STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: May 2, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Huma Ahmed, City Clerk
Subject: Update to the City Council Regarding the Special Election on Measures B and C (Cheval Blanc Project)
Attachments: 1. Special Election 2023 – Voter Information Guide
INTRODUCTION
The City of Beverly Hills will be conducting a Special Election scheduled for May 23, 2023 regarding Measures B and C (Cheval Blanc Project). The election will only be open to Beverly Hills residents. This is an informational report to the City Council.
DISCUSSION
The City Council approved for a Special Election to take place on May 23, 2023. The City has contracted with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office to manage the ballot collection process related to the election. Any questions regarding the Special Election should be forwarded to the City Clerk’s office.
Since 2020, the City Clerk’s office has provided a Voter Information Guide to all residents in the City of Beverly Hills. This is a free education-based piece that is forwarded to the community that includes information on where to vote, how to vote, the measures and/or candidates, and basic election information for resident voters. Attached is a copy of the Voter Information Guide which has been developed for the Special Election in May 2023.
The Special Election will have two Vote by Mail (VBM) drop boxes in the City of Beverly Hills (Roxbury Park and City Hall). When in-person voting begins, the Municipal Gallery at City Hall will be the only vote center in the City. The Voter Information Guide is available on the City’s website at beverlyhills.org/elections as well.
It should be noted, should Beverly Hills voters wish to vote in-person or drop off their ballots at the LA County Headquarters in Norwalk, they may do so as well.
All registered voters within the City of Beverly Hills have already begun to receive VBM ballots. Voters can check the status of their ballots through the ‘track your ballot’ system.
Links are provided at LAVOTE.GOV or on the Beverly Hills City Clerk’s web page:
beverlyhills.org/elections.
Meeting Date: May 2, 2023
Beverly Hills – Post Offices (USPS)
Beverly Hills has three (3) USPS facilities:
1. Beverly Hills Main Office
325 N. Maple Drive, Suite 150
2. Crescent Postal Store
323 N. Crescent Drive
3. Beverly Station
312 S. Beverly Drive
Vote by Mail (VBM) Drop Boxes
Drop boxes are now open, and will close on May 23, 2023 at 8PM. Beverly Hills has twodrop box locations with 24-hour access:
1. City Hall/Civic Center (next to Kelly’s Coffee)
2. Roxbury Park (front entrance)
Vote Center
The Municipal Gallery at City Hall will be an 11-day Vote Center. The dates will be from Saturday, May 13 to Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
Hours of operation: Weekdays/Weekends: 10:00AM - 7:00PM. Election Day Hours:
7:00AM - 8:00PM.
The Municipal Gallery is the only City facility provided for this election.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no funding requested at this time as the City Clerk’s office elections budget can currently accommodate these expenditures.
RECOMMENDATION
This report is provided as an update to the City Council and is informational only.
Huma Ahmed,
City Clerk
Approved By
Attachment 1
THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL SAMPLE BALLOT.
SPECIAL
ELECTION
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT
BEVERLYHILLS.ORG/ELECTIONS
2023
VOTER
INFORMATION
GUIDE
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2023
VOTE CENTER HOURS: 10AM - 7PM
ELECTION DAY HOURS: 7AM - 8PM
VOTING DAYS: 11 days (inclusive of Saturday/Sunday)
Saturday, May 13, 2023 - Tuesday, May 23, 2023
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
Beverly Hills/1
Beverly Hills voters can cast ballots at designated drop boxes, USPS and the vote center at City Hall.
There will be 11 days of in-person voting.
(Saturday, May 13, 2023 - Tuesday, May 23, 2023).
Voters can also register to vote on Election Day.
All Registered Beverly Hills voters will receive a Vote by Mail (VBM) ballot from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/ County Clerk.
Deadline to register to Vote by Mail (VBM) is
Monday, May 8, 2023.
Beverly Hills will have ONE designated vote center:
Municipal Gallery, City Hall.
The Special Election is only open to Beverly Hills voters.
Visit LAVOTE.GOV or BEVERLYHILLS.ORG/ELECTIONS.
