Letter to the Editor: Investigate City Hall Spending

Writer is angry about City Hall spending and the salaries city employees make.

I am concerned with the amount of money the city council members make in West Hollywood. A city manger who makes more than what is the maximum set for that position and to EVEN have a city manager with a population of less than 38,000 is completely absurd! The Mayor of Los Angeles makes less than he does and Villaraigosa manages the city by himself with no city manager and look how large LA is!? And all the high salaries of the so-called "Deputy Council" members, they are just glorified secretaries ..... try and call to speak to anyone of them and they sound completely clueless and always takes a message! Another waste of city resources. All the other city hall employees make way beyond their maximum pay grade and that does NOT make any …

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Late Weho Planning Commissioner John Chase Tribute

Article pays tribute to urban designer John Chase who died in 2010 but left behind a legacy of urban planning throughout West Hollywood

Letter to the Editor: Walgreens Project Good for City

Writer supports the plans for the Walgreens drug store proposed for the southwest corner of Santa Monica Blvd at Crescent Heights.

I don’t normally write op-ed pieces about development projects.  However, I believe that certain development projects are good for this City and appropriate for some individual sites.  One of those projects is the Walgreens mixed-use project slated for the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Crescent Heights Boulevard.  This project, which a few of neighbors have tried to demonize, is really a “win-win” for the City.  And I say this both as a resident and as a former Rent Stabilization Commissioner and current Public Facilities Commissioner for the City.  This project which includes a Walgreens (and yes, I know there is a CVS at Santa Monica and La Cienega), retail space for small businesses, as well as apartment housing above is …

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Watching the City Burn from the Rooftops—the L.A. Riots 20 Years Later

A personal remembrance of a low point of Los Angeles history.

We had a balcony seat to the Los Angeles Riots of 1992.  My housemate snaked a TV up to the second floor rooftop of the historic Craftsman in West Hollywood 20 years ago today and we watched—live all around us and on TV—our beloved Los Angeles burn. It was a weird bit of sensurround. Not only were we watching live TV, but helicopters swooped overhead, we heard gunshots in a distance, and we could smell the smoke. Within hours, we watched the plume of smoke get closer and closer, coming up LaBrea Avenue, and eventually skipping past Santa Monica and going north to Hollywood Boulevard. It did erupt into the Valley, but only in certain areas. Studio City was spared. Today, looking back, it amazes me more not that it happened, but how many …

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Letter to the Editor: Earth Day Food For Thought

How people treat their lawns, shrubs, flowers and trees has a profound impact on the environment. Ideas to consider on Earth Day.

Dear West Hollywood Citizens RIGHT NOW birds are nesting, sitting on eggs, and trying to raise babies. It's the worst time to allow "gardeners" in Los Angeles --who seem to know and care nothing about plants, wildlife, gardening, green things, the cycle of nature, the environment or the earth--to hack away at shrubs, trees, bushes; any place that might harbor a nest. The ungodly cacophony of power tools like leaf-dust blowers and those vicious rotating saws that slice away layers of hedges will make it impossible to hear chirping, will scare away the mother and will make it much more likely that even someone aware of the potential problem can detect a nest until it's too late. The methods used will at least expose the nest to predators, …

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A Farewell Letter from the Editor

Danielle Jacoby of West Hollywood Patch steps down as editor and thanks the community.

For the past year, I have had the pleasure and honor to serve as the local editor of West Hollywood Patch. Today, I bid you all a fond farewell. To the commenters (and their very honest insight), our wonderful team of bloggers (community leaders, foodies, music lovers, a matchmaker and more), and the thousands of readers who head to Weho Patch to satisfy their information needs every day—thank you. I will miss all of you as I embark on the next chapter in my career, serving as a producer/editor at TMZ. Looking back, I can't help but feel proud. Weho Patch was there when hundreds of gay couples and community leaders marched to welcome the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision on same-sex marriage. Patch scooped major media outlets …

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E.M. Fredric

1:43 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012

Congrats Danielle! You will very much be missed!   more ›

Opinion: Butler's Out-of-District Campaign Office Sends Wrong Message to Voters

A campaign office grand opening flyer reveals Butler's headquarters, located just west of the 405 freeway on Santa Monica Boulevard, lie outside the 50th Assembly candidate's district.

