VENICE – Merchants who have relied on sales to people who frequented larger special events – notably Howard Alan-hosted arts festivals – are still hopeful that the city of Venice will greenlight larger gatherings, but Assistant City Manager Len Bramble said the risks of COVID-19 still are too great.
“In our heads and our hearts, we’re not ready yet,” Bramble said Friday afternoon, when asked about the prospect after participating in a small and socially distanced unveiling of an interactive sea turtle sculpture at Venice Beach.
“Really, we spent a good amount of time comparing statistics and other things between Dec. 8, when the city last evaluated this, and we had to say ‘no’ then, to now,” he continued on Friday. “Yesterday was the most recent data.”
Communication has gone dead
At the Oct. 27 meeting, Commissioner Penny Taylor told the county commission and audience she wanted 90 days to go through this plan with United Arts Council in collaboration and to work on this.
Asked if she had called the UAC, with whom she told commissioners she would work collaboratively on the changes, Taylor said, Oh, my goodness, yes. They still owe me a call, Taylor said. They definitely had conversations but they just didn t follow up.
Burns, however, said she absolutely did not receive any communication from Taylor after the Oct. 27 meeting.
Taylor said she worked with county officials and the plan s Florida-based consultants from The Cultural Planning Group to make changes over the 90 days. She said they talked with other counties or municipal districts with arts plans about their governance. All of those, she said, use a person or organization as executor that does not raise money from the same sources arts groups