A Beach Head Writes About The Beachhead

By Carol Fondiller

Frankly, I feel as if I’m viewing the decades of the Free Venice Beachhead’s existence on old celluloid film. Jumping and bumping with splats, cracks and flashes. Cutting through images that have been spliced together with cellophane tape being fed through the old moviola of my brain. 

Who was that guy with the Jesus -length hair who was a master of lay-out? Can’t remember his name. And John Haag – ’this paper is a poem’ and through the four decades of its’ publication, there were poems in every issue of the Beachhead. 

The remaining Beats watched with tolerant condescension as the collectives struggled to put this together.

The margins were never even, misprints, mistakes were always in abundance. Somehow, no matter how hard we tried to eradicate those cussed little errors, they’d pop up to be forever immortalized in print. Some contributors were deeply hurt by what they considered negligence and disrespect for their articles. My thought was we never gave voice to the voiceless, there were and are many voices in Venice who speak and are ignored. The Beachhead enabled these voices to be heard by a larger group of people than just their allies. 

The Beachhead grew from a bothersome little rag to an influential voice in the community. Truly the Beachhead worked locally and thought globally. The Beachhead was founded by the Peace and Freedom Party, but except for a few years, welcomed even political contributors to its pages. From polemics and theory to explanations of various laws and regulations and, of course poems and stories to pro-renter and women’s movements, and anti-war activities, if it was happening locally -it was reported in the Beachhead. 

The Beachhead ALWAYS had points of view. It reported events from a distinct populist what is called leftist point of view. The Beachhead tried to be accurate in its reporting of facts: But it has always been pro majority of the people who inhabit this little blue planet. I.E., the low income folks who are struggling to star housed, the people who are unhoused and the people who’ve lived in the area for years, but are being displaced because they don’t have the $$$ to stay in their community by the sea and they wonder why renters don’t get involved in their community because they have been told by landlords, the city, the state, etc., that they don’t count. (There are still renters who believe that they don’t have a right to voice their opinions, if any, about the direction of their community. The Beachhead still has a lot of work to do regarding consciousness raising about this). 

Speaking of consciousness raising, The Beachhead raised awareness about stalking and the vulnerability of the people to the dangers of this highly romanticized dangerous activity in a series of articles about the terror and disruption inflicted on a respected member of Venice and a collectivite on the Beachhead. 

We used to lay out the Beachhead on the floor using glue, scissors, Xacto Blades and press tape oh, who could forget presstype -my nightmare. I don’t know who if it exists anymore-it consisted of a sheet of plastic with letters that are pressed down individually onto the paper, rubbed it and a headline was created-that is, unless parts of the letter fell off, then the handy dandy black pen would come into play. My headlines were almost always crooked-sort of like a humpback whale swimming through the print. When the Beach-head first came into being there were no computers. 

In the mid 70s the holy grail of print technology was an IBM Selectric Composer. I believe Moe Stravnezer and Linda Lucks were the proud owners. I never advanced to more than pen and pencil, having been intimidated at an early age with typewriter ribbon and indentation. I am forever grateful to people who slaved over my chicken tracks and transcribed them into print. 

Now it is zipped through computer straight to the printers who mates with the disk and births many thousands of Beachheads. 

The Beachhead has gone through many collectives and many changes but the message remains the same: PEACE AND FREEDOM. 

4 More Decades!

The New York Times and the L.A. Times try to be objective, however in the face of injustice and greed there is no room for objectivity, but there is fairness. Thank Goodness the Beachhead hasn’t “balanced” discrimination with points of view from the KKK to balance out the view of racial equality. 

There I hope I’ve been clear.

Letters

• I’ve Never Done This Before – Donna Lacey
• You Guys Rock – Pat Hartman
• Congratulations on your 40th Birthday!!!!!! - Emily Winters
• Vigilantes Don’t Like Vintage Cars - Nancy Raffaelli Richards

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I’ve Never Done This Before

Dear Beachhead,

This is the first paper to which I have become a sustainer. Your newspaper is the first that I have thought of as a worthy cause. You have done a fine job of representing the past, present and future of our community, and my heart and wallet want to sustain your mission. Keep up the good work!

Donna Lacey

 

 

You Guys Rock

Dear Beachhead,

What a great institution, and here’s to another 40 years!

