Second beach cleanup will occur Friday starting at 7 am, according to Cecilia Castillo, field deputy for Venice. This is the second Warn, Tag, Bag, Store cleanup to be conducted at the Venice Ocean Front Walk area. First conducted by Public Works, Sanitation was 6 and 7 January.

“Last time they collected two tons of debris and transported one flat bed truck full of tagged items,” according to Ms Castillo. “So far two people have called to have items returned. One item was a mistake by the caller. Councilman Mike Bonin had planned to have two cleanups per month but it didn’t work that way this month.”

The Warn, Tag, Bag, and Store program will store the items for 90 days unless claimed. After that they will be destroyed.

OFW Meet
Cecilia Castillo conducted the Ocean Front Walk Task Force monthly meeting at James Beach Wednesday morning at which time she gave the above facts.

Many things were discussed at meeting–voluntary storage container, walk your bike signs, police increase at OFW, cameras, and food trucks.

Six Months from 21 January
Voluntary storage program, the voluntary storage container, will be six months from 21 January 2014. March 1 concludes the necessity for storage container for the homeless going to the shelter. Shelter closes 1 March.

As explained by Councilman Mike Bonin at the 21 January VNC meet, the voluntary storage program will continue after the shelter closes to comply with the Lavin Injunction that requires the City to provide a place to store “stuff” in order to implement the Warn, Bag, Tag, and Store program. This allows the city to get rid of much beach debris and to clean and sanitize areas without harming the “stuff” belonging to the homeless.

Lurie Says 25 Percent Police Increase
Lt. Steve Lurie of LAPD says there is a 25 percent increase in police presence at the beach area. These are police taken from other areas to help at the beach. Most are walking the Ocean Front Walk or riding a bike.

In the previous seven days there were 16 incidences. Ten were thefts. “Seven of the ten thefts were unattended, such as one leaving his iphone on a blanket and walking away,” he said.

Lt. Lurie did mention that not all police can walk. “We have a six-minute limit to answer a call,” he said when asked why they all couldn’t walk the OFW.

Cameras on OFW
Lt. Lurie said that cameras are the single biggest deterrent to crime we have. He said he had worked Watts and found that cameras were the best deterrent to crime they had found.

Ms Castillo mentioned that Councilman Mike Bonin was still studying the implementation of cameras on OFW. “They would be placed on the west side and center on the OFW. Some later might be put at the skateboard park and maybe a few in the park area,” she said.

Food Trucks
The discussion heated up with several of the restaurant owners and several foot truck vendors. Of late Department of Recreation and Parks has permitted food trucks in the Windward Circle park area to service beach goers.

“The City is competing with restaurants on private property,” said one restaurant owner. “Is it appropriate for City, on City property, to be in food court business? Is it appropriate for them to compete with us? They do not rent, they do not own.”

One businessman said “Perhaps, we should purchase the permits.”

One food-truck group representative said “There is a place for a food truck. Families can’t afford to sit down at some of these restaurants. These people don’t have the time either. They have families.”

“Can we work with you,” one asked. Is there a better place? What if we had 6 trucks instead of 8? What if we came every other week?”

The answer was “No.”

As long as there are permits for food trucks, “It would be considered harassment to not allow them,” said one.

This is a big business and growing said one representative and another said he has twitter followers who follow him where he goes.