Saturday Is National Chocolate Day!
BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME XXXXVI NUMBER 26 $135 PER YEAR - $1.25 PER COPY •
THIS ISSUE
Camp Beverly Hills kids celebrated July 4th at La Cienega Park. 4
Beverly Hills Softball AllStars Win District 25 championship. 4
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Five BHHS seniors earned the Dorothy & Sidney Factor Scholarships 5
By Matt Lopez The Rodeo Drive Committee got some of its requested funding approved by the Conference and Visitors Bureau/Marketing liaisons, Mayor Willie Brien and Vice Mayor John Mirisch, Tuesday at a council study session. Mirisch and Brien recommended approval of $255,000 in funding for the Rodeo Drive Committee during the 201213 fiscal year, but held off on making a decision on an additional $110,000 requested by the committee for holiday decor. On June 19, the committee requested $365,000 for a host of events including the Walk of Style, Father’s Day Concours INDEPENDENCE DAY—Hundreds of Holmby Hills residents lined the streets Wednesday morning for the d’Elegance, a new event called Ice Cream ninth annual Holmby Hills Property Owners Association Fourth of July Parade. There were no official
•Health & Wellness •Birthdays
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George Christy, Page 6 Fireworks Exploded in Westwood with Sony’s Premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man , Expected to Rake in Between $120-$140 Million During This Six-Day Period; The Mess at MOCA Editorial from Rabbi Pressman AND MORE
CLASSIFIEDS • • • • •
Announcements Real Estate Rentals Sales and More
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Courier Photo by Laura Coleman
Fourth of July parades or celebrations held in Beverly Hills.
Democrats Aim To Children’s Hospital L.A. Welcomes New Co-Chairs Coleman Override Pension Votes By Laura Children’s Hospital Los By Laura Coleman and Matt Lopez Legislative Democrats are attempting to override pension reforms enacted by voters in San Diego with the June 5 passing of Proposition B. The pension reform, passed by 66 percent of voters, eliminates traditional pensions for most new city hires and imposes a five-year cap on the portion of current workers' salaries used to calculate future pensions. “The Governor and state legislature (see ‘PENSION,’ page 17)
Tom Sullivan golf tourney benefits Blind Children’s Center. 9
July 6, 2012
Liaisons Meet Rodeo Drive Committee Halfway
(see ‘RODEO,’ page 11)
The L.A. Kings brought the Stanley Cup to Children’s Hospital L.A. 5
SINCE 1965
Angeles this month announced the election of Cathy Siegel Weiss and Theodore Samuels as cochairs of the hospital’s Board of Trustees. They succeed outgoing board co-chairs Marion Anderson and Jack Pettker. Both new co-chairs touted the creation of the Marion and John E. Anderson Pavilion, a 317-bed state-of-the-art inpatient tower which opened
Cathy Siegel Weiss
Ted Samuels
in July last year, as one of the most powerful accomplishments the board has been involved with under their watch.
“It’s a magnificent institution and all you have to do is look at the quality of the staff, the doctors and the nurs(see ‘CHLA,’ page 9)
New Tax Exemption Could Lure Car Dealerships Away From Beverly Hills By Laura Coleman The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday 12-0 to eliminate the business tax for the sale of new cars in its latest attempt to lure auto dealers from the high-
profile City of Beverly Hills to a lower-cost destination. Last year, in response to Beverly Hills BMW’s move into Los Angeles, City Attorney Larry (see ‘CAR TAX,’ page 16)
ALL EYES AND EARS FROM THE CENSOR POLICE— Nikki Minaj won the Best Female Hip Hop Artist Award for the third consecutive year during the BET Awards at the Shrine Auditorium.
DRIVING ACADEMY—Mercedes-Benz is promoting safe summer driving for teenagers and young people with the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy.
Mercedes-Benz Promotes Summer Safety With Driving Academy
Beyonce won the Best Female R&B Artist, and Cissy Houston sang Bridge Over Troubled Water in memory of her daughter Whitney, leaving the crowd in tears. The Censor Police were very watchful during Nikki’s performance and acceptance speech. She thanked BET “for keeping this category alive for female rappers past, present and future.” More photos in George Christy’s column on page 6.
Gilbert Flores/Celebrity Photo
By Matt Lopez Buckle your seatbelt, because this might cause you to hit the breaks on your plans for summer driving–the most deadly time of the year for young drivers to be on the road. Seven of the top 10 deadliest driving days in 2010 occurred between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and 5 of those fell right in the heart of the summer
(June 10, July 4 and 9, August 8 and 14). Mercedes-Benz is doing its part to help keep young drivers educated about potential pitfalls with the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy, a DMV-certified teen driving school in L.A. The academy says, among other things, parents should have discussions with their teenagers about route planning and road rules, establish a parent-teen (see ‘MERCEDES,’ page 16)