West Hollywood Activists 'Fed Up,' Look to Pass Term Limits For City Council Members

If anyone would know about the advantages of sitting Councilmembers, it would be former member of the council, Steve Martin, who served for 9 years.  However, now he has endorsed a movement to create term limits in the City of West Hollywood.  We should debate the merits of the proposal separately, but first I want to take a closer look at who is behind the movement.

Coverage for the term limits movement has been spotty, and since this town is so small, local media sources have a large impact on voter opinion.  It so happens that WeHo News endorsed Steve Martin for City Council in 2011 (according to his website), and they continue to cover Councilmember Martin in a positive light.  I have not yet made up my mind about term limits in West Hollywood, but I am certainly skeptical of them, and even more skeptical of the motives of the early endorsers of the effort.

I wonder if these "community activists" are members of a certain church.. or maybe they hang out at El Coyote...

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Its time to give new  residents a opportunity to serve the city on council.  The two long term council members Abbe Land and John Heilman have held on to their seats, its connections and benefits for far too long in many residents minds.  They have opposed term limits at every turn.   When questioned on them they have stated on record  "That’s why we have elections". Unfortunately a new comer that wants to serve the city has a extreme disadvantage in running against an incumbent.  Our highest office in the country allows two 4 year terms.  Why not that for weho?  Its time in many residents minds for weho to have rotation of leadership.

west hollywood badly needs term limits. i hope this shakes things up a bit there.

term limit doesn't do much if the voters keep on electing the same politician.

DEAR LA WEEKLY:  Your new Facebook Posting App is ridiculous in how much personal info it demands.  Congratulations on ensuring that I will never post via FB on LA Weekly again.

YES WE DO CARE ABOUT OUR PRIVACY (as I'm sure all of you do, too)...CATCH A CLUE !

"It's a very conservative measure," says Martin. "There's no retroactive effect, either. The [current] City Council can serve for another 12 years."

WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME !!!

Instead of running around putting out fires set by WeHo City Council, these activists should look into doing a RECALL effort of the 3-4 council members that are causing the problems (NOT the new guy). It's a small city...how hard can it be to collect enough signatures to force a recall election? John  H almost lost his seat in the last election.

I just think it's easier AND CHEAPER to remove the arsonist instead of running around putting out the fires they set.  And you'll be AMAZED how QUICKLY they fall back into line with their jobs on the line.  (Our former city councilman, faced with a recall effort, suddenly demanded an EIR of a major project) Even if the recall effort fails, and I don't think it will, it weakens them for the next election, where they will be beaten.  We tried to do a recall in Council District 5 (City of LA) of Jack Weiss, but the district was SO large geographically (bigger than WeHo) and we needed to get 15% of registered voters in the council district...more than 20,000 signatures, and we had a limited time to do it, but we almost got all the signatures.  When he ran for City Attorney, he lost, because the recall effort ruined his reputation (it was written up in the press and when you go door-to-door bad mouthing somebody it sure doesn't help their election or reelection prospects).  There is a recall effort going on right now in the small city of San Fernando.  If the activists don't want to do this right now, they can keep it in their back pocket for when things get worse...and they will !

"As of now, West Hollywood Councilman John Heilman has served for 27 years. His colleagues John Duran has served for 11 years, Abble Land 20 years, and Jeff Prang 15 years. Councilman John D'Amico was voted into office in 2011.

West Hollywood became a city in 1984. Heilman has served on the council for the city's entire 28-year history. Only two incumbents have ever been voted out of office.

A term limit initiative was put before voters in the late-1990s, but it was voted down.

Martin hopes the City Council will place the term limit language on the ballot themselves, but doesn't expect that to happen.

Instead, community activists will probably have to conduct a petition drive and obtain between 3,000 and 4,000 signatures from registered West Hollywood voters. If they reach that goal, the initiative will be placed before voters in March 2013."