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BEVERLY HILLS NUMBER 31
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PORTRAITS OF HOPE– Beverly Hills’ BOLD summer officially kicked off Wednesday evening at the Lily Pond with luminescent discs in neon colors. The project is the brainchild of public installation artist Ed Massey (pictured here with Mayor Lili Bosse). The event served as the official launch for Beverly Hills Open Later Days (BOLD). The initiative is Bosse’s effort to make Beverly Hills more of an evening destination, with businesses staying open later throughout August on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
BHPD Chief Sandra Spagnoli spoke at a women’s conference at the Montage. 4
Four-year-old Whitley is this issue’s Adoptable Pet of the Week. 4
Pucker up! Picklefest returns to Beverly Hills on Sunday. 5 •Real Estate •Birthdays •Letters to the Editor
George Christy, Page 6
10 18 27
By Victoria Talbot Beverly Hills turned out in force for the kick off celebration of Neon Nights Wednesday, an art installation by Ed Massey that transformed the famous Lily Pond into joyful, spinning, neon discs of light, glowing under black light technology and 3-D glasses for eye-popping color. Under a sunset that felt like a movie set, guests mingled in the
(see ‘BOLD’ page 17)
“Each side brought their interests to the table, and both sides understand that the other has a stake. It’s complicated; it does revolve around people’s lives,” said Singh. Last Sunday, the 14 representatives met for nearly five hours with Singh, representing the fifth facilitated meeting in the process. Participants continue to emerge with greater willingness, demonstrating increasing flexibility in the challenging discussions. Singh will not report to the City Council for the August 8 meeting, he said, as the work is not finished. Mayor Lili Bosse, who was present Sunday to observe, said that the sessions will continue as long as necessary so that “everyone is heard.” Councilmembers Les Friedman and Robert Wunderlich have been attending the sessions regularly. “Both sides have to live in their community and co-exist with respect. I totally believe there is a solution here,” said Singh. NATIONAL NIGHT OUT— Beverly Hills Police and Firefighters welcomed the community to the 2017 National Night Out on Tuesday, where Beverly Hills’ finest mingled with residents for fun games, interactive displays and food. Pictured left is BHPD K-9 officer Kevin Orth with Brayden Yadegar.
BHUSD making its facilities and fields available to the non-student population, is set to expire at the end of this month. “It is my understanding that the operational costs to the district to run the JPA are substantial,” said Board of Education member Howard Goldstein, who together with Board VP Lisa Korbatov represents BHUSD on the JPA (see ‘JPA’ page 17)
Beverly Hills/Compton Coalition To Fight Homelessness Blossoms
By Laura Coleman Reeve Chudd Is People Understanding that homelessYou Should Know. The ness is a human problem that we Beverly Hills Barrister Heads The Estate And have failed to adequately address Trusts Department Of is something Angelenos know all Ervin Cohen & Jessup, too well. Earlier this year, the L.A. Homeless Services Authority A Wise Man Whose released a study documenting Astute Analyses Of Today’s News Are 57,794 homeless people in the Worth Knowing And county - a staggering 23 percent Discussing jump over last year. In an effort to address this conCLASSIFIEDS 21 founding tragedy, Beverly Hills sur• Announcements geon Ken Wright, a former • Real Estate • Rentals Congressional candidate, has • Sales teamed up with former Compton • and More
balmy air waiting for nightfall when volunteers switched on the lights to oohs and aahs from the crowd. The colorful discs will remain floating in the Lily Pond throughout the month of August. Every Thursday – Saturday evening volunteers from Massey’s organization Portraits of Hope will offer visitors 3-D glasses and black light
By Victoria Talbot Tenants and landlords continue to make progress in the search for common ground as facilitated meetings with Associate Director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and Assistant Professor of Law Sukhsimranjit Singh produce incremental but measurable progress on the Rent Stabilization Ordinance. Once miles apart on every issue, Singh has assisted the two sides towards resolution one grueling meeting at a time. “We are making progress,” said Singh, “but we still have to go into the details.” The next meeting, like the last, will include seven panelists from each side, selected by their peers from volunteers. The next meeting, which will take place at 2 p.m. Aug. 13 at Roxbury Park Community Center, will be public, but the panelists will negotiate with each other. As with the meeting last Sunday, the public will be able to interact with the panelists only during regularly scheduled breaks.
Beverly Hills, School District Inch Closer To Inking $13.5M JPA By Laura Coleman The Beverly Hills Unified School District continues to edge closer to entering into a new $13.5 million Joint Powers Agreement with the City of Beverly Hills with its auditing firm expected to present numbers justifying the increased ask early next week. The current $9.7 million JPA, which defines the amount of funds the City expends in exchange for
August 4, 2017
Renters, Landlords Draw Closer To Conclusion
Beverly Hills Takes BOLD Step Forward To Support Business
THIS ISSUE
SINCE 1965
City Councilwoman Patricia Moore in an effort to create the Beverly Hills Compton Coalition with a mandate of effectively solving the homeless crisis. While the number of people sleeping on the streets of Beverly Hills (as opposed to inside the City’s houses, apartments or offices) represents less than .04 percent of homeless in L.A. county, the 22 homeless individuals here are each representational of a very real issue. Beverly Hills currently utilizes a multipronged approach (see ‘HOMELESSNESS’ page 9)
Celebrity Photo Agency/Scott Downie
VOLUME: LII
E N D U R I N G BEAUTIES — Elisabeth Moss, Jenny Slate and Zoe Lister-Jones attended the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Grants Banquet at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel. For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.