The Jaya Mural

By Emily Winters and maryjane

In March 1974, Judy Baca of the City Wide Mural Project approached Jaya (Sanskrit for non-violent Revolution/peace/victory), an active, uppity Women Artists Collective, to create a mural about the Venice Canals community and its struggle to survive the intrusion of profiteers. Open public tedious meetings and hearings for this mural were held over a period of fifteen months. This included gathering permission from the building owner, the community and their input for the mural visuals. Jaya member, Emily Winters, volunteered to facilitate their ideas into actual design.

Emily Winters first submitted design was turned down by the community for being too ‘sad’. They wished to portray the contrast of the canal people who had a love and zest for harmonious living with the intrusion of profiteers, those who didn’t have a clue about life’s realities and the importance of ‘quality of life.’

With this in mind, Winters designed a second concept, this time to the wall’s actual dimensions, and incorporated its architectural irregularities and idiosyncrasies. It was unanimously approved at more multiple tedious meetings and hearings.

Prior to this mural, the walls of the building were covered with graffiti expressing the despair with the then existing metro-squad/police abuses. The community demanded that the graffiti “Stop the Pig”, (then a term of empowerment), be included in the mural design.

The mural now known as the Jaya Mural, depicts the sterile white Marina trying to destroy our beautiful and colorful life in the canals. The People’s Park which we built is the focal point showing daily canal life: the arts, farming, fishing, families of four generations; the general supportiveness of a community and the migratory birds. The house being illegally bulldozed symbolized all our homes being destroyed, and was based on a true incident about Sadie Hayes and her home. The ten protesters of that bulldozing stood the line, and were joined by the driver of the bulldozer in support of their action. Needless to say, all were arrested and taken to the hoosegow (jail), later released on their own recognizance.

After many months and with many volunteers, the mural was finished. Upon completion, a few residents protested “Stop the Pig” on the grounds that it was demeaning to our police force. However, they did not complain about the other side of the building which was covered with much stronger and demeaning graffiti commentary. Many tedious hearings again ensued to try and censor this important community statement of “Stop the Pig”. First amendment rights prevailed and despite the picketers objecting to “stop the pig”; the mural was dedicated November 8, 1975. At the end of 1976, the Jaya Collective disbanded.

In March of 1981, for some mysterious fit of passion from a strange unknown brain, a crew of unnamed profiteers arrived at the mural site, very early in the am., and white washed the whole mural. The on-going community-never-failing-network got word out and immediately appeared, en masse, with battle gear of water hoses, brooms and brushes, washing the paint away before it could dry.

The following morning, once again very early in the am, the profiteers again arrived in ski masks with police escorts and the oil based paints, sprayed the entire mural with thick green paint. And again, canalers arrived en masse prepared for battle with paint thinner, rags, ladders, brooms and brushes and scrubbed it all off. A greenish residue remained though, especially on the area of the sterile white Marina.

In late 1996, SPARC hoped to refurbish this mural as part of their 20th Anniversary celebration. Unsuccessful attempts at restoration had been made in the past, but permission was not obtained, even though the community had been requesting it since the 1981 paint out. Finally, due to the remarkable gifts of persuasion of a caring community member, permission was granted and restoration was realized by February 1997, resulting in a joyous sigh all around us.

Many people volunteered at various times in 1975, but a core quartet of Jaya members did the everyday. Astonishingly and totally by chance, the same quartet gathered and achieved this 1997 mural restoration, 22 years later: Jaya members Emily Winters, artist, activist; Judith Foster, activist; maryjane, artist, activist and Don Unzicker artist and honorary Jaya member.

The “Spirit of Venice Award,” was awarded to Emily Winters in September 1997 for the refurbishment of this mural by the Abbot Kinney Festival.

Then in 2006, the Jaya mural was so badly tagged that the property owner was going to have the mural painted out unless the tagging was removed. The mural was also in need of major restoration. The Venice Arts Council founded the Endangered Art Fund which selected this mural as their first public art restoration project. Through the wonderful love, support and generosity of the Venice Community, and the City of Los Angeles, the mural was restored in 2008 by Emily Winters and Nathan Zakheim Associates.

The caring and diligence of the Venice community that has kept this mural alive for 39 years! A more detailed description can be read in “A Seashore Memoir” by maryjane, pages 65-67.

Images of the Jaya mural restoration and Channel 4 TV news coverage are available on YouTube or at http://www.veniceartscouncil.org.

The Jaya Mural is located at 316 South Venice Boulevard at Dell Avenue in Venice.

Jaya Mural Celebration

Jaya Mural Celebration – On May 3, the Venice Arts Council (VAC) Endangered Art Fund is celebrating the completion of the Jaya Mural Restoration Project by honoring donors at a champagne brunch. The brunch will be held at Switch Studios where the Jaya Mural is located, near the Venice Canals at Dell Avenue and South Venice Boulevard.

The event is by RSVP and includes comments from major donors such as; Paul Racs, Office of Community Beautification; Linda Lucks, Board of Neighborhood Commissioners; Jonathan Zeichner, Abbot Kinney District Association, Don Geagan, Beachhead Collective Member; and Grace Godlin, Voice of the Canals.

Artist Emily Winters will give an overview of the mural’s history. Other speakers include Steve Clare, Venice Community Housing Corporation and Suzanne Thompson, Endangered Art Fund.

Emily Winters is a graduate of the Chicago Art Institute majoring in figure drawing and painting. She moved to Venice in 1963. Winters raised two daughters while working in commercial art as a billboard painter for record companies and then outdoor advertising. She was the first woman painter hired by Foster and Kleiser. She was a union activist in International Brotherhood of Allied Trades, Local 831, elected to the executive board and served as shop steward. Winters, co-founded and chairs the Venice Arts Council.

See the Feb. 2006 Beachhead at <www.free venice.org> and <www.venicearts council.org> for more of her art.

On May 3, the Venice Arts Council (VAC) Endangered Art Fund is celebrating the completion of the Jaya Mural Restoration Project by honoring donors at a champagne brunch. The brunch will be held at Switch Studios where the Jaya Mural is located, near the Venice Canals at Dell Avenue and South Venice Boulevard.

The event is by RSVP and includes comments from major donors such as; Paul Racs, Office of Community Beautification; Linda Lucks, Board of Neighborhood Commissioners; Jonathan Zeichner, Abbot Kinney District Association, Don Geagan, Beachhead Collective Member; and Grace Godlin, Voice of the Canals.

Artist Emily Winters will give an overview of the mural’s history. Other speakers include Steve Clare, Venice Community Housing Corporation and Suzanne Thompson, Endangered Art Fund.

Emily Winters is a graduate of the Chicago Art Institute majoring in figure drawing and painting. She moved to Venice in 1963. Winters raised two daughters while working in commercial art as a billboard painter for record companies and then outdoor advertising. She was the first woman painter hired by Foster and Kleiser. She was a union activist in International Brotherhood of Allied Trades, Local 831, elected to the executive board and served as shop steward. Winters, co-founded and chairs the Venice Arts Council.

See the Feb. 2006 Beachhead at <www.free venice.org> and <www.venicearts council.org> for more of her art.

Letters

• Growing Up in Venice – A. Karno
• Danielle Greco, Former Canal Resident – paul tanck
• President Obama and Mr. Abajo - maryjanie
• Response by Jim Smith

————-

Growing Up in Venice

Dear Beachhead,

Can’t thank you enough for printing Ms Mora’s fine piece of lit about Venice history. As a Jewish Female who is a native Angelino and Venice resident active in green politics, education and much more, the story resonated with me on multiple levels. Corny as it sounds, I laughed, I cried, I ooohed and ahhhed.

I look forward to framing this story for all to read in 5 groundwork coffee houses. We are so proud to be part of a tradition that supports great writing about local passions.

What wonderful gift you provide for our one of a kind community.

Happy Springtime…

A. Karno, groundwork coffee, Java Juice Inc.

Growing Up in Venice

Dear Beachhead,

Can’t thank you enough for printing Ms Mora’s fine piece of lit about Venice history. As a Jewish Female who is a native Angelino and Venice resident active in green politics, education and much more, the story resonated with me on multiple levels. Corny as it sounds, I laughed, I cried, I ooohed and ahhhed.

I look forward to framing this story for all to read in 5 groundwork coffee houses. We are so proud to be part of a tradition that supports great writing about local passions.

What wonderful gift you provide for our one of a kind community.

Happy Springtime…

A. Karno, groundwork coffee, Java Juice Inc.

———–

Danielle Greco, Former Canal Resident

Dear Beachhead,

We’ve received some sad news. Long-time Venice resident Danielle Greco passed away on April 23. She was found in her backyard in Boulder, Colorado by her daughter Danielle, apparently having died of a heart attack. She had had a recent history of heart problems. She was 65 years young. Life was not treating her well as of late, and she had mentioned she might be planning to move to Florida, where it was warmer.

Both Marcia and myself are saddened by this news, but feel that in a way, it was a relief to her. Danielle lived in the canals during the mid-70s and left town in the mid-80s.

I’m sure that lots of readers will remember her and appreciate the mention of this sad news.

thanks – paul tanck

————

President Obama and Mr. Abajo

Dear Beachhead,

Some readers actually have become more than full up with all the Obama fawning and the constant admiring of his continual PR and his continual campaigning. In this April issue, Jim Smith writes some helpful hints for handling [economic] depression, such as:

“Unemployment insurance should be cranked up to at least 50 percent of people’s previous salaries…… Two or three people on unemployment should be able to pay the rent and utilities. Don’t feel bad about improving and enjoying yourself while collecting the dole. …….. Now is the time to receive a small dividend. Don’t turn up your nose at a year off with pay.”

Does this sound like he is saying it is good to ‘go on the dole’ as the Brits say, and assume that if a job is not easily found quickly, then just take the government’s money [that is= all the taxpayers’ money, including your prior employed payments] and pretend it is all ‘for free now’…not to worry…just take a year’s vacation on the back of the rest of the hard-laboring-citizens? Is that called helpful – moral – fair – and honest advice? Some of us differ.

