West Hollywood will hold its general election for two City Council seats on Tuesday, Nov. 5, and seven hopefuls are currently in the running.
The seats belong at present to Mayor John M. Erickson, who is running for re-election, and Councilmember Sepi Shyne, who is not.
The nomination period began Monday, and residents interested in joining the race have until 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, to submit nomination papers.
Who’s turned in papers so far (in alphabetical order)
Larry Block — Block is a former chairman of the Disability Advisory Board and the Public Facilities Commission. He owns two retail businesses in the Rainbow District and is the publisher of WEHOonline.
John M. Erickson — Erickson is the incumbent mayor of West Hollywood, having won his seat on City Council in 2020. He works for Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles.
Danny Hang — Hang is a member of the Business License Commission and an employee of L.A. County working in disability services.
George Nickle — Nickle is a member of the Public Safety Commission and co-captain of the WeHo Eastside Neighborhood Watch Group.
Rachel Schmeidler — Schmeidler works for L.A. County as an analyst for the auditor-controller’s office. She is also a multimedia artist.
William West Seegmiller — Seegmiller is a national policy researcher and local advocate for survivors of labor abuse and human trafficking, as well as co-founder of the Free WeHo Coalition.
Ramesses II Setenpre — No information yet available (if you have any, email me!)
More information about the Nomination Period and what is required to run for City Council can be found here. An appointment is required to pull Nomination Papers. You may reach the City Clerk’s Office to make an appointment by calling (323) 848-6409.
All active registered voters in West Hollywood will receive a vote-by-mail ballot starting October 7.
Ballot drop-off locations open October 8, 2024. Vote-by-mail ballots can be returned by mail, at a drop-off location, or your county elections office.
The last day to register to vote is October 21.
Vote centers open for early in-person voting beginning on October 26.
Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by November 12.
[…] the seven previously announced […]
I believe some of the candidates are missing, on purpose. I won’t vote for Larry Block for leaving out candidates. Y’all know who has been left out so it is your duty to report them others running and just not picture six. I believe this would make me stop reading and donating to the wehoville brand and try another method for city news
This was the list at the time that Brandon wrote the story of what was at the city clerk. You should treasure the opportunity I provide for a community platform to exchange ideas, including your personal attacks on me. I don’t edit or follow what goes up aach day. And thats why Im running to get away from being blamed for any comment or story. But is it my platform, I dont have to post your shit.
There are three basic types who run for council. Ones who run as a stepping stone to higher office, ones who run so they can become lobbyists for developers (more a BH thing than here) and people who actually want to be custodians of the public trust. Sadly we get a lot less of the latter and way too many of the former.
Is Erickson transitioning??
If we vote him out…
Larry Block JohnErickson I won’t vote into council or the other candidates. No body seems qualified for a low pay job
Some are even less-qualified than others…your choice to not vote for anyone could get them in by default
My eyes are on George and Rachel at the moment but time will tell.
It’s like a Monty Python skit. No serious people ever run for these positions.
The pay/stipend for a city councilor is less then $1600 a month, so yes the pool of people willing to deal with the BS that comes with the position is jaded and small.
It’s not meant to be a full time job. The council are just residents that meet twice a month ($200/hr) to oversee what the professional city staff is doing to run the operations of the city. But this latest bunch only make more work for themselves by coming up with cockamamy ideas that take up more unnecessary time for them and for city staff. So if you know how to be a resident council member, not an activist, $200/hr ain’t a bad side hustle..
Have you ever read through one of the council agendas? Top to bottom, including consent? It’s a full time job. And at $20K, it’s not worth it. Especially to deal with all the crazies.
Running is a choice. For forty years we’ve had civic-minded people step up to the plate and serve honorably. Many of us have done the same for decades on non-profit boards. It’s about service, not riches, and it should not be a long-term career choice Further, dealing with “the crazies” is part of public service. Democracy is a 24/7/365 endeavor and is not limited to one day in November. That said, I suspect that calling people “the crazies” is merely a way of stating policy disagreements in our increasingly polarized political world. Nominal remuneration and being subject to critique is… Read more »
………and this dude is on the Planning Commission talking smack about residents.
