Quotes of note from the Public Safety Commission’s meeting on Monday night.
“This is why I don’t believe in the police. Like they literally can’t. But if you gave me a million dollars all of these people would be in jail this weekend. I would figure it out.”
— COMMISSIONER DANNY ROMAN to CAPT. BILL MOULDER regarding pickpocketers
“No, at this point you’re on a personal tirade and there is a code of conduct.”
— COMMUNITY SAFETY DIRECTOR DANNY RIVAS halting COMMISSIONER DANNY ROMAN,
as Roman launched into Capt. Bill Moulder of the Sheriff’s Department.
“I really just want to stay and just put this on a record that I know Commissioner Soon-Shiong has been getting a lot of heat since she’s joined the commission. I just want to take a moment to ask those of you who are listening … if you don’t believe her or her reporting, if you have personal feelings about it, I just strongly encourage you to do your own analysis. You don’t need to take her word for it. It’s all there, and same for the commissioners. We’ve been asked to evaluate these contracts. It’s within our purview. Council asks us for input regarding budgets. We are doing what we’ve been asked, and you know, in addition, I also just want to expose and denounce every single person who has actively and covertly intimidated and threatened and cyberbullied Commissioner Soon-Shiong with making racist comments via email, WEHOville, Twitter, etc, and specifically Javier Gonzalez, who is the campaign manager of Alex Villanueva? I am not here for it. West Hollywood prides itself on being a progressive city that has no tolerance for this behavior.” “Not once tonight have I heard any commissioners say, ‘Let’s hold our current contracted providers accountable.’ The problem that we have is because the contracted service providers have failed city staff. Commissioners like you all don’t ask the pertinent questions and you blame the sheriff. Each individual needs to take some responsibility if they’re going to have a night out.”
— WeHo resident MICHAEL VOIKULOVICH
— COMMISSIONER ALANA ROSHAY
“It makes me furious when you guys refer to them as bike lanes — they’re not bike lanes. They are for runners. They are for unicyclists. They are for skateboarders and rollerskaters and bicycles and the scooters that everybody hates. So therefore, everything. They’re not for bicycles. We need to build a safe way for these people to get around. Not just for cars, and not just for people walking, these people are just as important, OK?”
— COMMISSIONER DANNY ROMAN
“Just to let folks know, there are multiple places where people can report a complaint. On the LASD website you can obviously report to our department. There’s also a telephone number you can call which goes to our department. You can also call the L.A. County Equity Oversight Panel, the Los Angeles County Inspector General, State of California Fair Employment and Housing, California Department of Justice, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice, the ACLU of Southern California and the United Nations Human Rights Council. So there’s multiple places that a person can go and file a complaint against our department other than our department.”
—CAPTAIN BILL MOULDER,
after the commission’s lengthy discussion about a lack
of places to file complaints against the Sheriff’s Department.
I keep saying this, but this is a student council at a liberal arts college at best. We need some adults in charge.
Fine, I’ll throw my name in the hat.
Perfect.
Amen
Why aren’t the public safety commissioners asking questions about the unsolved homicide at the Avalon last October? Didn’t the LAPD Follow Home Task Force arrest 3 residents of the 7300 block of Santa Monica Blvd. earlier this year? Were any of the firearms found at this location used in the Avalon shooting? Was the apartment of the suspected follow home robbers registered with the city or were they living in an Airbnb ?
Because those criminals are politically inconvenient
I did a little digging on the city of West Hollywood web site and discovered public safety commissioner Danny Roman was appointed by councilperson John D’Amico.All commission appointees serve at the pleasure of that councilperson and can be removed at any time. Maybe it is time some residents start contacting John D’Amico to complain about Danny Roman and his conduct at commission meetings,especially the one on June 13th.Roman needs to shape up or be removed from his position. One of the commenters on here stated the city is a freak show.I agree in part,but you must get going and start… Read more »
I generally (and whole heartedly) support the work the Commission is doing, however, I agree with the consensus that Commissioner Danny Roman was out of line and needs to depart the Public Safety Commission ASAP. Whoever appointed Danny Roman should terminate his appointment effective immediately. Danny Roman’s MAGA antics are a disgrace. To debate, or respectfully disagree, or challenge is one thing. But he went way too far once again. I also think its is important to note that the city’s residents are absolutely fed up with the contracted Sheriff Department. We should also be mindful that Lt. Moulder has… Read more »
Unfortunately if all we had to budget for your own police department is the existing $19 million, we would barely have thirty officers patrolling our streets. The Sheriff still provides West Hollywood and dozens of other cities, more law enforcement protection than we could otherwise afford. But we need to pass a ballot measure to make the Sheriff an appointed official working for the Board of Supervisors. Having an elected Sheriff has proven to be the biggest obstacle to meaningful reform of the Department.
You appear to have poor eyesight and poorer judgement with your obviously biased statements against others which seem to mirror your own projections on others. Sad that you contribute more unhappiness to an already unhappy community.
Mayor Lauren Meister has to take control before the whole West Hollywood democratic system collapses and we end up as the joke of California.