The easy way out is not the best way, nor is the selfish taking “a year off with pay” a socially conscionable act. If you need time off because of some serious emotional or health reason, that is different, but just because work is more difficult to find or with less pay than you had before… that walk-away is not a healthy choice for you, or the rest of us either. In fact, the too-long-time-off creates other attitude problems for returning to employment. Better yet is learning how to trade and barter and help each other,any other, collectively, cooperatively, and willingly.

Spend less and realize that the good-economic-with-debt-times were a faked up advertised illusion, that you too believed as if no consequences would ever occur when over-consumption was indulged. Realize the ways USA’s have been sold on luxury, eating ‘out’, buying fancy new items [phones, electronics, clothes, toys] , and always “more” with it’s attendant Entitlement Attitude was fun but that was also a fake lure. All that is excessive has it’s cyclic turn and then …plop! right back into the good earth dirt mud. And what is wrong with being frugal, sharing sparingly but lovingly with others ? It’s not hard to do unless you have become indulgent, expectant, and spoiled-childlike.

So how can each person share whatever skills they have accumulated in-Trade with someone else’s talents and resources ? Barter more. What’s so hard about coming back around to where the global citizens had less, saved more, did without all those up-scale extras ? And….without complaints and self-pity. Without taking advantage of anyone else or even the system?

Can’t we do as others do: Share apt. spaces, and learn how to “get along” with others that seemed so difficult before . Not everyone needs a whole apt. for themselves alone, or even just ‘for 2’. Like so many other peoples of this world, spaces can be used in shifts, or shared in different ways as work spaces, not just stored as ‘sitting rooms’.And what tragedies occur if time is used more practically with a lot less TV, movie, DVD, and passive other-story-watching ?

Being INVOLVED in real life with real people is a real learning experience…yes, again. Learning to tolerate, accept and cooperate is a whole level we have easily avoided by the being able to live separately while previously affording ‘my very own’ for a while now. Can we now take the challenges we have avoided, like having to live alongside each other, again, instead of separating [like spoiled milk], or instead of looking down at having-to-share, yes, again.

Who ever said this USAmerican life is suppose to always be more filled with stuff, including electronics, toys, adult toys, and full wallets ? Who ever promised us that we would always get MORE while working longer hours for less and like it too ? We’ve heard that actual wages have not risen in real inflated dollars since 1997, but we have demanded to stay in that dream in which we could buy more and more because we “deserve” to keep always buying. Besides buying being a ‘national duty’ by this and prior Prez’s decrees too.

Is it Depression, recession, hard times or just ‘harder than we ever thought it Should Be’? The word description is not what is important. It is how we go into the challenges and find creative ways of learning to live…again…differently than we have grown accustomed to…but still not so bad as is feared.

We still have what friends we realize we can trust and like. We may even have family to which we must connect back..yes, again. We may find that regular home-cooking, doing our own cleaning and laundry, driving less and taking public transportation at times, reading for personal growth and learning, and talking to strangers [who love to share their secrets and advice too] is not as bad as we thought.The simple life. The fuller life.

Hey, why the sour look ? The free paycheck from the gov’t is not free for all. But while finding clever ways of making just-enough to keep us housed and fed until another job or opportunity emerges, we can still stay free, independent, inter-dependent and be adults.

The welfare roles are not the best opportunity for growth or gain, tho many do lazily prefer them.

Try another way, for a change. Grow. Be willing to do something ‘different’ than just get. For a change.

maryjanie – artistic realist, word-player, creative-thinker

—-

The writer responds:

maryjanie has some great suggestions in how to cope with economic hard times. However, I do disagree with her statement that taking a year off with pay is a selfish act. My disagreement is based on several considerations. First, we are not on this earth to spend half our waking hours making a profit for a big corporation, or even a little one. Life is too short to waste it. Second, all the wealth of our society was created by the muscle, blood and brain power of our collective ancestors, as well as our present generation. We are entitled to use our insurance payments and our time as we see fit. We are the masters of our society, even if we don’t yet have the power to enforce it. Third, a year off from the daily grind can give us time to develop and improve our skills, both social and technical. The next time we go back to work, we’ll be more productive and more competent, although we may not be so willing to take the BS that is dished out on a daily basis. In summary, if anyone is being selfish it is the super-rich on Wall Street who are fleecing the rest of us, and still demanding billions more.

–Jim Smith

Police Break Up “3rd Friday” on Westminster Avenue

Nine police officers in five squad cars showed up April 17 to restore public order on Westminster Avenue, between Speedway and Ocean Front Walk. The culprits this time turned out to be upstanding business owners from the block. The crime: no permit for playing music or otherwise having a good time.

There was one complaint that brought the gendarmes running, or driving. It was from Frank Lutz, the manager of the apartment building at 14 Westminster, known to some as the Dungeon and to others as the Morrison. Lutz told the Beachhead that the music was so loud that he couldn’t hear his television. He added that he is opposed to having an event on the street every month as planned, due to the number of apartments in the area.

However, Diane Adams and Jefferson Davis, who are the managers of The Waldorf Apartments at 5 Westminster, which overlooks the street support the events, which are intended to build community in this section of Venice. They gave each of their tenants a $10 gift certificate to be used for purchases from the merchants during the event.

The music, by The Whalens, with lead guitarist, Eric Soullivin, had just begun when it was stopped by LAPD Sergeant Teresa Skinner and her cohorts.

The organizers of the event had planned to follow the music with films, including one about the closing of the Lafayette Cafe, which used to be on the corner of OFW and Westminster. No music, no films, no event was allowed without official permits, said the cops.

Several of the organizers, including Jason Auer, manager of Groundwork Coffee, and James and Nina Merced, owners of the Fruit Gallery, are determined to continue the events every month. The next one would take place on the third Friday, which is May 15. See The Wonderful World of Westminster on page 6 of the August, 2008 Beachhead, <http://tinyurl.com/cavdpg&gt; for more about this little community.

–Jim Smith

Nine police officers in five squad cars showed up April 17 to restore public order on Westminster Avenue, between Speedway and Ocean Front Walk. The culprits this time turned out to be upstanding business owners from the block. The crime: no permit for playing music or otherwise having a good time.

There was one complaint that brought the gendarmes running, or driving. It was from Frank Lutz, the manager of the apartment building at 14 Westminster, known to some as the Dungeon and to others as the Morrison. Lutz told the Beachhead that the music was so loud that he couldn’t hear his television. He added that he is opposed to having an event on the street every month as planned, due to the number of apartments in the area.

However, Diane Adams and Jefferson Davis, who are the managers of The Waldorf Apartments at 5 Westminster, which overlooks the street support the events, which are intended to build community in this section of Venice. They gave each of their tenants a $10 gift certificate to be used for purchases from the merchants during the event.

The music, by The Whalens, with lead guitarist, Eric Soullivin, had just begun when it was stopped by LAPD Sergeant Teresa Skinner and her cohorts.

The organizers of the event had planned to follow the music with films, including one about the closing of the Lafayette Cafe, which used to be on the corner of OFW and Westminster. No music, no films, no event was allowed without official permits, said the cops.

Several of the organizers, including Jason Auer, manager of Groundwork Coffee, and James and Nina Merced, owners of the Fruit Gallery, are determined to continue the events every month. The next one would take place on the third Friday, which is May 15. See The Wonderful World of Westminster on page 6 of the August, 2008 Beachhead, <http://tinyurl.com/cavdpg&gt; for more about this little community.

–Jim Smith

Relief Is Just A Toke Away

By Ian Lovett

The April 21 meeting of the Venice Neighborhood Council saw an agenda item that proposed to limit signage on medical marijuana dispensaries to the side entrance, not the front. Though this proposal seems relatively minor, it is at odds not only with Venice’s longstanding 420-friendly reputation, but also with the marijuana industry’s tentative steps out of the shadow into daylight.

When I first moved to Venice three years ago, medical marijuana dispensaries possessed the aura of urban myth. I didn’t know anyone with a so-called ‘cannabis card,’ I didn’t know how you might get one, and I certainly had no idea where to find a dispensary.

Upon returning to Venice at the start of this year, however, I found a dramatically different atmosphere. Along Ocean Front Walk, in addition to the ‘Legalize It’ posters and homeless people holding “Need $$ for bud” signs which have long been Venice hallmarks, you’ll also hear promoters wearing necklaces of plastic marijuana leaves shouting, “Get your medical marijuana recommendation here!” On the boardwalk alone, three clinics offer medical marijuana recommendations. And as I sat in the waiting room one doctor’s office, a lawyer came by, as well, handing out a booklet called, “A Simple Guide to California Medical Marijuana Law.” Which is all to say that these days, medical marijuana in Venice is almost impossible not to notice.

It’s hard to know exactly how many dispensaries—the collectives that distribute marijuana to patients—are currently operating. Jason has worked in the medical marijuana industry for the past five years. “When I first started,” he explained, “there were maybe 25 dispensaries in the whole state.” Now, he says, there are at least 400 in the LA area.

Jason estimates that less than half of those 400 dispensaries are properly licensed. In September of 2007, the city of LA passed an ordinance, which put a moratorium on opening any new dispensaries. Still, new ones open every day, especially since Attorney General Eric Holden announced an end to DEA raids on dispensaries in states, like California, where medical marijuana is legal.

Still, some aspects of the medical marijuana industry retain a secretive feel. One of the doctor’s offices I visited is located at the back of a shop that sells pipes and bongs, and I’ve heard of dispensaries run out of bicycle shops and florists. At Gourmet Green Room (GGR), which just opened on Lincoln, even the front door into the lobby remains locked until the receptionist buzzes you in. This feature is “mostly for security,” said Tarek, the general manager. The shades in the smoking room remain down. The sign of the dispensary inside are the pictures of marijuana leaves taped to the window.

