Today is September 10th, 2024. This is the City of Beverly Hills City Council adjourned regular meeting and parking authority meeting. It is a little after 7pm. I only say it that way because I'm not on time and I hate not being on time so it sounds better if I just say we're at so little after 7. So with that we will start with a pledge of allegiance. And I think I saw my Rallori here. I did. If we have my Rallori, lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Thank you, Mayor. Hands over heart. Ready begin. Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of Iraq to the public without disbanding Ready begin. Legislative Board. Legislative Board. We have the City Clerk do the role please. Thank you. There are two role calls for this evening. The first one is for city council, council member Wells, here, council member Korman, here, council member Mirish, vice mayor Nazarian, here, and mayor Friedman. Here. And the second is for the parking authority, director Wells, here, director Korman, here, director Mirish, here, vice chair Nazarian, here, and chair Friedman. Here. OK, if I can have my colleagues meet me at the podium, we have some presentations that we will give out. Okay. Okay, testing, testing. Okay, so today we are honoring people helping people. This recognition goes to a very special nonprofit community mental health clinic that provides services to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. It's our Maple Counseling Center. This center was established in 1972 and serves over 4,000 clients annually including youth in schools. Since its inception the Maple Counseling Center has helped over 300,000 people of all ages. Their new Briskkin Wilder welcome center, the BWWC, is both a program and place where people can convene and are welcomed with refreshments, a library, and couches as a Seek Mental Health Services. Here licensed clinicians assist anyone in LA County for free and connect them with resources and services regardless of their incomes. As part of this new program, the Maple Counseling Center has partnered with our Beverly Hills Fire Department where counselors go out in the field during non-emergency calls for mental health support. They assess those in need and help get Beverly Hills residents the longer term mental health care that is needed. Thank you to our incredible Maple Counseling Center. You have been an amazing resource to our community and we appreciate your compassion to help those in need. Now I'd like to welcome Verina Blile, Chief Executive Officer of the Maple Counseling Center to accept this special recognition along with her board members for a special photo op. Thank you so much. So we're going to, as soon as we get everybody up here, we're going to give you a chance just to give us a few words, okay? Just want to say how much we appreciate this and what an honor it is for us to be of service to everyone in the city of Beverly Hills. Mental health has never been more important than right now. And we just want to thank this incredibly long standing partnership. We exist because of the city of Beverly Hills was founded by a bunch of concerned parents. And today has helped so many lives. And so thank you for recognizing that. It's our privilege to be a person helping the people. So we really, as a community, want to thank you It's our privilege to be a person helping the people. So So we really as a community want to thank you off of the services that you provided is so important and for those of us who don't know where you're located Can you tell us? Yes, we are Currently leasing a city of Beverly Hills own building that's right on Las Yeniga near I-10 just a couple miles from the city of Beverly Hills own building. That's right on Las Yeniga near I-10, just a couple miles from the city of Beverly Hills. And you have a wonderful backyard. What does that backyard consist of? It's got some water equipment going on that's helping the city of Beverly Hills. Yeah. Now that is the site of one of our water facilities and it's right in their backyard, actually. So anyways, take a picture. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all your services. Thank you. It's very good. It's very good. We're happy to have you with us. That's okay. Okay. Moving quite along. This evening we are recognizing National Suicide Prevention Week, which begins today through September 16th. This of course is a very heavy topic that reminds us that we must continue to take the time to check in with one another. Sadly the statistics are heartbreaking. Suicide is a 12th leading cause of death in the United States and was the 13th leading cause of death in California from the last report in 2021. Over 90% of those who died by suicide have a diagnosable and treatable mental health condition, although often that condition was not recognized or treated. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention recognizes suicide as a preventable national and state health problem. We must continue to do what we can to help and spread awareness about the resources available to help those in need. Tonight, we are joined by Bridget McCarthy from the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention and Joseph Isaac, a teacher from Beverly Hills High School, who has been an activist for suicide prevention in the district. Bridget and Joseph, please come up to Dias. Thank you. We can get a couple words from you. Thank you. On behalf of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and all those we have lost to Suicide, thank you Mayor and City Council for recognizing Suicide Prevention week in the city of Beverly Hills. I'm here because I lost my beautiful amazing child, Riley Chart, who died by suicide September 16, 2020. He was 16 years old. I also want to thank Joseph Isaac, the Beverly Hills High School, who has really championed suicide awareness amongst youth. Suicide is a public health problem, and though it's a leading cause of death in the United States, it's the third leading cause of death amongst youth in general. But this risk is higher among LGBTQ youth like my Rye Lee. So on October the 19th, the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention will be hosting the Los Angeles out of the darkness walk on the Santa Monica Pier. It's a beautiful, powerful connecting day. It would speakers and music and healing and coming together. Please join us. you can sign up individually or your team at afsp.org-flash-lawalk. Last year, our last walk was such a great success that we increased our educational programming in Los Angeles by 177%. We trained thousands of people in schools and workplaces and thousands more online, and it allowed us to advocate for bill supporting mental health and 988, the prevention hotline. I personally traveled to D.C. to advocate for 988 expansion and funding right here at a local level. The work we do is so important but we couldn't do it without you. So please join us October 19th and bring your team and thank you once again to the Mayor and Vice Mayor and City Council and the City of Beverly Hills for recognizing this important subject. Thank you, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, right, very well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Very heavy day to day. This evening we're here to acknowledge and commend some of our city staff for their swift and compassionate response to an individual in distress and danger. Our first two individuals are park rangers Joshua Hacker and Patrick Ferris, if they can please come up to the Okay, so Joshua Hacker started his career with the city as a park ranger in April of 2023 and Patrick Ferris started his career here as a park ranger in 2015 and was promoted to lead park ranger in 2021. Rangers Hacker and Ferris were in their vehicle patrolling Beverly Gardens Park when they noticed a slow-milving vehicle veering towards the bike lane near Palm Drive. Ranger Ferris noticed the occupant was leaning to one side and convulsing. So he quickly exited the truck and approached the passenger side of the vehicle to gain control of the car only to realize the passenger's jaw was locked. Meanwhile Ranger Hecker activated his vehicle's hazard lights and parked it to block oncoming traffic to help Ranger Ferris. Ranger Hecker approached the driver's side of the vehicle, but it was also locked, but he stayed with the moving vehicle continuously, knocking on the driver's door, trying to get a response. Ranger Ferris rode radio for assistance, and emergency services were called. The vehicle hit the curb and accelerated hitting a light pole, which stopped the vehicle and unlocked the door. Smoke from the vehicle appeared at which time an off-duty Los Angeles firefighter identified himself and assisted Ranger Hecker in carrying the woman to safety. Within minutes the Beverly Hills police arrived and provided first aid until the paramedics arrived. Rangers Ferris and Hecker are to be commended for the courageous and heroic efforts. They were above and beyond the line of duty to bring the driver to safety and provide protection to people in the surrounding area. We are extremely grateful to Rangers Ferris and Hecker for their courage, composure, and compassionate response, and very proud to call them one of our own. On behalf of the City Council, we'd like to recognize these two with special certificate and allow them to say thank you for the recognition tonight and we're just glad everything happened the way it did and everyone ended up being safe in the end. So thank you. I think Patrick sums it up. Thank you very much and we're glad everything did not turn out worse. So you know we're very lucky we see these men and women who are park rangers all the time they do such a good job and you know here it is when there was an emergency they were right there and they're trained to do things like this. They really are. They are part of our emergency response team, so thank you both very, very, very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So continuing in the fine line of park rangers, we have two, in addition to the two men that you heard about, we're here also tonight to acknowledge and commend two more park rangers for their swift action in assisting an elderly woman on Olympic boulevard. Unfortunately, park ranger, Che, Yee is not here to be recognized in person, but can we please have park ranger Ernie Dominguez come to the dice. While patrolling the many parks and route to City Hall, lead Rangers Dominguas and Yees spotted an elderly woman lying on the sidewalk. While some pedestrians passed her by, assuming she was sleeping on the sidewalk, Ranger's domingas and ye noticed her concerning position and spraying into action. When verbal attempts to wake her went unanswered, Ranger domingas gently shook the woman until she finally opened her eyes. It was at this point he noticed blood coming from her mouth and a cut above her eye. Once the woman regained her composure, she explained she lost her balance and fell. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Rangers Dominguez and Yee immediately called 911 and the community. We are extremely grateful for their commitment and service to our city. On behalf of the city council, we would like to recognize these two men with special certificates and allow Ranger Dominguez Dominguez Dominguez Dominguez Dominguez Dominguez for their commitment and service to our city. On behalf of the city council, we'd like to recognize these two men with special certificates and allow Ranger Demingas to say a few words. Applause. I just want to say thank you for the recognition. On behalf of Michael Workers and Ranger Program, really appreciate it. And just know that we'll always go above and beyond whenever we're asked to do anything. So, kind of nice for anything. