It may help to take a deep breath before you continue to read.

Inhale. Exhale.

As one election cycle closed, another has opened.

Voters throughout Los Angeles County need to jump back into election mode with municipal elections four months away.
(photo by Edwin Folven)

Indeed, after suffering “ballot fatigue” and the most heated election in a generation, it is time to strap in for more political fun with municipal elections coming in March.

Although votes for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are still being tallied, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills’ nomination period for city council started on Monday. Dozens of candidates in Los Angeles started announcing their intentions to run months ago for mayor, city attorney, Council Districts 1, 5, 13, and the education board.

Many issues will be debated and analyzed over the next four months, but stakeholders around the county will certainly be watching as the public weighs in on city planning and development policies and laws that will shape the county’s skyline and density. Each city will find out if preservationists have as much support from their neighbors as they claim, or if more Angelenos prefer to continue with existing development policy.

Many questions will be answered in the results of the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative (NII), launched by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which aims to reform the city’s approval process after putting a two-year freeze on developments that do not conform with the city’s General Plan.

Only voters in the city of Los Angeles will decide NII’s fate, but developments in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills have mirrored the same divide when it comes to approval, and the initiative could set a precedent for future development in neighboring cities.

Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch said the NII campaign “rightly seized” residents’ frustration with the planning process, which he said is “stacked against residents.”

“I certainly personally support the idea of putting the brakes upon development-run-amok in our neighboring city because we ourselves suffer from bad planning decisions made in a city in which the planning process is notoriously ‘pay to play’ and ‘forget it, Jake: it’s Chinatown,’” Mirisch said in his State of the City Address.

Regardless of boundaries, city planners and elected officials in each city hall have been challenged to account for a statewide housing crisis, a development boom, and constituents who oppose out-of-town developers changing their neighborhood’s character.

Most recently, Beverly Hills residents rejected a plan to construct a 375-foot tower. On the other hand, county voters resoundingly approved Measure M to build more transportation options – which could indicate support for more development.

Earlier this year, Hollywood residents protested a development that is set to replace an affordable housing building with a hotel. Voting records on similar developments will be in question during the 2017 election cycle.
(photo by Gregory Cornfield)

That debate will extend to the elected officials and the projects they voted to approve or deny. Beverly Hills City Council members like Mirisch did not conceal their opposition to Measure HH and other developments that will surely be discussed in the next four months. In West Hollywood, incumbent Councilmen John Heilman and John Duran – who are up for reelection – typically voted in favor of developments that their soon-to-be opponents say should be more restricted in terms of size, density, traffic, environmental impacts and more, to comply with existing laws.

Seth Meier, a board member with West Hollywood West Residents Association, said the West Hollywood City Council is “certainly going to see some changes.”

Councilman John D’Amico is not up for election this term, but agreed that city planning will be at the top of everyone’s mind, “and it should be.”

“We need, as a city, a plan to uphold our existing General Plan,” he said. “If we’re not willing to do that, we should address that by working with the process we have to amend our General Plan – not on a case by case basis – but in a way that addresses a new set of goals. I think our city has been slow to respond to issues of sustainability and resiliency and more specifically about what the actual need is for producing housing and where best to do that.”

D’Amico said he thinks West Hollywood has become caught up in wanting to “keep up with the Jones” when there is little to no benefit.

“If we’re not willing to build what we say we want, then we’re just building housing for the rich,” he said.

Duran said he expects the election to be more focused on municipal responses to a Donald Trump administration.

“We’re going to have to fight in defense,” he said, adding the county and state will have to work to protect immigrants, Muslims, Latinos and members of the LGBT community. But he did recognize that in Los Angeles County – where he was born and raised – land use is a constant and emotional issue. And he said he expects the demand for housing to continue to rise as long as Southern California continues to be sunny and beautiful. That’s why he said it’s important that elected officials do not hold back on supplying housing.

“People are eating up 50 percent of their check on rent,” he said. “That’s an urban problem. We have to continue to develop both market and affordable housing to accommodate the high demand of the people who want to be here.”

He said it’s important that the cities continue to look for more efficient ways, like advanced transportation, to accommodate the reality that there is not always enough space for people to get around.

“Everyone says, ‘We don’t want to live in Manhattan.’ Well, have you looked around? There are 11 million people in this county. We can put our head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening, or deal with the reality and accommodate the demand,” Duran said.

The nomination period for West Hollywood and Beverly Hills city councils continues through Friday, Dec. 9. The period to file completed nominating petitions in Los Angeles ends on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

In Beverly Hills, three council seats and one city treasurer position will be open, as Mirisch, Vice Mayor Nancy Krasne, Councilman Willie Brien (which is currently filled temporarily by Councilwoman Kathy Reims), and City Treasurer Eliot Finkel are at the end of their current terms. The council members each serve for a term of four years and are elected at large. Then council members select one of their members to serve as mayor for a year.

To make an appointment with Beverly Hills’ City Clerk’s Office, call (310)285-2400. For information on West Hollywood’s election, call the City Clerk’s Office at (323)848-6409. To contact the Los Angeles City Clerk, call (213)978-1020.

The last day to register to vote in the March 7 election is Feb. 20.

Visit www.weho.org/elections, beverlyhills.org/citygovernment/electioninformation/ or http://clerk.lacity.org for election information and links to the California Secretary of State’s Voter Registration page, the Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorder’s website and information for polling places and sample ballots.