The 15th Anniversary of the Beachhead was greeted with mixed emotions by staff members, and many of their outpourings can be found at http://www.VirtualVenice.info. As far as I can tell, these vintage Beachhead articles aren’t anywhere else online. “25 Years Ago in the Beachhead” is a recurring feature, with the articles changed every month. After its turn on the monthly page, each article is archived.

Unless you own a complete set of Beachhead back issues, this history hasn’t been available until now. These aren’t just images of the old pages. Each article has been hand-transcribed from the original print editions, so the terms are searchable.

Www.VirtualVenice.info looks to the Free Venice Beachhead as a mentor. Like the paper, VirtualVenice is into relevance, attitude, non-mainstream-ness, art, community, and all that good stuff. Without the Beachhead as an example, VirtualVenice would never have happened. Much love to all. 

Pat Hartman, Webslave, VirtualVenice - www.virtualvenice.info

————

Congratulations on your 40th Birthday!!!!!!

Keep up the good work of keeping Venice well informed!

 

I did mostly graphics and typesetting for the Beachhead in the late 70s, early 80s. We met every Saturday morning for the first 3 Saturday’s of the month, the 3rd Saturday being paste up day. We received and discussed the articles submitted from the community for the first two sessions, selected what to print, type set all articles on typewriters, and on the third session, cut and pasted each page, which took all day. Many times we were rewarded with a gourmet dinner cooked by Arnold Springer after all our hard work was done and the paper put to bed. Our camaraderie on this paper created lifelong friendships still existing today that I treasure deeply. I worked full time with children at home, so this was my way of contributing to our Venice community. We put out a wonderful paper, full of interesting comments and ideas from and by the community about what was going on with all the rapid onslaught of development, sometimes up to 28 pages!

Memorable incidents were such things as we were sued by a small paper in Texas. We received community papers from other areas, and we had used a generic graphic from one of these papers. What a shock! Fortunately, our local lawyer Steve Clare called them and smoothed out the surly and vituperative accusations with a lot of smooth talking legalize vernacular that basically said we were a tiny newspaper with no money. By the time Steve was done, they were ready to make us a donation!

Another incident was that a small business selling books from Toronto Canada had run $5 monthly ads, and had not paid for them. It just so happened that one member of our collective, Chuck Bloomquist, traveled a lot for his job, and just happened to go to Toronto for a conference. Using the address on the ad, he went over to this business and demanded immediate payment. Despite the initial shock of Chuck being on his doorstep, no money was retrieved.

We had many, many wonderful times together because of the wonderful people who were there. The Free Venice Astronomy Club was formed by our master astronomer, Chuck Bloomquist and this group lasted for over 20 years. We made spring and fall camping trips to Joshua Tree National Monument for night viewing of the skies, fireside songs and lies, daytime hikes and gourmet camp-out cooking. 

We made the Free Flowing Venice Wine in Arnold Springer’s basement, the only basement anywhere in Venice.

The Beachhead still represents the Venice we all know, care about, and love.

Emily Winters

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Vigilantes Don’t Like Vintage Cars

Dear Beachhead,

A friend found the attached note on her car Saturday morning. Hers was the only vehicle with a notice on Linden between the alleys Marco Court and Amoroso Court, and there was no “first warning” left on her car.

Having attended the Venice Town Council meeting on Friday evening, I wondered if the proposal for OPD influenced this (racist) scare tactic?

Nancy Raffaelli Richards

From the 15th Anniversary Issue (Dec. 1983)

Dear Beachhead:

Congratulations for still hanging in here! I remember when I first held your baby-soft pages in those early days after your nativity, 15 years ago.

In that year we were fighting to keep the canals from becoming an extension of the Marina. It was the year of the Tet offensive in Vietnam; and in our country, while H.H.H. (Hubert Horatio Humphrey) was being nominated to oppose R.M.N. (Richard Milhouse Nixon), mayor Daley’s police were battering demonstrators in the streets as if they were cattle in a Chicago abattoir.

Things have changes: we’re both older.

But you have aged gracefully; hardly any of your wrinkles show (except occasionally on the letters-to-the-editors’ page).

In 40 years, if the world hasn’t been blown into radio-active pieces, I’m sure there still will be a Beachhead….HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEACHHEAD! LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE’S POINT OF VIEW!

