Tent City Report
By C.V.
Beck
Tent City continues on, somewhat
reduced in size but not in spirit.
We, the residents of Lincoln Place
maintain...with a schedule roughly from 10 am to 5:30 pm, 7 days...unless
it’s going to rain we are assisted on Thursdays and at the Vigil,
1:30-2:30pm on Sundays by David Busch, homeless advocate and Tent City
coordinator, who, when he decided he could no longer be on the corner of
Frederick and California 24/7, very carefully and thoughtfully set us
“Seniors and Disabled People of Lincoln Place” up with 3 carts of
supplies, equipment and signs and banners and rehearsed us for several days
before letting us “fly” on our
own.
Our group continues to be lucky
with the weather, which, although very cold and windy much of the time, still
has enough sunshine and blue skies to make it very pleasant, if not
extraordinarily so. We have had a little rain and are taking rainchecks and a
day off when this happens (hope no one minds). People come by steadily, signing
the petition to support Lincoln Place and for the Venice Moratorium, bringing us
food, magazines, papers and words of encouragement and taking away flyers, press
releases and updates on our almost 20-year struggle for justice under the law in
the City of Los Angeles, community of
Venice.
We seniors/disabled are
rediscovering how very pleasant it is to just sit and “smell the
roses,” to just “be” a part of the community of Venice, east
of Lincoln Blvd., Lincoln Place neighborhood; and observing the life of the
community around us, making new friends and acquaintances on the corner. We look
at the clouds and blue skies, saying over and over, “What a beautiful
day!” and enjoy nature all around us, the trees, grass, flowers and
passing the time in “Squirrel Studies 101, feeding peanuts to
“our” squirrels, Alvin, Alvina and Alvin, Jr. We also are doing
Basic Birdwatching, trying to figure out what those large black birds are
(Ravens?) and what the smaller ones are (crows or? Feel free to fill us in, if
you know).
When the gardeners from Ross
and Ralphs are around, several times a week, I am reminded how frequently the
unlawful gas-powered leaf blowers are used throughout the City of Los Angeles;
and how many blue fumes and stink clouds are being generated by the equipment,
mowers, blowers, edgers, all gas-powered and in addition to the almost
bumper-to-bumper traffic of cars passing by...and, as I sit, tanning, I
can’t help but wonder how many of the gardening and lawn care maintenance
crews will be coming down with cancer and lung diseases in a few more years...I
am convinced that a lot of diseases are being generated by the gas being used
and abused all around us...with untuned equipment, frequently patched together
with duck tape.
What’s that, you
say? Aren’t we worried about March 21st? Of course we are! Aren’t we
sweating it? Of course we are...but because we don’t have a crystal
ball...Oh, wait a minute, I do have one...what does it say? On one side, it
says, “Do not pass go”...and on the other, it says...”AIMCO go
to jail”...Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see and hope
and yes, pray and meditate on it and maybe, we’ll be lucky, maybe our
pluck will lead to luck and a healthy change in the politics of greed in Venice.
I’d say, it’s long overdue!
Posted: Wed - March 1, 2006 at 02:23 PM