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ber of employees and hours worked. Class
F is intended for businesses that lease
commercial space: They are taxed based
on gross receipts of approximately $23.53
per $1,000.
As of January 2010, none of the 28
ambulatory surgery centers in Beverly
Hills had filed under Class F, according to
Allan Cooper, the group's attorney.
"The law says the taxpayer has to know
what to do. It has to be clear to the tax-
payer," said Cooper. "This is not clear
and therefore not constitutional."
In 1976, the City Council voted 3-0
to approve an 'ordinance regarding busi-
ness taxes, where lawyers, physicians
and other professionals would pay a tax
relative to employee counts. The three
councilmembers who voted in favor were
Councilmembers Joe Tilem, Richard
Stone, both attorneys, and Charles
Aronberg, a doctor.
Councilmember Barry Brucker said he
was surprised to learn that of the three
voting councilmembers, two were lawyers
and one was a doctor.
"It's unusual given that they are direct
beneficiaries of the classification change,"
he said in a phone interview.
Speakers at the meeting said the claim
that surgery centers rented out commercial
space was unfair and untrue.
"We do over 11,000 surgeries a year in
our surgery center. These are real diseases
that people come in for and we bill [the
insurance company for] a colonoscopy
and they pay a few hundred dollars to the
surgery center," said Khodabakhsh. "The
doctor is not renting a space, the doctor is
performing a procedure there. The patients
aren't renting the space, They're having a
co|onoscopy."
Surgery centers often provide medical
procedures at lower costs than hospitals,
according to Lisa Cassileth, a plastic sur-
geon and owner of 436 Bedford Dr., an
ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in the
community. She said if surgery centers
were taxed at higher rates,'healthcare costs
would increase and push physicians to
relocate to different areas.
"ASC's are tenants. We ourselves sub-
let from landlords who are already pay-
ing taxes on this business, so we're not
exactly sure where the rationale for this
tax comes from," she said. "You don't tax
ASC's at a higher rate unless you want to
drive them out of our community."
Specialty supporters believe this tax
reclassification is the City's way of cir-
cumventing voter's wishes. Measure P,
turned down by voters in 2009, would
have required professionals to pay $5 per
$1,000 on gross receipts as do profession-
als in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
"My sense is they're trying to gain other
ways to find revenue for the City," said
Dr. MariMadsen, who is On the governing
board for Specialty Surgery: Center, after
the meeting.
Councilmember Lili Bosse attended the
town hall meeting. The appeal hearing
is set for Oct. 23, Councilmember Julian
Gold and Mayor Willie Brien, who are
both physicians, have recused themselves.
Brien said after reviewing the appeal, he
felt there was a potential conflict and felt
recusing himself was the right thing to
do.
Bmcker said he will be open minded
to hearing all partie.s during the appeal
hearing. He will be looking for the fair-
ness associated with the reclassification
and how comparable cities, primarily Los
Angeles, are taxing their surgery centers.
Korbatov calls Highlights
editorial "troubling"
During a
discussion
Tuesday night
about the
Beverly High
Watchtower
y e:arbook
staff' s pro-
posed trip to a
conference in
Texas, Board
of Education
Usa forbatov: Unhappy with
llorial member Lisa
Korbatov
responded to a
recent Highlights editorial, which criti-
cized the board's strategy of opposing the
Metro Westside Subway Extension from
tunneling under Beverly High.
"I have no problems with people dis-
agreeing with the board," Korbatov said.
"What I do have a problem with is people
who reach very resounding opinions with-
out knowledge. I resent that because the
board takes a tremendous amount of time
and effort talking to experts, talking to all
kinds of people we pay for their expert
know/edge who are in many cases nation-
ally known or world renowned. When a
journalist student in Highlights writes an
editorial that says 'Hey school board,'
and then proceeds to say things that are
absolutely borderline inane, I find that to
be troubling."
Korbatov, who was on the Highlights
staff when she was at Beverly High, said
she took issue that the editorial writer did
not speak with board members or experts
retained by the BHUSD prior to publica-
tion.
Chief Academic Officer Jen Tedford
later clarified the agenda item was about
a trip for the yearbook staff, not the
Highlights staff. She explained the agen-
da item was identified on the agenda
as a "journalism" activity, because the
Watchtower yearbook and Highlights
staffs are part of the same organization.