S. E. Mendelson

Welcome to Venice. Now Run!

By Karl Abrams

Venice now has its first Tsunami Evacuation street sign. On Monday morning, November 24, the first of 90 such signs went up on the west side of Pacific Avenue just north of Navy Street. The remaining signs are expected to be up as early as Thanksgiving. Councilperson Bill Rosendahl held a press conference on site and explained how the tsunami evacuation signs could save lives by directing people and traffic to higher and safer ground along a planned escape route. These signs would be especially crucial in directing and evacuating tourists on Ocean Front Walk who may be otherwise unfamiliar with Venice streets and confused during a tsunami emergency.

Rosendahl explained how the combined affect of Venice’s shallow bay, along with the shape of the coast, could lead to possible 8 feet waves propelled deep onshore by an unpredictable shift of the Santa Catalina underwater plates. “No one knows for sure how big such tsunami waves would be,” explained Rosendahl, “we estimate, until we have better clarity, that we’ll have 15 to 30 minutes to get out.” 

Rosendahl specifically thanked Jim Smith of the Beachhead for helping the sign project to reach a more timely implementation and promised he would immediately explore the possibility of placing a tsunami siren on the beach as first warning.

Richard Deppisch, LA’s Emergency Preparedness Coordinator also spoke about the availability of $350,000 in funds, citywide, under the Urban Security Initiative Grant, to better prepare people in the event of a tsunami or earthquake. Cyndi Hench, a volunteer organizer from Westchester, also spoke of the importance of being prepared for such possible disasters.

Seismic tsunami waves have occurred in the past and may happen again. According to John Davis’ article, “It Can’t Happen Here?” (Beachhead, January ’05), a devastating tsunami wave struck the coast of Santa Barbara in 1812 and a 1964 “Alaskan wave swept down the Pacific seaboard, wiping out a lot of the proto-Marina del Rey.” Such tsunami waves would be especially dangerous in the Santa Monica Bay because of the way in which such waves would gather destructive energy by bouncing and reflecting around the bay.

On December 16, a Venice Neighborhood Council agenda item will be a “tsunami evacuation discussion” to clarify details of the escape route and the possible placement of new evacuation signs.

Retirement Income

If you had purchased $1,000 of AIG stock one year ago, you would have $42 left. With Lehman, you would have $6.60 left. With Fannie or Freddie, you would have less than $5 left. But if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It’s called the 401-Keg…..

Negotiations Underway to Buy Lincoln Place

Two sources have confirmed to the Beachhead that negotiations are taking place between AIMCO (Apartment Investment and Management Company), the infamous owner of Lincoln Place Apartments and the tenants association. The subject of the negotiations is the purchase of Lincoln Place by a buyer lined up by the tenants, or a combination of an individual buyer and the tenants. Several of the tenant leaders have told the Beachhead that they would prefer eminent domain being used by the city. This would guarantee continued low-income housing without the construction of condominiums to pay back a private buyer. Eminent domain was first raised as a possibility by the Beachhead (see “The Case for Eminent Domain at Lincoln Place, Dec. 2005).

As of Nov. 30, AIMCO stock was trading at $11.47 a share, down from $43.67 earlier in the year.

Neighborhood Council’s Homeless/RV Committee Holds Secret Meetings

By Mark Lipman

At the last meeting of the Venice Neighborhood Council’s Homelessness/RV committee on November 6, a sub-committee was formed specifically tasked with looking for ways to evict poorer residents from our community. 

On this sub-committee are Susan Beckman, Stuart Oscars, Carolyn Rios and Mark Ryavec, committee co-chair.

Not even two months ago, VNC president, Mike Newhouse attending a committee meeting, carefully explained for 20 minutes the rules under which they were operating. The Brown Act, which quite simply sets strict guidelines on the behavior of all those conducting the public’s business in a political manner and requires public notice and access to all official meetings.

Newhouse patiently answered all of the committee’s questions and made it completely understood, with everyone shaking their heads in the affirmative, that the greatest number that they could privately meet in to discuss policy was half a quorum.

A quorum is half of the whole plus one, which in this case, being 12 in the body, the quorum would be 7 and therefore half of that is 3.5, which is rounded down to 3, as exactly explained by Mike Newhouse, VNC president.

