In Brief...


• Condo scam
• Oakwood Park a “done deal” says Cindy’s rep
• Community Gardens
• Venice, City of the Arts
• Venice Unchained
• Lincoln Center, Take Two
• New Board members join GRVNC
• City, GRVNC agree to arbitrate election dispute


By Jim Smith

Condo scam

Here’s the latest get-rich-quick scheme in Venice. Buy an admittedly overpriced lot for 6 – $700,000, then build a three-story box in a one-story neighborhood. Turn it into two condominiums and sell each of them for $1.2 or $1.4 million. This is the plan that enraged neighbors of two of the planned big boxes on 5th Ave. and 6th Ave. north of Rose. Another one is planned for Broadway in Oakwood. Neighbors there are organizing against it too. The complaint is that the boxes are out of scale with the neighborhood and some are in areas for single-family homes. Don’t wait until one appears on your block to get involved. Call the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council (GRVNC) at 821-6030 for more information.

• • •

Oakwood Park a “done deal” says Cindy’s rep

Around 50 people turned out for a Neighborhood Council Land Use Committee meeting, Oct. 5, to voice their concerns about trees being chopped down (see the September Beachhead) and picnic tables and grass being removed from one of the only large green areas in the neighborhood. Some people supported the building of a tennis court (down from two) on the northeast corner of the park, where the large trees now live. Others complained that the public wasn’t involved in the process and they wanted to preserve the area where seniors now meet to play dominoes. Sandy Kievman, an aide to Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski told the meeting that the decision had already been made, construction contracts had been given out, and their protests were in vain.

• • •

Community Gardens

At the same meeting, Kievman said the city only owned two lots in Venice - one at Venice Way and Venice Blvd. and the other in the Peninsula. Several community activists gasped since they were under the impression that there are quite a few city-owned lots in Venice. GRVNC president, Suzanne Thompson, has been trying for some time to get the Venice Way lot for a community garden, but Cindy and Sandy continue to be non-committal.

• • •

Venice, City of the Arts

An Arts Committee has been launched by the GRVNC. Headed by muralist Emily Winters, the committee is planning new public art, music, poetry, sculpture, etc. It’s open to the public. Call 821-6030 for meeting time and place.

• • •

Venice Unchained

More than 300 people have signed a petition asking that Venice remain free of chain stores. Around the country, other communities have organized “formula-retail” free zones where chain stores are not permitted. Dawn Hollier and others are growing concerned that chain stores will soon invade Abbot Kinney Blvd. due to new construction. There’s a website:
www.veniceunchained.org

• • •

Lincoln Center, Take Two

Just when you thought it was safe to go to Ralphs, the giant proposed development that suffered a stake through it’s heart at the city’s Planning Dept. has risen from the dead. At a “community meeting” promoted by Miscikowski’s office and reluctantly joined by the Venice Community Coalition, Sam Adams, the Boston developer, presented a new design that looks suspiciously like the last one, except this one has a 32-foot wall around it. When will they learn that Venetians don’t want this monstrosity in our community. Sam, read C.V. Beck’s letter on page two for a Venetian solution to this development.

• • •

New Board members join GRVNC

Inge Mueller was appointed to fill the North Beach/Rose Avenue District slot. Kristen Weirick and Don Geagan have been appointed by the Neighborhood Council’s Board to fill two vacant at-large positions. Francisco Letelier, who was elected last June to an at-large position. He has been appointed to fill the Government Relations Officer position vacated by Sheila Bernard. She resigned to devote more time to the fight to save Lincoln Place Apartments. GRVNC now has a full compliment of 21 Board members. See www.grvnc.org for more on the local “government.”

• • •

City, GRVNC agree to arbitrate election dispute

Even though more than 500 Venetians turned out for the Neighborhood Council election last June, two losing candidates chose to challenge their decisive defeats. Greg Nelson, head of L.A.’s Dept. of Neighborhood “Empowerment” decided not to recognize the new Board and to cut of GRVNC’s funding. That is, until he was ordered to make nice by the city attorney’s office. As a result, the dispute has been turned over to the Dept. of Human Relations for arbitration.

Posted: Fri - October 1, 2004 at 03:02 PM          

©