The Neighborly Council


By Carol Fondiller

I am blessed. I don't get e-mail. I have friends who indulge, and who were only too happy to let me know that I was the subject nay, the STAR of a recent e-mail.


I understand that it was implied that I questioned David Moring's and Barbara Gibson's integrity in my article in the April Free Venice Beachhead.

David Moring has been stalwart in his continuing support of low-income housing in the community. I served with him on the Venice Planning Advisory Committee.

I disagreed with him on his decision regarding the proposed Lincoln Center project.

I believe that the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood (GRVNC) Land Use and Planning Committee could demand less density, width, height and mass, and that more than the bare minimum requirement of "affordable" housing could be included.

Though I disagree with him on this issue, I count him as a friend and someone I admire.

I hope he still counts me as a friend. I have never met Barbara Gibson, also a member of GRVNC, and I agree with her concerns about the effect this would have on the neighborhood.

In addition, I think that if Lincoln Center were approved, it would set a precedent, encouraging mega-development not only on Lincoln Boulevard but on other main drags in the Venice area thus destroying what "unique charm" is left of Venice.

I believe most of the Planning Committee of GRVNC voted for the project as well as more lumbering elephantine art bunkers.

The chair of the GRVNC planning committee was thankful that the consolidation of more than three lots in the Canals was stopped. This was accomplished by the now moribund Venice Community Planning Advisory Community, and the efforts of the Venice Town Council, and other tired old anti-progress elements in the community.

I was among those who were against lot consolidation, even though it could have meant more low-income housing in the canal area. I opposed it because I felt that lot consolidation would have ruined the "charm and uniqueness" of the Canals.

Little did I realize that the swollen versions of Beach Cottages, mansion sized Mediterranean villas built on handkerchief sized lots would have the same effect.

However, we did prevent turning the canals into a gated community with the waterways dredged deep enough for motorized craft, paid for by the taxpayers of Los Angeles, to keep the taxpayers of Los Angeles out of the Canals.

It seems to me that the GRVNC has left out important constituencies and ignores their input, while rolling over for large speculators, developers who have their own Vision of Venice.

Mr. Dunne, 88 years old and resident of Venice for nearly half a century, cannot claim a hardship exemption against the developers who want him out of their profiteering plans.

Mr. Dunne's plight resonates with me because I have had similar experiences in being uprooted, and I have friends who have been forced to leave their homes in the name of progress after paying the mortgage (via their rents) many times over.

Hardship exemption, solicitous regard for the neighborhood did not seem to affect the speed by which some developments were approved by the GRVNC Planning Committee while a nondecision has left Mr. Dunne to languish with potentially fatal results.

Perhaps that's part of the grand strategy. I don't think so, but the result might be the same. The priorities of the GRVNC Planning Committee seem a bit skewed. My suggestion that the initials of the GRVNC stand for Graft Ripoff Venice Neighborhoods Cabal was a bit intemperate.

The way the majority of the GRVNC board has acted perhaps it would be more fitting for the initials to stand for Groveling Ripout Venice Neighborhood Cravens.

I had a friend who had a watch dog.

The dog watched as my friend's home was burgled happily munching on the doggie biscuit thrown to him by the thieves.

Posted: Thu - May 1, 2003 at 06:09 PM          

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