Homelessness, the cost of housing, the cost of living, property crime and vacant buildings/storefronts are the top five concerns of West Hollywood residents, according to the city’s 2024 Strategic Plan Baseline Survey — and only 10 percent of people in WeHo consider lack of bike lanes an “extremely serious problem.”
Researchers conducted interviews with 517 adult residents of West Hollywood in February to provide data for the writers of the brand-new Strategic Plan, a broad outline of the city’s next 15 years.
Traffic congestion was the next top problem, with 52 percent of respondents agreeing it was an extremely serious or very serious concern. 37 percent thought the same of the lack of parking. 43 percent thought lack of safe bike lanes was “not too serious” a problem.
Of more importance to respondents was pedestrian safety (46% extremely/very serious).
Other top concerns were violent crime, changes in the feel of local neighborhoods and the slow pace of growth and development.
The most valued services provided by the city were addressing homelessness, crime prevention, road/sidewalk maintenance and code enforcement. Among the least valued were after-school programs, public arts program and special events.
The top priorities of the respondents were increasing access to mental health services to reduce homelessness, improving law enforcement in neighborhoods, more lower- and moderate-incoming housing and reduced red tape at City Hall.
Diversity, equity and inclusion are major focuses of the Strategic Plan; the survey breaks each question’s results down by race, age and sexual orientation.
“Supporting more equity and inclusion in the community,” however, was one of the lowest-scoring goals of the respondents.
Of note: Among the things respondents would like West Hollywood to be known for in 10 years, the moniker “the Creative City” ranked dead last.
I think these results reflect what have largely been concerns of the residents for years, which must have disappointed the expensive consultants who were more focused on gender identity issues, creating “gender inclusive” space and diverting resources away from the Sheriff’s department. Despite heavy handed “direction” from the consultants, these figures lay out the real community priorities.
The heavy handed and expensive consultants come in to simply affirm the personal agenda of council and staff who are burnishing their credentials by using West Hollywood as their Petri dish. The results of studies, surveys, and polls are pre-cooked and would not stand up to academic rigor, despite all the spin injected into the lopsided civic debates. The residents are an after thought.
Duh!
Let’s take one lane each way on the 101 and the 405 to be used as bike lanes.
Yes, I’m using absurdity to illustrate the absurd.
“only 10 percent of people in WeHo consider lack of bike lanes an “extremely serious problem.” ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
I am concerned there are some violent extremists supporting this plan. Can’t they just put this on the ballot for the people to decide? I am not comfortable with these violent types taking over our city. Some of the people involved are very scary looking people.
Thank you for this information and look forward to hearing the spin Erickson and Byers will present that adding bike lanes and having e-scooters and delivery robots are more important than traffic congestion and pedestrian safety that the citizens prioritize. They have caused the mobility issues before proper infrastructure existed. This includes safety for cyclists on lack of safe patrolling of speed limits and traffic rules. Adding any mobility that puts people in harms way of accidents should truly consider what they are doing.
Right on target 🎯🎯💪🏼