Lincoln Place Tenant Eviction
Photo Courtesy of LA Weekly
What Is Lincoln Place? By Barbara Eisenberg
Friday, November 11, 2005, was a regular day for me. I was very active, as usual,
collecting and sorting recyclables, sweeping out carports, packing boxes and moving
items in preparation for the yard sale that I had planned for the following
day. Several neighbors stopped by to chat and visit the cat, as I worked and
then each went their separate way.
It was dark when I
returned to my apartment. I had a bite
to eat and was preparing to retire earlier than usual so that I would get
enough sleep before the sale. Around 8:30 P.M.
I began to have a “funny” feeling in my chest. I took an aspirin in the hopes that the “feeling”
would subside. It did not. I became rather concerned and since it was
still relatively early, I called my neighbor, Diane Aiken. I knew that she was quite familiar with heart
problems. About nine years prior she had “flat-lined” while Line Dancing at the
Moose Lodge in Santa Monica. Miraculously, she survived, thanks to another patron who
recognized that
she was in serious
trouble. He provided immediate CPR
which sustained her
until the arrival of the Paramedics. The
savior was a rather big fellow and he was a bit nervous and overzealous. As a result Diane sustained a broken rib from
the CPR, but her life was saved.
During our conversation
that evening Diane calmly asked me a few
questions and then told me to call 911 right away. I said that with mess in my apartment there
would not be a place for even one person to enter. She immediately said: “If you can walk, then come
over to my place. I will call 911 right
now.”
By the time I walked
over, the Paramedics were arriving at Diane’s apartment. I was having Atrial Fibrillation,
which the medics recognized as being quite serious They asked to which of the three hospitals in
the area I wanted to go. Diane had the most
experience in this area, as her mother had been in and out of various hospitals
prior to her passing a few months earlier.
She rode with me in the ambulance and stayed at the Emergency Room with
me until very late in the evening. She
had to call her friend, Richard, to come from Culver City to Santa Monica to bring her back to Venice, in the middle of the night.
What a great friend!
The next day I was in a
wheelchair on the way to Nuclear Medicine for two tests. As I was pushed out into
the hallway leaving my room, Diane was walking toward me. One more minute an she would have not seen me.
She accompanied us to
the lower floor where the tests were to be done. All the way she chatted about having these
tests, herself. This was actually very comforting, knowing what to expect. As the technician made preparations for the
first test Diane related the story as her involvement in saving my life. When she finished, I let him know how lucky I
am to have such a wonderful neighbor. He
seemed rather surprised and made the statement:
“I did not know that neighbors would help each other like that,
anymore.” At this
point I muttered: “At Lincoln Place we do.”
In addition to Diane’s
help, many other neighbors stepped up to the plate and took excellent care of
my cat during my three days in the hospital. Many thanks to Otti, Rosemary, and
Christy. Plus thanks to Jay for the ride
home.
This is a true story
about the closeness of this community known as Lincoln Place Apartments. We are more than just a community. We are more like a huge family. A family as it should be. We help each other. We are more than just a bunch of people who
do not even know what the person next door looks like. The loss of Lincoln Place is a loss to Venice.
© Barbara Eisenberg
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED
by Mad George
At Venice Beach, these words have a different
meaning than usual. That's because we
have a local law that says no one can set up on the west, or public property,
side of the Boardwalk until nine-o'clock.
Unfortunately, many newcomers think that this means whoever
gets there first gets to take any space they want. That isn't true, because we
have some people who have been setting up in the same space for fifteen or
twenty years. These folks get rather
hostile when someone tries to take the space where they have been for so many
years.
The first come, first served rule works this way on Venice Beach:
If you usually set up in a particular space, and you are there waiting,
at nine o'clock, there is no question about it...that IS your space. If you are NOT there at nine
o'clock,
anyone who IS there at nine o'clock may take the space.
Anyone who arrives at nine-thirty or ten
o'clock,
only to find their space taken by someone else is out of luck for that
day. Since they were NOT on time, at
that point, it is up for grabs for whoever is there and wants the space. This is fair.
All of the “old timers” know this, and pretty well accept this as the
way to keep things as fair as possible.
Our local LAPD Officers tell anyone who asks, ONLY that it's
“first come, first served.” This tends
to create all kinds of misunderstandings with newcomers who first come to the
beach. To the cops, this is a great
state of affairs. Now they can step in
and muddy the waters even more by throwing their weight around and escalating
things as much as possible. This livens
up a dull morning for them, gives us an even worse reputation on their reports,
and lets them have one more reason to justify “a strong police presence” on Venice Beach.
