EVENT: Open Forum on CSW LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival Wednesday, Oct. 30

Come tell CSW what you think of LA Pride. Think about your position and tell them what you want, how you feel and what you love about LA Pride.

The City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board Seeks Community Input

WEST HOLLYWOOD – The City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board will hold an open forum on the Christopher Street West (CSW) LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, in the Community Room at the West Hollywood Library. Community feedback and input regarding CSW’s annual Pride Parade and Parade and Festival will be heard during open community forum. The goal is to hear from the community at-large on what improvements may be made to make the annual event more engaging and inclusive. Input will be conveyed back to the West Hollywood City Council and the all-volunteer board of directors of Christopher Street West LA Gay Pride.

West Hollywood has been the home of the annual LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival since 1979, and has been official host and partner of the celebration since the City’s incorporation in 1984. Planning is currently underway for the 44th annual Celebration, which is scheduled for June 6-8, 2014.

The forum will be moderated by the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board Co-Chairs (Amy Ruskin and Robert Gamboa) and the Transgender Advisory Board Chair (Karina Samala). Everyone will have an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes. There will be no cross talk and feel free to share in a non-biased environment. Say whatever it is you want to say about the event, positive or negative. All comments will be collected by staff and submitted to LGAB, City Council and CSW. For those unwilling to speak in public, there will be paper to write down your comment. If you need more than three minutes to speak, you will need to wait another turn. As always, please be respectful of others.

For more information on the forum, please contact Jeff Book, staff liaison for the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, (323) 848-6471. For press inquiries, please contact Kaitlin Egan at (323) 848-6431. 

2014 LA Pride Festival Overhaul Letter (Tell the city what you want!)

My last blog was for those who want to attend the city council meeting tonight in West Hollywood, where they will be approving the 2014 LA Pride Festival. If you still feel like pride isn't what it used to be, and needs an overhaul.. You can email council@weho.org and send them this prewritten letter. I have a docx copy of it, PM me for it.

The letter is as follows:

Email: council@weho.org

Subject: Regarding Item 5.A. WeHo Pride

Dear Councilmember,

Gay Pride in West Hollywood needs a major overhaul. It saddens me to see the City of West Hollywood ignoring all of the talent the entertainment capitol of the world has to offer. Yet again, you seem to be poised to give a rubber stamp of approval to the same outdated production by producers who have demonstrated only a negligible ability for improvement.

Item 5.A on Monday night’s agenda does not seek to improve CSW’s handling of their event. It only allows for Council Members to make suggestions. No doubt Councilmembers will air the same suggestions that come up year after year. These are the same suggestions that were part of an old CSW task force report done eight years that is included in the item.

Some of the recommendations that have been ignored are:
• Make LA Pride a Premier Global LGBT destination
o Hotel occupancies are down in June
o Rather than coming here, people are leaving town. Residents plan on leaving town during CSW
• Month long cultural celebration
o There has been no observable effort to promote private/public partnerships
o There is no Disney style park map, or web page listing the events that exist
• High standards for Parade Participants
o Global standards are the Rose Bowl, Macy’s, Sydney, Berlin, and Gay Games. We are nowhere near that standard.
• WeHo City Hall Liaison
o A formal liaison does not exist

These and many other suggestions will all be ignored again by CSW. The LGBT people of West Hollywood will once again be subjected to a marginal celebration of Pride when we should have the “Premier” experience. All of it will be rubber stamped by the five City Councilmembers and then you will wonder why residents leave town in droves and the hotels remain empty.

Please stop this do nothing cycle. You, as a Councilmember in the gayest city on planet earth, have the power to provide real leadership for your largest constituency. Look forward to the future, not back to the well-worn path.

Either demand substantial, accountable, changes from CSW, or put the permit out for RFP and let new talent bid on what will one day be the quintessential Pride experience on the globe. The only question is, “Will that amazing quintessential experience happen on your watch?”

Sincerely,

(Your Name)

Please help with this. It's time for a change.