That’s a tone set on the council dais. The lack of respect for actual residents from people elected and appointed to represent residents is mind boggling
he’s Chelsea’s appointee, which as we’re about to see will explain a lot.
Sounds like you should run Alan. Nomination period is still open?
Nope. It’s not just policy disagreements. People going on insane rants, displaying their mental illness at that podium, threatening violence, causing everyone to evacuate the chamber etc.
Crazies 100%
I applaud anyone who gets up and has something to say in a public forum. As someone who is not a mental health professional, I tend to avoid diagnosing any mental illness. While I agree with your general observation about a few incidents in recent times, I think such antics account for less than a handful of hundreds of public commenters. I urge you to show up and speak, I suspect there are no rules preventing speakers from wearing identity-hiding masks.
There are literally death threats and credible stalking incidents against city council members. You don’t need a mental health certification in order to call that behavior crazy and not worth it.
Some of that behavior is occasioned by anonymity-enabled bullpucky. I think anonymity should be a DSM-designated mental illness.
Wow really! I didn’t know that council meetings were that much fun! I may have to attend. Maybe I can crawl over the violent drug addicts that the defund the Police Marxists seem to be fending off at their meetings? IMAO!
Annie has already registered her objection to your insults!
Yeah, the council agenda with all the cockamamy ideas from that activist bunch are a waste of time. Eliminate all that non sense and $20,000/yr plus insurance is a nice side gig from someone’s full time job and career.
But civic duty, community engagement, advocacy and representation isn’t about money. Guess they stopped teaching civic studies by the time you got to kindergarten.
how do you figure $200per hour. they put in far more working hours that would average $200. the meetings themselves are dreadfully and dehumanizingly long. then the expense of time to attend to various places representing weho. then they prepare for the council meetings, reading and researching., it is obviously not a job that is being done for the money, especially since we have a number of commissions and boards that need at some point a little handholding. our reps are hardly doing it for the money, just think of the rudeness from the constituents corner.
4 hours per meeting times 2 and 2 hours prep for each meeting, plus compensation for 2 months of no meetings ( 4 meetings) and fridge benefits. If you’re a smart time manager and don’t initiate ridiculous items, that’s pretty good compensation for voluntary public service.
Two hours??
Councilmembers get two large binders for each meeting. Those who read them need 2-3 full days to read the materials. Hardly $200/hr
Pat – a lot of our commissioners and board members are really dedicated to their roles (as you well know), but there are more than a few who are there because they brown-nosed their way on.
PLEASE! Don’t vote for anyone who is accepting Unite Here, Local 11 money! That is what got us into this mess in the first place with Shyne, Erickson, and Byers!
I’m glad Larry is in the race. He is the only one of the candidates that has put in the hard time besides John Erickson. I’m excited to vote for Larry and re-elect John.
Carol, please, please reconsider your support for Erickson. Any hard time he has put in has done great damage to West Hollywood. It was a great mistake that he was elected for this one term and it is crucial that we get him out. Your support for Larry and John is a contradiction because they are polar opposites.
Yes, we desperately need Larry, and we just as desperately need John gone!
I’m completely in for Larry Block and George Nickle!
Larry, where may I get my yard sign and make a donation?
Let’s clean up this city council!!!!!
Same here. George and Larry. I would love to go to Ericsson’s concession speech!
Let’s go LARRY and GEORGE! Rooting for them both, but VERY worried that the pragmatic vote will get split and we’ll end up with John Erickson and Danny Hang. Am I wrong?
Bingo
Bite Your Tongue!!!
Erickson, for sure, as he has enough dedicated voters to win with a split vote. I am not sure about Hang, but your scenario is very possible.
My basic criteria for candidates in WEHO: must have been resident for at least ten years (knows the city, the people , the needs); must be at least 35 years old (life experience breeds understanding, compromise); no “single issue candidates” who lack ability to think beyond own wishes.
Aside from that – bring ’em on.
Agree 100%. They need to have some skin in the game.
Carleton Cronin is West Hollywood’s treasure.