Friend or Foe? Food Trucks on Abbot Kinney Blvd.

By C.J. Gronner

So … we all need to have a little chat. How do you feel about the Mobile Food Vendor trucks that swarm into Venice each First Friday (and lots of other days too, just not as many)? In talking to store owners, neighbors, FF revelers, and friends, there appears to be many mixed feelings about them. It’s an issue that’s getting pretty heated, so we need to address it and come up with positive solutions, instead of just freaking out about it.

First Fridays started as a way to drum up business when the economy started its downturn. It worked. Gone are the free wine and loud music for the locals days, but that jump start did the trick, and now you can barely move at the beginning of each month, as crowded as it is.

With the increased popularity of that night each month, word got out among food truck operators (beginning with the Kogi one, that currently has 61,729 Followers on Twitter!)  and where there’s a buck to be made … They will come.  With them came a slew of issues of which each could – and should – be its own separate item on the Neighborhood Council agenda:  Trash.  Parking.  Safety.  Etc.  Etc.

There are pros and cons of the Food Truck epidemic.  They offer affordable food – pro.  They leave nowhere for anyone to park on First Fridays – con.  They bring new customers to Abbot Kinney – pro.  Those new customers throw their trash on the ground (or in my bike basket) – con.  They create a Carnival atmosphere – pro AND con.

One business owner says they hurt their business … customers can’t park or get past the line of people waiting for their “gourmet” taco to get inside, and they want to punch the rude truck worker out.  Another says it’s been great for business, and they give the truck a “Bathroom Letter” to use their restroom facilities.

(*In calls and emails to our Councilmember Rosendahl, Venice Officer Skinner, the LA County Health Inspectors, and City Hall, it  appears that there is only ONE regulation at the moment – that is the Trucks must be parked within 200 feet of a bathroom facility for the workers in the truck to use if they’re going to be parked over one hour, and have a letter from the permanent business offering the use of their bathroom.  That’s it.)

The Health Department Inspector I spoke to said that with 14,000 registered vehicles to keep up with (never mind the as many as 28,000 ones operating illegally), it’s hard to strictly regulate them all (especially in a State that’s pretty much broke).  8 Trucks were shut down for Health violations at the March First Friday, and there is no Rating System for food trucks (yet), so the Bathroom Letter is really the only weapon those opposed to them have to brandish.

I have no problem with the old time-y Mexican food trucks, like the great Taco one that is usually around Lincoln and Rose.  Those have been a big and important part of L.A. culture for years, and whatever regulations or crackdowns are to be implemented to keep the peace, I hope those original ones can somehow be Grandfathered out of the loop, so they can stay in business.  It’s the flashy (some corporate) new ones that we’re talking about here.

Some of my friends love the new trucks.  Many of them abhor them.  I personally feel like I do about Chain businesses … they don’t really seem to fit in Venice.  It bothered me to see a Pizza slice truck parked a half block away from Abbot’s Pizza Co., who have served up their delicious slices for years and years.  It irked me to see a guy in a wheelchair not able to navigate the narrow sidewalk because of the line swarming in front of one of the trucks.  It concerns me that with all the trucks parked on the street, it’s difficult to see around them to cross an already sketchy crosswalk at Palms.  It bugged me to return to my bike to see the basket filled with trash from the 11 (!) Food Trucks parked in The Brig parking lot across the street last First Friday.  But these are all things that can be addressed and dealt with.  Right?  Especially if they do indeed increase business for our local merchants whom we love.  But DO they?  I’ve heard many locals say that they now avoid First Friday because it’s turned into such a madhouse of Food Trucks and “Bridge and Tunnelers”.  What do YOU think?  There’s another First Friday right around the corner … observe and report!

The Food Trucks will be an agenda item at the next Neighborhood Council meeting, so attend and make yourselves heard.  Communicate openly about your concerns with the Food Truck Vendors themselves.  Write to the Beachhead (and become a Sustainer while you’re at it!) to offer your own creative solutions. But above all, please continue to support your LOCAL businesses, who made Abbot Kinney into a destination in the first place.

Word.

