The WeHoX team consists of representatives from:
Amy Amsterdam, LAEDC
Katy Ansite, New Economy Campaigns
Keith Anthony, Public Facilities Commission
Paul Arevalo, City Manager, City of West Hollywood
Tom Balamaci, Zoe Media Group
Joe Conte, UX advisor
Francisco Contreras, Innovation and Strategic Initiatives Manager, City of West Hollywood
John D’Amico, Councilmember, City of West Hollywood
Kurt Daradics, ESRI
Jim Duncan, City of West Hollywood
Catherine Geanuracos, New Economy Campaigns
Max Goldman, Beyond Curious
Lindsey Horvath, Mayor, City of West Hollywood
Jason Illoulian, Faring Capital
Janet Jimenez, City of West Hollywood
Lilly Kam, i.am.angel Foundation
Joe Keenan, Outfest
Tyler Koontz, Koontz Hardware
Ann Le, New Economy Campaigns
Evin McMullen, Wondros
Laura Minnich, City of West Hollywood
Genevieve Morrill, WeHo Chamber of Commerce
Shauna Nep, Goldhirsh Foundation
Francois Nion, JCDecaux N.A.
Mark Olson, Southern California Edison
Greg Propper, Propper Dailey
Julissa Rodriguez, Visit West Hollywood
Josie Roman, SeaLight Enterprises
Bobby Safikhani, City of West Hollywood
Georgia Sheridan, City of West Hollywood
Joel Simkhai, Grindr
Emmanuel Soriano, Industry Partners
Eugene Tsipis, City of West Hollywood
Adrian Velicescu, Standard Vision
Brett White, City of West Hollywood
On October 7, 2014, the City of West Hollywood launched “WeHoX.” Leaders and innovators from the private sector--the “WeHoX Team”- -assembled to work with City staff engaged in developing innovative civic programs. The launch took place during LA County’s first-ever “Innovation Week.”
Francisco Contreras, Innovation and Strategic Initiatives Manager, led the meeting that included then Mayor of West Hollywood John D’Amico, City officials, WeHo residents, and WeHoX Team members. Held at the West Hollywood Library Community Room, WeHoX engaged attendees immediately with a lightning-fast round of “Innovation Speed Dating.” Asked to name a favorite thing about WeHo, participants shared their loves of diversity, walkability, and culture. Asked to name something they’d like to change about WeHo, many pointed to traffic, parking, and high residential and commercial rents.
As an introduction to WeHoX’s main areas of focus, Contreras presented a broad overview of WeHo’s innovation successes in transportation/parking, recreation/wellness, City services, and internal City practices. Pointing to recent initiatives such as The PickUp, edible parkway gardening, new online permitting and open data systems, and the Urban Art Ordinance, Contreras took attendees through a visual journey of WeHo’s innovative solutions to improve life in the City.
Inspired by historical “wins” for WeHo, mixed groups of City officials, WeHoX Team members, and participants worked in groups to brainstorm any and all innovative ideas that could address some of WeHo’s most pressing issues. Ideas about how to promote civic engagement, how to increase efficiency and effectiveness in government, and how to spur the local economy bounced around the room. The transportation and parking group suggested new apps for parking availability and paying tickets; the LGBT group wondered if drop-in counseling services could be available both in-person and virtually. One group carefully considered how the City of West Hollywood website could be improved to offer better and easier city services to the community.
On November 5, 2014, the WeHoX team hosted its second Innovation & Technology Salon, featuring an interactive panel of industry leaders and community activists. The theme of the post-election gathering was civic engagement, broadly considered. The group discussed voting, volunteering, and participating in the civic life of West Hollywood. Drawing on the results from the previous day’s national mid-term election, the salon kicked off with small group discussions about their voting experiences. Participants discussed whether and how they voted, how they made their decisions and shared information with friends, and what was effective or frustrating about the election experience.
While everyone’s voting experience was unique, all could agree that the low turnout of 23% of registered voters in Los Angeles pointed to a disengaged citizenry. Each group shared ideas for improving the voting experience, including making Election Day a holiday, voting online or by phone, separating voter registration from jury duty, and emphasizing civic engagement and voter rights in school civics education.
For the second half of the salon, WeHoX facilitators Francisco Contreras (City of West Hollywood) and Catherine Geanuracos (New Economy Campaigns) moderated a panel highlighting successful models of community creation, participation, and retention. Our featured panelists were Joe Conte (UX consultant and start-up advisor, formerly of General Assembly and NationBuilder), Shauna Nep (Director of Community & Innovation, Goldhirsh Foundation/LA2050), and Michael Haibach (Management Analyst, Public Information Office, City of West Hollywood).
