BEVERLY HILLS COURIER | APRIL 27, 2012 Page 4
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B E V E R LY H I L L S M A I N N E W S
MADRIGALS—Beverly Hills High School’s Madrigal Singers, under the leadership of director Joel Pressman, were judged the finest choir at the 2012 Hawaii Music Festival in Honolulu last week. They are shown performing in a Sunday service in the historic Kawaiaha’o Church. Singing in English and Hawaiian, they visited the new education center at the Hanauma Bay ocean preserve, as well as the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.The 31 singers are Panchapol Chantarasereekul, Elai Davidson, George Efremidze, Savannah Forno, Danielle Hakimi, Lina Hebert, Sadie Katz, Steven Kearns, Madison Kern, Sarah Kim, Eugene Ko, Eli Lloyd, Anthony Lofaso, Katherine Lu, Harrison Margolin, Deven Martin, Neil Martin, Michelle Morochnik, Lorrain Oill, Ki Park, Sarah Pollock, Lindsay Reisman, Evan Rennie, Michael Richman, Danielle Rose, James Schneider, Brendan Taglianetti, Devi Veysey, Eli Wachtel, Cheyenne Weinstein, and Roman Zaragoza
County Assessor Served With Search Warrant By Courier Staff Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez got served Wednesday with search warrants on his home and 11 other locations in a coordinated in-
vestigation, with the District Attorney’s public integrity unit, into allegations of inappropriate use of power to influence contributions to his election. “It is vital that the many
important functions and duties of the County Assessors office be performed with the highest standard of integrity and im(see ‘NOGUEZ,’ page 18)
DIOR —A rendering of the proposed Dior remodel on Rodeo Drive. See page 16 for a rendering of the Jim Falk Lexus Dealership.
NEW GATEWAY—Urban Designer Hamid Omrani (pictured) hosted a presentation Sunday at City Hall to feature his ideas for a new structure to go throughout the City. He suggests building a promenade starting at Beverly Hills High School and going throughout the City as a safe haven for pedestrians and bicyclists. For more information on his project, visit www.beverlyhills2000.com.
Recreation And Parks Commission Promotes Caution With Roxbury Park By Laura Coleman At Tuesday’s Recreation and Parks Commission meeting, commissioners urged Assistant Director of Community Services Nancy Hunt-Coffey to temper her aggressive timeline to move forward with presenting plans to revitalize Roxbury Park to the City Council on May 15. The Commission is expect-
ed to provide a recommendation before the plan goes before the City Council. “I don’t feel like we have enough information or have been in the loop long enough,” Vice Chair Robert Anderson said following Hunt-Coffey’s presentation to the Commission, which included a proposal to increase the Roxbury (see ‘ROXBURY PARK,’ page 18)
New Lexus Dealership, Dior Remodel Approved By Laura Coleman The Architectural Commission voted to approve plans for a new Jim Falk Lexus dealership on Wilshire Boulevard and the proposed remodel of Dior
on Rodeo Drive at last week’s meeting. Following the dealership’s compliance with more than a hundred conditions that needed to be satisfied after nearly a
year before the Planning Department and the project’s subsequent conditional approval by City Council at the end of last year, the new four-story (see ‘LEXUS/DIOR,’ page 16)
EL RODEO EARTH DAY—El Rodeo Sixth Graders pose with the Earth Day Pledge Tree. Each El Rodeo student from all grade levels planted a flower or vegetable, then wrote a pledge about what they plan to do to help the environment. From left: Jacob Kertesz, Natasha Dveirin, Benji Liker, Alexis Nedjat-Halem, Pierce Thiele, Jackson Nol, Nikki Musighi, Ryan Kenneally, Enzo Fantu-Barker.
Lead and Asbestos Survey Will Be Conducted At Beverly Hills High BV CARNIVAL—Beverly Hills PTA members worked tirelessly with Carnival Chair Laurie Maybaum at Sunday's Beverly Vista Carnival. Top row (from left): Beverly Vista PTA member Iris Aviram, Beverly Vista PTA Co-President Laurie Okum, PTA Council Co-President Susie Roberts. Bottom row: PTA Council Co-President Jennifer TerrellSchwartz. Courier Photo by Matt Lopez
APPLE OF MY EYE—Apple is an affectionate 3month old Terrier/Dachshund mix who will grow to be about 10 pounds. She was saved from the L.A. City Pound by FurBabyRescue.org in hopes of finding her a home. Those interested adopting Apple should contact Kira Lorsch at 4Dogs@RHLGroup.com.
Superintendent Reorganizes BHUSD Staff By Matt Lopez The Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an aggressive restruc-
turing of the school district by Superintendent Gary Woods. Woods presented the board with a changed organi-
zational chart that among other things, included the addition of four newly-created positions (see ‘ORGANIZATION,’ page 18)
By Matt Lopez The first asbestos and lead survey at Beverly High since 2004 was approved Tuesday on a 3-2 vote by the Board of Education. Boardmembers Noah Margo and Lewis Hall voted no. Chief Facilities Official Nelson Cayabyab stressed to the board the importance of producing another AHERA (Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act) report before moving ahead with any further construction plans for Beverly
High. “We’re still finding lead and asbestos at this site and you need to remove the lead and asbestos before you begin construction,” Cayabyab said. The last AHERA report, which must be done in support of the Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Civil (MEPC) Forensic Survey, was done in 2004. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, re-inspection of school buildings must be done (see ‘ASBESTOS,’ page 18)