This new sub-committee of 4 is more than 3 and the Beachhead discovered at the last VNC board meeting on November 17 that as of that time, this sub-committee has met twice in secret at the house of co-chair, Mark Ryavec, with meetings closed to the public. This is an unmistakable violation of the Brown Act.

Moreover, the two board officers, Stuart Oscars and Carolyn Rios have no excuse for this violation, having served on the VNC board of officers, they are required to know about and abide by the Brown Act. 

Additionally, co-chair Mark Ryavec has no justification for this misstep, as he was instrumental in taking down the last Homelessness Task Force, chaired by Steve Clare, precisely for claims of Brown Act violations, as confirmed through numerous sources. 

What is to happen to this committee is still uncertain. Yet, with the weight of this violation, the committee should at a minimum be dissolved and those who took part in this back room dealing be disciplined, with a minimum of excluding them from further participation regarding policy making for homelessness and RV issues.

Permit Parking: City Hall Says NO to 102 Venice Appeals; Fight Moves to Coastal Commission

By Jim Smith

As expected, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works rejected all 102 appeals of the proposed Venice permit parking plan at a downtown L.A. hearing, Nov. 17. Appeals of the city’s action must be received by Dec. 22 by the California Coastal Commission. The city’s plan would charge for street parking by requiring the purchase of overnight parking permits. LAPD and parking enforcement officers presumably would prowl the streets of Venice between 2 and 6 am seeking out lawbreakers who were attempting to park without a permit.

The Public Works Commission gave each Venetian who had made the hour-long trip (during morning rush hour) two minutes to state his or her case. Among those expressing their opposition were Alice Goldstein, Steve Clare, Karl Abrams, Rev. Tom Ziegert, Nancy Williamson, Sheila Bernard, Susan Millman, Eden Andes, Peggy Lee Kennedy, Linda Lucks, Jim Smith, Fabiola Wright, Ross Wilson, Mark Lipman, Mark Knudson, Robert Israel, and others. Speaking in favor of permit parking were Stuart Oscars, DeDe Audet, Mark Ryavec, Carol Bolander, Bill Rosendahl and others. 

Councilmember Rosendahl spoke out strongly in favor of permit parking and urged the Commission to deny the appeals. He said people in Venice deserve the right to have permit parking as do other areas not within the coastal zone. “Residents of Venice are asking for the same equal treatment,” he argued. The Commissioners seemed much impressed by Rosendahl’s statement, much more so than they seemed to be while sitting through the statements of the other speakers. Rosendahl happens to be the chair of the city council’s public works committee, which oversees that department and its commissioners.

The Board rejected the appeals in such a cavalier manner that it seemed to this reporter that they had not even read the appeals. The Bureau of Engineering staff had done more work in laying the basis for the rejection. In its written refutation, the staff repeated several misrepresentations of the facts, claiming that “there is an existing problem with inadequate on-street parking for residents due, in part, to abandoned and commercial vehicles and other long timer parking abuses (!). It may come as a shock to Venetians to learn that their community is plagued by abandoned vehicles.

The staff report also essentially ignored the outpouring of opposition to permit parking in Venice. Instead, the report notes that the Venice Neighborhood Council supported permit parking. However, the board of that body has never called a public forum on the issue, nor has it held a referendum.

No Permits for OFW Residents

In the area nearest the beach, the city apparently wants to convince the Coastal Commission that there are adequate parking lot alternatives to make up for the loss of street parking. The permit parking plan would set aside two small lots – at Windward and Pacific and at Rose and Pacific – for overnight parking. However, under the plan, residents living west of Speedway would not be eligible to buy parking permits. Since this strip along Ocean Front Walk is probably the most densely populated part of Venice, the small lots would be inundated with cars owned by these residents. Hundreds more of the west of Speedway residents would likely be without any parking options within blocks of their apartments. The staff report wrongly states “There are on-street parking spaces between Speedway and Ocean Front Walk.” Also ineligible for parking permits would be residents who have outstanding parking tickets, probably a sizable number of people in Venice where parking tickets are nearly unavoidable.

An anti-homeless faction in Venice sees the permit parking as a way to drive RV owners from the community, a loophole in the overnight parking plan may allow them to remain. Each resident (living in a house or an apartment) would be entitled to buy two visitors permits for $10 each. The permits, which are valid for four months, could be given to RV residents. Only 75 renters or homeowners would be needed to supply the entire 150 RV mobile residents with parking permits.

