Especially when one’s Proggy fantasies clash with reality
The pleasant climate and quirky vibe of Venice have long attracted the wealthy and destitute alike. Poets, painters and movie stars mingle with itinerant surfers and scruffy street dwellers in one big colorful tableau.But in recent years the coastal enclave’s laissez-faire attitude has faded, in large part because many Venetians who once prided themselves on their unflappability have gotten fed up with the dozens of dilapidated cars, recreational vehicles and campers that line their narrow residential streets, providing shelter for people who have lost their jobs, want to break into show business or simply enjoy living near the beach.
In addition to tying up much of the neighborhood parking, residents say, some RVs are hotbeds of drug use and prostitution. Residents report that occupants defecate in alleys, party into the wee hours and dump waste into gutters and storm drains. [...]
In a further sign of a shift in attitudes, the Venice Neighborhood Council recently declared that sleeping on the streets in vehicles of any kind was inappropriate. The council established a committee whose stated task is “to end vehicular living on city streets.” Such thinking represents a marked departure for the council, which four years ago was dominated by a “progressive slate” whose agenda included stopping gentrification, building more low-income housing and helping the homeless. [...]
The larger issue, [Councilman Bill] Rosendahl said, is how to ease the situation for residents without stepping on the rights of individuals who choose or feel forced by circumstances to live in cars or RVs.
“Where do these campers go?” he said. “Society has to find ways to put them in places that don’t criminalize them. It’s challenging not just for me, but for other cities and regions.” [...]
When Rosendahl began listing his accomplishments on homelessness, residents shouted him down. “These people are not homeless,” Skarlatos said. “They are here because they want to live near the beach and not pay taxes.”
Ah! Is that the sound of epiphany I hear? Good luck with remaking your bed, residents of Venice. You’ll need it when fellow proggies outside of Venice start calling you “fascist”.
Comment by SevenEleventy on 7/6 @ 11:26 am #
Where are the tree sitters and dumpster muffins going to congregate?
Comment by Semanticleo on 7/6 @ 11:30 am #
I’m sure you guys will be the first to push legislation prohibiting displaced Americans from parking their RV’s IYBY. You’ll tell them to stop whining about foreclosure, get a decent paying job and buy another house. What’s wrong with these people who choose to live in their RV at Wal-Mart and Sams Club?
Comment by ushie on 7/6 @ 11:31 am #
It was a fucking shithole back in 1988 when I was there, and it’s a fucking shithole now. What the proggs need to do is ban all people from living there; that’s the only way the place will improve in any way. Especially visually.
Comment by ushie on 7/6 @ 11:31 am #
Semanticleo, what in the GODDAMN HELL do you mean? I’ll bet you don’t even know.
Comment by Jeff G. on 7/6 @ 11:39 am #
FREE JIM ROCKFORD!
Comment by happyfeet on 7/6 @ 11:49 am #
Oh. That’s kind of sad. If you’re paying someone so they will have sex with you in their RV you’re really not taking advantage of all Los Angeles has to offer you I don’t think. Just pick up one of those free newspaper thingers. There’s a world of options out there.
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/6 @ 11:53 am #
That’s easy, Semanticleo. They can all come live on your front lawn. I’m sure you’ll be happy to run a hose and an extension cord out there, so they can have water and watch TV on your nickel, right?
Regards,
Ric
Comment by SevenEleventy on 7/6 @ 12:06 pm #
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/6 @ 11:53 am #
That’s easy, Semanticleo. They can all come live on your front lawn. I’m sure you’ll be happy to run a hose and an extension cord out there, so they can have water and watch TV on your nickel, right?
What’s the big deal with cleaning human turds, needles and garbage off your property every day? I think Semanticleo is just jerking your chain. And I’m sure the Venice residents would encourage them go to Wal-Marts or Sam’s Club.
Comment by Salt Lick on 7/6 @ 12:38 pm #
I might allow Randy Quaid to park outside my house. He seems like a pretty neat guy.