Highlights for
May 2023
Special Election:
Beverly Hills/3
Regular Voting Days:
Saturday, May 13, 2023 - Tuesday, May 23, 2023
10AM - 7PM
Election Day:
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
7AM - 8PM
Beverly Hills will
have the following Vote
Center Location:
Vote By Mail (VBM)
Drop Boxes:
11-DAYS OF VOTING
(Saturday, May 13, 2023 - Tuesday, May 23, 2023):
BEVERLY HILLS CITY HALL
MUNICIPAL GALLERY
455 N. Rexford Dr. (2nd Floor)
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
2 Hour Free Parking: 450 N. Rexford Dr.
CITY HALL (next to Kelly’s Coffee and Fudge)
455 N. Rexford Drive
ROXBURY PARK COMMUNITY CENTER
471 S. Roxbury Drive
For more vote centers near you, please visit LAVOTE.GOV.
Please call the Beverly Hills City Clerk’s Office at 310-285-2400 or visit BEVERLYHILLS.ORG/ELECTIONS.
BEVERLY HILLS
VOTE CENTER
AND DROP BOX
LOCATIONS
Beverly Hills/4
SAMPLE
BALLOT
Sample Ballot
Beverly Hills/5
IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS OF MEASURE B
Measure B asks whether the voters approve a zoning ordinance, adopted by the Beverly Hills City Council, adding the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan to the Beverly Hills zoning code (“Zoning Amendment”). The Zoning Amendment allows for development of a luxury Cheval Blanc Hotel with 115 rooms, a 500 member private club, restaurants and other retail uses (“Project”) on an approximately
1.28 acre site on South Santa Monica Boulevard between Rodeo Drive and Beverly Drive (“Project Site”) pursuant to the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan. The Cheval Blanc Hotel would be constructed with a maximum floor area ratio (“FAR”) of 4.2:1, building heights ranging from 51 feet on North Rodeo Drive to 115 feet along North Beverly Drive and a maximum of 115 hotel rooms. The current City zoning regulations for the Project Site allow for a FAR of 2.0:1, a building height of 45 feet, and approximately 35 hotel rooms. The Zoning Amendment will become effective if and when the accompanying Development Agreement becomes effective. Under the Development Agreement, the developer secures a right to develop the Project over time in exchange for certain public benefits to the City, including: (1) a Municipal Surcharge paid to the City of 5% of the gross room revenue (in addition to the 14% transient occupancy tax), (2) an arts and cultural contribution to the City of $2 million, (3) a public benefit contribution to the City of $26 million and (4) a contractual commitment to maintaining the Cheval Blanc Hotel at a minimum luxury standard. Additionally, pursuant to the Development Agreement, the hotel developer has guaranteed that the hotel will be built within five years of the Final Approval Date, subject to extensions of up to three years at an additional cost of $250,000 per month.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The City prepared an Environmental Impact Report for the Project. The Environmental Impact Report found no significant and unavoidable environmental impacts. The Environmental Impact Report found several potentially significant environmental impacts that were mitigated to a less than significant level.
These included impacts to biological resources, cultural resources, including tribal cultural resources, geology and soils, construction noise, and construction traffic.
CONSEQUENCE OF VOTES
A “yes” vote on Measure B approves the Zoning Amendment adding the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan to the zoning code and consequently allows the hotel to be constructed.
A “no” vote on Measure B disapproves the Zoning Amendment adding the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan to the zoning code and consequently prohibits the hotel from being constructed.
This measure was placed on the ballot by a petition signed by the requisite number of voters.
LAURENCE S. WIENER
Beverly Hills City Attorney
The above statement is an impartial analysis of Measure B. If you desire a copy of the ordinance, please call the Elections Official, the City Clerk at 310-285-2400 and a copy will be mailed at no cost to you.
Impartial Analysis of Measure B
Beverly Hills/6
ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE B
Measure B, and its companion measure on this ballot, are simple questions: Should we reaffirm the unanimous vote of the Beverly Hills Planning Commission and the overwhelming approval of the City Council for a new world-class hotel on Rodeo Drive? The hotel will generate hundreds of millions of dollars to support public safety, Beverly Hills schools, and other critical City services for decades to come.
Beverly Hills Firefighters, Police Officers, Educators, and Community Leaders Agree — Vote YES on B! Funding Public Safety, Our Schools, and Other Vital Services The Cheval Blanc Hotel project will generate an average of $25 million in new tax revenue per year — an estimated $778 million over 30 Years — for the City’s general fund, plus a one-time payment of $26 million to support schools, police, fire, paramedics, and other vital services. This unrestricted funding can also support affordable housing and other future needs. An additional $2 million will support City arts and culture.
Additionally, YES on B will create an active pedestrian connection between Rodeo and North Beverly, ensuring the long-term economic vibrancy of the Golden Triangle.
