Latest news with #Mehdizadeh
Calgary Herald
5 days ago
- Calgary Herald
Lethbridge Police Service Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh cleared of misconduct allegations
Article content Lethbridge's police chief was found not guilty Monday of two misconduct charges he faced over a lunch meeting he had with the service's chaplain more than four years ago. Article content Lethbridge Police Service Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh had been accused of two counts of misconduct, for violating a public health order by taking a member of the public out for lunch in March 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for denying he had done anything wrong when confronted about it. Article content Article content Article content Article content They had soup during a 20- to 30-minute lunch, a regular thank-you gesture from Mehdizadeh for the volunteer's work with Lethbridge police. They were masked and appropriately distanced, said Lethbridge's police chief. Article content Mehdizadeh had believed the chaplain was part of his cohort, but during a meeting several days later with senior management, Lethbridge's police chief said he learned he was wrong and apologized to senior officers, including Woods. Article content Article content On Monday, presiding officer Brett Carlson concluded that, on a balance of probabilities, the allegations against Mehdizadeh were not proven and found him not guilty. Article content Carlson determined the LPS chief did not intend to breach the public health order, provided an apology and the conduct was not repeated. Article content 'There was no evidence of malicious intent or meaningful moral culpability,' he said. 'A moment of carelessness or error in judgment does not, by itself, constitute discreditable conduct requiring discipline.' Article content 'I find that a dispassionate, reasonable person, fully apprised of the circumstances would conclude that the Chief did not do anything prejudicial to discipline or likely to bring discredit on the reputation of the police service.'
Global News
5 days ago
- Global News
Lethbridge police chief accused of breaking health rules during pandemic has complaint dismissed
A police oversight board says it has dismissed a complaint that a southern Alberta police chief allegedly broke public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes after a former deputy chief with the Lethbridge Police Service had claimed Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh violated a public health order by taking a chaplain out for lunch in March 2021. A disciplinary hearing by the Lethbridge Police Commission concluded Monday and dismissed the allegations. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy An agreed statement of facts says Mehdizadeh and the chaplain were masked and properly socially distanced throughout the luncheon. In his decision, Presiding Officer Brett Carlson concluded the chief did not mean to break the rules, apologized and didn't do it again, and Carlson said the chief's actions were a 'moment of carelessness or error in judgment.' Story continues below advertisement Mehdizadeh, in a statement sent by Lethbridge police, accused the former deputy chief of making numerous complaints about him, and that some have been dismissed as 'frivolous and vexatious.'
Hamilton Spectator
5 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Lethbridge police chief accused of breaking COVID rules has complaint dismissed
LETHBRIDGE - A police oversight board says it has dismissed a complaint that a southern Alberta police chief allegedly broke public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes after a former deputy chief with the Lethbridge Police Service had claimed Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh violated a public health order by taking a chaplain out for lunch in March 2021. A disciplinary hearing by the Lethbridge Police Commission concluded Monday and dismissed the allegations. An agreed statement of facts says Mehdizadeh and the chaplain were masked and properly socially distanced throughout the luncheon. In his decision, Presiding Officer Brett Carlson concluded the chief did not mean to break the rules, apologized and didn't do it again, and Carlson said the chief's actions were a 'moment of carelessness or error in judgment.' Mehdizadeh, in a statement sent by Lethbridge police, accused the former deputy chief of making numerous complaints about him, and that some have been dismissed as 'frivolous and vexatious.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Lethbridge police chief accused of breaking COVID rules has complaint dismissed
LETHBRIDGE – A police oversight board says it has dismissed a complaint that a southern Alberta police chief allegedly broke public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes after a former deputy chief with the Lethbridge Police Service had claimed Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh violated a public health order by taking a chaplain out for lunch in March 2021. A disciplinary hearing by the Lethbridge Police Commission concluded Monday and dismissed the allegations. An agreed statement of facts says Mehdizadeh and the chaplain were masked and properly socially distanced throughout the luncheon. In his decision, Presiding Officer Brett Carlson concluded the chief did not mean to break the rules, apologized and didn't do it again, and Carlson said the chief's actions were a 'moment of carelessness or error in judgment.' Mehdizadeh, in a statement sent by Lethbridge police, accused the former deputy chief of making numerous complaints about him, and that some have been dismissed as 'frivolous and vexatious.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025.
