Friday, 27 June, 3rd Avenue at Rose, east side. The Sanitation department was scheduled to clean up 3rd. Update was on 3rd Avenue when talking with Cecilia Castillo, Venice field deputy for Councilman Bonin. Update asked Cecilia if cleanup crew was going to do 3rd as planned. Told her it didn’t look like it had been done.

Al, who is a resident of 3rd said they hadn’t come. It didn’t look like they had but in parts of the actual street, it looked like it had been swept. Street was so bad; it was hard to tell if anyone had done anything.

Al went further to say that one homeless guy last month, the May cleanup, refused to allow the Sanitation Department to do the work unless they, the people who lived on street, could have the chemical Sanitation Department uses to sanitize, analyzed.

The people who live there should be so grateful to have the City do what they do-use bleach and water where homeless have spilled food and defecated.

Tuesday, 8 July, 3rd Avenue at Rose, east side. Avenue, both sides, were a disaster but it looked like the east side was a designated trash area. Talked to gentleman sitting in his SUV enjoying a goblet half filled with what looked like red wine. Question to him was: What in the world is going on here?

Mr. J said he didn’t know what was happening. He can sleep in his vehicle now but doesn’t sleep on 3rd. Mr.J, who was pleasant to talk with, hails from North Carolina but doesn’t have enough money for gas to get home. He takes odd jobs around town. He seemed relatively adjusted and content with his life in his SUV but did admit it was hard to stretch his body out in back of SUV. He was hoping to be able to buy a van soon.

Mr. J said the word is out: Venice accepts the homeless. Go to Venice. It is a place homeless can feel at home.

Saturday, 12 July, 3rd Avenue at Rose, east side. Looks like the same stuff only spread out more.

Notice posted on tree says public area will be cleaned, starting 7 am Monday, 14 July.

Notice
Notice reminds all that personal belongings, including bulky items should be removed. All bulky items, personal belongings, not removed, will be bagged, tagged and stored for 90 days and can be retrieved during that time by the owner. Trash and other items that pose a threat to public health and safety will be removed.

This effort, the notice states, is designed to clean, improve and maintain a safe environment for the general public. The City may use power wash and street cleaning equipment to clean and disinfect the sidewalks, alleys, parks, and other public access areas.

Update asked Mr. J why in the world wouldn’t a homeless person want his area clean. Why aren’t the homeless grateful for a relatively safe place to sleep? And in gratitude why don’t they keep it clean. Leon, of yesterday, kept it clean. There was another guy who did so also. Mr. J just shook his head.

Councilman Mike Bonin has vowed to keep the Venice Beach Recreation Area and 3rd Avenue sanitary. He started a procedure to have it cleaned. At first it was twice a month and didn’t include 3rd Avenue. It has since been cut to once a month and includes 3rd Avenue.

Update watched the second clean up. The guys in white were totally hampered by the attorneys, headed by Carol Sobol, and the homeless advocates. Sobol and the advocates kept telling the Sanitation Department men in white what to do and how to do it. It would have been nice had all groups gotten together prior to cleanup to determine a satisfactory procedure. Since that second cleanup, some of the homeless advocates have appeared and tried to talk to homeless about what is required.

According to Al, the cleanup on 3rd didn’t happen in May and it apparently didn’t happen in June.

Monday
So Monday! Looks like the stuff at the corner is stuff to be tossed. But it would save all a lot of time, if it were designated as such. There is such a burden on the Sanitation workers not to destroy something of value. They are yelled at by the homeless, by the homeless advocates, and by their bosses.

It would be nice if homeless advocates could check a head of time and then tell the Sanitation workers that “this stuff” is trash. Sanitation workers really do not want to go thru all that stuff. For example: Is a bicycle tire trash or not? It is there with the trash. Are the books trash? That would help all concerned. A little cooperation and assistance from the homeless advocates would make things so much easier for all.

Update sees no reason for the homeless, the homeless advocates, and those cleaning the stuff to not work together to get the place clean.

Update wrote to Deborah LaShever, a homeless advocate who is one of the more cooperative and more open to ideas, about educating the homeless about cleaning up after themselves. It was worded poorly and didn’t really express properly the thoughts desired. Understand her point and her answer was as follows:

Bonin will give us no trash cans (evidently the city is rationing them, at least that is what he told me) nor bathrooms. When David Busch put his own bathroom there–that he took care of every day–he got arrested under the same law that makes public urination illegal. Talk to Bonin. We can do only so much without any resources.

We have gone down there many times to help clean up but then where do you put the trash that you gather?

People blame the homeless but what would you do without trashcans or bathrooms? That is why we get so frustrated! We are trying to get trashcans for the trash. Denied. Toilets. Denied. A larger storage program so we can get the stuff off the street without $7500 per sweep being spent. Denied.

She was queried again as to why didn’t a group go down daily or frequently and pick stuff up in boxes and then dispose of it. Have not heard back. But even homeless advocates can’t spend their days cleaning up after the homeless.

It doesn’t seem to be a win-win situation at present.