Tag: West Hollywood City Council

WEST HOLLYWOOD—On July 15, the city of West Hollywood disclosed that the nomination period for candidates running for the West Hollywood City Council opened on Monday, July 15 at 8 a.m. The deadline for filing nomination papers is Friday, August 9 at 5 p.m. pursuant to the State Elections Code.

West Hollywood residents who are interested in running for City Council should contact the City Clerk’s office to schedule an appointment to receive nomination papers and to review the requirements and deadlines for becoming an official candidate.

The City Council candidate nomination process requires a potential candidate to gather between 20 and 30 signatures by voters registered in West Hollywood. Potential candidates must be at least 18 years old, residents of West Hollywood, and registered voters within the city.

There are two West Hollywood City Council seats that will be decided in the upcoming General Municipal Election, which will be held on Tuesday, November 5. West Hollywood Councilmembers each serve for a term of four years and are elected at large. Each year, City Councilmembers select one of their members to serve as Mayor for a year, with the term beginning after the City Council reorganization, which occurs once every year.

West Hollywood’s elections page, www.weho.org/elections, provides detailed election information and links to the California Secretary of State’s Voter Registration page, the Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorder’s website, and specific links for polling places and sample ballots.

For more details or to schedule an appointment to receive nomination papers, and to review the requirements and deadlines for becoming an official candidate contact the West Hollywood’s City Clerk’s Office at (323) 848-6409 or send an e-mail message to Alyssa Poblador at apoblador@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing call TTY (323) 848-6496.

By Trevor

WEST HOLLYWOOD—On Friday, April 26, the city of West Hollywood disclosed that they want community members to provide feedback on proposed policy changes to the Sunset Arts & Advertising Program.

“The Sunset Strip has been a premier outdoor advertising venue since the 1960s and ’70s, when recording artists debuted albums on custom-painted billboards. Today, technology propels advertising into new realms, transitioning from painted murals and vinyl to dynamic and creative billboard displays,” the city of WeHo stated in a press release.

The Sunset Arts & Advertising Program was adopted in 2019 to allow a limited number of new billboards on Sunset Boulevard. The program includes a design excellence competition where only a select number of applicants are awarded the opportunity to proceed with applications for new billboards. The proposed amendments will provide additional clarity for defined terms, clarify intent and vision principles, and strengthen the standards, including those around brightness and orientation of the new billboards.

Proposed amendments focus on making guidelines, vision, and standards clearer for the public and applicants; clarifying the language of standards and guidelines to make them easier to understand and follow; bolstering the lighting standards with specific and measurable standards; and incorporating best practices into the policy.

West Hollywood wants residents, businesses, and visitors to share their feedback and suggestions on Engage WeHo. PDF documents of proposed amendments to the program, a map of billboard locations, the original Sunset Boulevard off-site signage policy, and the Sunset Boulevard lighting study are available by logging in or creating an account at https://engage.weho.org/SAAP.

The feedback portal is open and will remain open through Sunday, May 19 at 11:59 p.m. (Those looking to provide feedback must be logged in). West Hollywood’s Community Development Department will gather feedback submitted during the review period and present proposed program updates at a future date.

Goals for the Sunset Arts & Advertising Program are:

Revitalization: The principal benefit of the program is to help revitalize the Sunset Strip. Through this program, new development and façade remodels were encouraged and this has led to several projects completely redeveloping underutilized, and sometimes deteriorating sites;

Historic Preservation: The program encourages the designation, restoration, and preservation of historic buildings. Once designated, the income from a billboard helps the property owner maintain the historic building;

Streetscape and Public Realm: An important aspect of the program is the improved streetscape that is part of many of the projects. The goal is to create meaningful public realm enhancements that actively engage and enrich the pedestrian experience along Sunset Boulevard, providing interesting places to sit, to view, and to engage with streetscape elements, some of which will be interactive. Program projects also contribute to capital improvement projects, such as the Sunset & La Cienega Boulevard Intersection Improvement Plan, which will improve this intersection for both the pedestrian and the motorist;

