Steve Martin, co-captain of the WeHo East Neighborhood Watch Association, has notified West Hollywood’s City Clerk that a letter of support for the Fountain Avenue streetscape project used to obtain millions in grant funding was written and sent without the organization’s knowledge or approval.
The letter, written Oct. 24, 2023, by Tod Hallman, identifying himself as captain, was sent to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which is offering the city more than $8 million in funding to fix sidewalks and install protected bike lanes on Fountain Avenue at the cost of all parking on the north side of the street.
“The Weho Eastside Neighborhood Watch Group is excited to work with the city on Eastside improvements,” Hallman wrote. “The Weho Eastside Neighborhood Watch Group is committed to supporting the proposed projects, should the proposal be awarded funding.”
Martin denied that Hallman’s letter came from their organization.
“The members of our Board were surprised to see a letter of support for this City Council Agenda item, under Attachment C. Please note that our organization has not taken any position in regard to the grant from the California Air Resources Board,” Martin wrote. “The letter dated October 24, 2023, which I have attached, was never approved by the Board of our organization. Therefore, it does not represent a legitimate representation of our organization’s alleged support. While former Chair, Tod Hallman, may personally support this item, he was never authorized to represent that our organization has taken a position, formally or informally. Therefore, we request that the Clerk announce at the commencement of the hearing on this item, that the letter should be withdrawn as having not been authorized by our organization.”
Hallman has not responded to a request for comment. In April, Hallman parted ways with the group after he claimed they had held a campaign event for City Council candidate George Nickle. Hallman was appointed by Mayor John M. Erickson to the Public Safety Commission, where he served as chair. Hallman has publicly endorsed the mayor for re-election.
The group’s Facebook page was also recently deleted after administrators in charge of the page allegedly used it to campaign for a separate candidate.
We no longer have independent thinkers on the city council. They are controlled by the developers and special interests. Local 11, Streets For All, Abundant Housing LA, Bike LA . Would you want to be backed by a Union that has been incapable of getting their Union into 20 of 22 hotels in Weho? Follow the money…Local 11 was 9 Million Dollars in debt at the end of 2023. What did they do with all their members money? Did it go to pay higher salaries to their leadership? Did it go to buying Councilmembers?
https://www.anaheimobserver.com/2023/06/28/whats-wrong-at-unite-here-local-11/
AND….where will residents who rely on street parking now park? Bicycle riders are not licensed. And young kids ride bikes. I did. Will ANYONE riding a bike able to use the lanes…regardless of experience and age???? Who researched any other US city with bikes for stats and history of their bikes on the open city roads?As it is now..bike riders of all ages ride on the streets and the sidewalks. The can be any age…from very young to …!!! I rode a bike to and from work on Cape Cod when I was a teen. In the daytime and at… Read more »
Public land will be going to serve the PUBLIC in the form of Protected Bicycle Lanes and the millionaires now getting free parking will have to adjust to the adversity of having to pay for it. Or they could take up riding Bicycles 🚲 & E-scooters 🛵 , it won’t be anywhere near as difficult as my experience dirt biking in the Balkans under sniper fire ❗
What percentage of the PUBLIC will use the back lanes? And how many disabled or seniors will be able to use this public land that will severely impact their lives in a negative way? The 8.2 million dollar grant specifies that the money is supposed to be used for senior, disabled and the low income folks, exactly how does this help those people?
Bike Lanes in WeHo = slaughter and blood on the streets of the city. They also = incensed drivers who have little TO NO experience driving with bikes on the road. And residents who own cars and rely non the street parking to park their cars And the bikers, both accomplished and brand new have not encountered traffic such as we have on the WeHo and vicinity streets.
West Hollywood is NOT a formidable challenge to any LA Cyclist🚴🏽♀️ and that’s NOT including the men ❗ 🤣 The problem is with West Hollywood resident drivers being granted Driver’s Licenses when they are hardly worthy of Learner’s Permits. The DMV needs to stop being so easy on WeHo driver applicants.
Hard to take someone serious with a nose ring and crazy hair. What is that guys job?
REALLY ❓ It might have to do with the FACT that even being well groomed, earning Advanced Degrees and, with an Armani Suit (donated to me by a past employer) it is nearly impossible for People of Color to be taken seriously❗😡
As a daily walker living in WeHo for the past 12 years, I welcome sidewalk safety measures along Fountain but NO bike lanes there nor on Willoughby. Fountain traffic is horrendous now – with the new building of apartment complexes on Sunset – it’s increasing already. Protect the walkers who live here and those who visit for dining and friends nearby. use the money to build safer sidewalks and slow down the increasing traffic. don’t ruin the beautiful scenery walking along Willoughby by pushing bikers in our neighborhood. please listen to the people who live here !
As more and more residents learn of this absurd plan, city council meetings will continue into the wee hours of the morning. It’s simply a bad idea people keep trying to put lipstick on. Send your city manager out at 7pm every night to canvass residents along Fountain trying desperately to park near their homes. This folly will be over in a minute!!!
One can only hope!
As your idiot governor once said “it’s going to happen, whether you like it or not.” Get ready poor constituent’s of the self serving cock roaches you call council members, these Counciltwits will turn West Hollywood into another “Third World Country” like Gruesome called LA.
The $8 Million CARB (California Air Resources Board) goes a long way in benefiting West Hollywood. There’s funding for sidewalk repairs & bike lanes installed that are protected from Pedestrian & Cyclist mauling environmental♻ ruining internal combustion statusmobiles on Fountain Avenue. Also the evil car problem is addressed by reducing the ultrarich people’s access to street parking that makes the car problem worse. The FACT they sicced the neighborhood narks on us, should tell us we are effective❗
The people who think that the utopian idea of everyone biking to work are the ultra rich and privileged. They don’t realize that most working class people have to drive to work, or that sometimes driving from worksite to worksite is part of their job. They also don’t realize that building more housing is not part of the solution, it displaces working class people from their neighborhoods and communities. Why does CARB want to make their lives more difficult?
