August 2008 – Venice Car Wash Workers take action to win months of back pay

By Jim Smith

After six months of having their paychecks bounce, workers at a Venice car wash had had enough. 

On July 24, the 40 workers staged a walkout and picket line in front of the misnamed the Marina Car Wash (it’s in Venice, not the Marina, at Venice Blvd. and Lincoln Blvd. 

A short time later, the owners coughed up the back pay. In the mean time, they had been living on tips and occasional payments out of petty cash.

It was unclear at press time if all of the workers had been paid in full, or if some would be paid next Aug. 4. Other questions remain about the payment of social security and federal taxes. The car wash management refused to offer proof to the Beachhead to substantiate its claim that the workers had been fully paid.

The workers estimate they wash 500 cars a day for a minimum of $10 each. Why weren’t the workers paid? The answer to that question is likely known only to Monowara Sikder, whose Sikder Holdings, Inc. is the legal owner of the facility.

The workers are being supported by Clergy and Laity Concerned, the United Steelworkers Union and the Community-Labor-Environmental-Action Network (CLEAN) Carwash Campaign, a Los Angeles organization. As word of the bouncing checks got out, a number of Venetians called the car wash to express their concern.

At the picket line, workers showed a Beachhead reporter their paychecks, stamped “Returned: Not Sufficient Funds.” In addition, one worker showed a handmade lottery ticket, explaining that the workers had been given a number that week. The winning number entitled that worker to have his check cashed by the car wash’s cashier.

The Clean Carwash Campaign has uncovered  numerous violations of labor law at area carwashes. Primary violations are payment of less than the minimum wage, no lunch breaks, no drinking water and exposure to dangerous chemicals.

The car wash in Venice appears to be the first one where workers were not being paid at all.

August 2008 – It’s Spy Cameras vs. Street Dealers in Oakwood

By Ingrid Boon

I was recently at a private event where I heard that someone had donated a large amount of money to a certain area of Venice – Oakwood to be specific – to install cameras in strategic places in order to be able to identify sellers and buyers of drugs. I believe they may already have been installed. 

It seems that London was used as an example and that many cameras have already been installed in selected areas. The cameras are allegedly equipped with infrared in order to photograph during those busy morning hours and are placed in unobtrusive places. In time, with the help of the LAPD Pacific Division, the sellers, many of whom live in the neighborhood, will be arrested and jailed and the license plate numbers of the buyers will be recorded and they will eventually be arrested as well. In essence it is like the prostitution stings that many cities have employed, busting the prostitutes and the “Johns.”

The following are some webcam samples from London. Most are geared towards tourism but the actual reason, so I have been told by some of my English friends, is to circumvent terrorism and to be able to see what folks are really up to. Looks to me like we have it “going on” in an attempt to eradicate the sellers of drugs in Oakwood.

http://www.explore-london.co.uk/webcams.html

http://www.w-l-c.co.uk/student_life/london_webcam.php

http://www.goandroam.com/webcams/uk/london

August 2008 – Letters

• Big Daddy - Larry Parker
• RVs – A Sad Story - Ita Kreft

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Big Daddy

Dear Beachhead,

We would like to become sustainers to the Beachhead in the name of Big Daddy’s & Sons. We operate our local business at Ocean Front Walk and Market St. We’re also involved in the community, especially in supporting activities at Venice High.

As a service to the community, we accept EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) at Big Daddy’s. EBTs are debit cards for food stamps and cash benefits.

My wife Debbie and I love your paper. We think you represent Venice well. The longer we are in Venice the more appreciation I have for everything about it. 

Please let your readers know that they can pick up the latest Beachhead at Big Daddy’s.

Larry Parker

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RVs – A Sad Story

I’ve lived in Venice since 1992. An article in the L.A. Times “Mellow coastal enclave fed up with RV glut” made me very uneasy. I lived most of my life in The Netherlands. People and governments in Europe are more people oriented than in the USA. People in Europe have also a memory and a history. I learned as a child that the gypsies were people that did not belong anywhere. They were chased away from every place in every country on the continent. They did not pay taxes and they lived on the streets and the lands paid by the citizens. Therefore they had no rights. In World War II they mostly ended up in concentration camps.