For patients, too, privacy remains important. Chris Comstock, who works at Dr. Dean Weiss’ office on Lincoln Blvd, explains that many potential patients share a misconception that if they get a medical marijuana recommendation, their information will end up in some government database. “This idea that once you get a recommendation the whole government know is just wrong. The information stays in our files—there’s no government registry. It’s confidential, like any other medical record.”

And, of course, the vast, vast majority of marijuana is still sold illegally. Increasingly, though, it’s moving over the counter. Despite its locked door, GGR advertises in various industry publications, and Tareks notes the prevalence of dispensary ads in publications like LA Weekly.

Nowhere is medical marijuana’s move out into the open more apparent than at The Farmacy—a dispensary with three locations, including one on Abbot Kinney—whose motto is, in fact, “Very Open.” The marijuana products are kept behind the counter, while anyone—even those without a medical marijuana recommendation—can come inside peruse all manner of other herbal medicine throughout the store.

Recently, for the second straight year, a class of 3rd graders from Broadway Elementary came to The Farmacy to meet with the store’s herbalist, who covered up all the cannabis products, conducted a lesson on some of the other herbs in the store, and then walked the kids back to class, pointing out plants they’d just learned about on the way. “We want to be a part of the community,” Bill said, “and keep it safe for everyone.”

Bobby is a medical marijuana patient who sells handmade jewelry on the boardwalk. “It’s a lot safer now,” he said. “I’m 50 now, and especially for someone my age, you don’t have to meet with people you’re not familiar with. At a dispensary, there are checks and balances about what goes on.”

Indeed, Bill Leahy hopes to increase such checks and balances on the industry. “Regulation is the biggest problem,” he said. “There no true regulation on edibles across the state.” The Farmacy is part of a the Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), an organization of some of the larger dispensaries that advocates for medical marijuana. GLACA’s application for membership includes questions like “What is your collective’s philosophy or mission statement?” and the group imposes more stringent rules on its members than Los Angeles requires.

Already, such efforts have helped change the public perception. “I’ve seen the industry change a lot in five years,” Jason said. “At first, people didn’t want the dispensaries there—they wanted to keep it under the table. Now, most often people look at us as doing a good thing for the community.”

And, despite the Neighborhood Council proposal to move dispensary signs to the back door, Venetians continued to show their support for this increasing openness. Though the agenda item was held over until the next meeting, they did take a straw vote. More than 90 percent of those present raised their hands in support of medical marijuana.

By Ian Lovett

The April 21 meeting of the Venice Neighborhood Council saw an agenda item that proposed to limit signage on medical marijuana dispensaries to the side entrance, not the front. Though this proposal seems relatively minor, it is at odds not only with Venice’s longstanding 420-friendly reputation, but also with the marijuana industry’s tentative steps out of the shadow into daylight.

When I first moved to Venice three years ago, medical marijuana dispensaries possessed the aura of urban myth. I didn’t know anyone with a so-called ‘cannabis card,’ I didn’t know how you might get one, and I certainly had no idea where to find a dispensary.

Upon returning to Venice at the start of this year, however, I found a dramatically different atmosphere. Along Ocean Front Walk, in addition to the ‘Legalize It’ posters and homeless people holding “Need $$$ for bud” signs which have long been Venice hallmarks, you’ll also hear promoters wearing necklaces of plastic marijuana leaves shouting, “Get your medical marijuana recommendation here!” On the boardwalk alone, three clinics offer medical marijuana recommendations. And as I sat in the waiting room one doctor’s office, a lawyer came by, as well, handing out a booklet called, “A Simple Guide to California Medical Marijuana Law.” Which is all to say that these days, medical marijuana in Venice is almost impossible not to notice.

It’s hard to know exactly how many dispensaries—the collectives that distribute marijuana to patients—are currently operating. Jason has worked in the medical marijuana industry for the past five years. “When I first started,” he explained, “there were maybe 25 dispensaries in the whole state.” Now, he says, there are at least 400 in the LA area.

Jason estimates that less than half of those 400 dispensaries are properly licensed. In September of 2007, the city of LA passed an ordinance, which put a moratorium on opening any new dispensaries. Still, new ones open every day, especially since Attorney General Eric Holden announced an end to DEA raids on dispensaries in states, like California, where medical marijuana is legal.

Still, some aspects of the medical marijuana industry retain a secretive feel. One of the doctor’s offices I visited is located at the back of a shop that sells pipes and bongs, and I’ve heard of dispensaries run out of bicycle shops and florists. At Gourmet Green Room (GGR), which just opened on Lincoln, even the front door into the lobby remains locked until the receptionist buzzes you in. This feature is “mostly for security,” said Tarek, the general manager. The shades in the smoking room remain down. The sign of the dispensary inside are the pictures of marijuana leaves taped to the window.

For patients, too, privacy remains important. Chris Comstock, who works at Dr. Dean Weiss’ office on Lincoln Blvd, explains that many potential patients share a misconception that if they get a medical marijuana recommendation, their information will end up in some government database. “This idea that once you get a recommendation the whole government know is just wrong. The information stays in our files—there’s no government registry. It’s confidential, like any other medical record.”

And, of course, the vast, vast majority of marijuana is still sold illegally. Increasingly, though, it’s moving over the counter. Despite its locked door, GGR advertises in various industry publications, and Tareks notes the prevalence of dispensary ads in publications like LA Weekly.

Nowhere is medical marijuana’s move out into the open more apparent than at The Farmacy—a dispensary with three locations, including one on Abbot Kinney—whose motto is, in fact, “Very Open.” The marijuana products are kept behind the counter, while anyone—even those without a medical marijuana recommendation—can come inside peruse all manner of other herbal medicine throughout the store.

Recently, for the second straight year, a class of 3rd graders from Broadway Elementary came to The Farmacy to meet with the store’s herbalist, who covered up all the cannabis products, conducted a lesson on some of the other herbs in the store, and then walked the kids back to class, pointing out plants they’d just learned about on the way. “We want to be a part of the community,” Bill said, “and keep it safe for everyone.”

Bobby is a medical marijuana patient who sells handmade jewelry on the boardwalk. “It’s a lot safer now,” he said. “I’m 50 now, and especially for someone my age, you don’t have to meet with people you’re not familiar with. At a dispensary, there are checks and balances about what goes on.”

Indeed, Bill Leahy hopes to increase such checks and balances on the industry. “Regulation is the biggest problem,” he said. “There no true regulation on edibles across the state.” The Farmacy is part of a the Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), an organization of some of the larger dispensaries that advocates for medical marijuana. GLACA’s application for membership includes questions like “What is your collective’s philosophy or mission statement?” and the group imposes more stringent rules on its members than Los Angeles requires.

Already, such efforts have helped change the public perception. “I’ve seen the industry change a lot in five years,” Jason said. “At first, people didn’t want the dispensaries there—they wanted to keep it under the table. Now, most often people look at us as doing a good thing for the community.”

And, despite the Neighborhood Council proposal to move dispensary signs to the back door, Venetians continued to show their support for this increasing openness. Though the agenda item was held over until the next meeting, they did take a straw vote. More than 90 percent of those present raised their hands in support of medical marijuana.

By Ian Lovett

The April 21 meeting of the Venice Neighborhood Council saw an agenda item that proposed to limit signage on medical marijuana dispensaries to the side entrance, not the front. Though this proposal seems relatively minor, it is at odds not only with Venice’s longstanding 420-friendly reputation, but also with the marijuana industry’s tentative steps out of the shadow into daylight.

When I first moved to Venice three years ago, medical marijuana dispensaries possessed the aura of urban myth. I didn’t know anyone with a so-called ‘cannabis card,’ I didn’t know how you might get one, and I certainly had no idea where to find a dispensary.

Upon returning to Venice at the start of this year, however, I found a dramatically different atmosphere. Along Ocean Front Walk, in addition to the ‘Legalize It’ posters and homeless people holding “Need $$$ for bud” signs which have long been Venice hallmarks, you’ll also hear promoters wearing necklaces of plastic marijuana leaves shouting, “Get your medical marijuana recommendation here!” On the boardwalk alone, three clinics offer medical marijuana recommendations. And as I sat in the waiting room one doctor’s office, a lawyer came by, as well, handing out a booklet called, “A Simple Guide to California Medical Marijuana Law.” Which is all to say that these days, medical marijuana in Venice is almost impossible not to notice.

It’s hard to know exactly how many dispensaries—the collectives that distribute marijuana to patients—are currently operating. Jason has worked in the medical marijuana industry for the past five years. “When I first started,” he explained, “there were maybe 25 dispensaries in the whole state.” Now, he says, there are at least 400 in the LA area.

Jason estimates that less than half of those 400 dispensaries are properly licensed. In September of 2007, the city of LA passed an ordinance, which put a moratorium on opening any new dispensaries. Still, new ones open every day, especially since Attorney General Eric Holden announced an end to DEA raids on dispensaries in states, like California, where medical marijuana is legal.

Still, some aspects of the medical marijuana industry retain a secretive feel. One of the doctor’s offices I visited is located at the back of a shop that sells pipes and bongs, and I’ve heard of dispensaries run out of bicycle shops and florists. At Gourmet Green Room (GGR), which just opened on Lincoln, even the front door into the lobby remains locked until the receptionist buzzes you in. This feature is “mostly for security,” said Tarek, the general manager. The shades in the smoking room remain down. The sign of the dispensary inside are the pictures of marijuana leaves taped to the window.

For patients, too, privacy remains important. Chris Comstock, who works at Dr. Dean Weiss’ office on Lincoln Blvd, explains that many potential patients share a misconception that if they get a medical marijuana recommendation, their information will end up in some government database. “This idea that once you get a recommendation the whole government know is just wrong. The information stays in our files—there’s no government registry. It’s confidential, like any other medical record.”

