The Courier Wishes You A Happy Thanksgiving And Hanukkah!
BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME XXXXVIII NUMBER 45 $135 PER YEAR - $1.25 PER COPY •
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SINCE 1965
THIS ISSUE
Book Fair Week comes to Beverly Hills Schools. 4
Horace Mann celebrates the fall season with the Husky Fall Harvest. 4
November 22, 2013
JMB Looks To Loophole To Skirt Traffic Limit By Laura Coleman Using an obscure L.A. Code section to avoid parking/density restrictions, JMB Realty Inc., the Chicago developers pushing the Metro subway plan under Beverly Hills High School, is seeking to nearly triple the size of an office building it is legally allowed to build as part of its planned Century City Center project. The loophole claimed by JMB would allow its proposed office building at 1950 Avenue of the Stars TOWER OF BABBLE—Roughly 150 people crowded inside the second floor room at at the West LA Municipal Building at last Friday’s planning hearing on JMB’s latest plan to build a 37-story office to grow from a maximum of 261,000 tower as part of its proposed Century City Center. Around one-third of attendees spoke, the square feet to an enormous 731,000 (see ‘JMB,’ page 11) majority, who donned “I Support Century City Center” stickers, were in favor of the proposal.
Christiansen Files, Does Not Serve, Lawsuit Against Gross, Board Members And Others The adorable Figgy is looking for a loving home! 5
Lladro plays host to the Armenian International Women’s Association.
By Laura Coleman The Courier has learned exclusively that former Beverly Hills Unified School District project manager Karen Christiansen and her company, Strategic Concepts, LLC, through
Joel Pressman
SUITE 100—Sal A b a u n z a , G e n e r a l Manager of the L’Ermitage Hotel, shared his vision of the Age of Glamour for Suite 100 to celebrate the City’s Centennial.
“The Brightest, Most Optimistic, Most Powerful Force Imaginable,” Says Arthur Cohen About Photographer Richard Avedon Whose Exhibition Avedon:Women Is At The Gagosian Gallery Editorial from Rabbi Pressman AND MORE 25
See Page 4 for the full story.
(see ‘PRESSMAN,’ page 2)
Social Media Mania Comes Beverly Hills Unified’s $45 Million Bond Sale Moves Ahead To Beverly Hills Students By Laura Coleman Beverly Hills Unified received some very good news this week, when Keygent, the district’s financial advisory and management
George Christy, Page 6
Announcements Real Estate Rentals Sales and More
(see ‘CHRISTIANSEN,’ page 11)
By Victoria Talbot Joel Pressman, BHHS performing arts instructor and esteemed cantor, died Monday of cancer. He was 63. After retiring last year to fight the disease, Pressman announced in September,in a Facebook video, that he was dying of the disease. Former students, parents, friends and supporters unveiled an outpouring of love for the man who had inspired so many.
5
•Arts & Entertainment 12 •Health & Wellness 16 •Birthdays 21
CLASSIFIEDS
Lisa Korbatov, Dannis Wolliver & Kelley, Sue Ann Salmon Evans, Brian Duus, Marilyn J. Cleveland, Quinn Emanuel, Urquhart & Oliver, Steven G. Madison, Michael T. Lifrak
Pressman, Beverly Hills High Performing Arts Teacher, Dies
El Rodeo students excel at Math. 5
• • • • •
her attorneys Hillel Chodos, have filed, but not yet served, a lawsuit for fraud, corruption and malicious prosecution in L.A. Superior Court against Jerry Gross, Telacu Industries, Brian Goldberg, Myra Lurie, Myra Demeter,
consulting firm, reported Wednesday that it had successfully sold the district’s series 2013 bonds, $45 million, with an interest rate of (see ‘BOND SALE,’ page 2)
HOT TO TROT— Jennifer Lawrence paraded the red carpet during The Hunger Games: Catching Fire premiere at the Nokia Theatre. “I’m nuts about this dress, exclusively designed for tonight by Dior Haute Couture,” she says. “I never knew fashion could be so much fun.” For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.
By Laura Coleman Beverly Hills High students got a lesson on how not to become internet roadkill this week when producers of the Teen Choice Awards, in partnership with the Beverly Hills Board of Education, launched the national online and social media (see ‘SOCIAL MEDIA,’ page 14)
GOBBLE GOBBLE—Beverly Vista's Community Service Committee/Service Learning got help from BV Dad Jack Mussry for this Thanksgiving Holiday. He collected donations from parents and teachers to purchase turkeys to accompany student donated Thanksgiving foods. These complete Thanksgiving Meal Boxes will go to the Westside Food Bank for distribution to the needy all over Los Angeles.
B U L L I E D O N L I N E — Adriana Sass unwittingly became the face of Obamacare when healthcare.gov used her image for its homepage, sparking mean Internet posts, she told Beverly High students this week.