I think that the L.A. Times article brought up these stories from my youth. Today was the day that I read the story of the American gypsies: the homeless (who soil OUR streets and pay NO TAXES). I heard the sentiment :”Let them go to the next town.” And the next town and the next town. Is that a solution? Also familiar to the gypsy stories were the blaming of the homeless for filth and noise. Blaming all homeless for the behavior of some is per definition DISCRIMINATION. Not all homeless are loud and filthy, as not all women are emotional unstable and weak (I am a woman). Shameful that LA article.

I do not want to go into the politics of a capitalistic country where dollars count more than people. We in venice are better than that. We should be different and behave better than the rest. If it is bothersome that people live on the street why not take all our energy (like the energy of writing an article in the L.A. Times) for trying to find a solution. A solution unique for our community This is what I heard: in Playa del Rey is a motor home campground – Dockweiler – where people can stay for less than $30 per night. 

We can build a camp for the homeless (and for our own happiness). If Playa del Rey can do it for those with the money, maybe we can do it for the poor. This way “not in my backyard” is replaced by responsible citizenship where we adopt the homeless as equal citizens and people like we are. Thank you for listening. My question: What can I do? Where can I go?                                

Ita Kreft

August 2008 – The Anti-War Report

Good morning Venice, there’s something to report.

Following last June’s National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation in Cleveland, Ohio, a meeting of over 400 national organizers, a plan for steps forward has been approved for national protests. These will be organized through the fall and winter of this year, as a springboard for massive bi-coastal demonstrations in the spring of 2009. For the full report see: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/34608

This good news comes on the heels of the third presentation by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, also of Cleveland, of articles of impeachment. This latter, of one article against President Bush, for misleading Congress into war, forced Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to finally put impeachment back on the table. At the writing of this report a preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 25 before the Judiciary Committee, where a public case for impeachment will be presented.

Ladies and gentlemen, we as a nation have turned a page and it is only fitting that we take a moment to recognize it.

The days of this war and this president are numbered. We are on the road to peace – now it is inevitable. We as a nation owe a debt of gratitude to this humble man from Ohio, for his dedication and perseverance in upholding the constitution of these United States, in the face of extreme opposition from all the powers that be. Thank you Dennis. For the full article by David Swanson, see: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/34689

To do its part, I now call upon the Venice Town Council and the Venice Neighborhood Council to declare Venice a “war free zone,” following the example of Berkeley and hundreds of other communities around the country; to pass a resolution not to allow any business or operation within the borders of the city that contributes to the cost of war and to further disallow any tactic devised and implemented in the time of war to be applied within our boundaries. it is time for Venice to walk the talk.

I further call upon the councils to form anti-war/ peace committees to search for ways Venice and Los Angeles as a whole can contribute to aiding the anti-war/impeachment movement. A quite reasonable request, considering that the city council has already passed a resolution opposing the war.

To get involved with local organizing, please contact me at: escalatepeace@yahoo.com.

Mark Lipman

August 2008 – Venice Town Council Report

By Karl Abrams

The Venice Town Council convened its third monthly meeting, July 11, at the United Methodist Church auditorium. Since there were not enough people needed for the quorum required to pass resolutions, the meeting became more of an open and lively semi-structured discussion to prepare for the next monthly meeting, which is held on the second Friday of each month (the next meeting is Aug. 8). 

The meeting discussed these agenda items:

1. We unanimously agreed that the time allotted for discussing future resolutions needs to be increased so that all persons present can better understand the meaning and purpose of each resolution. 

2. One participant proposed creating an anti-war committee to work on long-term ways Venice can help to end the war (including short term of organizing an anti-war/9-11 event). 

