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Venice News Updates

News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA

Bonin to Unveil Affordable Housing “Homes Guarantee” Project

Posted by :reta On : February 12, 2020
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Category: Affordable Housing

By David Graham-Caso
LOS ANGELES – Councilmember Mike Bonin will be joined by affordable housing activists and grassroots neighborhood leaders Wednesday morning for a news conference to unveil several proposals to address the affordable housing crisis, laying the foundation for a local version of the “Homes Guarantee,” a nationwide campaign for “safe, accessible, sustainable, and permanently affordable housing for all.”

The legislative package will include proposals to build publicly-financed “social housing,” to strengthen the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, to mandate disclosure requirements for LLCs and shell companies purchasing residential property, and proposals to endorse federal legislation that would fund social housing and environmental retrofits of public housing.

Dubbed “Homes Guarantee LA,” the series of proposals builds on additional efforts of Bonin and his colleagues to protect and expand affordable housing and protect renters.

WHAT: News Conference to Announce “Homes Guarantee LA”

WHERE: Los Angeles City Hall Forecourt (top of Spring Street Steps)
200 N. Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

WHEN: Wednesday, February 12, 2020; 9am

WHO: Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin
Daisy Vega, People Organized for Westside Renewal
Laura Raymond, Alliance for Community Transit-LA
Steve Diaz, Los Angeles Community Action Network
Joe Donlin, SAJE-Strategic Actions for a Just Economy
David Levitus, LAForward
Joseph Delgado, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
Carlos Aguilar, Communities for Economic Survival

Safran to Build Affordable/PSA in West LA

Posted by :reta On : October 20, 2017
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Category: Affordable Housing

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wla
West Los Angeles/Sawtelle Neighborhood Council voted 10 to 1 to support an 80-unit affordable/permanent supporting housing project on the old WLA Animal Shelter property at 11950 Missouri Ave (Bundy Drive and Missouri Ave).

Thomas Safran Associates (TSA) will build a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units with a community room and a community garden. TSA will be going thru the City approval process.

Groups Listen/Question Architect On-Site of Venice Median Project Regarding the Project

Posted by :reta On : April 15, 2017
14

Category: Affordable Housing, Uncategorized, VCH/HCHC/Eric Owen Moss Architects, Venice Community Housing, Venice Median Parking Lot

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dell1
The proposed Venice Median Project between North and South Venice Blvd and between Dell and Pacific.

Venice Community Housing (VCH) had another meeting with community members for “community input” regarding the Venice Median project.  This time it was on site and the architect or his affiliate answered questions posed by members of the groups as they walked the site.

Eric Owen Moss, architect, was asked questions regarding parking.  “Will you be able to adhere to the Venice Specific Plan as stated in the RFQ/P with all the parking requirements this project entails,” one person asked.  His answer was that if the RFQ/P said he had to adhere to the Venice Specific Plan, he would, but maybe he would have to “ask for a favor.”

group2
Group 1.  Several groups were sxtarted and at various times.  Q&A was to go from 10 am to noon.

group1
Group 2.

canal2
The canal that divides the property.  One person made a comment on internet regarding Kip Pardue’s story saying that all this had been cleaned up.  This photo shows property worse than Pardue’s photo.

Snapchat Discussed, VNC BBQ Cancelled, Oxford Triangle Resolution Rescinded … VNC Meet

Posted by :reta On : March 22, 2017
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Category: Affordable Housing, City Property, Homeless, Thatcher Maintenance Yard, Triangle, Uncategorized, Venice Neighborhood Council

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OT

Residents of Oxford Triangle wait their turn to speak regarding the Oxford Triangle resolution they wanted rescinded.

By Angela Mcgregor,

Snapchat’s impact on the Venice community was discussed at Tuesday’s VNC Meeting. Community Officer Colleen Saro discussed her meeting with Snap, Inc. representatives, in which she expressed many of the community’s concerns — mainly about the Snap Security Squad and their apparent hostility toward tourists and transients alike. According to Snap, the security detail was hired to protect their employees, who have had incidents of harassment with the homeless as they make their way from one Snap location to another. Company reps pointed up Snap’s numerous, charitable contributions to the community, including coding classes at St. Joseph’s, showers at Safe Place for Youth, and a variety of projects at Venice’s elementary schools. Ms. Saro invited representatives from Snap to attend an upcoming VNC meeting, in order to address community concerns, but they refused (for now).

