BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Ariel Rofeim, 34, is vying to be elected to the Beverly Hills City Council.
In the June 2 election, voters will choose from a list of 11 candidates running for three council seats. Incumbents Lester Friedman and Sharona R. Nazarian are seeking reelection. The seat currently held by Councilman John Mirisch is open, as Mirisch has reached his term limit.
Among those running is Rofeim.
Learn more about Rofeim's goals for Beverly Hills:
What is your educational background?
I earned my undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, where I learned to think critically about law, public policy, and the institutions that shape our communities. From Berkeley, I had the privilege of studying at the University of Cambridge as a Pembroke-King's Scholar. I went on to law school at Brooklyn Law School, where I graduated with honors. I also hold a certificate in negotiation from Harvard Business School.
What is your professional background?
I'm a practicing attorney, Harvard-trained negotiator, and founder of Rofeim Law APC, a Beverly Hills law firm. Building that practice has been the defining professional experience of my career. I've been recognized as a California Rising Star by Super Lawyers. Earlier in my career, I served as a White House intern under President Obama where I saw up close how good policy gets made and also how bad policy gets made. I've also spent significant time on pro bono work and community service.
Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective?
I have not previously held public office. What I have done is spend my entire adult life preparing for exactly the kind of work the Beverly Hills City Council does. From reading dense staff reports to negotiating with developers, with residents' associations, with school district leadership, with Sacramento, with the city next door. It's reading a contract and catching what nobody else caught. It's building a coalition for something the city actually needs.
What are the top three issues facing Beverly Hills right now?
Three issues, in order:
How should Beverly Hills approach state housing mandates while addressing concerns about density, neighborhood character, and infrastructure?
Sacramento's housing mandates are a genuinely hard problem, and any candidate who tells you otherwise isn't being straight with you. My approach starts with two non-negotiables.
First, Beverly Hills will comply with the law. Litigation alone is not a strategy. The builder's remedy and state penalties are real, and a city that loses local control entirely is a city that has failed its residents.
Second, within the bounds of what state law actually requires, we fight hard for every inch of local discretion: site selection, design standards, height limits where the law permits, and infrastructure conditions.
The smart play is to be proactive, not reactive. That means a Housing Element that places growth where it makes sense: near the Metro D Line stations, in already-mixed-use corridors, on parcels where added density doesn't fundamentally alter single-family neighborhoods. It means insisting that any new development comes with the infrastructure to support it: traffic mitigation, school capacity, water, sewer, parking. And it means using every legal tool, including objective design standards and historic preservation overlays where appropriate, to protect the neighborhood character that makes Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills.
What I will not do is pretend the mandates don't exist or promise residents I can make them disappear. I will bring legal training, negotiation experience, and a council seat focused on getting Beverly Hills the best possible outcome.
What opportunities and challenges do you see with the Metro D Line extension, and how should the city respond?
The Metro D Line opening this May is the single biggest infrastructure change Beverly Hills has seen in a generation. The honest answer is it's both a real opportunity and a very real challenge. The council's job is to manage both.
The opportunity is significant. Better transit access means easier connections to Downtown and the Westside for our residents and our workforce. It means new foot traffic for our business corridors, particularly along Wilshire. It means a competitive edge as we head toward the 2028 Olympics, when the world will literally be at our doorstep. And it means lower-impact mobility options for residents who'd rather not add another car to the road.
The challenges are equally real. Residents near the stations have legitimate concerns about safety, transient activity, parking spillover, and how the surrounding streetscape is managed. Local businesses need clarity on construction-period support and a real plan for the post-opening transition.
The Council's job is execution, not just celebration. That means: a clear public-safety plan around the stations, coordinated with BHPD and Metro; an active partnership with our business community on signage, foot-traffic, and BID-level investment; tight code enforcement on the surrounding blocks; and a seat at the table in every Metro and county decision that affects our city.
Why are you a better choice than your opponents?
Let me be direct: I have tremendous respect for the other candidates in this race. What I'd ask voters to weigh is the fit for this specific moment. I am the only attorney candidate, the only Harvard-trained negotiator, and the only candidate who has spent hundreds of hours alongside BHPD on patrol.
The next four years are not ordinary years. The Metro opening, the 2028 Olympics and Sacramento pressing harder on housing than at any time in recent memory. Public safety, BHUSD, and the future of our business corridors all sit on the next Council's desk.
Three things make me the right choice for that moment. Preparation: UC Berkeley, Cambridge, Brooklyn Law honors, Harvard Business School in negotiation, White House under President Obama, my own law firm on Santa Monica Boulevard. This isn't ornamentation — it's the exact toolkit council work demands.
Roots: I was raised here from sixth grade. My family helped build the small-business community that defines this city. I know the Flats, I know Beverly Drive, I know BHUSD families, I know our Persian community.
Energy: Council work is hard, hours-intensive, detail-driven work. I have the time, the discipline, and the drive to do it the way residents deserve. I'm not asking voters to choose one generation over another. I'm asking to be the bridge. Vote for the Beverly Hills you grew up in and the one your grandchildren will inherit.
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