Note: Comments will be posted anonymously upon request. Comments are more effective with a name but will try anonymous upon request until further notice.
Anonymous
You might talk with some of those who rent their property as short term rentals (STR) or live near them before you take sides on this phenomenon.
A neighbor of mine around the corner from my house in my mixed SFR (single family residence) and duplex/triplex neighborhood has rented one of his studio apartments as a STR for over seven years. I have never experienced any problem with it. A young couple two doors up the street from me has rented their three bedroom, two story Craftsman house as a STR for about five years. One of the short term renters then rented it for a year while they looked for and eventually bought a house on Venice Boulevard. Then it went back to being a STR. Again, no problems for me. My neighbor immediately to my west has four small 1915 bungalows; they have rented two as long term rentals and two as short term. Again, no problems for me. (Actually, some of the long term renters have been more a problem with their late night noise and BBQ smoke than any of the short termers. The long term renters know lots more people in LA so they have the loud parties with many guests, not the short term renters.)
With this concentration of short term rentals one would have expected more cars and thus more problems finding nearby parking. The opposite has occurred. Many of the short term renters arrive without cars and get by on foot, bike, Uber or have friends in the area who give them rides when needed. There actually are often open parking spaces on the street next to my house at night during the summer, something I have never seen before in 25 years of living here.
I have recently started renting my house occasionally as a short term rental, living in another smaller unit on my property when it’s rented. No loud noise, no rude behavior, just a lot of new friends. The location of my house, about four blocks from the beach, is very popular with families – both American and European. It allows these families to vacation in Venice Beach in a home with a kitchen, a vacation that they would not in some instances be able to afford, due to the high cost of hotels in the area and the need to eat out for every meal if one stays in a hotel. The familes also prefer the warm feel of a house, and being able to sit down for meals in a proper family dining room. One of the fathers remarked afterwards that staying in my house, with me staying on the property, was like staying at his cousins.
Apparently Portland, OR, Austen, TX, and several cities in the Coachella Valley have put ordinances in place that both permit STRs while also setting up a system of permits, warnings and fines which can result in a owner losing their right to operate a STR if there are more than a couple of neighbor complaints.
I would suggest Los Angeles needs to look at what these other cities have done to embrace this new phenomenon and come up with its own ordinance to permit while also regulating this popular vacation lodging model.
Carolyn Rios
Glad you are against legalizing illegal units.
What a Pandora’s box of possible issues, parking just one, but also greedy people making illegal units so that they can get an easier route to legal. Besides, it is like penalizing those of us who are legal and have spent good money keeping things up to date.
Anonymous
Ref: short-term rentals
Saying it is illegal is like saying jaywalking or camping on the beach is illegal in Venice. I don’t see those laws being enforced either.
I doubt the City is going to file B&S complaints on over 1,000 short term rentals on the Westside
Rick Garvey
I have to say, I withheld from commenting after you devoted an entire update to the small pocket of homeless folks at Lincoln and Washington. As someone who works closely with homeless issues in the neighborhood and the City as a whole, I know that it is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and it doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves, so I appreciate that you took the time to cover it.
I cringed when I saw the comments section of the follow-up update, I know I should not be surprised, but the callous attitude of some of my fellow Venice neighbors never fails to astound me.
I think it is lame that every single person posted as “anonymous” what are they afraid of? Or was that your decision? I’d like to take a moment to respond…
Anon2: “Young, irresponsible enough to get pregnant and be on the street then pushing all her mistakes on drivers and endangering that poor baby inside her. She should be arrested. Placed in a shelter for mothers, child adopted out or placed. With all the money she collects, she should have bought some friggin condoms. I am so tired of lazy, irresponsible, addicted (illness or no, the choice was made at some point) and expecting to sponge off society while they perpetuate their noncontributing uselessness.”
Whoever you are Anon2, you make me sick. First of all, heroin addiction is a beast. Trying to get off of heroin is a medical problem. We are right now conducting a project at the Venice Family Clinic to attempt to intervene with local heroin addicts (many homeless) using medication assisted treatment and mental health treatment. It’s not an easy task for someone who has a stable home situation much less someone who is homeless. There are no detox beds available in the area. The closest is Redgate in Long Beach and they have a long waiting list. You think she “should be arrested?” Have you ever been arrested? I have spent many years working in the LA County Jail system and it is hell on earth. You think she should be forced to have her child placed? Do you have any experience with the foster care system in California? The group homes? Also hell on earth. Your judgment that she should buy condoms with the few dollars she collects as opposed to buying food? Makes me sick. You care more about her unborn child than you do for her? Makes me sick.