And, of course, the vast, vast majority of marijuana is still sold illegally. Increasingly, though, it’s moving over the counter. Despite its locked door, GGR advertises in various industry publications, and Tareks notes the prevalence of dispensary ads in publications like LA Weekly.

Nowhere is medical marijuana’s move out into the open more apparent than at The Farmacy—a dispensary with three locations, including one on Abbot Kinney—whose motto is, in fact, “Very Open.” The marijuana products are kept behind the counter, while anyone—even those without a medical marijuana recommendation—can come inside peruse all manner of other herbal medicine throughout the store.

Recently, for the second straight year, a class of 3rd graders from Broadway Elementary came to The Farmacy to meet with the store’s herbalist, who covered up all the cannabis products, conducted a lesson on some of the other herbs in the store, and then walked the kids back to class, pointing out plants they’d just learned about on the way. “We want to be a part of the community,” Bill said, “and keep it safe for everyone.”

Bobby is a medical marijuana patient who sells handmade jewelry on the boardwalk. “It’s a lot safer now,” he said. “I’m 50 now, and especially for someone my age, you don’t have to meet with people you’re not familiar with. At a dispensary, there are checks and balances about what goes on.”

Indeed, Bill Leahy hopes to increase such checks and balances on the industry. “Regulation is the biggest problem,” he said. “There no true regulation on edibles across the state.” The Farmacy is part of a the Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), an organization of some of the larger dispensaries that advocates for medical marijuana. GLACA’s application for membership includes questions like “What is your collective’s philosophy or mission statement?” and the group imposes more stringent rules on its members than Los Angeles requires.

Already, such efforts have helped change the public perception. “I’ve seen the industry change a lot in five years,” Jason said. “At first, people didn’t want the dispensaries there—they wanted to keep it under the table. Now, most often people look at us as doing a good thing for the community.”

And, despite the Neighborhood Council proposal to move dispensary signs to the back door, Venetians continued to show their support for this increasing openness. Though the agenda item was held over until the next meeting, they did take a straw vote. More than 90 percent of those present raised their hands in support of medical marijuana.

By Ian Lovett

The April 21 meeting of the Venice Neighborhood Council saw an agenda item that proposed to limit signage on medical marijuana dispensaries to the side entrance, not the front. Though this proposal seems relatively minor, it is at odds not only with Venice’s longstanding 420-friendly reputation, but also with the marijuana industry’s tentative steps out of the shadow into daylight.

When I first moved to Venice three years ago, medical marijuana dispensaries possessed the aura of urban myth. I didn’t know anyone with a so-called ‘cannabis card,’ I didn’t know how you might get one, and I certainly had no idea where to find a dispensary.

Upon returning to Venice at the start of this year, however, I found a dramatically different atmosphere. Along Ocean Front Walk, in addition to the ‘Legalize It’ posters and homeless people holding “Need $$$ for bud” signs which have long been Venice hallmarks, you’ll also hear promoters wearing necklaces of plastic marijuana leaves shouting, “Get your medical marijuana recommendation here!” On the boardwalk alone, three clinics offer medical marijuana recommendations. And as I sat in the waiting room one doctor’s office, a lawyer came by, as well, handing out a booklet called, “A Simple Guide to California Medical Marijuana Law.” Which is all to say that these days, medical marijuana in Venice is almost impossible not to notice.

It’s hard to know exactly how many dispensaries—the collectives that distribute marijuana to patients—are currently operating. Jason has worked in the medical marijuana industry for the past five years. “When I first started,” he explained, “there were maybe 25 dispensaries in the whole state.” Now, he says, there are at least 400 in the LA area.

Jason estimates that less than half of those 400 dispensaries are properly licensed. In September of 2007, the city of LA passed an ordinance, which put a moratorium on opening any new dispensaries. Still, new ones open every day, especially since Attorney General Eric Holden announced an end to DEA raids on dispensaries in states, like California, where medical marijuana is legal.

Still, some aspects of the medical marijuana industry retain a secretive feel. One of the doctor’s offices I visited is located at the back of a shop that sells pipes and bongs, and I’ve heard of dispensaries run out of bicycle shops and florists. At Gourmet Green Room (GGR), which just opened on Lincoln, even the front door into the lobby remains locked until the receptionist buzzes you in. This feature is “mostly for security,” said Tarek, the general manager. The shades in the smoking room remain down. The sign of the dispensary inside are the pictures of marijuana leaves taped to the window.

For patients, too, privacy remains important. Chris Comstock, who works at Dr. Dean Weiss’ office on Lincoln Blvd, explains that many potential patients share a misconception that if they get a medical marijuana recommendation, their information will end up in some government database. “This idea that once you get a recommendation the whole government know is just wrong. The information stays in our files—there’s no government registry. It’s confidential, like any other medical record.”

And, of course, the vast, vast majority of marijuana is still sold illegally. Increasingly, though, it’s moving over the counter. Despite its locked door, GGR advertises in various industry publications, and Tareks notes the prevalence of dispensary ads in publications like LA Weekly.

Nowhere is medical marijuana’s move out into the open more apparent than at The Farmacy—a dispensary with three locations, including one on Abbot Kinney—whose motto is, in fact, “Very Open.” The marijuana products are kept behind the counter, while anyone—even those without a medical marijuana recommendation—can come inside peruse all manner of other herbal medicine throughout the store.

Recently, for the second straight year, a class of 3rd graders from Broadway Elementary came to The Farmacy to meet with the store’s herbalist, who covered up all the cannabis products, conducted a lesson on some of the other herbs in the store, and then walked the kids back to class, pointing out plants they’d just learned about on the way. “We want to be a part of the community,” Bill said, “and keep it safe for everyone.”

Bobby is a medical marijuana patient who sells handmade jewelry on the boardwalk. “It’s a lot safer now,” he said. “I’m 50 now, and especially for someone my age, you don’t have to meet with people you’re not familiar with. At a dispensary, there are checks and balances about what goes on.”

Indeed, Bill Leahy hopes to increase such checks and balances on the industry. “Regulation is the biggest problem,” he said. “There no true regulation on edibles across the state.” The Farmacy is part of a the Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), an organization of some of the larger dispensaries that advocates for medical marijuana. GLACA’s application for membership includes questions like “What is your collective’s philosophy or mission statement?” and the group imposes more stringent rules on its members than Los Angeles requires.

Already, such efforts have helped change the public perception. “I’ve seen the industry change a lot in five years,” Jason said. “At first, people didn’t want the dispensaries there—they wanted to keep it under the table. Now, most often people look at us as doing a good thing for the community.”

And, despite the Neighborhood Council proposal to move dispensary signs to the back door, Venetians continued to show their support for this increasing openness. Though the agenda item was held over until the next meeting, they did take a straw vote. More than 90 percent of those present raised their hands in support of medical marijuana.

By Ian Lovett

The April 21 meeting of the Venice Neighborhood Council saw an agenda item that proposed to limit signage on medical marijuana dispensaries to the side entrance, not the front. Though this proposal seems relatively minor, it is at odds not only with Venice’s longstanding 420-friendly reputation, but also with the marijuana industry’s tentative steps out of the shadow into daylight.

When I first moved to Venice three years ago, medical marijuana dispensaries possessed the aura of urban myth. I didn’t know anyone with a so-called ‘cannabis card,’ I didn’t know how you might get one, and I certainly had no idea where to find a dispensary.

Upon returning to Venice at the start of this year, however, I found a dramatically different atmosphere. Along Ocean Front Walk, in addition to the ‘Legalize It’ posters and homeless people holding “Need $$$ for bud” signs which have long been Venice hallmarks, you’ll also hear promoters wearing necklaces of plastic marijuana leaves shouting, “Get your medical marijuana recommendation here!” On the boardwalk alone, three clinics offer medical marijuana recommendations. And as I sat in the waiting room one doctor’s office, a lawyer came by, as well, handing out a booklet called, “A Simple Guide to California Medical Marijuana Law.” Which is all to say that these days, medical marijuana in Venice is almost impossible not to notice.

It’s hard to know exactly how many dispensaries—the collectives that distribute marijuana to patients—are currently operating. Jason has worked in the medical marijuana industry for the past five years. “When I first started,” he explained, “there were maybe 25 dispensaries in the whole state.” Now, he says, there are at least 400 in the LA area.

Jason estimates that less than half of those 400 dispensaries are properly licensed. In September of 2007, the city of LA passed an ordinance, which put a moratorium on opening any new dispensaries. Still, new ones open every day, especially since Attorney General Eric Holden announced an end to DEA raids on dispensaries in states, like California, where medical marijuana is legal.

Still, some aspects of the medical marijuana industry retain a secretive feel. One of the doctor’s offices I visited is located at the back of a shop that sells pipes and bongs, and I’ve heard of dispensaries run out of bicycle shops and florists. At Gourmet Green Room (GGR), which just opened on Lincoln, even the front door into the lobby remains locked until the receptionist buzzes you in. This feature is “mostly for security,” said Tarek, the general manager. The shades in the smoking room remain down. The sign of the dispensary inside are the pictures of marijuana leaves taped to the window.

For patients, too, privacy remains important. Chris Comstock, who works at Dr. Dean Weiss’ office on Lincoln Blvd, explains that many potential patients share a misconception that if they get a medical marijuana recommendation, their information will end up in some government database. “This idea that once you get a recommendation the whole government know is just wrong. The information stays in our files—there’s no government registry. It’s confidential, like any other medical record.”

And, of course, the vast, vast majority of marijuana is still sold illegally. Increasingly, though, it’s moving over the counter. Despite its locked door, GGR advertises in various industry publications, and Tareks notes the prevalence of dispensary ads in publications like LA Weekly.

Nowhere is medical marijuana’s move out into the open more apparent than at The Farmacy—a dispensary with three locations, including one on Abbot Kinney—whose motto is, in fact, “Very Open.” The marijuana products are kept behind the counter, while anyone—even those without a medical marijuana recommendation—can come inside peruse all manner of other herbal medicine throughout the store.

