Park Avenue where the man exited looks fairly secure from this angle with the yellow bollards and the yellow fire hydrant.

Park Avenue from this angle shows an easy escape, which is route he took to leave OFW.

Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) voted at their monthly meet Tuesday to have a Town Hall meeting within the next 60 days regarding public safety at Venice’s Ocean Front Walk (OFW).

Cecilia Castillo, representative from Councilman Mike Bonin’s office, stated that Councilman Bonin’s report regarding public safety proposals for Ocean front Walk  would probably not come out until after 1 September.

Report of the VNC public safety committee was the main event on the VNC agenda. In addition to the Town Hall motion by Sevan Gerard, head of the VNC public safety committee, he presented another motion and had several more suggestions to report from his public safety committee.

Bollards
Gerard made the motion to install temporary, bendable, plastic-like bollards on the Ocean Front Walk until there is more study. He said they will act as a “visual deterrent.” Gerard who is a paramedic with the Venice Fire Department also mentioned that fire engines would tear up the temporary bollards because they cannot go between the bollards when making sharp turns. The tires would hit the bollards and destroy them.

The city is considering solid, remote-controlled bollards that would disappear into the ground. According to police officer Gonzalez, those bollards cost $30,000 each.

Ira Kosolov, a board member, who lived there said that both Dudley, where the car entered, and Park, where the car exited had bollards and that didn’t deter him. Kosolov was against bollards and against making quick decisions based on one incident.

Methamphetamines
Gerard reported that first and foremost for the committee was getting rid of methanphamines. The guy in the car was on “meth,” he said.

Type of Policing
Also from the committee was “type of policing” on OFW. He mentioned that the police department should reconsider their type of policing. For example: Instead of a squad car driving down OFW, that police be stationed throughout the area on foot on the OFW to create a friendly and forceful appearance. In a previous meeting it was brought out that the police would be more aware and informed.

More Cameras, Not Necessary
The committee report also mentioned that they didn’t feel any more cameras were necessary. In fact one person who lives on OFW stated that with cameras on west side, the violators would just go to the side streets.