3. Another participant informed the Council about a new French invention: the “Self-cleaning Bathroom.” We agreed that such bathrooms are needed in various locations throughout Venice, especially on Lincoln Blvd. The self-locking, self-cleaning devices (about 20 x 7 feet) are already in use throughout Europe. An amazing video demonstration of this pioneering contraption may be found on YouTube by searching “auto toilet” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYgzZJpIKwA&NR=1

 4. The topic of low income and affordable housing was brought up. We agreed that property developers in Venice must be watched carefully and continually pressured to include affordable housing as part of all future housing development proposals.

 5. Many town council participants felt having recycling bins on the boardwalk was too expensive. 

6. A letter opposing OPDs will be part of next month’s agenda. 

7. One participant expressed her frustration with the police knocking on her motor home at 2 a.m. A discussion of police tactics agreed that there must be a way to stop this unfair harassment. If the police think that you have an animal inside your RV, they can actually break into your vehicle.

 9. The last item on the agenda was the Ocean Front Walk. Many participants in the Town Council felt that “factory” jewelry is destroying the artistic spirit of the boardwalk and that police were harassing the crafts people of Venice.

August 2008 – Pay Stations coming to Venice

Thirty shiny new parking pay stations will be unveiled around Venice sometime this month, according to Dan Mitchell, a Senior Transportation Engineer with the city.

Parking rates will be doubling shortly, but not because of the pay stations. The L.A. City Council recently doubled parking meter rates city wide. As a result, less people will buy gasoline to drive to a parking meter that will take more of their remaining cash. The air will become cleaner, there will be less carbon released into the atmosphere, and, oh yes, the city budget deficit will be defrayed by those diehard drivers who persist in trying to park.

Rates near the beach will be:

May 1 – Sept. 30 – $2 per hour.

Oct. 1 – April 30 – $1 per hour.

At other locations around Venice, the rate will be $1 year round, for now. With pay stations, someone downtown could flip a switch and increase parking rates throughout Venice, or even Los Angeles. Mitchell says that will not happen because the posted signs must state the cost of parking, and at present they are not electronic.

According to Mitchell, there will be no expansion in pay parking in Venice because of the pay stations. However, Abbot Kinney Blvd., Lincoln Blvd., Rose Avenue, and the lots behind Abbot Kinney must be tempting targets to city officials looking for ways to balance the budget. 

The L.A. City Council, by a unanimous vote on July 15, once again raised parking fines by $5 a ticket to help balance its budget. The increase is expected to bring in an addition $6.6 million to city coffers this year. The Council had originally wanted to raise the fines by $10 – $15 but was told that such a high increase could create voter anger and possible violence against parking officers.

With pay stations, it will be almost impossible to fight a parking ticket. No receipts are issued and the last word is the electronic data in the pay station. In addition, there will be no more alibis that the meter was broken. If a pay station is not working, you must pay at another one even if it’s on another block.

The new pay stations will accept coins, credit or debit cards, but no bills. You can also pay with your mobile phone if you register with a company called Mpark <mpark.com>. More information about pay stations can be found at: http://ladot.lacity.org/pdf/PDF1.pdf

Where will riders lock their bikes once the city converts to one pay station per block? Fear not, the city is thinking about you. Not all parking meters will be removed. Some will be converted to bike parking racks with a different cap on top. Currently, it is technically illegal to attach anything to a parking meter, including a bicycle. But with the old meters decommissioned, you’ll be able to lock your bike to one with a clear conscience. And with increased parking fees and fines, bike riding will be more attractive than ever.

August 2008 – Melvyn Hayward, Senior: Jan. 16, 1949 – June 29, 2008

Melvyn Hayward was a role model and a powerful force for good in the Oakwood community for more than 30 years.

He worked with the Venice Drug Coalition, Didi Hirsch Mental Health, the NAACP, Oakwood United and was most recently the director of the Vera Davis McClendon Center.

In addition, he was an actor in Hollywood films and at the Pearl White Theater.

