as 2023 begins…. – WEHOville
Last year we completed our first full year as WEHOville. We survived. They say the first year is the hardest for any new business and we made it through. It was a year filled with chasing news stories, giving life to the issues, protecting the voices of the people and lots of learning curves.
When some of our local politician’s looked outside of WeHo to the County we followed them. When OUR Public Safety took center stage we looked past our local Sheriff Station to meet with the Los Angeles County Sheriff. And it was even crazier when our up-close interview was on the airwaves used for political advertising by the candidates themselves.
Bill Maher picked up the craziness of WeHo politics in a WEHOville story about reverse discrimination, the city council’s policy to only provide a universal basic income to those who identified as lgbtq. From the LA Times to the Daily Mail, our grass roots, two person band and the WEHOville brand beamed round the world.
Our local inflation skyrocketed partially to national trends but also local decisions. The previous city council had voted on a .0075 sales tax increase on every sale in the city. — the highest sales tax in the county. And the minimum wage increases also went to the highest in the nation. At one local eatery a 2pc chicken combo cost $14.52 combo is $11.99 plus tax at the franchise owner’s other store. That is hyper-local inflation.
The council also began to reap the benefits of a 7.5% sales tax on all Cannabis. Yet with all those new taxes and businesses screaming about Public Safety the City Council voted to cut the Sheriff deputies.
Our Google ad reports proved our strength in numbers. In the early days when we brought WEHOville home our ad reports would register ten or twenty thousand unique page viewers per month. But today Google reports for our advertisers show anywhere from a hundred thousand to quarter million unique page viewers per month. WEHOville’s reach is well beyond our borders to all those who want to know the latest follies in WeHo.
Our ownership ranks expanded too. Today is January 1st, 2023 and Brandon Garcia has vested as a partner, and equity participant of 10% of the company in accordance with the company operating agreement.
And glad to welcome Renee Sotile her wife MJ Godges to the WEHOville team. They both bring a love for West Hollywood that belongs on our pages. Renee and MJ have been given options to become shareholders. Their instagram @LGBTHollywood, describes themselves as “Covering LGBTQ Hollywood in a way only 2 Gay Broads can deliver. #TheOFFICIALLesbianCrew on the scene. Renee has direct access to the WordPress to post photos and videos that will bring more events and stories to these pages in real-time.
All in all I have divested almost 30% of the company shares over these past 18 months. It’s important to bring WEHOville home to all of you and have it stand on its own with a community board of directors. We are still building, growing, and learning. Please contact me if you want to help support a vision of local community journalism, for the people, by the people. A community resource that is ours, not mine.
Thank you to all the contributors, Linda Cauthen, Jerome Cleary, Don Kilhefner, George Nickle, Steve Martin, Lauren Meister, John Heilman, John Duran, Alan Strassburg, Keith Kaplan, to many to list. And the commenters who treat each other with dignity and respect. To the three ‘banned commenters — we begin the year with a clean slate. Let’s start fresh and stay on topic. And thanks to the board monitors who do their best to keep the conversation on topic.
It has not always been easy. As you heard from the dais about city council members receiving threats, well they came ferociously this way too. But we did not have the protection to call the city hall and request a sheriff or security ambassador like one city council member. It shook me to the core of living or trusting West Hollywood.
It’s the end of the year and regrets I’ve had a few. Sorry to those who I have been inpatient with. I got myself and us real deep into the politics of the day trying to save the city from ‘the clique’ or ‘union control.’ We lost. I’ll be fine. — not sure about the rest of you. We wont see the effects of these changes for a few years to come but it will be bigger, taller, faster, louder, and more expensive. There is no more invisible bubble.
Our job now is to bring light to those pay for play decisions. And your job is to speak up.
So thank you all very much, –
Have a happy and healthy 2023,
xo Larry