Larry Block 
Jerome Cleary 
Marco Colantonio 
Tom Demille 
John Duran 
John Erickson 
John Heilman 
Christopher McDonald 
Sepi Shyne 
Noemi Torres 
Mark Farhad Yusupov 
It’s official. There will be 11 candidates in the Nov. 3 election for two seats on the West Hollywood City Council.
Yesterday was the deadline for candidates to have completed and their applications, which included obtaining the signatures of 20 registered West Hollywood voters, and having those voters confirmed by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
As has been noted previously, the two incumbents, John Duran and John Heilman, will be on the ballot. Others on the ballot will be:
Larry Block. Block is the owner of The Block Party gay apparel store and is chair of the city’s Public Facilities Commission and formerly served on the city’s Disability Advisory Board. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2015 race for City Council.
Marco Colantonio. Colantonio is a local real estate agent and manages five residential properties in West Hollywood. He has served on the city’s Disabilities Advisory Board. He is the founder of WeHo Times.
Jerome Cleary. Cleary works as a publicist and marketer. He has performed as a comedian and has served on the city’s Gay and Lesbian Advisory Board. This will be the fifth time he has run for City Council. Cleary ran (and lost) in 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005.
Tom DeMille. Tom DeMille is an actor who appeared on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” as a Klingon named Argon. DeMille is a former member of the city’s Disabilities Advisory Board and was an unsuccessful candidate in five City Council elections, with the most recent in 2019.
John Erickson. Erickson is the director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and a member of the city’s Planning Commission. He has served as a City Council intern and as deputy to former Councilmember Abbe Land. Erickson is president of the board for the ACLU of Southern California and former president of the Hollywood chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Christopher McDonald. McDonald, a television stage manager, is a member of the Los Angeles Conservancy and has been involved in a number of volunteer organizations, including going into schools with GLIDE to discuss LGBTQI issues with young people and cleaning up debris from local rivers with the Friends of the LA River.
Sepi Shyne. Shyne is a lawyer with her own practice that fouses on business law. She is the only lesbian candidate in the race. She serves on the city’s Business License Commission and as an advisory board member for the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor. She also has served on the city’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board. Shyne was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2019 election for three seats on the City Council. She came in fourth, 147 votes behind incumbent John D’Amico.
Noemi Torres. Torres, a real estate agent, is a member of the city’s Public Facilities Commission. Torres has volunteered with Project Angel Food for 16 years as well as the Downtown Women’s Center, Red Eye, and the Skid Row Carnival of Love. She also served on the board of Ascencia, a local organization that provides services and affordable housing to homeless individuals and families. Torres aws named Woman of the Year in 2017 by Congressman Adam Schiff.
Mark Farhad Yusupov. Yusupov is a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International. He also is a member of the city’s Russian advisory board.
I will be a resounding No on Marco Colantonio. I live 2 doors down from a building he manages on the West corner of Norton and Harper. It is disgusting. After they ripped out all of the landscaping from the street side of the sidewalk, they left a sandbox which is now filled with both animal and human feces. It also gets tracked onto the sidewalk that no one cleans off. How can he be asking to be trusted with our city when his building is filthy?
With 11 candidates running for only 2 seats we know what the likely outcome will be.
Anyone but Erickson, please. He does not need a platform or stepping stone like Horvath is trying to do.
I thought Duran wasn’t running again. Did I miss an announcement?
Christopher McDonald’s Facebook page says he lives in Los Angeles. Don’t you need to live in West Hollywood to run for our city council?
You do, and he does.
A West Hollywood Council candidate who doesn’t use West Hollywood. Not a good start.
Why, oh why, do some people think they have a snowball’s chance in hell that they will be elected. They’re delusional. I’m certain Duran and Heilman are ecstatic that this many people vying for votes will, like has happened before, splinter the vote and almost ensure they are re-elected (yes, even the quite controversial, Mr. Duran).
I wouldn’t say they are delusional, but I’ve always felt, if you want to run, go ahead and run. Knowledgable residents will be able to separate the wheat from the chafe. My biggest objections is when candidates, rather than focusing on the issues, by talking about what they love about our city, what they think needs improving and HOW they would improve it, instead they turn into vile, angry, screeching rants. That’s when I tune them out….
Weho needs ranked voting! Someone smarter than me should try and make it happen.