Recently, for the second straight year, a class of 3rd graders from Broadway Elementary came to The Farmacy to meet with the store’s herbalist, who covered up all the cannabis products, conducted a lesson on some of the other herbs in the store, and then walked the kids back to class, pointing out plants they’d just learned about on the way. “We want to be a part of the community,” Bill said, “and keep it safe for everyone.”

Bobby is a medical marijuana patient who sells handmade jewelry on the boardwalk. “It’s a lot safer now,” he said. “I’m 50 now, and especially for someone my age, you don’t have to meet with people you’re not familiar with. At a dispensary, there are checks and balances about what goes on.”

Indeed, Bill Leahy hopes to increase such checks and balances on the industry. “Regulation is the biggest problem,” he said. “There no true regulation on edibles across the state.” The Farmacy is part of a the Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), an organization of some of the larger dispensaries that advocates for medical marijuana. GLACA’s application for membership includes questions like “What is your collective’s philosophy or mission statement?” and the group imposes more stringent rules on its members than Los Angeles requires.

Already, such efforts have helped change the public perception. “I’ve seen the industry change a lot in five years,” Jason said. “At first, people didn’t want the dispensaries there—they wanted to keep it under the table. Now, most often people look at us as doing a good thing for the community.”

And, despite the Neighborhood Council proposal to move dispensary signs to the back door, Venetians continued to show their support for this increasing openness. Though the agenda item was held over until the next meeting, they did take a straw vote. More than 90 percent of those present raised their hands in support of medical marijuana.

What’s Behind the Push for OPDs?

By Peggy Lee Kennedy

Rubber Tramps, Gypsies, and Hippie Busses are nothing new to Venice. In fact, Venice is known worldwide for embracing different lifestyles. When the circus came to town, Venice is where the Gypsies stayed. Beat poets and anarchists hung out. Misfits fit in. If you were odd, you were cool in Venice. And we had more streets to park on then.

For much of its existence, Venice has been home to low and extremely low-income people. But as property value has increased with gentrification and the accompanying NIMBY movement. Venice has grown less accepting of the misfit and some are full of hate for street people or for those who might take a stand to defend them. Even though some still see Venice as eclectic and diverse, it is more a facade based on lingering history, and then there are those of us who simply refuse to leave.

As Venice gentrification has raged on, Venice property owners (quite often the newer ones), people with business interests, developers and the City of Los Angeles have worked increasingly to get rid of poor and homeless people living in vehicles. Now, with the loss of so much low-income housing to new development [unaffordable housing] along with the mortgage crisis and wide scale layoffs, many of the people living in vehicles in Venice – used to be renters or even homeowners in Venice. The homeless population is rapidly changing and growing.

Those working to rid Venice of homeless people and homeless services have formed groups, such as the “Rose Avenue Working Group” (which eventually managed to move the St Joseph’s homeless center off Rose Ave) and the city formed groups using the Community Police Advisory Board (C-PAB) like the debunked “Homeless Outreach Committee.” The groups wanting to remove the people living in vehicles in Venice worked directly, and still do, with the City Attorney’s office and the LAPD.

One group, calling itself the “Venice Stakeholders Association” recently organized in favor of using the Overnight Permit Parking (OPD) law to remove people living in vehicles from Venice. The OPD, or Overnight Parking District, is a special permit-parking zone regulated by parking enforcement during the hours between 2AM and 6AM and only the people who qualify under the definition for resident can get permits.

The “Venice Stakeholders Association” hired a high priced attorney named Sherman Stacy to fight in favor of overnight permit parking at the California Coastal Commission. Members of the group include Mark Ryavec and Georgeann Abraham. Records gained through the Public Records Act reveal that these people have been working with the City Attorney’s office for years trying to use the OPD permit parking system to remove homeless people from Venice.

Throughout the years, the different groups have come and gone, but they all have basically worked to get rid of homeless people. They worked with the city’s Department of Transportation, with the help of the City Attorney’s office or the City Council, to put up many restrictive street signs in Venice – street signs that are originally intended for other traffic reasons – but have been used in Venice to remove access to nighttime or daytime parking for the unwanted homeless person living in a vehicle.

Maybe you got one of these signs on your street and wondered why. They say “no overnight parking” or “2-hour parking.” When there is a neighborhood complaint that someone is living in a vehicle, the city might even organize a community meeting in which the Department of Transportation gives a presentation of all the parking measures that can be employed as a removal “solution” to homelessness using street signs and permit parking. No kidding, I went to one at the Penmar Park community room.

The parking enforcement and the police ramp up enforcement on the street to target vans and RVs, which they assume are lived in, with 72 hours tickets or other parking tickets. The police will often bang on the RVs and the vans, leaving dents on doors and conduct other forms of harassment.

One of the obstacles to removing homeless people living in vehicles with the existing parking measures has been that most of the restricted parking signs are exempted by disabled placards or disabled license plates. A very large percentage of homeless people are disabled, especially due to the decrease in affordable housing and other safety nets during the Bush administration. Another problem that surfaced was that almost all of those restrictive street signs put up in the Venice Coastal Zone (west of Lincoln Blvd) also restricted coastal access and were done without California Coastal Commission approval. That is not legal.

The NIMBYs, the developers, the homeless haters, and the city needed to come up with some way to get rid of the disabled homeless people living in vehicles in this want-to-be exclusive beach town – in some way that the Coastal Commission would allow.

Then one day in 2003 Alan Willis, Transportation Engineer, with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, sent an email to City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski’s Westchester office saying that he had found the answer to the Venice RV problem. It was California Vehicle Code 22507.5, a law meant to restrict commercial vehicles from parking on residential streets between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. – a law from which disabled plates or placards are not exempt.

Violating the intent of a law had not stopped the city from using them on homeless people before – so away they went to work on getting input from the residents who hate homeless people. This input included meetings, emails, and a motion from Cindy Miscikowski to have the City Attorney write the draft ordinance.

Interesting thing is that the very names on those July 2004 follow up emails from the May 2004 “community” meeting about using overnight permit parking to get rid of homeless people living in vehicles in Venice (with the City Attorney and City Council employees at the Council District 11 Westchester Office) are the same people running Venice Neighborhood Council committees today! Jim Murez (now chair of the VNC parking committee), Mark Ryavec (chair of the VNC homeless committee – God help us) and Georgeann Abraham (chair of the OPD committee) were all working with the City Attorney’s office and the City Council office in 2004 behind the backs of the legally elected progressive Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council. These meetings did not comply with Brown Act requirements of public notice and the topic was specifically to put in the Overnight Permit Parking law using California Vehicle Code 22507.5 to remove those living in vehicles.

Why California Vehicle Code 22507.5? Because the disabled RV people are not exempted from that law and they thought that the California Coastal Commission would just allow it to go in.

Bill Rosendahl, loving homeless people as he does, kept the OPD ball rolling forward once he got in office and he signed the motion to enact the OPD law. The OPD law – Los Angeles Municipal Code 80.54 – was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on July 20, 2005, the month Bill took office.

The progressive Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council was successfully eliminated by the city through a phony arbitration process that was conducted for a challenge against the June 2004 neighborhood council election. Another very interesting fact is that the person then employed with the Los Angeles Human Relations Department and charged with the non-arbitration process (which took the Progressive Venice neighborhood council out) is now the Venice Deputy for the City Council, Mr. Arturo Peña.

DONE (the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment), who oversees neighborhood councils, created an election committee of Venice people more likely to follow the NIMBY agenda and a new Venice Neighborhood Council was elected. Rosendahl encouraged them to create an OPD committee, which first met in April 2006. The co-chair of the OPD committee, Stewart Oscars, worked with the Department of Transportation and the Council Office as if he was the representative for all of Venice on creating the Venice OPDs. Many emails from the city, gained through public records requests, assumes that Venice wants this or Venice wants that – in reference to what Stewart Oscars was saying in his emails to the city. Unfortunately, most of Venice did not know.

The Venice OPDs in the Coastal Zone go from the north border of Venice to the south border, from Lincoln Blvd to Speedway, but they forgot the Venice peninsula and it was too late to amend it by the time Stewart Oscars figured it out. These OPDs that cover almost the entire west side of Venice already exist and they have existed since December 2006.

The city thought that this would just fly through with the approval of the California Coastal Commission, but the Commission required a complete Coastal Development Permit (CDP) application process. Maybe it was because they already had received multiple complaints from the community about all the illegal street signs that had been installed in Venice (to get rid of the RVs), or maybe it was because the City wrote a law closing the beach at night, without going through the Coastal Commission.

Now stuck with doing a CDP, the Council office asked the L.A. Department of Transportation (DOT) to do the CDP, but they were not qualified. Then the Council Office asked the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering (BOE) to do the CDP, but they were not adequately staffed to expedite the CDP process. If the Council Office wanted the CDP process expedited, it would have to pay the BOE to hire an outside independent contractor – for $75,000. So Bill Rosendahl used the Venice Surplus Property Fund to pay to get those CDP applications done.

Venice people have protested each step of the way – once they knew. Many of us knew nothing about this overnight parking scheme until the new Venice Neighborhood Council created the OPD committee. Only those who support the OPDs were notified by Bill Rosendahl’s office that this law was coming up in the city council for a vote. Some are still finding out.

There was a hearing in Venice last June 26 to which hundreds of people came out in opposition, but the Bureau of Engineering rubber-stamped it and sent it off to the Board of Public Works, where 103 appeals were rejected and the city sent a letter of intent to the California Coastal Commission.

Venice submitted 38 appeals against that decision and in February 2009 the California Coastal Commission took jurisdiction over the matter. Now this will be heard June 0-12 at the California Coastal Commission meeting at the Marina Del Rey Hotel.

If you want to know what you can do to oppose the Venice OPDs, please stay posted by checking <www.NoPermitParkingInVenice.com> or call 310-398-7192 for updates.

