News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA
Will we ever get preferential parking in Venice? Unlikely. The California Coastal Commission has repeatedly said we have to have replacement parking. The Venice Blvd median area would have been a perfect place for just parking but the City has decided to put up a 140-unit building for mentally ill homeless.
Venice Stakeholders Association (VSA) has a history of Venetians trying to obtain preferential parking.
Venice Stakeholders Association (VSA) spoke out in opposition to Assembly Bill 718 proposed by Assemblyman Kansen Chu. This is the letter addressed to assemblywoman Autumn Burke.
Dear Assemblywoman Burke:
I am writing on behalf of our organization to urge you to vote against Assembly Bill 718 (Chu).
The Venice Stakeholders Association is composed of residents in Venice, California, dedicated to improving neighborhood safety in our beach community.
We led the effort to remove over 250 RVs and campers from our community that previously occupied the curbs in front of our residences on a full-time basis, with all the problems attendant to the use of residential streets as an urban campground.
We are suing the City and County of Los Angeles for maintaining a dangerous public nuisance along the Venice Beach Recreation Area, which resulted from the City and County’s failure to enforce the Beach Curfew and the ban on camping in City parks. We also have lobbied for the reinstatement of enforcement of the City’s ordinance banning lying, sitting, sleeping on public rights-of-way.
Our opposition to AB 718 is driven by our experiences over many years with the noxious effects of people lodging in their vehicles in residential neighborhoods, which would be allowed under AB 718.
We have seen on many, many occasions car campers use residential gardens, parkways and garage aprons as latrines. We have been frequently awakened at night by all the late night noise of fights, arguments and drunken partying that these campers generate. We have been forced to park several blocks away from our homes as the parking in front of homes is taken up by those living in their vehicles. (And we’ve seen overnight restricted parking for our neighborhood rejected three times by the California Coastal Commission, so that is not a solution to the dearth of parking we face in Venice.) We’ve cleaned up all the trash dumped by car campers on our parkways and streets. We witnessed the assault-by-vehicle by drunken car camper Nathan Campbell upon 17 pedestrians on the Venice Boardwalk, which left Italian visitor Alice Gruppioni dead. We live in fear of car break-ins and residential burglaries as vehicle lodgers forage for funds to support their drug habits.
We would ask that this bill be rejected and that instead the Legislature support the proposal before the Los Angeles City Council to create a handful of parking areas located at significant distance from residences where a pilot program can be introduced to test the concept of vehicular lodging under a local permit system and in collaboration with social service agencies. Leaving on the street those who are forced by circumstances to live in their vehicles is not a solution and they should not be abandoned to such a life. AB 718 simply locks in place a desperate lifestyle while offering no alternatives.
Thank you for your consideration of our views on this bill. Sincerely yours,
Mark Ryavec
Mark Ryavec, President
cc: Senator Ben Allen
The second and final attempt to settle the case was in June of 2013. After the Commission denied OPDs for a third time, the City got cold feet and abandoned the lawsuit. This left VSA in the position of having to pursue the case to trial by itself. Although VSA was entitled to do this, the Commission’s lawyers contended that the City’s withdrawal should be interpreted to mean that the City would not pursue OPDs even if VSA were to win the case. In October 2013, the Commission brought a motion to have the case dismissed on the ground that it was “moot,” which means that the Court could not grant any meaningful relief because of the City’s apparent reluctance to implement OPDs even if the VSA won at trial.
California Coastal Commission said “no” to an overnight parking district (OPD) for Venice. The vote was unanimous. This is the third time OPD has come before the Coastal Commission. Preferential Parking District (PPD), originally proposed for this session of the CCC, was not presented.
The California Coastal Commission will hear the proposed overnight parking district settlement Thursday (13 June) at 8 am at 200 Oceangate, 10th floor, Long Beach 90802.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) will also present a preferential parking district proposal for commercial corridors in Venice. The DOT is asking for a coastal commission position on proposal, not a disposition.
Note: Update gave the no overnight parking district (NOPD) group the opportunity to submit their reasoning for not having OPD. It was to be an issue devoted solely for them. David Ewing submitted the following, representing the only input so he was queried if he minded whether other stories were added. As of press time, he has not answered so other things are added. This does not mean that NOPD supporters cannot continue to submit.
The following is the NOPD flyer submitted by David Ewing.
PROTECT BEACH ACCESS!
No on the OPD
Bad for Venice- Bad for Everyone.
OVERNIGHT PARKING DISTRICT (OPD):
« Restricts parking between 2am-5am.
« Ignores the real parking problems.
« Undermines support for the Coastal Act-which protects us from high-rise hotels and from the fencing off of exclusive beachfronts.
FOR VENETIANS:
« A tax for permission to park on your own street-but no guarantee you’ll find a spot when you come home from work.
« A bureaucratic nightmare. Permits for residents, permits for guests, more permits for parties: All must be purchased ahead of time. Guest permits have to be renewed 3 times a year. You will have to stand in line at a government office in Los Angeles to buy your permit.
