In Brief...
Neighborhood
Council
Supporters and detractors
of the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council (GRVNC) turned out at a meeting
of the city’s Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (BONC), Dec. 14, to
debate the Dept. of Neighborhood Empowerment’s (DONE) contention that a
quorum of the GRVNC Board does not exist and that the arbiter’s letter
overturning last June’s election was valid. Significantly, BONC did not
vote on the matter (perhaps demonstrating where the power in the council system
lies), but did ask DONE to bring a proposal for calling a new election to its
next meeting, Jan. 25 at L.A. City Hall.
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Land
Give Away
Supporters and detractors
of the GRVNC managed to find common ground in opposing a giveaway of public land
on Venice Blvd., just east of Abbot Kinney Blvd. When the street was realigned
about 10 years ago, the center medium was reduced and the shoulders became
enlarged. Now, a property owner wants to take over 3,500 square feet of right of
way with the Bureau of Public Works approval. A hearing on issuing a coastal
development permit was held with little notice, Dec. 17, at the Abbot Kinney
Library. One of the reasons staff gave for supporting the privatization was that
the owner had already encroached on the property. Crime does
pay!
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Third
World Venice?
What city council
aide is under fire for letting contracts without regard for equal opportunity
advertising and prevailing wage payment? The Beachhead has learned that
embarrassing cancellations of work on the Oakwood Recreation Park and the Venice
Traffic Circle had to be
made.
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Lincoln
Blvd. CDO
Plans for a Community
Design Overlay, which the Venice Community Coalition (VCC) has been lobbying for
since 2003, are coming to a head at 10AM, Jan. 11 at L.A. City Hall. “This
CDO will allow the community to come up with some guidelines for development
along Lincoln Boulevard in Venice,” say Laura Silagi of the VCC. The idea
for a CDO developed out of the so-far successful effort to block the giant
shopping center at Lincoln
Center.
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Not
All Development is Bad
St.
Joseph’s Center at 204 Hampton, is trying to expand its building serving
low-income and homeless Venetians but its permit has been appealed by a cabal of
developers, real estate agents and property owners (including the one who
evicted 88-year-old Albert Dunne). Show your support for St. Joseph’s at
the Coastal Commission hearing: 9AM, Jan. 13 at the Long Beach Hilton, 701 W.
Ocean, L.B. 562-590-5071
Posted: Sat
- January 1, 2005 at 05:52 PM