August 2008 – Two Views on Homelessness and Criminalization: Homeless No More

By Janet C. Phelan

It is a rainy day in Santa Monica.  About dozen homeless people have gathered under the overhang at the Ocean Park Community Access Center on Olympic Boulevard, which is the hub for homeless services in Santa Monica. While the rain pours down, the homeless huddle, share cigarettes and joke wryly about available “shelter.”

Santa Monica developed a reputation as a “homeless friendly” community back in the eighties, when the city of Santa Monica opened its doors to the poorest of the poor, setting up an extensive network of homeless services and even sanctioning a “tent city” on the lawn of city hall.  Drawn by this reputation as well as by the warm weather, the homeless began to stream in to Santa Monica.  Along the way, the politics of this beautiful, wealthy city by the sea changed, but the reputation remained. 

The current leadership of the city of Santa Monica is, in fact, engaged in legal warfare against this population. Under the tutelage of the misnamed “Homeless Liaison Office,” the city has drafted and passed legislation criminalizing behavior that simply bespeaks poverty. A major proponent of these new laws is Councilman Bobby Shriver, brother to Maria Shriver, who is the wife of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was Shriver whom I first heard drop the phrase, “quality of life crimes.”

For example, it is now illegal (and punishable by six months jail time) to engage in any of the following behaviors: Washing your hair in a public restroom; Sleeping on the beach or in parks during the day; Sleeping in a car; Shaving in a public restroom; “Aggressive” panhandling. The definition for “aggressive” involves all verbalizations requesting assistance. Signs are still legal. 

In addition, the City has passed laws that placed a “chilling” effect on those wishing to assist the homeless, by feeding them. The 9th circuit court of appeals upheld laws in Santa Monica which prohibited public feedings, unless a permit were acquired. The terms of the permit, which were required for events accommodating more than 150 people, placed a minimum $500 clean-up fee, payable to the City, as well as a more modest permit fee simply to pass out food to hungry people.

Paul Grymkowski, a former owner of the chain Gold’s gym and a deacon in a local church, had been passing out food two days a week in Palisades Park for a number of years. He was providing high quality, vegetable-intensive meals, which were enormously popular among the homeless. Upon passage of the anti-feeding law, he changed his format and began to display signs reading “The Grymkowski Family and Friends Picnic.” He reasoned that he could not be arrested and jailed for holding picnics. 

The police began to show up at Grymkowski’s events, and shortly thereafter, he discontinued serving meals in the park. The Status Report from The City of Santa Monica reveals that the number of public feedings dropped from 26 down to only five, since the adoption of the permit laws in 2002. The status report also includes the rationale for the permit laws: “The feedings often attract large crowds. As most of the persons receiving food are, or appear to be homeless, they usually have significant amounts of personal property with them…wear and tear on park property is substantial. Perhaps most importantly, the scheduled public feedings tend to facilitate homeless people staying in the streets.”

Well, I guess if they don’t eat, they won’t be living on the streets (or anywhere else) very long…

Several years ago, Grymkowski expressed concern that he would soon be jailed for his large heart. At this point, he has moved his picnics out of the park to the “legal” interior of the OPCC Access Center.

Homelessness is increasing in Santa Monica. The ravages of the economy and the termination of the Section 8 housing program in Los Angeles have all contributed to the swelling of the numbers of the poorest of the poor. The service visits at OPCC support this perception. The number of people served at OPCC’s Access Center for FY 2004-2005 was 2,095. By FY 2006-7, the number had jumped to over 2,700. 

Interestingly enough, the official Homeless Census, sponsored by Los Angeles Homeless Services Association, tells a different story. The census reports that the numbers of homeless in Santa Monica dropped 25 percent between 2005 and 2007, from 1991 to 1506. This was dutifully reported in the Santa Monica Daily Press, which quoted city officials as stating that the results of the homeless count demonstrate that the efforts of the city to help the homeless are working. 

John Maceri, the Executive Director of OPCC, did not return calls from TAB inquiring as to the discrepancy between his agency’s figures and what was reported in the press.