Haibach pointed to social media and web-based engines to get citizens involved with issues outside (and before) a ballot initiative appears, discussing WeHo’s forthcoming use of MindMixer technology. Conte considered himself “bullish” about the future, suggesting that LA’s progressive and tech-friendly environment will attract civic technology businesses interested in public-private partnerships. Nep, reflecting on the successful LA2050 campaign that sparked civic participation across the county, cautions that tech can only do so much. She stressed the need for more local, neighborhood-based interaction and grassroots in-person engagement of the sort that the City of West Hollywood prioritizes and supports.
On December 2, 2014, WeHoX Team members gathered for the third meeting of the WeHoX Innovation & Tech Team Salon series. The theme was “Supporting the Innovation Economy in West Hollywood” – a broad survey of the economic landscape of business and technology in West Hollywood, and a discussion of how the City can improve and attract even more innovative companies.
The WeHoX salon kicked off with an exercise about business-building in West Hollywood, designed to identify the unique challenges and advantages of the local economic landscape. The room was split into two teams, each tasked with opening a (fictional) coworking space in WeHo. Groups were asked to determine an optimal location and company name and share their thoughts behind a WeHo-specific strategy for business success. Both groups agreed that three of WeHo’s most attractive features to potential co- workers are its perfect location in the middle of Los Angeles, its accessible public transportation (good bike lanes and plentiful bus stops are no more than a 5 minute walk apart), and its diversity of people and industry.
Speaking to WeHo’s inherent diversity, one group recommended keeping a coworking space open to all audiences and interests, while the other considered a focused coworking space/ accelerator/ incubator model focused on technology for the hospitality industry, given its concentration in WeHo. One idea in particular that energized attendees was the idea for a “Launched In WeHo” campaign. This campaign would shine a spotlight on the many successful businesses that started in our city while encouraging other entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses to build their businesses in WeHo. A series of showcases, events, hackathons, and/or an innovation award contests offering grant money would demonstrate both a “business-friendly” WeHo and a supportive and engaged community of business leaders around a cohesive campaign.
Shifting gears in the salon, WeHoX facilitators Francisco Contreras (City of West Hollywood) and Catherine Geanuracos (New Economy Campaigns) moderated a participatory panel of WeHoX team members Amy Amsterdam (Director of Innovation at the Los Angeles Economic Development Council), Laura Minnich (Economic Development Analyst at the City of West Hollywood), and Emmanuel Soriano (Market and Development Partner at Industry Partners). Panelists discussed existing and potential city innovations that could make WeHo more business- and tech-friendly.
Soriano shared fascinating data on the commercial/office real estate market. Two data points stood out from his research: WeHo’s 14.7% total office vacancy rate (due mostly to the new unoccupied Red Building at the Pacific Design Center), which is slightly higher than the regional average (closer to 12%) and an average cost-per-square-foot of $4.18, which is similarly higher than the regional average. Minnich attributes this high- demand to a growing market, to the high international interest for global companies wanting to open a “west coast” or “Los Angeles” location in WeHo, particularly in the tourism, hospitality, fashion, and retail industries, and one major office building that is currently unleased. Amsterdam jumped in to mention that although Los Angeles is mostly known for its entertainment and tourism industries, LA County employed more people in the high-tech industry than any other region in the nation, and the size of the tech industry is almost as big as entertainment. Amsterdam suggests that Los Angeles suffers from a “perception problem”; LAEDC’s recently-published report “High Tech In LA” (October 2014) indicates a robust high-tech industry that gets very little attention and is perhaps not crafting a strong enough message to new technology companies that LA is the place to put down roots.
On February 3, 2015, WeHoX brought together diverse industry leaders with City of West Hollywood officials for a participatory planning session on the future of civic/tech innovation initiatives in WeHo. The fourth salon in our series, this WeHoX had two primary goals: feedback on the draft innovation recommendations for inclusion in the upcoming Innovations Annual Report, as well as a discussion about “Efficiency and Transparency in Local Government.” WeHoX facilitators started the meeting with a directed exercise in which WeHoX Team and attendees reviewed the recommendations gathered from the three prior salons. An informal poll asked attendees to “rate” the identified areas of innovation in order of urgency, or “priority”, to the City of West Hollywood. “Civic Engagement and Public Participation” ranked highest, “Transportation, Pedestrian Safety, and Mobility” was next, and “Partnerships, Efficiency, and Transparency in Local Government” and “Supporting an Innovation Economy” were ranked equally. The group then went through the recommended innovations for each topic, adding and editing to the expanding list for the WeHoX “Civic Innovation in the Creative City” Survey (see appendix 3) which was sent to WeHoX Team, participants, City of West Hollywood Staff and City Officials, and West Hollywood residents (through the EngageWeHo. org platform).
