Here we go again. The pilot program “Out on Robertson’ was scheduled to have a completion date of July 19th.
But, at this past Wednesday, June 21st City Council meeting the item was set to end or extend. Despite the clear end date as planned Council member D’Amico proposed an extra two weeks to give notice to the Abbey. Erickson seconded the motion. But brushback came immediately from Council member Meister who pointed out the clear end date as proposed in the original ‘Out of Robertson’ pilot program.
The program which began without a staff report or budget cost the City of West Hollywood $171,000 to date, over a 16 week period. The cost for city staff and public safety is over $10,000 per weekend.
Council member Shyne and Horvath both agreed to end the program but the council as a whole decided to ‘leave it to city staff’ to ‘talk to David Cooley’. Council member D’Amico said at the time ‘David might just decide its not worth closing the next two weekends’.
WEHOville received questions this morning from multiple residents inquiring if ‘Out on Robertson’ would be open or closed. Open means the street is closed, and closed means the street is open for cars.
WEHOville reached out to the Asst. City Manager Oscar Delgado at 9am, this morning to inquire if ‘Out on Robertson’ would continue through this weekend and next or if the program was officially ended. “What did David Cooley decide?” Is Out on Robertson opened or closed?
A quick reply from the Asst. City Manager Delgado explained that he was unsure if city staff had met or contacted David Cooley yet. But the Abbey will be participating in the ‘Out on Robertson’ this weekend. Robertson will once again be closed today at 6pm through early monday morning.
At this time we do not know if ‘Out on Robertson’ will also be open or closed next weekend through August 2nd. The Council left the closing of Robertson Blvd. up to David Cooley. City staff will inform the public after Mr. Cooley makes a final decision.
There’s a recent discussion on the Los Angeles subreddit on Reddit about bad things that happen at The Abbey. The experiences posted by commenters there are must-read stuff.
This current counsel is a complete and utter disgrace. Vote. Them. Out.
You can’t blame David Cooley if he was given the option to use Robertson for another two weekends even though the Council voted to end the closure as of last weekend. It looks like two Council members wanted to keep the closure of another two weeks and then the Council seems to have given direction for staff to “work” with Cooley. This is just sloppy; the Council voted to end the closure but then told staff to work with Cooley to determine if he wanted another two weekends, apparently for free. If someone made me that offer I would take… Read more »
Cooley could also play the good citizen and say ok I’m done.
But he won’t.
Sloppy indeed.
Agreed. I also do not blame Cooley. Yes, it will make him more money, but it will also make the City more money, based on his revenue. But not enough to cover the weekly cost.
I hope they bring this program back, in a few years, when Robertson Lane is completed. This, with the tunnel leading through that project to La Peer would make for a nice, off-street area, and would not just benefit the Abbey, but other ground-level businesses, destined to be part of Robertson Lane.
Randy, if you are questioning if the tax rate exceeds the weekly cost then you should download the business tax rates. The city gets less than half of one percent of the sales from most businesses. .0048% to a max of 1.44%. On one million dollars in sales that is less than $5k to less than $15k tax to city. There is zero real benefit to the city in real terms from the tables outside and the cost of closing the streets.
Larry, I’m confused, as your own publication says they get 1.75%.
And I did indicate “not enough to cover the weekly cost” (after researching the numbers).
Thanks.
“With the new 10.25% sales tax, 1.75% of the sales tax will go to the City of West Hollywood, while the other 8.5% will continue going to the state and county.”
https://wehoonline.com/2021/03/22/sales-tax-rate-will-go-up-on-april-1-voters-approved-increase-via-measure-e-on-november-ballot/
That article was last november and I was not part of wehoville then. If you want to know the city tax rate its at weho.org .
Nope- I blame Cooley. If there is a blackout in your neighborhood do you smash store windows and loot just because you can?
so our assistant city manager claims to know nothin. thanks for playing.