The City of Santa Monica has launched an aggressive program to address the “homeless problem.” The shelter programs in Los Angeles County, of which Santa Monica is a part, currently offer a maximum of about 12,000 beds, for a population of over 73,000. This figure includes the “winter shelter” beds, when the National Guard Armories open their doors between the months of November and March and transitional housing beds. For Santa Monica, “homeless capital of the United States,” the emergency and transitional shelter beds total 261. This figure increases by 464 if one adds in the transitional housing beds, which can be occupied for up to two years. Julie Rusk, director of Santa Monica City Hall’s homeless effort, seized upon the so-called “drop” in homelessness in Santa Monica and proclaimed, “We are going in the right direction.”

Rusk did not return calls from TAB requesting an explanation for the apparent drop in the homeless census at the same time that the service numbers for OPCC were on the rise. Stacy Rowe, Human Services Administrator, did agree to speak with this reporter. She suggested that the reasons that the figures for OPCC were on the rise was due to the “excellent” job of outreach that agency was doing.

However, the word on the streets is that the numbers of homeless in Santa Monica is exploding. “We’ve got people flooding in here like nobody’s business,” said “Dave,” who was parking his bike in front of OPCC. 

Under the banner of addressing the “homeless problem,” Santa Monica has recently set up a “Homeless Court.” The questionable constitutionality of bifurcating the legal system and setting up a court for only those in particular economic stratum does not seem to bother city hall. Homeless court convenes once a month, to hear cases involving “quality of life” and other petty cases against homeless individuals. The city’s website hails this as “an innovative pilot project.” Spearheaded by Santa Monica Homeless “Czar” Ed Edelman, the court will offer drug and psychiatric assistance, rather than jail time, to those arrested for “petty offenses.” 

In “Ending Homelessness in Santa Monica,” authored by the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., a “big stick” approach is advocated, using the threat of increased incarceration as the prod. “As things stand now,” states the report, “the only ‘or else’ that the court will have, as it urges homeless people to ‘cooperate, or else,’ is a relatively short stay in jail. We believe it will need a stronger ‘or else’ to make a real dent; changing the jail could supply that strength.”

This brings us to the spectre of Army Regulation 210-35. Drafted into law in 1997 and revised in 2005, 210-35 calls for the setting up of “civilian inmate labor camps” on military bases. There has been much buzz, mostly on the internet, concerning closed military bases being reconfigured as “concentration camps.” The fact is that 210-35 reveals who the denizens of these forced labor camps will be. Section 3-5 (a)(6) states that the camps should be set up in compliance with the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. This was enacted under the administration of Ronald Reagan, in 1987.

The Army Regulation goes on to mitigate any sort of press coverage of activities or inmates, and chillingly states that if inmate deaths occur, the host agency will not be held responsible.

In an interview last fall with Danielle Noble of the Homeless Liaison office in Santa Monica, Noble explicitly denied any knowledge of 210-35. “We have enough trouble getting the homeless into regular housing,” she said. “Why would we put them in concentration camps?”

I guess I have some questions, too. Why would someone be arrested for shaving in a public restroom? Why would the City of Santa Monica put forward $476, 237 (estimated costs for one year pilot Homeless Court ), which admittedly served only eighty-two people in a one year span of time, when it would cost less to simply house these individuals? 

Why is the legal system being altered to criminalize poverty? Why does the Urban Institute advocate “changing the jail” to “make a dent” on homelessness? Why in the world does the Army now have in place plans to place homeless people in forced labor camps?

The poor are always with us, or so stated the Bible. Maybe the U.S. Government has made different plans.

August 2008 – Two Views on Homelessness and Criminalization: Town Hall Hears from the Experts

By Karl Abrams

A Venice Town Hall meeting was held on July 9th at the Venice United Methodist Church. The well-attended meeting consisted of a variety of in-depth presentations by expert speakers on “Homelessness and Criminalization” followed by a film and Councilperson Bill Rosendahl fielding questions about what the community can do to help.