A THOROUGH PUBLIC REVIEW
The Cheval Blanc Hotel project went through a rigorous environmental review process, including numerous public hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council. More than 30 community and public meetings were held over two and a half years. The project was revised to address community input and ultimately received overwhelming support from Beverly Hills residents, businesses, and civic groups.
CREATING QUALITY JOBS
As a world-class boutique hotel, Cheval Blanc will compensate its employees with top wages and benefits, assuring a living wage for workers and boosting the Beverly Hills economy. The hotel is owned by LVMH, a long-term local employer and globally renowned retailer of high-quality products.
Learn more at www.YESonBC.org and vote YES on Measure B!
LILI BOSSE
Three Time Mayor, City of Beverly Hills
VICTOR GUTIÉRREZ
President, Beverly Hills Firefighters’ Association
ALEXANDER DUNCAN
President, Beverly Hills Police Officers Association
ROSE KAISERMAN
Board Member, Beverly Hills Education Foundation
DAVID MIRHAROONI
Board Member, Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce
Argument In Favor of Measure B
Beverly Hills/7
ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE B
Vote No on Measure B which would rezone our lovely village to allow the building of a massive hotel along little Santa Monica, from Rodeo Drive to Beverly Drive, up to 9 stories in height, far exceeding our 3 story height limit.
The proposed rezoning would also give the developer the right to build more than twice the density allowed by our present zoning, and would relieve the developer from even providing adequate code compliant parking.
The proposed Cheval Blanc Hotel is nothing like the pictures the developer provided to news outlets, designed to make the hotel look like it was only 3 to 4 stories instead of up to 9 stories.
This is yet another project where a developer hired ex-mayors and insider lobbyists to seek special exemptions and privileges which ultimately render our General Plan largely meaningless.
The proposed monolithic hotel will bring about more traffic and congestion on little Santa Monica and in our village; it will block views; and it will be a drain on our infrastructure, water supply, and city services.
During the years it will take to demolish buildings and to construct the mammoth project, we will be choked with traffic, dust, and noise along little Santa Monica and in the Triangle.
Sometimes builders claim they cannot afford to build unless they are granted rezoning which allows them to ignore our long valued building codes. But this is the richest luxury builder in the world, and this developer can very well afford to build in a manner which would comply with our codes.
If we do not defeat this measure, bad precedent will be set and the flood gates will be opened with no way to close them, negatively impacting our quality of life here now and forever.
JOHN MIRISCH
Councilmember and Three-Time Mayor of Beverly Hills
CHARLES ARONBERG, M.D.
Former Mayor of Beverly Hills
ROSE NORTON
Former Planning Commissioner of Beverly Hills
DEBORAH BLUM
Director of Residents Against Overdevelopment
DARIAN BOJEAUX
Proponent of Referendum Against Cheval Blanc Hotel
Argument Against Measure B
Beverly Hills/8
REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE B
The project was not “overwhelmingly” supported. The City Council was not uninanimous, and more than 2,500 residents signed petitions to place it on the ballot.
The claim of great income from the project is unverifiable, and does not even account for millions of dollars for required infrastructure and other continuing city services.
The hotel project would bring in some income, but so would ANY hotel. So why allow a massive, out-ofscale, up to 9 story building which would permanently mar the landscape and character of our Triangle; would create traffic and gridlock; would strain our infrastructure and water supply; and would impair our quality of life?
It just doesn’t belong there.
We could have a code compliant 3 story hotel—a real boutique hotel—with a much better development agreement for any reasonable concessions.
Contrary to their argument, no funds whatsoever have been earmarked for schools, police, fire, or affordable housing.
There are also no guarantees that top wages or benefits would be paid to hotel employees. In fact, they would be lucky to find a parking space since code parking was not required.
It is troubling that according to required lobbyist registrations, three of our ex-mayors are using their past positions to profit, to the tune of about $300,000, as lobbyists for Cheval Blanc.
Don’t fall for the high paid rhetoric of the developer’s lobbyists and a plethora of expensive, misleading advertising. And don’t open the floodgates. Our city and quality of life are not for sale.
JOHN MIRISCH
Councilmember and Three-Time Mayor, City of Beverly Hills CHARLES ARONBERG, M.D.
Former Mayor, City of Beverly Hills
SONIA BERMAN
Former Human Relations Commissioner, City of Beverly Hills
DEBORAH BLUM
Director, Residents Against Overdevelopment
DARIAN BOJEAUX
Proponent of Referendum Against Cheval Blanc
Rebuttal to Argument In Favor Of Measure B
Beverly Hills/9
REBUTTAL TO THE ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE B
A HUGE INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE OF BEVERLY HILLS
YES on B will protect and enhance our quality of life in Beverly Hills.