Since Mayor (pay for play) Lindsey Horvath is so keen on “A Night Out On Robertson” — Steve Cooley should honor her and create a shrine called: Our Lady of the Chapel at the Abbey with Horvath, shrouded in a nun’s outfit, overlooking the falling apart Robertson Blvd. A fun event could celebrate Horvath’s beatification by the Abbey with a dinner party on the sidewalk. The Abbey has bottle service, so perhaps Townscape, who donated to Horvath political campaign, could honor the celebration with a bottle of Ace of Spades Rose Champaign. The Abbey bottle service price is only $750.… Read more »
You mean DAVID Cooley. Steve Cooley was the former LA County District Attorney.
Follow the $$$$$ !!!!
There is a lot of vitriol against Dave Cooley,the owner of The Abbey. Many of you don’t care for him or his influence.I have been to The Abbey many times and I can see why he is a success. The place is getting bigger and louder all the time which is OK.I notice the bartenders aren’t as attentive as they used to be. For me,I think it is time to patronize the other bar establishments in the area as they are trying hard to bring in customers.Maybe some of you should do the same thing and perhaps discover that smaller… Read more »
Take a look at the Yelp reviews of The Abbey. Acts of racism, pickpockets on the dance floor, intimidating and threatening security guards, rude help, etc. The pay for play city council might br impressed with Mr Cooley. The place is a tourist trap. As for the residence, Mr Cooley just owns a business and means nothing.
The problem with the weekend closure of Robertson is that it interferes with those small tourist vans that inevitably pull up in front of the Abbey so tourists can take photos of gay people in their natural habitat.
At $400 bottle prices, I’d hardly call this place a good look at gay people. It’s a tourist trap. Read Yelp. There even pick pockets. Most of the people commenting our straight, From around Southern California. Lots of comments about bullying security guards, rude waiters and racism. Most are attracted to Abbey by the social media PR.
It would be great if Motherlode, the new Gym Bar and The Stache could be open as soon as possible.
Motherlode is slated to open next month, and Gym Bar, very soon.
At the $14,250/week rate Just Asking referenced, this should be an Abbey expense. Great the City can support our business and social communities, but Cooley would have to bank $814,285 a weekend to reimburse the City from sales tax alone. (And that includes the additional .75% sales tax rate we voted on our selves so that the City could provide essential services to …. er, … David Cooley).
Thanks for the doing the math. I do wonder how much The Abbey grosses per weekend. The City, however, gets 1.75% of the sales tax. Not 0.75%. And I’m sure The Abbey doesn’t make anywhere close enough to to cover the weekly cost.
$171K. what a joke.
UGHHHH, so infuriating on so many levels. Cancel the entire Council. (And of course you meant JULY 21st in the second paragraph)
Cannot believe Cooley has been given absolute power over such an important public road. I watched the council meeting, what a joke of a process.
While the Out on Robertson pilot program clearly didn’t work beyond the Abbey, I’m always amused by the vitriol and bitterness directed toward David Cooley in these comments. The Abbey is the anchor business for this particular section of West Hollywood. Every single business benefits from the masses that go there, just like movie theaters and department store chains historically did for malls. Sadly, capitalism is what drives America, not democracy – why would anyone think West Hollywood would be any different? And I am certain not one person commenting here bought BEFORE the bars and clubs lined Santa Monica… Read more »
The Abbey and and neighboring businesses do well enough without needing to land-grab or be gifted public property. We’ve reached a point of diminishing returns in this situation.
But yes, $30,000 could be better spent, as you say, focusing our energy on homelessness and crime prevention, not for more tables at a bar.
OPEN ROBERTSON NOW!
Actually we bought in 1989. And if Cooley wants Robertson shut down, let him pay for it.
I’ve lived in the area for the past 20 years and the explosive growth of that area of Robertson and Santa Monica has only brought ridiculous traffic, throngs of intoxicated 21 yr olds coming in from the valley and essentially that area is now no different than the Vegas strip. I’ve seen how the Abbey has grown over the years which is nice but it is becoming so large and crowded it reminds me of The Florentine Gardens – that club in Hollywood that was super popular in the 1990s with lines a mile long out the door and drug… Read more »
Sigh….Florentine Gardens. I do remember that!