The Public Safety Commission and owners and managers of local businesses last night pushed the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station to step up its patrols of the city’s nightlife and entertainment district on the west side of Santa Monica Boulevard.
Their concerns were mostly about aggressive behavior by homeless people. Adam Eraminan, general of Micky’s, the popular gay bar at 8857 Santa Monica Blvd., said “the homeless population has gotten out of control.”
Eraminan said Micky’s has been the victim of several lawsuits filed by customers because of harm to them caused by homeless people while they were at the bar. In one case, a homeless person threw a customer’s drink at him, cutting the customer’s face. Like many other bars on Santa Monica Boulevard, Micky’s has an open façade facing the sidewalk and outdoor seating, making it relatively easy for someone on the sidewalk to interact with a customer.
Bill Karpiak, general manager of the Ramada Plaza hotel at 8585 Santa Monica Blvd., where he has worked for almost 30 years, said he has seen the impact of aggressive homeless people on nearby restaurants and other businesses that the Ramada’s guests visit. Referring to the nearby Starbucks coffee shop, Karpiak said “It’s sad to see where it’s going, from its pinnacle to its decline.”
“It’s very intimidating for our international customers,” said Karpiak. “… We try to tell them how great West Hollywood is, until they arrive and they are asked for drugs and money (by homeless people).”
Larry Block, owner of the Block Party store at 8853 Santa Monica Blvd., called out each of the calls to the Sheriff’s Station in the past year from him or one of his employees. They included complaints about a woman smashing his front store window, a person coming into the store swinging a golf club and threatening a staffer, and someone wielding a knife.
Block also criticized the Public Safety Commission for what he said was its lack of action on the homeless issue. Block said the Commission should ask the City Council for permission to form an ad hoc committee to work with the city’s Human Services Commission to study issues involving the homeless. “The commission isn’t looking deep into the issues,” he said. “If some of you have not walked down the street where the biggest problems in the community are, maybe you should resign.”
Marcus Rainford, the Starbucks district manager who oversees the coffee shop chain’s West Hollywood locations, said that he was concerned about the slow response of Sheriff’s deputies to calls from the Starbucks at 8595 Santa Monica Blvd. at Westmount. “I personally am in Glendale, and I get there faster than the Sheriff’s deputies,” he said.
Amanda Laflen, the chair of the Public Safety Commission and the new manager of that Starbucks, said she has shared with Sheriff’s Sgt. Jon Klaus issues about people dealing drugs behind the Ramada Plaza and homeless people apparently camping out in the parking garage on Hancock Avenue at Santa Monica Boulevard, which is near Gym Sportsbar, Five Guys Pizza, and Tender Greens restaurant.
Laflen said she would like to see more foot patrols by Sheriff’s deputies on the westside of Santa Monica Boulevard. “I think we actually need to see people to feel safe,” she said.
Lt. William Moulder of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station said he and Capt. Edward Ramirez are focusing more on the Westside entertainment district. He said the Sheriff’s Station is adding patrols in the area and has assigned its entertainment policing team to patrol Santa Monica Boulevard from Robertson Boulevard on the west to the club and bar area on the issue. Moulder said they also are thinking about adding foot patrols during the daytime, given that some of the issues raised by business owners occur during the day. Moulder said Sheriff’s deputies have seen an uptick in violent behavior by homeless people.
The commissioners acknowledged that there are limits on what the Sheriff’s Station can do, given that people who appear to be mentally ill or abusing drugs can’t just be locked up. The Sheriff’s Station has a mental evaluation team staffed by a deputy and a mental health clinician that can respond to issues involving those thought to be mentally ill if summoned by a deputy on the scene or a member of the city’s Block by Block Security Ambassador bicycle team. Adam Eraminan of Micky’s cited those limitations in describing an incident last Friday in which a homeless person threatened one of the bar’s security guards. He had an arrest record and was arrested, but was released and soon back in front of Micky’s.
Commissioner Jeffrey Waack suggested the Sheriff’s Station resume the regular walks with the Sheriff’s Station captain and Public Safety Commission members to local businesses, where they would drop in and here the business owners’ concerns.
Commissioner Kerri Balbone said that another issue is that some business owners and their employees don’t know who to call about issues involving the homeless. She cited concerns raised by employees of the Crossroads Trading store and nearby Joey’s Diner and Hamburger Mary’s bar and restaurant, who have to deal with homeless people tossing trash on the sidewalk and soiling their space.
Public Safety Director Kristin Cook said the City of West Hollywood’s Communications Department is developing a guide that will be mailed to local residents that includes information on who to reach out to about issues involving the homeless.
The commissioners acknowledged the success of the Sheriff’s Stations effort to clean up littering, drug use and other misbehavior by homeless people in and around Plummer Park on the Eastside. That was the result of the Sheriff’s Station increasing its patrols of the park and nearby areas.
