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BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME: LII
NUMBER 48
www.bhcourier.com
SINCE 1965
December 1, 2017
School Board Extends JPA Through End Of Year With Expectation Of New Deal MOVEMBER IN BEVERLY HILLS – To generate awaress and promote fundraising during the month of November, men across the country grow mustaches for men’s health, a movement called “Movember”. For Movember, BHPD loosened restrictions on facial hair for uniformed officers, who were permitted to grow longer mustaches or goatees with their donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The officers raised $2,300 for the cause. Pictured, top row, from left: Detective Rodney Solorzano, K9 Officer Jesse Perez, Detective Sergeant Robert Hernandez, Sergeant Robert Maycott, K9 Officer David Rudy, Traffic Control Officer Jeffrey Grijalva, Officer Ebrahim Ashabi, Officer David Leber, Officer Scott Dibble, Officer Ryan Dolan and Officer Jeffrey Schmidt. Front row, from left: Officer Anthony Alonzo, Detective Sergeant Dennis Lynch, Lieutenant Michael Hill, Sergeant Gregg Mader, Officer Reginald Evans, Communications Dispatcher William McKessy, Jail Supervisor Randy Neitzke, Sergeant David Dimond and Jailer Steve Stinson.
THIS ISSUE
The Beverly Hills home of Floyd Mayweather was burglarized this week. 4
Vera and Paul Guerin will be honored by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. 4
A new book touches on the Rolling Stones’ time in Beverly Hills. 5 • Real Estate • Birthdays • Letters to the Editor
10 22 31
Development At Former Friars Club Site Continued to January By Planning Commission By Victoria Talbot After a long evening of public comment and applicant testimony, the Beverly Hills Planning Commission continued a hearing on a mixed-use residential and commercial project located at 9908 South Santa Monica Blvd. Once the location of the renowned Friars Club, a vacant lot that is currently being used for parking. Following almost three hours of testimony, the project was continued to a date in January. The Planning Commission would not approve the project as it was proposed, asking for major modifications. Staff has recommended
denial of the project. “The applicant team did an amazing job of neighborhood outreach, and they were able to harness the most feared word in the modern urban lexicon: ‘traffic.’ Evaluating whether or not the project is aesthetically pleasing is the job of the Architectural Commission. We, on this commission are the custodians of our City; our job is to see that land use in Beverly Hills appropriately follows what is outlined in the General Plan,” said Commission Chair Lori Greene Gordon. “There were major concerns,” said Senior City Planner André (see ‘FRIARS CLUB’ page 18)
Tonight’s Beverly Hills High Fundraiser For Tower Cancer Research Emphasizes Community
By Laura Coleman While the precise figure of the new Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) between the City of Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hills Unified School District had yet to be made public as of press time, sources close to the new deal said the two sides were expected to agree to a contract this month. In anticipation of entering into a new JPA, on Tuesday the Board of Education voted 4-0 (Board VP Lisa Korbatov was not in attendance) to extend the current $9.7 million JPA contract for a fourth time through Dec. 31. “I believe a mutually advantageous multi-year contract renewal will be approved by the school district and the City by mid-December,” said Board President Mel Spitz. Board member Howard Goldstein said that he expected
the City would soon forward the district a contract that would “memorialize the mutually agreed upon terms with respect to the obligations of each party, and in an annual amount that is equitable both to the district and the taxpayers of this community.” The impending agreement is expected to conclude a contentious negotiation process that has gone on for almost two years now in an effort to come to a mutually desirable agreement about how much the City pays BHUSD to make use of school facilities. “The City and the district continue to work on the terms of a new JPA,” confirmed City Manager Mahdi Aluzri. “We are optimistic that an agreement will be reached very shortly and expect the Council to consider it at a meeting this month.”
School District OK’s City’s $8M Offer To Monitor Beverly Hills High Oil Well By Laura Coleman On Tuesday, the Board of Education unanimously voted 4-0 (Board VP Lisa Korabtov was not in attendance) for the school district to enter into an agreement with the City concerning abandoning and plugging oil wells on school district. The agreement, wherein the City will pay up to $8 million to monitor the Beverly Hills High School Oil Well
drill site and plug and cap 19 oil wells, comes less than two weeks after energy company Venoco, LLC agreed to pay the school district $760,000 as part of a “Full and Final Settlement Agreement” following its bankruptcy filing. The agreement is subject to partial reimbursement by the school district up to 50 percent of the total costs incurred (see ‘OIL WELL’ page 18)
Part 3 in a three part series: Beverly Hills students recall heroic fight against cancer
Tom Hanks Makes His Fiction Debut With Uncommon Type, Some Stories, That Became An Overnight Bestseller ... Tina Brown’s just-published Vanity Fair Diaries 1983-1992 Is Destined For Bestsellerdom.
CLASSIFIEDS • Announcements • Real Estate • Rentals • Sales • and More
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By Laura Coleman When the Beverly Hills High School boys and girls varsity soccer teams face off against Windward school in tonight’s matches, they will not just be playing to win a game, they will be kicking for a cure in the battle against Ali Norman-Franks, Grace Suomi, Gianna Casanova, Sienna Wolf and Cameron Asher cancer. Nearly every person in ing someone who has had a canattendance at tonight’s “Imagine a cer diagnosis, or has fought and Cure” fundraiser to benefit Tower survived cancer, or is currently Cancer Research Foundation will going through treatment, it’s really have been touched directly or only a matter of time before indirectly by cancer. And chances (see ‘TOWER CANCER’ page 13) are if someone has escaped know-
QUEEN TINA — Born to the royal purple of journalism, Tina Brown’s career is beyond the beyond. Editing major magazines, writing, hosting fabulous parties (i.e. at the Statue of Liberty, etc.). She’s now published her Vanity Fair Diaries 1983-1992. Illustration by Risko
George Christy, Page 6
For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.