The Brief

A proposal to build a luxury Bulrgari hotel in Benedict Canyon has been turned down by L.A. city officials due to environmental concerns.

On Sept. 6, L.A. City Planning Director Vincent Bertoni sent a letter to Gary Safady, the developer behind the controversial Bulgari Resort project, citing concerns that it would disturb over 800,000 square feet of natural vegetation and land surface.

“The Project would result in excavation of over 118,000 cubic yards of soil and removal of over 75 percent (849) of the site's protected trees and shrubs and over 90 percent (359) of the site's significant trees,” Bertoni wrote.

Protected and endangered species could also be affected.

The environmental impacts, Bertoni wrote, "are far greater than initially anticipated," adding that it violates the goals of the city's Community Plan for the area. And it is "contrary to related protections, policies, and studies for preservation of hillside areas, wildlife habitat, and ecological resources in ridgeline areas," he added.

Mike Gatto, Safady’s attorney, told LAist he now plans to sue the city on the grounds that the decision "was not based in law and was not grounded in sound public policy.”

He added that the local government was not following “proper procedures.”

The public, he said, should have been given the opportunity to weigh in on the project as part of the California Environmental Quality Act process.

“The CEQA process was ongoing and it was just about to go public and that’s when the City Council stepped in,” he said. “That is completely incorrect.”

Under CEQA, governmental officials are expected to weigh in on what is called the "Initial Study" to determine the environmental consequences of a developmental project, particularly if it's one that will physically change the landscape. Then after, they are also required to determine if an "Environmental Impact Report" is needed.

Gatto said the EIR was prepared, but "the public never got to see it."

According to the CEQA process, "The draft EIR must be released for public comment for at least 30 days but no more than 60 days, unless there are unusual circumstances." But the city planning department said the Benedict Canyon Project Draft EIR is still in production and requires technical studies and other analysis. But that work has been put on hold.

Gatto also said the development would bring jobs and commerce to the city.

“If the city could just use this technique to stop any project that might be unpopular or that wealthy people didn’t want in their neighborhood, then nothing will ever get built again in the city of Los Angeles,” he said.

The backstory

In 2018, the Department of Planning approved the process for the luxury hotel development in a residential area. But environmental groups, residents and Mayor Karen Bass have publicly opposed the project.

Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky — who represents Benedict Canyon in Council District 5 – was another staunch opponent of the project, bringing it in front of the council for a vote in August. The council’s decision: asking Bertoni to intervene.

Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie Moonlight, but don't expect to see him at this year's Oscars ceremony.

"I tend to stay away from the awards show," McCraney said. " I think I might have PTSD."

McCraney is referring to the viral moment from the 2017 Oscars ceremony, where La La Land was mistakenly announced as the Best Picture winner instead of Moonlight.

McCraney isn't new to theater. In fact, you could consider it his original home before his play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue launched him into the Hollywood spotlight. But when the Geffen Playhouse asked him to be their artistic director two years ago, it called him back to the stage in a different way. Tapping a screenwriter for the position was a first for the theater, but McCraney said the roles actually overlap in more ways than one.

 "The job of the screenwriter most times is to make sure that everybody is understanding where the story is going and what the 'action' of the piece is," McCraney said. "So it's not that much different than being an artistic director.  My job here is to set the artistic goal for the organization. [To] point out its virtues and pitfalls, the dangers and the obstacles, and then move collectively as a single storyteller towards that goal."

McCraney said one of the great things about living in Los Angeles is its nuanced racial and ethnic communities, and he rides his bike around the city to better experience them.

"The landscape is constantly shifting and changing," McCraney said. "For example, Westwood has drastically changed over the past 15 years and will change irrevocably with the coming of the new train station down on Wilshire. It will change again with LA28 happening."

Just like Los Angeles, the Geffen Playhouse has had multiple transformations over its more than 30 year existence. Their world premier show, Silvia Silvia Silvia, is playing until March 8. Dragon Mama, starring Sarah Porkalob, begins March 4.

"Sarah is an incredible singer and writer and has created this incredible arc through a family that is both powerful and witty, but also deeply nuanced," McCraney said. "She's sharing that family with us, and family is our first community. They are the people we learn the most from. We learn unconditional love. We learn collective bargaining. Investigating family, investigating why we stay together and how we stay together through dire circumstances is a critical investigation for us right now."

When it comes to this year's Oscars ceremony, McCraney said he's rooting for all the nominees.

"It's been an incredible season," he said. "But Sinners is an incredible film that I've seen three or four times, so I'm really excited to see how it does."

The Long Beach Community College District has agreed to pay $18 million to more than 1,450 part-time professors to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged they were forced to work unpaid hours outside the classroom, grading papers and tests, meeting with students, preparing lessons and other duties.

The settlement, which the district board quietly approved last month, still needs the judge overseeing the case to sign off. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 1 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s likely that Judge Stuart Rice will approve the deal. Last year, he ruled that the part-timers, commonly called adjuncts, were entitled to the pay they sought, writing he found “a myriad of problems” with the district’s claims that its practices did not violate state law.

The case has made “a major impact throughout the state already,” as some districts have begun negotiating contract terms to give adjuncts what they’ve long sought — pay for time they spend prepping and grading, not just for class time, said the plaintiffs’ lawyer Eileen B. Goldsmith, in an interview. (EdSource published an investigative series in the issue, Gig By Gig At California’s Community Colleges, in 2022.)

The Long Beach district recently set aside $20 million for the settlement and associated costs, its spokesperson, Stacey Toda, told the Long Beach Post in an email. “Resolving this matter allows the District to avoid prolonged litigation and manage risk responsibly, consistent with standard practices across public higher education,” Toda wrote.

The settlement “is a big deal, it is tremendous,” said John Martin, chair of the California Part-Time Faculty Association, and a community college adjunct professor in Shasta and Butte counties.

Martin, a long-time advocate for better pay for adjuncts, is also the plaintiff in similar ongoing lawsuits, including one against the state Community College system.

In legal papers filed in the Superior Court, Goldsmith wrote that the proposed settlement, if approved, will result in 1,456 class members receiving more than “$11,000 — a very meaningful result for these class members, particularly given the novel issues in this litigation.”

The Long Beach Post contributed to this story.