‘WeHo Smart City’ Initiative

WEST HOLLYWOOD—West Hollywood is launching its WeHo Smart City initiative, which will implement technology throughout the urban strand to enhance the community’s quality of life. According to the city of West Hollywood website, the WeHo Smart City Strategic Plan is the first of its kind in the LA area. The West Hollywood City Council approved the WeHo Smart City Strategic Plan in February 2018. The full plan can be downloaded by visiting www.weho.org/smartcity.

The WeHo Smart City initiative implements a multi-phased roadmap to incorporate smart technologies, digital tools, and data analytics into city services for better efficiency and better customer service. The proposed framework supports city initiatives already underway in the SMART areas of Sustainability, Mobility, Accessibility, Resiliency, and Transparency.

“The WeHo Smart City plan is the basis to coordinate our efforts to embrace new technologies that will positively impact the experiences of our residents, businesses, and visitors,” said West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman. “In employing these new technologies, we will be able to more effectively measure our efficiencies and better analyze everything from energy use to traffic flow in order to make more informed decisions about City priorities, which will benefit everyone in the community.”

The WeHo Smart City initiative will build the capacity of West Hollywood City Hall to utilize technology for superior efficiency and improved experiences for members of the community by organizing currently planned projects such as: the creation of a municipal fiber network, which will provide the highest available level of data connectivity; the acquisition of light standards (street light poles) from Southern California Edison, which will create new opportunities for energy-saving LED and smart-sensor retrofits; and, the implementation of smart transit shelters, which will be enhanced with digital technologies to provide real-time information to public transportation users.

New tools will be used across city functions to support a culture of data by building capacity for analytics and creating new tools to transparently track progress on key city priorities. The plan will be constructed through a series of pilot projects, which will provide opportunities for the community to engage and provide feedback to West Hollywood about the effects of new technologies. Strategic decision-making and more information is a primary goal of the initiative that will benefit everyone.

The city of West Hollywood worked with CityFi, a global thought leader in the transportation, technology and finance sectors to develop the WeHo Smart City initiative. Working by inspiring community action, advising organizational leadership, developing strategic roadmaps, and facilitating public-private partnerships, CityFi uses public policy, urban design, economic development, capacity building, and civic innovation to obtain measurable outcomes to develop more livable, sustainable and efficient communities.

A one-minute animated informational video is available on the city of West Hollywood’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/15y1K1KIm0w about the Smart City initiative. For additional details contact Francisco Contreras, the city of West Hollywood’s Innovation Manager, at (323) 848-6874 or at fcontreras@weho.org. For individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing, call TTY (323) 848-6496.