Accomplishments
Protecting tenants and preventing homelessness
Chelsea protected West Hollywood tenants by improving the rent stabilization ordinance and supporting legislation that required year-long minimum leases for homes and condos. The year-long lease requirement prevents vacation rental companies from diverting housing stock from its intended purpose and keeps it available for residents.
Chelsea created new affordable housing across the City, helping ensure more people can afford to live in West Hollywood. She has supported policies and projects that expand housing options for residents, while continuing to push for a city where affordability is treated as a core part of livability.
Chelsea supported LA County’s ordinance to improve tenant livability in extreme weather by establishing a maximum indoor temperature of 82 degrees. The county’s ordinance serves as a model for West Hollywood’s efforts to ensure that even as climate change makes extreme weather occurrences more likely, residents will be protected from the worst health consequences.
During her tenure as Mayor, Chelsea opened the Holloway Interim Housing Program, as part of the City’s long-term plan to address homelessness. The Holloway Program provides 20 individuals with up to 90 days of transitional supportive housing and is part of Chelsea’s commitment to humane, people-centered solutions to homelessness.
Supporting working families
Chelsea has supported the expansion of West Hollywood’s child care initiatives and preschool program, including by initiating a feasibility study to explore expansion of the City’s Plummer Park preschool and launching a local leaders for child care network to support child care expansion statewide. Currently, enrollment at the Plummer Park preschool is limited by minimum space requirements despite the community’s need for high-quality preschool. The study is the first step in potentially expanding the size of the facility or finding another suitable city facility that would allow for an increase in the number of children and families served.
Chelsea increased the social services budget by $1 million to address issues of unmet housing, nutrition, and healthcare because working families deserve that city that is responsive to their needs.
Chelsea spearheaded the effort to outlaw discrimination based on family or relationship structure. All families, regardless of their makeup, deserve equal treatment under the law. Chelsea’s legislation helps ensure that no families, including chosen families, will be discriminated against when seeking housing or public accommodations or contracting with the city.
Chelsea supported doubling the Grants in Schools program, which provides additional funding to West Hollywood schools to support educational and enrichment opportunities for local students. The terms of the grants were also expanded to include a two-year option to give schools more support for ongoing programs and projects.
Bolstering WeHo’s local business community
During her tenure as Mayor, Chelsea formally established West Hollywood’s Rainbow District, which not only honors the legacy of this vibrant section of West Hollywood but also supports local LGBTQ+ businesses by establishing year-round programming highlighting the district, including providing funding for a winter market and ice-skating rink and Harvey Milk Day events.
Chelsea launched the “WeHo Loves Locals Gift Card” program to support residents’ engagement with West Hollywood’s local business community and increase investment in these businesses at a time when they are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic as well as other challenging economic conditions. The gift card program gave participants an additional 50% bonus card when purchasing a WeHo Loves Locals gift card that could be used at a number of local businesses.
Preserving WeHo’s diverse history and expanding its community offerings
Chelsea led the design and expansion process for the West Hollywood City Playhouse, which will include a 99 person-capacity, 6,000 square foot theater as well as a nearly 3,000 square foot garden space when completed. Its presence in West Hollywood will increase the community’s access to the arts at a time when public provision of the arts is widely under threat and serve as a cornerstone for arts programming citywide.
Chelsea supported West Hollywood’s Russian-speaking community by securing funding for building and program improvements at the Russian Language Public Library and increasing funding for the annual Mishka Festival. The Mishka Festival is a 25-year tradition that celebrates the impact the Russian-speaking community has had on West Hollywood with art exhibitions and musical performances. The Russian Language Public Library provides access to Russian-language reading and cultural materials and serves as a community hub, particularly for older residents.
Chelsea spearheaded an initiative to increase support for community and nonprofit sports and athletic clubs, including establishing a dedicated grant program. Many West Hollywood sports and athletic clubs provide an inclusive environment to engage in sport and connect with the community and also contribute to West Hollywood’s visibility outside of the city. The grant program helps offset costs for these groups and ensures that West Hollywood residents of all backgrounds and skill-levels have an opportunity to participate in sport.
Improving mobility and transit options
Chelsea enhanced Streetscape projects by adding protected bike lanes and accelerating plans to increase mobility options and improve safety on Fountain Avenue, which is the most-accident and speeding-ticket prone stretch of West Hollywood streets. The Streetscape projects championed by Chelsea would increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as motorists, and expand transit-equity.
Chelsea launched the financial mechanism that will generate $2.2 billion for the creation of Metro’s K Line Northern Extension. When completed, the City of West Hollywood will have three new metro stations and will be connected to major cultural destinations throughout the area, including Museum Row and the Hollywood Bowl.
Fighting for a greener WeHo
During her time as Mayor, Chelsea championed and helped adopt West Hollywood’s Equitable Building Performance Standard as part of the city’s Climate Action Plan, a major step towards improving the quality of life for renters, lower energy costs, and reducing emissions from buildings. As rising temperatures present a threat to both the health of residents and affordability, this policy helps ensure West Hollywood is healthier and more climate resilient.
Chelsea spearheaded the country’s first plant-based default policy, advancing an innovative climate solution that reduces reliance on high-emission meat and dairy products aligning the city’s food policy with its climate action plan. The policy positions West Hollywood as a model for local governments across the country and reflects a commitment to practical, everyday climate action.
Chelsea has shepherded the creation of the highly innovative San Vincente Streetscapes Plaza “Sky Sanctuary” project. When completed, the project will not only provide ecological benefits to residents, including increasing shade and rainwater capture, but will also function as a public gathering space.
Chelsea led and signed into law banning retail pet sales, expanding the city’s existing ban on the sale of dogs and cats, helping prevent the sale of animals from commercial breeding operations and reinforcing the city’s commitment to animal welfare.
Stewarding the city towards a thriving future
Chelsea has helped revitalize the Sunset Strip via the Digital Billboard Program, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars over the billboards’ lifetime in dedicated revenue for streetscape improvements and historic preservation of the Sunset Strip.
Protecting Immigrants
Chelsea co-authored a motion directing city staff and the city attorney to look into an ordinance establishing ICE-free zones on city-owned property, building on West Hollywood’s existing Sanctuary City policies in support of the city’s immigrant community. This proposal would ensure that city property is not used in unauthorized immigration enforcement operations.
When ICE raids escalated across Los Angeles County, under Chelsea’s leadership, the city of West Hollywood acted quickly by joining the city of Los Angeles in a federal lawsuit to protect immigrant community members. She also led efforts to make Know Your Rights information more accessible and easier to find, including launching a dedicated page on the city’s website.
Fire response
In one of the first actions she took as Mayor of West Hollywood, Chelsea worked quickly to support residents impacted by the region’s fires. The city passed an emergency ordinance to make it easier for evacuees to find housing by temporarily suspending the City’s one-year lease requirement, allowing hotels to host people for longer stays, and waiving and expediting home-share permits to increase available units. They also directed resources toward emergency response.