Century City-Westwood News September 25, 2020

Century City/ Westwood SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 30, 2020

NEWS CenturyCity-WestwoodNews.com

Duo Arrested for Stealing Mail and Packages From Westwood Apartments Cierra Marie Bartholomew and Adrian D. Givens arrested by UCLA police

By Sam Catanzaro Police have arrested two individuals accused of stealing mail and packages from Westwood apartments.

According to the UCLA Police Department (UCLA PD), on Tuesday, September 1 at 5:53 a.m. Cierra Marie Bartholomew, a 28-yearold resident of Los Angeles, and Adrian D. Givens, a 46-year-old resident of Los Angeles, were taken into custody by UCLA

Police Department patrol officers on charges of burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and being felons in possession of firearms and ammunition.

According to the Department, officers have responded to multiple burglaries recently reported in the North Westwood residential area, including incidents at UCLA off-campus apartments that involved student and staff victims. In response, officers collaborated with community members, including members of the UCLA campus community, and viewed surveillance footage of the burglary suspects.

Officers also increased patrols in the area.

In the early morning of September 1, 2020, UCLA PD officers observed a subject, matching the description of a burglary suspect seen on the surveillance footage, walking in the 500 block of Kelton Avenue, according to the Department. A related subject with a

Packages, see page 7

The 500 block of Kelton Avenue where two burglary suspects were arrested recently.

Photo: Courtesy

UCLA Ranked Top Public University in Nation for Fourth Straight Year

U.S. News & World Report releases annual Best Colleges report

By Staff Writer

UCLA once again sits atop the list of the nation’s public universities in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” report published in September This is the fourth consecutive year UCLA has captured this honor.

“It’s always wonderful to see UCLA recognized nationally, but it’s especially heartening at this challenging time,” Chancellor Gene Block said. “UCLA stands resolute in our mission of education, research and service and in our commitment to advancing access, opportunity and diversity as a top public institution. Bruins everywhere can

take pride in this recognition and our continued excellence.”

Among the top 20 national universities overall in the publication’s 2021 rankings, UCLA was the only one to be ranked highly in social mobility, which measures the number of Pell Grant recipients and the six-year graduation rate for these students. UCLA was tied for fourth overall in this category with an 89 percent six-year graduation rate.

In addition, UCLA was named the No. 1 public institution among the best colleges for veterans. In 2019–20, there were 536 members of the military enrolled at UCLA, the highest among the top 26 schools ranked in the category.

Four other UC campuses were among the top 11 public universities in the overall rankings: UC Berkeley (No. 2), UC Santa Barbara (6), UC Irvine and UC San Diego (9, tied) and UC Davis (11).

In addition: UCLA tied for No. 5 among U.S. public universities for ethnic diversity and tied for No. 10 among public universities’

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CENTURY CITY-WESTWOOD NEWS

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 30, 2020

Sur La Table Leaving Westside

By Sam Catanzaro Sur La Table, the popular kitchenware retail chain, is closing its downtown Santa Monica location across from the Third Street Promenade.

In addition to the ample signage announcing the forthcoming closure and associated clearance sale, MEI Real Estate Services has listed the building housing the culinary store at 301 Wilshire Boulevard as available for lease.

“First time available in decades.

Sur La Table retail end cap space is for lease,” reads a LoopNet listing.

The suite is 6,585 square feet, however, can be demised to 1,870 square feet, according to the listing.

In June, Sur La Table was served a five-day notice to pay rent or quit the premise. The notice listed the total amount due as $201,060.01 and listed the base rent for the property as $59,618.68 per month. It appears the store paid its dues as it has continued to operate in the months since.

The Santa Monica Mirror has reached out to Sur La Table for more information regarding the closure, but the company could not immediately

be reached.

In 1997 Union Bank retained MEI to manage and lease property.

According to MEI, directly across from the Third Street Promenade the property was well below market rate.

At the time, LensCrafters occupied the corner suite.

“While they were interested in a 5 year lease extension, they would only pay $1.70/SF NNN. MEI persuaded Union Bank that the rate was too low and proposed that they give us two weeks to find a replacement tenant at rates closer to the market which were slightly over $3.00/SF,” reads an MEI description of the property. “We were able to place Sur La [Table’s] flagship store at this location at a rate of more than double what LensCrafters was initially offering. At the same time, we knew of an upcoming vacancy in a neighboring center and facilitated LensCrafters leasing of that space at a rate closer to their desires amount.