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, um, text BH. Text messages on any city-related topic may be sent to 310-596-4265. City staff will acknowledge receipt of the text message within one business day, however resolution of issues may take longer. If you would like to receive updated text alerts from the Beverly Hills Police Department, please text BHPD alert to 888-777. Textal alerts will keep you informed of any police activity within the city. Now, as a time in our program for oral communications, we will start with giving the phone number for telephone call in, 310-288-2288. And we will start with Audien comment on non-agendized items. I've been given some communication slips if there is anyone else who would like to comment on any item, please bring the slip up to the City Clerk and we will start with Marie Crum. If he will come forward, Marie Crum. This is not the first time I've been here to Beverly Hills. I was here a few years ago and checked a book out from the library, had a library card and walked a considerable distance to a building on a Wilshire Boulevard which they call the Rolex building. It's of Wilson and Reeves. And I do not want to own a Rolex watch or any other type of watch. It's very expensive. I tell time by looking at my clock or my phone. But I've had many things stolen and I said, I was put in jail because I fell asleep on that street with the book that I checked out from the library. The police took the book back, but they wrote me a citation for sleeping on the sidewalk. That was Reeves Street by the Rolex building. In the middle of the building it said Beverly Hills Legal Bar Association. I walked in there and wrote down federal Bureau of Investigation because I did put in a job upcase with the FBI sometime ago and received some offers. They were sent to Yahoo.com and I do not have access to that right now. I would like to access that, but they wanted me to use hot mail and it's just about things being hot. And because of that and I do have not used it in several years and don't know what the password is. But also I was accused of being a drug abuseer that it's not true. I was given legal and federal means to wake me up and it did work. Things at the federal administration gave me to not work. There was a lady named Sandra Mason who worked at the federal administration. She worked with a doctor who mistreated me. She was being schizophrenic and told the Social Security administration that I was getting a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a that someone named me here after they released me from jail and she's almost as old as I am. And I met her at the United States for a time pretty of the Olympics, but I went to school there the morning and took a class at Hebrew grammar. Yesterday I went to a place that sold to his food, but they used very poor grammar and I will not go there again. They sold, gave out magazines that were written Hebrew, but it was bad Hebrew. I can read Hebrew quite well. And I bought a book today that is the Hebrew scriptures, the complete scriptures. They wanted to charge me $50 for just, they said I stole the book of Esther, but I did not steal it. I checked it out, walked there to address the police, took the book back, and just probably a a citation for our sleeping on the sidewalk and put me in jail and let me go. They issued a war for my arrest. The Burbring Police drove me from there to here and I told a lady who drove me that I watched Mary Lennon and Amy. I even said that over there and the city attorney used that name, but a different last name, and they tried to say that I'm asking you. Mr. Crumb, you're trying to link me up with my family. Mr. Crumb, Mr. Crumb, your time is up, sir. So forth, it's been a long story short as far as making a drug abuser. There was even a movie about named like Mason and Sandra. There's a Mason. There's a Social Security Office on Northoff at Mason. They put out the name Mason. Mr. Crumb. Mr. Crumb, your time is up. All right. Put it in there where there's Amy's pharmacy. There is a lot of men across the street. And next to the area I bought some pants and it said news star. Thank you, Mr. Crumb, thank you very much. You said new star, but there was a movie made, a Hollywood movie called Star is Born with James Mason. And thank you, Mr. Crumb, thank you very much. And the latest name was, the movie was Vicki Lester. Okay, thank you. Further more, there's a Annabelle space for photography, or a performing arch down there. And it said, the 1914 was all the time. Mr. Krom, we need to move forward. The budget street would, I guess, my membership after the transfer. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay. I also have another oral communication on the my public comment. My name is Susanna and I'm a tenant in a rent stabilized apartment in Beverly Hills where I've lived for the past year and a half. I'm here tonight to express my deep frustration and concern over the city of Beverly Hills handling of its code enforcement and rent stabilization ordinance RSO divisions. Over the last three weeks, I witnessed a shocking failure by the city to uphold its responsibility to enforce building codes and protect residents' right to safe housing, free from negligent property management. On August 18th, I returned home to find my bathroom and bedroom completely flooded. Water was pooling on the floors, pouring through light fixtures, and had destroyed several personal belongings, including my bed. The source, a burst toilet pipe in the unit above mine. Despite the severity of the damage, my management company took over 48 hours to respond. When they finally did, they downplayed the situation, claiming they would simply paint over the damage. Alarmed by this, I contacted city code enforcement which issued a violation. However, my management company completely ignored it. They failed to submit a repair plan, provide alternative accommodations, or even take the violation seriously. Instead, they asked me to secure an Airbnb while they supposedly fixed the issue. Upon my return, I discovered the so-called fix was nothing more than a superficial paint job over the damage. The underlying water damage which poses a significant health and safety risk was clearly not addressed. Brown water stains have since re-emerged in my bathroom and the walls in both rooms are bubbling. A moisture meter test still reads over 100% in several areas and there's a persistent mildew odor, signaling trapped water, and deeper structural damage. To make matters worse, my bathroom window is now rotting away from the frame. I work from home, and I've been forced to live out of my living room because the rest of the apartment is uninhabitable. Despite the severity of the situation, both my management company and the city have failed to take meaningful action. I now feel pressured to leave my apartment through no fault of my own. This issue is not just about habitability and the city's failure to enforce code but also falls under the purview of the RSO. It's clear my landlord is trying to push me out in hopes of raising the rent for the next tenant, taking advantage of the city's lack of enforcement and oversight. After nearly a month, I'm still sleeping on my living room couch with no resolution in sight. Why are municipal codes even in place if they're not going to be enforced? Why am I being forced to endure these hazardous living conditions while my landlord faces no repercussions? The city must hold these negligent landlords accountable and protect renters from this type of exploitation. Thank you. If you don't, as you're going out, you'll see our director of community development in the back, Michael Forbes. I think he'll speak to you and see if he can be of help, okay? Okay, thank you. Okay. Any electronic communications? For non-agenda, we do not have any. Okay. So we'll now go to the parking authority consent calendar. And I have any comments on that. I'm going to do the parking authority first. Did I do? Oh, parking authority were good to go. I do have some comments for consent regular consent. I'm doing that I'm going to do the parking authority first, but nothing on the parking authority, right? There is, there are the minutes. Oh, no comments. No comments. Okay, so, well, if I could ask Vice Mayor and his area to read the consent agenda on I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, no comments. No comments. Okay. So we'll if I could ask vice mayor and is area to read the consent agenda on for parking. Yes. I moved the adoption of the consent agenda as follows. Consideration by the parking authority of the minutes of the meeting of February 6, 2024. Here a second. Second. Okay, if we have a rule. Director Wells. I'm staying. Director Cormin. Staying. Director Marish. Yes. Vice Chair Nazarian. Yes. And Chair Friedman. Yes. Okay, going to the City Council consent calendar. Do any of my colleagues have any polls? Number seven, please. Okay, and then we have some communications on consent items. I'll take those now and first one is Amanda Bird. This is on item E10. Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Amanda Bird. This is my business partner, Lin Manino. We're here representing the Noisy Nest theatrical production company and we also run the Nest, which is a small nonprofit. Female founded, and it's a community outreach to artists, the elderly community, and the disabled community. Our mission is to make theater accessible financially and physically to everyone. We have a small donated storefront on South Dohini Drive, about five minutes from here. In May of this year, we had brought to the attention of the council, the high fees associated with special event permit fees for nonprofits. We are delighted that the City Council is considering an amendment to the fee scheduled for the fiscal year 2425 that includes revised permit fees for nonprofits. We understand that the staff is recommending a fee reduction of 75% for the large event permit fees and 25% for the small event permit fees, although the City Council can ultimately decide upon that fee We would recommend that the special event fee be based on a sliding scale based on the income of the nonprofit specifically requesting to consider a no-feet for nonprofits earning less than 50,000. We appreciate your support and interest in making our community inclusive and encouraging nonprofits and the community involvement to those who are underserved. Stop by our community events. We do events every Wednesday. We have the play readers, open mic nights, storytelling, music, curated comedy nights, all of the above. So please come check us out. But yeah, no fees. We have no money. Okay, thank you. Mr. Steve Mayer, speaking on two items, E10 and E 7. First of all, I want to applaud the previous speaker. They are obviously trying to do good work and they need a break. Honorable Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council Members, please allow me to address consent calendar items E 10 and E7. Relative to E10 about the resolution regarding taxis fees and charges, this is not supposed to be a consent calendar item. In the August 30th issue of the courier, a public hearing announcement was published. Before hearing criticism that it is relevant that it is not placed on the agenda correctly per the policy manual, the argument is if you can't get the small details right, you can get the big details right. How can the Beverly Hills residents have any confidence on these large issues? As the particulars, there was no definition of the fiscal impact relative to the reduction of the small profit or the nonprofit reduction fees. Would the reductions be the equivalent of a quarter salary of a police officer, or alternatively be so low as to be able to support another part time community services worker? The table on page three does not break out the large nonprofit permits. How large will the fiscal impact be when the large special event permits for Beverly Hills nonprofits are reduced from 4,000 to 993. These large nonprofits can afford the permit. They are raising millions. They're budgeted for it. How does the reduction benefit the residents? Let me address another issue relative to the nonprofit rentals at Civic Center Rocksbury in La Sienica. There is no nonprofit categories for small nonprofits. As an example for the Oakhurst neighborhood group of which I am one of the leaders, we need a meeting space. Our only option on this side of town is to rent the library auditorium because the smaller meeting rooms have been converted to offices. The issue of small nonprofits was raised but apparently was overlooked. There is a difference between the large nonprofits and small nonprofits. If you want the small nonprofits of the city to thrive, they need inexpensive meeting spaces. Separately as to item E 10 about changing the code to be consistent with the five meeting streamlining requirement. While a sustainable community environment assessment appeal fee has been added to item 7, it was not incorporated into the new proposed ordinance. Is the SCEA exempt from the five meeting role. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any comment on consent items electronically? Yes, we do have one written comment for E7. This one is from Daring Bujot. The proposed deletion of quote, two set and quote, hearings is good, but what is lacking is additional sensible appellate procedure. Hearings should be set to provide adequate time for the appellant to file the appeal materials and open brief as it were, a time limit for the respondent to provide opposition and a date for the appellant to provide a reply. Then all issues and arguments can be considered in the city's agenda report. Without such procedures and as it presently stands, city appeals are chaotic. Also perhaps it would be a good idea for anyone who requests a council members to call up a matter to be advised of the five hearing limit and the remaining hearings which may be necessitated. Although it is not directly on the agenda as I have mentioned before, the city's over a 6K appeal field is outrageous and unconstitutional. Whenever the subject of excessive city fees are brought up, a council member will ask staff to respond and a staff member like Ryan Gollick will claim that a study was done and it was found that the outlandish fee to be charged was found to represent the actual cost of the city. However, that is a ridiculous position because the city takes in a great deal of income from various taxes to pay the cost of running the city and affordable appellate rights to residents is the city's duty for which it has already been paid. The California Supreme Court charges $710 to file for review and the California Courts of Appeal charged $775 while their costs to process appeals far exceeds what it costs the city of Beverly Hills to process an appeal. I heard a council member state that it was good for the appellate fees to be so high to discourage appeals, but when a right to appeal has been provided, it is unfair to try to prevent that right from being exercised. And that concludes public comment. Okay, thank you. And Vice Mayor Nazarian asked at number 7 be pulled? Yes, thank you very much. I felt that this was something necessary for the community to be aware of, which is why I wanted it to be pulled. And I wanted to ask our city attorney to please take a few moments to just describe it and explain it, and if there are any questions for us to be able to address that. Sure, absolutely. So as it stands right now when an item is appealed or even the council calls up an item for review, there are, it appears before the council two times, right? First, the council gets an opportunity to consider the appeal and either set the hearing or return it to the planning commission. I think in my 20 some years of being city attorney, I think once it got returned to the planning commission. Otherwise, the council sets the appeal or considers whether to set it for a hearing if it's a call-up. But within the last year, the state has passed a law, which says for housing development projects, that you have a maximum of five hearings. And those five hearings, arguably, include that hearing meeting, how do you want to call it, which would set the item for a hearing date. So that would be two meetings of the City Council, excluding, or leave three meetings to have the Planning Commission and any other hearings that would be required for that housing development project, such as the architectural commission. Let alone, you know, something that might take the city council more than just the one hearing to consider the project. So we discussed this at a study session. And the council direction was to eliminate that first meeting slash hearing to set the date for housing development projects. So who would set the date now? The city manager would set the date now? The city manager would set the date for the housing development projects or if it's called up on review, if there are two council members who ask for it to be called up for review, again the city manager would set the date after the two count, after getting the request from two council members. And so would you say that this is helping to streamline the process of obtaining a permit and moving things along so that we are able to provide housing? Yes, absolutely. It's, you know, it's, it is definitely the process worked, but given what the state has said, we have to streamline the process. And I think this will streamline the process. And I think that we are fulfilling what the state has asked us to do. I appreciate that. Thank you for explaining that. And there was a comment about SEA exempt exemption? Yeah, you're still gonna be required to do the housing development projects in five meetings. That's not gonna. And if I could, I'm sorry, did you have any other questions? Please go ahead. So I did get two comments from council members regarding this item itself. One comment was with regard to section 1-4-201. And we said, actually, we said in subsection B that in this was Councillor ordered review of administrative decisions. In addition to though we still have the process that we've always had, right, of setting the hearings for non-housing development projects. So, in addition to that, we have sub-period FB, which says, in addition to the procedure in subparagraph A, our standard procedure, we have the procedure which I just described. There was a comment that by using the language in addition to the paragraph A, that that could be interpreted more than one way. It could be interpreted to have, you either have subparagraph A and subparagraph B, or not. And that's a very valid comment. So instead of, in addition to, we would strike in addition to the paragraph A, and in fact, we would, in the previous paragraph in paragraph A, it says the council may order a review of a discretionary decision made by any board Commission or official of the city except as otherwise provided in this code I would add except as otherwise provided in paragraph B or elsewhere in this code so that I think would take care of the that potential misinterpretation of, in addition, language in sub-paraphrough B. So we would amend that. Yes, I would suggest amending it that way. And the other thing that we got a question about was, on council call-ups, I added the word discretionary, right? The council can call up discretionary decisions of the staff. And frankly, I thought that was maybe what the way that worked previously, although, and reading this, it doesn't work that way. Council has the right now to call up even ministerial decisions of staff. And I felt that calling up ministerial decisions really is not consistent with the council role in the council manager's form of government. Ministerial decisions are decisions of staff which don't involve the exercise of any judgment, so it would be for example staff measuring a setback or measuring the height of a wall. And that is something, again, in the form of government that we have, which should be done at the staff level. If council is concerned about, you know, someone didn't measure that correctly, the council should go to the city manager and say, hey, we've got to concern, or if you get a comment from a resident, hey, we have a concern that this wasn't measured correctly. The city manager, director of the department, anyone should go and recheck that and make sure that that was being done correctly. And I think that's the proper way to handle those types of ministerial decisions. Now, on the other hand, if council has some question about the interpretation of the code, or how the code is being interpreted, or something like that, as we did, for example, in connection with, I believe, was Loma Linda, that project. That's something that the council can call up, because that's an interpretation of the code. Hey, how are you interpreting the code to get to that measurement? That's an interpretation of the code. It's not really a call-up. You would just say hey We want to discuss how this code is being interpreted But that isn't really a call-up of that ministerial decision of how is it measured? so that's why I That's why I inserted the word discretionary there, but it's not required. I just felt that that was appropriate in this instance. So if there is a desire to address the word discretionary, that can be done. Those are my questions and I appreciate you clarifying that. I think it's important when we're making changes like that for it to be shared with the public so that they are also aware and understand that we are trying to help with expediting the permitting process. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. So we are now onto the consent calendar. And I'll ask if councilmember Mirish can read the first four items and then we'll vote on that and then we'll go on to demands paid afterwards. We move the adoption of the consent agenda as follows. One, consideration by the City Council of the Minutes of the Study Session Meeting of February 6, 2024. Two, consideration by the City Council of the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of February 6, 2024. Three, consideration by the City Council of the Minutes of the Study Session Meeting of February 20, 2024. Four, consideration by the City Council of the Minutes the regular meeting of February 20th, 2024. Again. We'd have the roll. Council member Wells, abstain. Council member Cormin. Stain. Council member Marish. Yes. Vice Mayor Nazarian. Yes. Mayor Friedman. Yes. And if I could ask Council member Wells to continue with the adoption of the consent calendar starting with number five through 12. Okay. Continuing on. Review of budgeted demands paid. Number six. Payroll Disbursement report. Number seven, amending title one chapter four of the Beverly Hills municipal code establishing appeal and city council review processes and adding processes for housing development projects. First reading for introduction as amended. Number eight, amending sections of article two, parades and assemblies of Chapter 3, other activities requiring regulatory permits, of title for regulation of certain types of businesses and activities of the Beverly Hills Municipal Code, and making a determination of exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act, second reading for adoption, Number 9, resolution of the Council of the City of Beverly Hills, Number 9, authorizing the acceptance of an easement for sewer, water, and gas purposes. And the summary vacation of the city's existing sewer, water, and gas easement over the property located at 1,04 North Rexford Drive. Number 10, amending the comprehensive schedule of taxes, fees and charges to restore certain existing special event charges to add two special event nonprofit fees and to add a new planning appeal fee for the community development department and a cleanup of a per rental rate for the community services department for the fiscal year 2024 2025. Number 11, request for the City Council to consider a free use day for a pop-up of the NOVA exhibition on Sunday, September 8, 2024 at the Wallace Annemberg Center for the Performing Arts and number 12 ratification of a letter of opposition sent by City Manager Nancy Hancafi on assembly bill 3021 Carla Carla Criminal procedure interrogations and just to be clear Customer wells you moved for the adoption of the consent agenda as you read correct? Yes I move for the adoption of the consent agenda continuing from Mr. Mayor. And if I this may have been my fault. I didn't hear five. Did you did you read five and that may have been just my or at least we can assume that five is in the motion. I believe I did. I'm happy to read it again. That's fine. Number five review of budgeted demands paid, covering dates. August 13th, 2024 to August 29th, 2024. That's six. And I can. And we can continue. I'm sorry. And also, did you mean to introduce the ordinance establishing the appeal processes with the amendment. Yes, I said it as a amendment. Sorry, it doesn't meant my apologies. And if I continue with, we're going to continue with Councilmember Corbyn, if you could read 13 through 17. Thank you. All right. Number 13, agreement with KYA Services LLC for the Library Carpet Replacement Project Phase 2 and approval of a corresponding purchase order in the not-to-excit amount of $189,267 and approval of plans and specifications, therefore, respect to design criteria. Number 14, award of a contract to the lowest responsible bidder, Pave West Inc. for the roadway rehabilitation project on cold water canyon drive in the amount of $5256,534.38 and approval of the plans and specifications, therefore, with respect to design criteria and approval of a purchase order in the not to exceed amount of $5,780,000 to pave west ink for the project, which includes a contingency of $523,465.62. 15. Award of a contract to Angela's Waterproofing and Restoration Inc. For the 345 North Beverly Drive parking structure, traffic coding project, and approval of a purchase order in the not-to-excite amount of $211,255, and approval of plans and specifications there for respect to design criteria. Number 16, acceptance of the contract work for pedestrian crossing traffic signal improvements, 400 block of North Beverly Drive, project by Cross Town Electrical and Data Inc, in the final amount of $427,577.70 and authorization of City Clerk to record notice of completion. Number 17, award of a contract to AC Pros Inc for the Fire Station number two ventilation upgrades project and approval of a corresponding purchase order in the not to exceed amount of $210,289 and approval of plans and specifications, therefore with respect to design criteria. And we have a second. I seconded my own motion. I seconded. But I read it. All right. Second. Are you comfortable with Larry? Yeah. We have motion in a second. Okay. So with that, if we have the clerk call the roll. Council Member Wells. Yes. Council Member Corman. Yes. Council Member Corman. Yes. Council Member Mirish. Yes. Vice Mayor Nazaria. Yes. And Mayor Friedman. Yes. Okay, moving on to City Council continued and new business. Item G1 recommendation by the Arts and Culture Commission and City Council Layazons for the acquisition and installation of the artwork Trinity by Judy Chicago and approval to authorize the city manager to execute all agreements and purchase orders in a not-to-excit amount of 590, I'm sorry, $589,000 related to the purchase of Trinity by Judy Chicago and approval of an appropriation from the fine art fund of $589,000. We have a report on this by the Assistant Director, Patty. