Candidate for
Council Member; City of West Hollywood

A HISTORY OF COMMITMENT

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Steve graduated magna cum laude from U.C.L.A. and received his JD from Southwestern Law School. Steve passed the State Bar on his first try and has been practicing law since 1980. He currently practices family law.

Moving to West Hollywood in 1979, Steve was part of the grassroots movement to incorporate the City of West Hollywood in 1984. Steve has been an active voice in community affairs ever since.

Steve and his spouse, John Mulcrone, have shared their home on Huntley Drive for over twenty years. They were married in October, 2008. They are parents to Ginger and Stella, kittens rescued by Laurel Pet Hospital in 2011.

Steve was a founding member of the West Hollywood Democratic Club and served three terms as its president. Steve was also elected President of Stonewall Democratic Club in 1991 and served two terms during which he played a leading role in fighting homophobia in the Sheriff's Department and LAPD and was a leading voice of the gay and lesbian community during the "AB 101" demonstrations in 1991.

In 1992 Steve opened the first Democratic Headquarters in West Hollywood and was subsequently elected a Clinton Gore delegate in 1996.

Steve represented Bruce Boland, a West Hollywood resident and a Sheriff's deputy who was fired from the Sheriff's Department when it was discovered he was gay and successfully fought for his reinstatement. Steve won a settlement from Boland's union, ALADS, for failing to provide for his legal defense. ALADS has refused to ever endorse Steve despite his subsequent support for increased funding for the Sheriff's Department.

Steve served on the Rent Stabilization Commission from 1989 to 1994. In 1989 Steve organized the "Save the Park" initiative that successfully stopped the City from building a massive civic center in West Hollywood Park that would have eliminated our only pool. In 1993 he put together a coalition that defeated Prop D which would have brought the opening of a card club on La Brea.

Steve served on City Council from 1994 through 2003. He led the efforts to take control of Santa Monica Boulevard from Cal-Trans and chaired the Santa Monica Boulevard Re-Design Committee. He worked with the Sheriff's Department to eliminate street prostitution on the Eastside and to make the Department more responsive to the needs of the City's gay and lesbian population. In 1998 Sheriff Block honored Steve for his pioneering efforts to create treatment and education programs specifically to combat crystal meth addiction, the first in the nation.

Steve passed tenant protections so that landlords could not deny tenants parking spaces or evict seniors and people with disabilities because they had pets. He led the efforts to create the King's Road pocket park and his "Trees 2000" program introduced the urban forest concept to West Hollywood. He obtained funding for the Plummer Park computer lab and to refurbish the West Hollywood Park pool.

In 2000 Steve was one of the first elected officials in the nation to publicly endorse same gender marriage. Steve received the Harvey Milk award from Christopher Street West for his leadership in the GLBT community. In early 2003, he was one of the few elected officials to march in protest of the pending U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Steve subsequently served on the Board of Marriage Equality California. Steve and John ran the Honolulu AIDS Marathon in 2002 and 2003.

Steve served on the Council's budget sub committee for eight years, one of the longest tenures of any City Council member. Steve was instrumental in creating the Eastside Redevelopment Agency that has brought millions into the City's coffers and created much needed affordable housing.

Steve has been active in efforts to protect our neighborhoods from rampant over development and spoke out against the ten-story Casden project at Movie Town Plaza and the oversized Walgreens project at Crescent Heights. Steve advocated preserving the historic Tara house on Laurel. Steve was a leading advocate for neighborhood protection during the City's General Plan process. He has served on the board of the West Hollywood Neighborhood Alliance (WEHONA).

In 2012 Steve helped organize the grassroots effort that successfully qualified the term limits initiative that is designated as Measure C on the March 5, 2013 ballot.