News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA
The Department of Recreation and Parks will be hosting a paddle tennis tournament at the Venice Beach paddle courts, 1800 Ocean Front Walk, 11, 12 April. Registration is $40 per person and must be completed by 11 April.
There will also be a “Big West Shoot-Out, 3 -Wall Ball” Tournament at same time. Registration is now until 11 April and is $30 per person.
Any questions, contact Fred Ealey at 310-399-2775.
Venice Update has carried many a story about cleaning up Ocean Front Walk and 3rd and the problems with the homeless. That is all talk or the written word. Video shows man doing something about it.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day Small Ball at 1800 Ocean Front Walk 14 and 15 March. It will be tournament format: double elimination “No Drop Down.”
Registration is now until 1 March and the cost is $15 per person.
Late registration will be 2 March through 14 March and cost will be $30 per person. There will be 1st and 2nd place awards in all divisions and free refreshments.
This tournament is sponsored by Department of Recreation and Parks.
Mark Ryavec, president of Venice Stakeholders Association, reports that KCBS will run a 4-1/2 minute special on the crime in Venice at 11 pm tonight.
Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Association, spoke before the California Coastal Commission (CCC) Friday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium about obstacles at Venice Beach to the visitor-serving mandate of the Coastal Act.
He also addressed historic preservation. See “Ryavec Addresses CCC About ‘Historic Preservation.’
Over the last year and a half the City of Los Angeles has allowed the Venice Beach Recreation Area to become Skid Row West.
I would advise you that you should walk the entire length of the Boardwalk from Rose to Windward to fully understand the truth of my statement. Permanent encampments of transients have literally occupied many areas of the park along the Boardwalk and deny them to visitors and residents alike.
These encampments act as incubators for crime inland; for example, there have been five home invasions in my immediate neighborhood since last April committed by transients living along Venice breach.
Due to the unwillingness of the City officials – the mayor, the councilman, the Department of Recreation and Parks and the LAPD – to enforce existing laws against camping in parks in the City of Los Angeles, our organization has filed a lawsuit, funded by residents, against the City for maintaining a dangerous public nuisance along Venice beach.
We strongly support the City’s midnight to 5 AM beach curfew, which is the only measure that gives some respite to residents from the very loud and dangerous conditions that would otherwise exist in the park along the Boardwalk at night. Our attorneys – and now the Los Angeles City Attorney – believe the curfew is a legal exercise of the City’s inherent police powers and thus exempt from the Coastal Act. Before you consider filing a lawsuit against the City to require that it apply for a CDP you should spend a night on Venice Beach with the LAPD and some adjacent residents to understand our need for the curfew to remain in place as it currently operates to offer a modicum of protection and relief to residents.
Your commission might also give some thought to whether by illegally allowing encampments in a coastal park that the City is denying use of these areas to visitors and thus the City is in violation of the Coastal Act.
LOS ANGELES – Residents of Venice Beach today filed a lawsuit with the Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking the Court’s help in addressing dangerous conditions and nuisance problems in Venice. Councilmember Mike Bonin, who is in his first term as the City Councilmember representing the area, released the following statement in reaction to the filing:
“I share the frustration with the deplorable conditions on and near Venice Beach. The condition is unacceptable for residents, for merchants, for tourists and for the hundreds of unhoused people who sleep on our streets. We need to keep our parks and neighborhoods clean and safe — AND we need to find permanent shelters and services for the homeless.
“However, as the VSA well knows, the courts have repeatedly handcuffed the City in its attempts to manage Venice Beach by a series of rulings on vending, on sleeping in public spaces, and on cleaning up both encampments and trash. The courts have repeatedly told the City of Los Angeles what it cannot do. While the source of the VSA’s ire is more appropriately aimed at the courts, if this lawsuit results in a ruling that tells the City what it can or must do, I would welcome it. We’re all interested in making Venice safe, clean and welcoming, and I trust that we are all also interested in marshaling the services and building the housing we need to end the crisis of homelessness in our City.”
Proposed restroom facility for Rose Avenue site was unveiled at the Venice Neighborhood Council last Tuesday.
Some abide by the new rule of no ridding a bike on Ocean Front Walk but most bike on.
Amendments to the Ocean Front Walk Vending ordinance were passed last Tuesday to prevent the display of banned items and to make failure to appear in court to contest a citation a conviction.
One will no longer be able to display items that are not allowed to be sold on Ocean Front Walk. One will not even be able to give a banned item away along with a valid item. Subdivision 42.15.D.4 will bar the display of banned items and 42.15.D.5 will ban giving a banned item free in conjunction with the sale of a valid item.
Subsection 42.15.I, subdivision 3 will make failure to appear in court to contest a citation and bail forfeiture the equivalent of a conviction for purposes of imposing progressive penalties..
Some Segways, the hybrid multiple-wheeled scooters, and the not shown hybrid, multiple-wheeled motorized scooter-type device, which is assumed to be similar to a “Razor” two-wheeled scooter with an engine have been banned from beach areas. The small, two-wheel Segway, shown, is an exception.
Ordinance 183134 restricting Segways, hybrid, multi-wheeled scooters, andhybrid multiple-wheeled electric personal assistive mobility-type devices has passed and became effective 8 July.
It bans these devices from Ocean Front Walk (OFW), all sidewalks, and the bike path from Washington Blvd to the Santa Monica line. The exception is that certain Segways may operate on the bike path.
The exempt Segway is defined in Vehicle Code Section 313 as a self-balancing, non-tandem two-wheeled device that is not greater than 20 inches deep and 25 inches wide and can turn in place. This Seaway is designed to transport only one person and have an electric propulsion system averaging less than 750 watts (1 horsepower), the maximum speed of which, when powered solely by a propulsion system on a paved level surface, is no more than 12.5 miles per hour.
The ordinance to change Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 63.44 (O) was passed by the City Council 24 June, signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti 2 July and became effective 8 July.
“Segways were already banned by municipal code section 63.44(O), but that language specifically referred to “two-wheel” devices,” wrote David Graham-Caso, Communications Director for Councilman Mike Bonin. “Since many Segways now have a variety of wheel configurations (including some with more than two wheels), the LAPD asked that the Councilman update the municipal code to restrict the use of Segways on the boardwalk (with certain exceptions so operators could not point to a technicality in the law if they got a ticket).
“Just like you are not allowed to ride your bike on OFW because you could easily hit and harm someone, this ordinance simply makes it so people riding Segways need to use the bike path instead of the pedestrian walkway.”
First violation will be $100. Second and subsequent violations will be subject to prosecution as an infraction punishable by a fine in the amount of $250 or prosecution as a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $1000 or by imprisonment in the County Jail for a period of not more than six months, or by both a fine and imprisonment.
These definitions do not include electric bicycles, which are governed by bicycle rules. And law enforcement personnel will be exempt from the law and able to use similar type devices. People with a disability will also be excluded from this ordinance under American Disabilities Act.