See 2 December issue of Venice Update.

Kip Pardue to Councilman Mike Bonin, 3 December
It is very tough to wrap my head around what is going on. Every single LAPD officer I speak with – all of whom have gone way above and beyond for me and my family – wants to clean up Venice. You continue to bang a drum of clearing Venice of the “scumbags” and “criminals” (your words) who brazenly break laws and threaten residents, including the one who broke into my home just 5 days ago. There is constant desire for someplace “for these people to go” which, thanks to you and taxpayer dollars, is provided by the vaunted Westside Winter Shelter. You even publicly and proudly provide a bus for this service so they can travel back and forth to terrorize us further.

You publicly and proudly offer them a storage locker so they can store their belongings overnight in our neighborhood. There are regular food giveaways and sleeping bag donations. You and the Social Service System in Venice have provided EVERYTHING – all of the carrots. Yet you fail to give them any incentive to leave. There are zero “sticks” to finish the metaphor.

Just look at what I woke up to just this morning – knowing full well that someone broke into my home this past weekend. Image was not available. There were two people in the tent and moments before there was another group just to their left. That is 30 feet from my front door. Also not pictured: the odor of urine.

IF THERE IS ONE BED AVAILABLE at the Westside Winter shelter, there should be “zero tolerance” policing (again, YOUR WORDS) going on. Everyone who is sleeping on the streets of Venice while beds are available (and transportation provided, both to and fro) is here WILLFULLY and therefore is not “homeless,” they are criminal. They have zero desire to get off the streets and should be dealt with as such.

Jason Teague to Kip Pardue and all
What has happened to you and your wife is absolutely terrifying, and completely unacceptable. The crime brought to our community by our new transient neighbors has hit an all time high, and the amount of violent crime is astronomical compared to the past.

The famed “Venice tolerance” is being exploited like never before. Our once small and relatively inert homeless population is now providing cover for an enormous and ever-growing group of criminals, addicts, and generally unstable folks, who look to exploit our “carrots” to no end.

At the same time, the “sticks” that have been available to our law enforcement in the past have been taken away.

Carol Sobel, the Jones Settlement, and the Lavan decision have hamstrung the Council Office and LAPD with so much red tape that they have just thrown their hands up.

The situation is very simple: they will allow the transient situation to get worse and worse until the Community as a whole gets together and just says “No!”

As it stands now, as far as the Council Office is concerned, the “Community” consists of the Venice Beachhead crowd, who complain vociferously that we are not doing enough for the “un-housed.”

Crimes should be overlooked because we are not understanding enough of their plight. Their anger and aggression is our fault for the socio-economic position that we have put them in. Public defecation should be allowed because we do not provide enough restrooms. Drug dealing should be allowed because it is the only income stream that we have left for them. The LAPD should be kept out of Venice entirely.

THESE are the arguments that Councilman Bonin hears every day. Very, very, rarely does he hear anything like what Kip and a few others have brought forward lately.

From the perspective of the Council Office, the majority of Venetians completely support the transients. If this is not the case, it is YOUR JOB to let them know.

When Councilman Bonin is convinced that he has the Community behind him, he will be empowered to correct the situation. Until you all find the time in your day to write, call, and attend community meetings, your options are to deal with it or get out.

I met with the Councilman on Monday to discuss the situation.

In my opinion, I believe that we have finally hit a tipping point. The violent crime and disgusting filth that has blanketed Venice seems to finally have caught the attention of the silent majority, and they have begun to speak up. In the interest of basic self-preservation, people seem to be getting around their guilt and lethargy.

While there is no simple solution to this mess, I wanted to discuss one possible solution scenario with the Councilman. To my delight, he seemed to accept my suggestions with enthusiasm and positivity. This is what I suggested:

1. First, the Community in support of change needs to speak up. In order to act, the Councilman needs to have us strongly behind him. Do anything and everything in your power– write, call, make an appointment. Let the Council Office know that things have gone too far, and everything needs to change.=

2. The Jones Settlement and the Lavan Decision are driving the ability of the transients to sleep and store their belongings on our sidewalks. This is all predicated upon the inability of the City of Los Angeles to provide Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) for the homeless that are truly in need of our help. WE NEED TO BUILD THESE UNITS NOW. As long as there are people out there who actually want a roof over their heads and cannot get one, Sobel can keep not only them, but the violent transients that lurk amongst them, right on your doorsteps.

