William Hawkins’ 50th birthday bash and there was no room for the band on land so the band performed from the barge. That is until the barge took on water … oops. That’s Mike Newhouse warming up and waiting for the other members of his band.
Mike Newhouse has been appointed to the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission by Mayor Eric Garcetti to fill the position vacated by the resignation of Thomas M. Donovan. Newhouse will serve the term ending 30 June 2017, subject to confirmation of the City Council.
Newhouse is president emeritus of the Venice Neighborhood Council and chair of the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils (WRAC), a coalition of all 13 Los Angeles Neighborhood and Community Councils on the Westside of Los Angeles.
Newhouse is an attorney with Newhouse Seroussi. He has been voted a Super Lawyer “Rising Star” by his peers and Los Angeles Magazine for the past five years. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California (B.A. 1996) and the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (J.D. 2000).
(Photo courtesy of Nick Antonicello.)
Daryl Barnett addresses the audience Thursday morning to dedicate the Irving Tabor Court parking lot on Abbot Kinney Blvd. Left to right are three city employees who worked on getting the parking lot completed, Councilman Mike Bonin, Daryl Barnett, Venice Neighborhood Council President Mike Newhouse, President of the Venice Chamber of Commerce Carl Lambert, and former longtime resident of Abbot Kinney Carol Tantau.
The parking lot has permeable pavement, meters for paid parking, lighting, landscaping, and a permeable wall. In addition to meters, the new 66 spaces have striping and bumpers. The lot added 66 spaces for Abbot Kinney.
With the 4th of July approaching, I got to thinking about what makes America, and Venice, great and how we can make our community and Country even better. Most of us have heard of “One-Percent for the Planet” and similar pledges. In a nutshell, businesses, or individuals, pledge to donate 1% of their profits or income to organizations that work to protect and preserve our environment. A worthy pledge, no doubt, but I’d like to suggest a twist; “One-Percent for Venice”.
However, I’m not talking about donating 1% of profits or income to Venice based causes. While doing so, if possible, is certainly worthwhile and important, I am suggesting that all Venetians pledge to donate at least 1% of our time to Venice. Broken out, on average, that’s volunteering approximately 24 minutes a day, 2.8 hours a week, or 11-12 hours a month in our community. We can all do that.
In a time where budgets are not addressing community’s needs, and maybe never will, such a community wide pledge is our best bet for finding the people power we need to tackle some important issues in Venice. For example, Venice has some pressing infrastructure issues that need addressing, now. Our sidewalks are in disrepair, tree trimming is badly neglected, our alleys are almost un-driveable, there is too much trash on the streets, animal and human waste are not regularly cleaned, and graffiti is not removed in a timely basis.
With our wealth of experience in Venice, it is easy to envision some folks volunteering their time to raise money for these projects, others coordinating and administering the projects, and yet others providing the labor for the projects. In fact, many organizations, including the Venice Neighborhood Council and Venice Chamber of Commerce are already set up to help facilitate, and partially fund, such community improvement projects. Likewise, the LAPD and Councilman Bonin’s office would no doubt be more than happy to put us to work.
Of course, in addition to infrastructure, children need mentoring. Building on existing programs to mentor our youth in music, arts, sports, languages, and other important subjects would also be a fantastic use of volunteer efforts. And, having our children grow up being mentored by their own neighbors would instill an appreciation of volunteerism in them that would hopefully stay with them for life.
One-Percent for Venice could also be an excellent opportunity to assist organizations working with our homeless community. Not only could this be a great way to help those in need, but it could also be a great way to create volunteer opportunities for the homeless to help themselves, their friends, and their community. Working with organizations that provide such assistance, while building self-worth, would go a long ways towards helping to alleviate issues related to homelessness in Venice.
No doubt, many of us are already giving this much of our time and a lot more. But, imagine what we could do as a community if we all took this pledge. The possibilities
are limitless.