Will We Meet Again? Council Discusses Reopening City Hall for In-Person Services
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briefs • BHUSD Expands Hybrid briefs • Cultural Heritage Commission Reviews briefs • Board Reviews Learning to Five Days A Week Page 3 Nominations For Golden Shield Awards Page 3 Audit Reports Page 3 Issue 1125 • April 22 - April 28, 2021 One Beverly Hills Hearings Continue Planning Commission Reviews Proposed $2 Billion Project Will We Meet Again? Council Discusses Reopening City Hall For In-Person Services cover stories • pages 6-7 COVID-19 Vaccination Information Those Currently Eligible for a COVID-19 Vaccine Include: LA County residents 16 and over To sign-up: Visit VaccinateLACounty.com or myturn.ca.gov LA County phone assistance is available for those without a computer: 833-540-0473 • seven days a week • 8 a.m.-8:30 p.m. For general COVID-19 questions and information, visit: beverlyhills.org/coronavirus or contact the City’s COVID-19 Hotline at 310-550-4680 Monday-Friday • 9 a.m.-6 p.m. #BHHealthyCity Beverly Hills SNAPSHOT Weekly Issue 1125 • April 22 - April 28, 2021 Beverly Hills Weekly Inc. Founded: October 7, 1999 Published Thursdays Delivered in Beverly HilIs, Beverlywood, Los Angeles ISSN#1528-851X www.bhweekly.com Publisher & CEO 1 year Josh E. Gross subscriptions are Reporter available. Ani Gasparyan Sent via US Mail Sports Editor $75 payable Steven Herbert in advance Contributing Editor Rudy Cole (1925-2013) Adjudicated as a newspaper of general Legal Advertising circulation for the County Mike Saghian of Los Angeles. Case Eiman Matian # BS065841 of the Los Angeles Superior Court, on 140 South Beverly Drive November 30, 2000. #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. ©2021 Beverly Hills Weekly Inc. RECYCLED NEWS WILSHIRE BOULEVARD AT ELM DRIVE An anonymous resident posted this notice on an abandoned LA Weekly newsrack. Is this OUR DATA SPEAKS VOLUMES newsstand that hasn’t been used in years “ugly, useless junk”? Page 2 • Beverly Hills Weekly Another was 2.D.1.h: “Amending park- Wednesday. the city by formally recognizing import- ing requirements. .” to reduce parking re- Golden Shield Awards are meant to rec- ant features and sites for residents, tour- quirements for restaurants, medical uses, ognize historic and culturally significant ists and visitors. offices, art, entrainment, and to allow new places in the City of Beverly Hills. Hon- • It fosters public appreciation and civic medical uses. orees have included the iconic deli Nate pride in the character and quality of the Apparently the extensive mixed use re- n’ Al’s, longtime retailer Gearys Beverly city and reinforces a sense of place asso- zoning which will allow up to three ad- Hills and the former residence of compos- ciated with Beverly Hills. ditional stories to our height limits, and ers George and Ira Gershwin. • It possesses artistic or aesthetic value, decreased parking requirements near the Commissioners considered the follow- or represents the unique characteristics of homes of so many residents, is not enough ing preliminary selections for the award: a particular architectural style, architec- damage for this City Council majority to • Morocco Junction, a former train sta- tural type, architectural period, method of wreak. tion in Beverly Hills. construction, etc. The talk on increased height and de- • The Beverly Theater/ Fiorucci, a the- • It is associated with community mem- creased parking requirements, which I ater that had opened in 1925 that is now bers, businesses/institutions, or events would characterize as acting, from about part of the Maybourne hotel. that are important to the cultural history 24 to 33 minutes into the meeting, seemed • The Brown Derby, a restaurant that of the city. quite innocent, as if the city intended to opened in 1931. It was closed and demol- • It has a unique location, singular phys- study these issues and to see what res- ished in 1982. ical characteristic, educational value, or idents wanted, as if the city council ma- • Romanoff’s/The Daisy, a restaurant is a prominent or familiar visual feature jority actually cared what the residents that was popular among Hollywood stars within the cultural landscape of the com- wanted. in the 1950’s. munity. WHAT’S ON Funny how when city councilmembers • Edelweiss – Grace Young’s Candy • The recognition is expressly agreed to were running for office, they never hint- Roundup, one of the oldest confectioner- by the owner of the property. YOUR MIND? ed that they planned to change our city. ies in the United States. Of course we should have known that • Pioneer Hardware, a hardware and Board Reviews Audit You can write us at: something was up when a PAC