city • Measure E’s donations have come briefs • Board wrestles over send- rudy cole • Just What from financially invested firms Page 3 ing lawyers to city meetings Page 5 You Wanted, More Hilton Page 6 ALSO ON THE WEB Beverly Hills www.bhweekly.com Living In The City WeeklySERVING BEVERLY HILLS • BEVERLYWOOD • LOS ANGELES Issue 471 • October 9 - October 15, 2008 HowHow willwill BeverlyBeverly HillsHills bebe impactedimpacted byby thethe unsteadyunsteady economy?economy? OUR 9th Anniversary cover story • page 9 KBeverly High Robbers hit jewelry Finding Some Humor In • • • project of three towers. will reduce the area of their nine-acre photosClass of '88 Reunion Page 4 sbriefstore on Beverly Drive Page 5 rudyTroubling Times,cole Hopefully Page 6 ALSO ON THE WEB Secondly, this is NOT a hotel project that property that is covered by buildings from Beverly Hills www.bhweekly.com adds financial benefits to the city. It is a 67% to 47%. A twenty percent reduction letters condo project that adds huge benefits to is not much when you consider how much WeeklySERVING BEVERLY HILLS • BEVERLYWOOD • LOS ANGELES the developer’s pocket from the quick of the area viewed from the streets will be Issue 470 • October 2 - October 8, 2008 return of their investment upon the sale of covered by concrete and that all three new & the condos. City Council and Planning towers are adjacent to streets. Also, the Living In The City email Commissioners agreed about the benefits Hilton never gives you a sense of how of having an additional luxury hotel in our much green you will actually see from the “Stone and Lawn Signs of the Times” city since we receive a major portion of exterior, not much. The site plan shows [Issue #469] our city’s revenue from hotels and the only small strips of green. Finally, what I was on the Planning Commission, impacts to traffic are not as great as other about the open air/sky space? When you along with four other commissioners, and uses. The Hilton project results in a look at the Hilton now and see blue sky we studied the Beverly Hilton expansion NET DECREASE of hotel rooms after around it, you won’t see much after the The Weekly’s interview with for over seven months. Mr.Yukelson, Beverly Hills Residents the Waldorf Astoria is built. More than three towers are completed, since the AAssociationssociation president Alan Kaye whose letter was in the Weekly last week, half of the new development proposed is three towers flank the Hilton and one did not study the Hilton expansion as a for the condos. The developer argues that tower is 9 stories higher than the Hilton, cover story • page 9 Planning Commissioner since he was not they needed condos to make this project and the other is 4 stories higher. The truth a commissioner at that time. financially feasible. However, the is the Hilton expansion will be a walled in WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND? Our Commission held 10 public hear- Montage Hotel (a true 5-star hotel) only concrete fortress if Measure H passes. ings and heard testimony from the public, has 10% of their development as condos. Fifth, the currently proposed Hilton You can write us at: staff and the applicant. We read thou- If indeed the developer needs to over project expansion is incredibly larger and 140 South Beverly Drive #201 sands of pages of technical studies, build this site to make it economically taller than what was even proposed to us Beverly Hills, CA 90212 Environmental Impact Reports, staff profitable to him, why are we the taxpay- or studied in the EIR. After countless You can fax us at: reports, letters from citizens and materials ers footing the bill for an oversized proj- hours of deliberation, the Planning 310.887.0789 provided by the applicant. In addition ect that will permanently be there because Commissioners were unanimous in we had several site visits. he may not have made such a good deal removing the condo tower A across from email us at: I am compelled to write this letter to set purchasing the property. El Rodeo School. In return, we agreed to [email protected] the record straight after being approached Third, Beverly Hills can satisfy its state give the developer a few more floors to by people with erroneous information and housing requirements without these his condo tower B. The seeing incorrect information in print. added condos. Also, when weighing the Commissioners were very clear that the First - You may have received glossy impacts of the phased construction and additional floors were granted ONLY brochures alluding to the Planning additional traffic to El Rodeo elementary because we were saying no condo tower Commission being unanimous in approv- school and residents, is this where we A. However, in no case did the Planning ing the Beverly Hilton project. This is want to add additional