Various residents followed up her presentation with their own commentary about Snap, including the news that the Venice Freak Show on Ocean Front Walk will be closing in May due to Snap’s taking over their lease.

Both LUPC Consent Calendar items — a demolition/new build at 2334 Cloy and a demolition/new 2 unit condo build at 656 California, were approved.

VNC Board President Ira Koslow announced that there will be no Venice Community Barbecue in 2017. After 10 years of organizing the event, the organizers are simply “worn out”, he stated. It should be noted that a component of the Venice community called for a boycott of the BBQ last year after what they stated were “micro aggressive comments” made by the organizers at a VNC meeting (see: http://savevenice.me/boycott-venice-nc-bbq. Despite that, the 2016 event was a success and the BBQ will be missed.

Koslow also announced that the selection of a new Board member to fill a seat on the Board left vacant by the resignation of Erin Darling would be postponed until the April meeting, due to an incorrect date being posted on the nomination form.

Finally, a motion passed last month regarding development at the Thatcher Maintenance Yard in the Oxford Triangle was rescinded. At the February 21st meeting, a motion was presented calling for the VNC Board to support only R-1 (single family) housing there; this motion was amended to replace “R-1” with “multi-family”, thereby reversing the original intent of the motion. Many of the dozen or so Triangle residents speaking in favor of motion to rescind pointed out that amending a motion in order to reverse its original intent appeared to be a violation of Robert’s Rules of Order.   The motion to rescind passed the board 13-0-1.

The May 2017 VNC Board meeting will be held on the third Wednesday in May, rather than the third Tuesday, due to a conflict with a local election.

 

Hawkins Says: “Build Smart for a Better Future in Venice”

Posted by :reta On : March 5, 2017
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Category: Affordable Housing, Canals, Homeless, Venice Median Parking Lot

Tags:

William Hawkins at VNC Meet

William Hawkins
at VNC Meet

 

By William Hawkins

The Venice Median project (that area between North and South Venice Blvd from Pacific to Dell Ave) continues to be a big issue in the upcoming election. I agree that we need housing for the homeless but I’m not convinced that this lot is the most efficient and appropriate location for it.

We deserve better than this. We should not allow the city to squander this opportunity. We need to do something innovative, ground-breaking and design something that elevates Venice, as well that will continue to serve the entire community for generations to come.

 

What’s been presented so far is an incomplete, short-sighted, and underwhelming plan that benefits and enriches the wrong people. We need to make sure that those millions of dollars being spent are creating the most beds as possible.  We can’t allow career politicians to set the bar so low for the rest of us. We can do better and we need a better plan that maximizes the most valuable piece of property available in Venice. This land belongs to all the people of Venice and we should have a say on how it’s going to being used.
 

System not set to reduce Venice homeless
Based on presentations given by Venice Community Housing I have real doubts that their development concept would create that promised reduction in unhoused people in Venice, especially given that enrollment would legally need to be open to the homeless across the entire city. I don’t believe that preferences will be made to those already living here, at least as an ongoing policy, it’s just not how the system works. And even if it did work that way,  the 100+ units would not likely make a noticeable dent in the thousands of people living on Venice Streets. And that’s not enough to force our community to make that trade-off to give up the biggest and most valuable piece of land west of the 405.

I’m not saying that Venice doesn’t need this kind of housing and I’m not saying that VCH doesn’t provide our community with a much-needed service. I like the people who work at VCH and respect all the good work they do in our community. I just think that this project fails to answer the needs of our community and specifically isn’t feasible for the Venice Median lot. In order to move the needle enough to make a real difference we need to build a much bigger facility that serves many more people. And we can still build that facility in Venice, but somewhere east of Lincoln, out of the Coastal Commission authority and that yields more beds. Another location could likely create at least 50% more housing for the same cost and that’s reason enough to deny this project as it’s been proposed.

Would exacerbate the present overwhelming traffic congestion
Second, the amount of traffic that 100+ units would create heading west on Venice Blvd towards would exacerbate an already overwhelming congestion issue residents face each year between April and October. Parking is another big issue that has yet to be properly addressed. The water table down by the beach prohibits the kind of depth needed for underground parking that could serve this already overwhelming demand. How are we to provide parking for another 200+ residents this project would bring to the area? And what about all that lost parking during construction? What are we planning to do about that? There are many issue for a project that already costs too much and creates more problems and fails to solve any of the issues we already face.