consist- home goods store that has served Bever- Reports 140 South Beverly Drive ing mainly of real estate donors donat- ly Hills residents since 1925. According The BHUSD Board of Education re- #201 ed $80K to assure the re-election of two to the commission’s agenda report, it is viewed last Tuesday audit reports on the district’s use of funds, including for Mea- Beverly Hills, CA 90212 councilmembers. among the oldest businesses in the city. In June 2022, there will be three city • Carroll and Company, a retail estab- sure BH and Measure E. council seats to fill, and we will have a lishment that served celebrities such as According to the district's audit report, You can fax us at: the district’s financial reports show gener- 310.887.0789 chance to change our City Council major- Fred Astaire, Cary Grant and Frank Sina- ity. Hopefully we will replace two of the tra. al fund revenue and other financing sourc- email us at: three city councilmembers. • Hunters Books, a bookstore that oper- es of $80,055,165. Its expenditures and [email protected] Candidates should file to run by a date ated in Beverly Hills for 64 years. other financing uses total $77,516,210. to be determined between mid-December • Harry Harris Shoes, a shoe store that This means that there is a net change of to mid-February 2022. Hopefully some operated in Beverly Hills from 1962 to around $2.5 million. honorable residents who understand why 2020. The report also states that the district’s Beverly Hills has been admired, and who • Pixie Town, a children’s clothing store changes in net position resulted in a actually care what constituents want, will that opened in 1967. $34,312,016 surplus at the end of the last letters step up to run. • J.J. Newberry, a five-and-dime de- fiscal year. partment store. It closed all of its stores in Board member Noah Margo said it’s Darian Bojeaux nice to see things are improving. Beverly Hills California in 1997. • Francis-Orr Stationery, a stationary “After being here close to a decade, it’s email nice to see things really are improving,” store that operated in Beverly Hills from 1924 to 2018. Margo said. “It’s a juggernaut of improve- ment, but I’m very encouraged by both “Mixed-Use Ordinance Gets The commission voted to recommend Morocco Junction, The Beverly Theater/ audits today.” a Verdict” [Issue #1102] briefs Fiorucci, The Brown Derby, Romanoff’s/ Board President Rachelle Marcus said If the mixed use ordinance, which re- The Daisy, Edelweiss and Carroll and staff should be applauded for their work zoned for more than three times RHNA BHUSD Expands Hybrid Company for future consideration of the on the audit report. requirements, was not enough, our City Learning to Five Days A award with a 5-0 vote. “Hopefully next year’s will be even bet- Council majority still is not done ravaging Week Commissioner Josh Flagg said a hotel ter than this one,” Marcus said. the parts of the city where they do not live. The BHUSD expanded in-person in- may open up at the location of the Caroll It is doubtful that any of the over-sized Interview Panel struction to five days a week for ele- and Company store in the future. He said building projects which are in process will Recommends New Traffic & mentary students Wednesday. It will also that means a lot of people will notice the be rejected, which is why the developers similarly expand in-person instruction for Golden Shield Award plaque in that area. Parking Commissioners are investing large sums of money to pro- middle and high school students starting “There’s going to be so much foot traf- An interview panel has recommend- ceed. April 26. fic on that corner that I think, especially ed two new members to the Traffic & But there is more. The city enlisted Lisa Students enrolled in hybrid learning when the hotel opens years from now, to Parking Commission, according to a City Wise Consulting to draft an Economic have been attending campus for their see that plaque right there people will no- Council meeting Tuesday. Sustainability Plan, supposedly to recov- classes in cohorts for part of the school tice it,” Flagg said. The interview panel was made up of er from the COVID-19 pandemic, even week and continuing virtual instruction at Chair Jill Tavelman Collins said the Mayor Robert Wunderlich, Councilmem- though our budget shortfall was reported home the remainder of the school week. commission is starting with the more ob- ber Julian Gold, Traffic and Parking Com- to be only $7 million, and the city received Superintendent Michael Bregy, in an vious nominations and it’ll move forward mission Chair Nooshin Meshkaty and a much greater amount of governmental email sent Friday, also announced that the from there. Vice Chair Sharon Ignarro.