27:12] a different method. I know we
[1:27:13] were working to see
[1:27:13] what might be possible here in
[1:27:15] our city and the county
[1:27:15] s
[1:27:16] building codes that we
[1:27:16] re
[1:27:18] having to adopt are restrictive
[1:27:18] in that way. So that
[1:27:19] s a piece
[1:27:20] of advocacy I just want to name
[1:27:21] here, make sure we can continue,
[1:27:22] but other than that, there
[1:27:22] s
[1:27:24] nothing really to do with this,
[1:27:25] just the circumstances. So
[1:27:26] thank you for letting me say
[1:27:26] that. We
[1:27:28] ll go to the vote.
[1:27:29] Does the motion include closing
[1:27:30] the public hearing? That
[1:27:31] s
[1:27:35] right. Thank you.
[1:27:38] Forever
[1:27:41] And the motion passes 50 and
[1:27:43] the urgency ordinance will go
[1:27:44] into effect on JANUARY 1st,
[1:27:47] 2025, and then we will come
[1:27:48] back for a second reading at
[1:27:50] the next meeting. Thank you.
[1:27:50] We
[1:27:52] ll go to our next public
[1:27:53] hearing, item c2, another
[1:27:54] urgency ordinance in first
[1:27:54] reading. I
[1:27:56] ll turn this back
[1:27:57] over to Director Meisic. The
[1:27:59] public hearing is now open, and
[1:27:59] I don
[1:28:00] t believe there are any
[1:28:01] disclosures from this council?
[1:28:02] No.
[1:28:03] Ok, and city clerk, will you
[1:28:04] let us know how this hearing is
[1:28:06] noticed.
[1:28:08] Yes, Mayor, as required by law.
[1:28:10] All right, over to you,
[1:28:12] Director Meeric. Good evening
[1:28:14] again, Mayor Counsel. Uh, I
[1:28:14] m
[1:28:15] joined by Francisco Contreras,
[1:28:17] our long range planning manager,
[1:28:19] and Adria Stauer, assistant
[1:28:20] planner who will be giving the
[1:28:21] presentation for this item.
[1:28:25] Thank you.
[1:28:27] Uh, good evening, Mayor, Vice
[1:28:28] Mayor, councilmembers, and
[1:28:29] members of the public. I
[1:28:30] ll try
[1:28:32] to keep this short. Um, the
[1:28:33] item before you this evening is
[1:28:35] his own text amendment to
[1:28:36] update West Hollywood zoning
[1:28:37] code in accordance with state
[1:28:41] laws, which amend existing adu
[1:28:43] and j adu regulations. The cta
[1:28:44] is a technical update. The item
[1:28:46] does not create or cite new
[1:28:47] programs, and it updates the
[1:28:49] zoning frameworks that our land
[1:28:50] use regulations reflect current
[1:28:55] state mandates.
[1:28:58] Um, so I can do just a really
[1:28:59] quick brief overview, um,
[1:29:01] earlier this year, the city
[1:29:02] council did approve, um, two
[1:29:05] ordinances, um, of a similar
[1:29:07] state to comply with State adu
[1:29:09] law as required by the state,
[1:29:11] the staff then submitted the
[1:29:12] newly adopted ordinance to hcd
[1:29:14] within 60 days for review, um,
[1:29:17] in late 2025, 4 new bills were
[1:29:18] signed by the governor, and
[1:29:19] these bills have the potential
[1:29:21] to make our local adu ordinance
[1:29:22] null and void if the city is
[1:29:24] not in compliance by Janey 1,
[1:29:29] 2026.
[1:29:31] Um, ab 462 is the urgency
[1:29:33] measure, um, it includes
[1:29:34] requirements for processing
[1:29:35] coastal development permits for
[1:29:38] ADUs in the coastal zone and it
[1:29:40] also includes um
[1:29:41] and allows a detached adu to
[1:29:43] receive a certificate of
[1:29:45] occupancy before the primary
[1:29:46] dwelling under certain
[1:29:49] emergency conditions. Ab 1154
[1:29:51] updates regulations specific to
[1:29:56] j Junior ADUs, sb 9 and 543
[1:29:56] strengthen hcd
[1:29:57] s authority to
[1:29:58] review local ordinances and
[1:30:00] also imposing penalties on
[1:30:03] noncompliance, and sp 543 uh
[1:30:04] mandates specific changes to
[1:30:06] adu laws, um, a few are listed
[1:30:06] here.
[1:30:08] Um, so our staff recommends a
[1:30:10] city council adopt the urgency
[1:30:12] ordinance and introduce on
[1:30:13] first reading, um, an ordinance
[1:30:16] amending, um, the chapter 19.36
[1:30:19] of the West Hollywood Municipal
[1:30:21] Code regarding adunjad
[1:30:22] regulations. The proposed
[1:30:24] update, um, will essentially
[1:30:24] just bring the city
[1:30:25] s ad
[1:30:26] ordinance into compliance with
[1:30:28] hcd and will also formally
[1:30:30] resubmit to hcd, um, to bring,
[1:30:31] um, once the council has
[1:30:32] adopted it.
[1:30:34] Thank you. I don
[1:30:35] t see any
[1:30:36] questions from the council, and
[1:30:38] there are no public commenters
[1:30:39] signed up to speak at this time.
[1:30:41] Vice Mayor Heilman, yes, I made
[1:30:43] the motion that we close the
[1:30:47] public hearing, uh, adopt the
[1:30:49] urgency ordinance and also
[1:30:51] introduce on first reading the
[1:30:52] regular ordinance.
[1:30:53] But that
[1:30:54] s
[1:31:00] Yes, that was included.
[1:31:03] And the motion passes 50. Thank
[1:31:05] you.
[1:31:07] We will move to our unfinished
[1:31:09] business item e1, the economic
[1:31:10] impact analysis of major
[1:31:12] special events in the city of
[1:31:19] West Hollywood.
[1:31:21] Give our staff team a few
[1:31:23] minutes to get settled and then
[1:31:24] they can take it away with the
[1:31:44] presentation.
[1:31:46] Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor,
[1:31:47] and members of the city council.
[1:31:47] I
[1:31:49] m Laurayre, director of
[1:31:50] economic development for the
[1:31:51] City of West Hollywood. I do
[1:31:53] apologize. I have strained my
[1:31:54] vocal cords, so I
[1:31:55] m going to be
[1:31:56] deferring this presentation
[1:31:58] over to Paolo Kesridit, who is
[1:31:59] our business development
[1:32:01] manager. He is also joined by
[1:32:02] our consultants from Civil
[1:32:04] Economics, and we also have
[1:32:05] several of our staff that
[1:32:07] helped contributed to this
[1:32:08] cross-departmental team effort
[1:32:09] for this study. Joining us in
[1:32:11] the audience today. Paolo, I
[1:32:13] will let you and your much
[1:32:14] stronger vocal cords take it
[1:32:15] from here.
[1:32:17] Thank you so much. Hello, Paula
[1:32:18] Kasperdit, business development
[1:32:19] manager here for the City of
[1:32:21] West Hollywood. Um, I will be
[1:32:21] doing tonight
[1:32:23] s presentation,
[1:32:26] which is a report from Civil
[1:32:27] Economics of the city
[1:32:28] s major
[1:32:30] events and calendar year 25. Uh,
[1:32:32] those events include the Mishka
[1:32:34] Festival, Weh Hope Pride, uh,
[1:32:35] aids Walk, and also the
[1:32:36] Halloween carnivals. So today
[1:32:37] s
[1:32:38] presentation will consist of an
[1:32:40] overview, uh, looking at the
[1:32:41] economic impact, the net fiscal
[1:32:43] benefit, uh, the city
[1:32:43] s brand
[1:32:45] and the business community and
[1:32:45] its benefits.
[1:32:46] S as well as some
[1:32:48] recommendations.
[1:32:53] Ok, so at a high level, uh, the
[1:32:55] events that the civil team
[1:32:59] looked at estimated 379,000
[1:33:02] attendees who generated
[1:33:06] approximately $993.7 million in
[1:33:08] direct spending across Los
[1:33:09] Angeles County and also
[1:33:12] supporting 993 jobs in Los
[1:33:13] Angeles County.
[1:33:14] There was a significant
[1:33:16] economic activity across a few
[1:33:17] key sectors, including food and
[1:33:20] beverage at $41.6 million.
[1:33:21] Hospitality and lodging at
[1:33:23] $26.2 million and retail at
[1:33:25] $11.8 million.
[1:33:28] Um, and this slide here shows
[1:33:29] uh some of the community
[1:33:30] engagement and business
[1:33:31] engagement that was conducted
[1:33:33] as part of the study. There
[1:33:36] were 2800 event intercept
[1:33:37] surveys where we had people out
[1:33:38] in the field conducting surveys
[1:33:39] with people who attended the
[1:33:40] event, uh, for business and
[1:33:42] resident surveys, 8 on-site
[1:33:44] visits, uh, with our business
[1:33:46] task force, our business
[1:33:47] improvement districts, our
[1:33:48] commissions and advisory boards,
[1:33:49] the West Hollywood Chamber of
[1:33:51] Commerce, as well as visits
[1:33:52] West Hollywood.
