West Hollywood resident Edd Holman stood before City Council Tuesday night and asked the council to do what he says Athens Services and the City hadn’t done yet — make sure this never happens again.
Holman, a 30-year West Hollywood resident and Neighborhood Watch Block Co-Captain, spoke during public comment. A week ago he published a Dear WeHo letter on WEHOonline after catching an Athens Services employee on video allegedly using a garage gate code that had been written directly on a building exterior. Then he found more. A lot more.
“I am here tonight to sound the alarm on a systemic security failure affecting residential buildings throughout our city,” he told the council.
What he found
Holman discovered that clicker codes for garage gates were being written on building exteriors throughout West Hollywood. Not hidden. Right there on gate frames, welcome signs, key boxes, utility pipes, handrails for anyone to see. The codes work with standard 8, 9, 10, and 12-pin dip switch clickers. In his Dear WeHo letter, he documented 15 separate instances on a single street alone, written in pen and permanent marker on call boxes, signs, and gate motors.
He filmed an Athens Services driver allegedly using one of the codes. Then he went looking and found more across the city. He called Anita Shandi in public safety. He called Helen Collins, the City’s Director of Public Works. He called Athens. And he wrote the Dear WeHo letter so you would know.
Athens initially told him their employees didn’t write the codes — maybe a delivery service did. Holman wasn’t buying it. “I’m not aware of any delivery service that enters through the garage,” he said in his letter. “They usually access the property through the building’s entrance.”
The meeting
On Tuesday, Holman met with Collins and Ruben Valenzuela, Operations Manager for Athens Services, and they discussed the issue with them. Both agreed it was a problem. Athens committed to helping to remove them.
Holman told the council that’s not enough.
“Athens claims that writing access codes on the property is not part of their company policy,” he said, “but these codes are appearing exactly where their teams need access. This is a standing invitation for potential vehicle burglaries, package theft, and lie-in-wait violent crime.”
Mayor John Heilman thanked Holman and acknowledged the city is aware of specific buildings where codes have been found. He stopped short of assigning blame.
“I did also want to thank Edd Holman for his diligence and identifying the problem,” Heilman said. “It’s possible that it was an Athens employee. We don’t, we can’t prove who did it, but somebody, apparently, has written codes for getting into some of the gates in our city.”
Councilmember Chelsea Byers pushed back on the focus on Athens specifically. While she called the safety concern legitimate, she argued that blaming one contractor misses the bigger picture.
“Pinning it on one individual or player, I think, misses the opportunity we have as a city to look at the very many people who are interacting with our community members’ properties,” Byers said. She pointed out that gate codes could be compromised by delivery drivers, building residents, or any number of other people with regular access. “There’s just so many ways that they could happen.”
Byers said she lives in a building where the buzz box doesn’t work at all, and called out landlords for not maintaining properties and putting residents in unsafe situations. But she framed the path forward as a city communication issue, not a contractor accountability issue. “As tenants, as residents, and community members, bringing that information to the city, giving us the tools we can go back out and communicate appropriately is the right way,” she said.
What property managers need to do now
Holman had a specific ask for property managers and HOAs. He laid it out plainly Tuesday night, the same way he did in his letter.
“Conduct a physical audit,” he said. “Look for small, handwritten numbers in Sharpie or pen on or near your garage gates.” Find one and the gate is already compromised. Scrubbing the ink off doesn’t fix it. “You must change the entry code and reprogram your systems to ensure the safety of your residents.”
Athens has committed to educating staff and helping remove the markings, but Holman told the council the damage is already done.
“We need City Council oversight to ensure that something like this can never happen again,” he said. “Our gates shouldn’t come with a cheat code written on the wall.”
Heilman agreed the incident is a broader wake-up call for building owners citywide. He suggested the public safety division send information to owners about changing gate codes regularly — noting his own building was overdue. “It’s probably a good time for us to change the code on our clickers or our fobs,” he said. For buildings where codes are known to have been written on walls or gates, he said the city should go further. “I think it is important that information is sent out, and that we actually work with the building owners, where we know that those codes have been written on gates or on the wall.”
Read Mr. Holman’s full comments here:
“Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. Edd Holman, 30 year West Hollywood resident this year. and Neighborhood watch block co Captain.
I am here tonight to sound the alarm on a systemic security failure affecting residential buildings throughout our city.
Last Tuesday, I discovered that clicker codes for garage gates are being written directly onto building exteriors—on gate frames, welcome signs, key boxes, utility pipes, and even handrails. These codes allow anyone with a standard 8, 9, 10, or 12-pin dip switch gate clicker to gain access to our properties.
After watching and filming an Athens employee using of these written codes AND discovering more though out the city, I immediately called Anita Shandi, with public safety, Helen Collins, Head of Public Works, and Athens Services.
I also wrote a Dear WeHo letter to WeHoOnline to get the word out.
GO READ THAT LETTER, ALL THE INFORMATION IS THERE.
I’ve also been informing local residents of affected buildings to notify their property managers and HOA’s of the breach.
Earlier today, I met with Helen Collins, and Ruben Valenzuela from Athens Services and they both agreed that having the gate clicker codes written on the buildings is dangerous.
Athens claims that writing access codes on the property is ‘not part of their company policy,’ but these codes are appearing exactly where their teams need access. This is a standing invitation for potential vehicle burglaries, package theft, and lie-in-wait violent crime.
Property managers and HOAs: To protect your tenants, you should:
A) Conduct a Physical Audit: Look for small, handwritten numbers in Sharpie or pen on or near your garage gates.
2) If you find a code, your gate is compromised. Scrubbing the ink off is not enough. You must change the entry code and reprogram your systems to ensure the safety of your residents.
Athens has committed to ‘educating’ staff and assisting with code removal, but the damage is done. We need City Council oversight to ensure that something like this can never happen again.
Our gates shouldn’t come with a ‘cheat code’ written on the wall.
Thank you.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from Councilmember Chelsea Byers.
Dear WeHo: Are Garage Security Codes Being Exposed by Athens Services on WeHo Buildings?
WeHo Council Endorses 15-Year Extension of Athens Trash Contract
“You must change the entry code and reprogram your systems to ensure the safety of your residents.”
Then you have to give the gate code to Athens so they can have access to the building for emptying the trash. They will then write it down somewhere for everyone to copy. Problem solved! Not.
Oh gawd no, let us not blame Athens. But instead, let’s research how much money they’ve given to the council members political campaigns shall we???? Of course, you must also look at extended family members of Athens ownership too as we all
know.
Are you kidding me? … The idea that meaningful oversight will come from the current leadership in West Hollywood strains credibility. Time and again, critical issues are delayed, redirected, or quietly sidelined instead of addressed with transparency and urgency. Residents deserve accountability, not procedural deflection. Concerns about internal favoritism, weak Code enforcement, and a lack of independent review continue to undermine public trust. When oversight appears compromised (Danny Rivas, head of security) and leadership seems more aligned with political ambition or development interests than with community well‑being, confidence in city governance erodes. West Hollywood faces serious challenges that require decisive… Read more »