3. In order to actually get this housing built, we need to do it ourselves. By most accounts, there are about 200 chronically homeless who reside full time in Venice. This is a very manageable number. I have personally offered my resources and services to the Councilman to help build these units RIGHT NOW, in Venice. The Councilman has offered to work with me to identify City owned lots in Venice, and contribute them, in order to help the cause. What I will also need is his assistance in entitling the parcels with higher and more dense buildings, with very little required parking. Homeless people do not need parking spaces in Venice, because the costs involved render the projects infeasible. They will have to rely on public transportation until they get back on their feet. All of these entitlements will be in direct conflict with the Venice Specific Plan, and we will all just have to get over that.

4. The Winter Shelter will serve as housing, until permanent housing can be completed. It has unused beds nearly every night, and it will serve as a safe and sheltered place to sleep in the interim, for those who need a place to sleep. It needs to be promoted to its potential clients. They need to know that the sidewalk isn’t the only option.

5. The LAPD needs to be tasked with immediate and merciless enforcement of the Jones Settlement. Sleeping is ONLY allowed on the sidewalks between the hours of 9 PM to 6 AM. Public defecation is illegal. Public urination is illegal. Public indecency is illegal. Public intoxication is illegal. While in the process of citing transient offenders, the officers will also be tasked with informing the offender of his or her legal sleeping options. Repeat offenders will be arrested and incarcerated. It will be made crystal clear that the party is over, and it is time to seek help or move on.

6. Venice already has more low-income and affordable housing than any other community on the Westside. Once we have provided additional housing for our small homeless population, we can sweep out the remaining criminals with a clean conscience. Additionally, the Councilman will have political cover for his enforcement actions. His building accomplishments will counter the Beachhead push back on his perceived lack of sympathy.

This solution is neither clean nor quick, but it is all that I can come up with. I am willing to play may part, and anyone else who cares about Venice should be willing to pitch in, if only with loud and unwavering support.

The Councilman has promised me a meeting with his Planning Guru Tricia Keene within the next week to discuss details and process. I welcome any suggestions and/ or support in getting this process started.

Thanks, and don’t give up on Venice just yet.

Mark Ryavec to Jason Teague and all
I applaud your engagement in this issue and much of your proposal, though I believe you are setting far too high a bar that in the end will be unattainable for many years, leaving Venice residents to continue to involuntarily be exposed to criminal and occasionally lethal behavior of the campers.

I would suggest the following amendments to your plan:

1. Put full enforcement into effect now –

The LAPD needs to be tasked with immediate and merciless enforcement of the Jones Settlement. Sleeping is ONLY allowed on the sidewalks between the hours of 9 PM to 6 AM. Public defecation is illegal. Public urination is illegal. Public indecency is illegal. Public intoxication is illegal. While in the process of citing transient offenders, the officers will also be tasked with informing the offender of his or her legal sleeping options. Repeat offenders will be arrested and incarcerated. It will be made crystal clear that the party is over, and it is time to seek help or move on.

This must include enforcement of the ban on camping in public parks.

2. Start now to develop a post-Jones settlement strategy to avoid the next lawsuit. I believe it was San Diego, with the concurrence of a federal judge, that developed a program for the police to offer those violating an ordinance similar to LA’s 41.18 (no lying, sitting or sleeping on public right-of-ways) three options: accept a shelter bed, be cited or move on. This will require the LAPD and possibly the EMT portion of the LAFD to work closely with LAHSA and homeless serving organizations such as PATH.

3. Demand that the Housing Department update the count of permanent, supportive housing units that satisfy the Jones settlement target and press for completion of the remaining units.

4. Pass a new ordinance to ban any luggage or larger items left unattended for more than an hour in the Venice Beach Recreation Area – or within 500 feet of VBRA – and allow any City agency to seize it as a threat to public safety and dispose of it.

5. Amend LAMC 41.18 to ban lying, sitting or sleeping 24/7 within 125 feet of any residence or hotel.

6. Force LAHSA – a City/County joint powers agency – to drop its ban on walk-ins at the Westside Winter Shelter, remove the bus pick up from Venice Beach and place it in a non-residential area inland and add other pick-up locations in other non-residential areas. (By having only one pick-up here LAHSA has driven all those who want to use the shelter to Venice, at least for the winter season.)

