QUOTES | ‘Crime is up on the West Side by 266%’

Notable soundbites from the Public Safety Commission’s meeting this week.

CRIME IN WEHO

“Part 1 Crimes on the west side are up 266 percent, City Center 152 percent and East Side 36 percent. Grand theft and vehicle theft — those are the ones that really drove the numbers; about 75 percent were in that theft category.”
— LASD WeHo Station Captain Bill Moulder

“I’ve lived in West Hollywood for, I’m sure,  more than 40 years. I lived over on Hayworth initially, in an apartment, and we had to call the police many times. They came immediately. They were excellent. They’ve been excellent all the time I’ve been here. … I do not go out (anymore). I used to go out and walk at night. I don’t dare do it now. We don’t feel safe.” 
— Resident Polly Businger

DEFUNDING THE SHERIFF

“As we receive reports of planned Sheriff’s slowdowns or the fear-mongering attempts rise to a fever pitch, I want to emphasize that attacking low-level government officials for doing their job is existentially harmful to the future of good governance in this city. Given that there’s no correlation between crime incidents and the cost of the sheriff’s contract, it is also harmful to public safety outcomes.”
— Public Safety Commissioner Nika Soon Shiong

“Public Safety commissioners are here to install mechanisms to improve public safety. And Public Safety commissioners are public servants and they’re subject to public opinion. And I just wonder how it feels to hang public opinion out to dry. I wonder how it feels to castrate public safety with the limitations of blue shirts. … But when I put this against the backdrop of political ambition, it all makes sense. Every word of it. And as a result we were manipulated, we were used and in the heat of the moment we couldn’t handle it and we caved.”
— Resident Mike Carter

SECURITY AMBASSADORS

“Block by Block has been providing security investor and hospitality services in various forms to the city of Los Angeles since 2005. We’re very proud of the contributions our team continues to make it in the community. We have robust training, starting with more than 40 hours of New ambassador training as well as Ongoing Training Over the last few years, we’ve been hard at work improving upon our extensive training materials. Some of the training topics that we do on a regular basis are active shooter situations, cultural diversity and sensitivity, bike training, missing children, protests and demonstrations, incident report writing and online staff reporting system. De-escalation training is also part of that as well. Our ambassadors are also there to deter and report. They work closely, as I mentioned with the sheriff’s department, and call them as needed. They’re equipped with the necessary tools to perform their jobs. They have radios. Yeah, the smart system devices and they also have bicycles which have all the necessary helmets, lights, plus everything else.”
— Block by Block’s regional director

“A lot of times when I call 9-1-1 dispatch, they have no idea what Block by Block is.”
— Public Safety Commissioner Danny Roman

“I wanted to share my personal story. I was eating at a sushi restaurant. I had just been playing pickleball, even though I’m a tennis player, which was definitely an experience. So I went out with some community members to have sushi, and there was someone that started to fixate on me and proceeded to attack me. At that moment, I was so freaked out, and Block by Block came out from across the street and handled the situation so it wouldn’t be traumatic for myself or the person. And that was an amazing situation, because even if I wanted to call the sheriffs, there would have been no time.”
— Resident Ashlei Shyne, wife of Mayor Pro Tem Sepi Shyne

SCOOTERS AND SIDEWALKS

“I’m seeing more scooters abandoned on sidewalks in my neighborhood than ever before. I’ve gotten to know the scooter pickup company so well that I know the guy’s name. He doesn’t speak much English and we’re getting to know each other so well that Yola (Dore) says we should go out for lunch one day. I don’t even have to look up the phone number anymore. I have it memorized … because I only have one arm. Today there was a scooter blocking our walkway, and luckily, a neighbor came by and offered to move it for me because I couldn’t do it. What I don’t understand is why does this issue keep going to consent? Is it the money that the city’s making? do they value the money more than they value our safety? Do they need the money that desperately?”
— Resident Myra Friedman

“A number of years ago, I parked my car in my driveway. I was in a hurry. When I came out, literally, the tail of my car was about six inches onto the sidewalk. I got a ticket. And that was around 9PM. At 12:01AM I got a second ticket. The scooters are left in the middle of the street. There must be a way for them to be ticketed. There has to be some accountability.”  
— Resident Kathy Davis

“The City of West Hollywood allows the traveling of bicycles upon its sidewalks. Especially those that run the course of Santa Monica Boulevard, as long as you are east of Kings Road. Anyone in this city should recognize the fact the rate of speed on an e-scooter is capped, unlike that for a bicycle. And trust me for several years now I have been the proud owner of an e-scooter, because as a person who’s not only a senior age, but as a person who’s living with a disability and a person who has been accompanied by a service animal, unlike the crash and burn WeHo Pedals program sponsored by Lindsey Horvath and company here, the scooter has allowed me mobility never experienced before.  If you make an allowance for bikes on sidewalks but not for scooters, you’re going to get nowhere.”
— Resident Michael Wojtkielewicz