Visit the FAQ page on that web site to find out the shocking facts about how much this permit system will soon cost you. Initially the resident permits start off at only $15 each, but the city forecasts the cost to soon be $34 and there are so many restrictions. One main point that should be stressed is that the city is not giving us more parking, so you will just be forced to buy a hunting license to park in Venice.

East of Lincoln, one of the streets in the only existing Venice OPD east of Lincoln, Indiana Ave, just finished a petition to remove the OPD from their block because they hate it. And the city does not seem to be rushing to take the action required to remove the permit parking signs, which takes only a letter from Rosendahl sent to DOT.

It is a mess and all because some property owners, developers, and the city that bows to them all wants to get rid of the poor in Venice so property values can go up. Not to mention the city can use all the permit parking revenue it can get.

By Peggy Lee Kennedy

Rubber Tramps, Gypsies, and Hippie Busses are nothing new to Venice. In fact, Venice is known worldwide for embracing different lifestyles. When the circus came to town, Venice is where the Gypsies stayed. Beat poets and anarchists hung out. Misfits fit in. If you were odd, you were cool in Venice. And we had more streets to park on then.

For much of its existence, Venice has been home to low and extremely low-income people. But as property value has increased with gentrification and the accompanying NIMBY movement. Venice has grown less accepting of the misfit and some are full of hate for street people or for those who might take a stand to defend them. Even though some still see Venice as eclectic and diverse, it is more a facade based on lingering history, and then there are those of us who simply refuse to leave.

As Venice gentrification has raged on, Venice property owners (quite often the newer ones), people with business interests, developers and the City of Los Angeles have worked increasingly to get rid of poor and homeless people living in vehicles. Now, with the loss of so much low-income housing to new development [unaffordable housing] along with the mortgage crisis and wide scale layoffs, many of the people living in vehicles in Venice – used to be renters or even homeowners in Venice. The homeless population is rapidly changing and growing.

Those working to rid Venice of homeless people and homeless services have formed groups, such as the “Rose Avenue Working Group” (which eventually managed to move the St Joseph’s homeless center off Rose Ave) and the city formed groups using the Community Police Advisory Board (C-PAB) like the debunked “Homeless Outreach Committee.” The groups wanting to remove the people living in vehicles in Venice worked directly, and still do, with the City Attorney’s office and the LAPD.

One group, calling itself the “Venice Stakeholders Association” recently organized in favor of using the Overnight Permit Parking (OPD) law to remove people living in vehicles from Venice. The OPD, or Overnight Parking District, is a special permit-parking zone regulated by parking enforcement during the hours between 2AM and 6AM and only the people who qualify under the definition for resident can get permits.

The “Venice Stakeholders Association” hired a high priced attorney named Sherman Stacy to fight in favor of overnight permit parking at the California Coastal Commission. Members of the group include Mark Ryavec and Georgeann Abraham. Records gained through the Public Records Act reveal that these people have been working with the City Attorney’s office for years trying to use the OPD permit parking system to remove homeless people from Venice.

Throughout the years, the different groups have come and gone, but they all have basically worked to get rid of homeless people. They worked with the city’s Department of Transportation, with the help of the City Attorney’s office or the City Council, to put up many restrictive street signs in Venice – street signs that are originally intended for other traffic reasons – but have been used in Venice to remove access to nighttime or daytime parking for the unwanted homeless person living in a vehicle.

Maybe you got one of these signs on your street and wondered why. They say “no overnight parking” or “2-hour parking.” When there is a neighborhood complaint that someone is living in a vehicle, the city might even organize a community meeting in which the Department of Transportation gives a presentation of all the parking measures that can be employed as a removal “solution” to homelessness using street signs and permit parking. No kidding, I went to one at the Penmar Park community room.

The parking enforcement and the police ramp up enforcement on the street to target vans and RVs, which they assume are lived in, with 72 hours tickets or other parking tickets. The police will often bang on the RVs and the vans, leaving dents on doors and conduct other forms of harassment.

One of the obstacles to removing homeless people living in vehicles with the existing parking measures has been that most of the restricted parking signs are exempted by disabled placards or disabled license plates. A very large percentage of homeless people are disabled, especially due to the decrease in affordable housing and other safety nets during the Bush administration. Another problem that surfaced was that almost all of those restrictive street signs put up in the Venice Coastal Zone (west of Lincoln Blvd) also restricted coastal access and were done without California Coastal Commission approval. That is not legal.

The NIMBYs, the developers, the homeless haters, and the city needed to come up with some way to get rid of the disabled homeless people living in vehicles in this want-to-be exclusive beach town – in some way that the Coastal Commission would allow.

Then one day in 2003 Alan Willis, Transportation Engineer, with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, sent an email to City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski’s Westchester office saying that he had found the answer to the Venice RV problem. It was California Vehicle Code 22507.5, a law meant to restrict commercial vehicles from parking on residential streets between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. – a law from which disabled plates or placards are not exempt.

Violating the intent of a law had not stopped the city from using them on homeless people before – so away they went to work on getting input from the residents who hate homeless people. This input included meetings, emails, and a motion from Cindy Miscikowski to have the City Attorney write the draft ordinance.

Interesting thing is that the very names on those July 2004 follow up emails from the May 2004 “community” meeting about using overnight permit parking to get rid of homeless people living in vehicles in Venice (with the City Attorney and City Council employees at the Council District 11 Westchester Office) are the same people running Venice Neighborhood Council committees today! Jim Murez (now chair of the VNC parking committee), Mark Ryavec (chair of the VNC homeless committee – God help us) and Georgeann Abraham (chair of the OPD committee) were all working with the City Attorney’s office and the City Council office in 2004 behind the backs of the legally elected progressive Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council. These meetings did not comply with Brown Act requirements of public notice and the topic was specifically to put in the Overnight Permit Parking law using California Vehicle Code 22507.5 to remove those living in vehicles.

Why California Vehicle Code 22507.5? Because the disabled RV people are not exempted from that law and they thought that the California Coastal Commission would just allow it to go in.

Bill Rosendahl, loving homeless people as he does, kept the OPD ball rolling forward once he got in office and he signed the motion to enact the OPD law. The OPD law – Los Angeles Municipal Code 80.54 – was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on July 20, 2005, the month Bill took office.

The progressive Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council was successfully eliminated by the city through a phony arbitration process that was conducted for a challenge against the June 2004 neighborhood council election. Another very interesting fact is that the person then employed with the Los Angeles Human Relations Department and charged with the non-arbitration process (which took the Progressive Venice neighborhood council out) is now the Venice Deputy for the City Council, Mr. Arturo Peña.

DONE (the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment), who oversees neighborhood councils, created an election committee of Venice people more likely to follow the NIMBY agenda and a new Venice Neighborhood Council was elected. Rosendahl encouraged them to create an OPD committee, which first met in April 2006. The co-chair of the OPD committee, Stewart Oscars, worked with the Department of Transportation and the Council Office as if he was the representative for all of Venice on creating the Venice OPDs. Many emails from the city, gained through public records requests, assumes that Venice wants this or Venice wants that – in reference to what Stewart Oscars was saying in his emails to the city. Unfortunately, most of Venice did not know.

The Venice OPDs in the Coastal Zone go from the north border of Venice to the south border, from Lincoln Blvd to Speedway, but they forgot the Venice peninsula and it was too late to amend it by the time Stewart Oscars figured it out. These OPDs that cover almost the entire west side of Venice already exist and they have existed since December 2006.

The city thought that this would just fly through with the approval of the California Coastal Commission, but the Commission required a complete Coastal Development Permit (CDP) application process. Maybe it was because they already had received multiple complaints from the community about all the illegal street signs that had been installed in Venice (to get rid of the RVs), or maybe it was because the City wrote a law closing the beach at night, without going through the Coastal Commission.

Now stuck with doing a CDP, the Council office asked the L.A. Department of Transportation (DOT) to do the CDP, but they were not qualified. Then the Council Office asked the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering (BOE) to do the CDP, but they were not adequately staffed to expedite the CDP process. If the Council Office wanted the CDP process expedited, it would have to pay the BOE to hire an outside independent contractor – for $75,000. So Bill Rosendahl used the Venice Surplus Property Fund to pay to get those CDP applications done.

Venice people have protested each step of the way – once they knew. Many of us knew nothing about this overnight parking scheme until the new Venice Neighborhood Council created the OPD committee. Only those who support the OPDs were notified by Bill Rosendahl’s office that this law was coming up in the city council for a vote. Some are still finding out.

There was a hearing in Venice last June 26 to which hundreds of people came out in opposition, but the Bureau of Engineering rubber-stamped it and sent it off to the Board of Public Works, where 103 appeals were rejected and the city sent a letter of intent to the California Coastal Commission.

Venice submitted 38 appeals against that decision and in February 2009 the California Coastal Commission took jurisdiction over the matter. Now this will be heard June 0-12 at the California Coastal Commission meeting at the Marina Del Rey Hotel.

If you want to know what you can do to oppose the Venice OPDs, please stay posted by checking <www.NoPermitParkingInVenice.com> or call 310-398-7192 for updates.

Visit the FAQ page on that web site to find out the shocking facts about how much this permit system will soon cost you. Initially the resident permits start off at only $15 each, but the city forecasts the cost to soon be $34 and there are so many restrictions. One main point that should be stressed is that the city is not giving us more parking, so you will just be forced to buy a hunting license to park in Venice.

East of Lincoln, one of the streets in the only existing Venice OPD east of Lincoln, Indiana Ave, just finished a petition to remove the OPD from their block because they hate it. And the city does not seem to be rushing to take the action required to remove the permit parking signs, which takes only a letter from Rosendahl sent to DOT.

It is a mess and all because some property owners, developers, and the city that bows to them all wants to get rid of the poor in Venice so property values can go up. Not to mention the city can use all the permit parking revenue it can get.