Anon3: “assistance is needed from the federal govt, state gov, and private agencies…including more experienced mental health workers, counselors, drug experts and the medical profession.
I completely agree with you and we are always advocating for more assistance. We need “housing first” facilities that can get people housed and then hooked up to services to deal with their addiction and mental health needs. Skid Row Housing Trust, PATH, and others have provided the model, we need to secure funding to turn currently foreclosed buildings into supportive housing buildings. If all of the developers who are raking in millions in Venice were forced to put money into a fund we could do it.
Anon4: “Suggestions: get to know your neighbors, get out from those barricades that hide you. The more we’re out in force cleaning up our own properties out in force to let people know we are a community not Disneyland or a ghetto no one cares for”
I could not agree more. One of the unintended consequences of Teague trying to force the 1414 Main project onto our block was that it really drew the neighborhood together… I had the opportunity to speak with over 100 of my neighbors on Horizon, Market, San Juan, Riviera and Cabrillo and ever since have found myself stopping and talking with them on a daily basis. I had lived here 18 years and only knew about 20 neighbors… when new folks move in and tear down those 1920’s craftman’s and build 3 story boxes complete with (illegal) ten foot fences we are losing a lot more than the character of the neighborhood. If people lock themselves behind these gates and have no stake in what is happening outside their barricade the problem will only get worse.
Anon5: “I do feel unsafe sometimes walking though there. I know they are there because Walgreens throws a lot of food out and stuff out so they congregate. It is really hard because I feel compassion for the homeless but drugs near our homes make me very worried. Drugs in the neighborhood usually mean increase in crime. I wish Walgreens would hire a security guard to man the area.
I’m sorry you don’t feel safe walking in your own neighborhood. Just know that homeless folks are usually more afraid of you than you are of them. I agree substance use disorder is tough, and it can make addicts very unpredictable. I think it would be a good idea for Walgreens to hire a guard (I think they have one?) and when the brewery moves in I think they should also provide some security.
Anon7: “When I find homeless on the sidewalks in my neighborhood I email Pastor Steve Weller of Venice Four Square Church at Venice4square@hotmail.com Along with SLO Gregg Jacobus.”
I think it is a good idea to reach out to Pastor Weller, he is a good man and 4 square does a lot to support the homeless here in the neighborhood and around the City. My question for you is why do you email LAPD when you see a homeless person? You do know that it is perfectly legal to be homeless, legal to sleep on the public sidewalks overnight, and legal to store your possessions in public? Why would anyone call LAPD on a homeless person who is not actually committing a crime? In my opinion that makes you the bad guy, not the homeless person.
Anon9: “The dozens of homeless that sleep on 3rd every night are ruining the neighborhood. They intimidate my guests, my lady friends have to be walked to their car at night, and I don’t feel safe outside of my own home. They deposit trash all over the streets, they store their belongings 24/7 on the sidewalk, and most disturbing, they defecate and urinate everywhere. The smell of their feces and urine is thick in the air.”
I agree with you that the situation at 3rd and Rose is a problem. 100 times worse than the problem at Lincoln and Washington. If I were you I would advocate for a 24/7 bathroom and garbage cans to be placed there so people can have some dignity when they have to relieve themselves and would have somewhere to throw out their trash. I would also advocate for lifting the curfew on the boardwalk so that people could sleep in the park, the explosion of the encampment at 3rd and Rose is a direct result of the curfew IMO. I’m also sure that you know there is nothing illegal about homeless folks storing their belongings on the sidewalk. Perfectly legal.
Anon9: “Instead of embracing such an initiative from a local entrepreneur some venetians have chosen to focus their energy differently. They have organized to prevent Gjelina from opening its doors. I find it incredibly frustrating that these folks find the time and energy to campaign against a restaurant and yet do nothing to solve the homeless crisis that plays out each and every day on the streets of their sacred neighborhood”
The jerk that runs Gjelina has lied at every step of the way during his bid to turn 320 Sunset from a bakery into a bar, and pretty much every single person at the VNC meeting last week agreed that it should be denied. He didn’t even bother to show up or send a representative, if you think he will be your savior, take it from someone who lives around the corner from Gjelina, you do NOT want him as your neighbor.
