briefs City Council resumes Roxbury

discussions Tuesday afternoon

Page 3

briefs Historic parts of Hawthorne

safe, for now
Page 5

rudy cole Will

they run?
Page 6

Issue 670 August 2 - August 8, 2012

Weekly
Beverly Hills
SERVING BEVERLY HILLS BEVERLYWOOD LOS ANGELES

ALSO ON THE WEB www.bhweekly.com

Memories of Munich
Guri Weinberg criticizes the International Olympic Committee on the 40th anniversary of his fathers death at the Munich Olympics

cover story pages 8-9

coverstory

wouldnt have been able to do it. Was that challenging? Yeah it was. When youre all of a sudden playing [your dad] on a set thats built to be precisely the way it was back then, in underwear, and have actors playing the terrorists and finding myself in that position was very emotional, but it was a tug-of-war of how do I keep calm, keep focused, do-your-job kind of thing. Tell us how it turned out to be therapeutic. As I said before, for years when I was a kid I was always angry why he did what he did. Then I understood why for Israelis, especially back then, they were the first ones to really understand what terrorism was all about. When you hear the terrorists are there with a gun, you know you have one of two choicesfight or notand youre going to die anyway. At that point, I understood why my dad did what he did, understood that the only chance they had to get out alive was to fight. How did your family end up in Beverly Hills? Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be an actor. My mom and I moved to Beverly Hills when I was 14 to start high school because we heard Beverly High had a good drama department. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment. It was difficult to go through that financially but it was well worth it. You graduated in 1990 from Beverly High, where you were heavily involved in performing arts, appearing in productions opposite Gabriel Macht, Monica Lewinsky among others. Tell us about that. It was a very special program. Its one of those programs where they really try to make it as professional as possible so you really understand what its like. Ive never seen it anywhere else. Ive gone to other high schools to see their performances and it just didnt come close to Beverly High because everybody comes from families in the entertainment industry. They really take it seriously to make it as professional as possible and really go all the way with it. You really get to know everybody very well. You hang out a lot, a lot of rehearsals. Its funny all these names that you bring up. Gabriel and Monica. Monica used to do wardrobe. [Choral director] Joel [Pressman] was awesome. Joel was extremely funny, but very serious about his work and actually getting the notes right, and practicing and making sure our grades were right. He would take offense if somebody let their grades go down because of the [performing arts] department. Whats your take on the controversy right now pertaining to the International Olympic Committees decision not to have a moment of silence at last Fridays Opening Ceremony? The biggest problem with the IOCIm

MEMORIES OF MUNICH
Guri Weinberg criticizes the International Olympic Committee on the 40th anniversary of his fathers death at the Munich Olympics
was a weightlifter and was a very good friend of my dads, had a chance to escape but decided to try to fight and got shot multiple times. In one room they had tied everybodys hands behind their back and had them sit on two beds that were opposite each other and put Romanos body in the middle where he was still alive, dying slowly in front of the rest of the athletes and coaches. After a few hours of negotiations, the German negotiator came up, saw Romano on the floor, begged them to let them take the body so they can try to save him. They said no. And the rest of the story is known, that they asked for helicopters to go to the airport so they could get a plane to fly out to Libya, and there was a botched attempt to rescue the athletes. They were put in the helicopters with their hands tied behind their backs. While the gunfire was going on, they were trying to help each other to release their hands, with their mouths trying to release the knots. At that point the Palestinian terrorists turned their guns on the athletes and put a grenade in the helicopter and killed them. You were one month old when this happened. When did you first learn what happened to your father? When I was in Kindergarten, when I could actually hold a conversation is when I asked questions: Why am I the only one that doesnt have a dad? Id always seen pictures of my dad around the house and could never understand. Thats when people started explaining to me, but as I was a kid they didnt give me all the information. It was slowly and as gently as they could. The older I got, people were more apt to share more of the gruesome details of what happened. It progressed through the years. After a while nobody really wanted to talk about it anymore and felt weird talking to me about it. I kept pushing and asking and thats when they started talking about it. When I was a kid, weird enough, I was a little angry with my dad for fighting back. I never understood why he didnt just sit there and do what he was told. And then I had the chance to play him in the movie Munich. For me it was a private journey to really try to understand why he did what he did, and it was just extremely therapeutic to me. Tell us about the process you went through preparing to play your father in Steven Spielbergs film Munich. The process was a little shorter because I learned about him from other people and learned about the occasion. For me it was just really showing up and putting myself in that position and going through the steps and following what the director wanted to capture. At that point, I pretty much switched from the son to an actor, or else I 1990 Beverly High graduate Guri Weinbergs father, Moshe Weinberg, was one of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich by Palestinian terrorists. Weinberg, an actor, played his father in Steven Spielbergs 2005 film Munich. Weinberg plays Romanian vampire Stefan in the upcoming Twilight movie, Breaking DawnPart 2. Your father Moshe Weinberg, an Israeli wrestling coach, was the first to encounter the Black September terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Tell us what happened. What happened is that the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization], eight of them, knocked on the door of the room where my father and others were staying. When the door was opened, one of the guys realized that it was terrorists and he slammed his body against the door and yelled, Terrorism! and they came in. My father woke up from his sleep, grabbed a knife that was in the kitchen and wanted to fight, but he got shot in the face, which went in from one cheek and went out the other. Then they asked him to lead them to the head of the Israeli Olympic Committee, and my father, instead of doing that, led them to where all the weightlifters and wrestlers were at because they thought theyd have a better chance of overcoming them. At that point when they got everybody together, he told one of his wrestlers to make a run for it and when he did, my dad knocked out one of the PLO guys and then got shot twice, once in the chest and once in the head, and thats when he died. Later they threw his body out naked for everyone to see. At that point, Mr. [Yossef] Romano, who

