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On Tuesday evening, the Beverly Hills City Council unanimously shot down a request by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to permit work during the holiday moratorium. 

The City Council had approved a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Metro in February for the design-build of the Wilshire/Rodeo Station in Section 2 of the Purple Line Extension project, which included holiday moratorium dates in which no work is permitted. 

“We negotiated the deal the way we did to protect our community,” Mayor John Mirisch underscored just before the council voted. 

Metro had submitted a request to the city to waive the 2019 holiday moratorium between Thanksgiving Day through New Year’s Day to allow the Rodeo Station piling work to continue. 

During the holiday moratorium, Metro is required to maintain all traffic lanes on Wilshire Boulevard, therefore requiring the removal of the K-rail used during piling activities. 

“I don’t see a compelling reason to do it,” Councilman Julian Gold said. “But I do think there is a compelling reason not to do it, in that this holiday season coming is critical to our businesses and we want to make sure we do everything we can to make that successful.”