STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: May 2, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Gabriella Yap, Senior Policy and Management Administrator, Public Safety
Subject: Approval of the Beverly Hills City Council Liaison / Next Beverly Hills Committee Recommendations for the Next Beverly Hills Work Plan and Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24; and
Approval of a Street Closure on South Beverly Drive for Next Night on Saturday, September 9, 2023, and Waiving Soft Costs Associated with Next Night
Attachments: None
INTRODUCTION
Staff requests City Council approval of the Beverly Hills City Council Liaison / Next Beverly Hills Committee (“Next BH”) recommendation to: 1) Approve the Next BH Work Plan and Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24 (“FY 23-24”); 2) Approve Street Closure of S.
Beverly Drive from the evening of Friday, September 8, 2023, through the early morning of Sunday, September 10, 2023, for Next Night on Saturday, September 9, 2023, and waiving soft costs associated with Next Night.
Next BH was established in 2015 to engage residents through innovative initiatives that address their lifestyles, economic and civic needs, and to inspire them to make Beverly Hills a better place for all. Next BH is a committee of talented, next generation leaders focused on innovative initiatives which address the lifestyle, economic, and civic needs of those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. It seeks to engage all who are interested to inspire them to make Beverly Hills a better place for all.
At the transition of each calendar year, the Committee members select their leadership and Priority Areas for the coming calendar year. Once the Priority Areas are selected, the Committee may generate initiatives and projects for the calendar year if they fall within at least one of the selected Priority Areas. Continuing initiatives and projects must also fall within at least one of the selected Priority Areas.
Meeting Date: May 2, 2023
For calendar year 2023, the Next BH leadership is as follows:
Noah Etessami – Chair
Charles Smith – Vice Chair
Kipton Cronkite - Art Chair
Joel Hile - Cultural Chair
Allison Adams - Charity Chair
Ariel Ouziel - Sustainability Chair
In addition, the City Council Liaisons, Mayor Julian A. Gold, M.D. and Vice Mayor Les Friedman, provide updates on civic issues to bring awareness to the Next BH membership.
For calendar year 2023, the Next BH Priority Areas are as follows:
Leadership Development
Next Gen Events & Outreach
Next Gen Arts & Culture
Historical Appreciation
Cultural Unity
Sustainability
Safety & Quality of Life
Charitable Engagement
DISCUSSION
At the April 19, 2023 Next BH special meeting, Liaisons Mayor Gold and Vice Mayor Friedman recommended moving forward for a full City Council vote to approve the Next BH Work Plan and Budget for FY 23-24, as well as moving forward with the 2023 Next Night Street Festival and the accompanying street closure of S. Beverly Drive and soft costs associated with the event.
Membership and Community Engagement Activities (Continued - $15,000) Previously, Next BH had allocated $10,000 toward First Thursdays to promote community engagement and increase patronage of local businesses during Covid and $5,000 toward Membership Outreach. As part of First Thursdays, Next BH worked in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce’s Now Beverly Hills campaign and with Concerts on Canon to cross-promote the events and businesses. Additionally, Next Beverly Hills hosted events like garden games in Beverly Canon Gardens and Guac with a Cop. First Thursdays concluded with a successful last event in December 2022 as the Covid local emergency was tapering off.
Next Beverly Hills is proposing to pivot from the Covid-borne First Thursdays to general activities to promote community engagement. Next Beverly Hills serves as an excellent entry point into community involvement by being accessible to those who want to learn more about the City and encourages member participation in the committee and other City programs. Some activities Next BH is proposing to have community activities like yoga, continuing mixers with public safety departments and including other City initiatives like Just in Case BH, and exploring partnering with UCLA and USC Film Schools and next gen college students to exhibit films, utilize the beautiful theatre at Greystone, and expose them to our amazing city.
Meeting Date: May 2, 2023
Next BH also recognizes that the people highly invested in the next generation are parents and students, and the Committee is looking forward to hosting events to engage with a wide segment of future generations including the:
Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to explore early education School Board members to speak with the Committee to understand what is important to parents and families
High school students to hear what they are experiencing and want to see in Beverly Hills
School Principals to see how Next BH could partner with the schools People who have moved back to Beverly Hills (or never left) to understand what draws them here. Is there anything they missed from their childhood here? Anything they were pleasantly surprised to see?
commUNITY Cultural Unity Initiative (Continued - $20,000) The goal of the Cultural Unity Initiative titled commUNITY is to involve the next generation and encourage greater unity through diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Committee recognizes the importance of celebrating our differences and what we each have to offer. As part of FY 22-23, Next BH co-sponsored Festival BH, which celebrated the City’s rich diversity, and brought together different segments of the community.
Additionally, Next BH co-sponsored a screening event at the Greystone Mansion Theatre with the Finnish Film Festival Midsummer in Hollywood, who funded the event.
Attendees included members of the Finnish Consulate, Finnish and Swedish Chambers of Commerce, a variety of professionals in the entertainment industry, alongside the public.. Next BH has enjoyed collaborating with staff and other commissions and requests the same level of funding to continue the goal of greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. This funding would go toward co-sponsoring events like Festival BH and BH Pride, speaking panels, and other events that encourage unity.
