What’s WeHo spending money on this time?

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West Hollywood City Council will sign off on more than $10.5 million in checks on Monday for everything from pay roll to capital projects to contracts and other debts. Here are some of the notable expenses the city has incurred according to the latest demand register:

  • The much-maligned temporary synthetic turf on Melrose and Huntley came at a cost of $38,790.17. Construction management and inspection of the stalled project cost an additional $48,468.40, along with $12,350 for asphalt paving. 
  • The brand-new rotating Rainbow Neon Dog sculpture on the Sunset Strip suddenly stopped spinning shortly after it was installed. It cost $24,475.00 to get it repaired.
  • The city continues to pour vast amounts of money into the accounts of organizations it contracts to address homelessness — $367,576 for Hathaway-Sycamores’ Homeless Care Team Outreach, $30,499.74 for the Mental Health Services Evaluation Team, $47,276 for Healthcare in Action Mobile Crisis Response, $33,412 for Step Up on Second, $11,971 for Housing Works, $31,888 for Ascencia — in this period alone.
  • The city’s consultants are making headway on the 20-year strategic plan, hosting workshops and such, and the invoices are arriving: $55,583.20 for lead firm Gensler, and $18,115 for Designing in Color, charged with overseeing that the plan meets the nebulous standards of diversity, equity and inclusion doctrine
  • Despite spending $51,419.43 on Mercury Mailing Systems, informing residents of plans that will affect their lives remains a weak point for City Hall. 
  • Apparently it costs a lot of money to tear up pieces of paper — $20,162.60 for the city’s most recent document shredding event.
  • Graffiti removal ain’t cheap. The city spent $113,106.25 washing off the work of vandals.
  • The city tells us the bike lanes on Fountain, Santa Monica, Willoughby and Gardner are far off, but the bills are already piling up — $31,017.21 for plans, specifications and estimates for Fountain Ave., and $9,224.40 for a feasibility study of Santa Monica Boulevard. 
  • In the head-scratching category, the city spent $1,273.31 on keychains for the Pride Pickleball Tournament and $787.19 on a paper towel dispenser. And how much did the city spend celebrating Memorial Day? $73.02 on banners. 
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Kevin
Kevin
3 months ago

Given the size of the budget at nearly 120 million and knowing the costs associated by law of bidding and awarding contracts, these seem reasonable. Plus I want that neon dog sign to work!

Davi Reid
3 months ago

$100,000 for artificial turf!@ $25,000 for the Neon Dog art install repair. Yet it costs too much to project AIDSWatch on World AIDS Day on the face of the Library. [about $4,500 all in]

Outraged
Outraged
3 months ago

Graft, corruption, and cronyism. Check the bank accounts of the City Council and other senior city officials; THAT is where that money went. Kickbacks. That’s why people who run for city Council spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money to do it, because they know that it will pay back in multiples.

And, of course, there is no citizen pushback and no citizen oversight.

Joshua88
Joshua88
3 months ago
Reply to  Outraged

That is a helluvan accusation without an iota of evidence.