[1:33:55] Uh, 17 business interviews, uh,
[1:33:57] by industries. And finally some
[1:33:58] document reviews which
[1:33:59] consisted of staff reports that
[1:34:01] were conducted from 2016 to
[1:34:04] 2025. Uh, the who 40 strategic
[1:34:05] plan and the economic study
[1:34:06] which both were approved last
[1:34:09] year.
[1:34:12] Uh, so this slide here shows
[1:34:14] just an overview of the city of
[1:34:16] West Hollywood with the four
[1:34:18] major events outlined here on
[1:34:20] the screen with aidswla Wehh
[1:34:22] Hope ride, and Hoing Carnival,
[1:34:23] um, being focused within the
[1:34:25] Rainbow District area and then
[1:34:26] Mishka Festival, uh, focused at
[1:34:31] Plummer Park on the east side.
[1:34:33] This slide here shows the
[1:34:35] overall attendee direct
[1:34:36] spending that happened, and so
[1:34:37] that means it
[1:34:38] s a comprehensive
[1:34:40] measure of all the attendee
[1:34:42] related expenditures. Uh, so
[1:34:43] when we talk about attendee
[1:34:44] expenditure, um, that
[1:34:45] s
[1:34:46] something that can occur both
[1:34:47] within the city of West
[1:34:49] Hollywood, um, but also outside
[1:34:51] of the city of West Hollywood
[1:34:53] during the event. Um, so
[1:34:54] attendees direct spending, uh,
[1:34:55] from WHOpe ride, as you see on
[1:34:58] the screen here was
[1:35:00] approximately $56 million. Um,
[1:35:01] and Halloween carnival was 37
[1:35:01] million
[1:35:03] dollars, um, with that general
[1:35:04] number that was on the lower
[1:35:07] right hand side of the screen
[1:35:10] at 93.7 billion with
[1:35:13] approximately 379,000 attendees.
[1:35:17] So this side looks at the total
[1:35:19] total economic impact of those
[1:35:20] four major events that we
[1:35:20] looked at. You
[1:35:21] ll see three
[1:35:22] different categories on here
[1:35:24] employment for jobs, labor
[1:35:26] income, um, and the value added.
[1:35:27] And within each of those
[1:35:29] categories, we have the direct,
[1:35:31] indirect and induced items. So
[1:35:32] the direct is what gets
[1:35:34] affected in West Hollywood. The
[1:35:36] indirect and induced is what
[1:35:37] happens outside of the city of
[1:35:40] West Hollywood, so the county,
[1:35:41] um, mainly and across the
[1:35:44] region. Um, so for employment,
[1:35:46] there was an estimated 99
[1:35:48] 3 jobs supported across the
[1:35:51] county, including 727 jobs
[1:35:51] within the City of West
[1:35:55] Hollywood, um, and 266 indirect
[1:35:56] and induced jobs across the
[1:35:58] regional economy.
[1:35:59] For labor, um, the combined
[1:36:02] events are generated roughly
[1:36:04] $53.3 million in total labor
[1:36:07] income, including $33.5 million
[1:36:08] earned directly by workers in
[1:36:11] West Hollywood, um, and 19.8
[1:36:12] million from indirect and
[1:36:14] induced efforts from the larger
[1:36:15] la area.
[1:36:19] Uh, for value add, um, in who
[1:36:21] ride and Halloween Carnival.
[1:36:23] These events contributed $88.2
[1:36:25] million in value added total of
[1:36:27] that, the attendee spending
[1:36:29] contributed $52.8 million to
[1:36:31] West Hollywood with another
[1:36:33] $35.4 million produced through
[1:36:35] spillover activity across the
[1:36:37] county.
[1:36:39] Uh, this slide here looks at
[1:36:42] the net fiscal benefit of that.
[1:36:42] So we
[1:36:43] re taking a look at our
[1:36:45] revenues, which primarily for
[1:36:47] our major events are our tot or
[1:36:48] transit occupancy tax, and
[1:36:50] sales tax and then expenditures.
[1:36:52] Um, so whenever the city is, uh,
[1:36:54] producing an event through
[1:36:55] event programming that might be
[1:36:57] public safety or any type of
[1:36:58] event cleanup associated with
[1:36:58] that.
[1:37:02] Um, so these four signature
[1:37:06] events generated about $902,000
[1:37:07] in general fund revenue through
[1:37:09] tot and sales tax, uh, compared
[1:37:09] to the city
[1:37:11] s total cost of $8
[1:37:12] million which results in a net
[1:37:15] fiscal cost of $7.1 million. Um,
[1:37:17] and so as you can see here, the
[1:37:18] percentage of expenditures
[1:37:19] Halloween, Carnival achieved
[1:37:21] the highest cost recovery rate
[1:37:23] at 18%, while weh Hope ride, um,
[1:37:26] was in 2nd at 10%. Um, I think
[1:37:28] it should be noted that, you
[1:37:29] know, the events that
[1:37:31] any MISS Pelly puts on is not
[1:37:32] supposed to be typically a cost
[1:37:34] neutral, one for one exchange,
[1:37:35] um, but there
[1:37:35] s definitely a
[1:37:36] lot of benefits associated with
[1:37:37] that, which we
[1:37:37] ll go on to the
[1:37:39] next slide.
[1:37:41] Um, so as mentioned, the city
[1:37:41] s
[1:37:44] investment in these events, uh,
[1:37:45] solds multiple public
[1:37:46] objectives, um, including some
[1:37:47] social and community
[1:37:50] development, um, some business,
[1:37:51] uh, development and economic
[1:37:53] activity associated with that.
[1:37:55] Um, and also just generally the
[1:37:55] city
[1:37:57] s brand recognition and
[1:37:57] reputation.
[1:37:59] Um, in addition to that, uh,
[1:38:01] these major events really do
[1:38:02] support the city
[1:38:02] s already
[1:38:04] adopted plans, including the
[1:38:05] who 40 strategic plan, as well
[1:38:08] as the economic study, which
[1:38:09] really focuses on prioritizing
[1:38:11] community placemaking and
[1:38:11] economic development, which
[1:38:14] these events all do. Uh, and
[1:38:16] these events generate
[1:38:18] substantial media coverage in
[1:38:20] 2025, uh, the events produced
[1:38:22] billions of media impressions
[1:38:24] which equated it to about $16
[1:38:26] million in um media value, uh,
[1:38:27] for the city. Um,
[1:38:28] and if the city were to
[1:38:28] purchase, let
[1:38:30] s say $16 million
[1:38:31] in ad revenue, that wouldn
[1:38:31] t
[1:38:33] equate to the same amount of
[1:38:34] eyes. So certainly this is
[1:38:36] something that our major events
[1:38:38] are unique in producing and
[1:38:39] doing here for the city and its
[1:38:41] brand work.
[1:38:44] Next, um, as we look at just
[1:38:45] kind of some also the other
[1:38:46] benefits from a business and
[1:38:48] community side, you know, our
[1:38:50] business community also reports
[1:38:51] uh increased sales during these
[1:38:52] major events, particularly
[1:38:53] during Weh Hope Pride and
[1:38:55] Halloween Carnival, um, with
[1:38:56] businesses reporting that
[1:38:56] they
[1:38:57] re adding shifts or
[1:38:57] they
[1:38:58] re at capacity. Um, this
[1:39:00] is in line with some of the
[1:39:01] work that we did during the
[1:39:03] Rainbow District outreach that
[1:39:04] was conducted where we asked
[1:39:05] businesses what would be
[1:39:06] helpful, um, and major events
[1:39:08] was certainly one of those. Um,
[1:39:09] you know, this increased
[1:39:11] revenue and volume during these
[1:39:12] events helped sustain business
[1:39:13] es during maybe some of the
[1:39:15] slower times of the year that
[1:39:18] they might experience. Also,
[1:39:18] we
[1:39:19] ve targeted through
[1:39:20] community and stakeholder
[1:39:21] feedback that these events are
[1:39:23] meaningful and strengthening
[1:39:24] these local connections with
[1:39:26] 93% of stakeholders agreeing
[1:39:28] that major events strengthen
[1:39:29] community connections. Um, and
[1:39:30] you know, although the city
[1:39:30] doesn
[1:39:31] t realize the full
[1:39:32] recovery.
[1:39:34] On the days that these events
[1:39:36] are being conducted. Uh, there
[1:39:38] is an important piece with the
[1:39:39] marketing that we
[1:39:39] re media
[1:39:41] coverage, um, and the visitor
[1:39:42] experience influenced future
[1:39:44] travel decisions. Um, and so
[1:39:46] that these produce benefits
[1:39:48] beyond this current calendar
[1:39:49] year that we looked at it, um,
[1:39:50] and a more sustained for the
[1:39:53] longer term period of time.
