Out of the Litter Box
By Ali
Katz
A farewell wave of the Paw to
Community Activist Bonnie Cheeseman.
Though this kitty disagrees with Bonnie
about practically everything from Parking Permits to how to deal with the
homeless, Bonnie is a straight shooter. She always lets people have their say,
and actually listens to them. She is founder and creator of the Venice
Carnavale.
She worked hard as a
volunteer for what she believed. She was one of the few people in the
Bedrosian-Feibusch Grass Roots Neighborhood Council cabal who was ethical or
approachable.
She had to move out of
Los Angeles because of rising rents. Ms. Cheeseman is a teacher. This grizzled
cat remembers when teachers, social workers, engineers, and retired folks used
to be the backbone of Venice along with workers at local businesses. This was
decades ago, but this cat guesses that teachers and social workers were part of
the “undesirable element” that the speculators always wanted to
clean out of Venice. It took them a while but they
succeeded.
***
A
spray of kitty bad-smell to the people at the Department of Neighborhood
Empowerment and/or the Board of Neighborhood Councils for Bringing the Bible to
Life. —”And it came to pass that Greg Nelson decreed that all people
claiming to be handicapped and wanting to vote in the GRVNC elections must show
themselves in person and present their papers, and there will be no handicapped
parking for their donkeys, and frankincense and myrrh will not be
distributed.” This of course requires people to travel, who cannot travel
without difficulty, thus ignoring the Americans with Disabilities act, which,
ironically, is 15 years old, this
August.
***
Mark
Felt, Number 2 G-man in Nixon’s time, has copped to being the “Deep
Throat” of Woodward/Bernstein and Watergate break-in fame. He was roundly
condemned for being a snitch by that example of ethical behavior, G. Gordon
Liddy. This is a man who burglarized Democratic headquarters and the office of
Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.
A
lot has happened since the days of Watergate, including the decline in the
quality of the media today. But there’s hope. A local weekly, the Santa
Monica Mirror has been running a series about the history of Santa
Monica’s Promenade and Santa Monica Place by Nina Fresco. The
Mirror’s editorials regarding the developments in Santa Monica are worth a
read
also.
***
This
precious pussy sprained one of the precious paws, so Ali could not attend the
inaugural reception held at Windward Circle for newly elected councilman Bill
Rosendahl. Gee! Just when this kitty finally learned how to spell Miscikowski!
This pussy is piqued because everyone had a wonderful time even without
Ali’s gracious presence.
A real
Venice poem was read by one of Venice’s cherished poets, Philomene Long
(Poem in other part of paper). Dancing, music, speeches, and even the new mayor,
Antonio Villaraigosa was present, and made a little history himself by his
poetic vision of making Los Angeles the “Venice of the twenty-first
century.” He was speaking of Venice, Italy when Venice was an independent
republic. (Venetians had a heck of an inquisitorial system, however.) One hopes
that this vision includes making Venice, California the Venice of Los
Angeles.
One of the auditory rapists on
the Ocean Front Walk starts his torture by braying “Welcome to
Venice—the hippest place on earth.” Doesn’t the auditory
rapist know that when one says they’re hip, one ain’t hip no more?
But what can one expect when he’s been mauling “Born in the
USA,” “This Land is Your Land,”—AND can’t even
sing “Love Potion Number
Nine”!
This kitty’s yowls
are far more melodic than the song killer and auditory
rapist.
In spite of the fact that there
were no amplified “musicians” (auditory rapists) for a few days, on
the OFW to violate the delicate ears of Ali, the Ocean Front Walk was jammed and
jamming with visitors buying, eating, walking, gawking, etc. This kitty thinks
that maybe the auditory rapists aren’t the only attraction their outsized
egos seem to think. The beach and the weather just might have something to do
with Venice’s popularity.
That’s all for meeow!!
Posted: Mon - August 1, 2005 at 03:23 PM