Los Angeles Times
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Dental offices don't need to be sterile holding pens. This Beverly Hills project is plush, pink and magical
Can I interest you in a trip to the dentist? No? Not exactly the trip you're looking to win on a game show, is it? Most people, myself included, fear and loathe the dentist. Maybe not the actual people, who are usually sunny and chipper in contrast to their grisly work, but certainly the actual act of being worked on by one of them. The standard dentist's office is sterile, gray and utilitarian. Maybe there's a poster telling you to 'hang in there,' with a picture of a cat gripping a tree branch on it. Maybe they play the most inoffensive radio station they could find while you wait in a seat that looks as though it was borrowed from an airport in the 1990s. It's not an experience designed to inspire or offer a sense of calm. It's a holding pen for a torture chamber. But what if it wasn't? That's the question Kiyan Mehdizadeh asked when he decided to renovate the 12th floor of a mid-century office building on Wilshire Boulevard for his dental practice in Beverly Hills. When Mehdizadeh — who does mostly cosmetic work like veneers, implants and gum work — committed to opening a third office for his business, he sat down and thought about what he wanted the experience of dental work to feel like. When I saw the space he created with the design firm of Charlap Hyman & Herrero — lush carpets, wooden walls, Italian Dominioni chairs and monochromatic color schemes that recall the best of 1960s and '70s design — I referred to it as opulent. But Mehdizadeh doesn't see it that way. 'Opulent isn't the word I would use,' he told me over Zoom. 'I like the word salubrious, like something that gives life, you know what I mean?' A typical visit to the dentist doesn't give life as much as it gives anxiety. Someone is going to stick a tube in your mouth, prod you with shining metal implements, and chances are strong you will bleed at some point. Worse yet, if you're having a major surgery done, and you're zonked on anesthetic, a room full of strangers will see you being dragged by your spouse/best friend/co-worker/bored neighbor you promised to buy dinner for on some undetermined night. Your mouth will be full of gauze or cotton balls and your eyes will be half-closed like last call at a sports bar. Mehdizadeh and the designers Adam Charlap Hyman and Andre Herrero — who work in both architecture and interior design and recently designed the 2024 New York Fashion Week dinner for Thom Browne — had an answer for that too: a circular office. Charlap Hyman & Herrero aimed to create a unique space that causes you to experience each and every room differently. Those rooms take you on a journey that inevitably leads to the exit. You start in the lobby, head to a cozy waiting room that feels more like someone's house than a dentist's office, and then are shuttled to a stark white operating room filled with light from adjacent windows on the other side of the hall. When you're done, you follow the circular path back out to the exit. The halls are lined with Mehdizadeh's personal art collection, which includes works from Cy Twombly, Leonor Fini and more. There's even wallpaper in the bathroom with drawings from erotic artist Tom of Finland, which certainly sets quite a tone for visitors. It's all quite a step up from the 'hang in there' poster. All of this happens in a continuous loop, without you ever being seen by another patient. No matter where you are in the office, you're technically on your way out. 'It was the design team's idea to make this little monolith in the middle of the office with the circular hallway on the outside,' Mehdizadeh says. '[W]hen they started talking about traffic flow, they were thinking of it like the way traffic flows in a hotel hallway or in a large home or something like that. They weren't thinking of it in terms of dentistry — they brought this completely fresh perspective.' Dentistry should ideally be a bit private, shouldn't it? The invasive nature of it — gaping mouths, drool and other bodily fluid on full display — makes it an activity that makes us all feel deeply vulnerable. You're prone, strapped into one of those reclining chairs and prepped for an excruciating afternoon. At least when you were a child, there were prizes at the end if you were good. I would always task myself with being as still as possible during my cleanings. If I could be the most perfect, cooperative patient, I thought, maybe I can take two prizes from the treasure chest. I never got a second prize. One prize per child was the stated policy and there would be no deviation. Maybe that's why I'm still so unnerved by going to the dentist. Not only is it physically terrifying, but it also reminds me of the limitations of my charm. There is no reward for being still in Mehdizadeh's dentist chair other than something resembling peace. What Charlap Hyman & Herrero created was a place for reflection. You can lie prone on a plush red couch and ponder the nature of existence. You can be enveloped by a floor-to-ceiling pink room that looks like something out of the Barbie movie. Every room is its own environment, carefully crafted to make you feel something magical. These waiting rooms ideally get you to a place of inner peace before your entire mouth is rattled and you potentially lose sensation in your gums. But once you're out of the chair and on your way, you're one step closer to aesthetic nirvana. The perfect smile can be the key to self-esteem, to happiness, to personal connection. Even more than our eyes, our smile is the key that unlocks trust amongst strangers. A flashy, warm smile has the power to disarm. We trust dentists so that they can help us earn trust from others. How does a dentist — with their drills and picks and other tools — earn trust from a patient? Well, as Kiyan Mehdizadeh's office proves, having good taste certainly helps. Photography courtesy of Charlap Hyman & Herrero.
