As expected, the West Hollywood City Council last night agreed to extend the current moratorium on demolition or major changes in Craftsman-style houses in the area around Lexington Avenue on the city’s Eastside.
Councilmember John Duran had suggested the city survey the area to identify Craftsman houses that might be eligible for designation as historic or cultural resources. The moratorium was scheduled to expire the end of the month and now will be extended until March 2017.
In other matters, the Council:
— Approved a six-month trial of pick-up and drop-off zones for taxis, the Cityline shuttle, Zip Car drivers and the Pick Up Line, along with ride sharing vehicles such as Uber and Lyft. By requiring transportation vehicles to use the zones, the city hopes to reduce the congestion caused by drop-offs in random areas on busy city streets.
— Delayed to a future meeting a requirement proposed by Mayor Lindsey Horvath that tobacco product retailers obtain a city license and that electronic tobacco devices be included among those regulated.
— Approved a proposal by Horvath that bans all official travel by West Hollywood officials to North Carolina and any other state that enacts similarly discriminatory legislation. The ban is the result of North Carolina enacting a law barring transgender people from using public restrooms that aren’t consistent with their birth gender and preventing city and county governments from from expanding protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
— Agreed to establish, on Horvath’s recommendation, a city advisory board that would be composed of young residents to advise the Council on issues affecting young people in West Hollywood.
— Agreed to establish a task force including small business owners to study ways West Hollywood can encourage new small businesses and support existing ones. The full story is here.
— Agreed to adopt two of several proposed ethics reforms. The full story is here.
Bravo, on the approval ban on travel to North Carolina. Also, to be included is Mississippi, as directed by Mayor Horvath to the City Manager based on, what has now transpired today, Mississippi Gov. singing a similar law into effect. The travel ban will extend to both North Carolina and Mississippi.
This is simply legislated discrimination in 2016.