BEACHHEAD EXCLUSIVE: Settlement Reached in Overnight Parking Lawsuit

Negotiators for the Coastal Commission, the city of Los Angeles and Mark Ryavec’s “Venice Stakeholders Association” have reached a tentative agreement on a lawsuit concerning the Coastal Commission’s right to regulate overnight parking in Venice, according to Beachhead sources. Details of the closed-door negotiations have not been released. However, the Beachhead has learned that they most likely include housed residents being able to petition to ban “over-height” vehicles from their blocks from 2am – 6am. The height and length restrictions would likely be 22 feet long or 84 inches high, which would effectively prohibit RVs from parking. Housed residents could purchase a permit.

Another element of the settlement would be taking three parking lots away from general overnight parking and reserving them for RVs. The three lots would be at Rose and Main, Windward and Pacific and in the center divider on Venice Blvd. at Pacific. The three lots would accommodate 52 vehicles. They would most likely be fee parking. North Beach residents protested against losing the Rose Avenue lot when overnight parking districts (OPDs) were being considered a year ago. Parking is difficult to find in this area which is mostly walk streets.

There may also be a fall-back agreement to allow OPDs (or one parking district for all of Venice) if the over-height restrictions do not work to the parties’ satisfaction.

In anticipation of the settlement, Assembly member Ted Lieu’s bill, AB2228 (see last month’s Beachhead), has been dropped. A Lieu representative, Jennifer Zivkovic, said that because of the settlement, the bill “was no longer needed.”

Councilmember Bill Rosendahl told the Beachhead he hasn’t seen the settlement yet, since he is not personally a party to the suit.

Venetians would have ample time to protest such a tentative settlement. It would have to be ratified by the Los Angeles City Council and be the subject of a hearing before the Coastal Commission. In addition, opponents of the settlement would be free to sue.

Rosendahl’s “Carrot and Stick” means a knock on the door at 5 am

By Rune Girschfeld

In his April 14th letter, L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl laid out his “carrot and stick” approach to people who are unlawfully sleeping in their vehicles on Venice city streets.  He stated his goal is to “rid the streets of unsightly cars and campers that impact our quality of life.”  He proposes a “measured, balanced, and humane” approach which would balance services and a Safe Parking Program, the “carrot,” with “aggressive” police enforcement, pursuing “whichever restricted parking measures are legally permissible,” the “stick.”

Rosendahl’s approach is far from “measured, balanced, and humane.” As someone who is a mobile-homed Venice resident, I have felt the stick. I have experienced first-hand the practice behind the pretense. I wonder whether the “residents” know what “aggressive enforcement” looks like?

Aggressive enforcement is targeting the mobile-homed through the use of “sweeps.” It typically happens late at night, with no witnesses, just the police and their victims. I have personally experienced these sweeps, involving intimidation and outright threats of arrest, vehicle confiscation and other “legal” measures meant to induce fear, nearly every month, the most recent occurrence on April 13th, the day before Rosendahl’s letter.

The police target everyone within an area where the mobile-homed are more concentrated, typically streets that are not heavily residential.  Sleeping citizens are ordered out of their vehicles. They are put off balance with rapid-fire questions. They are lied to and told they must answer questions; that the police “know” they are hiding something, that they can forcefully open doors if not opened voluntarily and that they can take away their children. Actually, some of those might not be lies, but who can be sure at 4 a.m.?  We are ganged up on; surrounded by officers taunting, threatening, laughing. Numerous officers have said to me that Rosendahl, Venice residents, police leaders, and the city council have met and decided that we are a problem to be “swept” and “cleaned” from the streets of Venice. I don’t understand how some people in all good conscience can call others names like “criminal” or “garbage” (as implied by the expressions “cleaning” or “sweeping” the street). I can’t believe everyone who gets swept up is worthy of the title “criminal.”

During one instance, I was handcuffed when I invoked my Fifth Amendment rights, determined not to be interrogated so cruelly yet again.  I have been ticketed for the misdemeanor crime of sleeping in a vehicle. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be magically decriminalized by paying someone every month for the right to sleep?  Personally, I work full-time and still cannot afford to decriminalize myself.  I do not understand where the idea came from that someone who is living in a vehicle is “taking advantage,” as though they had chosen to live in third-world America at the expense of the housed.