[1:39:55] Um, and so as we move on to the
[1:39:57] recommendations, these were
[1:39:59] provided by the civil Economics
[1:39:59] team. They
[1:40:01] ve conducted work
[1:40:03] for various municipalities to
[1:40:05] take a look at what the city
[1:40:06] could potentially do, um, to
[1:40:07] either increase revenue or
[1:40:08] provide just some general
[1:40:10] recommendations. Uh, first is
[1:40:12] established a unified event
[1:40:12] typology for strategic
[1:40:13] alignment. And what that means
[1:40:15] is the city does a lot of
[1:40:17] events. Uh, we do events from
[1:40:19] our large major events, uh, to
[1:40:21] community, a specific events, a
[1:40:23] cultural events. And so
[1:40:24] how do we deploy resources that
[1:40:26] are in line with those type of
[1:40:27] category events, um, you know,
[1:40:28] how do we streamline services
[1:40:31] and how do we um produce some
[1:40:32] KPIs that
[1:40:33] ll let the city know
[1:40:34] whether or not some of the
[1:40:35] events are giving a good return
[1:40:37] back on some of this
[1:40:37] information.
[1:40:40] Uh, next would be explore a
[1:40:41] centralized citywide
[1:40:42] sponsorship strategy. Currently,
[1:40:44] how our sponsorships, uh,
[1:40:45] sponsorship structure works is
[1:40:46] that each event, it works on
[1:40:48] its own kind of sponsorship and
[1:40:50] so centralizing that in one
[1:40:51] area maybe a brand sponsor
[1:40:53] wants to come and dive all the
[1:40:54] way into West Hollywood and so
[1:40:55] we can provide them an
[1:40:57] opportunity at Weh Hope Pride,
[1:40:59] at Halloween Carnival, um, at
[1:41:01] maybe a recreation division
[1:41:02] specific event, um, something
[1:41:05] that they can cater to that
[1:41:07] partic particular brand. Um,
[1:41:08] and third
[1:41:09] is consider a trademark and
[1:41:11] brand strategy, uh, a brand
[1:41:13] licensing strategy. Uh, so as
[1:41:13] mentioned, West Hollywood
[1:41:14] s
[1:41:16] name has a very big, big, uh,
[1:41:18] brand. Um, and certainly our
[1:41:19] logo Halloween Carnival, and
[1:41:21] Weh Hope Pride specifically
[1:41:22] also have very big brand names.
[1:41:23] Um, and so being able to
[1:41:25] capitalize that monetarily will
[1:41:28] help kind of um, uh, provide a
[1:41:30] new revenue source for the city.
[1:41:32] And so with that, that ends our
[1:41:33] report. Uh, staff is here and
[1:41:34] also the civil team is here. If
[1:41:36] there are any questions, the
[1:41:37] council should have. Thank you.
[1:41:38] Thanks so much. I don
[1:41:38] t see any
[1:41:39] members of the public signed up
[1:41:41] to speak, so we can just get
[1:41:42] into our comments and
[1:41:43] deliberations. I saw a Vice
[1:41:44] Mayor Heman you put your name
[1:41:46] up first. Let you go ahead.
[1:41:47] Yeah, thank you, Paulo. Thank
[1:41:49] you, Laura. Thank you to the
[1:41:51] consultants. I just had, um, 3
[1:41:53] or 4 things that I want to
[1:41:56] mention. One, it sounds like uh
[1:41:59] for our major events, Halloween
[1:42:00] and
[1:42:03] ride that there are real
[1:42:05] opportunities for us to
[1:42:08] increase, uh, West Hollywood
[1:42:11] Hotel usage by visitors, so
[1:42:13] that MAY be something that
[1:42:15] needs to be included in your,
[1:42:17] uh, upcoming work plan. I noted
[1:42:22] that one of the concerns of the
[1:42:24] business community was delivery
[1:42:27] routes when Santa Monica
[1:42:29] Boulevard is closed, so making
[1:42:31] sure that our businesses
[1:42:34] are able to get deliveries of
[1:42:36] of goods and uh they
[1:42:36] re able to
[1:42:38] deliver as well, so maybe
[1:42:39] working with the business
[1:42:41] community on that.
[1:42:45] Um, the big events result at
[1:42:48] least in some businesses
[1:42:50] turning away customers and
[1:42:52] maybe this is an opportunity
[1:42:54] for us to work with some of
[1:42:57] those businesses in finding
[1:43:00] additional space or utilizing
[1:43:02] additional space or converting
[1:43:04] street space as has been done
[1:43:06] on other occasions, so I
[1:43:07] m
[1:43:09] hoping that that can be a part
[1:43:10] of what you
[1:43:11] re looking at. I
[1:43:13] fully support the citywide
[1:43:16] sponsorships. I think that
[1:43:17] s a
[1:43:20] missing piece in terms of uh
[1:43:22] getting outside dollars to
[1:43:24] support our events and then
[1:43:29] finally, um, I think maybe we
[1:43:31] need to, I know you wanted to
[1:43:33] compare to the 2014 study.
[1:43:36] Maybe we need to look at what
[1:43:39] events should be included as
[1:43:40] part of this going forward
[1:43:42] because
[1:43:44] obviously the Mishka event is a
[1:43:46] very small, more community
[1:43:48] focused event, although it does
[1:43:50] attract a lot of people from
[1:43:52] outside of West Hollywood.
[1:43:56] Maybe that is uh it should be
[1:43:58] it should be included, but
[1:43:59] there are other events in the
[1:44:01] city that are comparable in
[1:44:04] terms of size that it might be
[1:44:07] interesting to look at how do
[1:44:10] those compare, um, to that
[1:44:11] scale of events.
[1:44:13] So those were my only thoughts,
[1:44:15] but thank you for, for the
[1:44:16] report.
[1:44:17] Council Meister, we
[1:44:18] ll go to
[1:44:19] you.
[1:44:20] I, I
[1:44:22] ll add that I don
[1:44:23] t really
[1:44:25] understand why the aids walk is
[1:44:26] included in that, and I don
[1:44:26] t
[1:44:28] just based on the numbers that
[1:44:29] we saw, I don
[1:44:30] t know that it
[1:44:33] needs to be a part of, you know,
[1:44:35] moving forward in terms of
[1:44:36] surveys or whatever, looking at
[1:44:37] it because we don
[1:44:38] t really
[1:44:38] it
[1:44:41] s not really our event, and
[1:44:41] it doesn
[1:44:42] t look like we spend
[1:44:43] much money on it and it doesn
[1:44:43] t
[1:44:44] look like there
[1:44:45] s, you know,
[1:44:46] that we, that there
[1:44:47] s ways that
[1:44:50] we can leverage it like we can
[1:44:52] the other two events. Um, what
[1:44:54] I thought was missing in terms
[1:44:56] of the recommendations was
[1:44:59] looking at the business survey
[1:45:01] overall assessment, and the
[1:45:02] items that the business
[1:45:04] community brought up when asked
[1:45:06] what single change could most
[1:45:08] increase economic benefits next
[1:45:09] year. So you,
[1:45:11] you have public safety,
[1:45:13] marketing, local regulatory
[1:45:15] conditions, operational
[1:45:16] conditions, and I think, you
[1:45:17] know, those are some things
[1:45:19] that need to be incorporated
[1:45:21] into um
[1:45:23] into this, uh, and then I just,
[1:45:25] I kind of wanted to go back to
[1:45:25] the, I
[1:45:26] m sorry, I have to find
[1:45:29] it, uh, the memo that was sent
[1:45:33] to us with the previous
[1:45:36] results from the uh from the
[1:45:37] other study
[1:45:40] Uh, just bear with me a second.
[1:45:43] Yeah
[1:45:47] So I guess, um, in terms of
[1:45:49] a comparison, uh, with, with
[1:45:52] the previous study, I, I kind
[1:45:55] of want to understand, uh, from
[1:45:57] your perspective, if we learned
[1:45:59] anything new, you know, that we
[1:45:59] didn
[1:46:01] t know from the previous
[1:46:04] study and from what, what was
[1:46:06] it 2015, 2014
[1:46:08] I mean, I, I mean, I saw a lot
[1:46:09] of the same
[1:46:10] results
[1:46:13] Um, so I just wondered if
[1:46:15] you know, if, if we learned
[1:46:18] anything new in this particular
[1:46:20] study, uh, and are we surprised
[1:46:21] at any of the differences if
[1:46:23] there are, there are some
[1:46:24] differences between the earlier
[1:46:26] survey and this one.
[1:46:28] Yeah, thank you so much for
[1:46:29] that question, Councilor
[1:46:31] Meister. Um, definitely, we did,
[1:46:32] uh, learn some things in
[1:46:35] regards to the 2014 to the 2025
[1:46:36] study. One, it was done 10
[1:46:38] years ago when the modeling was
[1:46:39] a little different for some of
[1:46:41] these events. For example, Weh
[1:46:43] Hope Pride was, um, la ride
[1:46:44] back in the day at the modeling
[1:46:46] structure in which, um, the
[1:46:46] city
[1:46:50] s uh uh uh production was
[1:46:51] a little different compared to
[1:46:53] those. Um, so we are seeing,
[1:46:55] you know, people are coming out
[1:46:56] for Weh Hope Pride and
[1:46:57] Halloween Carnival
[1:46:59] still. Um, we are seeing that
[1:47:01] people are spending more from
[1:47:02] the 2014 numbers that were
[1:47:03] conducted, um, in the previous
[1:47:06] study, and there were more jobs
[1:47:09] being um uh having a direct
[1:47:10] impact as a result from that.
