Think Circuses Are Banned in WeHo? Watch Tonight’s Council Meeting

The West Hollywood City Council has banned circuses from WeHo. But despite that, tonight’s City Council meeting is likely to be one. Advocates for the preservation of Plummer Park’s Great Hall / Long Hall are planning to picket outside and line up for hours of commenting before the council on a proposal to demolish the building. Also, a flurry of speakers is expected to demand that the city restore the rainbow flag to City Hall and Larry Block, a candidate in the 2015 council race, is expected to distribute hundreds of those flags to the crowd.

Protect Plummer Park, the preservationist group, has retained the law firm of Luna & Glushon to seek a temporary restraining order to bar the city from demolishing Great Hall / Long Hall, a 1938 WPA building that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The council, which voted three to two on Dec. 2 to demolish the building is expected to approve a proposal tonight to retain a contractor to begin demolition. If approved, the landmark building would be gone in 20 days.

The council vote came in response to a proposal by Councilmember John D’Amico that the city make repairs to the building and use it temporarily for arts and cultural events until a final decision was made on what to do about it. A plan for redeveloping Plummer Park has called for its demolition, but that plan had been put on hold for various reasons. Council members John Heilman and John Duran and Mayor Abbe Land instead voted to ask city staff members to return with a plan for demolishing the building. Only D’Amico and Councilmember Jeffrey Prang voted against that proposal.

Political insiders expect D’Amico tonight to propose that the city restore the rainbow flag, a symbol of gay rights since 1978, when it was flown at the San Francisco Gay Pride parade. The rainbow flag was placed between the U.S. and California flags on the top of City Hall in June after Block, owner of the Block Party, a gay apparel store, made an appeal before it last June.

Then the council voted unanimously in November to give City Manager Paul Arevalo what has turned out to be the unpleasant task of deciding which so-called “unofficial” flags will fly above City Hall. The rainbow flag was removed on Jan. 9, prompting coverage by the Los Angeles Times, local television stations and LGBT media across the country and the world.

Council member John Duran spoke strongly in favor to removing the rainbow flag and has since continued to argue on various social media platforms that it has no place on City Hall. Duran has argued that while 40 percent of West Hollywood’s population is composed of gay men and it promotes itself as a gay destination, the city needs to be mindful of its non-gay population as well.

Duran’s critics argue that he is pulling back from his avid advocacy for gay West Hollywood because he fears it will hurt his campaign to win the Democratic nomination for the Third District seat on the Los Angeles County Supervisor seat in June. The district, which encompasses West Hollywood, covers the western part of Los Angeles County, including the Westside, most of the San Fernando Valley, the Conejo Valley and the Santa Monica Mountains to the Ventura County line. That campaign has heated up today with the announcement that Santa Monica Mayor Bobby Shriver will enter the race.

If D’Amico makes a proposal to restore the rainbow flag it is certain to fail given Duran’s position and the opposition of Land and Heilman. But political observers say it likely will help D’Amico in his effort to ensure he gets the gay community vote in his campaign for re-election in 2015.