Rosendahl also has in a mind utilizing a few more “tools” to “force from our neighborhoods” the people of which he speaks.  First, there is the pending lawsuit with the Coastal Commission over jurisdiction so that the Overnight Parking Districts can be used to force out “non-residents.”  Second, there is his move to amend the Oversized Vehicle Ordinance to give a more inclusive definition of the vehicle sizes which can be outlawed on streets during prime sleeping hours.  And finally, 36 additional police officers assigned to the area are arriving by Memorial Day Weekend who can then give more tickets for sleeping, do more sweeps, wreak more intimidation.

And what is the “carrot” that is being offered?

Well-meaning Venetians assume that the “carrot” is the services that will help people into houses and jobs, so they too can become residents and legal sleepers. Unfortunately, the Homeless Outreach officers are handing out resource packets full of bogus, outdated and irrelevant information.  They show up in tandem with police who are actively ticketing. They are here to help, they say. Their carrot is not very enticing.

Then there is the much talked about Safe Parking Program, which is woefully inadequate to serve the number of mobile-homed residents needing to be decriminalized. The program is awash in regulations ignorant of the demographic in question.  The stays would be restricted to three months.  So, in practice, six wheeled homes could be decriminalized for a token three months before they might have to choose between the hard legality of the sidewalk and the soft but illegal embrace of an actual bed. This program looks a lot like subterfuge, a rotten carrot with a stick inside.

Rosendahl’s goal to rid the streets of certain vehicles is riddled with negations of the humanity and dignity of those whose homes are vehicles. Rather than “residents” of Venice, they are “non-residents,” whose lack of such a title has political, social, psychological, and human repercussions.  Even the metaphor of “carrot and stick,” is demeaning and dehumanizing, equating the homeless with animals, like beasts in dumb resistance to their master.  The vernacular, the particular language, used by Rosendahl to speak “about” the mobile-homed recognizes neither their humanity, nor their due voice in laws, strategies, and programs which will have the greatest impact upon them.  Rather, it recognizes the factions that exist. Sadly, the simplistic language has already separated their humanity from that of the community around them.

Rosendahl must be challenged to represent all constituents, to solicit the voices of all Venetians, whether he deigns to call them “residents,” and their sleep lawful, or not.  As it is and may be, in the practice behind the pretense, we are left with Rosendahl’s true approach: a burro being beaten in the street at 2 AM with none to bear witness to this inhumane injustice.  The stick is a stick, but the carrot is rotten.

Councilmember Rosendahl’s Letter on OPDs and the Venice Surplus Property Fund

Dear Friends,

I am writing to update you on one of the most contentious issues in Venice — the proliferation of homeless people living in cars and campers.

For the last couple years, I have been working on a two-pronged, “carrot and stick” strategy. My goal has been simple: through both enforcement and social services, rid our streets of the non-resident cars and campers that impact our quality of life. To be successful, we will need an approach that is measured, balanced, and humane.

In pursuit of this goal, I have fought for increased enforcement against vehicular living, and pursued establishment of Overnight Parking Districts (OPDs) that would ban non-residents from certain streets from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. At the same time, I have been working to create a Safe Parking program, which would create designated areas where people living in vehicles could sleep lawfully, obtain counseling and social services, and begin the transition to permanent housing.

Last week, I introduced a council motion that would help fund the Safe Parking program – just as I identified funding two years ago to start the creation of the OPDs. In the overheated political environment that accompanies this issue, the motion has generated a lot of attention and misunderstanding.

Let me respond to the most common questions and misperceptions I have heard:

What would your motions do?

I have introduced two motions, which allocate money for various programs and projects.

The first motion allocates money exclusively from the Venice Area Surplus Real Property Trust Fund for: improvements to the LAPD Substation at Venice Beach, after-school programs at Penmar Park and the Oakwood Recreation Center, recycling bins at Venice Beach, additional staffing for Recreation & Parks at Venice Beach, facility improvements at Venice Beach, maintenance and steam cleaning of bathrooms at Venice Beach, and design and construction of a new park at Driftwood Avenue on the Marina Peninsula.

The second motion allocates money from the Venice Area Surplus Real Property Trust Fund and other sources for a Safe Parking program for Venice and Council District 11.

What is the Safe Parking program?

When we implement the OPDs, it is imperative that we also find a place for people to go, and give them an opportunity to move into housing and social services. To do that, we need a Safe Parking program, similar to successful programs in the beach communities of Santa Barbara and Eugene, Oregon.