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and members of the City Council, Patty Acunia, Assistant Director of Community Services. I'm presenting today on behalf of Director Harris, whose hope is sick and has joined us virtually and will be available to answer any questions. I'm here before you with the updates to the acquisition and installation of Trinity by Judy Chicago from the Arts and Culture Commission liaison and the Arts and Culture Commission liaison and the Arts and Culture Commission. A brief recap of where we left off with this project. At the August 15th, 2023 City Council meeting, staff was directed to secure a tenure warranty from the fabricator, Ironwood, and return for final approval for installation. At that time, the direction was to install in Beverly Gardens Park on the corner of Parkway and Cannon. Following the council meeting, Staff and Arts and Culture ad hoc, Commissioner Beck and Frank met with the Ditch Gallery. We were informed that the gallery successfully secured the requested 10-year warranty. However, we were also informed that the artist and gallery no longer supported the Beverly Gardens Park as the installation site. The newly proposed location of the Wallace Annanburg property was presented to the Arts and Culture Commission in November of 2023, where it was supported then brought before the Arts and Culture Commission, sorry, Arts and Culture Council liaisons on December 4, 2023, and before the full City Council on March 18th of this year. At the March 18 Council meeting, City Council was supportive of the location. However, requested that staff return at a later date with modifications. Reduction to the Ancillary Costs associated with the installation. Reduction in the height of the base to the initial specs to better suit the artwork. Staff has worked to adjust the base height per council's direction. Approximate hedge height is 12 inches with the width at 24 inches, surrounded by drought tolerant ground covering. The artwork base is 6 inches of integral color concrete in the color musky mulberry, and the protective ballards are 16 inches in height. This photo depicts the low profile base and artwork per direction from the March 18th City Council meeting. It should be noted that the lower profile base is the artist preferred installation. Here you see a photo montage of the piece from the streets view standing across the street from the southeast corner of South Santa Monica and Crescent. Here is a close-up photo montage of the artwork along with the ballard and landscaping. It should be noted that this photo is what the approximate hedging will look like. of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the purchase of the artwork at 400,000 and the ancillary costs of 250,000 for transportation, design, fabrication of the preferred and green system base, engineering, inspections, permits, landscaping and lighting. Following the March 18th, 2024 City Council meeting and receiving direction from council, staff reviewed the quotes and worked to reduce costs where possible. Modifications to the lighting fixtures, landscaping, were able to be made as well as adjustments to some fabrication costs, allowing for a reduction in the installation cost to $189,000. This will bring the overall acquisition and installation total to a not exceed cost of $589,000. It should be noted that this site will require additional preparation for installation, no matter what artwork is installed, you see the existing base, the lighting, irrigation and landscaping. At this time, staff is seeking City Council approval in the acquisition and installation of Trinity by Judy Chicago. I'm joined this evening by Public Works staff and members of the Arts and installation of Trinity by Judy Chicago. I'm joined this evening by Public Works staff and members of the Arts and Culture Commission as well as Director Harris and we are happy to answer any questions that the City Council should have at this time. Thank you, Patty. Just a quick question. Does that amount of 589,000 include a contingency? Is there contingency built in there? Yes, it does. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So we will go to oral communications. If anyone has wants to comment on this item and has not filled out a communication slip, please do so and give it to the clerk. I have three here and the first person is Deborah Frank, Commissioner, maybe even Chair. I don't know. At this time, good evening Mayor and Vice Mayor and City Council. You're going to hear Peter Frank speak in a moment and I'd like to share his credentials. I've known Peter for a long time but I was not aware of everything. Peter is a passionate art critic and a curator who has been shaping the art world since the 1970s. He's curated thought-provoking exhibition at renowned places like the Guggenheim, Docu Mennon and Venice Biennale leaving a lasting impact on the contemporary art scene. Peter is also a prolific writer contributing to a variety of publications and authoring numerous exhibition catalogs that reflect his deep understanding of art. Over the years, he has organized a wealth of themed exhibitions, shared his insight as a university lecturer on both coasts and engaged audiences with his lectures across North America and Europe. Peter has served as a senior curator of the Riverside Art Museum and has been a prominent art critic for the Angelino magazine and the Huffington Post. In addition, he also has done the same thing for Art in America and Art News. In New York, he was the critic for the Soho Weekly News and the Village Voice. And here in California, he spent years as a critic for LA Weekly and edited visions of art quarterly. One of his recent highlights was curating the acclaimed Tony D'Alapura perspective at the Laguna Art Museum in 2018. Currently he's busy editing and writing a monograph on the esteemed artist Wayne T-bone set to be published by Resole. Peter's contributions to the art world are vast and his passion for the art continue to inspire many. Thank you. Thank you next speaker slip I have is Peter Frank. Thank you for letting me speak to you before you today in my professional capacity as a critic and historian of art. Judy Chicago is recognized internationally as one of the pioneers of feminism in art. A cause she took up six decades ago and has addressed since in myriad ways. For her, feminism is a gateway to humanism and to advocate for women's rights and causes is to advocate for the good of all humankind. As prominent as she is in social and political issues, however, Judy Chicago has always thought of herself first and foremost as an artist. She was educated as an artist here in Los Angeles and her early mature work from the 1960s. We flex the aesthetic issues of the day, minimalism, hearted painting, color field, finished fetish, light and space, and the like. The young Judy Chicago studied painting not just in art school, but in a vehicle body shop. She then combined. She then combined these supposedly disparate talents into one striking body of artwork. Trinity is one of the most important minimalist artworks by Judy Chicago. It culminates her experimentation with geometric form and industrial color. Although, unlike all the men working this way in California, Chicago chose to give her sculptures. Her sculptures are very feminine range of hues, introducing something soft and even pretty into the discourse of sharp shapes and hard fabrication. Trinity is a landmark in contemporary American art. It takes a major art movement and turns its values on their heads, even while celebrating their aesthetics. It is also a big, beautiful object from a time when people were encouraged to think on a monumental scale and to work in a manner that still makes people feel at home with the elemental, easy to figure out forms and alluring colors. Trinity is a major work of art in the context of California art history, American art history, and even global art history. It is a stunning work of art, a sculpture growing into architecture. I urge the council to approve its acquisition by the city of Beverly Hills. In continuance of the city's famed association with contemporary art, has an everyday presence in people's lives here. And as a draw for sophisticated tourists who know their minimalism and know their Jewish Chicago. Again thank you. Thank you very much. I'd like to turn my my covert to my colleague Diane Holland and that's who my next speaker card is from so Diane Holland. Thank you so much it's such a pleasure to be here. We have the privilege of talking with John Marish and Mary Wells, both council members for the City of Beverly Hills. And we're back again. This time I come back as an international artist having one award for a piece in Tokyo and I have something if I may approach John with because John had asked me a question about having gone to Hawthorne and studied with Mr. McCutchen. So I brought in what I made with Mr. McCutchen along with paintings. Just so you know, he's not the only one who studied with Mr. Recutche. I actually went to school with the sun, John. Oh, wow. Oh, that's so great. That's so great. Well, mainly my story goes like this. Had I not been influenced as having had Judy Chicago as a teacher, mentor, I'm not sure I'd be standing here today. It was a hard road and I'm proud and prouder and prouder for the city to have this amazing Trinity. I thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Might I bring this forward? If you give it to this city clerk. Okay, thank you. Any other speaker cards? Seeing none, we'll go to any other public comment. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, so we'll go to cornea script. We'll go to city council questions of staff. Starting with council member Wells. Do you want to do a laser report? Not on my script but go for it. Sorry. Go ahead. What we met and we talked about many of these things in the history of the Arts and Culture Commission bringing this to city Council and the many issues that have been addressed in the past and then bringing us up to speed in terms of having had looked at other locations and the current location being at the wallis and then addressing any conditions that may have a reason as a result of placing it at the wallis in terms of where it's placed with the bases, how it's protected, and making certain that it's visible and accessible for people to really be able to experience the piece and be able to walk up and really experience it as a public art piece. So we did address potentially other, I brought up, potentially are there other places where it could really be prominent and shine. And we had this discussion about, because I was a little concerned that maybe the wall, the architecture of the wall is so strong that maybe it was competing with the architecture of the Trinity piece. But we had that discussion and I would say that the commission made me feel comfortable about the piece being placed there and is well going out and looking at it again the space and realizing that there's the wall that's behind that's really going to be in between Trinity and the wall is itself, almost creates its own environment for it. And if you're at street level or you're in a car, you're really experiencing it in its own environment in that way. So I felt more comfortable about the placement of it and actually feel fine about it. With regard to talking about historically, whether or not the piece can be sustainable outside in its environment. I believe that the commission as well as staff has confirmed that that is true, that the piece can exist outside and there is a plan in place for maintenance and how we keep that piece well maintained and protecting that investment. We also spoke about how important the piece is in terms of it being a recognized artist who really has, it's an important piece of work and she is a recognized artist and it's probably, as an acquisition, one of the most significant pieces that we could have in the city. So I think that as a woman as well, I think it's wonderful to have that. She's from California, from the time period that she really was informed as an artist. And really where this piece comes from at that time period, I think it's really significant for us and I think it's very well placed. When we brought it up, John was very much an advocate for it and wanting to know if even if the consumer piece would be ready in time we could have an unveiling of both. But as far as I would say, I think that the liaison felt very supportive of the project. I mean, of the acquisition. Did you want to add anything else? Yes, I know that we've been discussing this for a long time trying to find the right location This is the location where we had the for was borrowed the Liechtenstein Would have been nice to have kept that there, but you know that was millions of dollars and And I think it's actually it is a good location It's And I think it's actually, it is a good location. It's contrasting with highwayway. And I just have to say from a very personal level, knowing Judy Chicago's embrace or at least acknowledgement of her Judaism, she's not just a feminist, but that's part of her experience in who she is. And that informs her art as well, even though she changed her name from a Jewish sounding name to Chicago. She descends from a long line of acidic rabbis, including the Vilna Dayon. So they actually be related. So I don't know if that means I have to recuse myself. But put that in contrast to Iway Way, who is a brilliant artist, but unfortunately, not very friendly towards Israel or towards George Peoples. And I think that also to me makes it appropriate to our community. And the location is a good one. And while I didn't feel it would be appropriate to be on the City Hall grounds, I think this is a good location. And we did discuss that. And you know, we heard, and maybe there'll be questions from other council members, that there have not been a lot of sales of her artwork with museums. And so of course that question is sort of open in terms of are we paying the right