Art Initiatives (Continued - $2,000)
Next BH has enjoyed success partnering with the Arts & Culture Commission and the Human Relations Commission on Visions of the Future and look forward to encouraging next-gen interest in art at events such as the Art Show booths each year. In FY 22-23, Next BH participated in the Art Shows, went on Art Walks, and also toured the Mr.
Brainwash exhibit. Funds were also used toward the giant community mural at Next Night as an additional interactive activity.
Sustainability Initiatives (Continued - $2,000)
The goal of the Sustainability Initiatives is to prioritize sustainability for the next generation, particularly related to climate change, recycling and resource conservation.
Next BH requests funding to continue working with the Public Works Department to host a Next BH booth at the Farmer's Market, Earth Day events, and other City events where appropriate to showcase sustainable products and next-gen ideas for encouraging sustainability, in addition to partnering to create workshops and discussions to educate and encourage sustainable practices. Additionally, Next BH previously held a clothing drive as both a sustainability and charitable effort to encourage clothing recycling to benefit youth aging out of foster care. With the help of the Fire Department, Next BH was able to donate a number of bags of clothing to foster youth. Unusable clothing was sent to be recycled, diverting this potential waste from landfills. Funding would be used toward similar sustainability initiatives.
Meeting Date: May 2, 2023
Marketing (Continued - $5,000)
Next BH plans to utilize marketing funds in conjunction with the proposed initiatives approved by the Council. This includes advertisements, various media channels, and Next BH branded merchandise for events throughout the year.
Miscellaneous (Continued - $1,000)
Miscellaneous costs for services and supplies such as a SurveyMonkey subscription.
Next Night Street Festival ($230,000 = $210,000 with 10% Contingency) In October 2022, after a hiatus due to COVID-19, the Next Night Street Festival returned and we saw an unprecedented 5,000 people show up for this event. The goal of Next Night will continue to be creating a street festival with live entertainment, food, and games which appeal to the next generation of Beverly Hills residents while encouraging the entire community to come together and celebrate life in Beverly Hills. The kids’ area was extremely popular last year and it is recommended that we enlarge the kids zone and add additional children’s elements for this year’s Next Night. Additionally, Next BH and the community greatly enjoyed partnering with the school district and the Teen Advisory Committee and will be looking forward to doing so again. This year’s Next Night is proposed to take place on Saturday, September 9, 2023.
Due to the increasing cost of labor, manufacturing items, and supply chain challenges, the total cost of the last event was approximately $210,000 when combining the event elements, event management services, talent costs, and supplies and services such as fencing and porta-potties. The increase also included adding an additional interactive art mural to the event with funding from their ongoing budget for art and community engagement initiatives and additional signage and creative elements for approximately $5,000 that was funded from Next BH’s art and community engagement budget.
Next BH is also seeking Council approval for a street closure of S. Beverly Drive from 6 p.m. the evening of Friday, September 8, through 4 a.m. the morning hours of Sunday, September 10. Lastly, Next BH is seeking approval of soft costs including the use of City staff and resources associated with the event and a full street closure, security, marketing and advertisements, printing and graphics, and waiving permits and parking fees.
FISCAL IMPACT
Since the fiscal year starts in July and Next Night occurs early in the fiscal year, planning becomes difficult since Staff can’t enter into and pay agreements related to Next Night until the fiscal year starts. As a result, it would be beneficial to have funding available before the start of the fiscal year to get a jump start on planning. To remedy this situation, Policy and Management has $180,000 available in its budget (00101313) to begin planning for the 2023 Next Night. Policy and Management expects that it will have the additional $50,000 available in its existing budget to pay for the remainder of the cost of Next Night for 2023.
To address the funding for Next Night for 2024 and beyond, Staff will bring forth a budget enhancement request for $95,000 for the Council to consider funding for future years at the same $230,000 level ($210,000 with $20,000 contingency), beginning in FY 2023-24.
Meeting Date: May 2, 2023
In addition, the budget enhancement will include a request for $15,000 to permanently fund efforts related to Membership Outreach and Cultural Unity. These initiatives are currently funded from one-time carryover funds from prior fiscal years.
In sum, the estimated costs for FY 2023-24’s totals $265,000 and the increased funding of $95,000 as described above will be brought forward to Council through the budget process.
At this time, Next is requesting Council approval to close the street and the waiver of soft costs associated with the event as discussed above.
FY 23-24 Proposed Budget
Next Night
($210,000 plus 10% Contingency of $20,000)
$230,000
Membership Outreach $5,000
Cultural Unity Initiatives $10,000
Community Engagement Activities $10,000
Art Initiatives $2,000
Sustainability Initiatives $2,000
Marketing for all Events $5,000
Miscellaneous $1,000
Total: $265,000
RECOMMENDATION
Staff requests City Council approval of the Beverly Hills City Council Liaison / Next Beverly Hills Committee (“Next BH”) recommendation to: 1) Approve the Next BH Work Plan and Budget for Fiscal Year 23-24 (“FY 23-24”); and 2) Approve the Street Closure of S. Beverly Drive from 6 p.m. the evening of Friday, September 8, 2023, through 4 a.m. the morning of Sunday, September 10, 2023, for Next Night on Saturday, September 9, 2023, and waiving soft costs associated with Next Night.
Nancy Hunt-Coffey
City Manager
Approved By