The agreement for the Cheval Blanc Hotel approved by the City Council delivers enormous, long-term public funding. In the first 30 years alone, Measure B will generate an estimated $778 million in new local revenue. That’s money for our schools and for the City Council to allocate to keep rapid emergency response times for paramedic, police, and fire services, sidewalk repairs, affordable housing for seniors, and more.
REVITALIZING THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
YES on B will deliver a beautiful hotel reflecting the existing neighborhood scale and injecting new energy into the Golden Triangle. Expanded sidewalks will make the area more walkable, and new restaurants, shops and public art will breathe new life at street level.
The properties on Rodeo and Beverly Drives where the hotel will be built have been underused for years.
Former occupants closed their doors and left the city years ago.
A THOUGHTFUL, COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED PLAN
The Beverly Hills Planning Commission reviewed the project thoroughly and approved it unanimously after a multiyear public review process. Community input led to changes that address traffic and ensure sufficient parking. Not a single resident appeared before the City Council to oppose the project at the hearing where it was approved.
YES on B will affirm the overwhelming support of community leaders, educators, homeowners, civic leaders, and leading labor organizations including the Beverly Hills police and firefighters, construction worker unions, and many others.
Join us in affirming the community consensus — vote YES on B! DR. JULIAN GOLD
Mayor, City of Beverly Hills
NOOSHIN MESHKATY
Former Chair, City of Beverly Hills Traffic and Parking Commission
NEGAR KAMARA
Resident, Parent of Beverly Hills Unified School District Student
PETE RODRIGUEZ
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters
SHAWN SAEEDIAN
Local Business Owner, Beverly Hills Market and Deli
Rebuttal to The Argument Against Measure B
Beverly Hills/10
WAYS TO VOTE
IN THE MAY ELECTION!
For more information please visit LAVOTE.GOV, BEVERLYHILLS.ORG/ELECTIONS or call the Beverly Hills City Clerk’s Office at 310-285-2400.
Mailbox
• City Hall (next to Kelly's Coffee & Fudge)
455 N. Rexford Drive
• Roxbury Park Community Center
471 S. Roxbury Drive
Drop Box
*Ballots may also be dropped off
at City Hall Vote Center.
Vote Center
3 WHERE’S MY
BALLOT?
The California Secretary of State is now offering voters a new way to track and receive notifications on the status of their vote-by-mail ballot. Powered by BallotTrax , Where’s My Ballot? lets voters know where their ballot is, and its status, every step of the way.
Sign-up at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov to receive automatic email, SMS (text), or voice call notifications about your ballot.
Tracking your ballot
—when it is mailed, received, and counted—
has never been easier.
california.ballottrax.net/voter
Beverly Hills/11
IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS OF MEASURE C
Measure C asks whether the voters approve an ordinance, adopted by the Beverly Hills City Council, approving a development agreement (“Agreement”). Under the Agreement, the City would obtain certain public benefits in exchange for vesting the right to develop the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan Project. Vesting is a legal term that means a project can be developed over time and the City generally may not change the development rules that were in effect when the project was approved. This Agreement vests development rights in accordance with the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan for a 115 room luxury hotel, 500 member private club, restaurants and other retail uses (“Project”) on an approximately
1.28 acre site on South Santa Monica Boulevard between Rodeo Drive and Beverly Drive. The Project would be constructed with a maximum floor area ratio of 4.2:1 and building heights ranging from 51 feet on North Rodeo Drive to 115 feet along North Beverly Drive. In exchange for vesting certain rights to develop, the hotel developer will provide certain public benefits to the City, including (1) a Municipal Surcharge paid to the City of 5% of the gross room revenue (in addition to the 14% transient occupancy tax), (2) an arts and cultural contribution to the City of $2 million, (3) a public benefit contribution to the City of $26 million and (4) a contractual commitment to maintaining the Cheval Blanc Hotel at a minimum luxury standard. Additionally, pursuant to the Development Agreement, the hotel developer has guaranteed that the hotel will be built within five years of the Final Approval Date, subject to extensions of up to three years at an additional cost of $250,000 per month.
The Zoning Ordinance adopting the Cheval Blanc Specific Plan, and the subject of Measure B, will only become effective if and when the Development Agreement that is the subject of this Measure C becomes effective.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The City prepared an Environmental Impact Report for the Project. The Environmental Impact Report found no significant and unavoidable environmental impacts. The Environmental Impact Report found several potentially significant environmental impacts that were mitigated to a less than significant level.
