Steve Martin Kicks Off Campaign for West Hollywood City Council

Former West Hollywood council member and mayor Steve Martin launched his campaign in the race for the West Hollywood city council in the upcoming General Municipal Election, which will be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister, and South Pasadena Mayor Michael Cacciotti showed up in support of Martin’s election at the brunch fundraiser held at Micky’s this past Sunday. Mayor Meister is also up for re-election and has been hosting her own fundraising efforts throughout the city.

“There is a lot of excitement about this Council race and we are anxious to hear people’s concerns,” said Martin via a statement. “I find myself in unique position
in this race. In the last election, the voters roundly rejected two long term incumbents, who are back in the race. They are faced with a slate of younger and
less experienced candidates backed by some of the current incumbents.”

Martin says he’s a candidate who falls somewhere in the middle in that he’s a proven progressive yet he doesn’t see himself tied to the City Hall culture of the past and present. “I am in a position to restore common sense and inclusivity to City Hall,” he said. “The vote to defund the Sheriff and ‘reimagine policing'” has turned into an incredibly divisive issue. I don’t think I have ever seen residents this alienated, angry
and frustrated with city Hall.”

He acknowledged the pressing issues in West Hollywood like crime, homelessness and housing affordability and accessibility, but he said what’s more important at the moment is what he calls a complete like of credibility at City Hall and that community feels alienated and neglected and not part of the process. He said he wants to be a consensus builder and that he’s going to be fighting for the things he believes in and for the things residents say they believe in.

“We do have our challenges,” he said at the fundraiser. “We need to reinstate law enforcement. We need to repeal the cuts to the sheriff’s department. We need figure out how to make the expansion of Block by Block to actually work. We allocated a lot of money for mental health outreach and we need to make sure that works and we’re not tossing money down the drain. We are a very wealthy community. We didn’t need to cut the sheriff’s department. We could’ve had it all.”

Three City Council seats will be decided in the upcoming General Municipal Election. City of West Hollywood Councilmembers each serve for a term of four years and are elected at large. Each year, City Councilmembers select one of their members to serve as Mayor for a year, with the term beginning after the City Council reorganization, which occurs once every year.

The nomination period to apply for city council candidacy began on Monday, July 18, 2022 at 8 a.m. The deadline for filing nomination papers is Friday, August 12, 2022 at 5 p.m. pursuant to the State Elections Code.

The City Council candidacy nomination process requires a potential candidate to gather between 20 and 30 signatures by voters registered in West Hollywood. Potential candidates must be at least 18 years old, residents of West Hollywood, and registered voters within the City.