Friday, May 18, 2012
Marriott asks for modifications to the already approved Sunset-Doheny Hotel, where it now plans to open the West Coast flagship of its new Edition brand of luxury hotels. The Planning Commission approves those modifications.
West Hollywood’s Planning Commission gave its approval to modifications to the planned Sunset-Doheny Hotel at its Thursday night meeting. In March 2010, the City Council approved the 11-story, mixed-use hotel project at 9040 Sunset Blvd. (at Doheny Drive) with 148 hotel rooms, 20 condominiums, 18,000 square feet of retail space and 5,800 square feet of conference meeting rooms. At the time, the project was just a concept proposed by developer Richard Weintraub. No specific hotel chain had committed to it. Now, the Marriott hotel chain wants to operate the hotel as the West Coast flagship of its new “Edition” brand of high-end, luxury-service hotels. The chain also has Edition hotels planned for London, Miami and New York City. With a …
34.09062
-118.388913
9040 W Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA
/articles/planning-commission-approves-additions-to-edition-hotel
/locations/7050115
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Community Development Director Anne McIntosh resigns her position, effective June 15, making her the third high-level employee to leave in the past three months. City officials say the three departures are a coincidence.
West Hollywood’s Community Development Director Anne McIntosh has resigned, effective June 15. McIntosh’s departure marks the third high-level City Hall employee to leave in as many months. Allyne Winderman, the Director of Rent Stabilization and Housing, left in late February. Anil Gandhy, Director of Finance and Technology, left in April. While three high-level departures in such a short amount of time is unusual, LuNita Bock, the city’s Human Resources Manager, said it is merely a coincidence. “Two of them were retirements, one was a resignation,” Bock told Weho Patch, explaining that Winderman and Gandhy both retired. “I don’t see any way that they’re connected.” When contacted by Patch, McIntosh declined to say why she resigned or …
Friday, May 11, 2012
During closed session Monday, the City Council discusses covering Councilman John Duran's legal fees should the district attorney opt to prosecute him regarding reimbursement for meals during which he discussed city business, but doesn't make a decision.
The West Hollywood City Council has not yet decided whether to indemnify Councilman John Duran in the event that the Los Angeles County District Attorney decides to file criminal charges against him regarding reimbursement for meals during which he was discussing city business. As West Hollywood Patch reported on May 2, Duran has set up a legal defense fund in the event the district attorney does prosecute. Duran told Patch the district attorney was questioning his using the card to pay for 128 meals over three years, totaling about $7,000. The possible charges against Duran grew out of an inquiry which the district attorney’s office began in March 2011 regarding alleged misuse of the city credit cards by City Hall employees. Prior to its…
The president's re-election campaign took in nearly $15 million.
President Barack Obama came to the Studio City home of actor George Clooney Thursday evening for a fundraiser that brought in nearly $15 million for his re-election campaign, the most lucrative fundraiser for a U.S. presidential candidate, according to host Jeffrey Katzenberg. Barbra Streisand, Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Salma Hayek and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa were among the 150 people who paid $40,000 each to attend the event, benefiting the Obama Victory Fund, with funds going to Obama for America, his re-election campaign, the Democratic National Committee and several state parties, a campaign source said. Two-thirds of the funds raised came from supporters who took part in a contest to win seats for…
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The City Council does not support idea to create a pedestrian zone along Robertson Boulevard south of Santa Monica Boulevard on Saturday nights during the summer.
A proposal to create a pedestrian zone on Robertson Boulevard near The Abbey on Saturday nights during the summer was shot down at Monday night’s City Council meeting. Councilmember John D’Amico suggested the city close off Robertson Boulevard south of Santa Monica Boulevard to the entrance to the pay parking lot adjacent to The Factory on Saturday nights to create a pedestrian zone. Noting that foot traffic already routinely spills into the street due to the narrow sidewalks in front of The Abbey and Here Lounge, often leaving cars incapable of moving, D’Amico proposed having street vendors in the area or putting up tables and chairs in the street to add to the pedestrian zone atmosphere. Other council members weren’t thrilled by the idea…
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
City Council votes to give the Centrum Sunset project, which it denied in April, a chance to come back with revised plans for a scaled down building that would have less video signage and no David Barton gym as a tenant.
