Open up that can of ass-whoop
While attending a Venice Taxpayers League meeting some three weeks ago, I received a surprise: a nomination to join the board. I wasn't even a member of the league.

While I have fought shoulder-to-shoulder with VTL prez Herb Levine on a number of issues over the past few years, I also have disagreed with a few of the league's tenets. For one thing, I happen to think that not all development is a bad thing, although I believe that the way we have been doing it in Venice is goofy at best. I also believe that tourism is a good thing and should be heavily promoted, something that Levine clearly disdains and says so in a column he submitted to venfl.com for publication.

On the issues of corruption in city hall, however, the Taxpayers League and I are in solid agreement. Because I had wanted to keep some distance between myself and the VTL so as to keep some semblance of journalistic objectivity (yeah, right), I had refrained in the past from joining their ranks formally. This is, however, a unique form of journalism that I currently engage in, a participatory/activist form that owes a heavy debt to Hunter S. Thompson's 'gonzo' style of chronicling current events. Moreover, I have been painted by City Manager George Hunt as a VTL member so successfully that any distance now between myself and the VTL apparently exists only in my mind. So, somewhat reluctantly, I accepted the nomination.

Immediately after accepting the nomination, Levine handed me a bill for my new membership dues. Sunuva biscuit, the guy doesn't miss a trick.

I do find it incredibly ironic that within weeks of formally joining their ranks, I find my photo on the front page of the local newspaper as the victim of yet another VTL/city head-on collision in the form of an ass-whoopin' at the hands of a city-appointed official. More on this a little later.

Levine's lawsuit(?)
A little over a year ago, Levine was arrested at a city hall meeting after being involved in a three-way name-calling spat between Levine, then-Vice Mayor Jim Myers and City Manager George Hunt. While the arrest was subsequently thrown out of court before it even came before a judge, Levine, who was 75 years old at the time, suffered a separated tendon in his shoulder from being yanked out of his chair and having Joe Slapp's thumb jacked up high and hard into his armpit. To this day, Levine complains of residual pain from the incident.

While several members of council have disputed the injuries, the plain fact is that Levine had done nothing illegal that warranted an arrest. Nobody should have ever laid a hand on him to begin with. Period.

Levine filed proper legal papers through his attorney, Peter Baranowicz, indicating his intent to sue the city. Subsequent rumors surfaced, indicating that he would also sue some of the city employees who clearly fabricated events in their signed and sworn affidavits. Levine has not denied the rumors. There were quite a few that could be accused of such fabrications -- recorded audio of the arrest clearly disputes a number of strange allegations made in signed criminal affidavits against Levine, affidavits that were sworn to by more than a couple of city hall employees.

Baranowicz appears to be approaching the Levine case with all of the due speed of a deceased turtle. Several phone calls to his office from this web site over the past few months have gone unanswered. While Levine has stated he is prodding the attorney to get moving on the case, I haven't even been able to determine firsthand that Baranowicz even shows up at his office -- every time I call to inquire on the status of the case, he's either supposedly on another line or he's out of the office, and I haven't been able to speak with Baranowicz himself over the past two to three months or so.

"Just a bunch of whiners" -- E.G. 'Dan' Boone
At a recent council meeting, local attorney and political power-broker E.G. 'Dan' Boone lamented the current state of political affairs in the city, stating that all that the Taxpayers League do is whine and complain. Actually, he used the name 'Tax League,' a deliberate attempt at taunting, while gloating about his bought-and-paid-for election results.

Seven days later, I find myself getting physically knocked around by a city-appointed official for doing a bit of legitimate fact-finding. Police are called. Reports are filled out. Gawkers line the streets. Parts of my body are photographed for evidence. My dog, who at some point could have made some attempt at protecting me, ends up cowering in my car. Great watchdog, that one. Yeeesh.

Gee Dan, I can't imagine why the VTL are such whiners. By the way, when was the last time you were knocked onto your ass while participating in this great democratic process? While I can think of a few folks within the walls of city hall who probably wouldn't mind seeing it happen, the fact that you appear to be Yoda's separated-at-birth evil twin has more than a few convinced that physically attacking you would probably not be a good idea. May the Force be with you and all that.

That's two attorneys that I've insulted. I may be on a roll here.

My thoughts on Foglietta, the VHA and Grove Terrace
I put the police report online so that folks could get a read of what happened recently at Grove Terrace between VHA Chairman Joe Foglietta and myself. The Gondolier accurately reported the story in their 11/15/03 edition. Yes I'm fine, my dog Amos is OK, we just got knocked around a bit. My camera suffered a few scratches, it still works seemingly perfectly. My back is still sore from the hard landing on the pavement, but I'm otherwise quite fine.