amount, but we certainly asked for a guarantee we were able to get a guarantee so that we don't face the situation that we face with Kusama. And I did mention that and I do think, I don't know, maybe there's an update since that meeting about the Kusama, I'd be interested to hear that from the city manager because if we could do a celebration of art and include those, those are two very prominent living female artists showing our commitment to female artists as well. And one last thing I would add is that the Wallis as well approves the peace being placed there and I think that's another factor to consider that they feel that it's a good placement for this acquisition as well. So that also made me feel more comfortable with that. So, and that would be it. Thank you. Okay, I don't know if the city manager wanted to say something. So I can tell you what I last heard as far as the Kusama goes. We were, the piece is very far along. The molds have been done and it's been cast. We were waiting for the Kusama folks to do a final approval of the piece. I don't know if anything's changed since that time. The production is currently in the painting phase. So they're finalizing the painting and the dot placement. It seems to be very intricate work. So they're working on finalizing that piece. But it's very. It's moving along. It's moving along, yes. And the snail's base. Okay, so we will further go on with questions, no questions from council member Wells, council member Korman. And I guess we do comments too, questions and comments. Let's do questions first. Okay, let's do questions first. Thanks. Let's do questions first. Okay, let's do questions first. So, for staff, is there anyone here from Ironwood or Matthews paint? There is not. Okay. Anyone here from the Jeffrey Dijig Gallery? No, unfortunately we did send out an invitation but they had a prior engagement. Okay. Councilmember Wells mentioned a maintenance program for the for the piece. What exactly would that entail? I will actually defer to our director because I'm not sure if the specifics are maintenance. I know that we are planning to have a more regular maintenance of that particular work, but I don't have the specifics. So. Stephanie Harris is on the line. Please go ahead. Yes. Hi, good evening. I hope you can hear me. I'm sorry. We did receive our maintenance instructions from our contributor companies that we contract with RLA and they have provided the maintenance that the artist and the gallery have approved. So it's, it would fall under our standard twice a year, wipe down and clean and then restoration as needed and that they assume that it wouldn't need any sort of major work until 10 or plus years. Okay, when you say restoration, you mean like repainting. Yes, repainting would be considered restoration. Now, do we, I know that the one of the aspects of the new pedestal is to allow the removal of the piece to be taken and painted. I gather this needs to be painted in a clean room where they can only paint it properly, but also clear coat it, correct? Yes. And the base of the preferred fabrication of that base will allow for us to remove it without destroying the concrete base. Okay, and do we have any estimate on how much would cost to remove the piece transported to wherever it needs to be painted? Have it repainted and clear-coded then reinstalled? I do not have that estimate at this time. I could definitely look into that and we can get it put in return back to councilor provided the patient. Okay I guess sort of an important piece of information to have as I'll explain in a little while. You sent me this out this morning a couple of documents just for the record. One was the ironwood warranty and one was the special project warranty from Matthews Paint, remember? Yes, sir. Are there any other warranties that would cover this piece that we have right now? I'm sorry, can you repeat that? Are there any other warranties? Any other warranties that anybody else is a gallery providing an additional warranty or beyond these two warranties that anybody else is a gallery providing an additional warranty or beyond these these two warranties. So those are the two warranties being provided from the through the gallery. So we're working directly with the gallery and the fabricator is warranty in the work as well as we have to use paint. Right that's I'm sorry, the fabricators I would write. Yes, sir. And have we ever used Ironwood before to fabricate a piece of art? So we have used Ironwood in the past. However, it was under different ownership. And that is who fabricated the initial Kusama piece out of fiberglass. However, the company has transitioned to new ownership, so we haven't worked with this current company. Do we know when that transition occurred? I do not know. How do you recall it might have been in... I want to say maybe five years ago. That's probably a good estimate, yes. Plans. Is the new Warner owner a corporation or an individual? Yeah? That may do not matter. Yeah, I'm sure. Do we know anything about their financial backing? No, not. No. The ones who stand beyond the warranty, that's what I'm asking. Great question. All right, those are my questions. Thank you, Stephanie. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Johnny, any questions? Hey, Vice Mayor and Desiree. Yes, thank you very much. This is a piece that's been long awaiting. So the terms of the warranty, they're not included in here, right? Correct. I just feel like there's a lot that's missing and there's questions that are not being answered. So I think that this piece has been around the block quite a bit. And so I'll note that at the liaison meeting, and I know you're not the liaison, but the liaison packet was pretty thick. It included all of the reports today. And so we made a choice not to include all of the back reports. And so I apologize if, if, no, it's just that was just, we're having a meeting. This is an agenda item. We have plenty of things that were put on consent. And if, if we didn't want to discuss it, we should have just put it on consent and just voted on it. But if we're going to have a discussion about it, then there should have been some materials and there should be people available to answer some of the questions. I just feel like, you know, there's questions about the sale of this artist's work in galleries and how it's holding its value, et cetera. And I appreciate all the work that the commission is done and the liaison's have done. But I am, you know, we do have to be accountable right now. We're counting everything in our budget with every single step of our meetings. And if we're just ready to spend almost $600,000, then I don't know. I'm, I'm, I don't know. I see that there's grass around the um patty. I see there's grass around the sculpture. So I'm assuming we're going to be watering that right? May I I'm happy to answer those questions. The reason it's on a base is so that the sprinklers do not get hit by the gardener and lawnmowering just like we have with other pieces that are on type of plants. As far as going back to the contract and everything, this is the preferred fabricator that Judy has used and I do know that they've done several other pieces. And we have negotiated that one of the initial questions was, is there warranty? And we've been going over this for about three years now, and Jeffrey Dij and the fabricator have been here almost every single time. And it's important that Stephanie isn't here. But we went back and were able to negotiate that contract, which they never give contracts. We were able to agree with the paint and taking care of it. We have pieces in our own collection that are made of stainless steel that still aren't even repainted or restored if they've had the proper maintenance over 10 years. So we've really addressed all these things that you've asked. Unfortunately, I guess because it was a couple of years ago or before you are in the commission they were about like a hundred years ago. I was actually the liaison during the meeting and I was the one who asked for the warranty because I felt that any type of art that we purchased for our city needs to have some form of warranty tied to it. What I was asking about in more detail is that the paint that Judy has used is for indoor and this this item is going to be placed outdoor to the weather you know it's going to be weathered and also it's on grass which means that it's going to be watered and so when water hits this type of material it's going to do. Yes, Stephanie. Okay, thank you. I'm sorry if I could if I've interjected so it is drought tolerate. I would it it's drought tolerate landscaping. I would it call it grass and it is going to have drip irrigation so it will not have standard sprinklers that are going to spray. If that helps clarify that. That does help a lot. Thank you. I appreciate that. And thank you. And with regard to the resale of the work or anything, not that we're going to be reselling it, but will you want to be able to purchase art that is going to be a value to the city and that is going to acquire over time. So it was any information because that question has come up many, many times. I don't know if councilmember Korman had any information on my sale or any of that. This exact piece was bought by the Whitney. It was initially created in the 60s and she had to destroy it because it was out of wood and she has three other pieces and material and the paint is paint that is used for outdoors and Jeffrey died should come in and he spoke to it that that's why we're using this type of automotive Paint that is used for outdoor so we have gone through this to make sure that we Answered those questions because those were our concerns as well. Good. Okay. All right. Great. Those are my questions for now. Thank you. Okay. Just a couple. One of the concerns that I had was the interaction with people and the art piece. And I think, well, give me your comments on in terms of that. Is that been addressed by the location that you said? Absolutely. That was the reason that Judy decided after all of the discussion that we've had over the years that she didn't want it in the park. She didn't want it to have to be mishandled or sat on or have any of the other issues that some of the other pieces have. So by having it at the wall, it does a couple of things. It brings people into the city and then there's a natural barrier with the hedge that's around it and it's high enough that someone just can't lean into it and they also have those barricades. So if someone were driving by it's a protective nature. That's another reason we chose it too. Okay, and you address the paint issue and I'm just go over that one more time with me the type of paint because that is a concern also. Right. Do you want to get into the Pacific? I can go ahead and address that. Again, it's polyurethane automotive grade paint that is used through Matthews paint as the provider And it specifically used for outdoor sculptures and this type of paint the reason we Have agreed or that we were able to get the warranty is that usually sculptures like we have in our own Collection haven't been repainted 10 15 years is usually about the time okay um and repainted 10, 15 years is usually about the time. Okay. And we have many stainless steel pieces in our collection that are painted. Are there other pieces that are being treated or painted in the manner in which, of her pieces, that are in existence right now, that are outdoors in the environment and painted the way these are gonna be painted now. Stephanie, didn't Jeffrey say that there are two pieces that do have another collection? I'm sorry, Deborah, can you face the microphone so I think they're addressing me? I don't know, per se, if it's the exact Judy Chicago piece, but there are pieces that Jeffrey Dyche manages collections and other galleries where those pieces are outdoors by the beach. You have pieces in Chicago in the weather that are made of painted stainless steel. So there are many places in the United States that we've gone over and I think they were in the packets. So we did plenty of research to make sure that we were able to address the quality of this works and the sustainability of it. Okay. And- So if I may, Mayor, I just want to unrecord answer your question specifically. I believe Judy Chicago has utilized the same great paint on her other pieces. We won that the Whitney does own was intended to be outdoors, so it was made for that. However, it was displayed indoors. And I think that was in the initial packet that came before the City Council in 2023 when I first brought this forward. Right. Council Member Corbyn asked a question and it is of interest to me too. The range of expenses if it had to be repainted that is taken down in a truck handled repainted and then replaced. We have a range of costs? So I recall us having RLA present where they were virtually at one of our meetings late last year or early this year. And I'm not sure if she's Christine had touched on the cost associated with it. So I would have to go back and either watch that meeting or reach out to them and to provide counsel with an update on that. It's a minimal cost. I mean, it's things that they do. Like when we had some of our sculptures to face, they went through and took care of it. So it's nothing that's out of the norm. It's paint that is used. It's nothing that has to be recreated and gone to another country for it. I think if I may, I think it depends on the extent. So full restoration is going to cost upwards of several thousand dollars if we have to remove it, strip it and fully restore it. The conservators that we do use come out on site periodically and do minor restoration to prevent and help restore or preserve the pieces so that we don't have to do full restorations. However, if you're looking for the cost associated with a full restoration, that we would have to get. Our standard maintenance cost as well as minor touchups is something that's in our scattered maintenance cost as well as minor touchups is something that's in our ongoing maintenance allocated budget through our contract with I only that takes place annually for all of our existing outdoor pieces. Dan, if I'm not mistaken, we have someone at the microphone now who has outdoor pieces and may be able to shed some light on the subject. Thank you. Yes, we have been. Produced yourself. Sorry. Introduced yourself. