No Vote on SB 79. Erickson Clashes With the Crowd. Heilman Threatens to Remove Them Both

It was past midnight when Mayor John Heilman finally wrapped it up. No vote. No plan. Thirty-eight residents had spoken, every one of them asking for the same thing. They went home empty-handed.

“I know this is a disappointment,” Heilman said. “You’re not getting a vote tonight. I apologize for that.”

The matter continues to June 15, the last council meeting before SB 79 takes effect July 1.

38 Speakers. Zero in Opposition

Residents packed Council chambers Monday night with many staying past midnight. They came from West Hollywood West, the Norma Triangle, WeHo Heights, the Eastside. Homeowners and renters. A former mayor. A former planning commissioner. A cultural historian. A certified appraiser. All of them, with the exception of one on Zoom, want a local Transit Oriented Development Alternative Plan, a TODAP.

“SB 79 upzoning is government redlining, plain and simple,” said Jonathan Finestone, president of the West Hollywood West Residents Association. “You are targeting single family neighborhoods. You are targeting homeowners, longtime renters, seniors, working families, and working gay families.” He addressed Councilmember Chelsea Byers directly. “Chelsea, your hands are not tied. Your first duty is to protect current residents. If you stay silent now, you too are complicit.”

City council candidate Kyle Brazeal said Staff confirmed last week that more than 1,100 rent stabilized units could be impacted without additional protections. “Taking no action is not neutral,” he said. “It is an abdication of your responsibility.” Council candidates Kody Christiansen and Jonathan Wilson were also in attendance and spoke in favor of the TODAP. 

Two speakers seemed to capture the throughline of most of the comments: responsible building — not no building, and control of the City’s destiny — by design.

Ellen Harrington, a cultural historian and archivist for the Motion Picture Academy who has lived in West Hollywood for 30 years, pushed back on the NIMBY label. She said what most of the room had been saying all night.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ “There needs to be a balance between future development and preserving our special neighborhood quality,” she said. “Why wouldn’t West Hollywood do everything in its power to find creative ways to respond to SB 79? We are the creative city, after all.”

“I strongly reject the us versus them idea that we are NIMBYs just because we love our communities and our neighborhoods,” she said. “It’s a false dichotomy to say that we’re renters versus owners. It’s just not true.”

Jim Perkins was up for giving a history lesson. “I want to take us back to where we started, 42 years ago,” he said. “It was driven by an intense desire to set ourselves apart and to actually structure what we want. We built a beautiful city. It’s by design. It’s by intent. And TODAP allows that to continue.”

Multiple WeHo Heights residents also raised fire safety. Daniel Nakamura noted that as they spoke, a fire was was burning 1,300 acres thirty miles away in Simi Valley. Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, he said, had both permanently exempted very high fire hazard severity zones from SB 79. “If this council does not pursue a TODAP with fire zone exemptions, it is consciously choosing to be the outlier on a public safety question without a stated reason.”

Pierre Follari, an older gentleman took the mic. His wife Louise couldn’t make it. He read her letter for her. “We are not wealthy developers or investors,” he read. “We’re ordinary people trying to hold on to our homes that we painstakingly look after and love. Once these historic cottages are demolished, they are gone forever. And for many of us, this is the only place we have to stay in this community.”

Heilman, Meister, and a Head About to Explode

Heilman came with a motion. He wanted Staff to work a TODAP into the Zoning Improvement Program and get some clarity on a question nobody’s answered yet: whether West Hollywood is even subject to the July 1 deadline. The K Line’s Locally Preferred Alternative was approved March 26, after SB 79 was signed but before it kicks in. That legal question is still open.

Councilmember Lauren Meister was clear on her position. “As a previous planning commissioner myself, and as someone who has watched way too many years of planning commission meetings, my head is exploding,” she said. “To allow 79 to go through with no plan is not… it’s just not smart.” She also corrected the record on a prior vote. “This city did not strongly endorse SB 79,” she said. “The vote was 3-2. Mayor Heilman and I voted against doing that.”

Byers: Build. Erickson: ZIP Already Does This

Byers, who’s up for reelection, said seven stories near West Hollywood transit was needed and is fine by her. ZIP is the City’s local alternative, she said, and it should keep going without distraction. Cities grow and evolve. SB 79 spreads the housing pressure across the whole city instead of concentrating it in certain neighborhoods — that was her argument. “I understand the discomfort that comes with change,” she said. “This is allowing access to transit that is going to be transformational in so many people’s lives.”

Here’s the problem with that. Byers said ZIP is already the City’s version of a TODAP. Staff said that wasn’t accurate. ZIP doesn’t qualify under SB 79 unless it goes through the law’s specific alternative plan process and clears HCD review. None of that has happened. Heilman made the point directly: whatever ZIP says, SB 79 overrides it. They’re not the same thing.

