More Share Their Voice for Why Voters Should Support Changing the

More Share Their Voice for Why Voters Should Support Changing the

West Hollywood City Council

By Keith Kaplan, Chair, WEHO for the People

New voices are speaking out and sharing their concerns about how the West Hollywood City Council has abandoned their community and implemented policies that now threaten their economic survival and public safety, in the video series produced by WEHO for the People, a grassroots movement of residents, business owners and organizations. Those sharing their concerns are saying they’ve had enough of the City of West Hollywood’s policies that are threatening their public safety and economic survival – and democracy.

The Council is implementing policies without taking into account or reaching out to its residents, business owners and organizations for discussion about how these proposed policies would affect them. The stories shared are immensely powerful and reflect what a vast majority of people are feeling about our once great City. We are going to do all we can to showcase these stories and push for change to help bring back public safety and economic security for West Hollywood.

Nearly 100 residents, business owners and organizations have signed onto the WEHO for the People grassroots effort since it launched on September 7th.

‘West Hollywood residents once said our City was a safe place where you could be who you are without being judged,’ said Cheyenne Webster, a resident who works as a make-up artist in the entertainment industry. “But now, we are feeling like we are not safe in our City anymore.” The West Hollywood City Council voted to defund two Sheriffs deputies without considering how it would impact its residents and business owners as reports showed crime had skyrocketed nearly 140%. People today are afraid to leave their houses in broad daylight.

“Not being safe in West Hollywood is not something we want to be,” said Webster. ‘I could feel comfortable walking in our neighborhood. I felt safe. But now that is no longer true. One neighbor was recently pistol-whipped in broad daylight while walking his dog. He did not have anything on him but his cellphone, so they took it.”

“I have no desire to live in a city where fear is the number one emotion,” said Tim Jahnke, who lives and works in the City’s entertainment industry. He thrives on the diversity, the arts community and music industry that have also thrived in West Hollywood. He feels connected because his friends both live and work in the City’s entertainment industry. “But now, people are getting mugged in broad daylight and face no consequences. A man ran out of a store with an arm full of groceries, a security guy was running after him, and the manager was running and yelling to let the guy go. The criminals are too brazen. People will leave our city. I may leave too.”

“The City Council is the death blow to my business,” said Karim Amersi, a multi-generational owner of Hollyway Cleaners. His father loved the community and the energy so much that he sought out a business and made West Hollywood his home back in 1984. But he says now he may have to leave West Hollywood and move nearby to allow his business to survive. First, he notes recently enacted policies that caused labor costs to increase 35% overnight back in July making it significantly more expensive to run a business in West Hollywood versus all of our immediately surrounding communities. Like many WeHo businesses Hollyway already paid employees well above minimum wage, “But now, the city’s unfamiliarity with what it takes to run a business” may drive him out of the city. Public safety has also become a big concern for Karim. “We used to be known as the drycleaners that never closes,” staying open until midnight to serve busy professionals and production wardrobe departments. But due to the lack of effort to put public safety first, he had to make the difficult decision to change his hours to close at an earlier time of 9:00 PM. “Our customers depend on these longer hours and my employees depend on those hours, but their safety is a top priority.”

Yola Dore feels the City failed her. She is a civil rights, human rights and women’s rights champion. She made sure people in West Hollywood were granted these rights when she helped build the City years ago. “As a senior and person with disabilities, the City now treats seniors and people with disabilities as an afterthought. The City imposes higher labor costs on businesses which forces seniors, unable to leave the City to pay more to buy their goods and services when they are already struggling to survive on their limited fixed income.”

WEHO for the People is a broad-based coalition made up of citizens, neighborhood groups, businesses and other interested parties who share a vison of West Hollywood as a dynamic, creative urban village with a strong sense of community and acceptance. At the same time, they are concerned with the aggressive, anti-community policies that are devastating West Hollywood (WEHO), driven by the SHE alliance (Shyne, Horvath, Erickson) who continually ignore and fail their constituents while supporting special interest groups that promise to support their future political endeavors.

To view other stories, go to: https://www.wehoforthepeople.org/testimonials