In Santa Barbara, more than 20 different lots in scattered locations each allow a handful of people to park legally overnight (and only overnight) as part of a monitored and supervised program that provides counseling, and housing referral services. Combining parking restrictions and a Safe Parking program, Santa Barbara has significantly reduced the problem of vehicular living on city streets – and they did so in a humane and sensible manner. The similarly successful program in Eugene has different requirements and services, and has a great track record of moving people into housing.

My staff is working with community leaders, with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and with other service providers to craft a similar program that will work for Venice.

Why do we need a Safe Parking program?

Why can’t we just force outsiders from our neighborhoods?

We need to understand that the population of people living in their vehicles is diverse. Many people living in their cars are veterans and senior citizens who need a safe place to park and the right connection to services. Many are economically disadvantaged, in need of help getting back on their feet. And, yes, a sizable number are taking advantage of free rent in a beautiful community, and need to be cited and told to move on.

A carrot and stick approach makes sense. A Safe Parking program will provide services and shelter to those who need it, while the OPDs will give us the tool we need to force from our neighborhoods those who have no need of services.

What is the Venice Area Surplus Real Property Trust Fund?

The trust fund, established in the 1970s, contains monies collected from the sale of surplus city properties in Venice. The money has restricted uses, and can be spent only on projects in Venice that benefit Venice and the entire City. In the past, the fund has been used to renovate Venice Beach, rebuild the Venice Pier, rehabilitate the Venice Canals and Ballona Lagoon, build the LAPD substation, create public art, create additional parking spaces, fund programs for at-risk youth, and pay for the initial studies to create OPDs….

Still, the Venice monies can be spent only in Venice. How can you use this money for this purpose?

The money from the Venice fund is only one of many sources that will be used to be pay for the Safe Parking program. I am also tapping other accounts that can be used for district wide or citywide programs, and we are also going to aggressively seek money from grants and other levels of government. LAHSA itself will bring resources to bear for the program. The percent of money spent from Venice will be commensurate with the services provided in Venice, and the number of vehicles from Venice neighborhoods that are moved off the streets and into the program. Leftover monies from Venice will revert back to the Venice property fund.

Does this mean that the Safe Parking Program will be in effect only in Venice? Won’t this attract people living in their cars to Venice?

The program will serve the entire 11^th District, and I hope will be a model for the entire City.I anticipate we will have lots in other parts of the district, as well as in Venice. Money from other sources will be used to help pay for the program in the non-Venice parts of CD11.

The purpose of the Safe Parking program will be to draw those living in their vehicles off our residential streets, into a service continuum, and eventually into housing. Our intention is to demonstrably reduce the number of people living in their cars in Venice and in CD11.

Why don’t you use the money to hire more cops for Venice or for CD11?

Venice is getting more police. I am pleased to report that between the end of April and Memorial Day Weekend, the Venice Beach detail will be augmented by 36 additional officers….

What is happening with parking restrictions to help combat vehicular living?

As you may know, I supported the creation of Overnight Permit Parking Districts, and funded our application for those districts before the California Coastal Commission. The Commission denied those applications. The commission decision is facing a legal challenge, and I hope it will be resolved in a way that allows us to implement the OPDs.

In the meantime, I recently submitted a motion directing our City Attorney and our Department of Transportation to amend the City’s Oversized Vehicle Ordinance. This Ordinance currently restricts parking vehicles that are 22 feet long and 84 inches high from 2 am to 6 am. My motion, Council File 09-3036, requests that the municipal code be amended to restrict parking of Oversized Vehicles that are 22 feet long OR 84 inches high from 2 am to 6 am.

This amendment, in addition to my support of Overnight Parking Permit Districts, will provide our law enforcement entities with additional tools they can utilize as a means to address the large number of Oversized Vehicles that consistently park on Venice streets in the late and early morning hours.

Many people think you are allocating too much from the Venice Property Fund to this program. How do you respond?

I always listen to my constituents and try to strike a balanced and fair approach, especially on this issue….