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Pamela Beck, and I'm one of the Arts and Culture Commissioners. Thank you. My husband and I, who's sitting right behind me, have been collecting for over 47 years and are very passionate about our collection. So we're super careful about things that are practical because who wants the nuisance or the expense of having to reduce something. And this Jewish Kogopis Trinity is painted with paint that is meant for outdoors and we have a piece that also happens to be read that we've had for about 20 years and we've had it repainted once and only because I'm OCD and needed it 300% 500% perfect so I feel very comfortable about this piece living outside. I just want to say that. Okay, thank you. Okay, those are my questions. So now, if I may, we'll go to council member comments. Well, I support this acquisition and as we decided in the liaison meeting meeting I have no other comments about it. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Maye Recorman. Thank you. So first of all, obviously when it comes to our beauties in the eye of the holder and we have heard a lot of information tonight that this is a fabulous sculpture by a major artist. We have an arts and culture commission that's very capable, made up of experienced art collectors. They believe that it's a fabulous sculpture, it's worth owning. And I'm not going to, I'm not going to say otherwise. I will, on that subject, I will certainly defer to their judgment that this is a piece that aesthetically and artistically should be in our collection. But this is a purchase. It's a financial commitment and as a city council we have to make sure that our financial commitments are sound and I do have some concerns based on the facts right now in front of us about the overall scope of that commitment. First, from the evidence in the record, there is some question whether the piece is worth what we're paying for. I note that we have a number of comps in some of the materials in the record, and the comp show that as when these were probably comp for provided, no Judy Chicago piece is ever sold for six figures. Two of them, including a sister piece, Rainbow Pickett, was sent to auction asking for more than six figures and neither of them sold. One was withdrawn, one was bought in. Now, some of the information is stale. So, I can't say whether this is not a good investment. I think a lot of people that I've talked to have said in the vernacular of the world that Judy Chicago was certainly having a moment. But as we've also heard tonight, part of that is as much the fact that she is an icon of the feminist movement as much as about her art. And I also note that this is a one piece of three, a series of three. And in our materials, the other two sold for $360,000, which was 10% lower than the $400,000 purchase price that the priest is being offered to us for. I'm just looking at the materials provided by Jeffrey Judge Gowry. It's interesting because the initial asking price I think was 400 and he gave the discount. And this was 450 because it had been a few years later and he also gave us the similar discount that's equated to that. In fact, the same pieces are being offered at a higher price that was something that Jeffrey had mentioned before and we really looked at this with our separate. I mean, I just wanted to share with that. And I appreciate that. I'm only going from the information and the record. Right. If Mr. Ditch or someone had been here, not I would certainly have asked those questions, but unfortunately he isn't here. Exactly. So I'm just answering from one man. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. So anyway, so, but you know, look, it's a concern of mine, but I'll move on. My second concern, to be honest, and it's an aesthetic concern, is the addition of the base. So I don't believe, based on all the information we've seen, that this piece has ever been shown with the base. And I realize it's there to protect the piece in this outdoor installation. And the artist herself was involved in the shape of the base and the fact it was going to be a mulberry color to sort of play off the colors in the sculpture. I recognize that. But again, it's never been shown that way. And it was not designed that way. And in fact, if you go back to 1965, voted the original plywood piece, it was designed like every other installation we've seen to sit on the ground. And I think adding a base, and especially the matching color, I hate to be in a discreet, but the actual artist, but I think it changes the look of the piece, in my opinion. I mean, I think if you look at it, it's originally designed to be three complimentary, but separate pieces of a masses that increase in height as you go back. And I think when you add the base from my perspective, it becomes one piece with three pieces coming out of it. So, I have some misgivings about that, but that's also not my main concern. I do have a concern about the location for two reasons. One is the size of the piece is actually fairly squad, it's only about five feet tall. I think it's about, doesn't it come up a little under 60 inches? It's five feet. It's because of the base. With the base, you get there 5, 4, 6 inches or something, but yes, it's a little higher. So you know, a comparison, we had the lictinstein there which I happened to like and it had a lot of verticality and I think it played really well with the walls behind it, which is Councilmember Wells pointed as a pretty massive structure. Now, I do realize that this is small enough that it actually would be framed by the wall, that short little wall behind it, so you could get away with it, but this fate goes into my next concern. And that is we have a problem in this city with people climbing on our sculptures. The Kusama got damaged by people climbing over the sculpture. And I know you said we have a look at a hedge and people can't lean over. Great, they don't lean, they jump. And we have the Carol Bove, which has been used as a skateboard park. People climbed over the fence around the Kusama to hang on it. And here you've got a piece that is going to be behind a box edge. Someone can step over the box edge and do what they want. And in addition, even more than the Bové or the Kusami, it's got these angular features that almost invite people to climb on top and take a picture from the top. So I'm very worried about that. Now we could secure it by putting a fence in front of it, but this goes back to my concern with the hike, because if you put a fence that's high enough to secure it, it's not going to read properly, because it's going to be largely behind the fence. So I have a problem with the location of that reason, and one more reason, and that is we talked about the paint. We had a lot of discussion about the paint. It's an automotive-grade paint. It's designed for outdoors. No question about it, but when Alexander Calder was doing his painted sculptures many years ago, he had access to heavily oil paints that could withstand sunlight and the elements better than the water-based polyurethane they used today. And my sources have told me the Matthews paint is probably the finest quality polyurethane paint you can buy. Not going to argue with that. And I believe ironwood is probably a reputable country company that can fabricate the piece and properly apply the paint. But my research also indicates having talked to several body shop owners that unfortunately the paints we get include the Matthews paints tend to oxidize quicker than the old paints do. And I don't know. Pamela has that sculpture in her backyard. I don't know how it was originally painted. But I do know talking to, and it's red, red or in red. It's red, okay. And I do know that, but talking to body shop owners, they'll tell you that paints in California sunlight exposed to continuous sunlight. And keep in mind, this is on a southwest corner, so we will be largely exposed to the sun tracking across the sky the entire day, all every season, all year round. So it's going to get constant sunlight on it. And the body shot people I've talked to tell me, polyurethane paint, even the best grade automotive paints will oxidize after 4, 3, or four, or five years. And reds show oxidation quicker. So we have a situation we have a work that's, I'm going to not get an equivalent, it's a fabulous work, great to have, but we're putting it in a location that I think size wise and environmentally is going to be problematic. Now I understand that this, the paint thing, was a concern that's been brought up in the past, and that was the impetus for getting the 10-year warranty from Ironwood. And here's the real problem I have. And if it can be solved, I don't think it'll be solved tonight, but if it can be solved, I'm on board. But if you look at the two warranties we have from Ironwood and Matthews, there is a disconnect. First of all, Ironwoods' warranty specifically says not including the paint finishes. So they're not warranting the paint finish. Matthews warranties the paint finish only to Ironwood, and we are not a beneficiary of that contract. So we can't make a claim on it. And Ironwood is an obligable to repair the paint under our contract. Let me read it to you. No, no, no, no, no, I believe what you're saying. But we've gone through this, and I, with the way that it's written is because ironwood makes the product and the Matthew paint, paints it. I don't know, we've been through this for three years and at this point, I feel like. I understand, but I, you know, I look at the paperwork. You're entitled to you. And there's nothing I can do about that. It says this warning specific to the user and the project and the user is ironwood shop location involved. We're not a part of this contract so there is a disconnect. Putting aside the scope of the warranty because it says Matthew's warranty is the paint. I don't know what that means because it doesn't say okay so they're going to pay for a new can of paint if it goes bad. Are they going to pay for us to remove the piece, take it to a proper painting facility, paint it clear coat it and reinstall it. So here's what I need. And I'm not sure who can provide it. But I want someone to stand up here or send something and writing it preferably that says if the paint oxidizes in the next any time the next 10 years over the next 10 years and we can define what oxidizing mean but if it fades at all someone will pain pay to have the piece removed restored and reinstalled. If we can do that then I'm satisfied with the paint. I have concerns but I be sassy of that warranty. This isn't that warranty. The second thing is, I really do believe, based on the size and the security aspects, this is the wrong location. We need to find a different location for this. I'd like to have it indoors, because then you wouldn't have to worry about the paint, we did worry about security, and everyone could enjoy the peace. But from my perspective, these are the impediments to my voting to approve the purchase tonight. I just would like to say that if one were to take apart any art purchase, they would end up never buying a single piece ever because there's no gallery is gonna give you, I I mean that's like saying warranty it against an earthquake or you know it's just I think that and I in regard to people climbing on art every important city has an art collection. The City of Beverly Hills, it's a priority and we do have an art collection. You will always have those kind of issues. It happens in every city and every part of the world. So I just think we have to be a little bit realistic because I feel like otherwise you'd never buy a single piece of art. So, and I appreciate that. And I think that's a good point. I know Conversy the Carol Bovese has been covered for I don't know how many years at this point because it's just gotten ripped apart with skateboard, skippy house. So it's a whole long story with the refinishing of what was done to it. Okay, so that's the other issue. So another issue you deal with. Deep in depth. Right. But what I'm wondering is we've gone through this. Everybody has their perspective. You know, are the subjective. Maybe I'm wondering is there a way we can talk about will this be passed? And if not, if it doesn't get the vote, then maybe we