Israeli Olympic Team at the Opening Ceremony of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich

Page 8 Beverly Hills Weekly

briefs cont. from page 7 just going to call it what it isis antiSemitism. [A previous IOC head and his vice president were known to be] Nazi sympathizer[s]. New information came out [recently] that a Nazi group helped the PLO get weapons, fake IDs and get into the Olympic Village. Not only that, but three [weeks] before the Olympics, they had somebody in [Lebanon] who was an informant, warned him about it, that it was coming because Black September was very angry that the IOC did not allow the Palestinians to join in the festivities of the Olympics. They decided, Well, lets disrupt the Olympics and pretty much give them the middle finger and lets kill some Israelis while were at it. Theres a lot of Nazi connection and I just got new information that Im not going to share quite yet, because its probably bigger than what I found out so far. So the IOC has a lot to hide. Their hands are bloodied. They have used their PR machine to make everybody believe that this is just an Israeli-Palestinian issue and its not. Tell us about last Fridays press conference with Israeli Consul General David Siegel. They held a memorial [for the Munich 11] on Friday at the Coliseum downtown and we had the Simon Wiesenthal Center come down, Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Rabbi Marvin Hier. We had a bunch of Los Angeles City Council[members] come down and they all showed their respect. They all made speeches. It was very nice and very touching. What do you think is the enduring legacy of this tragedy? Well, I think that hate is bigger than everybody thought in the world. Everybody thought that this hatred toward Jews was over after World War II was over and its not. Its actually more prevalent now than it has been in years, and it shows with the IOC and whos behind the IOC. I dont think a lot of people knew the Nazi connection of the IOC and the connection between the IOC and the Palestinian terrorists. I think that the legacy will actually change in the near future when people find out more about the people behind the IOC. Its about corruption as well. They dont want to hurt their fiscal bottom line, in any way, shape or form. Any closing thoughts? This year the amount of support weve gotten worldwide has been more than ever. The fact that countries like the U.S., England, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australiajust to name a fewhave stood up and said that they want a moment of silence and its about time and have been disgusted with the IOCs decision not to do it, has been heart-warming and I believe that thats just the beginning, and after 40 years, its really nice to see people starting to get disgusted with the IOCs decision not to do it. --Interview by Melanie Anderson

2008 Measure E campaign mailing Horace Mann and Hawthorne move forward first, leaving no money for Beverly Vista and El Rodeo. The $62-million Horace Mann project is already proceeding to the construction document phase, following direction from the board at last weeks study session. Hawthorne was most recently estimated at between $85 million and $92 million. The Beverly High concept presented last week was estimated at a total of approximately $180 million, including contingency. Chief Facilities Official Nelson Cayabyab said Measure E funds would likely run out in 2017 or 2018 with only 60 percent of the high-school project completed, if Hawthorne is prioritized. Keygent Advisors presented a second bond schedule option that would focus on Horace Mann and Beverly High, but not Hawthorne, and would leave the district with approximately $28 million to address issues at the remaining campuses. Vice President Jake Manaster said in a phone interview Tuesday the Board of Education would next discuss its Measure E plans at a study session later this month. Id say the first thing we need to define is what exactly are we spending and when and to get what, and I dont think that thats been fully formulated yet, Manaster said. I hope weve seen enough as a board to give direction as to, here are the limitations within which we would like everybody to operate going forward. Since the district is already moving forward with plans for Horace Mannwhich Manaster pointed out combine new construction with preservation, underground parking, a new field and are not coming in at some outrageous amount of moneyManaster said the board needs to assess how to spend the remaining funds wisely. Im looking forward to tuning and truing this up to what this community needs, wants and can afford, Manaster said. Both scenarios presented by Keygent Advisors assumed the board would approve a tax increase of $60 per $100,000 of assessed value, the maximum allowed under Prop. 39 without holding a referendum, but Keygent Managing Director Tony Hsieh said the district has missed the deadline to raise the tax rate for fiscal year 2012-2013. The board has discussed raising the tax rate without a referendum to accelerate the bond schedule, which is lagging behind projections made in 2008. Currently, the BHUSD does not have the money to fund the Hawthorne or Beverly High projects. So far, $72 million has been issued, but the next $60-million installment of bonds will not be available until 2014. If the board does not raise the tax rate, it will likely not be able to access the total $334 million until 2030. Hsieh said if the board raises the tax rate, the initial rate will be $114 per $100,000 of