This transaction served as the catalyst for MEI to more than double the rents for the remaining 5 tenants at the property thereby increasing ownership cashflow by over 100%.”

The building, constructed in 1936 as a bank, is described by the Los

Photo: Courtesy

Sur La Table in Westwood Villlage, 2017.

Angeles Conservancy as a “resilient holdout from an earlier era of onestory commercial developments of the 1920s and early 1930s.” “the restored Art Deco facades at 301 and 309 Wilshire are quite

ornate, containing a series of narrow panels separated by mullions and

each containing a relief of zigzags and

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Conservancy noted.

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CENTURY CITY-WESTWOOD NEWS

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 30, 2020

Failure to Follow UCLA COVID-19 Requirements Could Result in Expulsion UCLA releases health mitigation rules

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Failure to follow COVID-19 requirements could result in expulsion for UCLA students this fall under health mitigation rules recently implemented by the University.

While UCLA is conducting online learning this semester, about 700 students are expected to live on campus this fall as reported by the Daily Bruin, expected to move in starting September 25.

On September 15, UCLA announced several requirements for individuals present on the campus, including faculty, staff, students, third-party contract workers and invited essential visitors.

Under the requirements, individuals must: • Wear a face covering on campus.

• Honestly complete symptom monitoring and screening.

• When in isolation or quarantine, follow all restrictions and instructions • Show certificate of clearance.

• Comply with on-site temperature checks (where applicable).

• Maintain physical distancing.

• Disinfect work or classroom/study spaces • Follow restrictions on events and gatherings “All events and gatherings are currently prohibited by local health order,” the University said. “When permitted by modified public health order, follow all requirements forevents and gatherings, including holding any for events gathering outdoors where feasible, and adhering to physical distancing and occupancy limitations.”

• Visitors: “Visitors to any building on

campus, including on-campus housing, are limited to those who are essential for operations. Visitors to campus buildings should be by appointment only and preregistered in a visitor log maintained by the building or office scheduling the essential visit that includes a visitor’s name, phone number and email address for possible future case investigations,” the University said.

For the complete list of rules, visit https://ucla.app.box.com/s/ qmayvpk8uw0l8iff4okzgz5rndionbck.

For students living in campus housing, the University has implemented a three-strike system for violation of these rules if the offense is deemed to be a first-level offense.

For first-level offenses–defined as a violation of public health requirements that are not willful and do not constitute an immediate serious threat to the health of others–an initial incident results in a letter setting forth the requirements. A second incident results in a referral to the On-Campus Housing Conduct Process with the potential of probation and a COVID-19 quiz if the resident acknowledges responsibility and agrees to comply with public health mitigation measures. If the resident does not agree to comply, greater sanctions may be imposed a third incident referral to On Campus Housing Conduct Process with the potential sanction of exclusion from Housing and referral to the Office of Student Conduct for continued failure to comply will be enforced.

For second-level offenses–defined as violations that are reasonably believed to be a willful disregard of the requirements or to constitute an immediate serious threat to the health of others–the incident will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct, which will consider sanctions including interim suspensions or expulsion.

For the complete enforcement guidelines, visit https://ucla.app.box.com/s/9a5oymr70pm xkethmfd1nxrv9zp8d4cf.

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 30, 2020

CENTURY CITY-WESTWOOD NEWS

West LA Chiropractor Sentenced to Federal Prison for Fraud

Mahyar David Yadidi order to pay $1,976,832 in restitution on top of four year prison sentence

By CHaD WintHroP A chiropractor was sentenced last week to 46 months in federal prison for conspiring to defraud a labor union’s health care benefit plan by offering kickbacks to patients for attending the clinic and by submitting approximately $4.8 million in sham billings.

Mahyar David Yadidi, 38, of West Los Angeles, was sentenced this week by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner, who also ordered him to pay $1,976,832 in restitution.

In November 2019, Yadidi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Yadidi operated Philips San Pedro Chiropractic – formerly known as Synergy Healthcare and Wellness Center – in San Pedro. From July 2016 to October 2018, Yadidi operated a scheme to defraud the International Longshore and Warehouse Union – Pacific Maritime Association (ILWU-PMA) health care benefit plan. Yadidi worked with co-conspirators Ivan Semerdjiev, 41, of Irvine, a chiropractor who worked for Yadidi, and Julian Williams, 45, of San Pedro, a personal trainer who also worked for Yadidi.