If your opponents' biggest talking point against you is that you are an outsider who has abandoned her current district and constituents to move into a district you have never lived or worked in, chances are locating your campaign office out of the district is not the best tactical move your campaign could make. But that's exactly what AD50 candidate Betsy Butler's campaign has done. Butler sent out invitations Tuesday asking supporters to come to an open house at her new campaign offices this Saturday at 11512 Santa Monica Blvd. in West LA. The office is located several blocks outside the district. During campaign season, it's expected for politicians to set up their headquarters in the district. Not only does it make the campaign and the…

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Opinion: My Big Flip Flop on Centrum Sunset

The longtime Larrabee Street resident decides he is now in favor of the project set to go into the old Tower Records location at 8801 Sunset Blvd.

I want to express my support for the Centrum Properties development set for the old Tower Records site on Sunset Boulevard. I was opposed to this project over the years, but after a meeting with the developer and his architect at a small neighborhood gathering at a Horn Avenue residence, and after studying the new iteration and their addressing most of my concerns, I think this project would be an asset to the community and the beginning of a much-needed facelift for Sunset Boulevard going West from Horn. Centrum Sunset has been extremely accommodating throughout this long process. Their newest version of the project, where they have added enough parking to bring the project not just up to code but have created a surplus of parking spaces …

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When Democratic Party Bosses Cling to Power

Assembly Speaker John Perez has diverted crucial funds to help Besty Butler defeat her local challengers, activist Torie Osborn and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, in the race for the 50th Assembly District, says Paul Hogarth.

This snippet of an opinion from Paul Hogarth comes courtesy of the Huffington Post. California's new map of legislative districts offers Democrats an historic opportunity to pick up seats in November—and win a two-thirds majority that would make Republicans irrelevant. But in a move to consolidate control at the expense of everything else, Assembly Speaker John Perez has diverted resources from competitive "swing districts" and is instead meddling into Democratic primary fights in deep-blue seats. In West L.A., for example, State Assemblywoman Betsy Butler has carpet-bagged into the new 50th Assembly District with the Speaker's blessing—a district where she currently represents less than 2 percent of its constituents. Perez has gone all-…

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Steve Ward

1:10 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012

Nasty politics and politicians prior to the nomination. http://vimeo.com/35677810 The transcription is below... "Thank you all. Come back to West Hollywood soon. We're not going to work for you, Torie. This is bullshit. This is bullshit. You violated our community. You violated our community. It's not like we won't remember this. [Something something aside to another gentleman] ...you're working …   more ›

Weho Citizen Poll: What's Really Bothering You About City Hall?

Maybe it's the Council's stance on traffic mitigation, or their actions regarding Plummer Park. Take blogger Sheila Lightfoot's poll to find out if residents can relate on their biggest concerns with the City of West Hollywood.

I know we all do not agree on every detail of every issue that we face in West Hollywood. But based on the responses to my previous blogs, Is City Hall Schizophrenic? and Weho’s Idea of Election Reform, I am pretty sure we agree on the general principles of preserving our city’s unique heritage. Why not test that theory in detail by taking a poll of our opinions? Maybe that will help us determine whether we can really work together with a sense of basic common goals. Go ahead and answer the below questions, then check out Sheila Lightfoot's latest post, Are We Just Against City Hall or Do We Actually Stand for Something?

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Paul

6:40 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Sheila, I clicked on the link but it says it can't be found. Also, I enjoyed watching & Listening to your friend sing last season on The Voice. She should have won I thought. Frenchy was good also!   more ›