Beverly Hills voters narrowly approve hotel-condo project

Opponents of Measure H, however, vowed to continue their battle in court. They contend the drawn-out vote was tainted by irregularities.

The Los Angeles County registrar-recorder's office spent the weeks since the Nov. 4 election counting provisional and absentee ballots. The final tally was 7,972 votes in favor, or 50.41%, and 7,843 votes opposed, or 49.59%.

The battle over Measure H sharply divided the affluent community. The City Council earlier this year approved the proposal by a 3-2 vote. But opponents gathered enough signatures to place the measure before voters.

Advocates said the proposal would revitalize the Hilton's site at Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards and bring in needed revenue for city services. Opponents decried the project as too massive and tall and said it would boost traffic at the already congested intersection.

The plan would entail adding a 12-story, 170-room Waldorf-Astoria hotel and two condo towers, one of them six to eight stories and one 16 to 18 stories. The new hotel rooms would replace 217 Hilton rooms that would be demolished as part of the plan, for a net reduction of 47 rooms. The Waldorf rooms are expected to draw far higher rates, and tax dollars, than the Hilton's.

Beny Alagem, the Hilton's owner, spent more than $3 million to woo voters, holding lavish cocktail parties, sponsoring coffees and distributing elaborate fliers and brochures.

On Tuesday, opponents of the expansion charged that the final count was flawed, "because they were counting questionable provisional ballots," said Larry Larson, treasurer of the anti-Measure H group Citizens Right to Decide Committee. Larson said he personally reported to the registrar a couple who he says live in Los Angeles but voted provisionally in Beverly Hills on election day.

Larson said his group plans to pin down evidence of tainted ballots and then take its case to court. "You have to convince the judge it's more likely than not that, but for these tainted ballots, Measure H would have lost," he said.

Marie Garvey, a Beverly Hilton spokeswoman, said: "We have full faith in the county's process." She added that the Hilton planned to begin construction on the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in 2009, after the January Golden Globe Awards show, which is to be held at the Hilton. The aim, she said, is to "develop a world-class project worthy of Beverly Hills."

At least one Beverly Hills official said the matter appeared to be resolved in his mind.

"I voted no on Measure H because of its mass and size," said Beverly Hills Mayor Barry Brucker. "But I'm respectful of the process and the outcome. Now we need to move forward to make certain the project is the best it can possibly be."

Aware of voter fraud allegations, he added that he planned to push the state to require voters to show identification at polling places.

"I find it so odd that that would not . . . be required at the polling place, just to ensure the election process is followed to the letter of the law," he said.

Groves is a Times staff writer.

martha.groves@latimes.com