Two of the speakers were attorneys (Gary Blasi and Carol Sobel); two were Venice community activists (Calvin Moss and Steve Clare). All spoke eloquently and in detail about the complex causes and effects of homelessness. All speakers were introduced by the moderator, Rhonda Meister, the former Executive Director of St. Joseph’s Center.

Blasi, a UCLA law professor, emphasized that the strong arm of law enforcement and the criminalization of the homeless is not the right approach. 

According to Blasi, the costs associated with criminalizing the homeless are two to three times the cost of providing permanent housing. 

Blasi expressed his frustrations. “I’m both embarrassed and ashamed to be a resident of the city of L.A. and to see how little the city has done.” Blasi continued, “Venice, of all places, should be able to do better.”

Moss, a longtime Venice activist and co-director of Food Not Bombs, lived in several skid rows in cities across the U.S. during his life. He has seen how homeless locals are mistreated and how the “gypsy culture [in Venice] is under assault” by neo-liberal (right wing) politics. Moss pointed out that “people don’t understand [the importance of] alternate counter-cultures.”

 

Carol Sobel, a former American Civil Liberties Union attorney specializing in First Amendment issues, spoke about how some of the aged homeless belong in nursing homes and that “criminalizing everything is not going to resolve problems.” Sobel had a “victory’ to share at the Town Hall also. A recent coalition of lawyers “won a 2.5 million dollar settlement for people who have had their belongings (ID, medications, personal affects) confiscated.” She said that the mayor himself “was chastised in court for opposing [the settlement].”

All of the town hall speakers agreed that we must urgently provide the homeless of Venice with permanent affordable housing, jobs and health-care services. 

To do this, of course, requires the immediate help of an informed Venice community that can work with our elected officials to implement a list of viable solutions. 

The good news is that this list of solutions already exists. Steve Clare (Director of the Venice Community Housing Corporation), Bill Rosendahl and others who took part in the “Venice Task Force on Homelessness” have put together a list of 38 suggestions (see page 10) which must now be presented to our elected officials, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the City Council and the County Board of Supervisors. 

The bad news is that this task force was eliminated at an “administrative meeting” of the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) by people who have little concern for the homeless of Venice. A new committee was formed with two co-chairs (one of whom was recently seen on Fox news in a very one-sided interview unfavorable to the homeless). As a result, these 38 suggestions were not actually presented to the public by VNC, but instead were presented to the public during this Town Hall.

The next speaker, Bob Erlenbusch, provided listeners with specifics about what we can do on the national, state and local levels to bring about meaningful and urgent change. Erlenbusch is presently the Executive Director of the LA Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness and, at the same time, President of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

“Of the more than 12,000 units that were built by the city of L.A.”, Erlenbusch explained. “…Over 90 percent went to incomes of people who earn over $135,000 or more.” 

Erlenbusch said that nationally we should continually advocate for Section 8, support the Section Eight Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) now in Congress and support the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which is calling for a National Housing Trust Fund. 

At the state level we were urged to support Housing California’s campaign for a permanent source of funding for affordable housing and a letter writing campaign to the Governor’s office to move the “California Plan to End Chronic Homelessness” off the shelf and into action.

At the local level Venetians can support Housing L.A. and meet with Councilperson Rosendahl to make use of his full support and his promise not to compromise. Generally, Erlenbusch said, we must continue to have dialogues and more town halls and support the L.A. “mixed-income residential development” ordinance. L.A. is one of the few cities in the nation that has not as yet adopted such an ordinance and Erlenbusch is pleased that “Bill Rosendahl is extremely supportive of that [new] ordinance” which gives developers incentives for bringing more affordable housing to L.A.. 

This Venice town hall on homelessness may ultimately be considered a great success. The people of Venice are now more informed about the homeless and more motivated than ever to help them get the affordable housing they deserve.

August 2008 – Lincoln Place: Venice Gulag?

By C.V. Beck

What is going on with Lincoln Place, you might enquire?  Well, let me tell you. It is very quiet over here, too quiet! many might say. It’s like that episode of the Twilight Zone, you know, the one where the bank teller, Burgess Meredith, goes to sleep in the bank vault and wakes up after atom bombs have gone off and he’s the only person left alive on the planet. 