Gardens of Gratitude Dig It in Venice

By Joey Marie Soto

Last weekend 170 volunteers installed 66 edible gardens at neighbors’ homes, schools, businesses, churches and one rehab center. Gardens of Gratitude just had it’s second annual event. This group, founded by Sean Jennings, consists of committed community leaders with members who planned for two months leading up to the weekend. All over the West Side with many sites in Venice there were people helping people getting vegetables into the ground.

What a concept? Let’s get together to take back our health and community! It was such fun! With the event on Saturday and Sunday one can devote the whole weekend to the transition or simply an hour. I found it was nice to garden on Saturday, do a little on Sunday and then simply rove around from one site to another. In a matter of hours we were able to visit five in all. One of my favorite stops was the United Methodist Church with its skate ramp in the back and veggie garden along the sidewalk. This church and its Pastor’s gotta love them!

Stroller White delivered seven loads of compost.  “I loved hanging out with the people, their enthusiasm, their gratitude. It felt good being a part of this whole thing,” White said. He helped Aaron Nichols get his raised beds started by planting lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage, cauliflower, herbs, eggplant and squash. Aaron “felt super grateful for the free labor but really dug the connection of meeting like-minded people and watching the community coming together for a common goal, in service to one another. A dream come true!”

Sonya Pritzker, a Venice resident mentioned she was “overwhelmed by the volunteer turn out. I posted it on my Facebook, told my family, everyone supported the idea, but when it came to the work this amazing group of volunteers showed up.” Sonia and her husband Jeffrey are happy their beautiful newborn Nayda Rose will grow up with fresh veggies.

Last year 14 people showed up to my home in Venice, with tools, ready to work. I kept it going and all year I have been eating veggies out of the garden last year’s event installed. That is why I decided to get involved again this year! It has been an easy sell getting folks interested in the event. I am so grateful for all the support and interest. From the five sites to the after party, there was an overall feeling of pride and love. Together we made a difference last weekend!

Arpod Kaali organized a fundraising party that was held in Venice at the home of two lovely young female artists several weeks before the event. Having a large garden of their own, they decided to put in a community garden on the sidewalk on Cabrillo. This gave many of us the idea to plan a series of garden parties in the future. There is talk about doing the main event twice a year. Imagine planting a nutritious garden on a Sunday afternoon instead of the usual barbecue and beer; or wine and cheese! Why not sign up to volunteer and get your garden going today?!  For more information please visit :

www.gardensofgratitude.com

A Labyrinth Grows in Oakwood

By Krista Schwimmer

On a small lot next to the Bethel Tabernacle Church, corner of San Juan Avenue and 6^th Street, there is now an ancient symbol marked on the earth itself.  Found in a multitude of cultures as early as 4,000 years ago, this circular design invites you to pause, to look and to walk. With a symbolism that incorporates themes of life and death, inner revelations and communal gatherings, you could call it a thumbprint of the gods. Most people, however, call it a labyrinth.

Sometimes confused with a maze, a labyrinth is usually circular, with a unicursal path to the center. There is one way in and one way out, with no tricks or dead ends like a maze. In the 1990s, labyrinths became popular once more. Suddenly, people wanted to build them, walk them and talk about them. As a result, you can find them in churches, parks, hospitals and private homes either as permanent fixtures or portable art.

Who is behind the Oakwood labyrinth? The trail begins with Venice Public Art and its project called “The Venice Corner Ball Park Projects.”  The goal of this project, according to VPA’s website, is to transform underutilized or blighted street corners in Venice into unique landscaped parks with sculptural seating. Lead artist to the Corner Ball Park Projects is Robin Murez, a Venice artist whose studio is right on Abbot Kinney Boulevard.  The Oakwood Labyrinth Park is one of the parks in Venice that Robin is working on right now. It has the honor, however, of being the first completed one, with the Grand Opening day set for Saturday, May 1^st, a day coinciding with International Labyrinth day.

Why a labyrinth there? Throughout time the labyrinth has meant different things to different people. In Scandinavian and Baltic cultures labyrinths were built next to the ocean. Wives would run them for their husbands at sea to bring them good fortune. The Hopi cultures associated them with new life and reincarnation. Christians placed them in churches such as Chartres, and saw them as part of pilgrimage. Many people today have embraced it as a symbol of the goddess. Seeing this association with the spiritual, Robin thought a labyrinth fit well next to the neighboring church.

