It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas, or Hanukkah. And West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico and Councilmember John Duran want to call attention to that by labeling the city “West Jollywood” for the holiday season.
D’Amico and Duran are proposing that the city light City Hall in “jovial colors” during December (alternating blue and white and red and green lights) and replace the “H” in West Hollywood signs with a “J.” And, in perhaps the most festive move of all, they propose waiving fees at city parking garages and lots and cutting the hourly rate for meter parking to 75 cents during “Black Friday.” That’s the day after Thanksgiving when hordes of shoppers put the books of some retailers into the black for the first time all year.
The City Council will have to approve the “West Jollywood” branding campaign, estimated to cost $1,500 for signage and lights and $12,500 in waived and reduced parking fees.
Seems like a no-brainer, given that it’s certainly more cheerful than the “West Follywood” moniker bestowed upon the city in 2010 by Patrick Range McDonald in an L.A. Weekly story that still rankles the city’s longest serving Council members for calling out the contrast between their purported progressive values and the fact that they work hard to get money from out-of-town developers for their political campaigns and favorite charities. And it beats the “West Mollywood” label used by some in referring to the high rate of illegal drug use by the city’s gay population.
I always heard the blue street lamps and trash cans are a personal favorite of Heilman’s and he didn’t want to replace them. Many of the lamps are broken, which isn’t hard to do since they are fiberglass. It’s time to replace them and also do a better job of identifying the weho borders through better signage.
You mean to tell me that WeHo rakes in over 12-grand A DAY in parking fees?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
@rc3i3: I have heard the city loves those blue street lamps. That’s why they kept them when they remodeled the boulevard in 1998. We all were hoping for new ones but we got stuck with the ugly old blue snow globes. And as for parking…I’m much more in favor of giving my dollars to local businesses than to city hall. Weho was doing fine 10 years ago when there weren’t meters everywhere and parking was free after 6pm and all day Sundays.
this story is a joke, right?
Replace the ridiculous street lamps that have no character. Go super modern like LAX or gas lamps. Or find a happy medium. The current ones are awful. And if parking was free then Weho wouldn’t have money to do half these things, so no to free parking except for special events.
and please replace the old and tacky holiday decorations along SMB—–since they work off of solar and timers, many are off most of the night
Yes to NO PARKING FEES for all garages. (They should take the hint and it should be that way all year round.) No to decorating City Hall. They used their budget, not to mention stroking their egos, on their useless multi-million dollar robogarage. No decorations for you. Tape up some tinsel in your cubicle like the rest of us.