[1:47:13] Um, I think, you know, we, the
[1:47:14] recommendations that civil
[1:47:15] provided are probably the the
[1:47:16] biggest learning components of
[1:47:17] that, you
[1:47:18] re looking at the
[1:47:19] sponsorship, looking at the
[1:47:22] event typology, um, as well as
[1:47:24] looking at the trademarking
[1:47:26] associated with that, just to
[1:47:27] look at some additional revenue
[1:47:30] sources for the city as we
[1:47:32] continue to produce events, um,
[1:47:34] that get inter international
[1:47:36] traction. And, and I mean,
[1:47:39] looking at um the memo and it
[1:47:40] s
[1:47:40] page 6
[1:47:44] of uh of the pdf that was sent
[1:47:45] to us, um, I
[1:47:46] m looking at the,
[1:47:49] you know, the differences
[1:47:52] between 2014 and 2025 spending
[1:47:53] per attendee. I mean, they
[1:47:53] re
[1:47:54] and they
[1:47:55] re fairly significant,
[1:47:56] but I would imagine that some
[1:48:00] of this is due to inflation, um,
[1:48:01] but I thought it was
[1:48:03] interesting that the Halloween
[1:48:05] carnival, the differences, the
[1:48:07] difference, it was really
[1:48:09] significant compared to the
[1:48:10] other three
[1:48:11] events. Um
[1:48:14] I mean, you have spending per
[1:48:18] attendee at $45 at Halloween
[1:48:21] carnival in 2014 and in 2025 it
[1:48:23] was 225, and I
[1:48:24] m wondering what
[1:48:26] part of that was the ticketing
[1:48:27] prices.
[1:48:28] Well, when it comes to
[1:48:28] Halloween carnival in
[1:48:30] particular, this year it was
[1:48:34] held on a Friday, and so having
[1:48:36] it held on a day where it
[1:48:36] s a
[1:48:37] weekend, uh, more people are
[1:48:38] likely to come, um, and spend
[1:48:40] more money. I believe the one
[1:48:42] in 2014 was held on a weekday.
[1:48:42] I don
[1:48:43] t know exactly what
[1:48:45] weekday it was. Um, I can go
[1:48:48] double check the files. But um
[1:48:50] that is part of what is leading
[1:48:53] to increased spending. Did, did,
[1:48:54] did
[1:48:56] the spending per attendee
[1:48:58] include ticket tickets that
[1:48:59] were purchased if they
[1:49:01] purchased a ticket from
[1:49:02] from uh
[1:49:04] you know, for the, for to be
[1:49:07] able to enter into the oh for
[1:49:10] for WeHil ride. Oh, I will have
[1:49:12] uh Adam from Civil Economics.
[1:49:13] Go ahead and respond to that
[1:49:14] question.
[1:49:16] We are talking about pride, not
[1:49:17] he. Well, now I
[1:49:19] m, yeah, I
[1:49:21] moved quickly to ride. So my
[1:49:23] question was that with regard
[1:49:25] to Weh Hope ride and looking at
[1:49:28] the difference between 2014 and
[1:49:31] 2015 is what is tickets
[1:49:33] included in that cost per
[1:49:36] attendee in your, in your in
[1:49:37] your calculations. We don
[1:49:38] t
[1:49:39] specifically ask if they are
[1:49:40] buying a ticket. It
[1:49:41] s uh
[1:49:42] everyone where we positioned
[1:49:44] the intercept surveys, so it
[1:49:44] s
[1:49:45] their total uh
[1:49:45] spend that
[1:49:46] s basically
[1:49:48] remaining. So we asked him a
[1:49:50] series of categorical questions,
[1:49:52] uh, leisure, hospitality, hotel,
[1:49:54] um, food and beverage, um,
[1:49:55] retail, and then anything
[1:49:56] remaining, they
[1:49:57] ll put into a
[1:49:58] miscellaneous category. It
[1:49:59] s a
[1:50:01] very truncated survey. So, um,
[1:50:03] it could in the way they
[1:50:04] respond, include a ticket, yes.
[1:50:05] Ok, and then, and then I
[1:50:07] ll go
[1:50:10] back to Halloween carnival.
[1:50:12] That difference between 45 and
[1:50:14] 225 when the others aren
[1:50:15] t just
[1:50:15] they
[1:50:17] re more, but it
[1:50:19] s not as
[1:50:21] significant an increase, and
[1:50:21] I
[1:50:22] m just curious of your, your,
[1:50:26] um, what you, what you think my
[1:50:29] best guess is that for this
[1:50:29] year
[1:50:31] s report. This is the
[1:50:33] largest, I would say globally
[1:50:35] in terms of pride, especially
[1:50:37] um data collection effort. So I
[1:50:38] think the sample size was quite
[1:50:41] a bit smaller in the 2014
[1:50:43] survey. It was a very small um
[1:50:45] intercept survey. So my
[1:50:46] guess is there might have been
[1:50:48] some kind of variables that
[1:50:48] weren
[1:50:49] t picked up in the
[1:50:52] smaller footprint. I, I think
[1:50:52] we
[1:50:54] re pretty comfortable given
[1:50:56] the larger sample size, um,
[1:50:59] that the spend has just shifted.
[1:51:01] I would also imagine, um, you
[1:51:03] know, we looked at a few, uh,
[1:51:05] correlated variables, you know,
[1:51:08] there was the, the way ride
[1:51:09] shares were, um, venture backed
[1:51:10] at the time. They didn
[1:51:11] t pass
[1:51:13] along the actual cost, and my
[1:51:14] guess is there
[1:51:14] s probably some
[1:51:15] weirdness
[1:51:17] around the transportation
[1:51:18] reporting, uh, just because
[1:51:19] those were below market value
[1:51:21] back in 2014 for the attendees,
[1:51:22] if that makes sense.
[1:51:25] Well, knowing how much
[1:51:28] rideshare costs this year, um.
[1:51:30] Just going from, from
[1:51:31] Westbourne to the, the hotel
[1:51:34] was like $20.01 way. So yeah, I
[1:51:35] could see where that would,
[1:51:37] that would be something. And
[1:51:39] then my last question is, how
[1:51:40] many actual business people did
[1:51:41] you talk to because I was
[1:51:43] confused whether it was 17 or
[1:51:54] it was 17 per industry
[1:51:55] Um, so the, there
[1:51:56] s a
[1:51:57] difference between the
[1:51:58] interviews and the folks that
[1:51:59] wanted to do a digital survey.
[1:52:01] So each of the, you
[1:52:01] ll see in
[1:52:03] the column where we were at
[1:52:05] bids, Chamber of Commerce,
[1:52:06] those meetings where there
[1:52:07] s
[1:52:10] multiple sectors and businesses.
[1:52:12] Those were conversations and
[1:52:13] some of those were one on one
[1:52:14] interviews. The each of those
[1:52:15] folks had an opportunity to do
[1:52:17] the digital survey. That was a
[1:52:19] mixed, uh, set of feedback on
[1:52:21] if they wanted to report out
[1:52:23] for various reasons digitally
[1:52:24] and kind of had that.
[1:52:26] Um captured or if they wanted
[1:52:28] to do um anonymous
[1:52:30] conversations in the one on one.
[1:52:31] I would say across each of
[1:52:33] these sectors it was probably,
[1:52:34] I would say 45. I don
[1:52:34] t have
[1:52:38] that number in front of me. Um,
[1:52:40] of different individual
[1:52:41] businesses with individual
[1:52:43] feedback. Um, I would say there
[1:52:45] was two sets of uh feedback
[1:52:47] criteria that kind of fell out.
[1:52:48] Um, you see in the report,
[1:52:51] given the scope of work that
[1:52:53] was contracted for was
[1:52:54] System-wide reporting
[1:52:57] We had a lot of very um
[1:53:00] specific event specific like
[1:53:02] this went wrong with the very
[1:53:03] specific logistics that didn
[1:53:03] t
[1:53:04] get put in because we were
[1:53:05] running out of pages in it.
[1:53:06] That wasn
[1:53:06] t in the specific
[1:53:08] scope, but we do have that
[1:53:09] available. So you
[1:53:09] re getting a
[1:53:12] readout on things that are like
[1:53:13] system-wide sets of questions
[1:53:15] on special events and event
[1:53:16] activation.
[1:53:19] Ok, thank you
[1:53:22] Did you want to share that
[1:53:25] Well, the numbers seemed
[1:53:28] strange to me for 2014
[1:53:30] Halloween because that was the
[1:53:31] year it rained. It was a Friday.
