Letters
• No Lottery on the Ocean Front - john
vance
• Picket Line - Lucky
Leyva
• Wrong Number - Sydney
• Classes for Youth - Lois Webb and
Vicki Landers
No Lottery on the Ocean
Front
Dear Beachhead: There is a
lottery being proposed for Venice Beach. i am not sure who would be affected by
this lottery but i, along with many hundreds of other vendors, artists, tarot
readers, political activists and freakazoids would like to know because we have
the feeling is all of us. i would especially like to know if this recently
elected progressive council might be willing to look into this and possibly
inform the rest of us about this proposed lottery, not to mention getting more
involved to help us stop such a move by the City of Los Angeles. i believe i
inquired about this to one of the progressive councilors recently and they had
no idea. i hope that has changed by now since this 'proposed lottery' from what
rumor has it, could go into effect on October
1st.
A few weeks back there was a
petition circulated on Venice Beach asking for support or rejection of this
lottery business. There was one person who signed supporting the lottery. NO ONE
WANTS THIS LOTTERY. My understanding also is that they are using a lottery in
the Bay Area as a model, the only one i know of being on Telegraph Avenue in
Berkeley, actually, where i have been set up for the past 12 years until my
partner and i moved here last year.
As
a political activist, i never participated in the lottery because free speech
simply cannot be regulated. Anyway, the lottery system there in Berkeley has
been going on since the late 70's. It was implemented because too many people
wanting to set up could not seem to agree cooperatively on space allottments.
Eventually, the vendors themselves asked for
this lottery regulation and the City of Berkeley obliged. i don't know the
intricate details but i do know who the main organizer of this lottery system
was and he is still there in Berkeley, a good friend,
actually.
The major difference in
Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and the Venice Beach scene is in area. Venice Beach
seems to run about a mile or more. Telegraph Avenue's artisans/vendors covers 4
city blocks - only three of those are heavily utilized - and only in the summer.
A once-a-year Christmas faire pretty much saturates the entire four blocks and
the street is even shut down for booths. There is a side street that runs up
towards Peoples Park that is also utilized during this faire - and once a year
for the Peoples Park Anniversary celebration.
Another difference is that Telegraph
Avenue is on a city street and artists/vendors can unload their booths right at
their allotted space - something not highly probable on Venice Beach, UNLESS the
city were to allow vehicles in at 9am and out by 10am for unloading and at the
end of the day there would also have to be a set time for people to get their
vehicles in and load their crafts and leave. This looks highly unlikely
considering the large number of public passersby on Venice Beach all day until
late in the evening. It might be accomplished with traffic control but doubtful.
Anyway, that's just the short of it, i
am quite vigorously opposed to such a lottery, especially since the attempt to
implement this lottery is being taken on by the city of Los Angeles without any
artist's/vendor's/activis's feedback/participation/design etc. My bet is that
between the people who set up and the established inhouse businesses that oppose
this lottery there is probably an immense tax base benefitting the city as well.
This is great power source for those of us, that is all of us, to also remind
the city about before they start making radical changes like this lottery
without speaking with all of us about it first - and in a most congenial manner.
So far that communication has NOT happened and until it does, i say no thank
you, we'll pass!
Lastly, i say that if the
city of Los Angeles tries to shove this unwanted lottery down our throats, get
out the protest signs. If you would like to get on an alert list that can inform
you of what actions to take in response to this unwanted lottery, send me an
email at jvance@riseup.net with the word NO LOTTERY in the subject line. If you
would just like to be part of an organizing group to help stop this lottery,
send an email as well and just put the word 'organizer' in the subject line. i
would also add that if a lottery is so unwanted, then people that feel they need
a physical confrontation to retain their space need to rethink that attitude and
start being more cooperative and sharing. It may be 'first come, first serve',
but no one should own a specific space permanently - be fair - share! That seems
to be the main reason they are trying to use to justify this unwanted lottery.
Let's not allow that to happen. Let's ALL work together to say NO LOTTERY!!! NO
WAY!!!
Peace with justice for all, Abridging
my civil liberties is an 'act of terrorism'! There's a terrorist behind every
BUSH!
john vance, editor
<jvance@riseup.net>
Peoples Bark News
Berkeley
pbnberkeley-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/pbnberkeley
(archives)
************
Picket
Line
Dear Beachhead: I can not
cross the picket line because I think it sends the wrong message. When it comes
to healthcare, you should definitely stand behind people. It is not about money,
that’s really a serious issue. Most of these people have families and
themselves to support. Healthcare is an important thing. I think by crossing the
picket line you send the wrong message. The message is that people are
expendable. I don’t think that helps anyone. I don’t want to be
a part of sending that message because if I was to fight for this, if it was me
on the picket line, I would want people behind me.
That is why I couldn’t take or
even consider the job. It was too close to me. I know there is a
possibility that I could be standing out there fighting for that in my life
time. I don’t want to see people sending my bosses the message that
I’m not important.
Lucky
Leyva
18 year Venice resident
************
Wrong
Number
Hi, Last Monday night, in
front of Abotts Pizza, me and my girlfriend had the wonderful opportunity to
meet one of the key, if not the key person responsible for getting the paper
out. I think her name was something like Tiby, she had dark hair and mentioned
that she was a bit hard of
hearing.
Anyway, she kindly agreed to
send me the articles that ran regarding the surf local ism issue in Venice.
Thank-You for your great little
paper!!
Sydney
************
Classes
for Youth
We are long time resident
of Venice and also the CFO and CEO of Webb-Landers Unlimited, (parent company of
Tech Team Computer Learning Center (TTCLC) and The Young Producers Club
(YPC).
TTCLC has been in operation for
eight years at the Vera Davis Center on 6th and California. This class is
for the community and at risk youth and teaches computer configuration and
repair. Computer Based training in office applications is also available at
TTCLC using all the popular software being used in office's today.
The Goal: To help the students learn
and trade and get find employment, and to teach those with PC's at home to
maintain their own computers without costly technicians. We've had great
outcomes with this class.
YPC is a new
addition to Webb-Landers at two months old. The purpose of this class is to
teach music production using digital music software and to lay tracks on top of
it. This class targets youth from 13-25 focusing on the 18 to 25, range those
most at risk of doing hard time, and challenges their musical abilities.
The Goal: To unleash the musical
talent in Venice that is so abundant, and perhaps get someone signed to a lable
or create their own lable. A lot to chew, but we both have big mouths.
:)
–Lois Webb and Vicki
Landers
Posted: Sat
- November 1, 2003 at 05:07 PM