In Brief


• Tenants evicted at Billys Apartments
• Parking Permit issue goes Coastal
• Too Big for Venice and Lincoln
• Rosendahl calls for end of Iraq war
• Free Health Care Initiative Filed
• Your Tax Dollars at Work
• Low Turnout in VNC Election

Tenants evicted at Billys Apartments

As the Beachhead was going to press, the final tenants at the historic Billys Apartments, 815 Ocean Front Walk, were being evicted. Efforts by Councilmember Bill Rosendahl’s office to delay the evictions were unsuccessful.

The 100-year-old house now lies empty, even though no plans have been submitted to the city for redevelopment. Last year, the house next door was also vacated.

Billys Apartments was recently sold to a corporation called 815 Ocean Front Walk, LLC. However, tenants believe the owners are doctors living in the Venice canal area.

One tenant being forced out is Christy Kruse who told the Beachhead she has lived there for the last 34 years. She said several other tenants had lived there even longer before being evicted. The previous landlord had not insisted on rent increases when new tenants moved into one of the eight apartments in the two buildings. In the 1970s, well known Venice stand-up comic and philosopher Swami X lived at Billys.

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Parking Permit issue goes Coastal

The Coastal Commission will take up restrictions on overnight parking in Venice at its meeting in San Pedro on Oct. 11 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 601 S. Palos Verdes Street. The expected time is 11:30 am. Both supporters and opponents of the parking permits are expected to attend.

The issue has become a hot topic because it would target RV campers who park overnight.

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Too Big for Venice and Lincoln

It would be six-stories tall and would have four affordable housing units (and 36 unaffordable units). The developers, Valley Heart Group, LLC, took their big plans for the site of the old Shell station at 1020 Venice Blvd. to the neighborhood council’s Land Use and Planning Committee (LUPC). They said they were not yet applying for permits. They thought they would just drop in and find out what the community thought about their plans. They got an earful about the Venice Specific Plan, which has a 30-foot, not 65-foot, height limit. “It was too big. I wouldn’t support it,” said LUPC chairperson Challis Macpherson.

One of the presenters for the developers should have known better. He was Jerry Newman, who was involved with RAD/MTA, a much hated plan for a gated community at the bus yard before it was voted down by the planning commission.

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Rosendahl calls for end of Iraq war

Councilmember Bill Rosendahl has introduced a motion in the Los Angeles City Council that would put L.A. on record as urging the federal government to make an immediate and complete withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq.

Rosendahl succeeded in getting six of his colleagues to second the motion. They are Bernard Parks, Ed Reyes, Janice Hahn, Jose Huizar, Jan Perry and Herb Wesson. At least eight votes will be needed to pass the resolution.

“This war has diverted funding that could improve the quality of life for Los Angeles residents,” said Rosendahl. The U.S. is currently spending $2 billion per week to occupy Iraq.

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Free Health Care Initiative Filed

A proposed single-payer health care initiative for the November 2008 ballot has been filed with the state Attorney General.

The initiative, if it qualifies for the ballot and wins, would provide free health care for all Californians. The state of California would be the provider, rather than private insurance corporations. Around one million signatures will have to be collected between November and March to qualify the initiative for the ballot.

It was filed on behalf of Californians for Health Security, a statewide group headquartered in Venice and San Francisco. For more information, see <CaliforniansforHealthSecurity.org>.

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Your Tax Dollars at Work

To much fanfare on Sept. 29, 70 canal residents and a city councilmember turned out for a ribbon cutting and naming of the little streets that run between the canals.

After much deliberation and the work of two canal organizations, the Voice of the Canals (VOC) and the Venice Canal Association (VCA), and the creation of a joint committee, called the Fast Find Project, new names were selected to help the confused, deranged or just plain inebriated drivers find the correct alley.
The envelope please: The new names are: A, B, C, D and E!

“The community is safer for all the time and effort of everyone who was involved in this project expended,” said an email from canal resident Darryl DuFay.

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Low Turnout in VNC Election

Suppose they held an election and nobody came? That may happen in a few years if the Venice Neighborhood Council continues its downward spiral.

Ever since new restrictive rules were adopted before last year’s election, less than 500 Venetians have bothered to vote.

This year total ballots counted were 466, the lowest yet. That mean that some “Community Officers” were elected to the Board with 8 votes, 10 votes and 12 votes respectively. A write in candidate, Stan Muhammad, was able to place second in a field of 17 candidates who had their names printed on the ballot. Six of the seven officers of the Board ran unopposed, with Vice Presidential candidate Linda Lucks receiving the highest number, 348. Presidential candidate Mike Newhouse, also running unopposed received 329 votes.

Here is the voter turnout in previous years:

2006 – 492 votes cast
2005 – 1,204 votes cast
2004 – 509 votes cast
2003 – 1,310 votes cast
2002 – 612 votes cast
(Election figures are from http://home.ca.rr.com/venprogressives)

Posted: Mon - October 1, 2007 at 08:15 PM          

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