Besides being spiritual, the park is also ecological in design. Five hundred cement cylinders, recycled from landfills, mark the circuits of the labyrinth. Newly-planted palm trees create a boundary between the church and a neighboring home. Community members are still donating drought-resistant plants to plant in the front of the church. Other modifications include an irrigation system, an overseeding of grass on the whole area, and the addition of thyme and chamomile in the labyrinth itself, creating a pleasing aroma for the walking pilgrim. Finally, a palos, a single concrete sphere encased in black and white marble, serves as both a unique marker for this location, as well as a place for a visitor to rest.

The overall beautification also included repainting the outside of the Bethel Tabernacle church. The building dates from 1927.  One member of this aging congregation recalls it was first a dance hall. It has been used as a church now for over 50 years. Fitting with the time period and the structure, the church has been painted in traditional, craftsmen style colors.

Past and present, labyrinths bring community together. So, how has Venice responded so far? Robin says that the project has met with tremendous support, both from Venice at large and the immediate community. The Reverend Harold Smith, Pastor for the neighboring Bethel Tabernacle Church, agrees. He says he is overwhelmed with enthusiasm already with the kind of attention and attraction that this has brought his church. There were a few congregation members who were uneasy about it at first, wondering if the labyrinth was a sort of cultural thing inviting idolatry. “What we don’t understand, we don’t always make room for,” the Pastor said. Once his people understood how the community wanted not only to put in the labyrinth, but help them with repairs the church has not been able to afford, the few uncertain members were also convinced of its benefit.

Some cultures believe it is possible to reconnect with those who have died by walking a labyrinth. Maybe that’s why Robin muses out loud about the Irving Tabor home right down the street. Once the home of Abbot Kinney himself, he bequeathed it to Irving Tabor, his art director, chauffeur and close friend. First located on 1 Grand Canal, (currently the Postal Annex), Tabor had to move the home to Oakwood because he was an African-American and was not welcomed in Abbot Kinney’s part of town.

Robin likes to think that Abbot himself would approve of not only the Oakwood Labyrinth Park, but the series of parks planned throughout the rest of Venice — like the in-grown maze, poetry corner, or sundial park – all still in the works. She sees them linked together, with people walking from place to place. Each park has its own palos. The Pastor sees the labyrinth as a chance for the community to rediscover a devout and enduring congregation. Whatever the future holds for the Oakwood labyrinth, there is little doubt that its creation and its birth already have brought the Venice community together.

C’mon out May 1, from 10 am to 5 pm, and join the community in celebrating the birth of the Oakwood Labyrinth Park.

Neighborhood Council Final Election Results

By Jim Smith

Venice voters elected two women April 11 – Linda Lucks and Carolyn Rios – to lead its neighborhood council for the next two years. Both are long-time activists in Venice and have held office in the VNC. On the other hand, a relatively unknown candidate for Land Use Committee Chair, Jacob Kaufman, eked out a victory of 19 votes over Adam Glick.

The big question leading up to the election was whether Mark Ryavec, a candidate for vice president and Jim Hubbard, who was running for president, could parlay their support for Venice overnight permit parking districts (OPDs) into success in the election. In spite of a flyer from Ryavec that was distributed all over Venice a couple of days before the election, their hoped-for-hordes did not turn out at the Oakwood Recreation Center’s polling place. Both Hubbard and Ryavec ran as write-in candidates (what were they thinking?). In the end, efforts by some of their supporters to portray Lucks and Rios as irresponsible and inexperienced backfired as even some OPD supporters told the Beachhead that they were voting for the two women.

The hotly contested at-large community officer positions, with 29 candidates battling for 13 slots, resulted in a mostly new crew who will take their seats at the June VNC meeting. Only three of the 13, Ira Koslow, Cynthia Rogers and Kris Valentine are incumbents. Mariana Aguilar, the top vote getter, and write-in Scot Kramarich, were endorsed by Ryavec. Another write-in, Peter Thottam, who is also running for state Assembly, was elected to an at-large position. Ivonne Guzmán, who is an articulate supporter of humane treatment of homeless people, had the second largest number of votes after Aguilar, who is her ideological opposite. Whether the sharp division of opinion on OPDs will carry over to other issues remains to be seen.

