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With four years on City Council, one year as Mayor of Beverly Hills, and a few more years of political ambitions ahead, Jimmy Delshad is indeed a popular name in California and around the world these days. I met him on a rainy day in his Beverly Hills office, where we joked about his stipple drawing on the front cover of the Wall Street Journal. You know you have arrived when the Journal stipples you. A soft-spoken, kind and determined gentleman, Jimmy Delshad is the epitome of all things great, Iranian, American, or both. Here is my conversation with him:
Shabnam Rezaei: What does a day in the life of the Mayor of Beverly Hills look like?
Jimmy Delshad: Lots of juggling and dealing with the public. Lot of unplanned things come up and also lots of meetings as the head of the city. The first few weeks, it felt like “drinking from a fire hose”. I have meetings with developers, then the chamber of commerce, or someone wanting to ban smoking in Beverly Hills.
SR: Can you smoke right now in Beverly Hills?
JD: You can but this is about smoking in the outside portion of the restaurants for patio dining. I have to hear all input and one of the jobs is to stay unbiased until you have heard all evidence. As Mayor and councilmen, we wear three hats. One is a legislator, where we legislate laws ordinances, what is allowed and not allowed. Another hat is like a judge, we have to judge different projects and we have to hear all evidence and we are not allowed to talk to each other. Finally the role of an executive branch of the government where we employ people to implement the laws for the security and safety of the people. So three separate hats. I reach out to people and now that I am a little bit of a celebrity, I get about 50 emails a day from Iranians all over the world, especially Iran, in Fingilish (Farsi written in English alphabet or a mixture of Farsi and English) where they are so proud of me – they say “you brought us such good news. After 30 years we are finally looking up and I wish you were here to run for our city. We want your intelligence and know-how in Iran.”
SR: What happened with the Ballots of Beverly Hills being in Persian and all the negative coverage that was the media like in USA Today?
JD: Four years ago when I ran for city council, I won that seat as the first Iranian-American to do so in Beverly Hills ever. I found out it was very difficult for our older generation to vote. They were not used to it; they did not want to register. We asked a commission on Human relations to have a separate ballot in Farsi so that we could service this group of the community. And we did that and it worked fine. The last year, we have changed our clerk. City clerk is an independent office in city government that handles elections. He had gone to some election seminars and had learned in order to outreach if you have more than 5% in a community, you have to put everything on the same ballot. So he created a ballot that had almost more Persian than English, and the Persian lettering was Arabic, it was not even Persian. He thought it was Persian. He scared the heck out of people and people panicked because they thought Iran is taking over, suddenly, in America, and in Beverly Hills. At that time, there were 3 Iranian-Americans running for council – this is good because it gets more Persians involved but it was also bad because it split the vote and all three could have lost and we would have no representation. The other side voted against me in droves. One of them said, 'if you get into office, I am afraid you will change all our signs to Farsi.' That is the fear they had. So the people who are inherently prejudiced, fan the flame and created a big story for the papers.
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SR: What percentage of Beverly Hills is Iranian?
JD: There is no way to figure it out except by last names. Persians are considered to be white and so it’s hard to say. I would put it at 25% of the residents in Beverly Hills, and there are about 40,000 residents in Beverly Hills.
SR: How have you promoted Iranian culture, seeing that you are in the public view?
JD: I decided years ago when I ran for any office that I had a role. I wanted to be the bridge. I became a bridge between my community and the European community because my wife’s family was from Russia and Holland, and her parents were holocaust survivors. They spoke Yiddish, German, and Russian. My kids were stuck between the two cultures, like Babak. When they first went to school, they asked me not to speak Farsi to them. They didn’t want to be different or strange. Now that they are grown up, they are upset that I did not force them more to speak Farsi. They say, “you should have pushed us and not listened to us and taught us.” So teach your children many languages. To read and to write. It’s a door to the history.
SR: So what do your kids speak?
JD: They speak English, a little Hebrew and a little Farsi. So they learn all three. But I always wanted to show the good side. To me, I wanted to emphasize that Persians add. They don’t take away. I proved our added value so that we would be welcome. We cannot remain in America and have a separate community. We need to work together. Invite Americans to your party. Be involved in committees, your children’s school, and show Persians to be good civic participants.
