The Courier Celebrates The Life Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME: LIII
NUMBER 2
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THIS ISSUE THE PRIDE OF OPRAH — Accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award during the Golden Globe Fest, Oprah Winfrey recalled her pride as a youngster watching Sydney Poitier receive the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the 1963 Lillies of the Field.
Hurricane Harvey survivor Rebecca is one of two pets available for adoption. 4
Celebrity Photo Agency/Scott Downie
The Beverly Hills High School Dance Company will perform at The Wallis. 4
For more photos and information on the Golden Globes, see George Christy’s column on page 6.
Golden Globes Scorecard Beverly Hills officially cut the ribbon this week on Cheryl Saban Designs. 5
Movies • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – 4 Best Drama; Best Screenplay (Martin McDonah); Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell).
• The Shape of Water - 2 Local philanthropist Lee Kapelovitz died at age 90. 5
Best Director (Guillermo del Toro) and Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat).
• Lady Bird - 2 Best Musical/Comedy; Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy (Saoirse Ronan).
Beverly Hills’ Bonnie Goldfarb was named to the California Film Commission. 12 •Real Estate •Health & Wellness •Birthdays
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George Christy, Page 6 The Pre-Show Blather During The Golden Globe Awards Missed The Energy Of Joan Rivers. Wendy Goldberg And Her Friends Describe The Evening As “Lackluster.”
CLASSIFIEDS • Announcements • Real Estate • Rentals • Sales • and More
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Television • Big Little Lies– 4 Best Limited Series/TV Movie; Best Actress (Nicole Kidman); Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern) and Best Supporting Actor (Peter Skarsgard).
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - 2 Best Comedy Series and Best Actress/Comedy (Rachel Brosnahan).
• The Handmaid's Tale - 2 Best Drama Series and Lead Actress/Drama (Elisabeth Moss).
SINCE 1965
January 12, 2018
BHUSD Responds To Alleged Sexual Assault At Beverly Vista By Installing New Interim Principal, Assistant Principal By Laura Coleman In the wake of last Thursday’s decision by Beverly Hills Unified School District Superintendent Michael Bregy to place Beverly Vista Principal Christian Fuhrer and Assistant Principal NEW LEADERS–Beverly Vista Interim Principal Chris Regan and Assistant Principal Alyssa Para on Chris Hertz welcomed students back to school immediate adminis- from Winter break on Monday. trative leave shortly last Thursday evening to school after learning that Beverly Hills district employees and Beverly Police had launched an invesVista families, Bregy tigation into alleged on-camannounced that effective pus sexual assault at Beverly Monday, Jan. 8, Chris Regan Vista, one wonders just how and Chris Hertz would be much more fall out still has yet Beverly Vista's interim princito take place. The district pal and assistant principal, began to take discernible respectively. action only after the Courier “I’m writing to inform you broke the story last month, that Mr. Fuhrer and Ms. Para #MeToo In Beverly Hills: are on administrative leave Former Student Details Sexual from our district,” Bregy stated Harassment While Attending in his email. “I hope you can BHUSD School, despite understand that we are prohibBHUSD employees having ited from commenting on indibeen aware of the issue for vidual personnel matters over a year. (see ‘BEVERLY VISTA’ page 13) In emails that went out
Community Gets First Glimpse At District’s Plan For Future Of Planning Commission Majority Advances Planned Beverly Hills Schools Project At Friar’s Club Site By Laura Coleman More the 100 people turned out Wednesday night for the first of two community forums to discuss the future of Beverly Hills public school education in what proved to be a unilateral push to dismantle the school district’s current K-8 configuration. Led by Superintendent Michael Bregy and his handselected Future Focused Schools Team (FFST), the presentation did not go as billed–specifically, no real reconfiguration options for Beverly Hills Unified School District were presented beyond creating a dedicated middle school. “I think [at the second forum] you’re going to see that we’re weighing in on each of the options with more detail,” Bregy subsequently told the Courier. The second forum was slated to transpire Thursday night after press time.
“Our charge is to provide viable options. This is not a decision-making group.” For over two months, the 22member FFST, made up by some of the finest community members in town, has been meeting regularly in an effort to provide thoughtful options on how to best reconfigure the district’s four middle schools while ensuring that the educational success of students remains primary. The team is slated to make a presentation to the school board at a Special Board Meeting on Jan. 23 with the board slated to vote – or not vote – on one of the options at a subsequent board meeting. While the educational benefits of creating a dedicated middle school are clear, namely, increased education and programming opportunities for students, the intangible social trade-offs are much less precise. (see ‘RECONFIGURATION’ page 27)
By Victoria Talbot Applicants for the project located at the former site of the Friars Club at 9908 South Santa Monica Blvd. returned to the Planning Commission Thursday with modifications, seeking a Residential Overlay Zone for a five-story residential structure in a commercial zone, and were granted a continuance by a majority of three out of five commissioners who said they thought it was “a good idea.” Planning Commissioner Joe Shooshani, who led the charge to back the developer’s plan, along with commissioner Alan Block and Vice Chair Andy Licht, overrode the concerns of Chair Lori Greene Gordon and newly-installed Commissioner Peter Ostroff, who could not make findings for a zone change.
The facts presented to the Planning Commission must “result in the findings that the public interest, health, safety, morals, peace, comfort, convenience, or general welfare requires the reclassification of the property involved,” to change a General Plan and Zone Text Amendment. The project applicant has been before the Planning Commission twice, and each time, received direction to revise their project. This goround, the applicants submitted concept plans that clearly demonstrated what they were and were not willing to do. The applicants actually increased the floor area ratio (FAR), which is set at 2.1. With the original project set at 2.5, it has increased with each (see ‘FRIAR’S CLUB’ page 2)