Sat - October 1, 2005

GONE WITH THE WIND


By Carol Fondiller

I’ve always dreamed of visiting New Orleans.

The Spanish moss hanging from trees, laissez le bon temps roulez, beignets, chicory coffee, pralines and me, beautiful crinolined me leaning over one of those iron grilled balconies in the French Quarter.

Posted at 04:08 PM     Read More  

Conservatives Win Venice Election


By Jim Smith

A slate that includes several Republicans, owners of multiple properties and advocates of decertification of the neighborhood council last year, won a decisive victory in the Sept. 10-11 voting for the Board of the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council.

Posted at 02:10 PM     Read More  

Venice Skills Center Update


By Robert Yorgason

There have been recent closures at the Venice Skills Center. This is an update and reflects reports that i have received from students.

Posted at 01:15 PM     Read More  

Big City News


God Almighty!

On Sept. 23, L.A. City Councilmembers Bill Rosendahl and Dennis Zine jointly made a motion to ask the City Attorney’s office to prepare an Amicus brief that would oppose removing the words “under god” from the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Posted at 12:17 PM     Read More  

Keeping the Spirit of Venice Alive


By Stephen Longfellow Fiske

Included in the legacy of former Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski and her regime, is the permit/lottery system that has been imposed upon the Westside of the Venice Beach Boardwalk. The Westside of the Boardwalk, world famous as a free speech zone, and by law a non-commercial zone, exemplary of the free spirit of Venice, has been thrust into a legal, humanitarian, political and economic conundrum, the repercussions of which go far beyond the shores of the Beach.

Posted at 11:19 AM     Read More  

If it’s broken, fix it – some modest steps to make neighborhood councils credible to their stakeholders


By Jim Smith

The citywide system of neighborhood councils is broken. Whether or not it was initially designed to be functional is debatable. It was a sop thrown to the voters by then-Mayor Richard Riordan, in 1999, to get a new city charter approved that would give the mayor more power.

Posted at 10:20 AM     Read More  

What’s in a name?


By Carol Fondiller

It seems that the only way to get the Progressive Slate out of Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council was to steal the Progressive’s Platform and it’s name. Everything was legal, but was it ethical? About as ethical as attempting to sabotage the reputations of people on the ORIGINAL Progressive slate by red baiting and slander. The faux progressive slate won the election by that Black Power slogan, “by any means necessary.”

Posted at 09:22 AM     Read More  

Interview with New Neighborhood Council Board Members Yolanda Gonzalez, Stan Muhammad and Richard Myers


The following interviews were conducted with Yolanda Gonzalez, Stan Muhammad and Richard Myers at the “candidates forum,” Sept. 7 at Venice High School. In the Sept. 10-11 election, Gonzalez was elected 2nd Vice President, Muhammad was elected Oakwood Representative and Myers was elected Communications Officer. The interviews were transcribed by Erin Grayson. They were made available to the Beachhead by Ian Johnston of KPFK-FM.

Posted at 08:25 AM     Read More  

Poetry


• The Dark Right - Hal Bogotch
• Simple Questions - Hillary Kaye
• American Nero - Rex Butters

Posted at 07:28 AM     Read More  

Lincoln Place: Answers to Last Month’s Quiz on Tenant/Landlord Rights


By Sheila Bernard

In last month’s Beachhead, we had a little quiz. For those who didn’t do their homework, too bad. (It is much more brutal in my life right now than it is in my classroom.) For those who did, here are the answers:

Posted at 07:27 AM     Read More  

Arnold’s Propositioning Us - Just Say No


Eight propositions will be on the Nov. 8 ballot. Propositions 73-78 are endorsed by Gov. Schwarzenegger and all should be turned down. Props. 79-80 are opposed by Arnold and should be approved for the reasons listed below.

Posted at 06:29 AM     Read More  

Time for a Moratorium - Time for Affordable Housing


By C.V. Beck

Time for a moratorium now? Yes, I think so. In fact, I think it’s been time for some time now and now, we are overdue. People can stick their heads in the sand if they want to but we are approaching the Tsunami of uncontrolled hyper-overdevelopment and really need to get a grip, grab a- holt of it and take control of our neighborhoods and our streets. We can’t go on like this, we really can’t. Unless you just don’t care about anything except the money. I guess there are a lot of people out there like that but I find it hard to believe that most people aren’t fed up now.

Posted at 05:30 AM     Read More  

©