Amanda Seward, who was strongly recommended by the Beachhead, won with 72 percent, the most decisive victory of any candidate who had ballot opposition. Except for three close calls, all other candidates recommended in last month’s paper won.

Other victors who had little or no opposition included: Marc Saltzberg, outreach officer; Hugh Harrison, treasurer; Joe Murphy, secretary; and Brennan Linder, communications officer. All are incumbents except for Lindner. Former president Mike Newhouse will now become the non-voting president emeritus.

Diversity took another beating in the final results. Only nine of the 21 who were elected are women. Two of the 21 are Latinas, and only one is African American. It may not be entirely the fault of the voters that the new board is so white and male. When voters were allowed to vote for more at-large candidates, the board was much more diverse. When the by-laws were changed to prevent voters from voting for more than one of the 14 (now 13) at-large candidates, the result was disastrous for women, African-Americans and Latinos.

Here are the final results:

Total voters: 1225

PRESIDENT: Linda Lucks – 719    66%  -  Jim Hubbard – 378  (write in)

VICE PRESIDENT: Carolyn Rios – 649    61%  -  Mark Ryavec – 421  (write in)

LAND USE COMMITTEE CHAIR: Jacob Kaufman – 367    51%  -  Adam Glick – 348

OUTREACH OFFICER: Marc Saltzberg – 634   92%  -  Anthony Perez – 53  (write in)

AT-LARGE COMMUNITY OFFICERS: (13 top voter getters are elected):

1.  Mariana Aguilar – 173     17%  (of total votes for community officers)

2.  Ivonne Guzmán – 112    11%

3.  Jed Pauker – 81  8%

4.  Ira Koslow – 80   8%

5.  Scot Kramarich – 66 (write in)  6%

6. Cynthia Rogers – 49    5%

7.  Kris Valentine – 46   4%

7.  Peter Thottam – 46 (write in) 4%

9.  Clark McCutchen – 45 4%

10. Kelley Willis – 44   4%

11. Cindy Chambers – 39   4%

12. Daffodil Tyminski – 30     3%

13. Stasia Patwell - 28    3%

FACTUAL BASIS COMMUNITY OFFICER: Amanda Seward – 555   72%  - Therese Dietlin – 110  -  David Bradt – 102

UNOPPOSED: Treasurer – Hugh Harrison – 646;

Secretary – Joe Murphy – 666;

Communications Officer - Brennan Lindner – 587

Save Beyond Baroque and SPARC from Money Grubbing City Bureaucrats

A proposal by the Los Angeles City Administrator’s office would eliminate the $1.00 per-year leases for Beyond Baroque and SPARC as well as 116 nonprofit organizations (approximately 16 arts organizations) working in the interest of the public. No economic analysis was conducted on the long term costs of this short-term fix and no non-profits were consulted on its impact. The proposal will go before the full LA City Council sometime in the next two weeks.

This could be devastating for many Venice non-profits including: Beyond Baroque, SPARC, just to name a few.

Make your voice heard by taking action below.

Send a letter to the L.A. City Council urging them to have a full hearing on the fiscal, human and community impact this policy will have on the lives of Angelenos.

For more information: www.artsforla.org

www.BeyondBaroque.org

www.SPARCmurals.org

Assembly and Congressional Candidates Respond to the Beachhead’s Questions

Responses to the Beachhead Questionnaire

Read their responses here.

Assembly Candidates – AD53

• Lisa Ann Green – Green
• Nick Karno – Democrat
• James Lau – Democrat
• Edgar Sanez – Democrat
• Diane Wallace – Democrat
• Mitch Ward – Democrat
• Nathan Mintz – Republican
• Congressional Candidates – CD36
• Marcy Winograd – Democrat
• Herb Peters – Democrat
• Andrew Sharp – Republican

Congressional Candidates – CD36

Marcy Winograd – Democrat

Herb Peters – Democrat

Andrew Sharp – Republican

The Propositions on the June Ballot

Prop. 13 – Seismic Retrofitting – YES

Prop. 14 – Top Two Primaries – NO

Prop. 15 – Public Funding of Elections – Yes

Prop. 16 – Two-thirds vote requirement for local public electricity providers – NO

Prop. 17 – Car Insurance – NO

Recommended by Americans for Democratic Action, Southern California Chapter