go through. And if we decide we can look at that, but I don't know, like Pamela said, if that is something, if that's what's going to hold it up, if that would ever even be realistic. So, this isn't this council. I know, but we're just- Council comments? Yes, but I'm sorry, I just- No, no, I appreciate that. We're just trying to get the information on the record. So, you know, those are my thoughts, as I said, I appreciate all the work that everyone on the Austin Culture Commission has put into this. And I know it's a labor of love. I don't want to be the heavier the bad guy here tonight. But by the same token, you know, we have responsibilities to make sure we purchase works for the city. And I do and I just have these misgivings, the location and the warranty. At this point I just not comfortable approving the purchase. I can say said before, I can get comfortable with an express warranty from someone who's responsible that if the paint fades of the next 10 years they'll pay to have it removed restored and reinstalled and I think we need to find a better location. If we can solve those two problems I would have no problem approving this purchase but tonight I'm not there yet. Okay thank you. Council Member Mersh. So as mentioned briefly before I think the location isn't appropriate one. If it turns out that there's abuse, then we'll figure out a way to protect it. Hopefully there won't be just because of its proximity to City Hall. I think some of the issues brought up by Craig are valid and I would want to look at them, but I'm, you know, we've gone through a long time. I'd be prepared to move forward today. Thank you. And, Vice-Mor. Yes, I almost feel like this should have been a consent item because there were a lot of issues that we had questions about, but it wasn't really addressed. But I do agree that this is something that's been a long time in the making. I do still feel like there are some questions that are not answered. I like the piece. I think it's extremely important to celebrate this instrumental female artist. I appreciate the expertise and the time that our arts and culture commission and our staff have put into this piece. I personally served as the liaison for this commission a while back and I'm happy to see that the warranty has been brought up. The issues that Council Member Corman is bringing up, he is an expert in legal documents. So I guess if we could just stop those eyes and cross those T's prior to making the final purchase, I think that would be helpful because it would make it a little challenging later on to go back. Remember, we talked about this. It's like buying a car and then finding out what the warranty is afterwards. We should find out what the warranty is prior and then move forward with it. So I do have concerns with regard to the location because it does seem like it's a smaller piece compared to, as the liaisons recommended, that compared to the wallets, it is small. I wonder if like a car pops the curb if it would be damaged, but I guess there are, is that something that you guys are going to be addressing? As part of the installation site, there are ballards there. Excellent. Okay, good. That puts you just answered my question. And the drip irrigation with regard to water and care. So I think if we are able to clean that up, you know, like as it was said, I think the lictan steam there was a gorgeous piece because it really was large enough and filled the space very well. But, you know, I am going to trust the expertise of our commissioners and as long as we're able to revisit the warranty and just make sure that it's set. It doesn't need to come back to council for me, but as long as it's cleaned up, then I would be in support of this. So I'm not sure how we clean up the warranty. Well, right now there was words that if there is a claim, nobody's really held liable. So we're not clear on what the process is for the warranty. So may I maybe help a little bit. I think what we can clean up is if is the discrepancy between the Matthews paint warranty, warranting the work done by Ironwood and Ironwood not guaranteeing the paint. I believe that we, I believe we can get that straightened out. What I don't think we will be able to get straightened out is finding someone who will be if if it fails paying to come out, de-install the paint the piece, remove the coating, repaint, recode, and reinstall. So that is just from my experience in dealing, and I'm not, I'm not an art person, but I did sit with the art commission for a number of years. So I think we can get this far there, you know, making sure the words on the paper match up. I believe that that is probably an oversight. I believe that there was an intent by the gallery to offer a 10-year warranty on the paint. However, in the reality of the world, if someone climbs on the piece and they every of it's in their jeans and they slip down the piece or whatever, you know, some of the things we've had happen before, the reality of having the piece or whatever. You know, some of the things we've had happen before, the reality of having the piece deinstalled, refinished and reinstalled. I don't think we'll get that warranty. Let me just add, I mean, there are other issues with the Matthews paint, which I didn't get into because I agree with you. There's certain things you're just not going to get, I got to agree with Pamela. I mean, there's a discussion about it. There's a lot of caveats in there about, you know, that has to be, the pain has to have been applied by iron with certain techniques and certain, following certain protocols and certain discs and certain that. And at the end of the day, with the pain goes bad, you know, it's very possible to ask you to say, ah, you didn't put the pain on right, or you didn't follow this protocol. You didn't follow this protocol. You didn't follow that. I'm not arguing that. I mean, there are certain things you can't contract around. All I know is beyond the fact there's a disconnect between the two warranties, where there's a whole, there's also a material question about the scope, and that is, you know, the cheapest thing about the paint is the paint. The most expensive thing is to actually paint the piece. So if all we have in the day with a piece that's painted with paint, which I've been told, we'll certainly need repainting before the end of the 10-year warranty. This is what I've been told by a couple of different and I think very good body shop owners. Then if all we're getting is a warranty on the paint we got a couple gallons of paint and they cost us $10,000 to Repainted or $15,000 to repay it. I don't know what's gonna cost. That's a sizable chunk of change and I think that You know if we had if we purchased and we have purchased unpainted outdoor sculptures that don't require that kind of maintenance and won't ever require that kind of maintenance. My parents have outdoor sculptures that are bronzes and aluminum and every six months, we have a conservator come out in a cost of maybe $600. Yeah, that's what it costs. And we have a flan again, it's great. We have other pieces that are great and the ones that aren't painted are great. And it may be that in today's world, we are better off with an unpainted piece, if we're going to split outdoors. But, and then, again, as I said earlier, I've seen Pamela's, keep going back to Pamela. I've seen Pamela's sculpture, and although it is outdoors in the backyard, there are hedges, tall hedges around it. My guess is it's not getting full-on exposure the entire day long. I think there's probably some shade there from time to time. But again, I don't live there, so I can't be certain. But this exposure is going to be relentless from a son perspective. Okay, so I do believe that we need to be a party to the warranty. I think that's essential. Again, I think the really the main question for me is, in a worst case scenario, how much would it cost us if everything doesn't pan out in terms of the warranty. And I still don't get a good feeling on that cost. Maybe you can. So Patty and I were commiserating the only thing that I could think of that was similar is we purchased the Bové piece, the white sort of loopy piece that's in the park. Within a month of the installation we were having problems with scratches and problems with the finish on it and so we had the piece removed and it was refinished. It was not an inexpensive proposition because we had to have, you don't have beacons come and move your art piece. You have art folks come and move your art piece. But you want to eminence an investment. You want to have somebody who knows what they're doing. You know, do it right. So that plus taking it back to the fabricator plus the work that was done, I want to say that it was in over $10,000. I want to say to have the bouvet recoded. Now, is the coating the same? Is the paint this is the process the same? I don't know. I can't tell you that. So in that particular piece, we did that once? Yes. And we are going to do it again. And how long is the incremental time between each? So unfortunately after the piece was redone, it was reinstalled in the park and within a matter of months it was peeling again. The feeling, no, this was a different, this was a different, found a different group that made the piece and restored it. So the piece is actually going to go out and be restored again. But that piece is in an area that is very accessible. It's in the park as opposed to in an area that's not publicly used. Yeah, so I do wanna address, I think the skateboard is a myth, I do. I think the skateboard is a myth. Cause I spent a lot of time, so the piece was originally installed on a low base, a low concrete base. The damage that was visible was mostly at the base of the piece and appeared to be from people that were standing on it and they were scraping their shoes on it. When we had the piece refinished, we brought it back, we installed it on plinths, on little feet to try to raise it up and keep people from climbing on it. We put some ground cover or some plantings around it, and unfortunately the artist was not pleased with that version of the installation. So the current proposition is to look at putting it back on the ground. Okay, but again, it's in an area that is frequented by a lot of people. Yes. Okay, well, you know, in terms of the selection of the piece, I totally, totally defer to others. This is, you know, totally out of my wheelhouse. What is in my wheelhouse is reading contracts. I didn't have the opportunity to read these contracts, but I have had experience with Commissioner Cormin and he does an excellent job reviewing contracts and the fact that he does not feel we're a first party beneficiary of the contracts at a minimum is disturbing to me. I think that we have to be a first party beneficiary. And it's a gut feeling. I just think that the location where this piece is going to be is a good place, not excellent, not poor, but a good place. And I think for that reason, I think the placement is okay. In terms of whether or not the piece on a pedestal takes away from its impact, I defer to somebody else on that. It looks the same to me whether it's on the ground or it's not. I think the motive of the piece, the impact of the piece is something that would be beneficial to the city. I just don't think we're going to have the same types of issues that we had with the Bove APs and for that reason and for other comments that we've heard, I am prepared to be supportive of it. On the condition that we are first party beneficiaries. So with that, what is our next step? So just to be clear, we are the name beneficiary, the ironwood, but the ironwood specifically disclaims paint, so that's the question, and the Matthews, as there weren't you specific ironwood. Well, I know know, and then the mayor, the Matthews, says there weren't you specific, Dyernewood. Well, I know many, and that, and that meeting. And that's the number of requirements to do that. We're going to need to clean that up so that it's acceptable. That is a precondition as far as I'm concerned. What about the scope of the warranty as opposed to what, what it covers? get more. I'd love to do it. I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think anything is fail safe. Can't have pain enough for you. I don't. Again, I didn't read it so I don't know. No, I can't have pain. I'm just saying if I were the attorney representative, I'd say that's what you're living it to. I can't have pain. You could argue differently, but that's what I would say. Well, who reviewed the contract? Did our legal office? So go ahead Stephanie. Good. So Mayor and Council, we haven't entered into a formal contract yet. In fact, this is the first time we have gone as far as to secure warranty documents and everything prior to approval of acquiring the keys. This is thanks to the previous set of liaisons inquiring about that. So we were able to start this process. The warranty was provided as an attachment in one of our previous council packets, but the actual contract and agreement is not set yet. We haven't brought that forward. Okay, so Stephanie, it has not been reviewed by an attorney representing the city in terms of its scope. No, the formal acquisition agreement has not been adopted at this point. What we did do is we sent the gallery or standard template for art acquisition