Letters
• Just want to thank you - Suzy
Williams
• I just picked up the recent January copy
- Krista Schwimmer
• Please accept my contribution - Pegarty
Long
• Keep up the great work - Michael
Linder
• In My Perfect World - Rebecca Moore
Frey
Dear
Beachhead:
Just want to thank you for
being you, the very valuable voice o’ Venice. You are so much part of our
town as the walk street and the palm trees. Bless
you.
Love XXX Suzy
Williams
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Dear
Beachhead,
I just picked up the recent
January copy of the “Beachhead” and really enjoyed it! It is nice to
see this paper grow. And still, you give so much space to poetry!!! I love
it!
My husband and I have been living in
Venice for almost 10 years. We love the area and work at time as tarot readers
on the Boardwalk. So I thought I would submit one of my Venice
poems.
Krista
Schwimmer
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Dear
Beachhead,
Please accept my contribution
as an annual sustainer. Happy New Year and keep up the good
work.
Pegarty
Long
-------------
Dear
Beachhead,
Keep up the great work, the
splendid tradition. The Beachhead was alive and kicking when I first arrived in
Venice in 1973 - here’s to many more years of covering our
neighborhood.
All the best, Michael
Linder
-------------
In
My Perfect World
Dear
Beachhead,
Here are potential political
solutions (in my perfect world):
PAY A
TAB
Let homeless and poor “run a
tab” at restaurants and grocery stores, and either the establishment
itself picks up the tab, as a tax write-off, or a wealthy Samaritan or
non-profit organization pays for the
food.
GREEN SPACES FOR
GARDENS
Take 1/4 to 1/8 of every park and
green strip, dedicate it to growing foods, plant fruit and nut trees, vegetables
and herbs; instead of ornamental landscaping. Allow anyone to gather and eat the
free, fresh food! Some may over-pick, but nature will take its course and grow
back.
BEYOND THE
GARDENS
Section off a corner or end of
all parks, about 1/6 of the land, and allow homeless to live there in tent
cities, but with the stipulation that they must maintain the edible gardens, and
keep the parks clean and safe, thus imbuing the residents with the
responsibility of caring for the land itself, and themselves and their
neighbors. This would be minimally supervised by the Parks Department, and/or
environmental and citizen action groups (such as those who monitor city gardens
or provide for the poor). Key homeless personnel would be authorized to become
resident leaders and groundskeepers. In addition, the restrooms would be
enlarged to include showers and running water for drinking and watering the
gardens.
ADOPT A CONTINENT, COUNTRY,
CITY, TOWN, MOUNTAIN, RIVER/BAY/OCEAN
Put
humanitarian leadership in private hands (such as Angelina Jolie, Oprah and
President Clinton have been doing with Africa). Those with wealth and heart can
adopt those places and people who are poor, downtrodden, sick, polluted, lacking
resources, etc...
Huge tax relief (or no
tax at all, for every year of charitable service) that a charitable foundation
or humanitarian individual with the resources and wherewithall (such as the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, which could adopt an entire continent),
“adopts” the land/river/mountain/stream/people (at whatever level is
financial feasible), and pours money and resources directly into that region
(bypassing its government, in some cases), not altering the area to become
culturally different or “white-washed,” but to be supported through
providing the basic needs: irrigation and clean water systems, alternative
environmentally-friendly fuels, food, refrigeration, farming and industrial
tools, medicine and hospitals/clinics with adequate trained staff and needed
items, education, clothing, roads and transportation, and training and
employment in all areas listed. (Based on the simple premise that “if you
give a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a
lifetime”).
Rebecca Moore
Frey
Posted: Fri - February 1, 2008 at 03:11 PM