West Hollywood in February saw a major decline in serious (Part 1) crimes compared to the same month last year. A report from the Sheriff’s Station shows reports of vehicle burglaries fell from 70 in February 2019 to 34 last month, and incidents of petty theft (theft of items worth $950 or less) fell from 70 in February 2019 to 48 last month. Grand theft incidents, involving items worth more than $950, fell from 32 in February 2019 to 26 last month. However, last month there were 191 misdemeanor arrests, up from 122 in February 2019. Felony arrests increased from 42 in February 2019 to 69 last month.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California made a stunning admission about how he could have dealt with his state’s massive and growing homeless problem a long time ago. During a Q & A session with reporters regarding the state’s response to the outbreak, Newsom noted that people 65 and older should stay home while, naturally, he was ordering bars, wineries, and breweries to be closed. “We’re working in real-time to secure hotels, motels, and trailers to house our homeless safely and protect our communities and the spread of #COVIDー19,” he tweeted. During his Sunday news presser, Newsom was then asked what… Read more »
Love the 2008 picture of the Gay Starbucks. The good old days.
Do the blue hairs of weho realize Starbucks coffee four times a day is a luxury not a necessity?! Seems the older generations who constantly complain about the homeless may need to do some self reflection on their very apparent caffeine addiction. You live in a very large city, of course homeless people are going to be present. Stop living in the past of when you bought your condos 30 years ago and obtained two mortgages for your two bedroom condos. If you don’t like it, I’m sure silver lake has plenty of cheap condos you can buy and heavily… Read more »
What does this have to do with the issue, Rob s? We’re dealing with a group of people who are often dangerous, who vandalize, verbally assault, urinate and defecate publicly and create filth which attracts rodents, fleas and other species we don’t want to live around. You seem to harbor resentment for those people who enjoy and can afford four visits to Starbuck’s a day. What’s that to you? They earned it if they worked hard, planned wisely, and bought their condo 30 years ago. At some point they delayed gratification to have the privilege they enjoy now. In other… Read more »
ok boomer.
I bought my condo a year ago and have never been in a Starbuck’s, but I’ll pass on your sentiment to those to whom it may apply. I’m sure it will mean a lot to them.
How does BH keep their city safe? Active policing. I always eat out in BH…..but almost never in WH. We would also improve our city…..if the bars on SMB were closed (it attracts the wrong element).
I walk past city hall and see the same homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk and think to myself “ doesn’t anyone at city hall see that she needs help”. I read an article on wehoville about her being beaten. If you don’t recognize the homeless as individual people how are you going to help them. Start with the homeless that are living at your doorstep. Find out what her story is and help her It may be the key to helping others.
The homeless lobbyist (yes, they have them. Attend a city council meeting) while flood the comments section on articles like this and try to paint themselves as victims and everyone else as an elite, all to pretend we don’t have a huge homelessness crisis that has impacted the quality of life of all citizens. I’m hardly an elite, I work two jobs, have a roommate, live in an apartment and I’ve been assaulted by a homeless person last year in Weho. The problem is real and something needs to be done. Enough is enough and I’m so thankful this site… Read more »
Public Safety Director Kristen Cook, is developing a guide to mail out to the public on how to deal with these issues. Perhaps she could send the multitude of these “printed guides” for self delivery to her silo at City Hall. Ms. Cook, with all due respect, you are not getting the message but resorting to poking at a long standing problem with long sticks. Ditto the Sheriff Deputies that show up long after reports of a naked possibly homeless man, encountered in the laundry room of a secure building. They appeared disinterested, wanted know my date of birth. and… Read more »
very few city employees actually live in west hollywood (including the ones at the top who make $300,000-$400,000), so they have no real interest in actually walking where residents have to walk and deal with the horrors that residents have to. they take their paycheck and go back to suburbia.
When I read comments like these on this website, I think I must not being living in the same West Hollywood that these people are (maybe they’re referring to the one in Florida?). I walk down Santa Monica Boulevard from La Cienega to Robertson daily. Yes, I see homeless people on the sidewalk there, and all over LA. But I understand why. We are a NIMBY city that doesn’t want to build more housing, so that’s no surprise. We also are a city of affluent elites who don’t want to see poor people (unless they are cleaning our homes or… Read more »
Geez, I am surprised you left out commonsense! If you can’t afford to live here that generally means you can’t afford to live here. A lot of people would like to live in Bel Air, but don’t roam the streets and camp out there.
Elites, NIMBY, affluent…trigger words to place blame instead of where it belongs…the HOMELESS! I heard San Francisco has an opening.
I COULD NOT AGREE MORE!!!!!!!
Dr Arthur Benjamin is my eye doctor. He might be able to help you, however he doesn’t do psychotherapy
Earl Eason, I don’t know where to begin! Haven’t you seen the group at the Sal G. Park and the fountain where they bathe and do laundry; the several on Olive by Emser Tile and Stampede where there is often human feces, and the one guy who urinates at the curb facing the street; the three or four regulars around CVS and the bus stop lying in their own filth? Affordable housing is not the answer. These people are mentally ill and wouldn’t live in whatever home you might give them. Let’s go back to Gov. Pat Brown’s last term… Read more »
Reagan didn’t have to sign anything. Stop spreading lies about what happened. The REPUBLICAN governor started this crisis.
