On Monday evening, the West Hollywood City Council passed a Co-Sponsorship agreement with The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power – far better known as ACT UP – to hold a 30-year anniversary event celebrating the organization’s renewed activism at that time.

Throughout its history, ACT UP was well-known for its very vocal, unapologetic, but peaceful protest and organizing around the treatment of and for those with AIDS/HIV.

The motion had been agendized for later in the meeting, but Mayor Pro Tem John Erickson moved that it be instead placed on the Consent Calendar, which is designed to quickly approve less controversial items.

ACT UP L.A. was one of the country’s first chapters of the organization, and it frequently held its meetings at Plummer Park, which will also serve as the natural venue for the anniversary event in the Park’s Great Hall and on its Great Lawn.

According to the staff report, the December 2 event “Will pay tribute to Act Up L.A. activists Mary Lucey and Nancy MacNeil and help raise awareness of ACT UP L.A.’s history near World AIDS Day.” (Which is Annually on December 1)

Lucey was best known for Co-Launching a history project documenting the HIV activism of ACT UP in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1997. She also championed compassionate release for women in prison suffering from AIDS, which led to the release of its first prisoner, Judy Cagle. In the mid-nineties, Lucey worked as the City of L.A.’s first AIDS Coordinator and was instrumental in funding the city’s first needle exchange program.

MacNeil was active on the Prisoners with AIDS Subcommittee and the ACT UP National Network, where she and fellow activists continuously disseminated educational materials, analyzed data, wrote advocacy letters and postcards, and helped organize demonstrations. She became the founding executive director of Women Alive, an organization run by and for HIV-positive women. She was also a big part of establishing the first national women’s AIDS hotline.

Lucey and MacNeil joined ACT UP in 1990 after attending the organization’s first Women’s Caucus meeting in June of that year. Sadly, both passed away in February after 30 years together and eventually, marriage.

The plan passed on Tuesday will do the following:

• “Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute documents incident to the Co-Sponsorship Agreement and any other ancillary City permits that may be required for this event.
• Authorize the use of the City’s name and logo on invitations, programs, and other collateral materials.
• Direct the Communications Department to utilize all appropriate communication tools to promote the event via the City’s website and social media tools.
• Approve the use of Great Hall, Long Hall, and Great Lawn at Plummer Park, waive any Facility Use Fees, Encroachment Permit Fees, and the 3-hour parking limit at the Plummer Park parking lot for event participants, and any other ancillary City permits that may be required for the event (estimated $1,074).
• Authorize the Director of Finance & Technology Services to allocate up to $5,000 from budgeted funds in the Special Council Programs account number 100-1-01-00-531001 for costs associated with the event.”

The report also states, “The proposed Co-Sponsorship Agreement will be entered between the City and LA Living Through Giving Foundation, a not-for-profit that acts as the fiscal administrator for ACT UP LA.”