At the end of the hearing, the five commissioners, none of whom live in Venice, voted unanimously to deny the appeals of 102 Venetians, based in part on the urging of a city councilmember who lives in a part of Mar Vista which has free street parking and where no permits are required.

To find out how you can help stop the city’s parking permit plan at the Coastal Commission, contact the Venice Town Council at 310-365-0985 or attend the next meeting at 7 pm Friday, Dec. 12 at the United Methodist Church Auditorium. Appeals must be made on an official form for the South Coast District (that’s us) available at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/cdp/CDP-AppealForm-sc.pdf.

Filing Closes for City Elections

Bill Rosendahl and Antonio Villaraigosa will face only token opposition for re-election next May 19. Harry “Craig” Wilson is the only candidate to file to run against Rosendahl in the 11th City Council District. 

Villaraigosa will face Republican Walter Moore and several other unknown candidates. It was unknown at press time if David “Zuma Dog” Saltsburg has turned in sufficient petitions.

Some observers had expected stiff opposition for Villaraigosa after his less-than-stellar first term. Likewise, there had been talk of a Venice candidate to oppose Rosendahl because of his stand on permit parking. Neither of the challenges materialized, however.

Noel Weiss, an attorney for some Lincoln Place tenants has qualified to run for the City Attorney post being vacated by Rocky Delgadillo. However, Councilperson Jack Weiss (no relation) is likely to be the favorite.

Another City Council member, Wendy Gruel is running for City Controller.

Cop Shoots Self in Leg – News at 11

By Jessica Aden and Mark Lipman

On the evening of the 24th of November, at approximately midnight, the Beachhead received tens of calls saying that there was a police invasion in the Oakwood district currently in progress. Beachhead reporters Jessica Aden and Mark Lipman were immediately dispatched to cover the on-going scene.

Upon arriving, a swarm of police officers had descended upon the intersection of Sunset and Lincoln – the entire division was out. They were preparing to move in ranks of two down Sunset Avenue. 

Reaching the police barricade, with a search helicopter circling overhead, we discovered that it was an officer-involved shooting and followed behind the police detachment that was heading down the road.

Secured behind a tree, across from the targeted house, we saw the police lining up, pistols drawn, single file along the neighboring wall. Slowly they crept, inching their way towards a barred gate. A leather padded hand wrapped itself tightly around one of the bars and slowly drew back the gate. It rolled open, sliding along its rail without so much as a creak.

The first entered – the point man, with a searchlight drawn – another had his back. Systematically, they searched every nook and cranny. Twilight jumped behind a bush – nothing moved – nothing there – again a step – and another and a jolting light snapped behind the parked car – eyes peeled for any trace of intrusion. 

Oh, these boys were good. They knew what they were doing and had 20, 30 guns backing them up. yeah, they were gonna get their man. Then they advanced another step and “Hey, whatcha doing there!?”

With a smooth snap and a flick of the wrist, the shadowy figure turned and held out his credentials, “Press,” he said. “The Beachhead – covering the scene for Venice.”

“Well, you can get off the crime scene – back behind the line. We’ll send someone out with a statement,” the silver haired commanding officer retorted.

“Yes sir. Happy to help out any way I can.”

Meanwhile, Beachhead reporter Jessica Aden was digging away, in the adjacent alleyway, to uncover more clues for this evolving story.

She reports below:

Around 1 a.m., rumors of an officer being shot in the leg began to emerge. They had a suspect – a Latino male wearing a blue shirt and shorts was hiding in the bushes. It was suspected that it was a bust gone bad and they were vigorously in pursuit. Nothing confirmed or denied. With taco truck closed, the scoop was getting cold. It was time to call it a night.

But wait – the Beachhead did not stop there. We dug a little deeper so that you’d get all the facts – Venice deserves nothing less.

As it turns out, the man they were in pursuit of – the Latino male – had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting and they were looking for him for something completely unrelated.

In fact, it is now discovered that the officer involved, or perhaps his partner – it was not made clear – experienced an unfriendly revolver discharge in err, which had adverse consequences to the former’s leg – right or left – we could probably have that information to you by press … In whichever case it may be, accept our condolences and a speedy recovery.