An LA County Superior Court judge ruled against the Venice Stakeholders Association (VSA) members in a suit that VSA wanted CEQA invoked at the MTA site for the 154-bed homeless “bridge home”project.
At question was the validity of Assembly Bill 1197 that exempts homeless projects only in Los Angeles from complying with the California Environmental Quality Act. The bill was passed after the MTA homeless project in Venice at Sunset and Pacific was started.
President of the VSA Mark Ryavec said “It is simply unfair for the state to say that everyone in the state — except for the residents of LA — has certain rights under CEQA to question the environmental impacts of a project and ask that they be mitigated. The City got the state to move the goal posts.”
Attorneys for VSA were still evaluating whether to appeal. “It is an untested law singling out the City of Los Angeles,” said attorney Jeff Lewis. “The legislature may have stepped out of the bounds of its authority.”
Fight Back Venice also lost its law suit recently regarding AB1197.