These included impacts to biological resources, cultural resources, including tribal cultural resources, geology and soils, construction noise, and construction traffic.
CONSEQUENCES OF VOTES
A “yes” vote on Measure C approves the Development Agreement for the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan Project and consequently allows the Cheval Blanc Hotel to be constructed.
A “no” vote on Measure C disapproves the Development Agreement for the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Specific Plan Project and consequently prohibits the Cheval Blanc Hotel from being constructed.
This measure was placed on the ballot by a petition signed by the requisite number of voters.
LAURENCE S. WIENER
Beverly Hills City Attorney
The above statement is an impartial analysis of Measure C. If you desire a copy of the ordinance, please call the Elections Official, the City Clerk at 310-285-2400 and a copy will be mailed at no cost to you.
Impartial Analysis of Measure C
Beverly Hills/12
ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE C
Measure C, and its companion measure on this ballot, are simple questions: Should we reaffirm the unanimous vote of the Beverly Hills Planning Commission and the overwhelming approval of the City Council for a new world-class hotel on Rodeo Drive? The hotel will generate hundreds of millions of dollars to support public safety, Beverly Hills schools, and other critical City services for decades to come.
Beverly Hills Firefighters, Police Officers, Educators, and Community Leaders Agree — Vote YES on C! Funding Public Safety, Our Schools, and Other Vital Services The Cheval Blanc Hotel project will generate an average of $25 million in new tax revenue per year — an estimated $778 million over 30 years — for the City’s general fund, plus a one-time payment of $26 million to support schools, police, fire, paramedics, and other vital services. This unrestricted funding can also support affordable housing and other future needs. An additional $2 million will support City arts and culture.
Additionally, YES on C will create an active pedestrian connection between Rodeo and North Beverly, ensuring the long-term economic vibrancy of the Golden Triangle.
A THOROUGH PUBLIC REVIEW
The Cheval Blanc Hotel project went through a rigorous environmental review process, including numerous public hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council. More than 30 community and public meetings were held over two and a half years. The project was revised to address community input and ultimately received overwhelming support from Beverly Hills residents, businesses, and civic groups.
CREATING QUALITY JOBS
As a world-class boutique hotel, Cheval Blanc will compensate its employees with top wages and benefits, assuring a living wage for workers and boosting the Beverly Hills economy. The hotel is owned by LVMH, a long-term local employer and globally renowned retailer of high-quality products.
Learn more at www.YESonBC.org and vote YES on Measure C!
LILI BOSSE
Three Time Mayor, City of Beverly Hills
VICTOR GUTIÉRREZ
President, Beverly Hills Firefighters’ Association
ALEXANDER DUNCAN
President, Beverly Hills Police Officers Association
ROSE KAISERMAN
Board Member, Beverly Hills Education Foundation
DAVID MIRHAROONI
Board Member, Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce
Argument In Favor Of Measure C
Beverly Hills/13
ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE C
We’re getting fleeced. Voting “No” on Measure C means that you reject the Cheval Blanc hotel with its bad deal, and are standing up for the residents of Beverly Hills.
Yet again, a wealthy developer hires a battery of ex-mayor lobbyists and City insiders to exceed the City’s height limits and zoning codes. These lobbyists clearly have the developer’s interests at heart, not the interests of the Community and our residents.
The hotel developer LVMH is the most prominent and richest luxury corporation in the world, owned by the world’s wealthiest man. LVMH paid $465 million for the properties on which the hotel would be built; but they are only offering the City $28 million for the right to more than double what they can build on the land.
The proposed hotel is taking a public museum and turning it into part of an exclusionary enclave for billionaires, including a private club, inaccessible to almost all of our residents.
Our City and our quality of life should never be for sale.
Even if you like the hotel project, we need to stop the City’s legacy of bad deals with developers.
LVMH’s well paid lobbyists and publicists will talk about the supposed revenue the development agreement will generate and try to link it to City services, like police, fire, and schools.
Yet the developer and its lobbyists won’t tell you about all the money the City is unnecessarily leaving on the table by not insisting upon a fair development agreement, in line with the unprecedented benefits they are receiving. Nor will they tell you that the project doesn’t generate a penny that is earmarked for much-needed affordable and senior housing within our City.
The development agreement for the Cheval Blanc hotel is a bad deal for Beverly Hills. Don’t allow our Community to be fleeced: vote “No” on Measure C.
