Monday, October 27, 2008
Group practice
Last month there was discussion about group practice Wednesday evenings at 6:30. Unfortunately I was never able to make the practice. Has it continued? With it getting dark by 6:30, any type of group practice would need to be in a well-lit area. Has the group practice continued? Any thoughts about continuing, changing, etc.?
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Since I was out of town for 2 weeks, I did not know whether the group was continuing to meet.
It is now Wednesday and I am not planning to attend tonight; HOWEVER since I now am teaching at Spectrum again at 10AM-- missing the advanced class-- I am VERY interested in continuing the weeknight practice (at any time or day) so I can stay even with the group on the advanced class practice (sword, push hands, etc.).
Let's agree on a winter time (earlier?) and day and continue to meet.
The roundabout at the Palisades Avenue roundabout has lighting and is very good footing. It is convenient for Kate, Anton, Nikki, etc. I will come down from Topanga next week if we can agree to keep it going. I could probably make it by 6PM if that helps.
...other thoughts?
I've only attended one practice at the cirle and thought it was a good location. We might have a problem using the current location as there's an article in today's (10/30/08)L.A. Times California section about the Santa Monica police hassling people exercising in median areas. There is a lighted area between the tennis courts at Clover Park that would work. Nikki and Anton conduct a kettlebell calss there on Tuesdays and it works well.
I would like to resume the group practice, and am open to either location. If there's light, I'd say either 6 or 6:30 would work well. Clover Park has the advantage of being a park and not a median (I thought about the little roundabout when I saw the article about police warning median exercise groups).
Clover Park is OK for me at 6:30 AM on Saturdays but might be a chore at 6:00 PM on a weekday because of rush hour traffic (I usually use the freeway). I think that the median article was specific to the stair-climbing at the Channel Road/Adelaide area... also, most other groups yell, bring equipment, and generally make more of a ruckus... I don't think 4-6 people quietly doing Tai Chi is what they were referring to.
I am friendly with the Frescos who live at 514 Palisades Ave. I will call them to see if they have heard anything. I think we could practice there and see if we get a warning from the police; we could then move to another location.
Another alternate location is the beach at Temescal Canyon. Some of us used to meet Sifu there. You can park on Temescal to avoid the parking fees; once on the beach there is a large concrete "platform"-- actually the covering for a giant storm drain-- with the lifeguard tower at the end that is ideal for practice. It is usually breezy in the afternoons, calming toward evening, bracing, salty, and beautiful. There is some lighting.
Let's continue the discussion...
Follow up on Santa Monica law enforcement--
I did some research and it turns out that there are signs up at the Adelaide location that say "jogging or walking only"; people were getting ticketed for dropping to the ground for crunches/pushups where the signs were posted. The signs were posted in the median and the sidewalk was technically OK. One TV report specifically mentioned that Tai Chi would be OK but laying down for Yoga would not.
The citations were also issued because of very crowded conditions at the popular "Santa Monica Stairway" area.
It is still not clear what the City will ultimately do... they can't be constantly ticketing athletes but the homeowners have rights. One guy allowed himself to get arrested so there will be a test case on November 11th and the City says they should figure out a compromise policy by January.
In the meantime, I think we are OK at Palisades Ave.
It sounds like using the roundabout on Palisades Ave should be ok. Should we try Wednesday at either 6 or 6:30?
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