Members of the St. Joseph Center Panel. They are, left to right: Lucas Quass, attorney from Latham & Watkins; Tifara Monroe, vice president of operations; Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum, president and CEO; Paul Rubenstein, vice president of development and communications; Courtney Kanagi, vice president of programs; John McGann, vice president of finance and administration.
Members of St. Joseph’s Center met Monday night to a room filled with residents complaining about unclean conditions they have to live with because of the homeless that surround the Center.
First the panel members each explained their individual duties pertaining to the homeless.
Stephen Butler gave a presentation showing they had housed 17 people in permanent housing since November 2016 to present, had found temporary housing for 51, and engaged with 153. These numbers are for the Hampton – 3rd Ave area only. The team covers SPA 5 and parts of another SPA and those figures were not given. He made the statement that it was hard to find housing for the homeless because the homeless wanted to stay in Venice. Stephen felt they should stay in their “community.”
Rick Singer stated that these homeless on 3rd and Hampton were not from Venice. Captain Nicole Alberca, head of the LAPD Pacific Division, stated that 90 percent of the homeless in Venice were transient. “They are not from Venice,” many broke in. One person commented that perhaps the statement of “being from Venice” and needing to stay with “community” was the mantra to promote more housing in Venice.
The meeting got off to a bad start twice. Once was when one panel member said she was not comfortable with this reporter recording her conversation. She said she did not want any recordings. The First Amendment allows for free speech and a free press. There are situations in a court room that disallow access for recording, and rightly so. There are laws in many states forbidding the recording of private conversations without notifying parties of such recordings. The Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum claimed she was holding a private meeting on private property. Neither was true. It was a public meeting and held in a public facility.
The second situation getting the meeting off to a bad start was one person reading all the submitted questions and stating that she was going to ask the questions because there was a lot of duplication. The first question was so bungled that Phil Brock, the person who asked the question stepped in to explain what he had asked.
Most of the questions were directed to cleaning the area.
Condition 15 of the determination, approved November 2008, is specific.
Condition 15 states:
Debris Removal/General Appearance. The site shall at all times be kept clear of weeds, rubbish, and all types of litter and combustible materials. Trash receptacles shall be located throughout the site.
The applicant shall clean up the public right-of-ways within one block of the subject center once per day when the center is open to clients. Such clean up shall be limited to Hampton Drive from Marine Street to Rose Avenue, Third Avenue from Marine Street to Rose Avenue, Marine Street from Hampton Drive to Third Avenue, and Rose Avenue and alley from Hampton Drive to Third Avenue, and be generally limited to items such as feces, vomit, bottles, cans, paper and needles.
Rick Swinger, who is the self-proclaimed leader of the group, has collected monies, over $2000, to clean up the streets and alleys in the absence of St. Joseph’s help and before he knew that St. Joseph Center was obligated to do such per condition 15. Dr.Adams Kellum CEO of St. Joseph’s made the statement that they are not obligated to clean up the alleys. One person stated that they do clean up and they started doing so 8 February 2018. Conditions were approved ten years before.
Reimbursement for neighbors costs of cleaning up the streets and alleys was not mentioned.
Swinger made the statement that the runoff of feces goes right to the Rose drain at the beach where kids play. The Hepatitis A outbreak with feces draining down to the kids pond could cause a big problem. He has tried to get warning signs posted but they are only the ones stuck in the ground.
Condition 17 providing for a security guard was briefly mentioned.
Condition 17 states:
[Modified] At least one, uniformed, state licensed security guard shall patrol the subject property and immediate surrounding area and shall be provided on a 24-hour basis. The security guard shall advise all loiterers that loitering is not permitted and shall take all reasonable actions to request that such loiterers leave the subject property and any sidewalk areas adjacent to the subject property, including the Hampton Drive frontage. As appropriate, the security guards shall contact the Los Angeles Police Department and shall cooperate fully with law enforcement personnel.
The guard shall patrol the subject property and the adjoining streets, Hampton to Marine, Marine to 3rd Street, 3rd Street to parking entrance, and both the upper and lower parking lots.
The complaints at the end were that questions were not asked and therefore not answered. The meeting was closed at 6:30 and the lights were blinked.
