At the Feb. 5 City Council Regular Meeting, the council reviewed and decided upon several Metro requests. These requests will help safely expedite deck removal work at Purple Line Section 2—Wilshire/Rodeo Station, accelerate street restoration of Wilshire Boulevard between El Camino Drive and Crescent Drive and complete the project by 2025 rather than the first quarter of 2026 as was originally intended. The council also voted in an urgency ordinance relating to price gouging, which includes the recent price cap removal for rental units issued by Governor Gavin Newsom on Feb 4.
With regards to the Metro requests, the council agreed to a three-week full closure of Wilshire Boulevard from March 17 to April 7, instead of 18 continuous weekends of closures outlined in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). There is an option to negotiate three additional weekend closures if outstanding work remains to be completed after the initial three weeks. Under these new measures, construction is expected to be completed by November 2025. The council also authorized a six-week closure of South Reeves Drive, starting at the end of this month, so Metro can safely remove structural supports extending into Reeves Drive before the deck panel removal at the Wilshire/Reeves intersection.
Under the MOA, Metro is prohibited from closing Wilshire Boulevard on holiday weekend dates. Metro has requested approval for a waiver of four holiday moratorium dates to allow work to continue during Presidents Day, Academy Awards, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The council denied this waiver to avoid imposing unnecessary burdens on residents, businesses and visitors during busy holiday weekends.
Following recent concerns regarding the city’s existing regulations on price gouging during a state of emergency, an urgency ordinance to amend sections of the Beverly Hills Municipal Code relating to the prevention of price gouging was presented and adopted by the council. The Beverly Hills price gouging ordinance was last amended in 2007.
“Price gouging, especially in this time, will not be tolerated. Our new L.A. County District Attorney has made it very clear he is going to prosecute those who price gouge. So, I think what this ordinance does is get us in line with the state’s regulations and rules … for that reason, I am in conformity with the ordinance as it is presented,” said Mayor Lester Friedman.
Some of the changes incorporated into the new ordinance include a definition of repair and reconstruction services and a detailed definition of how to calculate the rental price of a housing unit during a declared emergency. As per the ordinance, it will be unlawful to sell consumer goods for 10% above the price charged before a state of emergency. For housing not rented or offered for rent within one year prior to a declared emergency, a maximum of 160% of the fair market rent is allowed, as stipulated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Later in the week at a Special Meeting on Feb. 7, the council voted to modify this urgency ordinance to mirror a new executive order issued by Governor Newsom. This order introduced two new changes relating to price gouging. The first of these is the lifting of a price cap on new rental listings for some single-family homes in Los Angeles. In Beverly Hills, this concerns single-family houses with four or more bedrooms in the 90210 ZIP code (including those in the Beverly Hills Post Office) that had not been previously offered for rent for the year preceding Jan. 7, 2025. For these homes, the governor has waived the price gouging regulations that called for a maximum rent of 160% of the level set by the Department of Housing and Development. This waiver is in effect until March 8, 2025.
The prevailing price gouging laws limited the monthly rental price for properties in Los Angeles County to not exceed $9,554 a month. Vice Mayor Sharona Nazarian expressed that this previous restriction may have discouraged homeowners in zip codes with high fair market values, such as those in 90210, from putting homes on the market at a below-market rate.
The second change in Newsom’s order was the expansion of rental price gouging protections to leases of any length, rather than leases of only one year or less, in response to examples of leases being offered for 366 days to avoid the protections.
“What you’re seeing here is a council reacting immediately to changes that have occurred, and I don’t think you see that in many municipalities,” Friedman said of the city’s quick response to update its ordinance in response to changes in state law.
All councilmembers present approved the changes to the ordinance. These changes form part of the city’s efforts made to support displaced individuals seeking housing following the Eaton and Palisades wildfires that devastated parts of Los Angeles County in January 2025. A statement issued by Newsom read, “This executive order provides targeted relief from regulations that impact victims and would otherwise slow this community’s quick recovery.”
