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BEVERLY HILLS NUMBER 14
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www.bhcourier.com
THIS ISSUE
Temple Emanuel hosted Writers Bloc this week with Curt Smith and Harlan Coben. 4
This blind beloved family pet who survived the Woolsey fire is in need of a temporary foster. 5 • Health & Wellness • Real Estate • Arts & Entertainment • Birthdays • Letters to the Editor
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His Dream Was To Retire To The Countryside At Age 42, After Years Of Writing Plays, Sonnets, And Poems, William Shakespeare’s King Lear Was Among The Three Plays He Wrote When He Aimed To Retire And Didn’t.
CLASSIFIEDS • Announcements • Real Estate • Rentals • Sales • and More
A RUN TO REMEMBER – L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles Police Chief Chief Michael Moore, Gardena Police Chief Thomas Kang, Beverly Hills Assistant Police Chief Marc Coopwood and Los Angeles County Assistant Sheriff Maria Gutierrez were in Beverly Hills Sunday for the Run to Remember, an event in which Los Angeles pays tribute to fallen first responders who have made the ultimate sacrifice. The course took runners on a half-marathon through Beverly Hills and Century City.
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By Victoria Talbot Cynthia Brynan, 66, is suing the City of Beverly Hills and Director of Community Services Nancy Hunt-Coffey, alleging that she was denied promotion because of her age and forced to quit because of ongoing hostility from a supervisor, according to a City News Service (CNS) report. “We have not yet seen the complaint,” said Beverly Hills Public Information Officer Keith Sterling. “The City of Beverly Hills remains strongly committed to a workplace free
from harassment, discrimination and retaliation.” The Courier was also unable to obtain a copy of the complaint prior to deadline. Filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. 19STCV12005 seeks unspecified damages on allegations of wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination and failure to prevent harassment, discrimination and/or retaliation, according the CNS report. Brynan was hired as a
By Laura Coleman Shortly after Beverly Hills Unified School District Superintendent Michael Bregy took the helm of the City’s public school district in 2017, he quickly acquired a reputation for spending. The multiplicity of stories that the Courier has been told over the course of Bregy’s time with the district, enhanced by recent comments made to the Courier, prompted the paper to submit a Public Records Act (PRA) demand on March 5 in order to actually view the expense records of Bregy, as well as his cabinet members. Ten days later, on March 15, the district responded to the initial request, essentially refusing to make the responsive public documents available to the Courier. In formulating a response, the Courier sought guidance from California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA)
Staff Attorney Whitney L. Prout, who helped the Courier re-frame the request in an attempt to work with the district by offering to have the document production start on a rolling basis on a more narrow set of records. In response, on March 19, the district denied the Courier’s amended request. In a letter signed by brand-new BHUSD publicist Rebecca Starkins, who began working for the district last month, the Courier was informed that the request was “vague and overly broad.” “In order to respond to these broad requests, the district would be required to search for and evaluate an enormous amount of expense reports and expense related documents,” the district’s denial further stated. “Additionally, the district would be tasked with redacting a voluminous amount
City’s Draft ‘Complete Streets’ Plan Is Ready For Public Comment Courier Continues Push To Get Bregy’s Expenses By Victoria Talbot A 242-page Draft Complete Streets report with a plan to make Beverly Hills a better environment for every form of transit – including walking, bicycling, shared mobility devices, private vehicles, public buses, metro and ride-sharing, autonomous vehicles and futuristic models that haven’t yet materialized – is now available for public comment through May 17. The Draft Complete Streets Plan final workshop will be conducted at a special Traffic and Parking Commission meeting on May 8 at 6 p.m. at City Hall in room 280-A, when stakeholders can bring their comments to the commission. The plan was prepared at the direction of the City Council with
the mission of meeting future mobility needs and anticipating future modes of transportation. Public input was obtained through an online survey, three community workshops, a pop-up event at the Farmers’ Market and a walk-audit. The City of Beverly Hills hired Transportation Consultants Iteris, Inc. to assist with the plan. The Complete Streets Draft Plan represents a year-long process of community feedback from community members, stakeholders, and site analysis that is meant to complement the existing General Plan, the 2009 Beverly Hills Sustainable City Plan, the City’s Bicycle Master Plan and the 2012 Bicycle Pilot Feasibility Plan. The proposed Draft Plan (see ‘COMPLETE STREETS’ page 2)
Beverly Hills School Board Votes To Issue First Series Of Measure BH Bonds
George Christy, Page 6
April 12, 2019
Former Beverly Hills Community Services Employee Alleges Age Discrimination
Riders participating in the Police Unity Tour met up last weekend at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks. 2
Beverly Hills was named Luxury Travel Guide’s Luxury Destination of the Year 4
SINCE 1965
By Matt Lopez Last June, Beverly Hills voters narrowly passed Measure BH, calling for a $385 million construction bond that will be used to revamp the school district’s aging buildings. Now, 10 months later, the district is taking the first steps to begin moving ahead with those plans. On Tuesday, the Board of Education unanimously voted to approve the issuance of the first series of bonds – up to $160 million – to provide funding to finance construction projects approved by Measure BH.
The bond measure was approved with 59 percent of the vote in June – it needed at least 55 percent of the electorate for it to pass – with the goal of modernizing the district’s five campuses and providing much-needed earthquake retrofitting to the district’s decades-old school buildings. Property owners can expect to pay a tax increase of an average of 4.4 cents on $100 of assessed value for up to 25 years, although that number will decrease in the final decade. “Go build stuff now,” Board of (see ‘MEASURE BH’ page 2)
Brigitte Lacombe
VOLUME: LV
(see ‘AGE DISCRIMINATION’ page 2)
(see ‘BREGY’S EXPENSES’ page 13)
GOING STRONG — Glenda Jackson’s fellow thespians encouraged her to bring her King Lear performance to Broadway, after her success with this complex Shakespearean drama on the London stage. Friends became relentless, she succumbed, and opened this month at the Cort Theatre in Manhattan where the reviews are noteworthy. For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.