OpEd: The promise of WeHo often leaves behind seniors and those with disabilities

A long term West Hollywood resident approached me to ask, ‘what about the seniors’? “I have no where to go” he said. Then he handed me a copy of an article from PBS News Hour.

“LGBTQ seniors face discrimination in long term care”, “What is West Hollywood doing for seniors?” the man asked. “Every time I watch the city council meeting they spend more time on people that don’t even live in West Hollywood”

When it comes to issues central to the disabled community such as equal access, or the ability to walk down the sidewalk, the city council opted to support ‘outzones’ and ‘scooters’, over the pleadings of the most affected residents living with disabilities.

The Pride and Halloween festivals do not offer a ‘Senior Zone’. In fact the City Council decided skip televising the Pride event on WEHO TV. Many seniors and disabled folks cant walk miles through crowds but want to watch the event on their old fashioned cable tv channel.

West Hollywood has a housing policy that touts ‘aging in place’ initiative. But in fact there are millions spent on homeless initiative, but a struggling senior has few choices. The late John Altschul Former often said “One of the biggest holes in the growth of our city was that many were displaced by development and the City never secured transitional housing facilities.”
The City recently purchased the Holloway Hotel on Santa Monica blvd and committed over 6 million dollars to renovate the ‘homeless transition’ facility. But there are no similar facilities for seniors or those displaced by the Ellis Act, or disabled folks that need assisted care facilities.

The biggest killer to a seniors or those living on a fixed income was the council’s choice to raise the sales tax to highest in the County, and the minimum wage to highest in the nation. The council did not initiative a impact study, or bring in consultants to ask how this would affect residents and seniors living in West Hollywood. So those residents on fixed incomes are paying more for their helpers, food, clothing and all their necessities. The ordinance is a giant tax on seniors and those on fixed incomes.

It was just 20 years ago when the Santa Monica Blvd re-development project would set course to widen sidewalks and create ‘the most walkable city in California’. Restaurants were encouraged to obtain encroachment permits and expand patios on to the public right of way. But then a new city council approved scooters, and outzones, and suddenly the most walkable city became an obstacle course for all, especially those with limited mobility.

Myra Friedman is a disabled resident who took her complaints to the City Council on numerous occasions. When she expressed her issues walking her dog or using the sidewalks she was told by Mayor Shyne ‘there are two sides’, dismissing the one-arm disabled resident to ‘the other side’. The aspirations of young, strong, healthy individuals seems to have replaced the needs of those who cannot help themselves. Friedman resigned from the Disability Board in shock over the treatment she received by the Mayor.

Many years ago I served alongside Anne Semonico on the Disability Advisory Board sub-committee to give our input into the development of West Hollywood Park and its aquatic center. We contracted for lifts so those with disabilities to have equal access to the new pool.

Two weeks ago while attending a physical therapy session I overhead one of the doctors speaking to her patient, “West Hollywood is so political”, and my ears popped up. She continued to express her problems getting access for her patient at the WeHo Pool. “Its all about money” , “We cant even get in”, was her complaint. “I heard there is a disability board to speak she claimed”, and I interrupted to ask what happened. The promise of a pool that would help disabled residents is not available to all who need it, and there is a cost. There should be a waiver of costs for those with disabilities. What became clear is that local weho residents, in need of physical therapy, do not have easy access to the pool area. There seem to be little accommodations for those who cannot afford the pool pass.

The Council Chambers used to have closed caption TV’s for those of us who are visually impaired, but they have been removed from the council chambers. They are expected to be installed again but only after complaints from members of the disability community.

But a simple google search found one impressive West Hollywood business. Springboard Hospitality’s committment to disabled folks

Accessibility Statement
Springboard Hospitality

We aim to extend genuine hospitality to all guests and visitors of our hotel. Our goal is to make it as effortless as possible for everyone, including people with hearing or vision loss, or any other disability, A fully copy of their statement is here. https://www.springboardhospitality.com/accessibility-statement/

Perhaps Springboard’s committment should be rolled out as a policy for all West Hollywood hotels. Thats the type of policy the City Council should be advocating. Let’s be the most disabled friendly. We advocated for the most vulnerable, except for those who have disabilities.

The young whipper-snappers on the City Council do not understand the plight of living with a disability or growing old. Our issues, our identity, our rights to full and equal access should never be compromised for any policy. Instead of protecting the most vulnerable seniors and disabled residents this City Council has opted for ‘popular’ programs over the necessities of its disabled or senior living in West Hollywood.

As a matter of urgency and with an aging population of seniors and estimated 20% of residents who are disabled we need to do more to promote and build new senior living and assisted living facilities to our city, so we can all ‘age in place’. Those are the kind of incentives that the council should be providing to meet the needs of its residents, its seniors and all those who are living with a disability in the City of West Hollywood.