ALAN STRASBURG ✍️ The fleecing of West Hollywood

United States Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) was a legend of politics known for his frugal campaign spending and for awarding his famous Golden Fleece Award to government programs that squandered the public purse. Among other Golden Fleece Awards, in 1975 the Federal Aviation Administration received the dubious honor for its $57,800 study on the physical measurements of airline stewardesses (as flight attendants were then known). It was the same year that $465,000 was spent on a study on why people fall in love that concluded in findings that it is rooted in “erotic curiosity.” Proxmire was a lion of the Senate and is a role model in the civic obligation of questioning everything.

If we as citizens are not asking questions in West Hollywood, who is? We have a labyrinth of bureaucracy that includes city staff, multiple boards and commissions, and a city council. Each are adept at creating programs to solve problems that don’t exist, and to fund special interests in a wild exhibition of favoritism, it often seems.

City Council in 2022 elevated the former Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board to commission status and renamed it the LGBTQ+ Commission. During the debate over this change, there was a lot of yelling and screaming about the purview of the commission, and much of that centered on the role the commission would play in WEHO Pride. Despite the noise at the time, the commission since formation appears to have had little, if any, substantive input, or debate about WEHO Pride.

Among other aspects of the execution of WEHO Pride was the award of a three-year contract to The L-Project to produce the Women’s Freedom Festival and Dyke March, along with a small picnic in Plummer Park. My focus is not on the subject or content of the events, but rather on the way some of the money in the first $75,000 gift of public money was spent. It should also be noted that there is no record of this event going through normal due process and vetting by either the LGBTQ+ Commission or the City Council. One should compare this lack of oversight to the thorough grilling that JJLA went through by grandstanding and performative members of council.

I note first that the city also provided a pot of $150,000 to which other community groups could apply and be awarded amounts to highlight arts, service, and more. Last year 19 groups were awarded part of that $150,000 pot of money. The evaluation process appears to have been conducted by city staff and not all that money was granted.

The production contract with The L-Project is not a part of the $150,000 community organization grant program. It is a separate program and this year the organization seeks to increase its award to $80,000 and promised to send reports back to the city on how they use that money. That prompted me to question how the $75,000 awarded in 2023 was spent.

I submitted a Public Records Act request to the city, and I received back a complete list of each expenditure. Among other things, the records reveal that $6,836.77 was spent on accommodations at two West Hollywood luxury hotels—the Mondrian and the Kimpton La Peer. There are also payments totaling $2,950.00 to current and former West Hollywood appointed commissioners, and $2,804.43 in event catering costs. The full accounting is available to anyone who requests it, and I shall be sending it to city council under public comment so that it is accessible to anyone who reads council agenda. Each one of these individual items represents more money than many other community groups received in total, however, I reserve special comment to the $500 paid as an honorarium to the individual who blessed the land on which they partied.

My Public Records Act request also asked for information about attendance at the various events. I did not receive a response to that part of my request; however, anecdotal and photographic records reflect that these were poorly attended. In fact, one performer quipped when looking out at the roughly two dozen people in attendance that it appeared their entire fan base was in attendance. When the then titular Mayor of West Hollywood appeared on stage with her colleagues (while only the then titular Mayor’s name appeared on a giant screen) the audience consisted of two people sitting in chairs in what appeared to be a fenced off VIP area. All others appeared to be disinterested passersby.

This raises many questions. What does it mean to be an activist, and should the city fund activism? What does it mean to be a volunteer? Who picks and chooses what events and organizations to fund? Why aren’t we being inclusive and organizing one WEHO Pride event that has room for everyone? While these aren’t financial questions, they do raise important ethical issues in how this city is managed and governed.

It is critical to note that neither the City Council, nor the LGBTQ+ Commission were aware of this spending report. I made the LGBTQ+ Commission aware of it at its February 8, 2024 meeting at which I pointed out several of the glaring examples of abusive spending. I expect that the City Council, in its obligations of oversight, will review this and ask the appropriate questions before writing another big check of our money to any organization.

However one bends and spins the abusive spending, this amounts to a fleecing of the residents of West Hollywood. I wish that Senator Proxmire was alive to join me in presenting this first West Hollywood Golden Fleece Award.