SR: Persian generally are not good at that?
JD: They aren’t unfortunately. I go to Bar mitzvahs and weddings and 99% of the people are Persian. Their kids are friends with hundreds of Americans. Invite them. Change the mood. That has been my biggest accomplishment, being a bridge and I am doing that now in Beverly Hills.
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SR: What are the things that you as an American, teach Iranians and as an Iranian, teach Americans?
JD: To the Americans, I teach that Persians do not mean to exclude them but their culture, and their strength is such that they have to honor certain traditions. For example, if they meet each other it is respectful to talk in a language that is most comfortable, so if they want to speak Farsi, they do it because of comfort and they don’t want to look arrogant to the other Farsi-speaker. Or if they walk into a party and greet the parents first, it’s because they were taught to respect the elders, it is not out of disrespect for you or the other people at the party. If you want to break the ice, learn one or two words of Persian like “Hello, how are you?” and immediately, you can connect. To the Iranians, I ask that they include others by speaking English in front of them and being more aware. If you are in an elevator and you speak Farsi, if someone else walks in, switch, otherwise they think you are talking about them and that is awkward. Get involved and volunteer to be active with each other’s lives. I learned this from my wife.
Darius Kadivar: Congratulations to the Fellow Shirazi compatriot for proving that the American Dream is not just a vague concept. Mr. Delshad what souvenirs do you have or cherish from your hometown Shiraz and Iran in general?
JD: I have a santur I play. That is my way of connecting to Iran through music. I have played it since I was 10, I play it with my brothers, we get together - it is very soothing and melodic.
DK: Hollywood has been the Mecca of the movie film community in a century old industry. Today Iranians are also playing an important part in it in nearly all fields from acting to directing, screenwriting to special effects: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Reza Badiyi, Maz Jobrani, Shaun Toub, Cyrus Nowrasteh, Habib Zargarpour, Darius Khondji to name a few. As Mayor of Beverly Hills do you intend to bridge the Persian film professionals with their American colleagues?
JD: I would love to be the bridge. I know quite a few of the Iranian actors and my kids grew up with some of them. There are a lot of talent agencies in Beverly Hills and a lot of services come through here. If I am well known here and respected, the talent agencies will look at Iranians differently because of me. That is my hope. But I am not directly involved.
DK: During the City Council ceremony, a close friend of yours and Holocaust Survivor, was to receive your Oath as new Mayor. As an Iranian-American who knows Iran’s long history of friendship and brotherhood between Persians and Jews, how do you react and feel about the current Iranian President’s comments?
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JD: My inauguration was specifically planned. I selected a holocaust survivor who had survived 5 years in eighteen camps. He came over and made it big. He has given millions away. As an immigrant, and a holocaust survivor who has been such a positive role model, he was important. I said in my speech that whoever denies the holocaust can have a one-way ticket to Auschwitz. Ahmadinejad’s comments are so ridiculous that I don’t want to even dignify it by answering the question. I think it is one way to deflect the problems of unemployment, prostitution and drugs in Iran for all the young people. Young people who can create hundreds of eBays.
DK: As Mayor and also parent I would like to have your opinion on the recent tragedy at the Virginia Tech University Campus where 30 people were killed by an unstable student. Why is such violence more common in the US?
JD: That is the price of freedom. It is in the constitution, I don’t agree with it but it is in there that we can carry a firearm. Freedom is two-sided.
DK: Although not particularly connected to this tragedy do you think that the way violence is so often depicted in Hollywood films including on TV is partly responsible for such acts?
JD: I think it is related. In fact showing the killer’s picture and video was exactly what he wanted. He thanked and blessed the other two people at Columbine. They feed on each other to take action. The means don’t justify the end here and the ratings need to be put aside. And the movie makers and rappers need to be more responsible.
SR: Mr. Delshad. Thanks for your time. One last question: any further political ambitions?
JD: I don’t know right now. My agenda right now is to make Beverly Hills the best city and be the best Mayor the city has ever had. I have exciting initiatives such as bringing opposing groups together to discuss and understand. I want to use my technology background to make Beverly Hills the smartest city in America, using the best technology for example for traffic lights that change color based on the density of traffic. Perhaps we use our cell phones to pay for parking or we use modern technology to provide better security and guard against terrorism.
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