No on Andy Licht | BH Overdevelopment

Why Residents Should Not Vote for Andy Licht

Let's discuss the pros and cons on Andy Licht's City Council candidacy.

Licht has a pleasant demeanor and has done his share of community work having served on the Traffic and Parking Commission, the Planning Commission, and now the Cultural Heritage Commission.

He did very well the first time he ran for City Council. Now, four years later, he is taking a courageous risk and running again.

Some residents say they believe Andy Licht will be responsive to them if they ever call him and want to discuss a concern they may have. It does make us residents feel good to have the ear of a council member. However, even if a council member returns one’s call, he may or may not be truthful and anyway, in the end will vote the way he wants to vote.

We do, however, commend Licht on his vote as a Cultural Heritage Commissioner in favor of providing an incentive to encourage property owners to register their historic properties. That incentive was to allow historic property owners to rent their guesthouses short term, which would allow tourists to enjoy staying at these iconic properties and help defer the higher historic property maintenance costs.

One reason we think Andy Licht would not be good on our city council is that plain and simple—he really likes big development and he would like developers to build many large projects in areas where Licht does not live.

For instance Licht was in favor of initiating a city density bonus program for “much more robust” incentives to developers, than those offered by the state density bonus program, to encourage developers to build much larger projects than allowed by our zoning. The idea was promoted by Peter Ostroff, then a Planning Commissioner in August in 2021, when Licht was the Planning Commission Chair. Ostroff’s proposal begins at about 4:39 of the following link to the August 26, 2021 Planning Commission meeting, and at 4:47 and 4:51, Licht agreed to Ostroff's city density bonus proposal. Ultimately their plan was opposed by many residents at the continued Planning Commission meeting on September 9, 2021, which was continued again to September 23, 2021, and ultimately the proposed city density bonus program did not proceed further because the City Council was not interested.

https://beverlyhills.granicus.com/player/clip/8053?view_id=57&redirect=true

Nevertheless, when Licht was running for council last time, despite the actual position he had taken on increasing density, he told residents the opposite--that he was against increasing density in our city. He also now has claimed that he worked to bring down the density of proposed large developments in our city. In fact, as a Planning Commissioner, he was in favor of every single large out-of-code development proposed for our city.

Another very important concern is that people who would know have stated that as a Planning Commissioner, Licht was less engaged and prepared than other commissioners, was not detail oriented, and would accept developers’ representations without scrutiny. A couple of people described Licht as "lazy". He was also known to say things about a developer like, "He's a nice guy--let him have what he wants." A review of the meeting at the above link demonstrates Licht’s demeanor five years ago.

In the February 26, 2026 edition of the Beverly Press on p. 3, Licht was quoted as stating that the city could save money "if we trim the trees a little less or pave the streets a little less often”—in other words, reduce maintenance--not a good idea for one of the best cities in the world.

He also stated that the city should examine why more mixed-use projects weren’t being proposed and that the city should work with developers to simplify and expedite permitting processes. He stated that more mixed-use projects would be a great solution for Wilshire, Olympic, and maybe San Vicente and Robertson—again in areas where he does not live which are adjacent to the homes of many of our residents. He may or may not have realized that a mixed use project subject to a 3 story height limit could end up as an 8 story building under the state density bonus program, and that not only would traffic increase, but these projects are not required to provide sufficient parking.

Apparently Licht believes that the addition of 16 tall builder’s remedy projects, some as tall as 36 and 26 stories, is not enough new building for our city. Licht may not even know that a city is not actually required to build the number of housing units the state wants built--only to facilitate the opportunity for projects to be built by others.

At the Southwest Beverly Hills Homeowners Association candidate forum, as reported on page 7 of the May 14, 2026 Beverly Hills Weekly newspaper, Licht stated that the city should balance how the builder's remedy projects are going to be built in the city, and they shouldn't all be in the southeast part of the city. Although he was a Planning Commissioner who dealt continuously with real property entitlements, he does not seem to understand that builder's remedy entitlements are tied to particular parcels or real property and so these projects cannot be redistributed throughout the city.

Another concern is Licht’s inappropriate use of the city shield in his campaign, which reads “Andy Licht” and then "Beverly Hills City Council”. It does not even indicate that he is requesting to be elected and instead misleadingly suggests that he is in fact already on the Beverly Hills City Council. Licht did obtain permission for the use of the shield from David Snow, our Assistant City Attorney, but Snow’s approval was considered by many to be wrong.

In addition to Licht being endorsed and supported by Past Mayor Barry Brucker who used his past mayorship to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars as a lobbyist endorsing developers' large projects, and endorsed by many others who favor out-of-code over-development, Licht is also rumored to be strongly supported by the well-known developers’ lobbyist Harvey Englander and the Konheims who own Lots 12 and 13 and seek a ministerial permit to build four buildings up to 13 stories there. At least Licht represented that if elected, he will never accept money from developers to endorse their projects. However, he will surely be voting in favor of such projects.

We also have reason to believe that some of Licht's endorsers are his friends who could not comfortably say no to Licht's requests for endorsement, even though they would have liked to decline.

Licht had an active career over 25 years ago when he was a producer of Waterworld (1995), which was considered to be a costly flop which went over its $65M budget by $110M, and the Cable Guy (1996), which performed moderately at the box office. Licht does not mention his last production, Idle Hands (1999), about a stoner teenager who becomes possessed and goes on a killing spree—a significant box-office bomb.

Andy Licht is burning through money with costly city-wide fliers, excessive e-mails--recently several in one day, determining voters’ birthdates and then wishing them a happy birthday, trying to appeal to our Iranian residents by favoring the attack on Iran, etc., etc., etc.

We must not be swayed by unctuous appeals or slick mailers. It isn’t about whether Andy Licht is a nice person or whether he would be responsive to us. It is about whether he would be a good city council member who does not favor over-development, and is energetic and diligent enough to dig in, master the details, and protect residents' interests. But given all of the above, as nice as Andy Licht may be, he just doesn't fit the bill.

(May 24, 2026)