LIFE AT TENT CITY, VENICE
By C.V.
Beck
Day 1, December 6, 2005, was the
pre-Xmas (dare I say it?) “Pogrom” in Venice, taking place at
Lincoln Place Garden Apartments. It began with the locking out of working people
and their children as well as lock-ins of pets and property.
Some people have been left homeless and in
a state of shock, with their “significant others” taking the
relocating money and running; but still have jobs and having inadvertently
packed away their mailbox key, staying in motels and with friends...forgetting,
under the stress of having their longtime homes ripped out from under them, that
the mailperson can’t put their mail in a paperbag and give it to someone,
to give to them...no matter how well-meaning. They still have to go to the Post
Office to pick up their mail.
Others
are betting against the clock, praying that it will all work out in the last few
grains of the hourglass running out, as their lives are turned to shit by an
uncaring “City Imperiale,” an even more uncaring “Corporate
Fascismo,” running rapine though this small beach town, like Attila the
Hun and his army, this time of corporate warriors...leaving chaos and disorder,
filling up the already full landfills, and with more working class persons
heading for the streets.
On the other
side of this picture are your basic workforce people: seniors, retired,
disabled, up-and-coming-but-not-quite-there-yet people and a truly Venetian
assortment it is! We are being assisted by some homeless angels, (David Busch,
Phil and Neal) and sometimes accompanied by other Venice homeless persons, and
people of character and ethics...we are being fed and supplied with necessities.
We are now at Day 20 at the time of this entry and it is
raining.
Two Rolls-Royces’ have
driven by “Le Camping” and many other, oversized, ever so chic
gas-slammers, shiny, clean and new have come to make a u-turn and check it out.
Few of these drivers will get out of their cars and come and chat with us but
one of our more elegant campers went to this black, shiny and mysterious car and
engaged the driver, hidden by black glass, in conversation, coming back to our
campfire with a story. This person used to live at Lincoln Place, lost their
home there and ended up on the street for about ten years. Now, apparently,
having turned it around, gotten a grip and came to see us, Lincoln Place adrift
in the fog, and signed our petition to save Lincoln Place. How
wonderful!
Today, December 26, when I
went out of my apartment to drop off a gift to the little girls next door, I saw
a white dove perched in the window ledge on the second floor hallway.
Apparently, it had gotten in and couldn’t find it’s way out. I
interpreted this as a good sign for the future and made arrangements with a
neighbor with “Snow White” qualities to help this beautiful Dove of
Peace to get out – but not be evicted from Lincoln
Place.
People continue to come by and
visit the Tent City with food and supplies, kind words of support and
encouragement. We remain strong and committed to our course of action. We are
all enjoying sitting around the primeval campfire, talking with neighbors in a
sociable way. I realize that most of my contact with neighbors for the past nine
or more years have only been in the context of the political struggle with the
City rolling over for the landlords...not really what could be described as
“quiet enjoyment” of any
kind.
As of today, January 2, 2006, Day
28, we are hunkered down in the severe rainstorm of the last several days,
waiting for the Pacific Division of LAPD to come and remove us any day now,
according to comments made by Senior Lead Officer Craig White and we are still
strong and committed.
Note: According
to MSN Money, on 12/11/05, Los Angeles is considered to be one of
sixty-five” extremely overvalued “housing markets in an report made
by National City/Global Insight’s Valuation Analysis in December, 2005 and
they believe Los Angeles to be overvalued by 54.2%...or more than half, while
the largest mass eviction since Chavez Ravine in the 1950s is presently
occurring here in Venice, of all places.)
Posted: Wed - January 4, 2006 at 01:17 PM