assessed value, but by 2034 the rate will level out to approximately $60 per $100,000 of assessed value until the bonds are paid off. All that extra capacity you have by raising the tax rate is right now, Hsieh said. What you did forgo is one year of raising the tax. I think as the board moves forward on to its decision-making process it would be best if we could try to hit the 2013-2014 tax rolls. Hsieh said BHUSD would not have to let LACOE know its final decision until spring 2013. When Measure E passed in 2008, the Board of Education at the time promised the existing tax rate$49.71 per $100,000 assessed valuewould not increase. In Issue #654, the Weekly reported under Prop. 39, BHUSD can legally levy a tax rate of up to $60 per $100,000 assessed value for Measure E, to add on top of the $54-per$100,000 rate for Measures K and S that will be paid off in 2030. Measure E would be paid off in 2055. When Goldberg asked if the board had financing options other than raising the tax rate, Hsieh said bond anticipation notes (BANs), or bridge financing, would allow the BHUSD to access bond funds before scheduled bond sales. Hsieh said interest rates are currently low for BANs, but the district would risk interest rates increasing during the course of repayment. Goldberg did not return a phone call from the Weekly.

Tour-bus headset requirement hits legal snag

For years the City has sought a solution to reduce the impact of noise from loudspeakers on open-air tour buses traveling through Beverly Hills residential neighborhoods to catch a glimpse of celebrities homes. Last November, the Traffic & Parking Commission voted to recommend that the City Council adopt an ordinance requiring open-air tour buses to install headsets, but Commission Chair Julie Steinberg said the commission was told at its July 12 meeting the City cannot pursue the ordinance because of existing law in the California vehicle code. We had the city attorney review [the proposed ordinance] and they determined that theres a California Vehicle Code [section] that its a violation if you have amplified sound [that can be heard at distances] greater than 50 feet, Deputy Director of Transportation Aaron Kunz said. The city attorney determined it was a preemption of a state law. City attorney Larry Wiener said he could not speak publicly about the advice his office gave to the transportation department regarding the proposed ordinance, because of attorney-client privilege. According to Starline Tours director Philip Ferentinos, the company has been voluntarily using headsets in its open-air tour vehicles that cruise through residential areas for more than two years. In a phone interview July 26, Ferentinos said Starline Tours will not change its practices with respect to headsets based on the news Beverly Hills wont be going forward with the ordinance. We feel that its responsible tourism to be doing this and were really saddened the

other companies dont feel the same way, Ferentinos said. We understand that since the industry has gone from closed buses to topless buses, we needed to make an adjustment in best practices, which we did in conjunction with Beverly Hills, understanding their concerns and the concerns of the City of L.A., too. Next year, Ferentinos said the company plans to install headsets in its larger doubledecker tour buses that only drive through non-residential areas. We dont want buses blasting through like portable juke boxes, which is really what they can become, Ferentinos said. We dont want that to be the case, even in industrial areas. When asked about the cost to equip its vehicles with headsets, Ferentinos said the company does not share that information publicly, but he said the cost is significant. It is the responsible thing to do, Ferentinos said. We hope all companies eventually understand thats the way it should be done. Kunz said the City would continue to reach out to tour-bus companies to encourage voluntary headset compliance and to educate them about the amplified sound limitation in the vehicle code. We want to keep going to try to minimize the impacts of these tour buses and were working with staff, with the visitors bureau and also with the Traffic & Parking Commission, Kunz said. Were going to continue doing everything we possibly can to reduce impacts.

BHUSD support staff to get raises only if tax initiative passes

In a year when the Board of Education approved the purchase of a $1.5-million residence, two districtoffice administrators got significant raises, and teachers got a 3-percent salary increase, the Margo Bender board approved a modest salary increase for the districts noncertificated staff, but only in the event that Governor Jerry Browns tax initiative passes in November. In June, the Board of Education approved an agreement with the districts office, technical and business services (OTBS) staff authorizing a 3-percent raise if the tax initiative succeeds. The districts instructional assistants (IA) were granted raises between $0.50 and $1.50 an hour, also contingent on the tax increase. The OTBS and IA tentative agreements were approved the same night the board approved the teachers unions first raise in three years. OTBS staff has also gone three years without a pay raise. In the past, BHEA OTBS Unit President Margo Bender said the OTBS, IA and certificated units all received raises at the same time. The district was not willing to give OTBS a salary increase as they did the teachers, so briefs cont. on page 10 August 2 - August 8, 2012 Page 9