I agree with you, Peter. Mayor Meister should demand the removal of Danny Roman from the Commission. As far as the rest of City Council, from what I’ve seen in the meetings, we have three council members (Shyne, Erickson, and Horvath) that intentionally and continually undermine the work and efforts of Mayor Meister. They are jealous of Meister because she actually knows how to run a city. She’s not perfect and I’ve disagreed with her on certain things, but she’s qualified and really cares about the city and residents. Shyne, Erickson and Horvath have created a Mean Girls Club and… Read more »
This city is a freak show. Constant drama and stupid ideas.
Good grief
The Public Safety Commission has been poorly informed and adrift with no leadership under the “leadership” of former Director Kristin Cook, a poorly informed individual remarkably lacking in strategic remedies or basic understanding of law enforcement. How she obtained and maintained her position at $200 thousand plus per year was a mystery but evidently saw the handwriting on the wall with the scooter debacle and made a fast exit. This commission had no framework to work with, no strategy and little discipline. Realistic problem solving skills would be the first attribute sought along with the ability to form and articulate… Read more »
I just watched a replay(partial) of the public safety commission meeting of June 13 and it sure was a doozy.Here is what I observed. Commissioner Danny Roman needs to resign from this commission.He looked tired and frustrated during the entire meeting.He had two extended rants that were stopped by commissioner Kerri Balbone and city staffer Danny Rivas.He went on and on about the current pickpocket troubles and insisted the sheriff department take action.Mr. Roman did use some foul language and Mr. Rivas stopped him on that.With Mr. Roman as frustrated as he was,he can no longer serve effectively as a… Read more »
I don’t think Danny Roman takes this appointment seriously. In previous meetings, it looked as though he was in bed, and in this one he’s constantly adjusting the camera to create different angles of his face. Danny, this isn’t about you, it’s about the residents of West Hollywood whose safety is being compromised by more prominent members of this commission.
I would point out to Commissioner Roshay that the Commission did not do its’ own analysis of the Sheriff’s Budget; it simply accepted some half baked report from a person on Commissioner Soon Shiong’s payroll that was clearly biased and often nonsensical. Not only that, the Commission only had something like 45 minutes to look at the “analysis” before the Commission voted to de-fund the Sheriff’s Department by $3.2 million. No one who supported the de-funding questioned the “analysis”. Ms. Shiong continues to come to Council meetings spouting off misleading and inaccurate numbers as part of her personal campaign to… Read more »
You’re absolutely spot on, Steve! Each of the commissioners who voted for the defund motion based on that 45-minute review and analysis were duped by Soon-Shiong’s personal agenda. It doesn’t reflect well on their competency to continue on this commission, and certainly not their competency to run for city council, as Robert Oliver is doing. The history is clear, he (and the others) spent scant time on a major proposal and voted hastily on a motion that has caused extraordinary angst and opposition in the entire community. Further, where is the process objection to this half-baked report having not been… Read more »
watch out, Steve…you’ll be called a racist next. You can’t criticize Commissioner Soon Shiong without being accused of being one.
You forget that Lindsey Horvath essentially called anyone who questioned Nika Soon Shiong a racist. I asked for a specific apology at a Council meeting for this blanket statement; needless to say, an apology or clarifications was never forthcoming.
Spot on Steve. Soon Shiong did not follow any protocol nor did she even engage city staff and instead sourced her own report from a biased source who regurgitated the same defund the police content they were known for. That report was then used to make a recommendation to CC. This whole charade is the opposite of a transparent public process, but instead reeks of raw politics. Instead of admitting to this, we the constituents and residents were accused of being “racist” and “confused” by Horvath and Shyne, respectively, while Erickson went on on an embarrassing and immature tirade attacking… Read more »
Well I admit to being confused by the proposal to de-fund the Sheriff because it was so stupid and political. As for being racist, as an Filipino/Irish/ Chinese Mexican, I qualify as a person of color. I don’t take privileged white people’s causal accusations of “racism” very seriously anymore because they use that accusation to close down serious conversations.
Come the next election we need to get rid of all these spoiled children who are running West Hollywood into the ground.
I read quite a few criticisms of Soon-Shiong and not one of them was racist. Is it possible that because she is Asian ANY criticism of her is automatically considered racist? The claim of racism is thrown around so freely it no longer means anything. Unfortunately, it does shut down any further discussion and white people start explaining and apologizing, so it seems to have the desired affect.
spot on.
This Danny Roman does not deserve to be on the commission. He does not know how to conduct himself in the manner becoming a commissioner. He should step down. Bravo to Director Danny Rivas for putting an end to this obnoxious individual. The Public Safety Commission seems to think their only mission is to attack the very people that are risking their lives everyday to protect us. What a shame that our own “leaders” are acting in conjunction with the criminals to fight the sheriff’s department at every turn. No wonder crime is skyrocketing.
Hear! Hear!
Danny Rivas has the conjones to do what the City Council refuses to do, which is make this group act like adults. Rivas is a true public servant.
Yes sir!
Indeed
Don’t worry, next time, Danny will be wearing pajamas while making snacks in the kitchen and barely paying attention. He is usually multi-tasking and doing something else.