At a study session on Sept. 10, City Council discussed the $1 million budget for the 2024 Rodeo Drive Holiday Lighting Celebration, one of the city’s largest and most widely recognized events. During the meeting, some of the councilmembers speculated whether or not it was necessary to spend so much on the holidays. However, the Rodeo Drive Committee advocated for their event and the council ultimately approved the $1,028,996 budget, plus $524,502 for Rodeo Drive holiday decor. Later at the meeting, with less contention, the entire council agreed on a design for temporary memorial signs that will be displayed at Beverly Gardens Park in honor of the victims of the Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
Plans for the 2024 Holiday Lighting Celebration were originally presented at a Rodeo Drive Committee liaison meeting on Aug. 12. At that meeting, Mayor Lester Friedman and Councilmember Mary Wells approved designs for the holiday banners that will be displayed on street poles throughout the city and discussed the food and entertainment that will be featured at the ceremony on Nov. 14. They announced that this year’s event will feature one main stage instead of three and will not include a headliner. Instead, musicians like NBC SongLand winner Greg Scott, the UCLA a cappella group ScatterTones and students from Beverly Hills High School’s Center for Performing Arts will provide entertainment.
At the meeting on Sept. 10, Rodeo Drive Committee Vice President Kathy Gohari and Community Outreach Manager Magdalena Davis Jones gave a presentation on the finalized plans and described how the Rodeo Drive Committee plans to utilize the $1,028,996 budget. As Gohari explained, the event is a huge marketing opportunity for the city, bringing in an estimated public relations value of $25 million. She also described it as “one of the biggest draws of this town.” However, during the council’s discussion, Councilmember Craig Corman expressed hesitations regarding the large budget. He compared the lighting celebration to Next Night, a smaller-scale event that the city puts on for a budget of around $230,000, according to his data. “Based on the numbers, I have a difficult problem approving the budget. Other than that, I have no problem with the program, but, in my heart of hearts, I know that this could be done for less money,” he said.
Gohari defended the event, explaining that the holiday lighting ceremony is a much larger event. “You are comparing apples to oranges,” she said. “Next Night is a block party with tents and folding tables put up. It is very much a community event, but it is a neighborhood party. We cannot afford to do an event in that class and in that level. We are Rodeo Drive. Our production, our stage, our equipment, our producers, our event producers, our Grammy-winning performers is what Rodeo Drive deserves. We either do it right or we don’t do it. We will not do what Next Night does on Rodeo Drive.”
Corman argued back, stating that the comparison between the two events is more like “peaches to nectarines.” He pointed out the fact that both events use the same stage, with different audio equipment. But Gohari explained that the audio equipment needed to cover three blocks as opposed to just one block comes at a much steeper price.
Councilmember Mirisch seconded Corman’s scrutiny over the budget. “I do think when you look at the overall budget that we are spending this year—and we talk about crossover and all of these sorts of things—we need to tighten our belts maybe, and not just here, but everywhere. As he explained, money that is unused for the holiday celebration can be put towards other aspects of the city, such as the unhoused, community assistance grants and affordable housing. “I’m not saying that we shouldn’t spend adequately, but we should get away from the notion that we can’t use it for something else, because we can,” said Mirisch.
He also admitted that in light of the Jewish hostages that have not been released from Gaza, he doesn’t feel the need to overspend on a holiday celebration. “I’m personally not feeling particularly festive this year,” he said. “I know we kind of have to do it, but with everything that’s going on around us, I’m not gonna break out in ‘Kool and the Gang’ or something like that, celebrating.”
On the other hand, Vice Mayor Nazarian commented that she understands the city’s need to stay relevant, and the holiday lighting ceremony is one of the biggest events of the year. “I don’t think that anybody is saying that we don’t want to do this event,” she said. “I think we all agree that it should be done. I think the comparison between Next Night and this is ridiculous. They’re two different events— one is a block party; this is an internationally recognized event.” She suggested that this year’s budget be approved, but that the topic should be revisited for future events. “I think that what would be more helpful, and what I’m hearing my colleagues saying is, for this year, it is what it is. But in the future, I think it’s important for us to be on the same page.”
Later at the meeting, Daren Grilley, assistant director of public works, proposed designs for honorary street signs that would temporarily identify the block of Beverly Gardens Park located between North Santa Monica Boulevard and Park Way and between Crescent and Canon drives as, “October 7th Memorial Square.” He also suggested adding them to separate poles near each corner of the block, so that they’re not confused with current street signs. These new poles would be placed either on the park grass, or closer to the street, and would drop the estimated cost of installation from $900 to $700. After his presentation, Grilley asked the council for direction on the locations of the signs and the design. Corman suggested blue lettering, to represent Israel, with a black outline and black Beverly Hills shield, to which the rest of the City Council agreed. They also agreed that the signs should be placed at the edge of the sidewalks, near the other street signs and additional information about the memorial will be displayed in the park.
