West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission will hear an appeal for 1511 Abbot Kinney 1 October, 4:30 pm at the Henry Medina Building, 11214 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, 90064.

Jim Murez, former member of Land Use and Planning Committee (LUPC), has appealed decision by Planning to approve project. Project was disapproved by LUPC and the Venice Neighborhood Council earlier this year.

This was a project granted as artist-in-residency use which is very lenient with parking. Now owner wants to use this leniency and change use to retail.

Applicant wants conversion/change of use of the first and second floor of an existing three-story, 4281-square-foot Artist-in-Residence (AIR) building. The first floor will contain 1,036 square Feet of retail area with the remainder being used for parking. The second floor will contain 1,323 square feet of retail space. A 1,106-square-foot AIR unit will remain on the third floor.

Comments or questions should be addressed to Gregory Shoop at 213-978-1243, Gregory.shoop@lacity.org. Refer to DIR-2013-4118-SPP-1A, ZA-2014-277-CDP.

(Photo courtesy of Wolf Seeberg.)
Goodbye Summer! Goodbye Surfboard! Summer is over and the wet was great.

Bike and pedestrian paths around Marina have been marked for green—tree root removal, orange water collection area, white infill area with asphalt.

People are standing to voice their disapproval for 600 Mildred, Kim’s Market. Those who lived in vicinity and voiced their opposition for Kim’s Market were asked to stand and raise their hands.

Venice Neighborhood Council approved five land use projects and disapproved of two at their meeting last Tuesday. They also approved of six motions to be sent to the council office,

The Whole Foods Market was approved, as were 701 Lincoln, which is Locali; 425 Washington, which is Charcoal; 2707 Ocean front Walk, which is a 636 square foot addition to a duplex; and 1023 Abbot Kinney, which is Joe’s Restaurant.

Projects disapproved were 600 Mildred, Kim’s Market, and 1620 Electric Ave, a single-family residence.

Motions to be sent to the council office concerned:

• Wanting a traffic officer at Washington Blvd-Pacific Avenue intersection on weekends during the summer and holidays to direct and divert traffic.
• Making Strongs Drive one-way between Driftwood and Washington Blvd.
• Providing additional, remaining lighting for Ocean Front Walk and on all the trees in Westminster Dog Park to make area safe and beautiful after dark.
• Adopting “Venice Proud” as an additional marketing slogan.
• Making the Veterans’ Administration use the 399 acres for permanent housing and health care for veterans.
• Providing Venice with a seat on working group for shared economy, getting that group to work on positive and negative aspects of shared economy, and getting that group to research and analyze the short-term rental market affect on rent controlled housing in Venice and socio-economic diversity in residential neighborhoods.

The Zoning Administrator has decided not to issue a determination for 320 Sunset on present facts, but to hold another hearing, if and when applicant submits new drawings.

The process will then begin anew.

This is the project that was approved as a change of use from commercial to bakery/retail. Then before receiving his certificate of occupancy he applied to change it to a bakery/retail with a restaurant with a full line of alcohol and beer and wine takeout. Right now he is approved for a bakery/retail only.

(Photo courtesy of Gonzo Rock.)
This custom “wheelie” doesn’t have a kitchen sink but looks like it would have an outlet for coffee.

Old/new lights on Ocean Front Walk looking south shows the dramatic difference in illumination of the old and the new.

New/old lights looking north, one can see how dark it is where the old lights are, particularly where the buildings do not have lighting.

Installation of 106 LED lights on Ocean Front Walk (OFW) from the Washington pier to Ozone, and including the Washington pier, should be completed shortly according to Victor Jauregui, senior director at Recreation and Parks, who was speaking for the Street Services crew doing the installation.

New lights put a different light on the OFW. In picture, the old lights look like they keep the walk lighted but it is the photo. The area is definitely dark with the old lights. In some areas without stores providing some light, it gets really dark.

This was one of Councilman Mike Bonin’s priority projects for improving public safety at OFW. Police had said lights would help prevent crime in area. Bonin found the money for the installation. Cameras are on the agenda for OFW as another public safety and crime preventive measure. The Venice Neighborhood Council voted to approve the project at the December meeting.

Not all happy
But not all are happy. One resident in the 700 block was very vocal.

“Yesterday morning, the City installed new LED lights on the boardwalk north of Windward to at least Rose,” wrote Joel Shields. “Security is one thing, but the City has utterly destroyed the night sky, a view of the coastline, white caps, obliterated all stars and the moon. My patio is in 700 block of OFW and can no longer use the patio once the lights come on– which means no early mornings and evenings unless I want to be under a spotlight. The light penetrates my entire apartment. Patio looks like I’m sitting in the middle of a K-Mart parking lot. Walk by some evening if you want to see what I’m talking about. Absolutely no community input from residents, no notice, nothing. Utterly destroyed the charachter of OFW at night.”

“It was so dark when taking photos near the old lights,” said Reta Moser. “The lights from buildings helped but without such, it is just dark. I heard a skateboarder coming behind me and could just see a figure. I grabbed my dog and moved to the sand. I wasn’t sure skateboarder could see me. One biker coming at me with no lights made me move over. That’s how dark it was in the short time I was there.

“I know stargazers hate these lights. We had an astronomer in our area and he was not happy when they installed the LED lights.”

Venice is going to have a new vocal group if Erin Sullivan Ward has anything to do with it. Now all the local Venice vocals can now shout it out in tune, of course.

Tryouts for 25 men and women were held Wednesday at Beyond Baroque from 6 to 9 pm. The plan to have rehearsals once a week and necessary dues for practice space, etc will be approximately $100 each. Anyone wishing to try out should contact Erin at Tusker1_98@Yahoo.com .

“I love to sing. And I love to be around singers,” said choir director Lonnie Martinez when asked why she wanted to direct the choir.

Erin, who is starting this group, said her motive was “I love to sing.” Erin’s future for the group is not for it to be a “chorale” group in that since. It is going to be different, funky and if anything “alive.” “We don’t have a name; we are just starting,” Erin added.