Well, it’s like THAT here, the Venice Gulag! Of course, because it’s also in a vacuum (which nature abhors), certain persons are attracted to the grasses and lawns for purposes of irresponsible dogwalking… that is, these certain persons deliberately come here to let their dogs roam through the buildings, terrorizing and killing feral cats and other animals, and not cleaning up after the waste products of their pets– mostly while talking intently on their cell phone as an excuse. Oh, yes, frequently, these clowns have their backs turned away from their pets, to make sure they DON’T see anything. People go out of their way not to go to the dog parks – but to come here – where they think they can do anything they want to…with attack-trained german shepherds and other large overly-alert canines. I have dealt directly with a number of these grandiose people and on a toe-to-toe basis with same at least once. This continues to happen over and over, like a rerun movie on late night TV. 

 

The security guards, of whom we have a great number, do basically nothing but eat and chat during the day while circling the complex many, many times, dropping their food wrappers and coffee cups from “S-Bux” on the ground and at night, they sleep– while getting paid. 

Many times, I look out the living room window and see security guards sitting in their vehicle or on old beat-up looking bicycles, in my field of view. When I take out the garbage or go to my car, I see them to the west– like statues in silhouette across the meadow (I mean the vacant lot)–where the flowers are mowed down regularly with a phalanx of gas-powered edgers, filling the air with blue-silvery gas fumes and leaded particulates, polluting our earth with heavy metals. Anything green or flowering is destroyed over and over again, just to make sure. 

Additionally, these landscape helpers continue to use with great regularity the unlawful gas powered leaf blowers despite my best efforts to stop them. Management has been informed many times and apparently the guys just don’t get it. I have called the police and the South Coast Air Quality Management District  all to no avail. The one time I observed the office manager stopping a landscape cleaning guy with the unlawful gas powered leaf blower was when a group of potential buyers were on a walk-through this past month. 

These gas powered leaf blowers are not permitted to be used within the city of Los Angeles within 500 feet of a residence, did you know this? Does anyone, really? 

We do NOT have the quiet enjoyment we are supposed to have with garden apartments or any kind of apartments within our used-to-be fair city limits. 

In many parts of Lincoln Place, the grasses have been replaced by bare parched dirt, dry and cracked, part of an apparent “scorched earth policy” by the owner’s harsh and oppressive policies. The dry grasses crunch when I walk on them and there are deep cracks into the earth, some 9”,10”,up to 12-1/2” deep, in front of my place.(I measured today, Sunday, July 20th). Weeds have been allowed to grow up through the blacktop alleyways and throughout the garage and carport areas, nettles grow 4 and 5 feet high, remaining untouched, despite my requests for weeding of weeds and not for weeding of flowers.

 

The Lincoln Place Tenants Association (LPTA) has received two awards coming out of the Barney Frank-chaired Financial Services Committee in Washington, DC, on HUD Housing by the National Alliance of HUD Tenants. 

One award is for our tenants’ role in saving rent control in California in the June primary. The other is for “winning landmark victories to save (our) homes.” These awards were proudly accepted by attorney Amanda Seward on behalf of the LPTA.

 

About two weeks ago now, AIMCO minions began unboarding the empty apartments around those where human beings still live. Why are they doing this? It might have something to do with the last lawsuit in court that we had won.

The appeals court case that found the Ellis Act evictions to be illegal because the California Environmental Quality Act (which protects us) trumps the Ellis Act. 

Some of the former residents have asked when they would be able to return to their apartments. Apparently, what is holding up the works is that the city government has no “mechanism” to return people to their units and needs to develop one, I guess on our backs. 

I helpfully suggested to one of our unlawfully evicted residents that the sheriffs be allowed to smartly walk people backwards into their apartments, thus eradicating the grievous removals of two and three years ago. While funny, this is still a very good idea and would be, of course very visual in a Venice sort of way, wouldn’t it?