Like it or not, we are stuck with cops who think this way. After all, it's much safer to confront ordinary
people than to hunt down dangerous criminals.
They get to play the big bad “protectors” and we get another black
eye. It's no wonder that the City
Council want to pass ordinances to “control” things on Venice Beach.
What they get to see is what the cops want them to see. And the cops want to control everyone and
everything. They want bigger budgets,
more power, more manpower, and so on. So
on the pretense of “just doing my job,” they actually cause most of the space
problems that we have here, by failing to properly explain things to newcomers.
© Mad George The Wizzard of Venice
From the Soul of
Brother Rock
Romans
2:25-29
For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law;
but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become un-circumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the
righteous requirements of the law, will not his un-circumcision be counted as
circumcision? And will not the
physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your
written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor
is circumcision that which is outward of the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the
letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. ELOHEINU EHAD.
THE
LOTTERY by
Toneey Acevedo
Why is it that so many still refuse to believe that the
lottery does not exist? I've had many
complain to me about when is the lottery going to end? And I have to tell them, “As soon as you
believe there is no lottery.”
The Lottery is part of the LAMC-4215 which has been
suspended until it is replaced by a new municipal code. So in reality the lottery does not exist. The only reason it exists is because people
are too scared to quit participating in something that is not real. Lately I
have had a lot of complaints about Ibrahim. Here are a few things that have
been said to me: Ibrahim is just a loud
mouth crazy person who thinks of no one but himself. Ibrahim is just a crazy nut. Ibrahim isn't doing anything here but for
himself.
And so here is my answer:
Where were you when we were resisting?
Where were you when we were being dragged into court and fighting for
our rights? Where were you when we took
the citations that the city attorney would not allow to go to the courts
because our civil rights were being violated?
I tell them: You ran away, and
were scared to fight for your rights.
And now here you are back after some of the heat is gone. I tell them:
If you don't believe we are still fighting, then how come you are
setting up in an undesignated space? How
come the police are not ticketing you for being in an area that is considered a
walkway or bike rack area?
Many of us took the citations and went to court to have the
citations thrown out of court; where were you then? Oh, you ran away because fighting for your
freedom was too much to bear and here you are, back complaining that we don't
have any lawyers fighting for us; that
no one is doing anything about it. In
reality, the lottery does not exist at the moment, and the city attorney is
still trying to keep something that doesn't exist going. Why does it appear to
exist? Because of those who don't
understand that there really is no law about vending in Venice – in fact, there is no law in any
park area in the whole city. At this
time, anyone can set up in any park in the city because in reality the LOS
ANGELES MUNICIPAL CODE-4215 has been suspended and the lottery is an
amendment to that article.
And so I say to those who refuse to stand for freedom: If you are not willing to fight for what you
believe in, don't come back and expect us to defend you. But remember
this: Many fought for freedom and the
fight still goes on.
And so I ask each and every one who reads this to remember
the people who bravely fought for civil rights:
Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, Ralph
Abernathy, Susan B. Anthony, Ella Baker, Daisy Bates, Andrew Young, Walter
Francis White, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Fred Shuttleworth, Al Sharpton, Amelia
Boynton Robinson, A. Phillip Randolph, and many others.
© Tony Acevedo (Actor, Artist,
Activist)
HELL IS REAL!
Photo Courtesy of Roussan Joshua Collins
Thanksgiving and praises!
By Roussan Joshua Collins
First and foremost I praise
JESUS for dieing on the cross for you and I, and for setting me free to
serve HIM for all eternity! I have been so bound by sin for so long,
and it has been a terribly hard struggle for my freedom, but I praise
our LORD JESUS for delivering me! I praise JESUS for life, health and
strength, and for the faith that HE has given me! I praise GOD for my
brothers and sisters in JESUS who support me, like brothers David,
D.Wilder, Brother Jackson, Brother Willie, Jeff, Mrs Jackson, Sister
Audra and Audrey, Michelle, Leslie, Brother Isaac, Dedrick (who is the
attached photo with me in the dark hat), and for the joy and the
encouragement they give me (please pray for them!).
I praise GOD for every breath
that I don't deserve, and thank you all so much for your prayers for
me! They are working powerfully to the salvation of many! I praise GOD
for setting our brother Erik free from smoking, and for him coming to
pray with me on the board walk! Praise GOD Hallelujah! GOD bless you
Erik, keep up the good work my friend!! I praise GOD for
answering sister Michelle's prayers and for using her in mighty ways as
she simply puts her faith in his power! Thank you Jesus for hearing our prayers.
