Our city has lost many activists who simply got fed up and moved away to where they feel they can possibly make a difference. The newer residents who have purchased homes or condos at very high market prices have such a high overhead of mortgage payments and taxes that many are working 50 to 60 hours a week just to keep up.
Even though West Hollywood is 40 years old, we are now suffering from what many cities across the U.S. suffer from: burnout, apathy and time.
Our local city issues are competing directly with the instant news cycle that gives every local, national and global headline into your cell phone in real time.
Our city now has many community advocates and activists that are up in years and can no longer attend the City Council, planning, public safety and other commission meetings. Others that call in to participate by telephone many times cannot wait on the phone for hours during the meetings to speak on an agenda item and issue.
If you look at the City Council meeting when it’s broadcast live on YouTube every two weeks, you can see that only about 25 to 35 people are watching that meeting. Many residents do not even have local cable TV anymore to watch our own city channel broadcast our meetings.
Others are burned out since in many neighborhoods whatever issue is sticking in their craw has either been resolved in an unsatisfying way or has angered and disillusioned the residents to the point where they now turn their backs on whatever else is happening in our city.
Our city has lost many activists who simply got fed up and moved away where they feel they can possibly make a difference elsewhere. The newer residents who have purchased homes or condos at very high market prices have such a high overhead of mortgage payments and taxes that many are working 50 to 60 hours a week just to keep up.
When you are hardly in your $1.5-million-dollar home because you’re working, how can you spend any time addressing what could be bothering you in your neighborhood and city?
Some residents in our city have no idea they even live in West Hollywood and think they live in Los Angeles. This is discovered at every municipal election when they walk into our polls to vote, and they think they can vote for the mayor of Los Angeles or some L.A. ballot issue.
One of the biggest problems we have is the apathy of the vast majority of residents who realize they do live in West Hollywood but cannot be bothered to vote.
So where does that leave the rest of us? Right where we are.
We now have newer residents, some young gays and lesbians who have no idea who Harvey Milk was, what Stonewall was all about and love being free and in an alternative lifestyle in West Hollywood.
And why not? West Hollywood is now posh and prettier to look at and be in.
If you take a look at the bars and nightclubs on the weekends, they are mostly filled with non-West Hollywood residents from out of the area that like to come here and be gay on the weekends.
But just like any good mystery novel, the next plot turn in our West Hollywood story could surprise us. We don’t have any idea what the next big fight in West Hollywood will be. But all it needs is a few turn of events, a developer who wants his or her way, a bee that stings just the right resident or business owner and, voila, instant recharge.
Jerome Cleary is a columnist for the LA Independent and lives in West Hollywood. He can be reached at jeromecleary@aol.com.