Byers also minimized the threat to individual properties, suggesting large-scale development requires multiple willing sellers and assembled parcels. Staff corrected that too, during Hang’s questioning. A developer needs one or two lots. Someone who already owns property in West Hollywood West can build to SB 79’s maximum on their own parcel today, or buy one neighbor out and go higher. Heilman said there are property owners in West Hollywood West who are developers themselves, already planning to do exactly that. The five to eight story building residents came Monday night to prevent doesn’t require a land assemblage. It requires one willing seller on one narrow residential street.

Erickson was annoyed with Staff on ZIP’s delays, said it risked housing element decertification, and said there was no way a TODAP could be done in 30 days if ZIP couldn’t be delivered in a year and a half.

Robert Stelloff, a longtime West Hollywood resident and business owner, had heard enough of the ZIP argument. “We sat for several months, hours, truly hours, going through the ZIP meetings, thinking we were doing the best for the city,” he said. “We were promised by Michelle Montenegro that you, city council, were gonna come back to us after these meetings in January for discussion. This is now mid May.” He paused. “We feel set up for the fall, and you run the clock out on us. That is how we feel.”

Accusations of Racism

Erickson seemed eager to score points by insinuating it was racist for some public speakers to be using the redlining language. “Redlining, and the invocation of redlining around future transit stops, is so offensive… stop using racist tropes to combat your understanding of what that even looks like,” he said.  Heilman later pushed back. He agreed redlining had historically been used to exclude people of color. But the term had a broader legal and historical meaning, and Heilman — an attorney and law professor with a deep understanding of both — wasn’t interested in scoring points. He was interested in accuracy. West Hollywood knew the term firsthand. In the City’s early years, insurers had redlined West Hollywood itself, driving up rates. “The term redlining has been expanded, and it’s been used in other ways as well,” Heilman said. “In our early years, as a city, we were concerned about insurance redlining, redlining West Hollywood, so that our insurance rates were higher. I don’t want any racist tropes being utilized. I don’t think the intent was to use it in that way.” Erickson made it a fight. Heilman made it a history lesson.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Erickson also brought up again how he will never own a home in West Hollywood and framed TODAP supporters as privileged homeowners protecting property values at the expense of future residents. Something he has done before, including with the Fountain Redesign.

The people who stayed until 12:30 in the morning Monday included 39-year renters, seniors on fixed incomes, and working people who spent decades saving for modest homes on narrow streets. Joe Garderama told Council it took him 21 years to save enough to buy his Norma Triangle home. Erickson’s framing didn’t fit the room he was in.

The Clash

The crowd began shouting comments during Erickson’s remarks. He kept going, trading shots with people in the audience. Heilman stepped in. “Let’s not get into disputes with the audience,” he said. “Well, then, let’s control the meeting, like I asked you to during the break,” Erickson shot back. Heilman, warning the room the next disruption meant removal. “If I’m removing people, it may include some of the council members, too,” he said. Then said, which I don’t have the authority to do.” Erickson wanted an apology. “Yeah,” Heilman said. “You’ll get it later.”            

Erickson kept going. “Are we gonna restrain ourselves? They seem to be quiet when certain people speak, and not when others. I don’t know what you would like us to do. Should we take a break while the city clerk addresses the room?” Heilman said no. “We’re gonna continue,” he said. Catch the full exchange below.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hang Hung Up on Maps

Hang kept returning to the SCAG maps. He wants to see whether West Hollywood’s future K Line stations are actually on them before he votes. Staff confirmed Monday the maps won’t go before the SCAG regional council board until July 2, one day after the law takes effect. Hang said he couldn’t act without them.

Staff told him the question was never whether SB 79 hits West Hollywood. “It’s more a matter of when, not if it applies,” Staff said.

Hang also raised his immigrant parents, suggesting a TODAP could prevent homeowners from selling their property when they’re ready. Staff corrected him on the spot. “Nothing in adopting a locally preferred alternative transit plan prohibits people from selling,” Staff said. It was a fundamental misreading of the bill. For a sitting councilmember casting what may be the deciding vote on one of the most consequential land use decisions in the City’s history, it was a troubling one. Several speakers Monday night were themselves immigrants who spent decades saving to buy modest homes here. Hang’s framing didn’t account for them.

“We could be having this meeting all for nothing,” he said.

Heilman pulled his motion rather than lose it 3-2 again. He said Council will get a map update at the June 15 meeting and can act then. Whether the maps will actually be ready by then is not guaranteed.

What Comes Next

June 15 is the last council meeting before July 1. The SCAG methodology document is expected this week. The full map goes to SCAG’s board July 2.

Meister said she would have voted Monday. So would’ve Heilman. Byers and Erickson said no. The deciding vote, as it has been all year, is Hang’s. Dozens of residents showed up to speak, many staying until 12:30 in the morning to tell him what they wanted. He said he needs a map first.