West Hollywood City Council candidates played to their strengths during a student-led debate on Thursday night, one of the last forums before the March 3 election.

Students from the West Hollywood College Preparatory School (front row) posed questions to the candidates for West Hollywood City Council. (photo by Jonathan Van Dyke)

The West Hollywood College Preparatory School hosted 10 of the 12 candidates for city council, with eight high school students asking the questions in front of a crowd of more than 50 residents. School board vice president Alexander Gurfinkel moderated the event.

Candidates John Allendorfer, Larry Block, Mayor John D’Amico, Joe Guardarrama, Lindsey Horvath, Christopher Landavazo, James Duke Mason, Lauren Meister, Matthew Ralston and Tristan Schukraft attended the forum. Mayor Pro Tempore John Heilman sent his regrets that he could not attend due to a law school lecture scheduled prior to the forum’s announcement. Candidate Brian Funnagan was also absent.

School officials said the students spent significant time crafting questions that were targeted to specific candidates based on the candidates’ political platforms and personas.

Mason opened the forum by introducing himself as a candidate who wants to represent a new generation of West Hollywood residents from outside the current political system.

Several candidates said they would lean on their individual city hall experiences. Meister stated that she has worked to help the residents of West Hollywood for two decades by volunteering on numerous committees and commissions, giving her the experience to lead on day one. Block touted his work on the city’s Cross Safe WeHo and campaign term-limit initiatives, adding that he would be at city hall every day and not allow himself to be known as a part-time councilman. Landavazo reminded the audience that he works in the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department and he has 19 years of experience serving the public.

“I am truly the person who does it every day,” he said.

Guardarrama is a governmental ethics lawyer, and he said he would clean up ethical issues in city hall. D’Amico said he has already accomplished a lot since joining the city council two years ago.

“I have opened up our city hall to new voices … and given new ways to be present in city hall,” he said.

Allendorfer noted that although he was the oldest candidate running, his experience as a landlord has kept him in touch with younger residents.

“I’m a senior and I want to see that seniors have a place to live,” he said, adding that he could fight for all generations.

Ralston called for smarter development in the city, along with a back to basics agenda.

“The fact that crosswalks are not really crossable gets to the issue,” he said.

Schukraft said he will emphasize government transparency, affordable housing and better traffic and parking issues, while Horvath said the city council needs to concentrate on public safety and “real” transportation alternatives and solutions.

To deal with affordable housing issues, Mason said the city should require more money be put into the city’s affordable housing trust fund, while encouraging more micro-unit housing, rather than approving large condominium complexes.

Schukraft said the city should have a net zero policy — every affordable unit torn down would need to be replaced by at least one new affordable unit. He agreed that micro-unit housing should be encouraged, as small as 350 square feet, and he called for the city to invest in transitional housing for people who are displaced by the construction of new developments and building retrofitting.

“I’ve seen too many [homeless on the streets],” Allendorfer said. “I think it is really sad we don’t have a homeless [housing solution] here [in the city].”

Candidates offered their opinions on a variety of park-related subjects.

Block called for more pocket parks to help the city deal with its lack of park options. Ralston said he was concerned with plans for an upgraded West Hollywood Park that would eliminate too much green space. Many candidates favored protecting the historical elements of Plummer Park, while rehabilitating it.

Meister said she would pursue re-opening Great Hall/Long Hall, with the possibility for it to serve as a library for the east side of town. Horvath added that she would like to fund a mobile lifelong learning community engagement center.

Landavazo reiterated his commitment to public safety, adding that traffic lights at the city’s borders needed to be better synchronized and crosswalk safety needed to continue to be a top priority.

D’Amico said it was a problem that as much as 80 percent of city residents leave city borders to go to work, while even more people come into West Hollywood from the outside.

“Part of unwinding our traffic … is figuring out how to get them working in our city,” he said.

D’Amico also called for the approval of nighttime traffic officers who could enforce major intersections during peak traffic hours. He pointed to the city’s future automated parking structure as an example of innovative thinking to solve parking problems.

Landavazo countered that it was nice sentiment to build the “Taj Majal” of parking structures, but he wondered aloud if that money could have been used more wisely to build two or three lesser structures located across the city.

“We have got to stop using parking as a revenue generator and instead use it as a public service,” Meister said, noting she would push to lower the price of public parking, rollback meter hours and lower parking ticket prices.

On the subject of business, Schukraft said the city should examine ways to streamline the business permitting process. Horvath said it was important for the city to live up to its moniker of being “The Creative City” when it thinks about the businesses it wants encourage.

Block said that current city policies are hurting business owners. He added that special event permitting was too expensive and he called for the return of free public parking at meters on Sundays. He also said the city should examine creating a residents-only parking pass that would make it free for locals to publically park in their own city, which would foster more local commerce. Finally, he called for a special planning policy for small businesses, to move owners faster through the process. Right now, he said, business owners must go through the same process whether they are opening a small shoe store or a giant Target.

Guardarrama said it was important for incoming developers to take into account the neighborhoods they are moving into, potential traffic impacts and parking constraints. Meister said “overriding consideration” shouldn’t be in the city’s vocabulary in regards to approving projects, and developers need “to give back to the community in a big way,” starting with the addition of more parking.

Block added that it might be wise to draft a citywide environmental impact review, which could include a six-month development moratorium. Horvath said she is working on creating a website that would provide documents and updates to the public regarding each development under city review.

The West Hollywood General Municipal Election will take place on March 3. Voting information can be found at www.weho.org/elections.