Reagan did have to sign it, Weho Adjacent. It was the law as enacted at the end of the previous administration, there was a large Democrat majority in the Assembly, judges had supported it and the ACLU had done its public relations job. Reagan had no choice.
Now, if you know something different, let’s hear it. You’re giving me your opinion and nothing else. That’s not enough.
You really need to do a couple of Google searches to learn how the federal government works. A president (Ronald Reagan) is not required to sign a bill passed by Congress. The president can veto it. Congress can, of course, override the president’s veto. But Reagan never was required to sign that bill. He did it because he wanted to, just as he wanted to (and did) shut down the federal Community Health Centers program, which is what was keeping the mentally ill off the streets at one point in our history. With the closing of the centers over the… Read more »
LOL, Really Earl Eason? He was talking about GOVERNOR Reagan.
We’re talking about GOVERNOR Reagan here, Earl Eason. Or at least I am!
Salon is about the most anti-Republican publication you can find, and you can find LOTS of anti-Reagan material on Google. Just keep looking and you’ll find how Gov. Pat Brown’s administration required the release of the mentally ill as a civil right and that he later expressed regret for it.
Article from 1979: “Things went fairly well under the Reagan administration,” said Dr. Richard Elphers, the highly respected Los Angeles County mental health director. “It wasn’t pie in the sky, but there was genuine concern for people. Now I don’t see much concern for people at all.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/04/16/crisis-grows-in-calif-mental-hospitals/d89c73f5-7d75-45e2-8c60-db8622dd01a6/
Are you homeless yourself sir and typing this from a public library? With all due respect, you must be. I’ve physically been assaulted right outside the Starbucks on Santa Monica Blvd twice in the past year by homeless people and the staff there told me it happens all the time. To argue otherwise is flat out lying.
Buy a coffee maker and quit complaining.
I was assaulted by a mentally ill woman in front of this Starbucks 1.5 years ago. She ran at me, grabbed me by the neck and punched me in the head. I did file I police report. I see her on the street frequently, always acting crazy.
The Public Safety Commission is more interested in photo ops with Sherriffs and amplifying the hysterics of NIMBY neighborhood watch groups than anything else. They propose more patrols, more money to the department, more visible presence as the solution to everything. These are complex problems and unfortunately for the tough on crime crowd, human rights of the unhoused population always take presedence over the inconvenienxe to businesses or the “embarrassment” to residents having to see homeless people. The only thing I agree with Larry Block about is some of the Commission SHOULD resign.
@”William Seegmiller”…….It’s embarrassing that society now allows individuals to live in squalor, on the street and eating out of the garbage. YES, that should embarrass everyone.
In reply to both, the conditions many people live in are inhumane, and a sense of urgency is appropriate. I’d like to see the Commission enlist the services of mobile programs for showers and offer laundry credits, for a start. The Sherrifs Dept in a WeHo can already offer referral to case management and mental health services without requiring arrest. Of course, public health providers like myself understand the challenge of getting people in crisis to voluntarily enter programs. But let’s expand on dignified approaches that meet people where they are at and reduce immediate harms, and NOT increase policing… Read more »
Folks like yourself are always on the side of the unlawful citizen. You don’t care how tax paying citizens who work hard to pay their bills & contribute to society are impacted by homeless people screaming at them, cursing while we walk children from stores, assaulting and threatening people, turning our city into a garbage can. No, you always side with the person committing the crimes. Well, guess what? No longer will we be silenced. Enough is enough.
BTW, there’s a heavy concentration of homeless on the stretch of S.M. Blvd. between La Cienega & Pavilion’s. Not so, east of La Cienega or West of Pavilions. There’s some great attraction specifically in that area. Not so on the same stretches on Sunset, Melrose, Beverly, etc. just there. And no so at all in Beverly Hills. Just our neighborhood only!
Haven’t you seen the group at the Sal G. Park and the fountain where they bathe and do laundry; the several on Olive by Emser Tile and Stampede where there is often human feces, and the one guy who urinates at the curb facing the street; the three or four regulars around CVS and the bus stop lying in their own filth?
you’re totally wrong here. from la cienega going east, there are a huge number.
West Hollywood needs to establish its own police department with leadership and officers who are accountable to the residents of West Hollywood.
I’ve called the Sherrif’s Department twice over the course of the past year to report both erratic behavior of a homeless person as well as to report someone who was laying face down across the sidewalk in front of my home only to be told they were extremely busy and would send a patrol car when one was available. This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE!
Seeing more foot patrols by sheriff’s deputies on the streets is key. I walk the stretch between la Cienega & Pavilion’s a lot & there simply is no law enforcement presence – ever. The homeless situation gets more & more out of control & people don’t feel safe on the sidewalks any more. The streets have human excrement, vomit & discarded food splattered all over the sidewalks & stay there for days if not more. There’s a situation on the SW corner of La Cienega & Holloway where a homeless man actually “lives” on a bus stop bench. He does… Read more »
YES to all of this. the guy at the bus stop needs to be taken somewhere obviously and a damn pressure washer needs to be used with sanitizing detergent. it’s like this everywhere. seems like a year ago there was a lot of discussion here about the fact that the city can’t even get the sidewalks properly cleaned.