agreements for them to take a look at before we started this process. So then we would, what we have in our standard agreements, including Laura. This is the most, this is one of the few pieces where we've received Sub-J warranty. And so we've started that conversation, but the formal agreement has not yet been drafted or reviewed by the City Attorney's Office. That should be standard practice for any art that we purchase from now on, that we have the warranty discussed prior to purchasing anything. Okay, so, Sam, we're working on a new process following this entire process. Okay, so what I would propose, Craig, and please speak up, that if there are warranties that are acceptable and cover the piece that I certainly, I'm okay with it as it is right now as long as we're first party beneficiaries. But would that make any difference to you in terms of your position? So again, so you mean we're name beneficiaries on the Matthews? In sure, and a policy on the warranty? I think that in a minimum, we have, we have, I think we have to be able to enforce the warranties. If we can enforce both warranties exclusive of one of another, then I have a problem with that. Well, I do think that the warranty has to cover, has to expressly cover, you know, repainting it as opposed to just giving us a can of pain saying we're on our own. As I said, I believe this piece is going to be, is going to need to be painted probably twice during that 10-year period. Now, if the council is okay with spending $15,000, $20,000, $40,000 total over 10 years to maintain the piece, then we can go forward. We don't know. I'm just going based on my not great memory and some experience that we had with previous pieces. So, but I can tell you that the art relocation services alone are in the thousands to move the piece, uninstall it, move it, and then move it back and reinstall it, will be in the thousands and then whatever the cost to repaint refinished it would be. Okay, well again as long as the City Attorney's Office or whoever we contract with review the contract feels that we are first party beneficiaries of the warranties, I am okay with it. So with that, do we have a motion? I'm looking for where it is. I move to approve the acquisition and installation of Trinity by Judy Chicago. Authorize the city manager to execute agreements and purchase orders in the not to exceed amount of $589,000 for the purchase and installation of the artwork and approve an appropriation of 589,000 from the fine art fund for this purpose subject to conditions subject to conditions with regard to the Guarantee and naming of the warranty naming the city of Beverly Hills as a beneficiary We have second the city of Beverly Hills as a beneficiary. We'll have a second. Second. We got two seconds. Second. Okay. Council member Wells. Yes. Council member Cormin. Given the say of the record, unfortunately no. Council member Mirish. Vice Mayor Nazarian. Yes. Mayor Friedman. Yes. Okay. Moving on to. Item number G2 report from the City Attorney on closed session items. No report this evening. Do we have a report from City Manager? No report this evening mayor. City council member and committee reports and comments starting with council member Wells. Thank you. Yesterday, on Sunday we were at the pop up NOVA exhibit that was at the Wallace which was a nice opportunity for people who have not been to the exhibit at Culver City or as well, we're not aware. So I appreciate that that happened on Sunday. It was so hot. I don't know how great our turnout was because of that, but I do appreciate that we had it, and I know a lot of people did, so I'm grateful for that. On Sunday night I attended the general, I'm blanking on the name, the Consulate General of Israel's evening honoring heroes for Israel and again that was a nice confirmation of our support of Israel and partnership with our General Consulate in Los Angeles. And then lastly, I would just say today is National Suicide Prevention Day, and we did recognize that earlier at the beginning of the meeting, some of you know I lost my husband to suicide, September 27th, and that was in the year when 9-11 happened. So at this time what that really reminds me of is so many things are happening in the world that are really affecting so many members of our community. Just like when 9-11 happened, it really impacted a lot of people. And so I would say, especially at this time, given the world events around us, that you really do try and check in with your loved ones and really make sure that you're aware of what resources are out there, learn the signs of suicide and really provide the resources to your friends and family who may be needing it right now. Because if you're really struggling when events like what's going on in the world are happening, it can really impact people in a much deeper, devastating way. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor McCormick. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Quarmer. Thank you. I Did not have the opportunity to attend the pop-up no of exhibit at the Wallace Over the weekend that was out of town, but I did have a chance to go to the the actual exhibit in Culver City I urge everyone to do that It's a powerful powerful reminder of what really happened on October 7th. And I think it's worth not only seeing it, but taking other people who maybe don't aren't as aware of what happened to that exhibition, so they have a better idea of what did. House member Mersh. I also went to the NOVA exhibition and it's something that everybody should go to and also take your friends, especially friends who maybe are not connected with Israel or not Jewish. The brutality of what we saw at that exhibition with something that I believe since our last meeting we saw that some of the hostages from Nova including in American were brutally murdered by Hamas since we last met. They murdered six hostages and those six hostages died as heroes. Some of them actually actively struggling according to the latest information of the IDF and trying to protect the other hostages. And may their memories all be a blessing. It's also another reason why we as a city need to continue to memorialize the victims and what happened on October 7th. And I'm glad that we agreed today on signage and that we are bringing back the flags. That's extremely important. I will say that the rogue nation of Qatar is directly responsible for the murder of the hostages and for the ongoing captivity of the remaining hostages because Qatar Funzha Moss Qatar train Samas Qatar hosts Samas Qatar propaganda prop agandizes for Hamas with the Awful racist al Jazeera Network Qatar is effectively Hamas and Hamas is Qatar. So I propose that Qatar be designated a state sponsor of terrorism, that its assets be frozen and used to compensate the victims of Qatari-funded terrorism, and that we ask the State Department to expel the Qatari consulate from Beverly Hills. Thank you. Thank you. Vice mayor. Yes, thank you very much. I'm going to be very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very to get some of their feedback. It was very productive and they have some fresh ideas that are gonna be implemented, especially on South Beverly Drive, so make sure to look out for that. I also attended a SCAG Transportation Committee meeting this week and we discussed the upcoming agenda for the entire work plan for the year and the mobility work plan as well. So more to come on that. Just a quick update and I'm sure we'll hear more about this but our fire department recently went on their own with their own funds and their own resources to Israel. And I thought that it was pretty remarkable and I hope that we can learn more about that at our next council meeting perhaps. I also wanted to invite everyone to join tomorrow, September 11th. We have a community event at the fire department and we welcome members of the community to join at 5 p.m. on Rexford in front of the fire department right across from City Hall. And I think you met 530, 530. Yes. Yes. Well, thank you for that correction, because I didn't know. Yes. And I also just wanted to share that last week, six hostages including American citizen, Hirsch Goldberg-Polen were brutally murdered in cold blood moments before their rescue by the IDF. This was an undeniable war crime and we should all be outraged. Hirsch was just 23 years old, was taken hostage while at the Nova Music Festival during the October 7th massacre. The Mayor Council Member Kaurin and I attended a rally last week. I was one of the speakers and I spoke on the importance of courage and unity during these difficult times. Today 101 hostages remain in Gaza, including American citizens, and we must continue to be their voice. The people of Gaza are also suffering at the hands of Hamas, and we can be a voice for them as well. As October 7th approaches, we will be honoring the memory of the victims of that massacre with a flag display on Santa Monica Boulevard from September 30th to October 14th representing 1400 plus flags one for each precious live Lost from 30 nationalities and as Councilmember Wells mentioned there was the Nova pop-up at the wall of Santa Berg, but it's just a snippet of what is actually the actual exhibit in Culver City. So I encourage everyone to visit the exhibit, and please make sure to take a friend to bear witness. Something else I wanted to bring to the community's attention. On Sunday, September 15th from 1 to 4 p.m., there will be a woman life freedom rally in Westwood, marking two years since the brutal murder of Masha Amini by the Islamic Republic of Iran. It's crucial to recognize that the same oppressive regime responsible for the suffering of the woman in Iran also fuels the attacks behind the October 7th massacre. And we cannot remain silent. Our collective voice has the power to stand up against this evil. And finally to end on a positive note. This week I attended the Senior Health Fair at Roxbury Park. It was really such a fantastic turnout. It was great to see a lot of our seniors coming out. They were able to have their blood pressure checked. Some groups were passing out emergency kits and they could check their hearing. And it was they provided lunch from Beverly Hills Market. And I just really wanted to commend our community department and Cedar Sinai for bringing these important resources to all of our community members and especially to our seniors who are oftentimes a very vulnerable part of our community. Thank you very much. Okay, thank you. I won't repeat some of the items that have been mentioned already, but I will indicate that I also was at the pop-up NOVA exhibit. Not only was I there in June, I was in Israel at the NOVA site. And I had the opportunity to speak with the two survivors of the NOVA massacre who were at our pop-up, a young lady who was willing to speak and the other young lady who just didn't feel comfortable speaking. But when I was speaking to Tal, when I was speaking to Tal, I showed her some of the pictures I had from when Simone and I were at the Nova site. And maybe I shouldn't have done that. I saw a complete change in her appearance when she saw the actual site that was there. But a very strong woman was there. She was working there. She was working at the bar there. She, we talked about what I had heard from people, people who were there, who our guide was, where she ran the wrong way. She ran towards Gaza. And then tell to me that was very common. People, they didn't know where they were because it was in the middle of a desolate area. Really interesting, had a nice talk with her. I'm going to make sure that I see the Novix-Ibitn Culver City and she's going to show me around when we go there. We had an event which is named Morris, Less is More, Morris Less is More, and it was a really good discussion of social media safety. I really encourage anyone who has children to watch this and to see the dangers that are out there in social media and what parents can do to help protect their kids. We had a very moving speech by a gentleman who lost his 15-year-old son, who had ordered something online and it had been laced with fentanyl and the child died as a result of the ingestion of it. So really something that's really important to know about. And with that, I wanted to take a moment to adjourn this meeting in memory of Dr. George Burcy. We had the privilege of having Dr. Burcy here and spoke to us. I think it was in February, around February. Dr. Burcy of Cedarsana passed away last week at the age of 103. So he was here when he was either 102 or 103. Dr. Bercy lived a remarkable life. He was forced into the labor camps by Hungarians under the direction of the German Army. After the war, Dr. Burcy pursued a career in medicine and established one of the first experimental surgery programs in Europe. He was later recruited to join the Department of Surgery at Cedar Sinai. Dr. George Burcy pioneered endoscopic and laparoscopic techniques, techniques that provide the basis of virtually all minimally invasive surgeries performed today. His impact on medicine cannot be put into words. And if you would please join me in a moment of silence to honor the life and incredible the board. Thank you. And with that, we will adjourn this meeting to our next meeting, which is next week on September 17th, 2024. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you.