[1:53:32] It was a Friday night, but it
[1:53:35] rained, so I think we probably,
[1:53:37] we probably need to look at
[1:53:39] those numbers again in terms of
[1:53:42] attendance. Countemb Hang.
[1:53:44] Thank you, Mayor. Um, thank you
[1:53:46] for the report. As I mentioned
[1:53:48] to you during my call with you.
[1:53:49] I think it
[1:53:50] s incredible that
[1:53:53] just two events had brought
[1:53:55] 379,000 people to West
[1:53:57] Hollywood. That accounted for
[1:54:00] 99%.Rent generate a revenue of
[1:54:03] 93.7 million, of which 88
[1:54:05] million went to the county or
[1:54:07] went to the surrounding region.
[1:54:07] Like I mentioned during the
[1:54:09] call, I think those areas
[1:54:11] deserve to, they should give us
[1:54:12] a basket of muffins for that,
[1:54:13] because we definitely helped
[1:54:14] them with that. So thank you.
[1:54:16] And I wanted to commend your
[1:54:18] team. I was at the Mishka
[1:54:20] Festival, as I said during the
[1:54:22] call, your consultants,
[1:54:24] cornered me and my partner. We
[1:54:25] filled out the surveys, and we
[1:54:27] were very happy to do so, and
[1:54:27] we look forward to filling out
[1:54:30] the next ones. Thank you.
[1:54:32] Councilmember Erickson. The
[1:54:33] data must be skewed. I can only
[1:54:34] imagine. Like, I don
[1:54:35] t know
[1:54:35] who
[1:54:37] s filling out this survey.
[1:54:38] Like I
[1:54:38] m, I
[1:54:38] m not involved with
[1:54:40] the city at all. Um, that
[1:54:40] s
[1:54:42] great. I love o. I love being a
[1:54:44] secret shopper. It
[1:54:45] s fun. Um,
[1:54:46] thank you so much for this
[1:54:47] report. I really want to thank
[1:54:48] you for the work that you put
[1:54:50] into it. A couple of things
[1:54:51] that I was looking at that I
[1:54:54] want to just piggyback off of
[1:54:56] the vacant lot activation is
[1:54:58] really critical, especially in
[1:54:59] our beautiful rainbow district
[1:55:02] I will say I had a fun time
[1:55:04] dancing in the lot where
[1:55:06] Beaches was during Halloween,
[1:55:07] but other activations like that
[1:55:09] can use that space. It
[1:55:09] s a
[1:55:11] parking lot. It just sits there.
[1:55:13] Um I know beaches and other
[1:55:15] businesses are always looking
[1:55:16] for something to do outside.
[1:55:17] Not right now, maybe it
[1:55:18] s a
[1:55:19] little chilly. Heat lamps go
[1:55:21] far, but those opportunities
[1:55:23] can can be used as well as
[1:55:25] activations on streets that
[1:55:28] really, you know, for lack of
[1:55:29] better word, um, you know,
[1:55:30] between
[1:55:33] Jim Barr and Bank of America.
[1:55:33] You know, it
[1:55:34] s a tight street.
[1:55:34] There
[1:55:35] s a lot of people there
[1:55:36] that oftentimes sees a lot of
[1:55:38] high traffic and cars are
[1:55:39] trying to turn right or
[1:55:41] residents. However, we could
[1:55:43] maybe shut down that street on
[1:55:45] high visibility nights would
[1:55:47] allow Jin bar and other bars to
[1:55:48] expand and use street
[1:55:48] opportunities. I
[1:55:49] m not saying
[1:55:50] Robertson Lane 2.0, but I
[1:55:51] m not,
[1:55:54] not saying Robertson Lane 2.0c.
[1:55:56] Councilmember Meister, give me
[1:55:57] the look. Um, but additionally,
[1:55:58] how we could utilize some of
[1:56:00] those spaces just once in a
[1:56:00] while
[1:56:02] to to promote business space in
[1:56:03] the way that they can allows
[1:56:05] for those sponsorships. Um, I
[1:56:06] would love, and I kind of
[1:56:07] talked about this with a few
[1:56:09] individuals before. I would
[1:56:11] love for Halloween to be longer.
[1:56:14] Um, these events should not end
[1:56:16] at 11. I mean, people are still
[1:56:16] like saying, I
[1:56:17] m coming out to
[1:56:18] West Hollywood at 11 o
[1:56:19] clock,
[1:56:20] right? I know I, I wasn
[1:56:20] t, I
[1:56:22] was at home, um, well, a little
[1:56:25] bit after midnight, but I think
[1:56:26] that especially on weekend
[1:56:29] events, Friday, Saturdays,
[1:56:31] having Halloween go a little
[1:56:33] bit longer, makes sense because
[1:56:34] people, as I think one of my
[1:56:35] colleagues mentioned, are
[1:56:37] trying to get into the
[1:56:37] businesses and they
[1:56:38] re busy and
[1:56:39] they can
[1:56:40] t, but they
[1:56:40] re all out
[1:56:42] there dealing with, you
[1:56:43] know, wonderful costumes in
[1:56:44] every way. So I would like to
[1:56:46] see that as a potential and I
[1:56:47] think that brings in more
[1:56:48] revenue or allows us more
[1:56:50] flexibility. Additionally, you
[1:56:52] know, pride is another one, how
[1:56:54] we can continue to use that
[1:56:57] space or activate that space,
[1:56:58] um, for a longer duration is
[1:56:59] good. I know I
[1:57:00] m, I remember
[1:57:01] when I was mayor and I think it
[1:57:04] was Kylie Minogue on
[1:57:05] Sunday and, you know, I said,
[1:57:06] one more song, and they said,
[1:57:08] David said no and I said, Who
[1:57:08] s
[1:57:08] David Wilson? I
[1:57:09] ve never heard
[1:57:11] of him before, but you know,
[1:57:11] you
[1:57:12] re good. You have 3 members
[1:57:13] of the council up here, no
[1:57:15] violation of the Brown Act, but
[1:57:17] I say that if we have, and we
[1:57:19] always do have an amazing act
[1:57:21] in whatever way, you know, that
[1:57:22] flexibility. Our neighborhoods,
[1:57:24] we ask them for grace. A couple
[1:57:25] of times a year, maybe more,
[1:57:27] some of them would argue, um,
[1:57:29] but you know that economic boom
[1:57:31] to the industry will help and
[1:57:34] how we can continue to promote
[1:57:36] um, uh, Carlis streets and the
[1:57:38] ways that people love walking
[1:57:39] and and coming about here and
[1:57:41] it is a walkable city in that
[1:57:42] way where people know don
[1:57:42] t, if
[1:57:43] you want to get in your car,
[1:57:43] that
[1:57:44] s, you know, you
[1:57:45] re either
[1:57:46] going to pay and I know coemb
[1:57:49] my story says this $20.35
[1:57:52] dollars at the pdc to park or
[1:57:53] you can walk and you know, or
[1:57:55] take rideshare safely. So how
[1:57:57] we can continue to do stuff
[1:57:59] like cyclovvia but other spaces
[1:58:01] like that bring in a lot of
[1:58:02] activation for our businesses.
[1:58:04] So those are just a few of my
[1:58:05] suggestions, long term planning,
[1:58:07] I see my friends Cleo and Meg
[1:58:08] over there going, Halloween
[1:58:09] later. What? Let
[1:58:09] s start
[1:58:11] talking about it. The meeting
[1:58:11] s
[1:58:12] probably tomorrow being
[1:58:13] scheduled right now, but um I
[1:58:14] just think that when I hear
[1:58:15] from businesses, they would
[1:58:17] like things to go a little bit
[1:58:18] longer just to help them in
[1:58:20] that way. And, and again, Paula,
[1:58:22] Laura, your entire team. I mean,
[1:58:25] you all worked so hard with
[1:58:25] everything you do with our
[1:58:27] business community. I really
[1:58:29] see it. You respond to the
[1:58:31] smallest to the largest
[1:58:33] business with vigor and just
[1:58:34] true passion and it
[1:58:34] s
[1:58:35] just want to thank you from
[1:58:36] this day for all the work that
[1:58:37] you do and, and everyone on
[1:58:38] your amazing team.