Need something to serve entire community
I think we need to think out-of-the-box and create something that serves the entire community of Venice. A housing development  that not only includes the homeless, but also the elderly and those municipal workers who have become the backbone of our community. We need affordable housing to be able to maintain this community we need to provide housing for those neighbors who are being pushed out of the neighborhood as more and more luxury development replaces the much-needed multi-family housing. We need to make sure that municipal workers like teachers, police, fire, sanitation, artists, musicians and writers and other vital parts of our everyday Venice life stay in the community. The best way to do that is to build “work force housing” along with affordable rental units and senior housing, homeless housing built alongside valuable beachside commercial retail that generate millions of dollars in revenue that could be used to maintain the property and fund construction of more homeless housing in the area.

I saw a similar program executed successfully in a town called Rye Brook, NY where my younger brother was a policeman. He and his wife were able to buy a three-bedroom townhouse in their community through a lottery system devised by the town that provided affordable housing for their municipal workers in a portion of luxury homes being built there. Once purchased,  the occupants had to live there five years before they could resell and could only resell that property for 5% above of what they bought the townhouse for. That insured that these homes remained affordable for the next group of municipal workers that were on the list. We should be thinking about doing something similar here by selling 10 to 15 homes to local municipal employees and sell another 25 or so luxury units at market value. Then we create additional affordable rental units for other municipal workers, seniors, artists and the homeless.

Need a community center and open space
I think it’s essential that there’s also a community center, a state-of-the-art performance/event space for community use and a lot of open green space that utilizes the north end of the canal in the way it is a public garden and useful for the entire community and the guests that come from all over the world to enjoy the uniqueness that Venice is known and celebrated for. We could also generate additional revenue by building commercial retail space along Pacific. All that revenue generated from residential sales, rents and commercial leases would go directly into a special fund specifically used for construction of homeless housing in other areas of Venice and throughout the city as well as much needed detox centers and shelters for victims of domestic abuse.

We cannot allow the city to steamroll over us and fast-track something that isn’t right for our community. We need to take the time to design and build the right project that can ultimately be the game changer that we all desperately need and that truly serves the whole of Venice.

Stoicism teaches us that we must plan to the very end. Otherwise, we don’t know when we’ve lost our way. We can’t keep thinking short term and be reactionary with the issues we face. We need to think long term and create solutions that don’t create more problems. And we cannot allow the city to steamroll over us and fast-track something that isn’t right for our community. We need to take the time to design and build the right project that can ultimately be the game changer that we all desperately need. And we need a project that truly serves the whole of Venice of right now as well as the Venice of the future. I believe we have just as much of an obligation to the future generations of Venetians as we do those of us who live here now. So, let’s be sure to build something that not only innovates, inspires and elevates what Venice is now, but also for it one day can be.

Developers/Architects Meet with Venetians to Discuss the Venice Median Project

Posted by :reta On : January 13, 2017
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Category: Affordable Housing, Homeless, Uncategorized, Venice Community Housing, Venice Median Parking Lot

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w2_edited-1

Comments By Angela McGregor

There was a large turnout for this meeting, and residents arrived expecting to be able to ask questions and give feedback to the developers, as well as be given some idea of what was to be built. However, the developers — VCHC, HCH, Eric Moss — all insisted there is no plan, even though the documents soliciting proposals for this development (as presented to the crowd by Darryl Dufay) clearly stated that, in order to enter into their agreement to develop the project, they needed to submit at least some idea of what they were proposing to do.

Public discourse was effectively shut down by the way the meeting was organized: Tables were set up around the room labeled “public safety”, “density”, “parking” and so forth and attendees were advised to go to them and scribble their concerns/suggestions on swaths of butcher paper. No one was notified in advance that it would be done this way and so no one came prepared to offer this type of input. I asked two questions of one of the table monitors:

1) You say the comments given on these sheets will be taken into consideration in the planning of this development. If that’s the case, how will they be weighted? What if someone simply doesn’t want another homeless housing development in Venice? Will they be given equal consideration?

2) Why wasn’t the concept of this project first brought before the VNC’s LUPC committee and the VNC, the way any other project being developed in Venice is?

He had no answers for either, but did scribble my questions onto the butcher paper.

