At the last city council meeting item 5C was on the agenda. The development agreement for the billboard above the Holloway Motel was being finalized. The City of West Hollywood purchased the Holloway Motel with a $6 million Homekey grant utilizing state funds for a transitional housing facility.
While the City of West Hollywood purchased the building of the Holloway Motel they did not acquire the billboard that sits atop the property. The ‘deal’ made ‘off market’, would grant an easement for the billboard to the property owner. The development agreement would allow for the expansion of the one-sided billboard to two sides and for ownership of the billboard to remain with the property owner. Revenues from the billboard advertising would be split 70/30 with commissions going into the cities general fund to be used at the city council’s discretion.
Revenues from the cities billboards generally go into the general fund to provide social services, public safety and other things that benefit the entire city, its residents, and its businesses. That was the way things were designed until the bobbleheads of Mayor Pro Tem Erickson and Mayor Shyne rejected the city manager’s advice on how the revenues should flow to the general fund. The stupidity of their thought process cannot be overlooked.
The development agreement calls for a 2-sided static billboard that will create a revenue stream for years to come. Council member Heilman who lives within 500 feet of the site recused himself and was forced to step out of the room. His counsel on this item was missed.
Council member Meister led off the discussions with thoughtful questions on the terms of the purchase and allowable uses for the billboard. Council deliberations on the topic are in italics:
Meister: My last question is to the City Manager regarding the revenue we get from the billboard. How do you propose where it goes and how its spent?
City Manager David Wilson: Right now it would go into the general fund like all of our other billboards. I know there was a public comment today suggesting the revenue be used for the site and for transitional housing. I would recommend that if we wanted to discuss that we do that as part of the budget discussions as part of the budget subcommittee with the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. The DA itself does not dictate how the revenue is used. So this wouldn’t make a change to the DA at all. I think that if we did want to use some of the revenue for transitional housing that is something we can or we can come up with. a process that we can dedicate .. if there is not enough received in a year, we add money from that, it just gives us more flexibility if we limit ourselves to only using the billboard money for that site, and if we can find other funding sources, (government grants), to cover the operational costs then that money would just sit there.
The City Manager was clear. “There are other outside sources for the grants to the homeless programs” so we do not have to use WeHo dollars, and the revenues from the billboard would ‘just sit there’, and ‘it just gives us more flexibility to use the money in the general fund’
Council member Byers then spoke accepting the City Manager’s points with no other questions.
But then Mayor Pro Tem Erickson spoke: “Thank you so much, you stole my thunder there a little bit council member Meister, maybe you stole some of our thunder, while I appreciate I think the recommendations of the city manager I think it is important that we dedicate that funding directly to the Holloway Motel, however with that caveat or whatever will be doing- there to use your words that I know myself and the Mayor serve on that budget sub-committee meeting so if you can make sure that part of the agendized specifically in that conversation so that would allow us the greatest flexibility and outline a plan for those services, not only for the items that will be featured in that project but then any additional funding that we would look for strategic initiatives or the stuff that would be related to services and projects and the work that we would be doing there it would be great to have the strategic initiative division or someone else’s play into that to see how those monies would be going, I don’t want to screw with the DA tonight, but I don’t want to speak for my colleagues. It’s important to me to have that funding source there as we know billboards sell things and they bring in revenue and that seems to come no matter what Kardashian seems to be featured at the La Cienega and Santa Monica billboards, it changes every eight weeks or so. I think it’s very important to have that conversation and agree to have that later.
Complete gobbledygook.
Shyne then followed: “Thank you Mayor Pro Tem and I agree as well. If there are no other discussion it looks like we have a motion on the floor. Council member Byers, seconded and council member Meister, I will close the public hearing and take a vote. City Clerk Crowder then noted Heilman’s recusal and the conversation was closed.”
Mayor Pro Tem did not ask the City Manager any follow up questions, nor give the City Manager a chance to explain his recommendation. The City Manager did not speak up either to offer reasons for his recommendation. Mayor Pro Tem Erickson’s statement contradicted himself, while he disagreed with the city managers recommendation he then recited the city managers goals in the recommendation.
Mayor Pro Tem Erickson and Mayor Shyne lacked any business sense or scope of what the city manager was saying. The City Manager was saying that we can fund all the needs of the homeless facility through the general fund and use the excess dollars for other needs or services in the city. Mayor Pro Tem Erickson and Shyne was saying, no keep all the money dedicated to the homeless at the facility. If Erickson and Shyne’s plan was passed none of the benefits of the development agreement would be shared with the residents of the city. In fact, over years, the profits would leave multi-millions of dollars in the piggy bank of the the project.
In addition the City Manager was stressing that by using revenues for the billboard in the general fund it would leave open the opporutunties for other outside grants in the future. That opporutunity is lost if the Holloway Motel transitional homeless shelter becomes a multi million dollar bank account.
The City Attorney used to be able to offer reasonable advice when it comes to the legal and business ramifications of these decisions. I’m sorry but the City of West Hollywood does not have a strong city attorney on the dais who does a better job to advise the city council. Over the last two years since Mike Jenkins left office we have seen a number of issues skip over the city attorney head including the universal basic income for LGBTQ+ only residents struck down by a judge as unconstitutional.