[1:58:40] Thank you. Thank you all for
[1:58:41] this report. I think it
[1:58:42] s
[1:58:43] really exciting to have a
[1:58:44] clearer sense of what we are
[1:58:45] investing in when it comes to
[1:58:47] these events and what the
[1:58:49] return looks like, and it is
[1:58:52] really incredible. I hear the
[1:58:53] op opportunity to maybe review
[1:58:54] other events in the future,
[1:58:55] seeing, you know, sunset Strip
[1:58:56] doesn
[1:58:58] t have an event reflected
[1:58:59] here and knowing that our
[1:59:00] hotels are really a part of the
[1:59:01] economic engine of the city,
[1:59:03] connecting those dots feels
[1:59:04] really important. I
[1:59:05] m wondering
[1:59:07] already with so many major
[1:59:08] events happening, you know, in
[1:59:09] the next 3 years, how
[1:59:11] we can promote early some of
[1:59:12] the major, you know, West
[1:59:14] Hollywood events in the hotels
[1:59:15] remind people that if they love
[1:59:15] their stay, here
[1:59:16] s a great
[1:59:19] reason to come back later. It
[1:59:20] seems clear that a lot of the
[1:59:21] events that we have right now
[1:59:22] are serving the region really
[1:59:24] well, but bridging to the
[1:59:25] broader community, getting
[1:59:27] people to travel and come to
[1:59:29] West Hollywood to be a part of
[1:59:31] these events is part of what
[1:59:33] will help fuel this economic
[1:59:35] engine. I
[1:59:36] m also recognizing
[1:59:38] ways that we can piggyback off
[1:59:40] of existing event structures. I
[1:59:41] know of the cannabis community
[1:59:42] has tried and sometimes
[1:59:44] struggled to always build their
[1:59:45] special events around some of
[1:59:47] these events, but finding the
[1:59:48] ways that we can make those
[1:59:51] links happen, feels important,
[1:59:51] um, I, I skipped one note of
[1:59:53] mine, but in the interest of
[1:59:55] thinking about sunsets,
[1:59:56] opportunities, similarly, the
[1:59:58] art walk and Design Week feel
[1:59:59] like a tremendous opportunity
[1:59:59] where we
[2:00:00] re probably naturally
[2:00:02] leaning into a more
[2:00:04] international audience, an
[2:00:04] audience that
[2:00:05] s certainly
[2:00:06] coming to think about a
[2:00:07] different level of economic
[2:00:09] investment in the city and the
[2:00:09] resources
[2:00:10] that are available here. Um, so
[2:00:11] I
[2:00:11] d be really curious about
[2:00:12] that, and I know they
[2:00:12] re moving
[2:00:15] to later in the year next year,
[2:00:16] but ultimately hearing that
[2:00:18] there are opportunities ahead
[2:00:21] for us to enable stronger
[2:00:22] partnerships through brand
[2:00:24] sponsorships and communicate, I
[2:00:25] think what the real value of
[2:00:26] these events are to the
[2:00:27] community is tremendously
[2:00:30] exciting um and the last note I
[2:00:33] think because the the data on
[2:00:34] transportation MAY not be
[2:00:35] totally clear. To me, I think
[2:00:37] that the takeaway is finding
[2:00:38] more opportunities that we can
[2:00:39] leverage public transport
[2:00:41] ation systems, connecting, you
[2:00:42] know, our city line to the red
[2:00:43] line, getting people to not
[2:00:44] have to invest in that
[2:00:46] rideshare, although rideshare
[2:00:47] is better than driving their
[2:00:49] own personal vehicle, but we
[2:00:49] ll
[2:00:50] keep a little bit of extra
[2:00:51] money in their pocket that they
[2:00:52] MAY be more willing to spend
[2:00:53] here. I recognize that this
[2:00:55] report is about capturing the
[2:00:56] total economic investment and
[2:00:57] that investing in that
[2:00:59] rideshare is part of that, but
[2:01:00] I know our businesses would
[2:01:02] probably be happy to have those
[2:01:05] dollars on their bar bar tops
[2:01:06] instead, so I just thank you
[2:01:07] all so much for the work on
[2:01:08] this. It definitely helps tell
[2:01:08] the
[2:01:09] story of what we
[2:01:09] re investing
[2:01:11] in as a city and really clear
[2:01:12] ways to the business community,
[2:01:14] especially when they ask us
[2:01:14] what we
[2:01:15] re doing as a city that
[2:01:16] we can point to this is
[2:01:17] tremendous, and I think it
[2:01:19] gives us a lot of great
[2:01:21] roadmaps ahead for how we can
[2:01:22] strengthen our events programs
[2:01:23] here. So I appreciate you all
[2:01:24] so much and thank you to the
[2:01:25] consultant team who
[2:01:25] s a part of
[2:01:27] this work as well.
[2:01:27] There
[2:01:28] s no final comments on
[2:01:30] this. I believe this is just a
[2:01:31] receive and file. We don
[2:01:31] t have
[2:01:33] to take a formal motion on this.
[2:01:34] Is that correct?
[2:01:35] Ok.
[2:01:36] Oh, we do have a motion coming
[2:01:37] in. No, we do not. It
[2:01:38] s just a
[2:01:40] receive and file, ok.
[2:01:41] Thank you
[2:01:42] for wanting to do a motion.
[2:01:48] Thank you all so much.
[2:01:50] Um, we are, yeah, we are moving
[2:01:52] towards the end of our agenda.
[2:01:56] We are looking at item f4, very
[2:01:58] exciting item tonight. Uh, the
[2:02:01] election of mayor and vice
[2:02:02] mayor. So I
[2:02:02] m gonna turn this
[2:02:03] over to our city clerk to
[2:02:05] administer the election. We do
[2:02:06] have a public commenter signed
[2:02:08] up to speak. What order would
[2:02:09] you prefer this happening in?
[2:02:11] We should take the speaker
[2:02:13] first, and then we can proceed.
[2:02:17] Uh, Joshua Baum.
[2:02:19] We were just told that this is
[2:02:21] the order. If you want to speak
[2:02:23] at the end of the agenda during
[2:02:24] the final public comment period,
[2:02:26] that would be your other option.
[2:02:30] Yeah, I can move you. Ok.
[2:02:34] Ok
[2:02:35] ok, so seeing no public
[2:02:36] speakers, we
[2:02:37] ll move straight
[2:02:38] into the election. Thank you,
[2:02:41] Mayor. The item before you is
[2:02:43] the election of the new mayor
[2:02:46] and vice mayor, who will be
[2:02:48] installed at the JANUARY 12th
[2:02:51] City Council meeting, and so I
[2:02:53] will open up nominations for
[2:02:55] mayor. I would like to nominate
[2:02:56] Vice Mayor John Heilman. I
[2:02:56] ll
[2:02:58] second that.
[2:03:03] We have a motion and a second.
[2:03:05] To be sure.
[2:03:08] Are there any other nominations?
[2:03:09] Seeing none, I will take a
[2:03:11] voice vote just so we have it
[2:03:13] on the record. Councilmember
[2:03:15] Erickson, enthusiastically, yes.
[2:03:17] Councilmember Hang, yes,
[2:03:19] Councilmember Meister, yes,
[2:03:22] Vice Mayor Heilman, Mayor Byers,
[2:03:23] yes, congratulations, our next
[2:03:27] marriage.
[2:03:29] Ok
[2:03:32] And now I will open nominations
[2:03:33] for Vice Mayer.
[2:03:35] I would like to nominate
[2:03:37] Councilmember Danny Hang.
[2:03:37] I
[2:03:38] ll second that. We have a
[2:03:40] motion in a second. Do you
[2:03:41] accept Councilmember Hang? Yes,
[2:03:44] ok, I will take a voice vote.
[2:03:45] Councilmember Erickson, we
[2:03:45] ll
[2:03:46] get in trouble for this, but
[2:03:46] I
[2:03:49] m going to say hell yes. Ok,
[2:03:51] Councilmemb Hang. Yes,
[2:03:53] Councilmember Meister, yes,
[2:03:55] Vice Mayor Heilman. Yes, Mayor
[2:03:57] Byers, yes, congratulations,
[2:03:58] Councilembhang.
[2:04:01] S.
[2:04:04] And again, our new
[2:04:07] incoming mayor and incoming
[2:04:09] vice mayor will be installed at
[2:04:11] the JANUARY 12th City Council
[2:04:12] meeting. MAY, can we, can I,
[2:04:13] MAY I say one thing? I just
[2:04:14] would like to think. I know
[2:04:15] we
[2:04:15] ll have much more to say,
[2:04:17] but I want to thank our current
[2:04:20] mayor, uh, Chelsea Byers for
[2:04:21] her leadership throughout this
[2:04:23] past year. I literally
[2:04:25] mentioned to our colleagues
[2:04:28] that I literally cannot believe
[2:04:28] it
[2:04:29] s been a year, but you have
[2:04:31] been a steward of the city in
[2:04:33] every way, shape, and form, and
[2:04:33] I
[2:04:34] m just so proud of you, and
[2:04:34] I
[2:04:35] ll have much
[2:04:36] more to say. Congratulations,
[2:04:38] Mayor, for the next few more
[2:04:46] weeks. Thank you.
[2:04:49] Thank you all very much.
[2:04:51] We are done with this agenda,
[2:04:51] and I
[2:04:52] m also saving my words
[2:04:55] till JANUARY, so I mean, truly
[2:04:55] I will just say it
[2:04:56] s been a
[2:04:56] remarkable year. I
[2:04:57] m so
[2:04:58] grateful for everyone. All the
[2:05:01] support has meant the world. I
[2:05:02] will enjoy the holiday break
[2:05:04] with this title for the last
[2:05:06] few weeks, um, but really
[2:05:08] looking forward to John
[2:05:09] Heilmann becoming our mayor.