By Peggy Lee Kennedy

Rubber Tramps, Gypsies, and Hippie Busses are nothing new to Venice. In fact, Venice is known worldwide for embracing different lifestyles. When the circus came to town, Venice is where the Gypsies stayed. Beat poets and anarchists hung out. Misfits fit in. If you were odd, you were cool in Venice. And we had more streets to park on then.

For much of its existence, Venice has been home to low and extremely low-income people. But as property value has increased with gentrification and the accompanying NIMBY movement. Venice has grown less accepting of the misfit and some are full of hate for street people or for those who might take a stand to defend them. Even though some still see Venice as eclectic and diverse, it is more a facade based on lingering history, and then there are those of us who simply refuse to leave.

As Venice gentrification has raged on, Venice property owners (quite often the newer ones), people with business interests, developers and the City of Los Angeles have worked increasingly to get rid of poor and homeless people living in vehicles. Now, with the loss of so much low-income housing to new development [unaffordable housing] along with the mortgage crisis and wide scale layoffs, many of the people living in vehicles in Venice – used to be renters or even homeowners in Venice. The homeless population is rapidly changing and growing.

Those working to rid Venice of homeless people and homeless services have formed groups, such as the “Rose Avenue Working Group” (which eventually managed to move the St Joseph’s homeless center off Rose Ave) and the city formed groups using the Community Police Advisory Board (C-PAB) like the debunked “Homeless Outreach Committee.” The groups wanting to remove the people living in vehicles in Venice worked directly, and still do, with the City Attorney’s office and the LAPD.

One group, calling itself the “Venice Stakeholders Association” recently organized in favor of using the Overnight Permit Parking (OPD) law to remove people living in vehicles from Venice. The OPD, or Overnight Parking District, is a special permit-parking zone regulated by parking enforcement during the hours between 2AM and 6AM and only the people who qualify under the definition for resident can get permits.

The “Venice Stakeholders Association” hired a high priced attorney named Sherman Stacy to fight in favor of overnight permit parking at the California Coastal Commission. Members of the group include Mark Ryavec and Georgeann Abraham. Records gained through the Public Records Act reveal that these people have been working with the City Attorney’s office for years trying to use the OPD permit parking system to remove homeless people from Venice.

Throughout the years, the different groups have come and gone, but they all have basically worked to get rid of homeless people. They worked with the city’s Department of Transportation, with the help of the City Attorney’s office or the City Council, to put up many restrictive street signs in Venice – street signs that are originally intended for other traffic reasons – but have been used in Venice to remove access to nighttime or daytime parking for the unwanted homeless person living in a vehicle.

Maybe you got one of these signs on your street and wondered why. They say “no overnight parking” or “2-hour parking.” When there is a neighborhood complaint that someone is living in a vehicle, the city might even organize a community meeting in which the Department of Transportation gives a presentation of all the parking measures that can be employed as a removal “solution” to homelessness using street signs and permit parking. No kidding, I went to one at the Penmar Park community room.

The parking enforcement and the police ramp up enforcement on the street to target vans and RVs, which they assume are lived in, with 72 hours tickets or other parking tickets. The police will often bang on the RVs and the vans, leaving dents on doors and conduct other forms of harassment.

One of the obstacles to removing homeless people living in vehicles with the existing parking measures has been that most of the restricted parking signs are exempted by disabled placards or disabled license plates. A very large percentage of homeless people are disabled, especially due to the decrease in affordable housing and other safety nets during the Bush administration. Another problem that surfaced was that almost all of those restrictive street signs put up in the Venice Coastal Zone (west of Lincoln Blvd) also restricted coastal access and were done without California Coastal Commission approval. That is not legal.

The NIMBYs, the developers, the homeless haters, and the city needed to come up with some way to get rid of the disabled homeless people living in vehicles in this want-to-be exclusive beach town – in some way that the Coastal Commission would allow.

Then one day in 2003 Alan Willis, Transportation Engineer, with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, sent an email to City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski’s Westchester office saying that he had found the answer to the Venice RV problem. It was California Vehicle Code 22507.5, a law meant to restrict commercial vehicles from parking on residential streets between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. – a law from which disabled plates or placards are not exempt.

Violating the intent of a law had not stopped the city from using them on homeless people before – so away they went to work on getting input from the residents who hate homeless people. This input included meetings, emails, and a motion from Cindy Miscikowski to have the City Attorney write the draft ordinance.

Interesting thing is that the very names on those July 2004 follow up emails from the May 2004 “community” meeting about using overnight permit parking to get rid of homeless people living in vehicles in Venice (with the City Attorney and City Council employees at the Council District 11 Westchester Office) are the same people running Venice Neighborhood Council committees today! Jim Murez (now chair of the VNC parking committee), Mark Ryavec (chair of the VNC homeless committee – God help us) and Georgeann Abraham (chair of the OPD committee) were all working with the City Attorney’s office and the City Council office in 2004 behind the backs of the legally elected progressive Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council. These meetings did not comply with Brown Act requirements of public notice and the topic was specifically to put in the Overnight Permit Parking law using California Vehicle Code 22507.5 to remove those living in vehicles.

Why California Vehicle Code 22507.5? Because the disabled RV people are not exempted from that law and they thought that the California Coastal Commission would just allow it to go in.

Bill Rosendahl, loving homeless people as he does, kept the OPD ball rolling forward once he got in office and he signed the motion to enact the OPD law. The OPD law – Los Angeles Municipal Code 80.54 – was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on July 20, 2005, the month Bill took office.

The progressive Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council was successfully eliminated by the city through a phony arbitration process that was conducted for a challenge against the June 2004 neighborhood council election. Another very interesting fact is that the person then employed with the Los Angeles Human Relations Department and charged with the non-arbitration process (which took the Progressive Venice neighborhood council out) is now the Venice Deputy for the City Council, Mr. Arturo Peña.

DONE (the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment), who oversees neighborhood councils, created an election committee of Venice people more likely to follow the NIMBY agenda and a new Venice Neighborhood Council was elected. Rosendahl encouraged them to create an OPD committee, which first met in April 2006. The co-chair of the OPD committee, Stewart Oscars, worked with the Department of Transportation and the Council Office as if he was the representative for all of Venice on creating the Venice OPDs. Many emails from the city, gained through public records requests, assumes that Venice wants this or Venice wants that – in reference to what Stewart Oscars was saying in his emails to the city. Unfortunately, most of Venice did not know.

The Venice OPDs in the Coastal Zone go from the north border of Venice to the south border, from Lincoln Blvd to Speedway, but they forgot the Venice peninsula and it was too late to amend it by the time Stewart Oscars figured it out. These OPDs that cover almost the entire west side of Venice already exist and they have existed since December 2006.

The city thought that this would just fly through with the approval of the California Coastal Commission, but the Commission required a complete Coastal Development Permit (CDP) application process. Maybe it was because they already had received multiple complaints from the community about all the illegal street signs that had been installed in Venice (to get rid of the RVs), or maybe it was because the City wrote a law closing the beach at night, without going through the Coastal Commission.

Now stuck with doing a CDP, the Council office asked the L.A. Department of Transportation (DOT) to do the CDP, but they were not qualified. Then the Council Office asked the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering (BOE) to do the CDP, but they were not adequately staffed to expedite the CDP process. If the Council Office wanted the CDP process expedited, it would have to pay the BOE to hire an outside independent contractor – for $75,000. So Bill Rosendahl used the Venice Surplus Property Fund to pay to get those CDP applications done.

Venice people have protested each step of the way – once they knew. Many of us knew nothing about this overnight parking scheme until the new Venice Neighborhood Council created the OPD committee. Only those who support the OPDs were notified by Bill Rosendahl’s office that this law was coming up in the city council for a vote. Some are still finding out.

There was a hearing in Venice last June 26 to which hundreds of people came out in opposition, but the Bureau of Engineering rubber-stamped it and sent it off to the Board of Public Works, where 103 appeals were rejected and the city sent a letter of intent to the California Coastal Commission.

Venice submitted 38 appeals against that decision and in February 2009 the California Coastal Commission took jurisdiction over the matter. Now this will be heard June 0-12 at the California Coastal Commission meeting at the Marina Del Rey Hotel.

If you want to know what you can do to oppose the Venice OPDs, please stay posted by checking <www.NoPermitParkingInVenice.com> or call 310-398-7192 for updates.

Visit the FAQ page on that web site to find out the shocking facts about how much this permit system will soon cost you. Initially the resident permits start off at only $15 each, but the city forecasts the cost to soon be $34 and there are so many restrictions. One main point that should be stressed is that the city is not giving us more parking, so you will just be forced to buy a hunting license to park in Venice.

East of Lincoln, one of the streets in the only existing Venice OPD east of Lincoln, Indiana Ave, just finished a petition to remove the OPD from their block because they hate it. And the city does not seem to be rushing to take the action required to remove the permit parking signs, which takes only a letter from Rosendahl sent to DOT.

It is a mess and all because some property owners, developers, and the city that bows to them all wants to get rid of the poor in Venice so property values can go up. Not to mention the city can use all the permit parking revenue it can get.

Jane Harman – Caught In The Act?

By Jim Smith

Jane Harman, our Congressional representative, is in trouble. Before you rush off to save her, consider this. She was caught on a wiretap agreeing to try to get espionage charges reduced for two foreign agents. A 12-year prison sentence has already been handed down for a former Defense Intelligence Agency official, Lawrence Franklin, for turning over classified documents to the foreign agents.

This is not a new story. It first broke in 2006. But what is new is that actual transcripts of the conversations Jane had about this matter have surfaced. Also new is the revelation that Alberto Gonzales, Bush’s Attorney General, stepped in to quash a Department of Justice investigation into Harman’s role in the affair.

