This petition calls for the Los Angeles City Council to introduce and pass an ordinance, for the purpose of permanent removal of Donald Trump’s name from the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Blvd.
Sixteen years ago, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, prior to the approval of the Los Angeles City Council (as required under CF78-3949) breaking L.A. City requirements, awarded then Miss Universe Pageant “producer,” Donald Trump, a star on the coveted Hollywood Walk of Fame. He (but most likely someone else) paid around $20,000 for the fees attached to the star at the time.
Since then, but not excluding his prior offenses, twice-impeached Donald J. Trump has fostered and promoted innumerable racist, homophobic, xenophobic, sexist, antisemitic, and autocratic sentiments and actions (too plentiful to list here).
He attempted a coup against the United States in 2021, which ultimately led to the deaths of five Americans and wounded over 140 law enforcement officers. The Joint Chiefs across our military defined the reality of January 6, 2021 as "violence, sedition, and insurrection." The former president continues to lie with abandon, as Republican-led states and Trumpist candidates coordinate widespread attempts to subvert and suppress future elections.
The following accounts for a brief representation of his organization's and prior administration's history:
Trump’s organization defrauded a cancer charity (as part of the selection process prerequisites for a Walk of Fame star the committee specifies “a history of charitable contributions”): https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/nyregion/trump-charities-new-york.amp.html
The Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy change on migrant detention, separated hundreds of children from their parents: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2019/09/24/family-separation-under-trump-administration-timeline
Trump’s administration fought against Title VII protections for the LGBTQ community, their right to adoption, rolled back healthcare protections for transgender Americans, and ordered transgender servicemembers ousted from serving our nation in the military: https://www.hrc.org/timelines/trump/P8
Trump pardoned war criminals: https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/trumps-war-pardons-are-sabotaging-the-military-justice-system/
Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims to the American people while in office, including lying about the severity of COVID-19, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans: https://coronavirus.house.gov/sites/democrats.coronavirus.house.gov/files/SSCCInterimReportDec2021V1.pdf
Trump called for the death of his political opponents on the basis of conspiracy theory. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/14/us-congressman-jim-jordan-echoes-trump-clinton-aides-executed
Trump praised Putin's illegal war against Ukraine, a sovereign nation, as "genius" and "savvy," three years after he was impeached for abuse of presidential power in attempts to extort President Zelensky: https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/politics/trump-putin-russia-ukraine-graham/index.html
Donald Trump has been credibly accused of committing dozens of criminal offenses while in office, and is currently under investigation for likely violations of the Espionage Act, after nuclear secrets of a foreign country were seized at his Mar a Lago home.
The Trump Organization was found guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud on Dec 7, 2022.
On December 19, 2022, the January 6th Committee officially referred criminal charges for Donald J. Trump, to the U.S. Department of Justice, including incitement of insurrection—18 U.S. Code § 2383.
Donald Trump called for the termination of the U.S. Constitution.
On March 6, 2023, days after a song recording of Donald Trump and January 6 prisoners was released, Trump demanded that members of the January 6th Committee be arrested, and for the insurrectionists to be released.
Preceding a possible indictment, Donald Trump threatened Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, predicting and plainly encouraging "potential death and destruction," should he be arrested.
On March 25, 2023, Donald Trump hosted a rally in Waco Texas, where he played images of the Capitol insurrection alongside the recorded song featuring the “J6 Prison Choir,” while asking his supporters to place their hands over their hearts.
It should be noted that this is not the first time Angelenos have petitioned the City for the star's removal. The City of West Hollywood passed a resolution in 2018 asking the Los Angeles City Council and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to do just that. They refused to take up the measure.
Councilmember O'Farrell along with his Communications Director and HEART of Hollywood Initiative Director, Daniel Halden, sought taxpayer-funded grants from all levels of government, that would establish a "long-lasting vision" for the Walk of Fame's future in Hollywood. We contest that there is no taxpayer-funded future on a Hollywood sidewalk with Donald Trump's name on a brass and terrazzo star. (As of 12/12/22, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez replaced Mitch O’Farrell as the new CD13 representative, whose district includes the Walk of Fame).
The City of Los Angeles does not honor autocrats from abroad with commemorative distinctions. We would not stand for the memorialization of Putin or Lukashenko or Gadaffi or Mussolini; so why would it be the position of any public servant to do so for an autocrat at home? L.A. City Council adopted an unprecedented resolution on January 12, 2021, calling for the removal of then President Trump via the 25th Amendment, yet when the same Council is able to act under their own jurisdiction to deliver the most basic symbolic justice on their own block, they have thus far resigned themselves from the responsibility. Sec. 3 of the 14th Amendment awaits for Donald Trump; not a rubber-stamped future on the Walk of Fame.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce PAC has paid tens of thousands in campaign contributions to Los Angeles politicians, including Mitch O’Farrell, Nury Martinez, Curren Price, Paul Koretz, Joe Buscaino, Kevin de Leon, John Lee, Monica Rodriguez, Mike Feuer, Eric Garcetti, et. al. Mitch O’Farrell in particular has received more in campaign contributions from the PAC than possibly any other city representative. A full list of these payments can be found at ethics.lacity.org
Hiding behind cries of “historical immunity” (there is none) rather than standing up for what our city and country fundamentally represent, is unacceptable. We profess that a sixteen-year-old plaque serving as the pinnacle of hate and neofascism, is not protected history. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's and (former) Councilmember O'Farrell's claims that a star "cannot be removed" are proven lies. Government ultimately has the final word in selecting the public views it wishes to express, and nothing in the monument’s national landmark status or local historical associations prevent our city’s elected officials from exercising their authority over it.
But don’t take my word for it. Not only did the Cultural Heritage Commission of Los Angeles move to decertify the historic designation of the pink terrazzo stars years ago, but removing one star's name for the placement of another does nothing to change the physical parameters of the landmark. If that was the case, every single additional star to the Hollywood Walk of Fame would likely receive challenges to the State of California's Office of Historic Preservation. They do not.
In fact, a supervisor from the State’s Office of Historic Preservation, when directly asked about the removal of Donald Trump’s name from the Walk of Fame, said it would be insignificant to any claim of historical designation, if any existed for the singular star, and that “Local government holds all land use authority over property under its jurisdiction, despite historic designation.” A federal preservation officer at the U.S. Department of the Interior reinforced that position by saying, "They're correct [...] there would be no federal requirements or control or protection or review or process that is automatically triggered."
Seeing as the bipartisan January 6th Committee has concluded its role, let’s assume our civic responsibility here in Los Angeles, by taking simple legislative action to remove the name honoring the man who made that committee necessary in the first place.
We, the citizens of Los Angeles and the United States, call for its immediate departure.