Boardwalk Strollers Scrawl on Scroll

Call them the Venice Beach Scrolls.

Two weeks ago, community activist Jerry Rubin set up a 1,000-foot blank scroll on Ocean Front Walk so passersby could jot down their thoughts on boardwalk renovation plans.

To date, thousands have done so--in a jumble of multicolored phrases and signatures inscribed with felt-tip markers that Rubin supplied.

Among the offerings: “No brickheads making plans for Venice Beach,” “Don’t maul Venice Beach,” “Save Planet Venice” and “Don’t *&% With Venice.”

Rubin says that, as of last weekend, half of a second scroll, 1,300 feet long, had been completed.

“We thought this was a very Venice way, a creative and artistic way to write a petition,” said Rubin, who plans to present the documents to city officials. “We tell people to just close their eyes and kneel, and then think of what they want to see and what they don’t want to see.”

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GUNS AND BUTTER: President Clinton’s health care plan is in limbo, but that doesn’t mean it will hurt Rep. Jane Harman (D-Rolling Hills) in her reelection race.

She has yet to throw her support behind any plan.

“It’s another opportunity for her to demonstrate her independence,” campaign spokesman Roy Behr said. He added that Harman will “oppose anything that will hurt business.”

Harman has been discussing health care with a group of advisers--dubbed the Medicine Cabinet--from the largely coastal 36th District, which stretches from San Pedro to Venice. But her Republican opponent, Rancho Palos Verdes Councilwoman Susan Brooks, said the incumbent was “waiting to be told (which way to vote).”

Brooks supports a health care bill co-authored by Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield), and requiring employers to offer insurance but not to pay for it. It also provides subsidies to workers with low incomes.

The two candidates’ positions are crystal clear on the recently passed crime bill. Harman called it a victory for “law enforcement over special interests.” Brooks called it a “big city payoff” that will mean little for South Bay communities.