© Roussan Joshua Collins
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F.B.I. Watched Activist
Groups, New Files Show
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Counterterrorism agents at the Federal
Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and
intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups
active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty
relief, newly disclosed agency records show.
F.B.I. officials said Monday that their
investigators had no interest in monitoring political or social activities and
that any investigations that touched on advocacy groups were driven by evidence
of criminal or violent activity at public protests and in other settings. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, John Ashcroft, who was then
attorney general, loosened restrictions on the F.B.I.'s investigative powers,
giving the bureau greater ability to visit and monitor Web sites, mosques and
other public entities in developing terrorism leads. The bureau has used that
authority to investigate not only groups with suspected ties to foreign
terrorists, but also protest groups suspected of having links to violent or
disruptive activities.
But the documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that
President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting
terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that the government had
improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience
and lawful protest. One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct
surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another document
talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic ideology." A
third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest
over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The documents, provided to The New York Times over the past week, came as part
of a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits brought by the American
Civil Liberties Union. For more than a year, the A.C.L.U. has been seeking
access to information in F.B.I. files on about 150 protest and social groups
that it says may have been improperly monitored.
The F.B.I. had previously turned over a small number of documents on antiwar
groups, showing the agency's interest in investigating possible anarchist or
violent links in connection with antiwar protests and demonstrations in advance
of the 2004 political conventions. And earlier this month, the ACLU's Colorado
chapter released
similar documents involving, among other things, people protesting
logging
practices at a lumber industry gathering in 2002. The latest
batch of documents, parts of which the A.C.L.U. plans to release
publicly on Tuesday, totals more than 2,300 pages and centers on
references in
internal files to a handful of groups, including PETA, the
environmental group
Greenpeace and the Catholic Workers group, which promotes antipoverty
efforts
and social causes.
Many of the investigative documents turned over
by the bureau are heavily edited, making it difficult or impossible to
determine the full context of the references and why the F.B.I. may have been
discussing events like a PETA protest. F.B.I. officials say many of the
references may be much more benign than they seem to civil rights advocates,
adding that the documents offer an incomplete and sometimes misleading snapshot
of the bureau's activities. "Just
being referenced in an F.B.I. file is not tantamount to being the subject of an
investigation," said John Miller, a spokesman for the bureau.
"The F.B.I. does not target individuals
or organizations for investigation based on their political beliefs," Mr.
Miller said. "Everything we do is carefully promulgated by federal law,
Justice Department guidelines and the F.B.I.'s own rules."
A.C.L.U officials said the latest batch of documents released by the F.B.I.
indicated the agency's interest in a broader array of activist and protest
groups than they had previously thought. In light of other recent disclosures
about domestic surveillance activities by the National Security Agency and
military intelligence units, the A.C.L.U. said the documents reflected a
pattern of overreaching by the Bush administration. "It's clear that this
administration has engaged every possible agency, from the Pentagon to
N.S.A. to the F.B.I., to engage in spying on Americans," said Ann
Beeson, associate legal director for the A.C.L.U.
"You look at these documents," Ms. Beeson said, "and you think,
wow, we have really returned to the days of J. Edgar Hoover, when you see in
F.B.I. files that they're talking about a group like the Catholic Workers
league as having a communist ideology." The documents indicate that in some cases, the
F.B.I. has used employees, interns and other confidential informants within
groups like PETA and Greenpeace to develop leads on potential criminal activity
and has downloaded material from the groups' Web sites, in addition to
monitoring their protests.
In the case of Greenpeace, which is known for highly publicized acts of
civil disobedience like the boarding of cargo ships to unfurl protest banners,
the files indicate that the F.B.I. investigated possible financial ties
between its members and militant groups like the Earth Liberation Front and the
Animal Liberation Front. These networks,
which have no declared leaders and are only loosely organized, have been
described by the F.B.I. in Congressional testimony as "extremist special
interest groups" whose cells engage in violent or other illegal acts,
making them "a serious domestic terrorist threat."
