I note that of the shit-ton of money that the city spends to produce a weekend of events that Christopher Street West already does for the greater Los Angeles area there is a separate line item of $80,000 for the Women’s Freedom Festival and Dyke March. This begs a few questions:1) Who is the vendor for this expenditure? What is their connection to West Hollywood?2) Has this been fully vetted by the alphabet soup commission?3) How is this separate from the millions already spent to produce what should already be an inclusive event, and why is it separate?4) Why are we creating separate categories?5) Is this $80,000 all-inclusive or are there costs associated with this exclusive event that are buried in the other line items, i.e., LASD, LA Fire, Parking, BXB?6) How many people attended this event in 2023? Does anyone count or care?7) But seriously, who “produces” this event and why aren’t we creating sub-categories for many other identities? I’ve long wanted to have a parade contingent for “Fags in Jags” (Jaguar convertibles driven by men wearing ascots, drinking mimosas, and listening to Barbara Streisand music). Can I get $80K to fund my group plus have police, fire, ambulance, parking and BxB services?Why are we dividing rather than uniting?Do better, West Hollywood.
-Alan Strasburg
Mr. Strasburg is not anti-women. That’s an easy throw out. It sounds like he IS anti-nepotism and of spending an exuberant amount of tax payers dollars to one community group.
Thank you, Julie. I’m not bothered by name-callers. Name-calling is lazy and cheap, so they can have at it. Asking questions is important. I got the list of expenditures and some are troublesome, especially when compared to the community groups who had to apply for a share of $150k and ended up with less money than this group spent on luxury hotel stays.
Let’s be real, if this was for the gay boys/men y’all would not bat an eyelash and would instead be celebrating this.
Lesbians have been an afterthought in this city for a long time.
yup – and this old queen hates everything not serving old white gay men
Sounds like you’re not aware that not only, until very recently, have we had a lesbian mayor, but lesbian voices are very much heard and are seen in West Hollywood. The person in that photo has been on several commissions and committees and everyone has heard many, many speeches by her during various city meetings. How are lesbians an afterthought?
I am all for transparency in expenditures but asking whether anyone cares is pretty insensitive to the gay women’s community. Women deserve events targeted to them, because that is how gay women meet and congregate. When the broader pride and bar scene is overwhelmingly geared toward gay men, it is essential to have women’s events and spaces. Celebrating the visibility of gay women is also important.
TLDR; ask for expenditures. I agree $80k is a lot of money. But please don’t mitigate the importance of women’s events during Pride.
Why does it cost so much for them to march? Birkenstocks are not very expensive.
It’s easy and lots of fun forcing people to give you their money and then spending it..
Especially when the process of getting that money is held to a different (easier) standard than anyone else sucking at the public teat.
This city is such a joke.
Thank you Alan! I would love to hear if City Council will ask staff the questions you raise. Unfortunately I feel they will ignore and thank staff and the vendor for their incredible work.
Watch for it to be moved to consent calendar with zero questions asked.
All good questions. How about another $80,000 to stage the GAY Pride Festival and Parade at the Pride Festival and Parade.
Say GAY!
I thought that Ms. Steele didn’t want law enforcement at these events? That might knock a few dollars off. Can they also ADD some money for some cough drops? She always sounds so scratchy!
Oh, Alan. I think you may not be a Streisand fan since you spelled her first name Barbara. She changed it eons ago to just Barbra (dropping the second “a”). Please surrender your “gay ID card” to the Ministry of Correct Spelling. (LOL !)
PS = I agree with the content of your post.
Ugh. Thank you for that well-deserved slap! For the record, I am indeed a fan! 🙂
No slap intended. FYI – I did see Barbra in FUNNY GIRL at the Winter Garden Theater in NYC (April of 1965). I also saw her a few years later at her famous Concert in Central Park. Two experiences which I will never forget.
Sounds like the brainchild of one Sepi Shyne
If not the brainchild, certainly the product of her special treatment for select few. What happened to volunteer community groups? This group just has its hand out to get public dollars for their special-interest party.
I was on city festival producer teams for 7 years of 3 day festivals in a different LA County location. We had well over 150,000 or more at our 3 day festivals. As one on the planning team NEVER IN CITY HISTORY HAS TAXPAYERS ONCE BEEN HELD TO BIG 80K FESTIVAL BUDGETS. We all know as Festival Producers our SPONSORS we all obtain will fund every part of our City Events and provide free sound equipment to staging etc. The Weho failures are from inexperienced mismanagement of more event powerful MILLENNIALS WHO BAN EXPERIENCED CITY FESTIVAL PRODUCERS from the only… Read more »