The Good Ol' Taxpayers Silent Majority Club
-- Herb Levine, 05/25/03
-- lev.herb@comcast.net

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The Venice Gondolier Sun's editorial of February 8th denied any control by a "good ol' boy" network on city council's decision making process, but admitted that there are "people in Venice who have a lot of influence with city council."

A good pair of eyeglasses would cure that writer's naivete.

And then along comes a column by Venice's number one developer, Mike Miller. He not only discloses that there is a "good ol' boys club," but admits to being one of its members.

Duh!

He claims that that the "good ol' boys" and members of various other clubs that are in the area are the "backbone" of our city. Sorry, but I thought the average citizen / taxpayer / retiree was the real backbone of Venice.

I wonder if the "good ol' boys" do all the good things they do, including financially backing their hand-picked candidates for city council, because they want to do the right thing or because it's good for business for them.

Mr. Miller goes on to explain that he wanted to build on the Harbor Drive sewage treatment plant site for the good of the city [a prime shoreline plot of land on the island half of Venice and the subject of a so-far successful Save The Beach campaign that has been a high profile news item recently - ed.].

Double duh!

But Mike Miller isn't the only member of that club. Another member owns a restaurant near the beach and uses public, city-owned parking at the jetty to serve his business interests. He also wanted to open a saloon a while back, but lacked the parking places on the location he selected. City hall held staff meeting after staff meeting, over and over again, trying to figure out a way to treat a member of the "good ol' boys" fairly.

All of these meetings must have cost the city a lot of both time and money, but the city manager didn't complain, not even for dramatic effect.  Alleys and city property were traded back and forth until the required number of parking places magically appeared. [City Manager] George Hunt came up with a really great reason for helping out a "good ol' boy:" it was done to beautify a run down area.

That exact reason was again used when another "good ol' boy" was given the OK to build a 105-foot tall condo tower downtown. To beautify the area.

Triple duh!

I was unaware of how many rundown areas can be found when the right moment arises.

One of council's friends, a club member in good standing, recently addressed council during audience participation. Council was reminded that their primary allegiance was to the Chamber of Commerce and several other organizations in the area. Venice's taxpayers were not mentioned.

No one called him a hyena or demanded his arrest.

Lately there has been a glimmer of hope. A few council members are starting to listen to the "good ol' taxpayers."

We hope Mr. Hunt can grab that idea also, but if he cannot, then it is high time for a change in the administration in the City of Venice.

Vedder wasn't buying it: "I have found the 'good ol' boys' seem to be people who have contributed unselfishly of their time, talent and money for the betterment of the city but who irritate others. I certainly have been critical of things that people who are a part of this group have done. Incidentally, I am one."

In the lengthy article, Vedder went on to cite what he felt were significant contributions to the community made by developer Mike Miller, land development attorneys Jeff and Steve Boone, investment broker Scott Pinkerton and the Taylor family, owners of the massive area of land known as Taylor Ranch.

An example: "The Boones, for instance, have touched many great things in our community -- a heck of a lot more than all the Taxpayer's League members combined."

Much later in the same article: "This group has helped build a new Venice Art Center, a new Venice Little Theatre, a new Loveland, a new library in the Jacaranda area."

The printed dialog between Vedder and Levine is a defining and crystallizing moment. The two articles clearly define the philosophical and political differences between two opposing forces. Read together, they give a tremendous amount of insight into the partisan factionalism that wars within a supposedly non-partisan city government.

Ideally, this page was to place Levine's and Vedder's articles side by side with little to no commentary, just let the two of them duke it out. However, Vedder's article cannot be linked to, as the Gondolier did not place it online. That meant securing permission to reprint it.

The Gondolier, as is their right, refused a request to reprint the article in its entirety.

While The Gondolier has no plans to reprint the article online on their own web, copies are available at both local libraries here in Venice.