[2:05:10] What a special year we have to
[2:05:11] look forward to ahead. Truly,
[2:05:12] we are so fortunate as a city
[2:05:13] to be served under this
[2:05:15] leadership to come. So really
[2:05:17] tremendously grateful. Thank
[2:05:19] you. Ok, ok, one more
[2:05:21] And with that, we
[2:05:22] ll go to
[2:05:23] excluded consent, which we have
[2:05:24] none, so we
[2:05:25] ll move into our
[2:05:26] final public comment and we
[2:05:26] ll
[2:05:28] have Joshua Baum join us at the
[2:05:29] microphone. Are there any other
[2:05:31] speakers signed up for the
[2:05:32] final public comment? No, Mary,
[2:05:32] we don
[2:05:33] t have anyone else
[2:05:38] signed up. All right.
[2:05:40] I mean, I was going to wait
[2:05:40] until Ja, but I
[2:05:41] ll, I
[2:05:41] ll, I
[2:05:41] ll
[2:05:42] see what I
[2:05:44] m gonna say tonight.
[2:05:46] Um, good evening, good evening,
[2:05:47] Mayor and Counciluncil. I want
[2:05:49] to thank outgoing Mayor Chelsea
[2:05:50] Byers. Chelsea is someone I
[2:05:53] first met at the very end of
[2:05:55] 2018, almost exactly 7 years
[2:05:56] ago when I was recruiting the
[2:05:58] first board from the West Side
[2:05:59] Young Democrats and looking for
[2:06:01] people who cared deeply about
[2:06:02] local issues like housing,
[2:06:04] public transit, and where young
[2:06:06] people actually had a voice in
[2:06:08] government. Chelsea showed up
[2:06:10] already allen. Later passing
[2:06:12] the presidency of the club to
[2:06:13] her was one of the easiest and
[2:06:14] proudest decisions I
[2:06:16] ve ever made. But I also want
[2:06:18] to see something more personal.
[2:06:19] A few years ago during one of
[2:06:21] the lowest moments of my life
[2:06:23] when very few people were there.
[2:06:25] Chelsea was.
[2:06:25] I
[2:06:26] ve never forgotten that.
[2:06:28] Watching her go on to serve the
[2:06:29] city includes including as
[2:06:31] mayor, has meant more to me
[2:06:32] than I can really put into
[2:06:33] words. Chelsea, I
[2:06:34] m grateful
[2:06:35] for you. I
[2:06:36] m glad to call you
[2:06:40] my friend, and I love you.
[2:06:42] And congratulations to incoming
[2:06:44] Mayor John Heilman. John is a
[2:06:46] true civic icon. He helped
[2:06:47] found the city and his
[2:06:49] fingerprints are everywhere in
[2:06:51] it, especially in what West
[2:06:53] Hollywood represents for lgbtq
[2:06:54] people. It feels right to see
[2:06:55] him stepping into this role
[2:07:01] again. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:07:04] Seeing no final public speakers.
[2:07:04] We
[2:07:05] ll move to Councilmember
[2:07:06] comments and meeting attendance
[2:07:07] reports. We
[2:07:07] d like to begin?
[2:07:08] Can I have you start, Councilor
[2:07:09] Burhang?
[2:07:11] Soon to be Vice Mayor. Thank
[2:07:12] you, Mayor. As far as meetings
[2:07:14] and attendance are concerned, I
[2:07:16] attended the world
[2:07:17] s aids Day
[2:07:19] celebration at Stors aids
[2:07:21] Monument. Um, I attended the
[2:07:24] Victory Fund in dc where Vice
[2:07:26] Mayor soon to be mayor, John
[2:07:27] Heilman was inducted into the
[2:07:29] Victory Fund Victory Institute,
[2:07:31] lgbt Hall of Fame for his over
[2:07:34] 40 years of service to our
[2:07:36] community and for being the
[2:07:38] longest serving lgbtq out
[2:07:40] elected official in the United
[2:07:41] States of America
[2:07:42] Thank you
[2:07:45] And also at this conference are
[2:07:47] wonderful mayor was on several
[2:07:49] panels talking about housing as
[2:07:51] well as supporting lgbtq
[2:07:52] candidates, which was fantastic
[2:07:54] to see her speak, and I
[2:07:56] attended the Winter Wonderland
[2:07:58] Market. Um, I had to use the
[2:07:59] blue seal because I didn
[2:08:00] t want
[2:08:03] to fall again and break my leg,
[2:08:04] and I was proud to use that
[2:08:07] blue seal, um, and also I
[2:08:09] attended the 25th annual Paul
[2:08:11] Stark Awards, that ceremony was
[2:08:13] led by the new chair
[2:08:14] of the Human Services
[2:08:15] Commission, Chair Anne Marie.
[2:08:17] Thank you.
[2:08:19] Thank you, Councilmember
[2:08:20] Erickson. Thank you so much. I
[2:08:22] attended various events and
[2:08:24] community gatherings since our
[2:08:26] last meeting, um, and I just
[2:08:28] want to again thank David for
[2:08:29] his service and Jackie, you
[2:08:30] ll
[2:08:32] be right up here in JANUARY
[2:08:35] starting and I just want to
[2:08:36] again congratulate you, moving
[2:08:38] it to consent just shows the
[2:08:41] community not only how much we
[2:08:42] trust you about how much this
[2:08:43] full council is behind your
[2:08:45] incoming leadership as city
[2:08:47] manager, um, and as someone
[2:08:50] who has known you since my very
[2:08:51] first day at City Hall. You
[2:08:53] have been a mentor and a friend
[2:08:55] to me, many much like much like
[2:08:57] David has been, and I just want
[2:08:59] to thank you for my progress.
[2:08:59] And if you don
[2:09:00] t like me, you
[2:09:02] can blame Jackie, but um, you
[2:09:04] know, but whatever, but I don
[2:09:04] t
[2:09:05] think, I don
[2:09:06] t think there
[2:09:06] s
[2:09:07] any, there are people in this
[2:09:10] city and I want to echo what
[2:09:11] our community member David
[2:09:12] Eckert, and I didn
[2:09:12] t know you
[2:09:13] had an Emmy, by the way, so I
[2:09:15] need to like dude, there you go,
[2:09:17] see, he just goes like this too.
[2:09:18] Like
[2:09:18] that
[2:09:19] s why I love you, David,
[2:09:20] because you, I like, I love
[2:09:22] finding out new things, but I
[2:09:23] digress, but I just wanted to
[2:09:25] say Jackie
[2:09:26] you invested in me when I was
[2:09:29] moving on from an intern to
[2:09:30] becoming then
[2:09:31] Counciluncilmember at la
[2:09:32] s
[2:09:34] Deputy, you invested in so many
[2:09:36] of us, and that vision is
[2:09:37] something that you didn
[2:09:38] t do to
[2:09:39] get ahead. You did it because
[2:09:41] you truly believe in making the
[2:09:42] world a better place, and there
[2:09:46] are people who do not agree on
[2:09:48] anything, but I know they agree
[2:09:50] on how much they just adore you
[2:09:51] and your service to the city.
[2:09:53] So congratulations again. I
[2:09:55] cannot wait to look over at you
[2:09:56] and give
[2:09:57] you my eye roll or because I
[2:09:57] don
[2:09:59] t really have a poker face,
[2:09:59] but I
[2:10:00] m really excited to see
[2:10:01] what you
[2:10:02] ll do in the city, and
[2:10:04] then congratulations to my
[2:10:06] incoming colleagues. Our first
[2:10:08] soon to be aapi Vice Mayor, as
[2:10:10] well as just overall amazing
[2:10:11] guy. I
[2:10:12] ll have more to say then
[2:10:13] and to someone that has been a
[2:10:15] mentor, and again, if you also
[2:10:15] don
[2:10:17] t like me, I was his intern
[2:10:19] and hired in that way as well,
[2:10:21] but a true legend and I have
[2:10:22] missed going to many
[2:10:23] conferences in the past, but
[2:10:24] I
[2:10:25] ve never missed more going to
[2:10:25] the
[2:10:27] Victory Fund this past year to
[2:10:29] see him get a well-deserved
[2:10:31] award and standing in the
[2:10:33] footsteps and the path that you
[2:10:36] have led for so many of us, and
[2:10:36] I
[2:10:37] ll have much more to say, but
[2:10:39] I did watch your speech that
[2:10:40] was put out there. It was
[2:10:41] eloquent. It was fairy John
[2:10:43] Heilman, but it was class all
[2:10:45] the way, and congratulations
[2:10:47] incoming mayor John Heilman.
[2:10:50] Councilmember Meister
[2:10:52] Thank you, Mayor. Um, I
[2:10:55] attended the graduation of the
[2:10:57] Fall 2025 Civic Academy
[2:10:59] participants, and it
[2:10:59] s been
[2:11:01] great to see how popular this
[2:11:02] course has been, and I thank
[2:11:04] staff for putting together an
[2:11:06] interesting and informative
[2:11:07] curriculum that seems to be
[2:11:08] getting around because you keep
[2:11:10] getting people to come to the
[2:11:11] next one. So if you thought you
[2:11:12] were getting out of it, it
[2:11:12] doesn
[2:11:14] t look like it. Uh, I
[2:11:18] want to repeat my, uh, no vote
[2:11:21] on item b7, uh, in case it
[2:11:21] wasn
[2:11:22] t recorded
[2:11:23] although I know it was recorded.
