The annual State of the City fundraiser was hosted by the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce this past Thursday morning. The event was held at the 1Hotel on Sunset Blvd. and brought West Hollywood city officials, business owners, and business interests together for a panel discussion hosted by Mott Smith and presentation of the 2025 Ed Levin Award.
In attendance were Mayor Chelsea Byers, Vice Mayor John Heilman and Council member Danny Hang, along with City Manager David Wilson and top brass at WeHo City Hall. Acting captain Fanny Lapkin was also in attendance along with other members of the Sheriff Dept. Captain Bill Moulder is on an extended medical leave of absence.

Genevieve Morrill, President and CEO of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took to the podium and acknowledged the pending retirement of City Manager David Wilson. The presentation began with photo’s of Wilson’s early years as an NFL cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings and ended with a heart felt congratulations for his many years of service to the City of West Hollywood. All in the ballroom stood to give Wilson a standing ovation. Both Wilson and Morrill have announced their retirement.
Raj Sannidhi presented this years Ed Levin Award, “we created this award to honor his legacy and the values he lived Excellence, Integrity, and Service. Congratulations again to OfficeUntitled for this well deserved recognition. OfficeUntitled has its hands in many of West Hollywood’s largest developments.
OfficeUntitled was founded in 2018 by Christian Robert, Ben Anderson, and Shawn Gable. The company’s portfolio spans a wide range of West Hollywood projects including the Tower on Sunset, the re-imagined French Market, the Harland, the Charlie, and to be opened Martel Residences as well the 100% affordable housing project the Weatherly. The company also is partnered West Hollywood Moving Image Media Art program which are the first of a series of immersive digital billboards that aim to transform the Sunset Blvd. landscape. The familiar face behind many of the projects is Jeff Seymour of Seymour Consulting who presented the award to Michael Contento “It’s a pleasure to be here, its really nice to be in front of the City of West Hollywood not presenting or defending a project”, “For us this award is more than a celebration of elegance, it is a recognition of community values, shared vision, commitment to community and to design and create meaningful impactful spaces. It inspires us to keep pushing boundaries and to continue becoming the practice that we’ve always inspired to be – fearless, audacious, uninhibited and rooted in purpose. And that ethos is why West Hollywood felt like such a natural partner. As the creative city it’s always been a canvas for innovation, where we can reimagine what a design can be and stretch what is possible.”

The main event was a panel discussion hosted by Mott Smith. Smith is the co-founder of Civic Enterprise and the co-owner of Amped Kitchens. The panel included Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez who represents the 7th District, Veronica Pugin, Vice President of Industry, International, and Business Promotion at LAEDC and WTCLA, Jonathan Schreiber, Vice President of Community Development at Cedars-Sinai, and Julian Chicha, President of the Brighton Group.
LA Council member Rodriguez spoke to the heart of the matter. “what people forget is what is cost to operate a restaurant., and we know that tourism has not recovered to what it was pre-pandemic levels, What good is paying somebody $30 an hour if that restaurant is closed. What good is that if that hotel is shut down because they cant operate because they don’t have the volume of attendance or participation for people to sustain their business.”
Absolute shame on LA City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez for blaming decent employee wages for business failures and, saying NOTHING about private equity real-estate moguls landlords who basically corner the market, raising their rents to record levels and she acts as if high rents are NOT an issue. Oh I forget she’s a realtor. 🤮
High minimum wages are one of the best known ways to stimulate the economy, primarily through increased consumer spending that keeps business open. If the minimum wage had kept pace with productivity growth, it would be well over 💲 26 per hour ❗
Indeed: “What good is paying somebody $30 an hour if that restaurant is closed. What good is that if that hotel is shut down because they cant operate because they don’t have the volume of attendance or participation for people to sustain their business.” 🎯🎯🎯 Monica Rodriguez!!! If only you were on the West Hollywood City Council instead of the numbskulls that are.