ILWU-PMA health care plan members were induced by Yadidi to visit his clinic with offers of $50 in cash for each visit, according to a one-count criminal information filed in this case. Yadidi also paid plan members to allow him to bill the plan when members did not visit his clinic.

Yadidi offered monetary incentives to Williams, Semerdjiev, and other employees,

as well as to patients, to recruit additional plan members to visit his clinic. Williams induced plan members to visit the clinic by falsely informing them that they could receive personal athletic training services from him that the plan would pay for.

Once plan members either visited Yadidi’s clinic or agreed to allow him to submit claims to the plan for non-existent visits, Yadidi billed and caused his employees to bill the plan for services that were not rendered, services that were not medically necessary, and chiropractic and physical therapy services that were performed by Williams, who was neither licensed nor otherwise qualified to be performing those services.

At his instruction, Yadidi’s employees falsified records, including sign-in sheets that listed the dates plan members purportedly received services from Philips Chiropractic.

Yadidi instructed Semerdjiev to falsify patient files to support the clinic’s fraudulent billing.

Yadidi and his co-conspirators also created false entries in the name of plan members’ relatives, knowing that the union’s health care benefit plan allowed them an additional number of covered visits as well.

Yadidi continued to operate his scheme after he was terminated as an authorized provider by the ILWU-PMA plan in August 2017, six months after it conducted an audit of his clinic.

To continue the conspiracy, Yadidi changed the name of his clinic – which previously was called “Synergy” and falsely held out another person as the clinic’s primary owner and operator, when in fact, Yadidi continued to own, operate, and financially benefit from the clinic. Yadidi continued to submit claims to the plan in the sham owner’s name.

During the conspiracy’s duration, Yadidi’s clinic submitted $4,756,284 in fraudulent claims to the ILWU-PMA plan, for which the plan paid $1,976,832.

Williams and Semerdjiev each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and were sentenced to six months and one year in federal prison, respectively.

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CENTURY CITY-WESTWOOD NEWS

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 30, 2020

Century City-Westwood Restaurants up for Michelin Stars Despite ongoing pandemic, a 2020 Michelin Guide will still be released By toi CreeL anD Kerry SLater The prestigious California Michelin Guide–which included a few Century City and Westwood restaurants in its previous edition–will still continue in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic began, inspectors had already put together the information they needed. Michelin reps told the San Francisco Chronicle that despite the fact inspectors are currently visiting New York restaurants, they will not be making a return to California.

This means many of the rated restaurants will be given acclaim based on indoor dining services that for the majority of eateries have not been offered since March.

The guide functions off a rating system of one, two or three stars, with only the most prestigious of restaurants achieving the coveted three-star rating. The Michelin

guide was first published in 1900 by the tire company as a way to get European travelers to drive and visit their local restaurants. It has turned into a well-known guide book with even a one-star rating being considered a huge accomplishment. “restaurants may receive zero to 3 stars for the quality of their food based on five criteria: quality of the ingredients used, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in his cuisine, value for money and consistency between visits,” Michelin said.

Food, see page 7

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Lobster ramen at Hinoki & the Bird in Century City.

Photos: Facebook

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 30, 2020

Packages, from page 1 vehicle was also observed in the same area and both subjects were contacted.

“During the investigation, officers recovered packages and hundreds of pieces of suspected stolen mail; much of it from apartment buildings in the Westwood area.

Officers also found burglary tools, debit cards, victims’ personal information, as well as two handguns which were reported stolen on August 31, 2020 from LAPD’s Wilshire Division,” UCLA PD said in a press release.

In addition, officers found almost a hundred rounds of ammunition and handgun

Food, from page 6 While no Century City or Westwood restaurant earned a star, several earned prestigious Michelin recommendations.

These include Nerano, an Italian seafood-

CENTURY CITY-WESTWOOD NEWS

magazines for the stolen guns.

“At least one of the items recovered allowed the suspects unauthorized access to a nearby apartment building. Much of the recovered property is believed to be related to recent thefts or burglaries,” the Department said.

The investigation is on-going and UCLA PD Detectives say they are working to contact possible victims in an effort to return the stolen property.

Both arrestees, who are not affiliated with UCLA, have a court date of December 2, 2020, at the LAX Airport Courthouse, according to the press release.

friendly restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard, Meizhou Dongpo, a Sichuan restaurant tucked into the Westfield Century City and Hinoki & the Bird.

Last year’s guide was released in June 2019, but a release date for the 2020 guide has not been announced.

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SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 30, 2020

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