Harman has responded by going on the attack. The House intelligence maven, who knew about wholesale wiretapping of U.S. citizens by the Bush administration years before it became public is shocked – shocked I say – by the fact that she, a member of Congress, would be wiretapped. But it turns out that the wiretap wasn’t aimed at Harman, but at the suspected foreign agent with whom she was having the conversation. In addition, Harman says she didn’t actually do anything, which is more believable in her case.

The plot thickens because the country on whose behalf the alleged espionage was being done is Israel. And two of the spies, who have been indicted, were employees of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which is probably the most powerful lobbying group on Capitol Hill.

According to informed sources, Harman agreed on tape to “waddle into” the AIPAC case, adding “if you think it’ll make a difference.” She ended the conversation after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist,” How embarrassing for Harman that it was caught on tape.

Full disclosure requires that I state that I ran against Harman for Congress in 2006.

Needless to say, Harman, the wealthiest member of the U.S. Congress won big against my typical grassroots Peace and Freedom Party campaign (I did beat the Republican candidate in about half the Venice precincts.) I should also disclose that Harman is a member of the Trilateral Commission, which may be the organization that truly rules the world. She is also a leader of the “Blue Dog” caucus of Congressional Democrats. The “Blue Dogs” call themselves a “Coalition of Conservative Democrats.” In an earlier day, they most likely would have called themselves moderate Republicans.

How did someone so out of tune with Venice’s mixture of liberals, progressives and radicals become our Congressperson? It’s pure and simple gerrymandering. The South Bay is full of Republican voters who used to make the seat a toss-up. When the Democratic majority redistricted California, they threw in Venice and San Pedro, both of which are full of Democrats. Ever since, Harman has waltzed to victory.

On Oct. 20, 2006, Time magazine broke the story on its website of Harman’s involvement in the case, and that a Department of Justice investigation was beginning (later to be stopped by Gonzales). The article also mentioned that Harman had retained attorney Ted Olsen to represent her. Olsen previously had been George Bush’s lawyer in the disputed Florida election of 2000, and was probably the person who was most responsible for putting Bush in the White House instead of Al Gore.

Two days after the news broke, Harman and I, along with the Republican and Libertarian candidates met for our one and only debate. While I concentrated on the war, health care and other issues including the Harman family’s sweatshops in Mexico, I did raise the DOJ investigation twice. Harman denied it was happening on one occasion (she must have talked to Gonzales) and ignored it the other time. However, she did appear very nervous and near the end of the debate seemed to be on the verge of tears. See the highlights on Google Video at <http://tinyurl.com/d64y7c&gt;.

At the time, I naively believed Harman had reached the end of her political career. Perhaps this time around. There are calls for an inquiry by the Office of Congressional Ethics and for a real investigation by the Justice Department. There all already demands for her resignation. Will Jane Harman bounce back once again? With AIPAC in her corner, anything is possible. If she makes it to the 2010 election, then it will be up to the voters in Venice and points south to render a final judgement on our very own Blue Dog.

Swami X Speaks

I trust you understand I’m talking to myself here.

It’s important to be aware of your basic beliefs, because a new reality is being manifest in the next 4 years. Sensitive people feel it coming. If you can’t feel it coming, it doesn’t suggest you are insensitive; you may have a lot of things on your mind. This could be an unhealthy condition. Not having anything on your mind has a lot to be said for it. It is rare and wonderful and refers to a meditation.

We are constantly talking to someone, even in sleep. To our ego, our ego is talking to us, or we have left the TV on. It’s always something. We have a challenging time, unfolding non-attachment, serenity and peace.

We’re looking in the wrong direction. It’s right in front of us when we achieve total fearlessness. This Universal fear is the death of the ego, which is an illusion, and not to be taken seriously, unless, of course, you’re somewhat masochistic.

Life never has a beginning, nor will it ever end, is a realization that will lessen your concern over bad TV, corrupt politics, and irrational relatives.

There are people who don’t believe in the Life-Light-Love and Creativity that lives within them, which is sometimes baffling to those who have touched that inner reality. I try not to judge, especially myself, although I do have high standards, rarely realized.

I trust you understand I’m talking to myself here.

It’s important to be aware of your basic beliefs, because a new reality is being manifest in the next 4 years. Sensitive people feel it coming. If you can’t feel it coming, it doesn’t suggest you are insensitive; you may have a lot of things on your mind. This could be an unhealthy condition. Not having anything on your mind has a lot to be said for it. It is rare and wonderful and refers to a meditation.

We are constantly talking to someone, even in sleep. To our ego, our ego is talking to us, or we have left the TV on. It’s always something. We have a challenging time, unfolding non-attachment, serenity and peace.

We’re looking in the wrong direction. It’s right in front of us when we achieve total fearlessness. This Universal fear is the death of the ego, which is an illusion, and not to be taken seriously, unless, of course, you’re somewhat masochistic.

Life never has a beginning, nor will it ever end, is a realization that will lessen your concern over bad TV, corrupt politics, and irrational relatives.

There are people who don’t believe in the Life-Light-Love and Creativity that lives within them, which is sometimes baffling to those who have touched that inner reality. I try not to judge, especially myself, although I do have high standards, rarely realized.

I trust you understand I’m talking to myself here.

It’s important to be aware of your basic beliefs, because a new reality is being manifest in the next 4 years. Sensitive people feel it coming. If you can’t feel it coming, it doesn’t suggest you are insensitive; you may have a lot of things on your mind. This could be an unhealthy condition. Not having anything on your mind has a lot to be said for it. It is rare and wonderful and refers to a meditation.

We are constantly talking to someone, even in sleep. To our ego, our ego is talking to us, or we have left the TV on. It’s always something. We have a challenging time, unfolding non-attachment, serenity and peace.

We’re looking in the wrong direction. It’s right in front of us when we achieve total fearlessness. This Universal fear is the death of the ego, which is an illusion, and not to be taken seriously, unless, of course, you’re somewhat masochistic.

Life never has a beginning, nor will it ever end, is a realization that will lessen your concern over bad TV, corrupt politics, and irrational relatives.

There are people who don’t believe in the Life-Light-Love and Creativity that lives within them, which is sometimes baffling to those who have touched that inner reality. I try not to judge, especially myself, although I do have high standards, rarely realized.

Yet another illegal giant sign on Ocean Front Walk

The historic Ocean Vue Apartments at 5 Rose Ave. have a new owner, and a new name, “Air.”

“Hip Beachfront Living” will be a new thing for the low-income tenants who are fast disappearing from the building.

One senior holdout with a bad hip told the Beachhead that the changes were uncool. “The remodeled lobby has all the charm of a Macy’s display window.”

Many of the large signs on OFW do not have city or coastal permits and are just another kind of graffiti.

The historic Ocean Vue Apartments at 5 Rose Ave. have a new owner, and a new name, “Air.”

“Hip Beachfront Living” will be a new thing for the low-income tenants who are fast disappearing from the building.

One senior holdout with a bad hip told the Beachhead that the changes were uncool. “The remodeled lobby has all the charm of a Macy’s display window.”

Many of the large signs on OFW do not have city or coastal permits and are just another kind of graffiti.

Venice Carnevale to feature fire dancers, music, costumes and Mr. Balloon Man

After years of wandering around Venice looking for a home, Carnevale organizers believe they’ve found a permanent location for their once-a-year extravaganza. On June 6, Windward Avenue, west of Pacific, will be closed to traffic as local romantics garbed in medieval finery set up booths, stages, while minstrels wander through the crowd.

It’s been a long search for Esquire Jauchem, Miriam More, and Brady Walker as they’ve tried to set down roots somewhere, and sometime, in Venice. Unlike the Carnevale in our namesake city on the Adriatic, our Carnevale is not connected with the beginning of Lent, or any other recognizable religious ceremony. Anytime is a good time to party and wear funny clothes in our Venice by the sea.

In past years, the Carnevale has set up shop on Ocean Front Walk, at the Venice Circle and, last year, at the old City Hall. One advantage for revelers this year is that there are two friendly bars – the Townhouse and Danny’s – just steps away from the fun.

The Beachhead is a sponsor and will have a booth. Other sponsors include Graphics Quarter, Project Alma, and The Townhouse. It’s not to late to become a sponsor or request a booth. Check the Carnevale website, <www.carnevale.us>.

This year’s music and performance line up includes acts such as The Bonedaddys, Wadada Raggea, Mr. Balloon Man, Harissa Belly Dancer’s Troupe, Kathy Leonardo, Street Smart with the Grand Finale featuring “Mutaytor,” whose show combines not only music, but also dancing, drumming and pyrotechnic acts.

After years of wandering around Venice looking for a home, Carnevale organizers believe they’ve found a permanent location for their once-a-year extravaganza. On June 6, Windward Avenue, west of Pacific, will be closed to traffic as local romantics garbed in medieval finery set up booths, stages, while minstrels wander through the crowd.

It’s been a long search for Esquire Jauchem, Miriam More, and Brady Walker as they’ve tried to set down roots somewhere, and sometime, in Venice. Unlike the Carnevale in our namesake city on the Adriatic, our Carnevale is not connected with the beginning of Lent, or any other recognizable religious ceremony. Anytime is a good time to party and wear funny clothes in our Venice by the sea.

In past years, the Carnevale has set up shop on Ocean Front Walk, at the Venice Circle and, last year, at the old City Hall. One advantage for revelers this year is that there are two friendly bars – the Townhouse and Danny’s – just steps away from the fun.

The Beachhead is a sponsor and will have a booth. Other sponsors include Graphics Quarter, Project Alma, and The Townhouse. It’s not to late to become a sponsor or request a booth. Check the Carnevale website, <www.carnevale.us>.

This year’s music and performance line up includes acts such as The Bonedaddys, Wadada Raggea, Mr. Balloon Man, Harissa Belly Dancer’s Troupe, Kathy Leonardo, Street Smart with the Grand Finale featuring “Mutaytor,” whose show combines not only music, but also dancing, drumming and pyrotechnic acts.