Have An Easy Fast!
BEVERLY HILLS NUMBER 39
www.bhcourier.com
THIS ISSUE
Kiwi and Molly are this issue’s Adoptable Pets of the Week. 4
Mayor Lili Bosse & Sen. Ben Allen
Bosse Talks ‘BOLD’ Year At ‘Evening With The Mayor’
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner died in Holmby Hills at 91. 5
By Victoria Talbot Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse made “BOLD” the centerpiece of her State of the City address, hosted by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, on a perfect early fall evening at Greystone Mansion. She was surrounded by residents, Chamber members and event sponsors amidst purposefully “bold” and colorful floral arrangements that accented the sweeping vistas and dramatic backdrops of
For more photos, see page 19. Greystone. Guests lingered on the patio, enjoying appetizers and cocktails in the mild evening. The popular mayor drew the largest crowd ever for this annual event, topping out at nearly 700 tickets sold. Bosse entered wearing her (see ‘EVENING WITH THE MAYOR’ page 9)
The 2017 Robinson Gardens Patrons Gala was another huge success. 15 •Health & Wellness •Real Estate •Birthdays
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READY, SET, ACTION–Kerry Brougher, director of the Academy Museum, talks about the future of the new museum taking shape at Fairfax and Wilshire. Pictured seated (from left): Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, Beverly Hills philanthropists Cheryl and Haim Saban, and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.
George Christy, Page 6 L.A. Phil’s Music And Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel And Wife Maria Valverde Hosted The Opening Night Gala Of The Fall Season With A Performance Of Mozart – The Early Years
CLASSIFIEDS • Announcements • Real Estate • Rentals • Sales • and More
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September 29, 2017
Beverly Hills Board Of Education OK’s Teacher Salary Raises For 3 Years
Greystone Mansion held “An Afternoon of Hollywood Glamour.” 4
Raven’s Home star Jason Maybaum shows off his Courier in Vancouver. 5
SINCE 1965
Transformational $50M Gift From Haim, Cheryl Saban Helps Launch Academy Museum By Laura Coleman For the first time in its history, in 2019 the capital of filmmaking will have its own dedicated film museum with the creation of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. On Wednesday, while unveiling a first glance of the ongoing construction, the Academy Museum announced that Beverly Hills philanthropists Cheryl and
Haim Saban were donating $50 million toward its creation, which brings the museum’s fundraising effort to nearly 75 percent of its $388 million goal. “It makes perfect sense for us to become fully committed to this endeavor,” said Cheryl Saban after noting that the donation ostensibly seems to detour from their previous philanthropic endeavors (see ‘SABAN DONATION’ page 2)
By Laura Coleman On Tuesday, the Board of Education unanimously voted to approve a 2.17 percent employee raise for the 2017-18 year. According to a district report, that percentage translates to an average compensation increase per employee of $1,877. However, even though the board also voted to raise employee salaries by 3 percent in 2018-19 and an additional 2.81 percent in 2019-20, Beverly Hills Unified School District Chief Administrative Officer LaTanya Kirk-Carter Latham said it was unlikely that the raises approved for the subsequent two years would happen in the absence of dramatic budget changes. The specific increases are tied to a salary formula based on a percentage applied to secured property tax revenue growth, which was approved by the board effective July 1, 2014. BHUSD administrators are currently trying to change this in ongoing contract negotiations with the employee unions – a move the board unanimously supports. Latham previously told the Courier that the district would be unable to afford the salary increases in the absence of additional reductions or reconfiguring the school district’s K8 schools. On Tuesday, at the start of the meeting, Beverly Hills Education Association Executive (BHEA) President Telly Tse addressed the board to share his frustration about the actions of the current administration. “We start this school year with many educators still in recovery from the impact of the
Celebrity Photo Agency/Scott Downie
VOLUME: LII
layoff notices issued last year,” he said, noting how the district rescinded more than 20 of the 24 layoff notices it issued last March, in addition to hiring 15 new employees. “Compounding the stress that our members already feel is the massive increase in the cost of our medical coverage and the discussion of reconfiguration and the possible impact that may have on staffing as well as our students.” He then took the district to task for attaching a supplemental letter to the salary increaserelated agenda item detailing the district’s plan to reduce staffing by 50 employees to save money in anticipation of reconfiguration starting next year. “The information... is troublesome because not only is it inconsistent with what we’ve been told, but also because we had to find out on our own with no advance warning from the district,” he said. The district is currently projecting a budget deficit of $3.2 million for this year and cutting 50 employees would “save” the district around $5 million. Latham said it was necessary to provide the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) with a letter detailing its plan to reduce the budget by $5 million in order to get the budget certified and provide employees with their contracted raises. “We have to do something this year,” she said. “This salary increase has us deficit spending at $3.18 million in the current year. If we did not make any decreases in the [next (see ‘SALARY RAISES’ page 2)
S H A M E L E S S F O R SHOWTIME — Emma Kenney and Emmy Rossum attended The Paley Center For Media’s 11th Annual PaleyFest Fall TV Previews Los Angeles Showtime - Shameless For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.