7. Certainly build more shelter housing, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing, but do not constrain yourself to having to build it in Venice. There are many relatively nearby locations where the land is much cheaper and projects will not have to win variances under the Venice Local Coastal Specific Plan. (Santa Monica agencies provide housing to their homeless population as Far East as La Brea and in the Valley.) And do not constrain the implementation of items 1 to 6 above until this housing is built. As we have seen, it has taken almost a decade for the 1,250 units required by the Jones settlement to be built. You surely would agree that Venice cannot endure ten more years of the dangerous situation now facing residents.

8. I would suggest you stop referring to “our small homeless population.” Most of these folks are not from Venice; most are not even from Los Angeles. I do not believe that Venice, which as you point out already has twice as much affordable housing per capita as any of the other areas of CD 11, has the sole responsibility to address the needs of this group. They are a City and County (and State and federal) responsibility, which is why the VSA’s lawsuit is against both entities.

As to timing, I would remind you that if we had waited, as the homeless advocates had demanded, for housing or alternative camping space to be provided for the 250 RVs and campers that were then in Venice before the OVO signs went up, the RVs and campers would still be here.

Thank you again for your leadership on these issues.
Mark Ryavec to Jason Teague and all
I applaud your engagement in this issue and much of your proposal, though I believe you are setting far too high a bar that in the end will be unattainable for many years, leaving Venice residents to continue to involuntarily be exposed to criminal and occasionally lethal behavior of the campers.

I would suggest the following amendments to your plan:

1. Put full enforcement into effect now –

The LAPD needs to be tasked with immediate and merciless enforcement of the Jones Settlement. Sleeping is ONLY allowed on the sidewalks between the hours of 9 PM to 6 AM. Public defecation is illegal. Public urination is illegal. Public indecency is illegal. Public intoxication is illegal. While in the process of citing transient offenders, the officers will also be tasked with informing the offender of his or her legal sleeping options. Repeat offenders will be arrested and incarcerated. It will be made crystal clear that the party is over, and it is time to seek help or move on.

This must include enforcement of the ban on camping in public parks.

2. Start now to develop a post-Jones settlement strategy to avoid the next lawsuit. I believe it was San Diego, with the concurrence of a federal judge, that developed a program for the police to offer those violating an ordinance similar to LA’s 41.18 (no lying, sitting or sleeping on public right-of-ways) three options: accept a shelter bed, be cited or move on. This will require the LAPD and possibly the EMT portion of the LAFD to work closely with LAHSA and homeless serving organizations such as PATH.

3. Demand that the Housing Department update the count of permanent, supportive housing units that satisfy the Jones settlement target and press for completion of the remaining units.

4. Pass a new ordinance to ban any luggage or larger items left unattended for more than an hour in the Venice Beach Recreation Area – or within 500 feet of VBRA – and allow any City agency to seize it as a threat to public safety and dispose of it.

5. Amend LAMC 41.18 to ban lying, sitting or sleeping 24/7 within 125 feet of any residence or hotel.

6. Force LAHSA – a City/County joint powers agency – to drop its ban on walk-ins at the Westside Winter Shelter, remove the bus pick up from Venice Beach and place it in a non-residential area inland and add other pick-up locations in other non-residential areas. (By having only one pick-up here LAHSA has driven all those who want to use the shelter to Venice, at least for the winter season.)

7. Certainly build more shelter housing, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing, but do not constrain yourself to having to build it in Venice. There are many relatively nearby locations where the land is much cheaper and projects will not have to win variances under the Venice Local Coastal Specific Plan. (Santa Monica agencies provide housing to their homeless population as Far East as La Brea and in the Valley.) And do not constrain the implementation of items 1 to 6 above until this housing is built. As we have seen, it has taken almost a decade for the 1,250 units required by the Jones settlement to be built. You surely would agree that Venice cannot endure ten more years of the dangerous situation now facing residents.

8. I would suggest you stop referring to “our small homeless population.” Most of these folks are not from Venice; most are not even from Los Angeles. I do not believe that Venice, which as you point out already has twice as much affordable housing per capita as any of the other areas of CD 11, has the sole responsibility to address the needs of this group. They are a City and County (and State and federal) responsibility, which is why the VSA’s lawsuit is against both entities.

