John Leonard
Legislative Liaison
City Managers Offices, West Hollywood
John Leonard is the Community and Legislative Affairs Manager for the City of West Hollywood, where he serves as lead staff to the Mayor and Councilmembers, and assists the City Manager with special projects. He has also been a lead staff member for the adoption and implementation of the City’s cannabis ordinance which allows for forty cannabis licenses including adult-use retail and consumption lounges. Mr. Leonard managed the highly competitive process of selecting which applicants received the City’s licenses, including, drafting of the ordinance, formulating cannabis related City fees, drafting application documents and selection weighting criteria (58 criteria), identifying and vetting application evaluation committee members, and overseeing the committee members review of 315 applications. Mr. Leonard continues to work with each applicant to secure the necessary state and local permits to open their businesses. Prior to joining the City of West Hollywood he was a consultant that advised public agencies and private developers on a variety of real estate, financial, and local government projects. Mr. Leonard holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Southern California, and a BA in Geography from UCSB.