The Beverly Hills City Council voted Tuesday night to set aside almost $75,000 for the reinstallation of a flag display that honors the victims of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel near the Gaza Strip. The flags will be set up at Beverly Gardens Park at 9439 Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills from September 30 to October 14, with a commemoration ceremony set for October 1 at 1:30 p.m.

A memorial installation was initially placed in the same spot several times earlier, but it was removed after a short period, most recently for the Spring Arts Show in the area. With that having passed, the city looks to continue showing support for Israel after the attack, having previously set up Shabbat tables for families in the aftermath of the event and condemning Iran for drone strikes against the country in April.  

“This is something our community has spoken very loud and clear about,” Vice Mayor Sharona Nazarian said at Tuesday’s meeting.

There will be close to 1,700 flags placed as part of the memorial, with one flag for each nationality of the victims. Signs will also be placed at four spots near Beverly Garden Park as traditional street signs affixed to light poles. The content and coloring of the sign were a hot topic at the meeting, with several configurations being considered by the council.

The space was moved to officially be called the “October 7th Memorial Square,” but the exact phrasing of the name on the street sign was a topic debated by the city council. Using the abbreviation for October — Oct. — was an idea brought up by Mayor Lester Friedman, who had concerns about the visibility of the text on the sign

“It’s at least 24 character spaces that are necessary on a sign that has 16 character spaces,” Friedman said of the currently proposed name. “The letters are going to either be thinner or much smaller.”

Removing the word “Memorial” from the sign was also proposed by Councilmember Craig Corman for visibility purposes. He argued that the memorial term wasn’t needed for the sign, as people would already understand the implication from the date. However, it was decided upon that keeping the name as “October 7th Memorial Square” on the sign was the best course of action.

“We all know what October 7th is,” Corman told his fellow council members. “I don’t know if we have to be so specific.”

Colors were also a key point in coming to a consensus about the design. City staff noted that the best practice was to have the sign remain different from the traditional street signs. Signs that hang from major streetlights are green with white lettering while street signs on posts are white with black lettering.

A blue and white color scheme was discussed a great deal — both as a blue sign with white lettering and a white sign with blue lettering. Several council members including Mayor Friedman also expressed support for a black-and-white color scheme, but it was eventually settled on a white sign with blue letters. Councilmember John Mirisch noted that even with the specifications on color, the lack of finality on the specifics would allow councilmembers flexibility over how the sign looks.

“With this broad direction, we could get a few samples and see,” Mirisch said.

Over half of the close to $75,000 that was estimated as the cost would mainly be for security around the area, with over $20,000 in cost for the memorial and signage and about $6,700 being set aside as a contingency for additional signs and other potential costs. Two security guards will be assigned to patrol the area, and its close proximity to a police station and pre-existing cameras will further enhance safety and minimize potential incidents in the area.

However, when Nazarian asked about the possibility of cutting one of the security guards given its location and the additional security measures, Beverly Hills Police Chief Mark Stainbrook said at the meeting that if there were an incident, it would be best for an officer to have backup to assist him or her. He explained that there were more than 10 incidents of vandalism, protest, and other minor disturbances around the previous flag installations while there was only one guard.

“It’s a safety issue I think to just have one security guard there,” Stainbrook said.

While this display is meant to be temporary, support for further installations including a permanent memorial was brought up by several council members. In particular, having an installation during the Mayor’s Summit on Anti-Semitism being hosted in Beverly Hills from December 11-13 was unanimously agreed upon as important.

Discussions for a permanent memorial were preliminary, but the location was expected to be different. Locations near the Beverly Hills Public Library or the 9/11 Memorial are possibilities. However, nothing apart from direction on the temporary memorial was decided upon by the council Tuesday night.

Image is a screen shot from a staff presentation.