Lauren Meister
A knowledgeable professional with an in-depth understanding of civic leadership and community relationships.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
Introducing COUNCILMEMBER LAUREN MEISTER
Background
After nearly two decades as a community advocate, Lauren Meister was elected to the West Hollywood City Council on March 3, 2015. She was re-elected for her second term on the West Hollywood City Council on March 5, 2019 and re-elected for her third term on November 8, 2022. In the last election, Lauren garnered over 6,000 votes — 53% more votes than the number two vote-getter.
Prior to her election to City Council, Lauren served on numerous commissions and committees for the City of West Hollywood, including the Planning Commission and Public Safety Commission. She worked to mitigate traffic and parking impacts of new and proposed projects in the City, supported creative parking solutions to help neighborhood businesses, initiated the City’s “Live, Work, Play, Be Safe” educational campaign, and supported new ideas to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety. She also worked on the successful term limits campaign, campaign finance reform, and has been a strong advocate for a stricter code of ethics.
Priorities
Since being elected to the West Hollywood City Council in 2015, Councilmember Meister has advocated for:
- Increasing public safety resources,
- Providing community members with the social services they need,
- Protecting tenants in rent-stabilized units and bringing forward initiatives to promote housing affordability,
- Assisting the city's small business community,
- Preserving the city’s character and what makes its neighborhoods unique,
- Making sure City Hall is fiscally responsible and looking towards the future in terms of emergency preparedness and community resilience.
Initiatives
Councilmember Meister has initiated a number of programs with a focus on resilience, public safety, environment, and education to improve quality of life in West Hollywood:
- Creating measures to improve continuity of services and increase resilience among residents, businesses, and West Hollywood City Hall, including stockpiling PPE and hand sanitizer for future emergencies,
- Installation of automatic external defibrillators and emergency call boxes at public locations throughout the city,
- A construction fence art program that requires construction fences on commercial development sites to feature temporary art installations,
- Installation of free sunscreen stations and free hand sanitizer stations at all city parks and other appropriate locations,
- A parking meter donation program to increase community awareness of the City’s Homeless Initiative,
- An educational series about City programs, services, and departments to engage and inform the next generation of civic leaders,
- A public safety campaign to educate the community on the dangers of leaving children and pets unattended in parked cars during warmer weather,
- A “Safe Haven” resource guide to assist LGBTQ immigrants fleeing oppression,
- A tree giveaway and monthly tree planting program in order to increase the city's urban forest,
- Revival of the community garden program.