The 11 candidates for City Council who attended the WeHo for the People Forum revealed where they stand on the big issues facing the city.
OUTZONES
| Sarah Adolphson | ↔️ |
| Chelsea Byers | ✅ |
| Jordan Cockeram | ✅ |
| Adam Darvish | ✅ |
| John Duran | ↔️ |
| John Heilman | ↔️ |
| Steve Martin | ↔️ |
| Lauren Meister | ↔️ |
| Robert Oliver | ↔️ |
| Marquita Thomas | ✅ |
| Zekiah Wright | ↔️ |
The candidates were split in their opinion of the city’s OUTzone program, which lets restaurants and businesses set up seating on sidewalks and spaces in the public right-of-way. Byers, Darvish, Thomas and Cockeram were among its biggest proponents, while the mayor and former councilmembers joined Wright, Adolphson and Oliver in expressing reservations about the program’s uneven rollout across the city and its disruption of pedestrian traffic flow.
Cockeram chided the naysayers in the group.
“I do think a lot of candidates are sort of playing politics per se when they say things like, ‘Well, it’s good, but we have to look at it from this perspective or we have to think about this, we have to think about that.’ People don’t want to choose a side,” he said. “Ultimately it’s been great for business, it’s been great for the community and people enjoy it.”
4 A.M. BAR CLOSINGS
| Sarah Adolphson | ❌ |
| Chelsea Byers | ✅ |
| Jordan Cockeram | ✅ |
| Adam Darvish | ↔️ |
| John Duran | ❌ |
| John Heilman | ❌ |
| Steve Martin | ❌ |
| Lauren Meister | ❌ |
| Robert Oliver | ↔️ |
| Marquita Thomas | ❌ |
| Zekiah Wright | ↔️ |
The candidates were also split over a proposal to extend bar hours until 4 a.m. in West Hollywood, with a majority worried it would fuel crime and disturb residents.
While Darvish hoped the longer hours might allow WeHo nightlife to compete with New York City’s, Duran brushed it off as wishful thinking.
“Nothing good happens between 2 and 6 in the morning,” Duran said. “Seriously, people, go to bed.”
SHOULD THE CITY SPEND THE MONEY TO EXTEND METRO TO WEHO?
| Sarah Adolphson | ✅ |
| Chelsea Byers | ✅ |
| Jordan Cockeram | ✅ |
| Adam Darvish | ✅ |
| John Duran | ↔️ |
| John Heilman | ✅ |
| Steve Martin | ↔️ |
| Lauren Meister | ↔️ |
| Robert Oliver | ✅ |
| Marquita Thomas | ✅ |
| Zekiah Wright | ↔️ |
All candidates supported the move in some form to extend the metro line through the city.
DOCKLESS MOBILITY PROGRAM
| Sarah Adolphson | ↔️ |
| Chelsea Byers | ✅ |
| Jordan Cockeram | ✅ |
| Adam Darvish | ✅ |
| John Duran | ❌ |
| John Heilman | ↔️ |
| Steve Martin | ↔️ |
| Lauren Meister | ❌ |
| Robert Oliver | ↔️ |
| Marquita Thomas | ✅ |
| Zekiah Wright | ✅ |
Byers and Thomas, neither of whom own cars, plus Darvish and Cockeram were very much in favor of the program that put electric scooters and bikes on the roads of WeHo, while all of the candidates saw looming safety problems of varying urgency.
“I like scooters in general and I think that, trying to get people out of cars, it’s a great option,” Oliver said. “But when it comes to this program, I think we put the cart before the horse. We launched this program before we had the micromobility lanes in place and our city is left dealing with the consequences.”
Meister, whose sister was severely injured by a scooter rider, said she’s “not a fan.”
Duran wasn’t as diplomatic. He railed against the “clutter and chaos” generated by the program and poked fun at its name.
“The keyword here was ‘dockless,'” Duran said. “We are not a dumping ground for the scooter companies.”
As far as Metro goes, the city has located most of the “transit accessible “ housing on the East Side which would likely involve a La Brea line. While folks fondly look at Fairfax & San Vicente as it brings folks to the commercial fun town district, that defeats the purpose. Residents of Weho West & Norma Triangle are not the folks that will be dependent upon public transit. What will the folks on the East Side do? City distributed scooters and/ or bicycles? Where are the heads of folks going to Metro meetings and making decisions?
