Venice, Venezia – a tale of 2 cities


by Jim Smith

Have you ever thought about visiting a parallel earth in an alternate universe where things have developed just a little differently? That’s the feeling you may get if you spend five or six hundred dollars for a round-trip airline ticket to Venice, Italy. It is truly another way to live. There are no automobiles - or wheels of any kind. There are no skyscrapers or big, ugly boxes that claim to be houses.



There are two ways of getting around in Venice (This is getting complicated. In the interest of clarity, let’s call them Venice (California) and Venezia (Italy). Likewise, we’re Venetians and they’re Venezianos.). Anyway, in Venezia, you either can walk or get around by boat. The city’s bus lines are boats, called Vaporetti, that ply the canals. It is common there to see friends and neighbors run into each other on the streets, and stop to talk. In fact, stopping to talk seems to be a major pastime in Venezia. The pace of life is leisurely to say the least. Everything shuts down in the afternoon as Venezianos walk home for lunch, run errands or take a nap. Conversations tend to ramble on, as if everyone has all the time in the world. Indeed, you could spend the day in a restaurant or coffee bar without ever getting the feeling you were expected to leave.

For a visitor from our universe, some things stand out that are probably not noticed by the local inhabitants. Venezia is much quieter than any city I have ever seen. After leaving Venezia for another city, I was acutely aware of the racket made by cars, trucks and motorcycles. In addition, walking down the street without a subconscious fear that a car is coming up behind you takes some getting used to. And finally, the shear volume of people in the streets reminded me of the Abbot Kinney Street Festival or the Boardwalk on a summer day.

In fact, Venezia is part of this world and is suffering from many of the maladies that affect us all, and some that affect only Venezia.

November 19: I’m sitting in the Piazza San Marco, the beautiful and renowned center of Venice, Italy. But, I’m not in one of those fancy outdoor cafes that line the piazza and where a cup of Cappuccino can cost $9.50.

Those cafes are great for the tourist economy that the former queen of the seas has been reduced to, but not so great for the pocketbooks of Venetians - of either Italian or Californian origin.

Instead, I’m sitting on one of hundreds of raised walkways - Passerelles - that criss-cross this stunning outdoor work of art. In a few hours, at high tide - Aqua Alta - walking on them will be the only way to cross the Piazza, and many streets, as the flood waters sweep in to cover what was once the heart of a great empire, and is now a priceless legacy for all humanity.

This year Aqua Alta is coming earlier than usual. Is it another sign of global warming? Or is it only because of a couple of days of rains driven by the Scirocco winds from Africa? Will Venice sink beneath the waves, and in the far future become just another myth like Atlantis?

It can be saved, most believe. However, in this city you’ll get as many conflicting plans as you would in our Venice. Some, including the government, want to install huge floodgates at the entrance to the lagoon. Others, including greens and socialists, say this plan will just make it worse.

One of the main culprits causing the flooding of Venice is the automobile. That may seem strange since Venice is completely car-free. However many say that the digging of deep channels in the lagoon so that oil tankers can reach mainland ports has upset the equilibrium of the water. Venice may also become the poster child of global warming - along with low laying islands - as the water level rises with the melting of the polar ice caps. Unless some action is taken to halt aqua alta, and global warming, the future is bleak.

But today, Venezia is a sheer delight. It is no wonder that Abbot Kinney picked Venezia out of all the world’s cities as a model for Venice.

Besides the name, both cities have a lot in common - gentrification, housing costs, tourism, and more. But there are significant differences: there is no parking problem in Venezia, and it contains the riches of a thousand-year empire. There are no slums in Venezia, although some of our Venice yuppies might consider the whole city a slum. It is quite old.

Venezia has strict laws about redevelopment. Historic buildings - which make up most of Venezia - cannot be altered on the exterior. Interiors can be remodeled, with proper permits. In many cases, this creates quite a contrast between very old and often shabby exteriors and ultra modern interiors.

