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BEVERLY HILLS NUMBER 10
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THIS ISSUE
DIGGING IN — Metro workers were out on the streets Tuesday afternoon, saw cutting just outside of The Hill Bar & Grill on the corner of Wilshire and Gale. Courier Photo by Matt Lopez
Nadine Schiff-Rosen pays tribute to her late friend Leonard Nimoy. 5
The BHHS boys basketball team heads to the CIF Finals. 19
CITY WATCH Starting next week, look for City Watch in The Courier, where we will address issues including salaries, benefits, ethics, conflicts, the declining number of police on the streets, and more! •Arts & Entertainment •Health & Wellness •Birthdays
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George Christy, Page 6 Lennie and Bernie Greenberg Are People You Should Know Who Enhance Our Massive Community With Their Dedication To The Arts, Not Unlike Ann and Gordon Getty In The Bay Area Editorial from Rabbi Pressman AND MORE
CLASSIFIEDS • • • • •
Announcements Real Estate Rentals Sales and More
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March 6, 2015
City Special Assessed Property Taxes May Double To Build Schools
The BHHS band will perform at the 2016 London New Year’s parade. 4
Rigatoni is a 7-week old Spaniel/Doxie mix looking for a home. 4
SINCE 1965
Metro Begins Digging Away In The Streets Of Beverly Hills By Matt Lopez Netzer Admati can’t help but shake his head as he looks over his near empty restaurant at lunch time on a Tuesday afternoon. Admati is the owner of The Hill Bar & Grill at 8842 Wilshire Blvd., located right next to the Saban Theatre. Just after noon on Tuesday, there were only three separate parties eating lunch at his establishment, a far cry from the norm. “We usually have at least three
times the business we do right now,” Admati said. Outside, construction crews were digging away at the sidewalk just in front of The Hill. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority began its saw cutting for utility relocation of the Purple Line Extension, and Admati and his restaurant’s patrons got a front-row seat to all the sights and sounds. Admati said its frustrating, but he has grown to accept that he’s
By Laura Coleman At this coming Tuesday’s Beverly Hills Board of Education formal meeting, the five elected decision-makers are poised to vote on accelerating the Measure E bond to its full remaining capacity - roughly $195 million. That vote, if successful, will trigger a process that will more than double special assessed property taxes throughout the City, bringing the current $51 per $100,000 of assessed value taxpayers now pay to $111 per $100,000 of assessed value. “We will have no credibility with the taxpayer if we double their rate,” said Board Pres-
ident Brian Goldberg at a study session this week where the district’s Finance Committee recommended that the board accelerate the bond to capacity immediately. Goldberg is the sole current board member who was on the board at the time when the $334 Measure E schoolbuilding bond was brought to the voters in 2008 with the promise that property taxes would not be raised. “The bond was never going to work without raising taxes, but that was what the community was told,” he said, (see ‘PROPERTY TAXES’ page 26)
DASHIELL HAMMETT— The archives at the WGA contain original documents, including this application for membership from writer Dashiell Hammett, employed at MGM. Visitors can also find copies of original screenplays and artifacts.
(see ‘METRO’ page 12)
Beverly Hills Elder: Yvonne Jurmann – Designer, Romantic Beverly Hills Is ‘Home’ for Part 26 in a series on Beverly Hills residents who have grown with the Centennial City. WGAw Screenwriters This year, The Courier celebrates 50 years in the community. By Laura Coleman As a young Hungarian woman in Budapest amidst the terror of World War II, Yvonne Jurmann, who turns 90 in June, never dreamed that the music her first love used to strum on his guitar and sing to her were by the composer she would one day marry. “Music was very important in that time because there was no future, so you used it as an escape,” she said. “All I really remember most is friendship and love. My parents helped Jewish people; but you couldn't do much, because
Yvonne Jurmann
then you were treated the way they were and deported or put in jails or in Jewish houses.” (see ‘YVONNE JURMANN’ page 18)
L.A. Officials, Residents Talk 901 Strada Vecchia At Meeting By Matt Lopez Residents, stakeholders and Los Angeles City officials converged Wednesday for a special meeting that many who attended said was a small step forward in opening lines of communication between residents and L.A. city building officials. The purpose of the meeting at the department’s West Los Angeles/Inspection Field Office was to discuss concerns over Bel-Air’s 901 Strada Vecchia megamansion,
a home that has drawn the ire of many residents, as well as the city of L.A. The home was found to have violated many permits, and late last year had its building permits revoked and was issued a stop-work order. Those who attended the meeting, which was closed to the media, said it was well-run by Larry Galstian, the new chief of the Inspection Bureau for the L.A. Department of Building and Safety. (see ‘901 STRADA VECCHIA’ page 19)
Throughout the year, The Courier will honor the legacy of excellence in Beverly Hills’ heritage businesses that have called the City their home since 1965 or earlier. These are our heritage businesses. By Victoria Talbot technology and “an unparalThe Writers Guild of Amer- leled entertainment industry ica West (WGAw) theatre has locale.” been a Beverly Hills fixture Here, members enjoy presince the 1960s. Located at mieres, hold press junkets and 135 S. Doheny Dr., it has screenings, host awards shows screened thousands of films in and receptions and much a professional environment more. The guild uses it about where guild members can 120 days a year and rents it out meet, “schmooze” and gossip another 120 to users such as a about the latest industry buzz. UCLA film series, production The WGA’s newly renovat- companies, private screenings ed theatre has state-of-the-art (see ‘WRITER’S GUILD’ page 18)
Celebrity Photo Agency/Scott Downie
VOLUME: L
TAMING WILL — Can Margot Robbie tame con man Will Smith, which is the premise of their movie Focus. Interracial romantic story moviegoers say "may not be your favorite film, but is worth seeing." For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.