On the 30th of March, after sending out the Yo! Venice! reader questions to the VP and Presidential candidates, I received the following message by email from Linda Lucks:
“Thank you give me a day or so to work on responses. Want to get it right. Are you asking the VP’s too?”
On the 31st of March I received an email from Linda Lucks which read:
“Answers coming-soon- off to hospital with flowers for MOM- our birthday”
Yesterday, the second of April Linda wrote:
“You can post www.Lindalucks.net”
After another back and forth of emails I responded:
Voters have made a list of questions. If you do not answer them point by point as presented, that is indisputably a refusal. You will give me no choice but to report that.
Why you would do that to the largest news source in Venice that is actively following this election is beyond me.
Scenario one: Here are Linda’s answers
Scenario two: Linda is aware of these questions and does not feel the need to respond to them as asked of her by the voters of Venice through the website YoVenice.
A few emails back and forth with Linda and her adviser Sue and today this comes in as part of an email from Sue:
“Maybe you will allow Linda to edit the questions so that she can answer them in an honest, truthful way.”
So that’s what you get readers, and why your questions were not directly answered by Linda Lucks. I have tried to remain very neutral in all of this, attempting to be the conduit between the people and politicians running for office. I have been accused of censorship by team Linda Lucks. If Linda or Sue would like to argue any of this, or my simplifying of the events as I have done above, I will readily post in full all of the communications that I have had with both of them here on Yo! Venice!.
Linda posted what she did in the forums and emailed me:
I did it and now must run. It is my positive answers to mostly negative, in my opinion. questions.
I am not a one issue person and believe in problem solving…….
Draw your own conclusions as to what all of this means.
Linda Luck’s “response” to the Yo! Venice! reader questions, as posted by her in the forums:
Yo Venice readers:
Thanks for caring so much for our community. I ask for your vote on Sunday, April 11 and while you are there, vote for my running mate, Carolyn Rios for Vice President. In the interest of keeping things positive, I’ve made a list of things we can do together to improve our community. For more information and endorsements see: http://www.Lindalucks.net
IDEAS TO IMPROVE A GREAT COMMUNITY
Get and keep a higher police presence in Venice. We need this on a year-round basis, but at a minimum it really needs to be geared up for the summer. The influx of beach visitors makes for never- ending struggle.
Solve the valet parking problems on Abbot Kinney Blvd. – This can be addressed in as little as six months if we focus on the actual problem instead of allowing ourselves to be distracted by debates over alleged “solutions” that have nothing to do with it ( OPDs will not touch this problem).
Address the homeless problem. Homelessness is not a crime. But a large homeless population is often accompanied by crime and blight. We need firm but humane treatment of the homeless in our community. They range from the working poor, sleeping in vehicles and holding down jobs during the day, to criminal transients.
Many people do not know that it is actually legal to sleep on the sidewalk, and that vagrancy laws were declared unconstitutional over forty years ago. That makes it harder to lock up the problem, but that doesn’t mean we can’t address it effectively. Jail is an expensive solution, and so is leaving homeless on the street, where they end up using emergency medical services. The reason it is currently legal to sleep on sidewalks in Los Angeles is that there is insufficient housing. Creating affordable and transitional housing gets people off the streets and frees the police to deal with criminals.
New York City, a locale many point to as setting good examples for urban governance in recent years, has almost completely eliminated the homeless population in Times Square through a coordinated and concentrated effort to provide housing.
Solve the camper problem. Neighborhood residents need protection from criminal and unsanitary behavior. Simply pushing our problems from one neighborhood to another is not only unproductive but also divisive and, frankly, irresponsible. For vehicle residents, we should use the Oversize Vehicle Ordinance and a Safe Parking Program in a carrot and stick approach. Residents organized in Neighborhood Watch can help our new, six officer homelessness task force do the kind of Community Policing that focuses effectively on crime and blight problems, while offering services to people legitimately in need.
Continue building relationships with LAPD, other City departments, social service agencies, businesses and Venetians to leverage our ability to get what we need and deserve, which is attention and care. This should begin immediately.
Continue building community through organizing for Emergency Preparedness/Neighborhood Watch. Kicking off the “Let There Be Light in Venice” to urge everyone to install motion detectors on the perimeters of their property. EP/NW is ongoing now, and “Let There Be Light” can be accomplished in as little as one year.
Vigorously defend our community from over-development by holding firm on the Coastal Plan and the Venice Specific Plan, the Oxford Triangle Specific Plan and the Venice Community Plan. This has been a priority over the past 30 years and is ongoing. Defending against encroachments on the Coastal Act is crucial.
Encourage Venice to Go GREEN This is an ongoing priority. We need to promote city, state, and federal programs to let residents know what green incentives are available to them. We need to create standards for new development, and we need to educate residents on ways to save energy and water. We also need to fight for clean water at Venice Beach. The City and County are currently dumping high levels of toxins into the ocean at Ballona Creek, the largest single point source of pollution Santa Monica Bay.
Push hard for a safe overnight parking pilot program to move vehicles dwellers OFF the streets. This could be accomplished in one year or less.
Find ways to create more parking to provide relief to beach area residents (re-striping Venice Way and other wide streets, for example). Take a serious look at siting parking structures. This can begin immediately and the inexpensive remedies can be accomplished in months, with the capital-intensive ones taking 1-2 years.
Promote positive partnerships between neighborhood nonprofits and residents. This is ongoing.
Run smooth, user-friendly meetings where the public feels welcome and heard. This should begin immediately.
Get VNC committees operating at top capacity by recruiting more people to serve and create new committees based on community needs. This should begin immediately and be an ongoing priority for the VNC.
Solve individual and group problems as they arise on an ongoing basis. This already has been going on and should continue.
Work with the new board to determine their interests and abilities and coordinate their energies and activities to solve problems (including those mentioned above). This must begin immediately.