Prior to Tedford's clarification,
Korbatov said she did not support the
Highlights staff traveling to the confer-
ence, because she said she wondered if
the students needed to "go all the way to
Texas to figure out they need to brush up
on their journalistic skills."
Board member Lewis Hall said he also
took issue with the editorial, not because
of the opinion expressed, but because he
thought it was "poorly written." He said
he supported the Highlights students trav-
eling to the San Antonio conference if it
would help them become better writers.
Vice President Jake Manaster said a
student reporter who wrote a separate
news article about the Metro issue met
Planning
Commission
approves Tory
Burch expansion,
in-lieu parking
Tory Burch, a wom-
en's apparel and accesso-
ries retailer, has plans to
expand an existing store-
front before opening shop
on the 300 block of Rodeo
Drive.
In a 3-0 vote Sept. 27,
the Planning Commission
approved the proposed
project' s development
plan review and appli-
cation for in-lieu park- Proposed Tory Burch faade (left)
ing. Commissioner Dan,
Yukelson did not attend the Sept. 27 meeting, and the City is currently seeking a
candidate to fill the commission's vacancy.
Commission Chair Craig Corman said although the building is set to expand, the
proposed square footage would remain below the maximum floor area ratio (FAR).
The 1,400-square-foot expansion would make the existing mezzanine level into a
full second floor and add a partial third floor, according to the staff report presented
to the commission. Tory Burch would occupy the northern part of the building, while
Italian design retailer Roberto Cavalli currently occupies the southern part of the build-
ing.
Under the proposal, Roberto Cavalli's space would not be altered. The space desig-
nated for Tory Burch would increase from 24 feet tall to 41 feet tall, and expand from
2,175 square feet to approximately 3,575 square feet. The proposed expansion results
in the need for a total of five additional parking spaces, which the applicant requested
to satisfy through the City's in-lieu parking program.
According to the staff report, sufficient parking is available in nearby public park-
ing facilities at 440 North Camden Drive and 345 North Beverly Drive to satisfy the
parking requirement. Staff found the project would not result in significant traffic
impacts.
The project was presented last month as a "project preview" to the Architectural
Commission. Commission Chair Zale Richard Rubins said the presentation of designs
was fully detailed, and the commission supported the project as presented. Rubins
called the designs, which feature a clear glass storefront with concrete slab base,
"unique."
The applicant will return for a formal presentation at a future Architectural
.Commission meeting.
with him before publication. Manaster
said he believed students took a different
approach to editorials, but he suggested to
Korbatov it could be a learning experience
for the students.
"I wouldn't want to discourage stu-.
dents from speaking their mind, where the
paper is that vehicle and where it's part
of their learning experience," Manaster
said. "This actually could be an opportu-
nity as opposed to potentially silencing a
perspective that needs a response. I would
encourage you, as a person who worked
very hard on the subject matter that was at
hand, you could write a.response correct-
ing the record, asking the author and the
editorial board to consider your side, and
I'll bet you they'll publish it."
Korbatov reiterated she believed the
editorial board should have done more
research.
"They wrote an editorial that frankly
was very lacking," Korbatov said. "It was
very, very assumptive and really very thin
on any sort of understanding of the real
issues at hand."
Highlights advisor Gaby Herbst did not
attend Tuesday night's Board of Education
meeting. Reached by phone Wednesday
afternoon, Herbst said Highlights would
invite Korbatov to write a letter to the
editor.
"We always invite people who disagree
With editorials to write in and let us know
via a letter to the editor," Herbst said.
Ultimately, the board voted 4-1 to
approve the Watchtower staff's partici-
pation in and travel to the conference in
San Antonio Nov. 14-18. President Brian
Goldberg, who did not return a phone call
from the Weekly before deadline, voted
no. He did not explain his vote during the
discussion.
Later in the meeting, the Board of
Education voted unanimously to approve
a resolution stating the board's opposition
to Measure J, an extension of the Measure
R half-cent sales tax that would help fund
Metro projects, including facilitating the
acceleration of construction of the Metro
Westside Subway Extension. Measure J
would extend the Measure R tax, which
expires in 2'039, to 2069.
Korbatov announced Tuesday night that
through the election, she would be work-
ing with a coalition of stakeholders from
throughout the county, including the Bus
Riders Union, to help defeat Measure J.
briefs cont. on page 4
October 11- October 17, 2012 � Page 3