Anon10: “Not one of these guys/girls is trying to pull themselves out of a rut or bad time. As one of the emails stated they enjoy this life of absolute waste. How many of you really think one of these people would take a job if you offered? The answer is none.”
How much time have you spent really speaking with local homeless people? Have you personally offered them a job? I know that there are certainly a percentage of this population who are truly just addicts, mentally ill or criminals, but to say that there are none of them trying to help themselves get out of this situation is ignorant. Stop by Safe Place For Youth, or the Teen Project sometime, you will be surprised how many of our homeless neighbors are doing the best they can to survive and get themselves back on their feet. Speak to some outreach workers from PATH or Daniel’s Place about how hard it is to get these folks into the housing system. Go spend some time at the VA working with counselors at the Domiciliary and New Directions and find out what PTSD really does to a person.
I’m sorry to go on so long, and I do appreciate that you offer this forum, now that Bret has passed and Yo! sold off. This is one of the last forums we have in Venice, and I appreciate your hard work putting it together. I just wish we could have a bit more harmony as a community when dealing with this issue. Honestly, it is much too large of an issue to be foisted on our small community; it should really be being handled better at a Federal, State, and County level.
In the meantime we should all be thinking about small local solutions, opening an emergency shelter (or at least opening the Westwood Armory year-round), supporting the storage locker program, installing 24/7 bathrooms, and lifting the curfew at the beach would be my first suggestions while we work on obtaining properties for housing first supportive housing options.
Anonymous
Seeing homeless on the street is a sad event. If I had young children, I would use it as a lesson. Most street homeless have had difficult childhoods. The world is full of sad events. Unless we hide away, we cannot avoid it.
More harm is done to children by abusive parents, both physical and emotional.
I like Carter and the variety of people we have.
Anonymous
I just wanted to respond to the homeless issue by Walgreens and some of the statements in this update. Just to clarify, we are not moving because of the homeless situation. We actually have two young kids now and we feel that we need a larger space. That being said, we obviously would like to be on a fully residential street too where vagrants are not present and cars are not speeding down the narrow street.
We have lived in the Oxford Triangle for about 5 years and love it. We love the location, convenience, new restaurants, walkability, etc…but the homeless situation at the corner has not improved at all. We have called the Pacific Division LAPD numerous times over the years to respond to the people drinking next to Radio Shack. Unfortunately, the police response is not effective because the homeless people just come back to their same spot an hour after the police leave. We have worked with the landlord of the strip mall to ensure that they planted the dirt area behind Radio Shack to eliminate that area as option for sleeping/drinking/making noise. Sharp cactus was not our plan but at least they planted something that would deter loitering. I work with the owners of Penguins Yogurt to remove certain people and the Penguins guys are great partners. I put on work gloves and remove shopping carts from Carter but they typically end up back on the street. They really need to be brought back to Costco/Albertsons but I don’t have a truck to move them. Anyone have a pickup truck to drive those stolen carts away and return them to Costco & Albertsons?
We also hope that Firestone Walker will help since they plan to have security and they have vowed to clean up the corner. Time will tell. Walgreens management is worthless and they have rarely made any efforts to clean up their property. Many other Walgreens are very clean and approachable. Why is ours different and neglected by Walgreens management. Our Neighbors have spoken to them and requested action but it hasn’t resulted in much change.
As a resident, I feel that we don’t have any other options other than moving carts/ street debris, telling the homeless to move on if they are close to our property, or calling the Pacific Division LAPD if the homeless get loud. As everyone else has said, why has the city let this go on? Why doesn’t Walgreens have security that can remove the homeless? Why can’t the police figure out an effective response?
We will miss the Triangle and hope to come back next year to visit Firestone Walker with our kids and see a re-vamped corner where we aren’t stepping over the homeless. I hope the police efforts mentioned actually happen and the homeless encampments are removed permanently. The neighborhood and people are great. The local elementary school is excellent and the new investment on Washington is making the area even more desirable. It’s just the corner that needs help. Let’s keep up this recent momentum from the neighborhood to improve Carter Ave and our Lincoln/Washington corner!
Reta Moser
One person asked where to get graffiti remover made by Goof Off. One can get it at the Home Depot paint department. Pictured is a can. It is magic on non-porous surfaces. Graffiti has got to go!!! Let’s Wipe it out!
Trash just dropped or tossed from car onto street behind apartments.
544
Comments–25 August 2014
Anonymous
You might talk with some of those who rent their property as short term rentals (STR) or live near them before you take sides on this phenomenon.
