———–

Who Created the iZip Mural?

 

Dear Beachhead,

I’m Claudia Morimitsu, Currie Technologies Director of Marketing. (Currie Technologies owns the IZIP Store in Venice)

I’m writing this email since I received your latest publication and saw you posted an image of the IZIP Store Mural and it says “By Jonas Never”. This is not true.

I am the real artist/designer of the IZIP Store Mural and I’m in my right to claim what I created. Where did you get the information that Jonas Never created this illustration?

I really appreciate if you can do something for me. It is not fair that another person is getting credit for something he didn’t created.

I expect to hear from someone at Free Venice Beachhead Paper as soon as possible.

Thanks!

Claudia S Morimitsu

From the Beachhead: We regret the misattribution.

———–

Mission Not Accomplished

Dear Beachhead,

Is the Santa Monica Bay healed? How much money has Heal The Bay received during Mark Gold’s 23-year presence? Is there an acceptable plan in place to finish the mission? In my opinion the answers are: No, Too much for too little in return, and No.

In Gold’s recent HTB year-end support letter, he states he saw a blue whale in a part of the Bay that two decades ago was declared a dead zone. On two recent occasions I went to the same area and didn’t any see whales. Only an abundance of plastic debris and pollution on the surface that was completely disheartening.

Weeks later he announces stepping down as HTB president and was quoted stating, “We don’t have these sewage spills that were commonplace in the 1980s.”  A week later the City of Inglewood reported a 5,000 gallon spill which entered the Ballona Creek flood control channel and closed a mile of beaches.

Another misleading accomplishment is the Beach Report Card. The January 4, 2012 report shows eighteen Fs and the fine print states: “The report is not designed to measure the amount of trash or toxins found at local beaches.” Are eighteen Fs acceptable? Aren’t toxic synthetic chemicals equally or more dangerous than bacteria, the basis for the report?

If you want to know who the real hero of the Santa Monica Bay was, that raised awareness to the dead zone and fish with tumors you should read the book “Dirty Water” by Bill Sharpsteen. Mark Gold shouldn’t be taking credit for the dedication and sacrifices of others. He also takes credit for his input in the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) process, which is significantly flawed because it takes a resource away from us without concurrently allowing artificial reef enhancement in areas outside of the MPAs, a practice that the Department of Fish and Games hasn’t continued in the Bay since the 1970s. The 2008 Santa Monica Bay Restoration Plan, an accomplishment of Gold’s that I have criticized, excluded artificial reef language entirely. Gold told me they never discussed artificial reefs. A year later he corrected himself saying they never discussed the definition of artificial reefs. Regardless, Gold and others are responsible for hindering the enhancement and subsequent recovery of bio-mass in the Bay.

SB 1381, passed in September 2002, established the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission with the mission of protection, restoration and enhancement of the Santa Monica Bay and its watershed. Furthermore, SB 1381 established “the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Account in the State Treasury, and would authorize the expenditure of moneys in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support the activities of the Commission.”

A State Treasury representative informed me that this account has never been used. What has happened is all of the money, millions of dollars have been questionably directed to the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation, a non-profit organization, similar to HTB, and whose Executive Director, Shelley Luce, is from the HTB organization and a close friend of Gold.

I see this as intentional scandalous behavior. There should be total financial transparency and there isn’t. Accountability to the public is limited, similar to HTB.

What is alarming is the State recently OK’d $6.5 Million dollars for Ballona Wetlands restoration planning to a commission and foundation which in my opinion is out of control. The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, Sierra Club, Ballona Institute, Ballona Ecosystem Education Project, Grassroots Coalition, Wetlands Defense Fund and others like myself all oppose the current alternatives that Luce and Gold have supported. It’s time for a change in leadership which will not happen without community outrage and participation.

Gold may be stepping down as president of HTB. The public needs an honest perspective of the mess he’s created and left behind.

And for the record, my father was the legendary Venice native, lifeguard, marine biologist, educator, and political activist that was known as “The Father of the Santa Monica Bay,” Dr. Rimmon C. Fay. Rim’s values and commitment to fight to restore the Bay to what it was when he was a child were epic and should be memorialized. It’s a vision I never got to see and something my children may never see without community support.

Douglas Fay