The City Manager speaks soft and needs to do a better job of explaining his position and recommendations. If Council members Erickson and Shyne continually disregard the recommendations of the City Manager then its time to get a city manager whose decisions the city council respects and takes under advisement. We are paying the guy almost half a million dollars for his expertise. Before being named City Manager, David Wilson served as the city’s Chief Risk Officer and the Director of Finance. Let the City Manager do his job.
You can bet City Manager David Wilson will be ‘having a sidebar’ with Mayor Pro Tem Erickson and Mayor Shyne to explain why it is better to allow the funds from the development agreement to flow to the general fund.
Those discussions should be able to happen, in real time, on the dais. The City Manager needs to speak up, and the City Council members should ask questions to the city manager before dismissing his advice.
City manager David Wilson is a fairly quiet person and is not the type to get excited or aggressive.I guess this is his nature.I am sure he knows his stuff,but he is hesitant to talk back to either Mayor Shyne or Pro Tem Erickson so he won’t look disrespectful toward those two.
Too bad councilpersons Byers or Meister could have jumped in to keep the questions coming.Council-member Heilman had to recuse himself,but he still could have asked questions.
He could not have asked questions. That would be the opposite of recusal.
I miss the days when i learned something watching the city council meetings. The current council has no grasp of history or how things work and governs with an all about me approach.
At least three of the council members could learn a thing or two by taking a few civics classes to start and understanding basic business principles. Starting first with the definition of duties and responsibilities of a councilmember in their Code of Conduct.
Important that City Council Members and Commissioners respect Code of Conduct Policy 5.3 Officials shall identify themselves by their titles only in those circumstances where it is directly relevant. Officials must avoid creating the perception that they are abusing their authority or attempting to obtain special consideration or favors by identifying themselves by their title (i.e. “Mayor”, “Mayor Pro Tem,” “Councilmember”, or “Commissioner”) in circumstances when their City position has no relevance. When representing themselves as City officials, in appropriate situations, officials should do so accurately and not misrepresent their authority. This directly relates to Lindsay Horvath who while she… Read more »
While I think Shyne and Erickson were sincere in wanting to insure a revenue source for the Holloway project, the problem would be if the revenue source exceeded the reasonable needs of the program. Also designating a revenue source might preclude the City from obtaining funding for the program from the State or County. It is too bad that none of the Council members asked the City Manager a follow up question as he would have been able to provide a nuanced and informative response as to why it is probably more prudent to keep the revenues in the General… Read more »
It will be decided in the budget subcommittee meeting. Which I realize, has the same players. But you make an excellent point, about grants. I don’t think we should get our panties in a bind over this, quite yet. Just because of some comments made at a council meeting.
Randy your the only one with pantie problems. Most others understand the city manager has expertise in the area and the council members should know how the budget allocations work.
I didn’t say that he has no expertise. I was just pointing out the fact, that at the council meeting, they were not making a decision about this. They were expressing their opinions. We shall see what happens. But that was not where the decision was made. So, once again, this is a nothing burger. Maybe he will school them on the subcommittee. Can we actually wait to see what happens?
I think Larry’s point is we know what will happen there is only one way to go.
We shall see.
Im not sure that Shyne or Erickson know how the general fund is used. By the tone of their questions it would appear they do not.
What is the controversy here? Erickson and Shyne expressed opinions. Big deal. No decisions were made. The City Manager acknowledged that this would go to the budget sub-commitee, and that it would be decided at that time. God forbid that they have a different opinion than David Wilson. It will all be decided later. For now, it goes into the general fund. This is a nothing-burger. Just another stab at Shyne and Erickson.
Anyone who is as disgusted with Shyne and Erickson as I am needs to make sure you talk to all of our friends and neighbors that live in this city. Encourage them to vote Shyne and Erickson out of office in the next election. We have the ability to remove these two from power, and prevent them from further destroying our city.
Ineptocracy: a government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, & where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
Bravo to your points.
There is a structural conflict between the need of Shyne and Erickson to prance, prattle and perform and Wilson’s mandate to manage the nuts and bolts of sound municipal governance. That conflict exposes a willful ignorance on the proper relationships and responsibilities in the council-manager form of government. That said, I find the city manager and city attorney increasingly feckless in their ability to perform for the city. When and by whom is the contract for the city attorney services up for review and are we getting our money’s worth?
Yes the City Attorney is feckless and the Director of Planning keeps bringing you every project you wish never seen all at once. But, everyone is forgetting its a DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT. If you don’t like it, get out their and gtther the signatures to get a ballot measure to vote it up or down.
Yes, because that’s a simple and inexpensive process..
I could have done without the “entirety” of the council deliberations in this article (for numerous reasons) But suffice it to say, when it comes to money and budgets specifically, some on the council need to begin listening a little bit more to the professionals.
How much of the money going to flow directly to the bank accounts of Shyne and Erickson? Is anyone keeping track of how much money they are “diverting” from this project and others?
Are you kidding me??? You think something like that would go unnoticed?
Randy, so true. Even a Los Angeles City Council member not would try something that obvious.