As to timing, I would remind you that if we had waited, as the homeless advocates had demanded, for housing or alternative camping space to be provided for the 250 RVs and campers that were then in Venice before the OVO signs went up, the RVs and campers would still be here.

Thank you again for your leadership on these issues.

Alex of Venice311 to Kip and all
Following are photos of the signs posted (Only one is in Update.)on the various parking lots between N & S Venice. They are City Property, and like the park they have posted hours, municipal & penal codes associated with them. Like the park, the homeless are not permitted to trespass on that property outside of its intended purpose during the hours listed, period. The same goes for the Library, and the canal bridge area. Being in front of a business & within 10ft of a door is for common sidewalks only, not areas with posted municipal codes, which all of those lots and areas have with the exception of the canal bridge area where the signs are either broken or painted over. These are enforceable by LAPD- and will just force them off to the sidewalks in the area. Maybe they will leave, but back when we had an assigned task force that had be purpose of handling the homeless issues specifically every day, the situation was managed far better and the officers were well trained on the situation. The task force was dissolved when a lawsuit was filed against the City which resulted in the homeless being able to sleep in their cars, etc. There are many laws that are on the books and posted on signs right now with municipal codes that cannot be enforced because of overturned laws or pending lawsuits. It feels very disempowering to look up and find a law, just to find out that if LAPD cites or arrests an offender, the City Attorney won’t file the case and will toss it out – so LAPD doesn’t waste their time with it. Frustrating but it isn’t LAPD that needs to change on that issue. The laws do. As for the laws that can be enforced, as officers come and go those with the arcane knowledge of these things also move on, new people don’t know and the knowledge base gets dissolved.

If any of you have followed the postings of Laura Lee who lives on a walk street by the boardwalk and who owns Zeldas corner, she has been plagued with violators of the Jones Settlement in a beyond egregious way. Last night she had a well-known transient stare in her window and intimidate her late while she was in there working. After numerous meetings with LAPD, Captains, SLO’s, and calling constantly – the situation is all but ignored. She was promised “zero tolerance”, and feels let down and lied to which is unfortunate because without a specific and targeted plan of action there is really no way to implement, monitor and track results. The rotisserie of officers just doesn’t uphold a situation for the cops to know the details of every city code in every area, etc., especially for a situation as complicated as this. Well intended efforts collapse and as vigilant as she is, she is just worn out. A great example of doing everything right, but it is the situation itself that is just so impossible to manage until things change on a larger level.

A suggestion which has been echoed many times before is to acknowledge that the homeless problem is too large and complicated for LAPD to babysit. It just is, so you can easily point out lapses in enforcement … but the problem from the City perspective is that blanketing enforcement in one area just moves it to another. It doesn’t solve the problem, which has been proven, so the City isn’t going to allocate additional resources no matter how much you bitch about it because that is no solution.

The solution is that better laws have to be written, and we have to create shelters and options in this area. That is not the responsibility of LAPD. Until those two things happen you can keep chasing meetings, pounding your fists and making demands and feeling helpless and ignored but the homeless are an entity that is large, diverse, and has a myriad of issues associated with them that change and impact areas differently on a daily basis. Create a plan and resources to try and deal with them, and they quickly adapt and change to challenge and thwart enforcement. Again, better laws and offer options. I’m serious until that happens this is not going to be solved with email chains and meetings.

That being said however, the parking lots are off limits to the homeless period. You can’t loiter there ever – and can’t be on the property after 11. They have to move to the sidewalk, and not block it, etc.

Comment: First two codes cited on sign are for parking of vehicles, not people. More applicable to the situation would be 41.18b. (See laws.) But what law or laws is pertinent is unknown. Many questions arise. City property operated by a City department–are rules similar to private property? City parking lots–are rules established by the City for all lots, do they exclude pedestrians after hours? City and County parks–are rules specific for each park? What are these rules, if any, governing City parking lots? What are the laws governing parks such as Westminster, which is owned by the City but operated by a department? Just some of the questions.

Then if we have laws, are they being enforced. Can they be enforced? See Mark Ryavec’s comments.

William Carnell
They need to be taken off the streets, as in arrested, and given the one tine choice of jail or treatment program……why is this controversial?…