Next, the salon shifted into a small, interactive roundtable for a discussion on civic innovations that increase efficiency and transparency in local government. The discussion was anchored by three area experts: Todd Sargent, President of the Los Angeles Innovation and Performance Commission; Vyki Englert, Co- founder of Compiler.LA and formerly of the City of Santa Monica; and Lisa Belsanti, Manager of the Public Information Office of the City of West Hollywood. Belsanti spoke to the challenge of fostering transparency in local government in a digital age. “Gone are the days when large numbers of constituents come to community meetings,” said Belsanti. Municipal government must “keep up with its residents” and reach people where they live, work, and play; the City of West Hollywood has “innovation in its bones” around its long-term communication strategy and has acted quickly to adopt multiple social media channels, mobile-friendly web design, and creative public activations to reach its residents. As president of the Los Angeles Innovation and Performance Commission, Sargent discussed the experience of launching Los Angeles’ Innovation Fund in 2014 and the steps that the City of Los Angeles is taking to foster an innovative, collaborative, and performance-driven mindset among its City staff. While the program is still very new, Sargent nevertheless was pleased with the over 250 ideas submitted to the Commission within the first six weeks of its launch. “So much of innovation is dependent on institutional productivity. Efficiency is innovation,” said Vyki Englert of Compiler.LA. Englert expressed a need for laying the groundwork of communication and collaboration between municipal divisions and departments. Englert, who launched Santa Monica’s first open data portal prior to co-founding Compiler.LA, praised the power of data sharing not only for the benefit of increased public transparency, but for increased internal efficiency within local government.
WeHoX attendees discussed specific initiatives in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco that illuminated the ideas and experiences that the subject-matter experts brought to the roundtable.
The following survey was sent to WeHoX Team members, WeHoX event participants, and City of West Hollywood staff and officials. Additionally, the survey was posted on EngageWeHo.org and open to public responses throughout February and March 2015.
Civic Innovation in the Creative City Survey
West Hollywood is the Creative City – INNOVATION is in our DNA. In late 2014, the City launched an exciting new innovation and technology program, “WeHoX.” As part of this program, the WeHoX team is in the process of preparing an “Innovations Annual Report” for the City in 2015. Please help us launch new civic innovations by providing us with your feedback on our proposed draft recommendations.
Out of the following five (5) Civic Innovation topics, which three (3) do you think the City should focus on? Choose up to 3.
Which three (3) of the following recommendations do you feel should be the City’s top priority? Choose up to 3.
Are there any other high/urgent priority innovation and/ or technology recommendations for the City of West Hollywood in the TRANSPORTATION, PARKING, AND MOBILITY sector that you would like to see on this list? (briefly describe) Optional.
Which three (3) of the following recommendations do you feel should be the City’s top priority? Choose up to 3.
Are there any other high/urgent priority innovation and/or technology recommendations for the City of West Hollywood in the RECREATION, HEALTH, AND WELLNESS sector that you would like to see on this list? (briefly describe) Optional.
Which three (3) of the following recommendations do you feel should be the City’s top priority? Choose up to 3
Are there any other high/urgent priority innovation and/ or technology recommendations for the City of West Hollywood in the CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION sector that you would like to see on this list? (briefly describe) Optional.
Which three (3) of the following recommendations do you feel should be the City’s top priority? Choose up to 3.
Are there any other high/urgent priority innovation and/ or technology recommendations for the City of West Hollywood in the PARTNERSHIPS, EFFICIENCY, AND TRANSPARENCY sector that you would like to see on this list? (briefly describe) Optional.
Which three (3) of the following recommendations do you feel should be the City’s top priority? Choose up to 3.
Are there any other high/urgent priority innovation and/ or technology recommendations for the City of West Hollywood in the SUPPORTING AN INNOVATION ECONOMY sector that you would like to see on this list? (briefly describe) Optional.