Beachhead

Survey asks Venetians: How do you feel, What do you think?

A survey conducted by the Beachhead at the Abbot Kinney Festival, Sept. 25, showed declining support for Barack Obama and Bill Rosendahl, but overwhelming support for Venice Cityhood. Abbot’s Habit was voted the most popular coffee house and the Free Venice Beachhead, the most popular newspaper (of course).

It was a random, but not a scientific survey, comprised of those festival goers who wandered near enough to the Beachhead booth to snag. Here are the results for those who said they were Venice residents (less than 100):

Their average residency in Venice was 22.7 years. The best thing about Venice is the people, followed by the beach. Others mentioned the diversity, the arts, and the undeniable freakiness of Venice.

They didn’t like aspects of gentrification by a wide margin. This was followed by too many tourists, too much development, crime, trash, homelessness, helicopters, the cops, traffic and parking problems.

The most popular coffeehouse, according to the survey, is Abbot’s Habit, with 31 percent of those responding. It was followed by the Talking Stick (17%), Groundworks (14%) and scattered votes for Cafe 50s, my kitchen/front porch, French Market, Unurban, Dannys, 242 Pier, Rose Cafe, Collage, and the 7-11.

When asked who they voted for in 2008 for President, 81 percent said Barack Obama, 16 percent said Ralph Nader and 3 percent said Cynthia McKinney. But when asked who they would vote for in 2012, only 47 percent said Obama. Next was “no one” with 16 percent and “don’t know” with 13 percent. Scattered votes went to Nader, Dennis Kucinich, a socialist, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Jim Smith, and Lisa Green.

Councilmember Bill Rosendahl may be overstaying his welcome. If the election were held today 65 percent would not vote for him.

Venetians are mostly united on wanting their own city, with 81 percent saying yes, let’s do it.

The survey asked participants to rate several institutions on a scale of one to ten, with one being really good and 10 being really bad. The LAPD had the lowest ratings with a score of 7.0. The best ratings went to the Fire Dept. with a score of 4.4. In between and tied were the Neighborhood Council and the City of Los Angeles at 6.1, more bad than good.

Categories: Beachhead, Poll, Venice