4 BEVERLY HILLS COURIER APRIL 3, 2009 BEVERLY The Best Read Newspaper in Beverly Hills HILLS • BEL AIR • HOLMBY HILLS
Ally Maize Awarded Honor For Green Efforts
By Abbey Hood
Green Youth Movement
founder Ally Maize, 16, is the
recipient of a $1,000 savings
bond after being named “ABC
Cool Kid,” by the Channel 7
station for her efforts to promote
greener lifestyles through
education in local schools.
G Y M
hopes to foster
private
and public
partnerships
and engage
school principals
and
teachers to
incorporate
environmental
educational
curricula
such as
green clubs,
eco-drives,
flyer programs
and
more so students
can get
excited, get
involved and
start behaving
in a more sustainable way.
Fundraising activities are organized
by youth to get youth
involved in peer-to-peer engagement.
“I’m thrilled our outreach
is affecting and influencing
people’s decisions to be more
green conscious,” said Maize,
who plans to use the funds to
continue sharing her message
with schools, businesses and
communities throughout California
and beyond. “I hope
more young people and their
parents will be motivated to use
their voices to protect our environment.”
The Archer School junior
founded GYM a year ago by
first launching her Web site,
greenyouthmovement.org. She
offers tips of reducing carbon
footprints, recommends organic
products, features local ecofriendly
stores and offers information
to adults and children on
“going green.”
Through her Web site,
Maize also sells GYM products
including the “Green Kit” and
“Live Green” bracelets which
raise funds to support the development
of a curriculum for students
focused on environmental
awareness.
She has held events
throughout Beverly Hills to promote
awareness
of GYM at local
boutiques including
The
E c o S t i l e t t o
Dress for Success
event held
at Intuition boutique
in Los Angeles,
co-hosted
by Purestyle Living’s
Anna Getty
and actress
Sarah Jane Morris
of Seven
Pounds.
Maize is
also a member
of the City’s
Green Team.
C o u n c i l m a n
Barry Brucker
and Maize are
working together to incorporate
GYM into his green initiatives
for the City, as reported in the
Dec. 3 edition of The Courier.
“Ally is an incredible
young lady with an abundance
of energy and talent,” said
Brucker. “Her program is professional
and well developed.”
Ally Maize (center) with members of GYM
BHUSD Lay-Offs Rescinded
By Amanda Peabody
The Beverly Hills Unified
School District Board of Education
unanimously passed to rescind
the lay off notice for one
teacher at a study session meeting
March 26. This negates a lay off
approved previously at the March
6 Board of Education meeting.
With a reshuffling of positions
across all grade levels that includes
the appointment of Carter
Paysinger to vice principal of
Beverly Hills High School, this
move brings the lay off count
down to only .6 of a position.
“I am impressed and pleased
at the speed at which the administration
took a proactive stance to
minimize the pain for the teachers,”
said Chris Bushee, president
of the Beverly Hills Education
Association. “This is a very
good example of what can be
done when parties come together.”
“We do have the money set
aside for this position,” said
boardmember Myra Lurie. The
position will be funded through
the re-appropriation of categorical
funds that will be applied to
teacher’s on special assignment
or TOSA. “I am really delighted
that we can continue this program,”
said Board member Myra
Demeter.
“This is a huge victory for us
as a board and a district office,”
said boardmember Steven Fenton.
“Great teamwork by all.”
Tales From Golden-Age
Screenwriter Topic Of Forum
Irving Brecher—the man
who wrote two Marx Brothers
movies by himself, wrote vaudeville
and radio shows for Milton
Berle, punched up The Wizard Of
Oz script and created The Life Of
Riley on radio, in movies and as
the first sitcom — will be the subject
of the next free Beverly Hills
Forum at 7:30 p.m., Monday,
April 6 in the Beverly Hills City
Hall’s City Council chambers,
455 N. Rexford. Dr.
Author Hank Rosenfeld has
just finished Brecher’s biography
and will discuss The Wicked Wit
Of The West: The Last Great
Golden Age Screenwriter Shares
The Hilarity And Heartaches Of
Working With Groucho, Garland,
Gleason, Berle, Burns, Benny
And Many More.
The book is the product of
Rosenfeld interviewing and tagging
along with Brecher for seven
years.
It was Brecher who convinced
Judy Garland to star in
Meet Me In St. Louis, wrote Bye,
Bye Birdie and gave Jackie Gleason
his first TV series.
The “wicked wit of the West”
(as Groucho dubbed Brecher)
tells tales about John Wayne, L.B.
Mayer, Ann Margaret, Ernie Kovacs
and the Marx Brothers.
The Forum Series is presented
by the City’s Arts & Cultural
Events Office.
For more information, call
310-285-6830 or log onto
www.beverly hills.org, where visitors
can register to receive email
notices of upcoming forums.
Free parking is available in
the civic center parking structure.
THREE CHEERS FOR CHEERLEADING—The Recreation & Parks Competitive Cheerleading Program
won first place in every division it entered at Sharp’s Southern California regional competition and was
named the Grand Champion of the event. The program is comprised of 45 cheerleaders and is divided into
three teams: Beverly Hills Varsity Tigers (6-8th grade), Beverly Hills JV Tigers (3-5th grade) and Beverly Hills
Pee Wee Cubs (K-2nd grade). Each team had near flawless performances and earned the highest scores
in their respective divisions. The teams now prepare to travel to Las Vegas this month for the Cheerleading
Nationals.
StarPoint Purchases Texas Complex
Beverly Hills-based Star-
Point Commercial Properties
L.L.C., a real estate company
specializing in the acquisition, redevelopment
and repositioning of
commercial properties, has purchased
The Tower Complex, located
in downtown Fort Worth,
Texas. Terms of the transaction
were not disclosed.
The 182,000-square-foot
famed mixed-use retail and office
development, which also includes
253 parking spaces, is part of the
Sundance Square, Fort Worth's
premier entertainment and cultural
center located in the center of
downtown.
“We are proud to become the
owners of such a successful project
in one of the tightest commercial
submarkets in the country,”
said Evan Farahnik, principal of
StarPoint. “We were able to acquire
a prominent well-performing
asset with the potential for
significant upside through the
creation of additional rentable
square feet, and capitalizing on
immediate operational efficiencies.”
Indeed, the prominence of
the property is spelled out in the
submarket occupancy which
stands at 98 percent for retail and
95 percent for office. In addition,
the condominium towers’ residential
units are 98 percent sold.
The Tower Complex consists
of two buildings, The Tower and
The Annex, and totals 182,000
current leasable square feet combined
for office and retail.
StarPoint represented itself
in the transaction. The seller,
TLC Green Property Associates
of Chicago, was represented by
Tom Salanty, executive director
in the Dallas office of Cushman
& Wakefield of Texas, Inc.

Why Should Teens Go Green?

An Interview With Ally Maize from the Green Youth Movement

By Holly Rotman Ashworth, About.com Guide

• how to go green
• ways to go green at home

One quick way to go green: just say no to plastic bags.

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images