M Focus on: Maintenance & Operations
Brightly colored, West Hollywood’s signs are designed to catch eyes.
A digital sign is used to get messaging out that reminds everyone to wear masks and maintain social distance while supporting local businesses.
West Hollywood adopted layered pandemic approach By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal
All photos by Jon Viscott/Courtesy of the city of West Hollywood
By now, it seems as if COVID-19 has been with us forever, and still no end in sight. Cities across the nation have dealt with it in a myriad of ways, sometimes changing policies and practices almost continually, with more changes as the Delta Variant emerged. The city of Charlotte, N.C., issued a mask mandate in August, telling businesses they had to enforce it to all who didn’t have exemptions. When questioned about noncompliance and people refusing to leave, they advised calling 911 and reporting trespassers. Meanwhile, Cambridge, Mass., saw its city council members asking the city manager to impose a vaccine mandate for city employees. The discussion continued further when they saw what the federal government was doing in Boston, Somerville, as well as Cambridge School departments, Cambridge Housing Authority and Cambridge Health Alliance. This led to many opinions and some frustration, as reaching a reasonable plan was the ultimate goal. It was and is a complicated topic, deciding exactly what serves the needs of as many citizens as possible, and has sometimes been settled by no vaccine mandate, but mandatory testing. The Delta Variant is much more transmissible than the original virus, and most outbreaks have occurred among those who remain unvaccinated. David Wilson is the city manager of West Hollywood, Calif., and he has seen many layers of solution to the pandemic. Since March 2020, West Hollywood officials have coordinated with the agencies at local, county, state and federal levels in taking precautions to prioritize 20 THE MUNICIPAL | JANUARY 2022
community health and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Twenty months later, he said officials continue these efforts. “On March 18, 2020, we pivoted from basically completely in-person city government to virtual government. Most of our employees learned to work remotely, while others continued to provide essential services. We implemented many digital services that were previously only in person, like touchless signals to keep the community safe.” In keeping with the situation, the city provided emergency services to those most vulnerable, including but not limited to rental assistance, housing counseling and support, food and grocery delivery programs, senior wellness checks, heat mitigation programs, metro fare credits and on-call transportation programs. Wilson said, “As the pandemic has progressed, health orders have changed, allowing our community to be out again. We have adjusted these efforts. However, our goal and mission to keep our community
