Councilman Mike Bonin addressed a full auditorium Tuesday night at the Venice Neighborhood Council.

“I’m leaving the container there for six months and then we’ll discuss it,” said Councilman Mike Bonin at the monthly Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) meet Tuesday. He was referring to the container at the paddle tennis courts at Venice Beach.

Councilman Mike Bonin gave this time line for the storage container to stay at the paddle tennis courts after discussing the two types of storage he was trying to configure.

One is the storage container for homeless going to the shelter (December to March) and the other is the voluntary storage provision for homeless to comply with the Lavin Injunction. Bonin explained that the latter is a loop hole in the Lavin Injunction that, while providing a storage program, allows the City to move items and clean the streets.

He explained the “Warn, Bag, Tag and Store” program the City has initiated. First cleanup on the beach was 6 and 7 January.

The auditorium was packed with people who did not want the container at Westminster and people who didn’t want it at the paddle courts. Mike said that of all the places, the paddle courts were furthest from residences. All the places on the list, he had checked and this was the most appropriate.

A letter had circulated throughout Venice from the Administrative Committee of VNC that President Linda Lucks had written to Mike Bonin regarding the present storage facility, which was full, and the shelter most wanted but had not yet been selected.

We find this situation untenable and respectfully request that you attend the Board meeting on Tuesday, January 21 to explain why the program cannot be moved to Westminster Senior Center, as it is an unused City building and deemed a good location for a voluntary storage program, especially since until 2 years ago served for years as the site for winter shelter pick up and drop off location and also served as home to a Safe Place for Youth.

Alex Rosales, former president of the Venice Chamber of Commerce, later spoke that the Venice Historical Society wanted the Westminster building.

Having made his decision, Bonin went on to talk about the homeless.

“We all must move on beyond managing the problem and get to solving it,” he said. “We must build more affordable housing. We must have more law enforcement here. Homelessness is not just black and white.

“Venice is changing,” he said. “It is more creative, more talented, more concerned, and has a more creative spirit. Let’s put all this together and come up with ideas. I will work with you. It is much better together. I answer all my emails. My email address is mike.bonin@lacity.org.

“But it must be a civil discourse,” he ended.