A neighbor of mine around the corner from my house in my mixed SFR (single family residence) and duplex/triplex neighborhood has rented one of his studio apartments as a STR for over seven years. I have never experienced any problem with it. A young couple two doors up the street from me has rented their three bedroom, two story Craftsman house as a STR for about five years. One of the short term renters then rented it for a year while they looked for and eventually bought a house on Venice Boulevard. Then it went back to being a STR. Again, no problems for me. My neighbor immediately to my west has four small 1915 bungalows; they have rented two as long term rentals and two as short term. Again, no problems for me. (Actually, some of the long term renters have been more a problem with their late night noise and BBQ smoke than any of the short termers. The long term renters know lots more people in LA so they have the loud parties with many guests, not the short term renters.)
With this concentration of short term rentals one would have expected more cars and thus more problems finding nearby parking. The opposite has occurred. Many of the short term renters arrive without cars and get by on foot, bike, Uber or have friends in the area who give them rides when needed. There actually are often open parking spaces on the street next to my house at night during the summer, something I have never seen before in 25 years of living here.
I have recently started renting my house occasionally as a short term rental, living in another smaller unit on my property when it’s rented. No loud noise, no rude behavior, just a lot of new friends. The location of my house, about four blocks from the beach, is very popular with families – both American and European. It allows these families to vacation in Venice Beach in a home with a kitchen, a vacation that they would not in some instances be able to afford, due to the high cost of hotels in the area and the need to eat out for every meal if one stays in a hotel. The familes also prefer the warm feel of a house, and being able to sit down for meals in a proper family dining room. One of the fathers remarked afterwards that staying in my house, with me staying on the property, was like staying at his cousins.
Apparently Portland, OR, Austen, TX, and several cities in the Coachella Valley have put ordinances in place that both permit STRs while also setting up a system of permits, warnings and fines which can result in a owner losing their right to operate a STR if there are more than a couple of neighbor complaints.
I would suggest Los Angeles needs to look at what these other cities have done to embrace this new phenomenon and come up with its own ordinance to permit while also regulating this popular vacation lodging model.
Carolyn Rios
Glad you are against legalizing illegal units.
What a Pandora’s box of possible issues, parking just one, but also greedy people making illegal units so that they can get an easier route to legal. Besides, it is like penalizing those of us who are legal and have spent good money keeping things up to date.
Anonymous
Ref: short-term rentals
Saying it is illegal is like saying jaywalking or camping on the beach is illegal in Venice. I don’t see those laws being enforced either.
I doubt the City is going to file B&S complaints on over 1,000 short term rentals on the Westside
Rick Garvey
I have to say, I withheld from commenting after you devoted an entire update to the small pocket of homeless folks at Lincoln and Washington. As someone who works closely with homeless issues in the neighborhood and the City as a whole, I know that it is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and it doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves, so I appreciate that you took the time to cover it.
I cringed when I saw the comments section of the follow-up update, I know I should not be surprised, but the callous attitude of some of my fellow Venice neighbors never fails to astound me.
I think it is lame that every single person posted as “anonymous” what are they afraid of? Or was that your decision? I’d like to take a moment to respond…
Anon2: “Young, irresponsible enough to get pregnant and be on the street then pushing all her mistakes on drivers and endangering that poor baby inside her. She should be arrested. Placed in a shelter for mothers, child adopted out or placed. With all the money she collects, she should have bought some friggin condoms. I am so tired of lazy, irresponsible, addicted (illness or no, the choice was made at some point) and expecting to sponge off society while they perpetuate their noncontributing uselessness.”
Anon3: “assistance is needed from the federal govt, state gov, and private agencies…including more experienced mental health workers, counselors, drug experts and the medical profession.
Anon4: “Suggestions: get to know your neighbors, get out from those barricades that hide you. The more we’re out in force cleaning up our own properties out in force to let people know we are a community not Disneyland or a ghetto no one cares for”
Anon5: “I do feel unsafe sometimes walking though there. I know they are there because Walgreens throws a lot of food out and stuff out so they congregate. It is really hard because I feel compassion for the homeless but drugs near our homes make me very worried. Drugs in the neighborhood usually mean increase in crime. I wish Walgreens would hire a security guard to man the area.
Anon7: “When I find homeless on the sidewalks in my neighborhood I email Pastor Steve Weller of Venice Four Square Church at Venice4square@hotmail.com Along with SLO Gregg Jacobus.”
