life in NYC

[Thomas Mertes]

There is a concerted effort in Venice Beach to get rid of the more
entrepreneurial types (artistic, religious, and chemical) who have made
Venice into the Mecca that it is. The gentry are divided between the young
upwardly privatizing who are being resisted by the long time traditional
yeomanry. Permits and a much larger police presence is now the rule. The
permit process is becoming more difficult. In true LA fashion they also
solved the problem of all those unsightly poor people and "gang activity"
by creating Universal City Walk which has replicas of various parts of LA
and lots of stores. You have to drive a car to get into City Walk - no
buses and almost surrounded by freeways. Santa Monica just to the north of
Venice is also divided and can no longer claim to be the "Home of the
Homeless" or the "People's Republic of Santa Monica". LA is also
exceptional in its paucity of parks and ubiquitous home-owners
associations. There is little left to privatize. Others on the list may
have a lot more info on the City of Angels than me.

Tom Mertes