As to why I was taking pictures of Foglietta's car, yes there was a legitimate reason for doing so and no, I am not prepared to discuss it publicly. I shared my reasons with the police at the time and they seemed satisfied.

Foglietta states in the papers that when he saw me taking pictures, he didn't know who I was. Complete and utter bullcrap. I had met Foglietta several times prior to the current fracas between us, I had photographed him and even briefly questioned him at previous VHA meetings. When Foglietta approached me on the day I was shooting pictures, he asked me if I knew who he was. I replied, "I know who you are, Joe, and you know who I am." Foglietta responded, "Yeah, you're that web guy."

Other than that, I am not prepared to comment further about the incident at this time.

Curiously, the day after the altercation, Foglietta was spotted parked in front of my house, opening his car door and preparing to get out of his vehicle. Former city council candidate Gary Anderson was driving by when he spotted Foglietta in front of my house, so he stopped to say hello to Foglietta. According to Anderson, Foglietta slammed the car door shut and floored the accelerator. A police report was subsequently filed to document the incident. Foglietta reportedly denied being anywhere in the area at the time, this according to a newspaper reporter who asked him about it.

For the record, I didn't see Foglietta in front of my house and didn't know anything about it until Anderson told me what he had seen. Anderson thought it was hysterical: "You should have seen the look on his face when I said, 'Hi, Joe.' What do they say in that credit card ad? Priceless!"

There is some humor in all of this. I attended the VHA board meeting on the evening of the 13th, hours after my run-in with Foglietta. As Vice-Mayor Rick Tacy arrived, Tacy and I engaged in a few friendly verbal jabs. Tacy zinged me with "We were all rooting for him [Foglietta], but then he had to spoil a good thing by kicking your dog."

Now I like Tacy, and Tacy was merely responding to a humorous jab I had just given him, so don't take what he said the wrong way. I thought Tacy's comment was pretty funny -- it was within the context of two guys talking and cracking off on each other in fun. Tacy followed it up with a more serious comment: "As much of a pain in the ass as you can be, there is no justification for what happened here today," to which I offer no argument.

I found Tacy's candor and good humor refreshing. The incident with Foglietta happened earlier the same day, and it was good to finally be able to laugh about it. The plain fact is, I can be a royal pain in the ass, especially to government officials. That's not a bad thing, and Tacy was not implying otherwise.

Foglietta declares war on the Mitchells
What I didn't find funny was Foglietta's comments about residents during the subsequent meeting.  Claiming that residents were stirring up trouble and making bogus accusations, Foglietta singled out Willie Mitchell and his sister Gwen: "We do have a few things cooking against those two, and I can't talk about specifics, but when the hammer falls, it'll fall against those two first."

Foglietta made the comments while sitting next to George Hunt at the VHA meeting. Hunt remained silent, offering no objection to Foglietta's statement.

Willie Mitchell is employed by the city. Willie Mitchell had moved back in to Grove Terrace after watching with dismay the deterioration of the community.

Gwen Mitchell (shown at right, with George Hunt, at a recent residents' council meeting) is the head of the residents' council, and has been vocal about her opposition to Foglietta's presence in the community ever since Foglietta's famed mushroom debacle: after learning that mushrooms were growing out of the floors in some of the units, Foglietta stated at a board meeting, "Hey, if they're good, cook 'em."

Nice. Very nice.

I was at the VHA meeting when Foglietta made the comment, and I don't think it would be possible for me to be more shocked. Before I could even think about it, I slammed my hand down onto a table and rose up to holler, only to immediately realize that I had no right to speak -- I was only an audience member. Before anyone had the chance to tell me to sit down and be quiet, I did so. I sat through the rest of the meeting fuming, in total disbelief of what I had just heard.

In the days following the mushroom comment, Gwen Mitchell put together a petition for the removal of Foglietta, then-VHA Chairman Joe Venuti and VHA secretary Marge McKenna, a petition that was signed by 24 residents. McKenna has since been fired, Venuti is in the process of being ousted, and...

and...

Foglietta was promoted to VHA board chairman.

Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

Gwen Mitchell stated that Foglietta's recent comments about bringing the hammer down on her and her brother were an attempt at revenge for her activities in the residents' council.

Foglietta's rage at the Mitchells couldn't be dumber. The Mitchell family goes back to the origins of Venice, they are a living archive of history. Moreover, Gwen has gained cult-hero status within the city's small African-American community as an outspoken vocal activist for civil rights. By taking aim at the Mitchells, Foglietta has idiotically taken aim at every African-American in the area with a splatter effect on anyone else in town that has a social conscience.

This is not a good thing. This is not a good thing at all. This is just what we don't need, a good old-fashioned 1960's-style civil rights race war.

Ummmm..... anyone at city hall -- are you paying attention?