In testimony last year, John E. Lewis, deputy assistant director of the
counterterrorism division, said the F.B.I. estimated that in the past 10 years
such groups had engaged in more than 1,000 criminal acts causing more than $100
million in damage. When the F.B.I. investigates evidence of possible violence
or criminal disruptions at protests and other events, those investigations are
routinely handled by agents within the bureau's counterterrorism division. But the groups mentioned in the newly
disclosed F.B.I. files questioned both the propriety of characterizing such
investigations as related to "terrorism" and the necessity of
diverting counterterrorism personnel from more pressing investigations. "The fact that we're even mentioned in
the F.B.I. files in connection with terrorism is really troubling," said Tom
Wetterer, general counsel for Greenpeace. "There's no property damage or
physical injury caused in our activities, and under any definition of
terrorism, we'd take issue with that."
Jeff Kerr, general counsel for PETA, rejected
the suggestion in some F.B.I. files that the animal rights group had financial
ties to militant groups, and said he, too, was troubled by his group's
inclusion in the files. "It's
shocking and it's outrageous," Mr. Kerr said. "And to me, it's an
abuse of power by the F.B.I. when groups like Greenpeace and PETA are basically
being punished for their social activism." © Washington Post 2005
* * * * * * * * * *
Maxims of Raphael
Reuveni
Author of “The Philosopher”
“The
breaker of love lost the wings of the dove”
* * * * * * * * * *
The Truth Shall Set You Free by I.M.LUVE
The first European military base in the Western Hemisphere Columbus
called Navidad, which means Christmas. The first Indians Columbus
came across were the Arawaks Indians.
Their belief was sharing.
These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance-dominant
government of kings (Frenzy for Money), sanctified by the Pope. Columbus later wrote:
Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the
slaves that can be sold. Within two years,
through murder, mutilation or suicide, half of the 250,000 Arawaks were
dead. By the year 1515, only 50,000 were
left. By 1550, there were only 500. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the
original Arawaks or their descendents were left on the Island.
Fantasy
for the Future by Denise
Hey, Venice, now that you know who I am, a Capricorn on
steroids, a little “Gangster” gone legit, a college graduate and a boss, let me
tell what I want to do for the rest of my life.
See, I like Venice & and I think it has potential,
so if any of this interests anyone, then let's talk business. I want to start a “Chick” bike building
company, called Mink Bike, Inc. & have us girls run it – sort of like
Orange County Choppers, only Chicks do the work & and it's bikes. I'd like to purchase the Joseph Levin Jewish
Family Center Building because, let's face it, its hardly used – like every
other religious building, – takes up half the block and is used a quarter of
the time (if that).
Have LAPD donate unclaimed bikes to us, restore them
and give them to people who can't afford them – sort of like “Pimp my Ride_ -
thanks Xzibit. Anyway, this becomes a
tax write off (money back at end of year), plus we custom build bikes! I'd like to build a loft so we can sleep when
we want, the girls can work anytime they choose (allowing more time for family
and school) and no locks on the doors.
Face it, keys are made to be lost, and it always happens; plus there
will be someone in there 24/7, a home. I
also like this building because it's the first you see when walking from Santa Monica!
It'll be fun and rewarding and cut down on bike theft. Come talk to me more about details. Next a milkshake stand. (Does vanilla mint
sound good to anybody?) Plus “Food Not
Bombs” cooking in the back - so tax write off and profit! Next, I'd like for my friend Toto to open a
tattoo shop, at the beginning of Venice and mentor future tattooists, plus we
sell/trade used records, tapes, CDs, etc.
Tax one to profit and also at night have an open mic for various local
artists with a cafe serving the best coffee in the neighborhood.
Next, PB & J – a clothing store for my best friend
Smiley and with the donated clothes (tax write off!), we'll turn them into
something else – all profit. Plus, I'm
gonna open the biggest, best, most incredible club this world has ever seen –
to really generate funds for all of us.
And to say thanks for letting us hang out on the streets, feeding us,
taking care of us. I'd like to build a
community pool for everyone to lounge from all these companies. I'd like to
build a spaceship to take us all to Venus one day! What do you say? Anyone game?
Speaking which, did I tell you of the baseball field I want to
buy??!! More to come... © Denise
If you like what we're doing
and would like to make a donation
to the "Spirit of Venice Speaks"
please bring contributions to
Diane Butler in Rose Parking lot
opps. the Venice Bistro. Thanks.
JOIN
4-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER
EDWIN HAWKINS IN HIS APPEAL TO RAISE FUNDS FOR AMERICA’S HOMELESS
Donate $10
online and download a copy of
Edwin Hawkins’ “People In Need” (PIN)
song
here ~ http://
www.benefitnetwork.org/PINCD.htm
or send
$15.00 check/money order for CD copy to :
PIN Fund,
c/o The Benefit Network
P O Box 1952 Venice CA 90294
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