Beverly Hills City Council Elections Are March 5 – Don’t Forget to Vote!
BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME XXXXVIII NUMBER 9 $135 PER YEAR - $1.25 PER COPY •
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THIS ISSUE
SINCE 1965
March 1, 2013
Beverly Hills City Council Election 2013
The Courier Endorses Mirisch, Krasne and Rosenstein For Beverly Hills City Council Vote Tuesday! Students from China visited Beverly Hills High School last week. 4
Nancy Krasne John Mirisch Beverly Hills cuts the ribbon on the new La Cienega Park fitness equipment. 4
“City Hall must stop treating residents like an ATM machine.”
“It is unfair to use City fees and (water rate) markups to get more money from residents and businesses. I would like to know how much of the hike goes to pensions for City employees.”
Brian Rosenstein “The water rate hike is part of our problem about transparency – we just are not transparent. It’s not about money. It’s about being honest with people.”
By Matt Lopez After months of debates, mailers, flyers and in-home visits, election day is finally almost here. On Tuesday, Beverly Hills residents will head to the polls in droves to decide who will lead their city into its 100th Birthday. The six candidates eligible for election are: Mayor Willie Brien, Vice Mayor John Mirisch, former Mayor Nancy Krasne, Planning Commission Vice Chair Brian Rosenstein, residents Katherine Cohan and Michael Talei. The Courier has endorsed Mirisch, Krasne and Rosenstein for City Council. There are well over 2,000 absentee ballots already cast with City Hall. Just how many more will cast their vote on Tuesday? Recent Beverly Hills voting history says it likely will be somewhere around 30 percent of the reg (see ‘ELECTION’ page 26)
Beverly Hills Water Rate Hikes
Vote NO – Do NOT Re-Elect Willie Brien
Joan Rivers reviews Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking! 11
• Has not denounced campaign smear tactics. • Voted to raise Beverly Hills water rates. Mirisch Voted NO, Brien Voted YES • Voted to “fast track” Metro permits and refuses to fully oppose Metro tunneling under the Beverly Hills High School campus. 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 6 years • Pushed for oversized, overdeveloped Roxbury Park. +6% + 6% +15% +15% +7% +7% +70% • Voted to keep Union negotiations hidden from public. Note: According to City staff reports, each is an increase over the prior year’s rate, thus the increas• Voted against public transparency by declining to extend es are compounded. Using 2007/2008 as a “base year” (base year=100) the increases total over 70% City’s 30-day e-mail retention policy. in six years, meaning current water rates are 170% of what they were in 2007/08.
Beverly Hills City Pay Explained Dr. Fran’s tips on helping your baby sleep and managing your temper 13
By Marla Schevker Beverly Hills pays its employees with a smorgasbord of different dishes. The individual dishes are hard to understand, but the total is not. The City groups its employees into nine unions or collective bar-
gaining units. Each has its own contract or “Memorandum of Understanding.” Police, fire and the respective support staff each have their own; the remaining employees are grouped into five “bargain(see ‘CITY PAY’ page 16)
The Beverly Hills Hotel hosted the “Night of 100 Stars” last Sunday. 23 •Health & Wellness 12 •Special Sections 19-21 •Birthdays 28
NIGHT OF 100 STARS— Norby Walters produced the 23rd “Night of 100 Stars” Oscar-viewing party last Sunday at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Pictured (from left): Actor Bruce Boxleitner, Walters and actor Stephen Collins. For more photos see Page 23.
Courier Editorial Board Pt. III – City Hall Transparency This is the third part of our report on the editorial board interviews conducted by The Courier with city council candidates Mayor Willie Brien, attorney Katherine Cohan, former Mayor Nancy Krasne, Vice
CLASSIFIEDS • • • • •
Announcements Real Estate Rentals Sales and More
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OLYMPIAD WINNERS—Beverly Hills Science Olympiad students from all four K8 schools pose together after winning the regional Science Olympiad competition over the weekend. Names of all students on page 14.
Beverly Hills Schools Dominate Regional Science Olympiad By Laura Coleman Beverly Hills Unified School District students dominated last weekend’s Science Olympiad competition held at Occidental
College on Saturday, Feb. 23, with El Rodeo and Beverly Vista Elementary teams bringing home (see ‘OLYMPIAD,’ page 14)
Alex J. Berliner/ABImages
Editorial from Rabbi Pressman AND MORE
(see ‘EDITORIAL BOARD’ page 26)
FROM BLONDE TO BLACK — Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence arrived at the Rosanno Ferretti Hair Spa at 345 N. Canon in Beverly Hills to darken those blonde tresses to black for her next film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
George Christy, Page 6 Seth MacFarlane Swears He Will Not Host Another Oscar Cast Again; Tina Fey And Amy Poehler Are Being Tapped For 2014; A 30-Second Telecast Spot Costs Between $1.7-$1.8 Million
Mayor John Mirisch and Planning Commissioner Brian Rosenstein. They are competing for three seats on the council in the March 5 election.
Jennifer admits she wanted to shout a naughty word when she stumbled on the stairs leading to the stage to accept her Oscar for Best Actress in Silver Linings Playbook. She’s lately apologized for forgetting to thank David O. Russell, her director with the Silver Linings Playbook. For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.