Linda Lucks (VCHC representative/former VNC President) later approached me and let me know that there would be “many meetings like this” at which the community would “come together” to design an acceptable project based upon community input. After this, the proposal would go before the LUPC, the VNC, get an EIR, and a Coastal Development Permit. She said this would take “years”.

She also confirmed that all residents of this development will come through the Coordinated Entry System. This means that Venice’s Homeless will not be given priority in being housed in this building, and in fact, we may actually be “importing” chronically homeless and disabled individuals from all over Los Angeles to reside in it.

City Homeless Committee Approves Thatcher Yard, Venice Median Projects

Posted by :reta On : December 7, 2016
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Category: Affordable Housing, Development Projects, Homeless, Housing

Tags:, , , ,

By Angela McGregor

The Los Angeles Homeless and Poverty Committee met at 9 am, 7 December to approve entering into exclusive negotiating contracts with developers for permanent supportive housing projects on eight city-owned properties, including the Thatcher Yard and Venice Median lots.

Residents of the neighborhoods affected by this development were not officially notified by the city, and members of the Oxford Triangle Association were notified of it via an email from Mark Shockley, around 5 pm 6 December, after the Association’s attorney noticed it on the city’s website. At least a dozen opponents of these projects arrived by the announced meeting time of 9 am, only to be met with a room full of proponents of the projects who had apparently been formally notified and had arrived early enough to fill out the majority of the speaker cards prior to 9 am. Public comment was cut off at 9:15. Among the notable comments:

Dan Whalen, one of the members of the Oxford Triangle Neighborhood Study group, pointed out that the neighborhood is small, entirely zoned for single family residential housing, and already plagued with traffic problems, and pleaded with the committee to consider an alternate, more appropriate location for such high-density development.

Linda Lucks, former VNC President, said that she favored such developments because they would restore the economic diversity that had been lost in Venice due to gentrification.

Mark Ryavec, candidate for CD11 Councilmember and President of the Venice Stakeholders Association, asked that any plans for such development in Venice be held in abeyance until after the March elections, and that the concept of such developments be put before the Venice Neighborhood Council so that the community would have a chance to weigh in on them in light of what seems to him to be enormous community opposition.

Two formerly homeless, current residents of Safran projects in Del Rey spoke in favor of the project as well.

During the Committee’s discussion, mention was made that proposals had been featured in social media (possibly a reference to the Safran Group’s response to Venice Update’s questions), in particular that the projects might include a majority of market-rate housing. Councilman Bonin insisted that he had not seen any proposals and that none had been approved, nor would they be without both VNC and Coastal Commission approval. “I have instructed these developers not to come to me with proposals until they’ve worked out their plans with the community,” he stated. Furthermore, while by law such developments only have to include 15% permanent supportive housing , he said including such a large amount of market-rate housing, which “is effectively luxury housing, on the Westside” was “unacceptable” to him, and would be tantamount to a “bait and switch”. He said he would not approve any project which did not predominantly consist of housing for the formerly homeless, in line with the stated goals of the City’s plan to combat homelessness via funding available due to Proposition HHH, which passed in November.

The exclusive negotiating agreements, which would expire after one year, were approved. Councilman Bonin pointed out that it would no doubt take longer than a year to build these projects in Venice (“nothing gets built in Venice in less than a year”), and the point was made that the City can pull out of the agreements if the projects don’t “pan out.”

The meeting adjourned at 10 am.

VCH Happy to be Designated for Venice Median

Posted by :reta On : November 19, 2016
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Category: Affordable Housing, City Council, City Property, Councilman, Homeless, Uncategorized

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Venice Median Site

Venice Median Site

Venice Community Housing Corporation (VCH) along with Hollywood Community Housing Corporation will be partnering to build housing on the Venice Median — that area between North and South Venice Blvd on Pacific and west of Dell.

“We don’t have more details at this point, because it is not yet approved,” according to Director Beck Dennison, “but once it is approved, “we will be doing community engagement to finalize the details of the project.”

The VCH e-newsletter read:  “With the passage of Proposition HHH and with overwhelming voter support, VCH looks forward to developing more permanent supportive housing in our Westside communities and working with our development partners to ensure 10,000 units are built throughout all neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles!