Anon9: “The dozens of homeless that sleep on 3rd every night are ruining the neighborhood. They intimidate my guests, my lady friends have to be walked to their car at night, and I don’t feel safe outside of my own home. They deposit trash all over the streets, they store their belongings 24/7 on the sidewalk, and most disturbing, they defecate and urinate everywhere. The smell of their feces and urine is thick in the air.”
Anon9: “Instead of embracing such an initiative from a local entrepreneur some venetians have chosen to focus their energy differently. They have organized to prevent Gjelina from opening its doors. I find it incredibly frustrating that these folks find the time and energy to campaign against a restaurant and yet do nothing to solve the homeless crisis that plays out each and every day on the streets of their sacred neighborhood”
Anon10: “Not one of these guys/girls is trying to pull themselves out of a rut or bad time. As one of the emails stated they enjoy this life of absolute waste. How many of you really think one of these people would take a job if you offered? The answer is none.”
I’m sorry to go on so long, and I do appreciate that you offer this forum, now that Bret has passed and Yo! sold off. This is one of the last forums we have in Venice, and I appreciate your hard work putting it together. I just wish we could have a bit more harmony as a community when dealing with this issue. Honestly, it is much too large of an issue to be foisted on our small community; it should really be being handled better at a Federal, State, and County level.
In the meantime we should all be thinking about small local solutions, opening an emergency shelter (or at least opening the Westwood Armory year-round), supporting the storage locker program, installing 24/7 bathrooms, and lifting the curfew at the beach would be my first suggestions while we work on obtaining properties for housing first supportive housing options.
Anonymous
Seeing homeless on the street is a sad event. If I had young children, I would use it as a lesson. Most street homeless have had difficult childhoods. The world is full of sad events. Unless we hide away, we cannot avoid it.
More harm is done to children by abusive parents, both physical and emotional.
I like Carter and the variety of people we have.
Anonymous
I just wanted to respond to the homeless issue by Walgreens and some of the statements in this update. Just to clarify, we are not moving because of the homeless situation. We actually have two young kids now and we feel that we need a larger space. That being said, we obviously would like to be on a fully residential street too where vagrants are not present and cars are not speeding down the narrow street.
We have lived in the Oxford Triangle for about 5 years and love it. We love the location, convenience, new restaurants, walkability, etc…but the homeless situation at the corner has not improved at all. We have called the Pacific Division LAPD numerous times over the years to respond to the people drinking next to Radio Shack. Unfortunately, the police response is not effective because the homeless people just come back to their same spot an hour after the police leave. We have worked with the landlord of the strip mall to ensure that they planted the dirt area behind Radio Shack to eliminate that area as option for sleeping/drinking/making noise. Sharp cactus was not our plan but at least they planted something that would deter loitering. I work with the owners of Penguins Yogurt to remove certain people and the Penguins guys are great partners. I put on work gloves and remove shopping carts from Carter but they typically end up back on the street. They really need to be brought back to Costco/Albertsons but I don’t have a truck to move them. Anyone have a pickup truck to drive those stolen carts away and return them to Costco & Albertsons?
We also hope that Firestone Walker will help since they plan to have security and they have vowed to clean up the corner. Time will tell. Walgreens management is worthless and they have rarely made any efforts to clean up their property. Many other Walgreens are very clean and approachable. Why is ours different and neglected by Walgreens management. Our Neighbors have spoken to them and requested action but it hasn’t resulted in much change.
As a resident, I feel that we don’t have any other options other than moving carts/ street debris, telling the homeless to move on if they are close to our property, or calling the Pacific Division LAPD if the homeless get loud. As everyone else has said, why has the city let this go on? Why doesn’t Walgreens have security that can remove the homeless? Why can’t the police figure out an effective response?
We will miss the Triangle and hope to come back next year to visit Firestone Walker with our kids and see a re-vamped corner where we aren’t stepping over the homeless. I hope the police efforts mentioned actually happen and the homeless encampments are removed permanently. The neighborhood and people are great. The local elementary school is excellent and the new investment on Washington is making the area even more desirable. It’s just the corner that needs help. Let’s keep up this recent momentum from the neighborhood to improve Carter Ave and our Lincoln/Washington corner!
Reta Moser
One person asked where to get graffiti remover made by Goof Off. One can get it at the Home Depot paint department. Pictured is a can. It is magic on non-porous surfaces. Graffiti has got to go!!! Let’s Wipe it out!
Trash just dropped or tossed from car onto street behind apartments.
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