condos that we Commission ever agree to the current pro- FALSE and DECEPTIVE. The Planning may not need, especially in this market? posal of 18 floors in condo tower B. Commission UNANIMOUSLY denied Fourth, the amount of open space needs SNAPSHOT the proposed massive and overscaled to be clarified. The Hilton says that they letters cont. on page 8 WeeklyBeverly Hills Issue 471 • October 9 - October 15, 2008 Beverly Hills Weekly Inc. Founded: October 7, 1999 Published Thursdays Delivered in Beverly HilIs, Beverlywood, Los Angeles ISSN#1528-851X www.bhweekly.com 1 year Publisher & CEO Josh E. Gross subscriptions Reporter are available. Jacquelyn Ryan Sent via US Mail $75 payable in Sports Editor Steven Herbert advance Contributing Editor Rudy Cole Adjudicated as a newspaper of general Advertising Representatives circulation for the County Nicole Shamtoob of Los Angeles. Case # Nicole Sakhai BS065841 of the Los Angeles Superior Court, Legal Advertising on November 30, 2000. Michael Saghian 140 South Beverly Drive #201 Beverly Hills, CA 90212 310.887.0788 phone 310.887.0789 fax CNPA Member [email protected] All staff can be reached at: first name @bhweekly.com Unsolicited materials will not be returned. A QUICK HELLO ©2008 Beverly Hills Weekly Inc. WILSHIRE BOULEVARD Beverly Hills resident Mike Hakim chatted with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel recently. Waxman was at a hotel event to speak to Persian Jewish community. Pictured (l to r): Rep. Henry Waxman and Mike Hakim Page 2 • Beverly Hills Weekly $5,000 of its committed $10,000 to the cam- building in Century City, has donated $1,000 paign so far. SGPA Architecture and to the campaign. Gaines’ wife, Jill Gaines, is Planning, which has designed a plan for the a Las Virgenes Unified School District & new ‘adult education center’ on Lasky and Board of Education member. LVUSD passed city schools Moreno, has donated $3,000 of the $5,000 a $128 million bond measure in 2006. it’s committed. LPA Inc., which completed LVUSD has twice the student population of the Science and Technology building at BHUSD. Beverly High and assisted in conducting Cost management consulting firm All but one of Measure E’s seismic evaluations of BHUSD schools that Cumming Group has donated a total of spurred the push for upgrades, has fully $1,000. Irvine-based Konsortum1, an electri- donations have come from donated its committed amount of $11,000. cal engineering firm, donated $3,000. President of Gensler construction firm The district’s contracted bond legal coun- Andrew Cohen donated $10,000, on behalf sel Jones Hall has given $7,500 in total to the firms financially invested in its of himself as an individual and not under his campaign. The firm stands to make hundreds company name. of thousands of dollars in commissions from Land use lawyer Fred Gaines, who is cur- the bond. passage rently representing the BHUSD in a legal Measure E campaign has received public matter pertaining to the adjacent SunCal city and schools cont. on page 5 Only one resident has contributed money to the campaign By Jacquelyn Ryan All but $100 of the $69,000 raised for the had not seen the spending report and could NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Yes on Measure E school bond campaign has not comment on it. come from firms that stand to financially Several firms have donated up to $12,500 DATE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 benefit from the bond’s passage in to the campaign. But Measure E, a $334 mil- November, according to a campaign spend- lion general obligation bond for the BHUSD TIME: 1:30 pm, or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard ing report released last week that covers the that would be dedicated to funding seismic period from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2008. and security upgrades to the school sites, LOCATION: Commission Meeting Room A Beverly Hills City Hall The ‘Yes on Schools! Yes on E!- could return hundreds of thousands of dollars 455 North Rexford Drive Committee for Measure E,’ has received all in commissions to any firm hired by the dis- Beverly Hills, California 90210 but one of its donations from bond-related trict for the projects. firms, an electrical engineering firm, legal Several of the firms that have donated to The Planning Commission of the City of Beverly Hills, at its SPECIAL meeting on organizations and construction or architec- the campaign will also submitted Requests Thursday, October 16, 2008, will hold a public hearing beginning at 1:30 pm, or as soon ture firms that have been previously, are cur- for Qualifications and Requests for thereafter as the matter may be heard, to consider: rently or potentially could be contracted by Proposals to the district for consideration for the district, according to the report.