The big news this week is that Ocean Ave between North and South Venice Blvd is cleared of all homeless residents, and the debris is going to be removed. Homeless continue to stop by and enjoy the features left behind but that is temporary.

Also what has been noticeable is that the solicitors at the 90 Freeway – Lincoln Blvd intersection have been removed. One will see a solicitor popup and then he is gone. It is against the law to solicit at any state highway but seldom enforced. It has been noticeable that there are fewer solicitors at Washington and Lincoln Blvd also. Lincoln is Route 1.

Also noticeable has been the absence of campers along the 90 Freeway from the 405 Freeway offramp to Lincoln Blvd. Many campers thru the years have camped between the north and south bound lanes of the 90 freeway. This has caused at least two fires thru the years.

Ocean Ave, 90 Freeway, and solicitor absence are the works of the LAPD.

Bad News
The bad news is that Westminster Senior Center park has one more encampment than last week. One fellow has put his tent in the pocket park at Ocean/Mildred/Venice.  Penmar Park area continues to grow as does its debris.

Poster Child
Hampton Drive north of Rose, which use to be a tragedy, is the poster child for the cooperation of the homeless, the police, the business owners. Those homeless are up and out of there as business owners clean the sidewalk.

Unchanged
Hampton Drive, south of Rose, is unchanged as is 4th at Sunset.

Ocean Ave
Encampment at Ocean Ave between North and South Venice Blvd was removed thanks to SLO Jennifer Munther and her team. The encampment was on private property — the landscape area between wall and sidewalk, a violation of penal code 602.  See story.

“Officers had an arrest at the encampment this morning and warned others of trespassing and will continue to follow-up on their warnings,” wrote Officer Muther. “In addition, I have advised multiple resources to assist with the area and enforce the 602 penal code. In addition, our HOPE unit was out there after the arrest and cleaned up the area.”

The debris of the encampments on Ocean spilled to North Venice Blvd. At this point it is hard to tell whether there is an encampment on North Venice or not.

Mildred/Ocean/Venice Pocket Park
The pocket park is the one that Robin Murez designed and she and friends implemented at the intersection of Mildred/Ocean/Venice.

Windward Circle
The old postoffice lady is gone but there is a sleeper in Windward Circle.

Westminster Senior Center
Westminster Senior Center has a new encampment. Now it has two on the west side and one on the south side.

7th Ave
Seventh Ave behind Whole Foods Market and across from a residential area continues to be one full block.

Penmar Park Area
The area west of Penmar Park continues to grow in tents and garbage.

Thai Restaurant Area
The area behind the Thai restaurant looks like it may have gained a tent and lost some trash or stuff.

The good news is that two places disappeared this week–McDonalds and the post office. Both clean. The bad news is that two places increased in size–North Venice Blvd and Penmar Park.

Ocean Ave, which is one encampment from South to North Venice Blvd, spilled over into North Venice Blvd with two encampments and one closer to Dell. There is also a new one on the north side of the blvd. One wonders when the city, the Venice attorney, the signs will settle this. Note the one behind the Farners’ Market sign has his outdoor grill, canopy, with tent underneath.

The car continues to grow. The garbage can next to it is spilling over as well as trash growing under the car. Both
front and back windows are covered. It is not in a state of being road worthy. One sympathizer said that the car was all “they” had. Understand, but wouldn’t one realize such and act accordingly. Apparently not. The car operator and occupants need drug rehab as soon as possible.

California Vehicle Code 22669 states:

Motor vehicles which are parked, resting, or otherwise immobilized on any highway or public right-of-way and which lack an engine, transmission, wheels, tires, doors, windshield, or any other part or equipment necessary to operate safely on the highways of this state, are hereby declared a hazard to public health, safety, and welfare and may be removed immediately upon discovery by a peace officer or other designated employee of the state, county, or city

Westminster Senior Center Park has two encampments on the south side of the park.

Hampton Drive, both north and south of Rose, are the same as they were last week. Fourth, south of Sunset, is also the same as last week.

7th Ave is the same but it looks like there is at least a 10-foot clearance at the one entrance. Shogun at the north end says he is returning to Santa Cruz … more country.

Penmar Park has repopulated. There are tents from one end to the other. One cannot see them from the shade covering them in the photo. There is room for more. Garbage is being stacked in the middle and the alley looks like it is starting to be a target.

The alley hideout behind the Thai restaurant at the northeast corner of Venice and Lincoln Blvd has decreased in garbage size impressively. One fellow said they had been taking amounts of garbage daily to other trash cans. One gal is rather hostile, otherwise campers are fine.

It was a pleasure to go around the McDonalds area. The alley was clean; nothing had been stowed at Harding, and the encampment without ADA compliance was gone.

A couple of the areas have increased and a couple decreased.  Westminster Senior Center park has been added and McDonald’s has been removed.   The area behind the Thai Restaurant was cleaned by Sanitation Wednesday, decreasing that debris considerably.

Both 7th Ave and Penmar Park increased in tents.  Fourth decreased in tents as did McDonald’s area.

Ocean Ave between North and South Venice Blvd is the same.  In fact, North Venice Blvd looks the same.  The vans have moved to the north side of the street, the car that is growing continues to root itself, and the couch and garbage are gone.  Ocean encampment just seems to expand around the North and South Venice Blvd.

The Grand Canal is the same, except the pipe was removed from the walk way, and the graffiti was removed.

The post office had only one resident.  One cannot tell whether the lady moved or the new resident moved.

Westminster Park at the Westminster Senior Center had two separate encampments.  One in the front and one on the north side.  Those on the north side use to be the ones on Main.

Hampton Drive, south of Rose, was the same.  Safe Team from the BID were there to wake people.  They were not ADA compliant.

Hampton Drive, north of Rose, people were leaving from the west side of the street, getting ready for the street to be cleaned by the commercial owners.

Fourth, just south of Sunset, looked like it had fewer residents than last time and Fourth, north of Sunset, had a lot of storage “stuff” from 3rd because of cleanup day on 3rd.  There are no encampments on this side of 4th.

Seventh Ave behind Whole Foods is packed solid.  In fact, it is doubtful there is a 10- foot clearance between the driveways for the Whole Food trucks.  That is a violation of the Jones Settlement. There is no ADA clearance. One lady has her living room established.

Penmar Park area has added a few tents since last week.

McDonald’s general area is better.  The encampment in the alley is gone so the alley is passable.  There is a storage area on the street next to McDonald’s but that is it.

The hideout behind the Thai restaurant at the Northeast Corner of Lincoln and Venice has been cleaned.  It reduced the area to at least half but left a lot of  “stuff” behind.   The 10 kids in tents in the alley are still there.  One resident supposedly is looking into the legality of the alley being blocked.