[2:11:26] Uh, I also want to congratulate
[2:11:29] uh Weis Vice Mayor Heman on his
[2:11:32] recognition at the Liberty Fund,
[2:11:33] uh, very well deserved, and I
[2:11:35] also want to congratulate him
[2:11:38] on being our next mayor and
[2:11:40] congratulate Danny for to be
[2:11:42] our next vice mayor. You
[2:11:42] couldn
[2:11:44] t have a better mayor to
[2:11:49] learn from, uh, as, as you join
[2:11:51] every subcommittee that um that
[2:11:52] the city has.
[2:11:52] So you
[2:11:54] re going to be busy. I
[2:11:55] also want to um
[2:11:57] just to say that, uh, both
[2:11:58] Genevieve and David that I wish
[2:12:02] you both the best as you move
[2:12:04] into your next respective
[2:12:06] chapters, and David, does this
[2:12:08] mean our calls stop every other
[2:12:09] Friday.
[2:12:09] You
[2:12:10] re changing your cell phone
[2:12:13] number.
[2:12:14] Uh, and, um, that
[2:12:15] s, I just
[2:12:17] also want to wish everyone a
[2:12:18] very happy holiday to please
[2:12:20] stay safe out there and a happy
[2:12:24] New Year. I really felt awful,
[2:12:25] uh, at, you know, that I, I
[2:12:25] didn
[2:12:29] t, I could not say happy
[2:12:31] Hanukkah on that uh after
[2:12:32] hearing what happened at Sydney,
[2:12:34] I was, it was just, I couldn
[2:12:34] t
[2:12:35] say it. I just couldn
[2:12:36] t say the
[2:12:38] words, um, because it was such
[2:12:40] a shocking thing to happen. And,
[2:12:42] uh, and a horrible
[2:12:44] and tragic thing to happen, and
[2:12:47] as well as what happened at at
[2:12:49] Brown University, uh, so I
[2:12:50] ll
[2:12:51] say it now. Happy holidays to
[2:12:53] everyone and happy New Year.
[2:12:56] Thank you, Vice Mayor Heman,
[2:12:59] thank you, and I, I will say
[2:13:00] happy Hanukkah and merry
[2:13:02] Christmas to everyone. We can
[2:13:03] t
[2:13:05] allow people to rob us from our
[2:13:08] joy, and I want to wish
[2:13:10] everyone a wonderful holiday. I
[2:13:11] also want to thank my
[2:13:13] colleagues for
[2:13:16] um the vote earlier, and I know
[2:13:18] we will all say a lot more on
[2:13:20] JANUARY 12. I want to
[2:13:22] especially thank Chelsea for
[2:13:25] leading us this last year with
[2:13:29] such a grace and aplomb and um
[2:13:31] moving through some very
[2:13:33] difficult issues, really
[2:13:34] appreciate not just your
[2:13:36] leadership here, but your
[2:13:37] leadership in the community and
[2:13:38] in the county we
[2:13:40] re so lucky to
[2:13:42] have you. Um, I also
[2:13:45] attended World aids Day, I
[2:13:47] attended the Paul Stark Warrior
[2:13:50] Awards. I attended the city
[2:13:53] holiday party for the employees.
[2:13:56] I, um, was, as was mentioned, I
[2:13:58] was honored at the Victory Fund,
[2:14:01] and it was a great conference,
[2:14:03] want to thank Chelsea for
[2:14:07] speaking. I also got to um go
[2:14:08] out on the ice skating rink
[2:14:10] again and so far I haven
[2:14:10] t
[2:14:12] fallen, which is a good thing
[2:14:16] Um, and I know that Lauren, uh,
[2:14:18] you continue to deal with the
[2:14:20] eye issues and I know you have
[2:14:23] some procedures upcoming in. I,
[2:14:24] I think I speak for all of us
[2:14:28] in saying we wish you a speedy
[2:14:29] recovery, and we
[2:14:30] re all here
[2:14:31] for you if you need anything.
[2:14:33] Thank you. Thank you. I
[2:14:33] ll
[2:14:34] begin with my meeting
[2:14:36] attendance reports. I was at
[2:14:38] the Clean Power Alliance Energy
[2:14:40] Committee meeting, the La Casa
[2:14:41] Renter Protections and
[2:14:42] Homelessness Prevention
[2:14:44] Committee meeting in addition
[2:14:45] to the human capital meeting at
[2:14:47] La Casa. I attended the Victory
[2:14:48] Institute and served on the
[2:14:49] panels. Thank you for your kind
[2:14:51] words about those moments. And
[2:14:53] I also had the great joy of
[2:14:55] traveling 6 hours to Lakewood
[2:14:57] round trip with Helen Collins
[2:14:58] to receive the American Public
[2:15:00] Works Association Award for the
[2:15:02] Holloway, one of many awards to
[2:15:02] come, I
[2:15:03] m sure, for such a
[2:15:04] special project here in the
[2:15:07] community, but truly thrilling
[2:15:08] to first receive recognition
[2:15:10] for the public works side of
[2:15:11] that because it was daunting
[2:15:12] and harrowing and
[2:15:14] many ways, and Helen and her
[2:15:15] team let us remarkably. We
[2:15:16] re
[2:15:17] so grateful to you, Helen, for
[2:15:18] your leadership on that project
[2:15:20] and to celebrate with that
[2:15:23] award was very meaningful.
[2:15:27] It was a long one. I recognize
[2:15:28] that we
[2:15:29] re at a transition
[2:15:31] point in the year, turning
[2:15:33] point JANUARY is coming up. New
[2:15:33] Year
[2:15:36] s, so many holidays ahead
[2:15:37] and many transitions with us in
[2:15:39] the city is David leaves us as
[2:15:41] city manager with in great
[2:15:43] hands with Jackie Rocco. We are
[2:15:44] truly so fortunate, but the
[2:15:45] Chamber is transitioning
[2:15:47] leadership as well. We
[2:15:48] recognize and thank Genevieve
[2:15:49] Morell for years and years of
[2:15:51] service and look forward to
[2:15:53] Lenn as he joins us in the city
[2:15:53] soon, and
[2:15:54] this council as well will have
[2:15:56] new leadership in just a few
[2:15:57] weeks, and with this we should
[2:15:59] feel a great spirit of
[2:16:02] excitement and joy to come
[2:16:03] Transitions can be scary and
[2:16:04] daunting with much uncertainty,
[2:16:05] but we have great confidence
[2:16:06] that these transitions and
[2:16:08] leadership in the city will be
[2:16:09] remarkable and lead us in a
[2:16:11] really great year ahead. We
[2:16:14] started this year, 2025, and
[2:16:16] really tough times in many ways
[2:16:17] those tough times are still
[2:16:19] sitting with so many people
[2:16:21] here in the city and across the
[2:16:22] region, and as far as the
[2:16:23] federal administration
[2:16:23] s
[2:16:24] concerned
[2:16:26] these tough times still MAY be
[2:16:27] ahead, but I think the
[2:16:28] resilience that we
[2:16:28] ve shown,
[2:16:29] the spirit of joy that we
[2:16:29] re
[2:16:31] sitting in this end of the year.
[2:16:31] All we
[2:16:32] ve accomplished in the
[2:16:34] face of it all really shows
[2:16:34] what we
[2:16:35] re capable of, and I
[2:16:37] think if we can continue this
[2:16:39] trend, then we will continue to
[2:16:40] have much to be proud of as a
[2:16:43] city. I really wish everyone a
[2:16:44] beautiful and joyous and
[2:16:46] restful end of year. I think
[2:16:47] about our city staff who, while
[2:16:49] many of us will be enjoying the
[2:16:50] holidays. They will still be
[2:16:52] making sure the city runs very
[2:16:53] well, and we thank them
[2:16:54] tremendously for
[2:16:57] that. But everyone truly
[2:16:59] deserves a spirited and happy
[2:17:00] celebration at the end of this
[2:17:01] year. So happy holidays, happy
[2:17:03] Hanukkah, Happy New Year, and
[2:17:04] looking forward to seeing
[2:17:05] everyone back here JANUARY 12th
[2:17:06] in council chambers. I
[2:17:07] ll
[2:17:08] adjourn this meeting then to 6
[2:17:10] P.M. On JANUARY 12th. It
[2:17:10] ll be
[2:17:11] a fun night. Look forward to
[2:17:13] being there. Mayer, could we
[2:17:14] get a photo with Jackie and
[2:17:19] David maybe down there just for
[2:17:20] fun times. Yes, we
[2:17:21] ll do that,
[2:17:22] but this meeting is officially
[2:17:23] adjourned. Thank you all so
[2:17:23] much.