This photo was taken after reading John Betz’s letter. This is what was removed by Rec and Parks or by an individual and it was in the street next to the park on Main.

By John Betz

Good Morning Councilman Bonin and Venice Rep Taylor Bazley,
Find enclosed another update about the activities around the Venice Senior Center and Dog Park. Let’s start out with oversized vehicles. The same RV is parked in the 100 Block of Westminster Avenue adjacent to the Senior Center. It has been there for about a week now. Before that it was part of the group of RV’s permanently parked in the 1200 block of main.

Moving on to the 200 Block of Westminster (adjacent to the Westminster Elementary School) there are separate groups living in their vehicles in this block, most just outside the fence of the schoolyard. 5 are in oversized recreational vehicles and four are in cars or vans.

This guy has been here since before I started complaining (over two weeks). He moved across the street sometime during the past couple days (probably for the street sweeper).

Same guy as last two weeks. He just moved 100 feet.

Same, not a school bus.

Same guy as last report.

Also, there’s someone living in this van and I saw three other vans or trucks that were obviously being lived in. One is new – Tennessee plates.

This is the 1200 Block of Main Street. Still the same two hold outs. Haven’t moved (that I can detect) for going on three weeks now.

Now we will talk about camping in the park. Last week (after about a week of nasty complaining emails from you-know-who) we finally saw some improvement in the park. Thank you LAPD for whatever you did. But as is ALWAYS the case, rust never sleeps. If we take our attention off this park for even a day or two, the insidious creep of the Venice Menace resumes.

Here are two new shopping carts full of junk and trash parked against a tree (SE corner of park adjacent to 100 block of westminster).And we have a newcomer sleeping nearby. Pic taken at about 0640, but this guy was obviously there all night).

And this guy has been permanently camped in the corner of the park day and night for at least three weeks now. I’m not sure how he eluded the LAPD nightwatch,but he did. I have had pictures of this guy in every morning report. And I called LAPD dispatch last week about him – but he’s still here. And he seems to be tucking in more and more. Bicycle, chairs, etc. I think he figures this is where he lives now.

Two more newcomers are camping in the NE corner of the park near corner of Clubhouse and Main.

And, while we were all sleeping, someone tagged the Senior Center.

Taylor, the last message I received from you acknowledged that no one should be sleeping in the park between 10 pm and 6 am. You encouraged me to call LAPD whenever I see someone violating this rule. OK. So how am I supposed to implement this? I guess I will get up in the middle of the night and go patrol the park as a private citizen and call LAPD every time I see something (which will be nightly if the past several weeks are any guide). I will do that tonight. But I have to say, this seems like a very unreasonable way to go about preventing this illegal activity. LAPD KNOWS this is a problem spot and knows it has been for years or even decades. As a private citizen I shouldn’t have to get up in the middle of the night and go “on patrol” to discover and report known ongoing illegal activities in my neighborhood. This is something that should be very easy for the LAPD night watch to check and act on AS A ROUTINE. This is not a hidden activity – it is open and notorious – easy to spot. But if that is what it takes, nightly patrols by the residents, I will do it. LAPD Dispatch will be hearing from me tonight. But, there is one thing you did not advise me about in your email – how should I arm myself for protection while on these nightly patrols? The cops have guns. What should I be allowed to have? At present all I have is a three-cell flashlight and a camera, which seems somewhat inadequate given the circumstances.

Moreover, the current state-of-affairs in the park points out a significant flaw with the councilman’s plan to locate and institutionalize homeless services in the Westminster Park. Never mind the fact that it is an illegal use of a park, it will create problems that the City will not be able to dal with. History has repeatedly demonstrated that every time we let up the pressure on the problems in the park, even if only for a few days, the situation starts to go south and then spirals out of control again. This typically continues until a resident pitches a pig-fit, after which we get a tepid response from LAPD (restricted and controlled by the City Atty). This has been the endless cycle. This park, which is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and a school, has always been a problem. And now the councilman wants to exacerbate that problem by locating a storage center smack dab in the middle of a park in a residential neighborhood and next to a school. This is crazy. He intends to do this despite the fact that the City’s Location Criteria for expanded storage facilities states that locations should be evaluated to “minimize impact on residential and high-traffic commercial areas.” How the heck is locating a 7-day a week in-and-out storage center for 160 people in the Westminster Park going to do that? We all know the problems in the park will increase dramatically and will likely spill out into the adjacent residential neighborhood. And if the past is any guide, LAPD (as restricted by the City Attorney) will not be capable of dealing with it.

And what about the elementary school? If the City locates a Homeless Services Provider in the park, it is inviting a known danger to a facility directly adjacent to a school, which should receive the highest level of protection. But the City plan brings the “Venice Menace” right to the kiddies doorstep. I do not know any exact numbers, but my understanding is that many of the kids at the Westminster School are bussed in from other neighborhoods. Do their parents even know that the City is planning to locate the Venice Menace right next to their kid’s school? Even if they were told, not being from Venice, I doubt they would understand the full impact of that decision. Perhaps for the sake of full disclosure you should invite those parents to have a look at the Third Street encampment in Venice and then share with them your plan to prevent a similar encampment from developing around the Westminster Park after you start allowing a Homeless Service Provider to set up a permanent operation their. You do have a plan, don’t you?