Comment by SevenEleventy on 7/6 @ 12:43 pm #
Comment by Salt Lick on 7/6 @ 12:38 pm #
I might allow Randy Quaid to park outside my house. He seems like a pretty neat guy.
But you’d probably feel differently if he were defecating in front of your children on your lawn.
Comment by urthshu on 7/6 @ 12:48 pm #
Heck no, I’d take pics of Randy Quaid’s butt with the poo hanging out and sell them on eBay or maybe to the tabloids.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/6 @ 12:49 pm #
I can’t imagine anyone paying money to have sex with Randy Quaid. Maybe Lindsey would.
Comment by Darleen on 7/6 @ 12:52 pm #
I’m sure you guys will be the first to push legislation prohibiting displaced Americans from parking their RV’s IYBY
As usual, Cleo demonstrates one of the basic tenets of Leftcult ideology
contempt for property rights
which are, of course, the key to individual rights
All Hail The Collective!
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/6 @ 12:56 pm #
Heh! I see I’m not the only one who thought of that.
Comment by SevenEleventy on 7/6 @ 12:57 pm #
Heck no, I’d take pics of Randy Quaid’s butt with the poo hanging out and sell them on eBay or maybe to the tabloids.
With any luck, it would resemble the likeness of Mohammed, and would start riots around the world. Hey, if were going to fantasize!
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/6 @ 1:12 pm #
there are Wal-Marts on the beach? I may have to visit now.
Comment by SevenEleventy on 7/6 @ 1:18 pm #
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/6 @ 1:12 pm #
What’s wrong with these people who choose to live in their RV at Wal-Mart and Sams Club?
there are Wal-Marts on the beach? I may have to visit now.
No, but didn’t it sound compassionate when you read it to yourself?
Comment by McGehee on 7/6 @ 1:19 pm #
There’s a Wal-Mart at Hilton Head, but it’s about as far from the beach as you can get without laving the island.
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/6 @ 1:26 pm #
um, not so much, but then I’m conditioned to hear anything by semanticleo in a high pitched nasal voice in my head. also I notice they’re supposedly buying “another house” so, um, perhaps they could afford to rent some space for their RV’s or park them on their own property.
oh, or an RV is a house? oh okay. why not a houseboat if they want to be on the ocean? I’m full of solutions!
Comment by dre on 7/6 @ 1:31 pm #
“Ah! Is that the sound of epiphany I hear?”
No it’s Desiree Farooz.
Comment by Pablo on 7/6 @ 1:36 pm #
Oh, so maggie just wants to foist all these poor souls onto Marina del Ray.
Racist!
Comment by Techie on 7/6 @ 1:55 pm #
I recommend we divert them to South Beach.
Comment by Techie on 7/6 @ 1:56 pm #
Also, Cleo, you are aware of trespassing laws, correct? So, yes, it is illegal to park an RV in my yard without my permission.
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/6 @ 2:27 pm #
ha ha, yes! that’s why I live in Texas.
Comment by lee on 7/6 @ 2:38 pm #
I bet Venice Italy doesn’t have this problem. Maybe there’s an answer there somewhere?
Comment by happyfeet on 7/6 @ 2:43 pm #
scruffy street dwellers
mingle, mingle
Comment by lee on 7/6 @ 2:43 pm #
They should get the mayor of Winfield, Mo. on the line, stat!
Comment by Sean M. on 7/6 @ 2:55 pm #
I hear it’s pretty hard to park your RV in a canal.
Comment by Salt Lick on 7/6 @ 3:02 pm #
Randy Quaid does not poo on people’s lawns. He always flushes his RV system into the neighborhood curb gutters.
Comment by lee on 7/6 @ 3:07 pm #
He always flushes his RV system into the neighborhood curb gutters.
Yeah, and those gutters are the cities, not private property.