“As a next step in building housing and reducing homelessness, VCH is proud and excited to share that we, with our partners at Hollywood Community Housing Corporation and Eric Owen Moss Architects, have been recommended for approval to build affordable and permanent supportive housing on the city-owned parking lots at Venice and Pacific Boulevards. The recommendation has to be approved by City Council before it is finalized, and the recommendation is based on a preliminary project concept. If Council approves, we will immediately announce opportunities for community input, engagement, and feedback to inform and create the final project proposal. Please feel free to reach out to us at any time with any questions – your support for VCH and this project is much appreciated!”

 

 

Can “Neighborhood Integrity Initiative” Stop Venice Median, Thatcher Yard?

Posted by :reta On : November 19, 2016
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Category: Affordable Housing, City Administrative Officer, Homeless, Housing, Local Coastal Plan (LCP)

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Many Venetians have pointed to the “Neighborhood Integrity Initiative”
as a stopper to the homeless projects planned for Venice. The initiative goes on the ballot in March.

The initiative is intended to stop “spot rezoning” for large projects that disrupt the “integrity” of the community, and in many cases, re-identify a community. The initiative calls for a two-year moratorium first.

Affordable Housing is Exception but not General Plan Change
One of the exceptions to the initiative is “affordable housing.” But the initiative also states that the project must be consistent with the General Plan.

Rezoning that is planned for the two Venice projects is not consistent with the General Plan, so a Plan change would be necessary. Of particular interest is Section 4.B which deals with General Plan changes and Section 4.E which deals with the affordable housing exemption.

The Venice Median is zoned “open space” and the plan is to rezone it R-3, which is a zone for apartments. The Thatcher Yard has been used as a “public utility,” since becoming part of Los Angeles. This might fit under industrial use as stated. But the intensity of going from flat land to apartment-type use is definitely addressed under 4.B.1,2,3.

Section 4 Temporary Moratorium Stops Council Approvals of Projects that Seek Spot Zoning and General Plan Amendments to Intensify Land Use

B. Notwithstanding any section of the Los Angeles Municipal Code and during the effective period of the moratorium imposed by the Act no project that seeks a General Plan amendment, a zone or height district change shall be approved by the City Council if such approval would result in:

1. changes of existing zoning to permit more intense land use (as defned by a zone change from a more restrictive to less restrictive zone according to the Los Angeles Municipal Code section 12.04A, or to a height district permitting the construction of a higher structure); or

2. an increase in floor area ratio, density or height; or

 3. a net loss of land zoned open space, agricultural or industrial.

E. Exceptions. The moratorium prohibitions specified in this Section 4 of the Act shall not apply:

1.  to any project in which 100% of the units are deed restricted Affordable Housing Units, that seeks a zone change or height district change only, but not a General Plan amendment.

An Affordable Housing Unit is defined as a unit that is affordable to households with a gross household income at or below Low Income levels (including Extremely Low Income and Very Low Income) as determined by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (or successor agency) for Los Angeles County on an annual basis, and that is rented or sold for no more than the percentage of gross household income required by Health and Safety Code section 50052.5.

Town Hall Shows Venetians Not Happy with Procedures, with Results

Posted by :reta On : September 9, 2016
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Category: Affordable Housing, Councilman, Uncategorized, Westminster Senior Center

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Homelesscrowd
Many Venetians had to stand Thursday night for the town hall homeless meet at Westminster Elementary School.

Councilman Mike Bonin provided status updates to a packed audience of Venetians and listened to Venetians explain that they, for the most part, did not appreciate his system of “non-participation” with the residents or resident-participation after the fact.

Bonin came with representatives from the county, the mayor, the Chief Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, head of Los Angeles Housing Services Authority, and head of the new police task force called Hope.

Bonin explained with visual aids the situation and then CAO Miguel Santana explained how it was going to work.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana explains how the RFQ/P (request for proposal) works.


City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana explains how important it is for homeless to be housed first and then get the services.


City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana explains why the homeless housing has to be spread throughout Los Angeles as opposed to selling in high income areas and purchasing “more for the buck” is lesser income areas.

There were about 80 speaker cards and all were allowed to speak taking the town hall to 11 pm.

One lady near the end said she used to be an appraiser for industrial/commercial properties and she said it was evident that the properties in question could produce more facilities if properties in question were sold and properties were purchased where land was more reasonable.

The two properties are prime, less than 1000 feet from the water, and are where many a tax-payer could only hope to live. Santana then explained that one could not sell all the expensive property and buy where it is cheap. See video.