Venezianos, and other Italians, on the whole live quite as well as Californians (Italy and California are quite similar in many ways, but that’s another story). The key word is “on the whole.” The income gap between rich and poor is much less extreme in Italy, eliminating the super-rich and the super-poor. But Venetians live differently, and better, in many respects. They have refrigerators that are tiny by our standards. Larger ones are not needed since most people go shopping every day - to the bakery, the vegetable stands, etc. - because they want fresh, not frozen food to eat. Not only do they eat better, but they have more social contact with their local businesses and neighbors. Most chain stores, even supermarkets, would not work here. Not only are the shops small, but Venetians must carry everything they buy. Costco wouldn’t last a day.

While prices are mostly comparable, they are much cheaper in Venezia for two essentials of life. Outside the Piazza, a cup of Cappuccino costs only one Euro ($1) or less. Around Venice, it’ll cost you more than twice at much at our friendly coffee houses. Why is that? A decent bottle of wine (without sulfides added) can be had in Venezia for the equivalent of three or four bucks. It’s a lot more in our wine growing state. Again, why?

Venezia has been losing population since the 1950s and is down to around 80,000 residents, about twice as many as Venice. Many are leaving because there is not enough work to go around. Others are being forced out because of the ever increasing rents and housing prices. Supply and demand do not seem to be working. There are more apartments and houses available yet the price continues to climb. As a matter of fact, the same phenomenon seems to be at work in Venice. Our population has not increased substantially in the last 20 years, but rents and property prices have skyrocketed.

In Venezia, the wealthy and near-wealthy from around northern Italy are being attracted to Venezia (where housing costs are about the same as in Venice). Some want a second home, while others are attracted to full-time living in this unique city. The working class of Venezia is being driven more and more to Mestre and other mainland cities, from where they commute to jobs in the lagoon. Something similar is happening in Venice, with Culver City, Mar Vista, and beyond, being substituted for Mestre.

Today, Venezia survives mainly on tourism - nearly 20 million visitors a year. The Venice Boardwalk Association estimates that we have 300,000 or more visitors per summer weekend (No one’s done a study of annual visitor and tourist totals but it’s likely well over 10 million). The big difference is that visitors to Venezia have to leave their cars behind, while our’s can merrily drive around looking for a parking space.

In addition, Venezianos seem to be much better at separating tourists from their dollars. What they don’t take in with museum tickets and gondola rides, they get with a whole variety of tourist trinkets that go far beyond our t-shirts and sunglasses - and cost more too. A popular item with tourists seem to be the multi-colored jester hats. While walking down the Boardwalk after I returned to our Venice, I realized one difference in the two cities. In Venezia they sell funny hats, while in Venice, we wear funny hats.

Venezia is also filled with small hotels - 5 to 10 rooms - that cater to the five million overnight visitors per year. This creates another source of income for locals instead of big chains. Couldn’t we do that is Venice, too, before the big hotel chains descend on us?

Venezia is one up on us in Venice. It is, more or less, in control of its destiny. It is no longer La Serenissima, The Most Serene Republic, but it is a city with a vibrant political life. Politics and political parties are not seen as divisive, but as essential to the democratic process. Party posters - including the center parties, neo-fascists, secessionists, greens, socialists and communists - are much in display, as are those of the anarchists. Anti-war signs, banners and activities abound. Large numbers of Veneziano students and trade unionists joined a one-million strong anti-war march in Florence on Nov. 9.

Meanwhile back at home, there is no imminent danger of Venice being flooded. Although it will probably happen if global warming is not slowed or halted. Most of Venice is at sea level, except for the sand bar on which the walk streets along the Boardwalk were built. The more dangerous flood right now is from developers who have been unleashed with our councilmember, Ruth Galanter’s departure. We have no say in what they will do, and it’s unlikely they will replicate the architecture of Venezia, or even Abbot Kinney’s imitation of it. If we do regain our cityhood before this development flood engulfs us, we should establish a sister-city relationship with Venezia. We could learn much from their 1500 years of experience in how to make a livable city.

For more on how you can help save Venezia, go to <www.savevenice.org>. For more on how you can help make our Venice a city again, talk to your neighbors.

Posted: Sun - December 1, 2002 at 04:07 PM          

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