By Nick Antonicello
If one is seeking comedic satire, try digesting Councilman Mike Bonin’s TWITTER feed.
The “status quo” as acknowledged by most is the current political or social condition.
In effect, the way things are in the present, in real time.
The existing state of affairs so to speak!
And while the good councilman drones on about urgent responses to homelessness when in fact bureaucracies like LA city government are barely able to get out of its own way, Mike Bonin sees himself as some reformer who is not part of the problem, but part of a solution that has escaped him for nearly a decade.
For what has Mike done in his near-decade of elected office or in particular during his extended stay term of nearly five and a half years and some $500,000 later in earning and benefits to make things better?
The answer is nothing at all.
I mean pick your topic, homelessness, crime, property values or the quality of life issues that plague the voters of the 11th council district.
For in Bonin’s worldview, his time in office and his inability to solve any of the issues mentioned here don’t apply to him as he incredibly sees himself as not part of a status quo he has created.
Why is that and does anyone else view this the same way as our myopic councilman?
And while Bonin is at least correct to point out change his slow and expensive, does one give Bonin a pass on say the issue of homelessness that has spun out of control on his watch only to see him try to take credit for cleaning up the boardwalk when it was him who created the problem in the first place?
Do you thank an arsonist who decides to put out the fire that was set by his actions?
Let’s take the issue of unbridled RV’s (recreational vehicles) and other oversized vans and buses alike that are proliferating at warp speed along Rose, Main, Venice and Washington Boulevards.
Vehicles that not only consume valuable parking spaces, but have no ability to move with flat tires, or have no tires at all, sitting cinder blocks that have become encampments with unsanitary conditions so unlivable that these locales are now littered in urine and feces that attract not only roaches and mice, but rats as well.
Why is it that the most residential streets are required to be cleaned and cars removed for that purpose while some of Venice’s most prevalent arteries are now hostage to this invasion of vehicles that in many cases have no insurance or liability and are now permanent housing that go uninspected and are somehow above the law?
For why is there a set of rules and guidelines for residents who respect the community while this new population of “neighbors” have no respect for others much less themselves and why is the rest of Venice being forced to tolerate these ghettos on wheels?
For Mike Bonin is not only a council member earning some $300,000 annually, which is more than Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom and every other governor in the other forty-nine states, he also serves as the chairman of the council’s transportation committee that seemingly is just fine with RV’s becoming mobile slums that are now no longer mobile and immune from the basic traffic enforcement rules and regulations the rest of us most adhere too as responsible citizens of Dog Town.
For there are no traffic violations or tickets for this urban decay on wheels, but God forbid you overstay your welcome when that street sweeper cleans your block.
For yes, after serving nearly a decade in elective office, there is no scenario or excuse that absolves Mike Bonin by definition as not only being part of the status quo, but the very problem itself.
The author is a member of the Parking, Outreach, Oceanfront Walk and Rules & Selections Committee of the Venice Neighborhood Council (www.venicenc.org) and can be reached at (310) 621-3775 or via e-mail at nantoni@mindspring.com
