As one of his last acts as City Manager Paul Arevalo writes a letter to County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl requesting use of the MTA lot on Santa Monica Blvd. for homeless outreach services. Mayor Horvath, who has been endorsed by Supervisor Kuehl in her run for County Supervisor did not sign the letter but in her role as Mayor would be expected to be familiar and knowledgable about this proposal by the City Manager. Click here to read the agenda item.
June 21, 2021
Shelia Kuehl
Supervisor Third District
821 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 W. Temple Street
Los Angeles CA 90012
Stephanie N. Wiggins
Chief Executive Officer
Metro
One Gateway Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012-2952
Dear Honorable Supervisor Kuehl and Ms. Wiggins:
I am writing to you on behalf of the City of West Hollywood to request temporary use of
the public parking lot at the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)’s Division 7 bus yard.
The City is seeking this use from Metro to address the immediate needs the City’s
homeless population.
The lot at Division 7 appears to be underutilized, and large enough to accommodate
trailers for shelter and/or service delivery to address homelessness in West Hollywood.
With your approval of this request, we will then reach out to the County of Los Angeles
to secure the needed facilities and services to activate the site.
The City commits over $5 million in general funds annually to the provision of social
services, with more than $1.2 of that specifically addressing homelessness. In spite of
that – and commitments from the City and County of Los Angeles — the homeless crisis
remains one of the single biggest issues for our greater Los Angeles region.
This crisis demands that we all look toward solution-based strategies and partnerships,
and it is our hope you will allow us to utilize this space and then join us in calling on Los
Angeles County to supplement our City’s existing programs and services with County
funded services and programs at this location.
We thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Paul Arevalo
City Manager
The Metro Bus Terminal located at 8800 Santa Monica blvd is now being considered for homeless outreach services. The MTA is located right next to most of West Hollywood’s busy nightlife and tourist area. WEHOville received multiple letters on this subject earlier today:
“Bringing homeless shelter to the bus station could cause a homeless influx from all over the area. We can’t handle what we have presently.” (please note the staff report does not include a shelter)
“So now homeless can take a free bus to West Hollywood and explore our neighborhoods, great idea!”
“Should this item be discussed with residents and the business community before writing the letter to Sheila Kuehl? It is a terrible idea for the residential neighborhoods and businesses that surround the Metro.”
What do you think? email to council@weho.org
I think that the Council has continued to delay meetings in their Chambers on San Vicente is so they can tightly control those Zoom sessions. They don’t want 200 or so people sitting in front of them to vent about matters such as this. But when they do resume open meetings, I think the you know what will hit the fan. Does anyone share my perspective?
You are right! Last thing they want is a live audience to boo their ludicrous actions. With 20 citizens holding up signs saying “Resign!” Especially the “Urinal Three”!
I will vote every one of these fools out in the next election. As if it’s not bad enough now they want to roll out a red carpet and invite even more in. You can’t even walk down the street without stepping over them. They’re taking craps on the sidewalks inWest Hollywood. Screaming all day and night. Sleeping in yards. It’s not safe here anymore. Get your heads out of your asses.
Great idea. We, our community leaders have to start somewhere. Hopefully the Honorable Sheila Kuehl will agree to move forward with a plan. We all have ideas but what gets done is minimal. I say let’s do it! Start the project at the metro station. It can always be moved to another location. I want to see action, homelessness should not be normalized. Remember when the AIDS epidemic was happening and homelessness was allowed in the park…it was around 1986-1993. Now again? Really? Ms. Kuehl knows what to do. I’m counting on her and her staff to make the difference
Wow. You should lead by example and welcome them into your home.
The point is Sandy, NO ONE HAS A PLAN. This is not a issue of no one has a location, there have been multiple vacant lots throughout Los Angeles that could engender pilot/satellite facilities but there is NO PLAN or ability to follow through. Lots of head scratching but where is Ms. Kuehl’s plan and why would she have kept it hidden while searching for a location? Did it just dawn on her? She defeated Bobby Shriver for Supervisor who had done years of work on homelessness in Santa Monica. Did she call him for input or appoint him as… Read more »
If the county of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles cannot FIX the homeless , how does West Hollywood City Council would ever think they should take this upon? Because the Mayor Horvath is gunning for Sheila Keuhl’s position in the County Board of Supervisors
Exactly. This is a set up for dear Lindsey once she’s running LA.
Wehoville: Do not be bullied into accepting this.
Well, 5C is tabled. According to Meister “We saw there was some confusion with the public and we want to clarify some things”.
What does this mean? A closed door review? BS.
No confusion. WE. DON’T. WANT. IT. They’re confused if they think otherwise.
Does anyone remember the South Park episode where Kyle gives $20 to a homeless man asking him for change? But even that isn’t the point. Homeless people like to go places where no one will bother them, where they can eat and use flush toilets, and where they can have round-the-clock privacy. You can make getting those things easy, or you can make them difficult, but making them easy does nothing to decrease the homelessness problem. Are some mentally ill? Sure! Do they want treatment? Mostly probably not. Are any of them on a trajectory to becoming homeowners? No. Maybe… Read more »
There are no consequences for their actions so they will continue to grow in numbers. When it was against the law to do some of the things that they do there were less of them. We have now made it an acceptable lifestyle choice so it is growing out of control.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Absolutely!
Interesting points. In terms of medical treatment most folks in this condition are not capable of making rational decisions. How any functioning addicts are resistant until they have hit bottom? These folks have gone beyond hitting bottom and are thus allergic to intervention as they have little concept of future. They have a mind set where THEY, not you or I like their horrid situation of freedom lacking any restraint. Perhaps on a one to one basis some may move beyond out of this debacle but treating them en masse would be like herding cats on amphetamine. Little attention was… Read more »
Someone could round up several available homeless folks and have them attend the next live City Council Meeting. They may get the attention of the council members. Perhaps each council member could befriend one of these individuals and take them home for personal rehabilitation. Hear, hear. On the job altruistic efforts in the public eye.
Fantastic idea. If they really want to help then they can each pledge to adopt one homeless person each and get them on the path to being a productive citizen.
it’s well-known that the homeless don’t like shelters because of the rules they have in place…so anyone in this day and age That’s urgent to open up shelters/rescue missions is just trying to make money on harboring the homeless in suspended animation…the homeless can’t be put into one category…1#. you have people that need a live in drug program…2#. people that need a live in mental institution…3#. people that need a place to Stay to look for work separately from theotherpopulation…and people that need affordable housing because they already have a job…that would be money well spent !!! If we… Read more »
An embarrassing final act for Paul Arevalo.
The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors should immediately approve the Metro parking structure cited in the article, located at 8800 Santa Monica Boulevard to be used for housing for the homeless. Homelessness is am intractable problem, for which a solution must be found. Since using that building will help, then the proposal must be approved.
The above mentioned parking structure is an employee parking lot not public parking. It facilitates the Maintenance dept. as well as the Transportation dept. The West Hollywood Metro is a 24 hour location with employees signing on at various times. Was there any research conducted to come to this conclusion that it is public parking? Have any of the readers ever tried to park there only to be turned away? Sound like stirring up trouble for nothing.
Maybe we can send them to your house then. Simps like you piss me off. I hate what’s become of this neighborhood.
here’s Sheila Kuehl’s contact info: Phone: (213) 974-3333 Email: sheila@bos.lacounty.gov