The Light Of Venice

We were recently shooting down on the Boardwalk for our documentary, 90291: VENICE UNZIPPED, when I finally really got down and looked at the wonderful tiles embedded in the benches all along Ocean Front Walk. Each depicts a classic time and place in Venice, and show what has always made our Community special and unique.

I know many of us feel that is all being threatened these days on several fronts, and that we often feel helpless to create positive change and reject the negative ... but we're not. We all have a voice, and you can exercise yours this weekend during the Venice Neighborhood Council elections by showing up to vote for the people that deeply care about the spirit of Venice, and wish to preserve it - not merely profit from it.

I can't be there for everything happening in Venice this weekend, as I'm in Minnesota taking care of things for my ailing Mother, so I extra get that feeling of helplessness ... but I can at least tell you what I think. There have been nefarious forces at work for some time on both the VNC and the Venice Chamber of Commerce, and I really think it's time to clean house in both of those organizations. You may recall the stories about the Chamber not letting Venice Pride use the Venice Sign for the annual sign lighting and party over strictly personal beefs and shady accounting. Well, now they've gone ahead and lit the sign rainbow ahead of Pride - not allowing them to have the countdown or anything - and the "scheduled maintenance" they said they were doing on the sign for the month of June appears to be another lie. Venice Pride had to go ahead and order their own sign as a backup plan, so now there will be a double rainbow during tomorrow's Pride celebration! Pride will never go down without the FUN.

The Chamber also scheduled their "Flower Fest" for the exact same day as Pride, and got the Art Crawl to join them. The Chamber/Flower Fest situation is what started all of the issues with Venice Pride, as the Chamber didn't have enough money in their budget to make it happen last year, so resorted to ever shadier tactics (which they wrongly accused Venice Pride of, hypocritically - and there's plenty of documentation to prove it) to throw the event - that pretty much no one attended. I don't have time to get into all of it here and now, as I'm dealing with pressing family things here, but I will tell you that you can trust me on the fact that I wouldn't cast a single vote for anyone who endorses the Venice Chamber hijinks. Or anyone that values property value or development over Community, creativity, and empathy. Who I WOULD vote for are who the people who share my deep desire to preserve that special light of Venice are voting for:

Community Officer: Jim Robb/Brian Averill
Outreach: Joselyn Williams
Chair of Land Use and Planning Committee: Alix Gucovsky
Vice President: Grant Turck (!!!!!!)
President: Ira Koslow

There are more categories to vote for, and I don't have time to get all the way into it now ... but for those I would definitely err on the side of the longer they have lived in Venice, the more chance they get my vote. Because they simply care more and GET IT more. There is a an all day (10-6) BBQ on Sunday at 1301 Main Street hosted by Robb, Averill, and Gucovsky that you can hit up before or after you vote - or both. Get to know the people that love and care about Venice and want to be stewards of what our late great poet, Philomene Long called "the light of Venice" ...

That the light of Venice

not be extinguished

Nor diminished

nor simply maintained.

But that that light burn, burn, burn

into a boundless luminosity!  

I look forward to hearing that the right people were elected, and that Pride was the best ever this year! Cheers, fun, and LOVE to all Venetians!!! 

*And do check out the marvelous benches, as well as the book about them - Art Tiles At Venice Beach!

Help The Helpers!

So ... yesterday, like a mere hour after I posted my Help Yourself story about the lovely person putting food out for our people living on the streets, I randomly met the lovely woman walking down Lincoln. "Momma Eileen", a Venice elder and longtime resident, stopped me on the street as she recognized me from social media postings. She had no idea I had just posted about her humanitarian efforts, and when we got to talking (after she hugged me close knowing what I've been dealing with in regards to my Mom's hospitalization), I figured out that she was the benevolent party telling people to "Help yourself!" She was upset. Neighbors had complained, and asked her to put away her food. WHAT?!

In the food's place, there is now a new chalk message, apologizing to our homeless, and urging them to seek help at St. Joseph's. Her jerk neighbors (Developers, of course) complained that the food would attract rats - which to them I assume means human beings that need food. All of the food was in sealed packages, aside from fruit that grows in nearly every Venice yard - that rodents already know about. If it's in a tree or on a fence makes no difference. The only difference here is in the size of the hearts in the parties we're talking about.

I'm seething mad about this, and in that kind of mood where no one should get in your way because you can't take much more. What is WRONG with people, that they would complain about someone helping others? Momma Eileen was even concerned with backlash, and that these heartless wretches would target her in some way if she didn't comply with their complaints to take the food away. Let them try. Not on my watch. The good news is that she gets to keep being her wonderful self, while those fools have to live with their rotten souls, not to mention their karma.

It's time to vote out any and all parties from the Developer/Nimby camps in the upcoming Venice Neighborhood Council elections. It's time to take a moment to examine your own biases and agendas, and come to the realization that we're all in this together, and cruelty gets no one anywhere. It's time to look out for each other, and reclaim our beautiful - and strong - Community for the creative, humanitarian, artistic vortex bubble we've always been proud to be a part of. It's time to join people like Momma Eileen in sharing what we have, no matter what some dickhead neighbor says. If EVERYONE joins in on efforts like hers, the few remaining selfish parties' complaints will cease to matter, because they will be look like the petty, lost souls that they are.

Help the Helpers ... before it's too late (and by that I mean a brewing class war that no one wants, and that no one can win). Thank you, THANK YOU to people like Momma Eileen for trying to make the world a better place every day. I have your backs, and celebrate your very existence.