Yesterday, the Beverly Hills City Council voted 3-2 on a resolution expressing “No Confidence” against Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

BREAKING NEWS: Beverly Hills City Council approves resolution of “No Confidence” in George Gascón – passed by 3-2 vote.

— jonathanhatami (@jonathanhatami) March 17, 2021

From a Beverly Hills press release:

In a 3-2 vote on Tuesday evening, the majority of the Beverly Hills City Council adopted a resolution of a vote of no confidence in Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascõn.  Mayor Lester Friedman and Councilmember Lili Bosse requested that the item be brought forward for discussion.

“Safety and security is job one,” said Mayor Friedman. “By disregarding the actions of criminals, we are undermining the work of our women and men in law enforcement. The laws which DA Gascõn is ignoring were democratically passed and need to be enforced.”

Since being sworn in, Mr. Gascón has issued numerous Special Directives and two subsequent amendments which have raised concern among many residents of Beverly Hills.  The three Special Directives of specific concern to the City include:

Special Directive 20-06: Pretrial Release Policy, which eliminated cash bail for any misdemeanor, non-serious felony, or non-violent felony offense.
Special Directive 20-07: Misdemeanor Case Management, which lists numerous misdemeanor charges that will be declined or dismissed before arraignment and without conditions unless “exceptions” or “factors for consideration” exist.
Special Directive 20-08: Sentencing Enhancements/Allegations, which provides that the following sentence enhancements or sentencing allegations shall not be filed in any cases and shall be withdrawn in pending matters: Any prior-strike enhancements, including the Three Strikes Law; STEP Act enhancements (also known as “gang enhancements”); violations of bail; and firearm allegations.

the City of Beverly Hills, like much of Los Angeles and its surrounding cities, is seeing an increase in crime. With Gascon’s Special Directives in place, high-end communities like Beverly Hills have become concentrated targets for criminals and criminal activity. The most recent incident, a robbery and shooting in broad daylight at the celebrity spot Il Pastaio restaurant, is reflective of this. The criminals targeted a male patron for his $500,000 Richard Mille watch. Shots were fired, and a woman dining nearby was shot in the leg. Under Gascon’s Special Directive 20-08, any enhancements would not apply, even if the case is prosecuted.

The fact it wasn’t a 5-0 shutout is troubling.

— AlluvialPlane✈️🇺🇸 (@AlluvialPlane) March 17, 2021

I don't know why they call it a "Study Session" or what weight their "vote of no confidence" will have. But there's good odds it's a little sound and fury signifying less than nothing.

— Cacoëthes Carpendi (@CarpendiCacoeth) March 16, 2021

This person is dismissive, but on March 9, the Santa Clarita City Council unanimously voted on a similar resolution. Mayor Bill Miranda expressed his urgency,

“What we need to do is do something to let (Gascón) know how passionately we feel.”

In a town that loves symbolism, this kind does matter. The official Recall effort to remove Gascón from office kicked off on March 8, when the Notice of Intent was filed and served to the D.A. Gascón, like California’s governor, prefers to blame special interests and right-wing forces for this grassroots and victim-centric effort, rather than look at the damage caused by his radical policies which favor criminals over victims.