Mayor John A. Mirisch’s Oct. 21 Cabinet Meeting included updates from various commissions and highlighted the initiative to encourage “civility” in the City.
While October typically means fall leaves, pumpkin spice, and Halloween, in Beverly Hills, October is also Civility Month. To encourage civility not only this month, but throughout the year, Annette Saleh, chair of the Human Relations Commission, made a request that everyone embrace, enact, and tag all social media as #BHCivilCity. Saleh discussed the City’s initiative, and the “Embrace Civility” award to be presented at the Oct. 29 City Council meeting.
Prior to the award ceremony, Saleh said there will be an event to honor this year’s and past years’ honorees, all of whom exemplify the kindness edict, “Embrace Civility.”
The community, Saleh said, is encouraged to let the Commission know “what civility means to them,” with pictures and words, on social media (and don’t forget the hashtag!) or directly to the Commission, which will share the pictures and words of encouragement at their next meeting. She praised commissioners who “used their social media,” and gave Mayor Mirisch a shout out for a recent speech, in support of, and to further create more public awareness for the kindness and civility campaign.
In other matters, Planning Commission Chair Alan Robert Block noted that they are considering a study on 9800 Wilshire Blvd., the location of the membership shared-workspace Spring Place. Spring Place has since withdrawn a request to accommodate 2,000 members by increasing the use of the building’s roof.
“They have different memberships,” Block said. Those membership levels include different amenities, such as meeting rooms, rooftop terraces, dining facilities, access to events and more. Block added, “They appear to have a lot of different activities. We want to make sure they’re not using the rooftop in a way that’s going to adversely affect any property owner,” said Block.
Mayor Mirisch also responded to reports from Block regarding the ongoing progress of the Metro Purple Line, which later evolved into a discussion on the use of city-owned buildings. It was noted that parking was once a consideration.
“The parking need is very different. MTA decided not to build a park-and-ride, and in some cases, we need to figure out first and last mile solutions,” Mirisch said. He added, “because what you might have is people coming from outside of town, parking there, using the subway. That’s not going to create the kind of traffic that benefits our city.”
Additionally, the Mayor also reported that the City is in escrow on the landmark-designated Clock Tower across from the Saban Theatre (at Wilshire Blvd. and N. Gale Dr.), which the City can use to hold exhibitions and “all in the spirit of the notion of an arts and theatre district for the southeast part of town.” He added, “It was one of those opportunities that you don’t want to pass up… a great acquisition.”
