Say goodbye to Block by Block blue. West Hollywood’s new security ambassadors are sporting a new look. The black and yellow ‘bumble bees’ you see swarming the streets are from Allied Universal.
The new colors have meaning. Yellow is often used to attract attention and increase visibility. Yellow is a common color in transportation and construction to ensure workers are easily seen and accidents reduced. Black is a color of power and authority. The combination of black and yellow are used to convey strength and power.
But do they resemble a bumble bee? A worker bee’s life is dedicated to sustaining its colony.
WeHo’s Fashion Police have yet to weigh in. I caught up with one of the bees in front of the water fountain at the Sal Guarriello Veteran Memorial.
Hey can I take a pic of your uniform? Thanks, can ya spin around –
Do you know West Hollywood?
No, Not Really.
Have they given you a tour?
No-they show me a couple of parks, not totally.
So your still training?
Yeah.
You just started?
Just started today. Yeah.
Oh first day.
Yeah.
I gotta warn you my name is Larry I write stories on WEHOonline.
Oh ok.
Anyway welcome, a lot of new people and stuff?
Yeah, definitely I think they hired like 5-10 people.
Has it been a peaceful day so far?
No actually in the morning there was some guy that approached us and he kinda got aggressive. He got pretty aggressive.
Aggressive?
Yeah Yeah he got aggressive.
A homeless person?
Yeah Yeah.
Have you been trained what to do?
Yeah, well, basically I just got to back off and report it.
Ah you back off and report it but are you going through training about what do ?
Yeah, yeah
Right. Did they say how long training goes?
No they haven’t told me yet.
Ok, well. hopefully you learn alot.
—-
I came back to snap another another photo of him behind the counter.
Did they tell you anything about talking to press?
No no, I’m gonna have to talk to them about that.
Do you live around here?
No I live in Long Beach.
So this is your first day-
Yeah.
So you will learn tomorrow?
Yeah.
Did they give the shirt and pants or you have to buy it?
They give us 1 shirt and 2 pants. Yeah.
Did they explain to you all the rules about the vacation pay you get? Like a month, a year? You get a great package.
No they haven’t told me anything about that.
You got to look into that. You get like up to like 4 weeks paid vacation – 4 weeks sick pay. Something like that.
I’m gonna have to check it out.
Thanks man take care, one last pic behind the booth.
Well it looks like West Hollywood is just going from bad to worse in its public safety program. Put very simply, the problems of West Hollywood are well beyond the scope of concierge security and, depending on them will ONLY result in failure. What’s needed are experienced war MERC ARMED Guards with exposed gun permits with the authority to overrule the LASD and straighten out the place.
There are numerous news reports of problems with Allied Universal, including workplace violations (wage theft, discrimination, unsafe conditions, negligence), staffing issues (insufficient training, high turnover, missing certification), and even reported criminal conduct by guards (lewd conduct, assault, excessive force, wrongful death, etc.).
You can find a sampling of documented stories at https://AUSfail.com
The truth is, Block by Block and Erika Leon Hernandez tried to screw Allied over until the very last minute. On Tuesday, October 30th, they literally cleaned out the base at 9:45 p.m.—leaving nothing behind, giving Allied no chance to start smoothly. They refused to communicate at all. Dirty work, plain and simple. And somehow, Jackie Hernandez managed to land the role of operational manager, basically the general manager’s right hand. Nobody knows how that happened. But then it all made sense when we saw where Erika ended up: she landed a sweet project manager job with Block by Block… Read more »
I’d feel safer with Jessica Fletcher protecting WeHo.
“ You get like up to like 4 weeks paid vacation – 4 weeks sick pay. Something like that.” Danny Rivas took everything from ambassadors. They can dream about this. For 21.86$ per hour.
This city is such a clown show.
Interesting interview and doesn’t instill confidence in training Shouldn’t they have completed their training before they start?
I’m confused on their “private security” badges. Shouldn’t they read public safety ambassadors? Not sure what security they provide if they are told to step back from any aggression
I still wonder what/why Block By Block lost their contract. If it was a cost saving measure on lower wages for employees that is shameful
Erica Leon Hernandez and David Agiilar took the money. On a top of that, Danny Rivas and hos scam.