The Centrum Sunset project may not be completely dead after all as the City Council gave it a last-minute reprieve of sorts at its Monday night meeting. In April, the City Council voted to deny the three-story, 47,000-square-foot building set to be built on the old Tower Records lot at 8801 Sunset Blvd. An upscale David Barton boutique gym and spa was set to be the main tenant. Area residents strongly opposed the project due to the video signage on the building and the estimated 1,200 car trips a day the project would produce. Councilmembers agreed that amount of traffic was simply too much of an impact on the residential areas and voted 4-1 to deny it. The Council was scheduled to finalize that denial at Monday night’s meeting as part of …
34.090738
-118.383333
8801 W Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA
/articles/centrum-sunset-gets-reprieve-could-come-back-without-david-barton-gym
/locations/6972500
City Council denies an appeal of the controversial Walgreens mixed-use project on Santa Monica Boulevard at Crescent Heights Boulevard. Project will go ahead as planned.
The Walgreens project got the green light Monday night as the City Council denied an appeal of the controversial project. In January, the Planning Commission approved the mixed-use project on the southwest corner of Santa Monica Boulevard at Crescent Heights Boulevard. The project includes 13,276 square feet of retail space for a Walgreens drug store and another 2,138 square feet for other retail stores on street level, plus 20 residential apartments on two levels above. Neighbors living nearby appealed the project saying it would severely impact the residential areas. They argued that the massing of the project was on Havenhurst Avenue end of the block (closest to the residential areas) rather than spread across the entire project. They …
34.09078
-118.3661
8100 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA
/articles/city-council-gives-green-light-to-walgreens
/locations/6972507
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Following a Los Angeles Times story about City Councilman John Duran facing possible criminal charges in regards to use of his city-issued credit card, the city has released two statements.
West Hollywood Patch reported on Wednesday news of City Councilman John Duran setting up a legal defense fund in the event the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office decides to file criminal charges against him for improper use of his city-issued credit card. Duran told Weho Patch the DA was questioning his using the card to pay for 128 meals over three years, totaling about $7,000. He said he was discussing city business over those meals. The possible charges against Duran stemmed from an inquiry which the district attorney’s office began in March 2011 regarding alleged misuse of the city credit cards by City Hall employees. The Los Angeles Times also covered the story on Saturday. Information in that story said that, “one credit …
Friday, May 4, 2012
A proposed development agreement to rehabilitate the historic 83-year-old El Mirador apartment building was recommended for denial by the Planning Commission, although the City Council has the final say.
Efforts to rehabilitate the historic El Mirador apartment building were upset Thursday night when the West Hollywood Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of its rehab plan. Built in 1929, the 7-story, 32-unit Spanish Colonial Revival building that sits on the northeast corner of Fountain Avenue and Sweetzer Avenue has been vacant for the past two years. Jerome Nash, who bought the deteriorating building in 2002, tried for four years to do renovations, but said he was continually thwarted by various city regulations and commissions. Frustrated, Nash evicted all the tenants under the Ellis Act and went out of the rental business in fall 2010. Since the city doesn’t want to see El Mirador deteriorate further while its sits empty, the…
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-118.370355
El Mirador Apartments
1302 N Sweetzer Ave, West Hollywood, CA
/articles/el-mirador-agreement-denied-by-planning-commission
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
What would you like Patch to ask the candidates running for California's 50th Assembly District seat, which includes Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Brentwood, Westwood, Hollywood, Agoura Hills, Malibu and the Pacific Palisades?
Want to know Assembly candidates' takes on an issue as local as the dredging of the Malibu Lagoon or an expensive state project such as high speed rail? With the June 5 primary election date inching closer, campaigns for the 50th Assembly District are kicking into high gear, and, Patch, too, is revving up its coverage. In the coming weeks, editors will interview each candidate (willing) about biographical information and where they stand on important concerns. Reader input and suggestions will play an important role in coverage, so we would like to hear from you: What questions do you want us to ask the candidates? Here's the field for the June 5 primary with links to the candidates' campaign Web sites or Facebook page so you can get …
joninla
2:40 pm on Saturday, May 19, 2012
Heilman is giving city land to private developers after first building outrageously priced parking structures at city cost. Same patter as 'Tara' to transfer city owned property to a 'joint non-profit' with his developers but after the city built and paid for constructing new low income redsidential units for use by a private developers official records as having built the required number of low … more ›