The threshold for being on the ballot is between 20 and 30 signatures. I’ve said this time and again. I don’t care how well-funded you are, that’s a ridiculously low bar. I could get 20 signatures out at gym bar, in one night. And I’m not even popular. So I’m reminded that this forum is a joke. Everybody gets equal time. Not everybody up there is really serious about running. 45 seconds for an answer to a complex question is ridiculous. They should’ve cut the number of questions in half, and given everybody about 90 seconds. Or they should make… Read more »
By far the biggest problem in the city are the homeless people. The entire history of the city has been to encourage homeless beggars, transients, the mentally ill, the dangerous, people who use our public space and private property for their bathroom needs, those whose desire to camp out and set up home anywhere they want, and on and on. They are a drain on our society in every possible way, but none of the candidates can admit or acknowledge any of the above. Instead, we concentrate on more minor issues like everything mentioned in this article. I didn’t hear… Read more »
Wasn’t Lindsey Horvath’s claim to have found the solution and had homelessness under control? Her disciples at the forum last evening didn’t mention it. Was that claim also scrubbed from her resume?
Homelessness breeds crime, drugs, and filth. The kind of filth not even rats would live in.
There is a current proposal in L.A. to require all hotels to giveaway all vacant rooms to the homeless. How would you feel about paying $400 a night at the Marriott, and you have neighbors and shared elevators with mentally ill and possibly diseased homeless freeloaders who made bad life choices. They get rewarded for their bad life choices with a free room, and you get to pay $400. We have Councilmembers and candidates in Weho that are even worse than those in L.A.
Ms Queen,
What’s your proposal to reduce homelessness?
I spelled it out once before. Make it a crime to give anyone money or food on a public street or sidewalk. Make it a crime for churches/organizations to give out free food or money. Offer free buses to the homeless to a massive encampment 3 hours out into the desert, where there is free food, tents wifi, showers. They can come and go as they please, but it’s a 3 hour ride back into the city. When they know they can’t get money or food in the city, they will hop on the free bus out of town. It’s… Read more »
Quick question. Do you know the mental health status of people paying 400 a night?…..do you know if they are violent felons with money to burn from drug dealing, human trafficking or armed robbery? We have had all. So stop with your judgement calls and stop with the maniacal solution you have dreamed up in that head of yours. You truly seem demented.
Hi WehoQueen, I completely understand your frustration with the homelessness issue, and how the current council is handling it. Here’s my proposal, and I’d love to hear your thoughts! The city of Santa Monica has partnered with a company called Akido Labs to create a program called Project Connect. What Project Connect does is allow emergency responders (police, fire, and medical) to more easily identify what they call “high utilizers” (homeless people) of 911 calls. That’s allowed them to more easily and more quickly identify those people, and then respond with the appropriate teams. For example, let’s say they are… Read more »
And I forgot to say that it helps save resources and money! If John Smith just only needs a medic and his social worker, then that means we aren’t taking a sheriff and a firefighter away from something else!
I’m actually extremely happy about the answers about extending the metro through West Hollywood.
This will make such an impact for future generations of West Hollywood residents. Can you imagine going from downtown to weho for just $3?! A dream 😍
Cant you? 4/704 runs all day down Santa Monica blvd
You know what I mean. A train underground not stuck in traffic.
The transit oriented housing was given preferences based on accessible transit and located primarily in the East side. How will those residents benefit from a Fairfax/San Vicente Line? Wed I’ll you give them scooters?
Very happy my candidates stand against the 4am bar closing time.
{While Darvish hoped the longer hours might allow WeHo nightlife to compete with New York City’s, Duran brushed it off as wishful thinking.
“Nothing good happens between 2 and 6 in the morning,” Duran said. “Seriously, people, go to bed.”}
Thanks, Grandpa. WeHo is not the place young people move to if they want to go to bed early. While I’m happy to now be a senior in WeHo, I can still remember those fun nights of my youth and recognize that the late-night partiers bring welcome revenue into the city.
It’s not just “Thanks Grandpa”! Leading a sensible and healthy life begins early and although the difference between 2:00am and 4:00am may not seem like much, you will see it in your face, your body and your behavior and cannot be reversed. With all due respect for The Rolling Stones, would you want to look like Mick & Keith? With Health and Safety first, one cn never go wrong.
So 2am was good enough for you back in the day.
Depends on where you were hanging out.
Yes, John Duran is really one to be lifestyle and behavior preaching to other people. The hypocrisy is unfortunately hilarious here.
I think extending the bar hours to 4 AM would be great for the weekend crowds.Otherwise,I think 2 AM should be the standard for weekdays.
One of the clearest indications of the morass over out zones, scooters and 4:00am bar closings is lack of initial foresight by implementing tough standards. Standards can always be relaxed but once the genie is out of the bottle, very difficult to get under control. Endless meetings unnecessarily dilute the subject. The newbies advocate a free for all and don’t possess the common sense, sharp instincts or experience of wise decision making.
Keep the bars open until 4 AM, but lower the amount of sheriffs deputies? Yeah that makes a lot of sense…not!