Beverly Hills City Manager Rod Wood [real name, not porno name] has developed a plan to ensure that Beverly Hills maintains its cache for wealthy shoppers: install sidewalks fit for Wolfgang Puck’s kitchen countertops. City staff has proposed a sidewalk repaving plan where any commercial improvement costing more than $250,000 must include replacement of the fronting sidewalk with Kenoran Sage granite pavers. The pavers are sparkly and greenish, evoking a post-purge Nicole Richie.
Local merchants are not quite as enthusiastic. Manijeh Messa, manager of the Bijan designer men’s store diplomatically opined:
"The tile looks like something from a shower stall. It is very ugly. I told the gentleman from City Hall I wasn't in favor of it." The cost of $850 per linear foot is even more difficult to swallow.
· Seeing Granite as a Paving Grace [LA Times]