For crying out loud…
Comment by Dan Collins on 7/6 @ 3:30 pm #
Twenty years ago, I spent some good times on the Lidi near Venice and Ravenna.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 7/6 @ 4:09 pm #
“Heh….I think a bit before kissin’ him…he’s got a lip rash they haven’t identified yet….”
Comment by bill on 7/6 @ 4:21 pm #
I lived in Venice in 1971-72 and I must say the appearance of RV’s as living quarters is positive urban renewal. In those days the lumpenproletariat of Venice slept on the beach, ate sandwiches out of the Circle K dumpster and when that failed killed and ate pigeons. As long as you could muster enough for a $2 gallon of Red Mountain wine and a dollar roll of reds or white crosses you were good to go.
Comment by ProggHero on 7/6 @ 4:48 pm #
Obama=Next President
Deal with it.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/6 @ 4:54 pm #
Oh. Speaking of killing and eating pigeons. Barackonomics doesn’t have to taste gamey.
Comment by SevenEleventy on 7/6 @ 5:04 pm #
Pigeon=Squab
Comment by Radish on 7/6 @ 5:11 pm #
Same thing happened to Haight-Ashbury.
Comment by Sean M. on 7/6 @ 5:26 pm #
ProggHero=Parody
Comment by The Lost Dog on 7/6 @ 9:14 pm #
You really arean idiot
Don’t be parking your RV in my backyard.
You really are retarded, ya know?
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/6 @ 9:28 pm #
Don’t forget, TLD, “property is theft”.
Comment by XBradTC on 7/6 @ 9:41 pm #
Given that I can’t park my OWN rv IMBY, why should some asshole get to? semanticleo doesn’t seem to understand one of the factors that drives the creation of a community. People willingly CHOOSE to be a member of a community, and in so doing, agree to forego some of their wealth to pool it with others to provide for such infrastructure and services as may be needed to improve the society. Things like roads and sewers. When others come into the community, but do so in a manner calculated to take advantage of the benefits of the community while contributing little or nothing to it, it weakens the fabric of that community. Failing to punish those that do so invites more abuse of the system. And like anything else, the market responds, with those unwilling or seemingly unable to produce wealth flocking to those communities that fail to punish poor behavior. Not surprisingly, the people who did contribute to the well being of the community don’t wish to continue to do so.
Comment by The Lost Dog on 7/7 @ 12:13 am #
Wasn’t it Springsteens bus that emptied the bus tanks while going a bridge on the East River, and hit a boatload of tourists?
And by the way, I always stayed as far away as possible when they emptied those tanks. Yuck!
It smelled really shitty.
Sorry. I just couldn’t stop myself…
Comment by RTO Trainer on 7/7 @ 12:18 am #
Dave Matthews i think.
Comment by Cincinnatus on 7/7 @ 1:24 am #
Here’s an account of the bus incident.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1174437
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 7/7 @ 2:20 am #
Semanticleo = freeloader/deadbeat
- Fucking retard comes around our neighborhood with his piece of shit RV, we’d have him towed. Probably end up losing it because after a few weeks in impound the ticket to bail it out would be more than his junker was worth.
- Then we’d pop a beer and sit on the front porch and laugh at him. Shit for brains, good for nothing Progg slackers, not even worth the air they consume. Offer them a life time deferment, and they stop activism overnight, and go back to just mooching off their friends and family. Damn yellow bellies. Meh.
Comment by Rusty on 7/7 @ 4:59 am #
Most municipalities have an ordinance for how long an RV can be parked on public property. Otherwise the RV part of Huntington Beach would be wall to wall hippies.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 7/7 @ 6:35 am #
“…would be wall to wall hippies.”
- Or hip to hip wombats.
Comment by Dave in SoCal on 7/7 @ 8:34 am #
RTO is correct, it was the Dave Matthews Band bus.
Comment by Merovign on 7/7 @ 11:18 am #
If property is theft, why isn’t life murder?