Economic Vitality: This program helps individual property owners and business owners with additional revenue to improve and maintain their buildings and businesses, thereby encouraging economic stability and growth. Iconic businesses such as the Rainbow Bar & Grill, the Roxy Theatre, the Whisky a Go-Go nightclub, and the Comedy Store will be ensured a stable and steady income, helping to maintain these important businesses on the Strip; and

City Content & Arts Programming: Each billboard must provide a contribution of time (17.5% per hour, 10.5 minutes per hour) to city content (public City announcements and/or public art). At the top of every hour, full motion animated billboards will display ten and a half minutes of City content and/or arts programming curated by the City of West Hollywood in consultation with the City’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. This is an important aspect of the program, helping the City achieve the goal of bringing art to everyone using Sunset Boulevard and adding to the vibrancy and aesthetics of the Sunset Strip, ensuring its importance and relevance as a world-famous destination.

For more details on the Sunset Arts & Advertising Program, visit the city of West Hollywood website. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing call TTY (323) 848-6496.

By Trevor

WEST HOLLYWOOD—The West Hollywood City Council will decide whether a re-ban will be issued on the use of dockless electric scooters and e-bikes in West Hollywood at a regular meeting on Monday, June 26. City Council will consider three alternatives that respond to safety concerns and community complaints, primarily about scooters.

The Dockless Micro-mobility Pilot Program was launched on July 1, 2021, allowing e-scooters and e-bikes as transportation options for the West Hollywood community. The main goals of the pilot program were to expand West Hollywood’s transportation network, while supporting environmental sustainability. 

Alternative one would end the Pilot Program and return a prohibition of scooters and e-bikes to West Hollywood. 

Despite efforts made by the West Hollywood City Council to address the public’s concerns about scooters littering sidewalks and blocking walkways, the problem of improper parking persists.   

The Pilot Program received 1,452 complaints over the past two years, from July 2021 through May 2023, with approximately 60 percent reported by three individuals. Sixty-six percent of complaints are regarding a device blocking the sidewalk.

On March 6, city council requested for staff to return with research on the implementation of speed-throttling sidewalk detection technology citywide. The proposed use of this technology was an effort to discourage sidewalk riding. Scooter companies, Lime and Bird, did not adopt speed throttling “at the scale desired by the City Council,” according to the City’s staff report. 

Lime implemented a 12 mph speed cap in West Hollywood as of May 2023, but the staff report states that “Lime is no longer pursuing speed throttling for any devices in any of their markets.” Bird applied speed throttling only in specific areas of the city.

If alternative one is selected, the city council would terminate the scooter pilot program by July 31. A ban on “rental mobility devices,” which includes both scooters and e-bikes, would be reinstated by August 1.  

West Hollywood would cancel existing permits with scooter and e-bike companies as well as terminate supporting contracts with service providers like ABM, Populus, and Toole Design. 

The impacts of terminating the use of scooters and e-bikes were acknowledged in the staff report. 

Should the West Hollywood City Council terminate the Pilot Program, setbacks for West Hollywood’s emission reduction goals are expected. Since the Pilot Program began in July 2021, 449,730 total trips, or 628,543 miles, have been traveled with dockless micro-mobility devices. The amount of miles traveled by a vehicle would emit 253 metric tons (253,000 kg) of CO2 emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Unbudgeted costs for the termination process would include $175,000 to contract for the removal of devices from the public right-of-way, $125,000 for disposal of devices not retrieved after being impounded, and $75,000 for the storage of devices removed from the public right-of-way. 

Alternative Two entails continuing the pilot program through October 31, 2023. Staff will manage the program with any modifications desired by the city council and initiate a randomized phone survey, which is set to cost $40K, according to the staff report. In October 2023, city council will reconvene on the issue to decide whether or not a permanent program is possible based on the survey results and updates from staff.

Alternative Three proposes that staff continue the Pilot Program while transitioning into a permanent program. Staff would begin working with Toole Design on the program requirements, proceed with a community survey as was originally scoped (not engage in a randomized phone survey), and accommodate any modifications desired by the West Hollywood City Council. An update including a timeline for the permanent program would be presented to the city council in October 2023.

By Paige Strickland