« Fines – $68 every time you forget to display a permit.
FOR ALL BEACHGOERS:
« It’s everyone’s beach. Let’s keep it that way. If residents get first dibs on street parking by restrictions from 2am-5am, they aren’t going to move their cars to make room for daytime beach visitors.
« The OPD is part of a larger plan to take away the public beach bit by bit. A locals only beach with access limited by curfew, an Oversize Vehicle Ordinance and now another attempt at an OPD-with around the clock permit parking in the works.
OPD WILL NOT PROTECT AGAINST:
« Valet abuses or commercial parking overflow.
« Daytime beach parking.
« Oversize vehicles.
RESTRICTED PARKING IS THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION
« Venice has hundreds of parking spaces that are closed at night. If we really want more parking, let’s open them up.
Overnight parking district is a hot issue. Opposition has been offered opportunity to post their thoughts in Update. Many are too busy to do such. Offer still stands.
Meanwhile–Last Update it was reported that someone removed VSA flyers from houses on Ocean Ave and it was further stated by one who saw person that the person was affiliated with the Friday morning Farmer’s Market.
First of all it would not/should not be a member of the Venice Neighborhood Council. Members take ethics training and Update assumes it would be automatic removal from office. So it would have to be someone “hanging” around or a volunteer. One name has been bantered around. Update has contacted individual to see if it was he.
Since that time Update has received a photo of a person removing a NOPD sign from the Venice Beachhead booth Spring Fling. Photo shows back of the individual with poster in hand walking down the street. Update knows this supposed person and is sure that if he knew picture would be published with his hand holding the poster, he would have turned around, waved, smiled, and done the Rocky dance.
Update’s offer to vent some of the feelings against OPD still stands.
Update asks that the OPD opposition contain the man who paraded in dress and went up and down the aisles bearing a cross.
Update feels this is not in keeping with the tradition of argument. Update further feels this is in poor taste and offensive to most and particularly those who believe in the Bible and furthermore, shows no relation to the argument at hand.
The US constitution guarantees free speech but it does not guarantee freedom of expression and poor taste is never in good taste.
The California Coastal Commission (CCC) will hear the VSA-City-CCC settlement at the Long Beach quarterly meet of the California Coastal Commission (CCC) June 12 – 14. It will also hear a proposal by the Department of Transportation that would provide a parking plan for residents along commercial corridors, such as Rose Ave. and Abbot Kinney Blvd. Exact day and time (July 12 – 14) has not been established.
Note: Triangle Update feels strongly that Venice needs this opportunity. The word “opportunity” is used because it is voluntary. It takes two thirds of the signatures of residents on a block to get OPD for that block. Not every block will seek such.
Please mail the postcard! Attend the CCC meeting this month. Help Venice grow up. It is time for Venice residents to recognize that Venice residents need parking to be allocated for them—the residents–owners and tenants. The rest of the city east of Lincoln has such.
Just the Triangle
Specifically, this will afford properties on Carter, Berkeley and a block of Thatcher to be protected from the 2000 units adjoining such. Apartment residents use these streets for convenience parking and illegally according to conditions but … And yes, there is ample on-site parking for units, although Mirabella charges for their visitor parking spots.
This would also stop LAX drop-offs from spending their holidays in the Triangle.
But it is the residents’ right and opportunity to protect themselves from poor decisions made by the previous City Council Office, City Planning Department, and the Fire Department.
Car Sleepers
And, of course, there will be ample areas for people to continue to sleep in their cars, if that is a concern. Not all streets will want or be able to get OPD. It is voluntary and requires signatures of 2/3 residents of a block. Update sees only two streets and one block seeking OPD at this time in Triangle.
DOT to Propose PPD
Also at the CCC this year, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (DOT) will present a proposed preferential parking district package for commercial corridors to get a reading from the CCC regarding their reception for such.
Areas in Venice have vehicles from commercial endeavors that require local, residential streets to accommodate their businesses. This is not fair. It is time for coastal commission to listen to residents within the coastal area.
As it stands now DOT is talking about the commercial corridors of Abbot Kinney and Rose Avenue. Photo below first appeared in 4 April issue of Update and shows the parking availability on Electric Avenue at 6 pm on Wednesday. As shown, at certain hours there just isn’t any parking!
(Photo courtesy of Electric Ave resident, Wednesday 6 pm.)
DOT recognized the problem and is proposing a 1500-foot parking modification plan for certain hours to be allocated for residents only. Washington and Lincoln, where applicable, could be added later if and when plan is approved
Man was seen removing VSA flyers that were distributed door-to-door to Venice residents over the weekend.
Several residents on Ocean Ave witnessed a man removing flyers from fences and houses on Ocean Ave this weekend. One witness stated person sometimes mans the Venice Neighborhood Council table at Farmer’s Market on Fridays.