Most people with obnoxious mega statusmobiles are NOT working people (who couldn’t afford them) but, people who with serious ego problems who work in offices or own businesses. The auto & fossil fuel industry has artificially structured an auto/truck dependence serving its interests at the expense of a functional Public Transit Systems. CARB is protecting air quality, returning Public Transit and, making life much easier.👏🏽
Take a deep breath and read my comment again, I didn’t say that the ultra rich are working class. Walk outside, most vehicles are not “statusmobiles”. You’ll see construction trucks, vans and all kinds of vehicles that working class people use to transport them and their equipment and tools to job sites. This includes, construction workers, painters, housekeepers, gardeners, etc. Again, why do you want to make their lives more difficult and separate them from their communities and family? Here’s something else to think about, maybe working class people don’t want to ride public transportation, because of all of the… Read more »
Please stop with your gaslighting and mendacious deception ❗ The wealthy WeHo residents opposed to the Protected Bike Lanes are NOT the same as People Working for a living and, YOU have worked to hurt Working People & their Unions and their rights to a Living Wage. Working People are allied with Public Transit Riders and DON’T see them as “gross.” Just ask UNITE HERE Local 11 ❗
Only someone with tons of money would think that working class people can bike or take public transportation to work. Have you even been to a construction site? You should walk outside and take a look at who’s on the road. Or, try talking to someone who actually works for a living, rather than someone who works for a cushy non-profit like Unite Here, and listen to what they have to say. Oh, and ❗️❗️❗️❗️
You are engaging in a Straw Man deceptive tactic of misrepresenting your opponent’s position. I’m well aware that due to powerful opposition to Public Transit & Protected Bike Lanes, many Working People are denied these transportation options. I genuinely doubt you have more experience in construction and design than I do, or organizing Unions.
No one is stopping anyone from riding their bike to their cushy non-profit jobs, while working class folks are driving their trucks and vans from job site to job site.
I’m sure you have lots of experience sitting at a desk printing pdfs for your boss, congrats. Also not sure what your experience being brainwashed by a union has to do with any of this. Again, try experiencing and observing the world around you, rather than relying on someone else’s interpretation. ❤️
People like YOU ARE stopping people from riding their bikes by attacking Protected Bike Lanes & defending millionaires to have free public parking and endanger Pedestrians & Cyclists with their massively dangerous status mobiles. Currently working as a Paramedic⚕ and grateful for UNION representation❗
How can we believe anything or anyone supported by the outside interest group known as Local 11?
https://eyeson11.com/
Dude…you live in DTLA????
Dude…like DTLA is NOT without its problems and, conflict and my relatives forced me out of West Hollywood but, I still consider myself a stakeholder in these matters.
You’re not a stakeholder in West Hollywood if you don’t live here. End of discussion.
Apart from having lived in West Hollywood, the rest of the LA area will be effected by the Environmental Impact of West Hollywood’s policy when it comes to Public Transit or Biking, so we do have a stake in this.
The separately incorporated city of West Hollywood represents 0.3% of the land mass of the city of Los Angeles and 0.04% of the land mass of the county of Los Angeles. Opening stakeholdership to every person outside our borders is an inordinate burden to place on the 36,000 residents of West Hollywood, a number that is 0.9% of the city of Los Angeles and 0.3% of the county of Los Angeles. One wonders how many interlopers use Burbank, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, or any of the other dozens of separately incorporated cities as their Petri dish. You’re not a stakeholder.… Read more »
Oh I get it, you were forced out of your community, so you want to do the same to working class people.
You are You are engaging in another Straw Man deceptive tactic of misrepresenting your opponent’s position again. In this case you are trying to accuse others of that which you are guilty of.
Oh I get it, kind of like when people accuse Biden and Harris of genocide?
More like there are Progressive who are willing to admit that Biden & Harris have been complicit in the Genocide of Palestinians ❗
Using your logic, I disagree with you, so Progressives are complicit in the genocide of Jews.
The $8 Million CARB (California Air Resources Board) goes a long way in benefiting West Hollywood. There’s funding for sidewalk repairs & bike lanes installed that are protected from Pedestrian & Cyclist mauling environmental ♻ ruining internal combustion statusmobiles on Fountain Avenue. Also the evil car problem is addressed by reducing the ultrarich people’s access to street parking that makes the car problem worse. The FACT they sicced the neighborhood narks on us, should tell us we are effective ❗
Thank you Steve Martin and wehoville for bringing this to light. Our council majority will stop at nothing to push their agendas through! The Fountain Ave. plan has the potential to be catastrophic to 1000’s of residents. A MAJOR project like this should require tremendous support of the community and businesses. There SHOULD have be a glut of outreach…not unlike the door to door UNITE HERE/Local 11 solicitations we are all getting, regarding our upcoming election…. But alas, that did not and has not happened Unapproved letters of support speak volumes for this potentially ill-fated plan. STOP THE MADNESS SPEAK… Read more »
This whole thing about destroying parking on Fountain and deliberately doubling its traffic by reducing it to one lane either way, including impeding access for emergency vehicles, is all traced back to the $8 million in grants. Follow the money. And I’m sure some of that grant somehow ends up as kickbacks in the pockets of city Council members. That’s why this whole thing is being done, because of money money money, and kickbacks, kickbacks, kickbacks. This is why being a member of the city council and other city roles are so lucrative, because somehow, someway, they end up putting… Read more »
Looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen against the City for fraud. That may be the only way to stop the illegal behavior of certain City employees/politicians.