JOHN MIRISCH
Councilmember and Three –Time Mayor of Beverly Hills
CHARLES ARONBERG, M.D.
Past Mayor of Beverly Hills
ROSE NORTON
Past Planning Commissioner of Beverly Hills
DEBORAH BLUM
Director of Residents Against Overdevelopment
DARIAN BOJEAUX
Proponent of Referendum Against Cheval Blanc Hotel
Argument Against Measure C
Beverly Hills/14
REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE C
How many times have we heard that if the latest massive project isn’t approved the City will fall apart? How many times have we heard from ex-mayor lobbyists that yet another massive development is “good for Beverly Hills”?
How many times have we heard from self-interested parties that we need to approve projects at whatever oversized dimensions developers demand for “police, fire, and schools”? Who are they kidding?
LVMH, the developer behind the Cheval Blanc hotel has hired an army of lobbyists, consultants, and PR flacks (including convicted felons) to create the illusion of community support.
Don’t be fooled.
They’re hiding the fact that they are fleecing the City. Despite the unprecedented considerations they are demanding, including an alleyway relocation, they are refusing to increase the TOT (bed tax) level on rooms costing an average of over $2000 a night. Instead of agreeing to dedicated funding for much needed affordable housing for our seniors, LVMH cares more about saving their hotel guests a few bucks and increasing their own massive profits.
LVMH doesn’t need corporate welfare; it’s the largest luxury conglomerate in the world, owned by the world’s richest man.
Just say “No” to this terrible deal. Say “No,” once and for all, to developer greed. Vote No on Measure C.
JOHN MIRISCH
Councilmember and Three-Time Mayor, City of Beverly Hills CHARLES ARONBERG, M.D.
Former Mayor, City of Beverly Hills
SONIA BERMAN
Former Human Relations Commissioner, City of Beverly Hills
DEBORAH BLUM
Director, Residents Against Overdevelopment
DARIAN BOJEAUX
Proponent of Referendum Against Cheval Blanc
Rebuttal to Argument In Favor Of Measure C
Beverly Hills/15
REBUTTAL TO THE ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE C
A HUGE INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE OF BEVERLY HILLS
YES on C will protect and enhance our quality of life in Beverly Hills.
The agreement for the Cheval Blanc Hotel approved by the City Council delivers enormous, long-term public funding. In the first 30 years alone, Measure C will generate an estimated $778 million in new local revenue. That’s money for our schools and for the City Council to allocate to keep rapid emergency response times for paramedic, police, and fire services, sidewalk repairs, affordable housing for seniors, and more.
REVITALIZING THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
YES on C will deliver a beautiful hotel reflecting the existing neighborhood scale and injecting new energy into the Golden Triangle. Expanded sidewalks will make the area more walkable, and new restaurants, shops and public art will breathe new life at street level.
The properties on Rodeo and Beverly Drives where the hotel will be built have been underused for years. Former occupants closed their doors and left the city years ago.
A THOUGHTFUL, COMMUNITY SUPPORTED PLAN
The Beverly Hills Planning Commission reviewed the project thoroughly and approved it unanimously after a multiyear public review process. Community input led to changes that address traffic and ensure sufficient parking. Not a single resident appeared before the City Council to oppose the project at the hearing where it was approved.
YES on C will affirm the overwhelming support of community leaders, educators, homeowners, civic leaders, and leading labor organizations including the Beverly Hills police and firefighters, construction worker unions, and many others.
Join us in affirming the community consensus — vote YES on C!
PETER OSTROFF
Commissioner, City of Beverly Hills Planning Commission
DAPHNAH NAZARIAN
Resident, Board Member of The Wallis
LOUIS MILKOWSKI
Chair, City of Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Commission
JOEL BARTON
Business Manager and Financial Secretary, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 THOMAS J. BLUMENTHAL
Local Business Owner, Gearys Beverly Hills
Rebuttal to the Argument Against Measure C
Beverly Hills/16
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The Interactive Sample Ballot is not online voting and does not store any identifiable information, once you access your Sample Ballot all of your selections are saved on your phone, computer or personal device.
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3 Beverly Hills/17
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Beverly Hills City Clerk’s Office
455 N. Rexford Drive, Suite 290
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310-285-2400
NOTE: The COMPLETE SAMPLE BALLOT and VOTE BY MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION and your VOTE CENTER are being mailed under separate cover as required by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, whose office is conducting this election.
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2023
ELECTION DAY 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM