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Venice News Updates

News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA

VCH Happy to be Designated for Venice Median

Posted by :reta On : November 19, 2016
2

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!”

 

 

VNC Denies Developer; One Building Built and Sold

Posted by :reta On : November 18, 2016
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Category: California Coastal Commission (CCC), Planning, Uncategorized, Venice Neighborhood Council

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Before

Before

 

After

After

By Angela McGregor

At the most recent VNC Board meeting, two projects from developer Thomas James Capital were discussed. The first was a single family home at 2819 Grayson. The original permit obtained in November, 2015, from the City of Los Angeles described the following project: “A 2-story addition to an existing 832 square foot 1-story single family home”, adding 2438 square feet to the original structure and maintaining at least 49 percent of the original structure.

Based upon this description, the City of Los Angeles issued a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) exemption and also a building permit, at which time demolition commenced. In March, the Coastal Commission received a request for an appeal to the exemption, due to the fact that the scale of the project was clearly beyond that described in the original permit and the original structure had been entirely demolished (see: https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2016/4/th17e-s-4-2016.pdf).

The Coastal Commission sided with the appellants, and denied the exemption, stating: “the fact is that most of the entire structure, with the exception of some of the wood framing, has been demolished. Thus, there is no existing structure to “add on” to or improve, which as a result, invalidates the exemption.”

The Coastal Commission then revoked the City’s permit, and yet the work continued. Sadly, not only had the original structure been demolished, but a massive tree in front of the property containing a hawk’s nest was also taken down illegally and improperly. The new home constructed on the property in apparent defiance of this stop-work order was sold in late August for $3.5 million (see: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/2819-Grayson-Ave-90291/home/6734845).

The motion on the VNC’s agenda recommended the CDP approve the project with maximum fines (which could total up to $1.63 million), and that those fines be imposed on the developer and not the current homeowner. Jim Murez argued in favor of this option, since in his opinion, based upon numerous conversations with all involved parties, the permitting process was deeply flawed and the developer contended that the City had never notified them of the stop work order issued by the Coastal Committee. Furthermore, the Coastal Committee found the size, mass and scale of the development to be in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood, implying that they would have approved the development had it gone through the appropriate legal process. The Coastal Committee recommended, therefore, that the developer “pay off” the community with a large donation to a local non-profit, since the City would not likely fine the developer, anyway.

Board President Ira Koslow disagreed, and stated that the developer and/or architect clearly received a stop work order and chose to continue the work, and that there appeared to be collusion to do so between the occupant and the developer. He felt the Board should deny the motion to approve the development and send a strong message to developers in Venice — “no cheating!”. This motion was amended to include the recommendation of maximum fines, and passed 12-2-2.

The second project from this developer on the Board’s agenda was 213 Ruth Avenue. The motion on the agenda recommended denial of the project for similar reasons to the previous project: lying to neighbors regarding the existence of plans and ignoring stop work orders from the Coastal Commission. Also, they found the project not to be in keeping with the mass, scale and character of the neighborhood. This motion passed, 15-0-1.

During the discussion of these issues, a couple of broader points were brought up:

1) The VNC Board should have more authority over tree removal. The tree removed in front of 2819 Grayson was described as an important, heritage tree whose loss (ostensibly, to repair the sidewalk) was deeply mourned by the neighborhood.

2) The loophole used by this developer to bypass Coastal Commission approval is one widely used by many developers in Venice, who, under the pretense of retaining “49%” of the existing structure will often leave a single wall (or less) and proceed with development that, in fact, required a CPD.   In fact, several public speakers pointed out that there are more developments from this particular developer in the pipeline which will come up at future VNC Board meetings which use similar tactics.

All motions on the general consent calendar were passed without dissent, including the motion for the Holiday Reunification Program made by the Homeless Committee.

L.A. Department of Public Works President Kevin James made gave a 20 minute presentation on the Department’s ongoing projects, including fixing L.A.’s broken sidewalks and streets. To request service, dial 311 or use the LA311 app.

 

Santana Says Venice Median and Thatcher Yard to be Developed; Names Developers

Posted by :reta On : November 17, 2016
19

Category: City Administrative Officer, City Property, Councilman, Homeless, Thatcher Maintenance Yard, Uncategorized, Venice Median Parking Lot

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Venice Median

Venice Median

 

Thatcher Yard

Thatcher Yard

 

Note: This announcement is almost verbatim from the Council Office and written by David Graham-Caso, communications director.

 

The City Administrative Officer (CAO) Miguel Santana is recommending that eight city-owned parcels throughout Los Angeles be the first wave of properties considered for housing development.

In Venice, the CAO is recommending that Thomas Safran & Associates be given the chance to work with the community to design a proposal for the old Thatcher Yard, and that the team of Hollywood Community Housing Corporation and Venice Community Housing Corporation be given the chance to work with the community to design a proposal for the Dell Pacific parking lot.The size and type of housing in each proposal will be determined following the community input process that Mike has insisted the developers conduct.

Once Thomas Safran Associates or Hollywood Community Housing Corp/Venice Community Housing Corp. create and submit their proposals, they will be subject to the same process as any development proposal in Venice – which includes review and public input at the neighborhood council, through the Department of City Planning, the full City Council, and most likely, the California Coastal Commission.

Thomas Safran & Associates has three properties on the Westside: Del Rey Square, 124 units of low-income housing for seniors, including 30 formerly homeless seniors, in Del Rey; Redwood Village, 50 units of low-income senior housing in Marina del Rey; and the newly opened The Woods at Playa Vista, 83 units of senior low-income housing in Playa Vista. (Thomas Safran & Associates was also selected to create a proposal for a former animal shelter in West Los Angeles.)

Venice Community Housing & Hollywood Community Housing have a recently opened building in Del Rey, the Gateway Apartments, offering 21 units for formerly homeless people. VCHC operates more than 16 buildings and offers more than 200 units of housing on the Westside. Hollywood Community Housing Corporation has more than 20 buildings and 700 units of housing, mostly in the Hollywood area.

“Thomas Safran & Associates and the team of Hollywood Community Housing and Venice Community Housing are already part of the solution on the Westside, and I am excited to learn there is a potential for these organizations to provide more housing here for those who most need it,” said Councilmember Mike Bonin. “Voters just approved Proposition HHH, allowing us to help build 10,000 units of affordable or homeless housing in Los Angeles. I hope Thomas Safran & Associates, HCHC, and VCHC will be able to be among the first to help fulfill the voters commitment. I look forward to the start of their community outreach efforts, and I am eager to see what sort of proposals they offer.”

The types of housing that the CAO recommends be included in the proposal include: permanent supportive housing, affordable multi family housing, mixed income housing, affordable homeownership, and what the CAO describes as “innovative methods of housing.”  Innovative methods of housing in this case are described as “modular, prefab, or micro units.”

Lava Mae Comes to Venice

Posted by :reta On : November 15, 2016
2

Category: 3rd Avenue, Councilman, Homeless, Uncategorized

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Mike&Doniece
Breaking the opening tape (toilet paper in this case) are Councilman Mike Bonin and Doniece Sandoval, founder and chief executive officer of Lava Mae. The Lava Mae bus organization has been showering the homeless in San Francisco, recently moved a bus to Los Angeles, and is now going to be in Venice one day a week.

 

Councilman Mike Bonin welcomed Lava Mae, the mobile showering service for homeless, into the Venice community Tuesday morning on 3rd Avenue, Venice as part of his overall Homeless Plan for Venice.

Venice has the second highest concentration of homeless in Los Angeles. It is planned that the Lava Mae shower bus will arrive in Venice every Tuesday on 3rd Ave, just south of Rose, and operate from 8:30 am until 1:30 pm.

Bonin hopes to have the County and LAHSA service agencies all available at shower time to assist the homeless in choosing supporting services to get them off the street into rehab or shelters or permanent housing.


Doniece Sandoval, founder and CEO of Lava Mae, commemorates opening of Lava Mae in Venice, CA.

Lava Mae was created by Doniece Sandoval in San Francisco four years ago after hearing the cry of a homeless woman that she would never be clean. Since then Sandoval has turned busses into showers. She wanted six stalls she said but it did not provide the privacy she envisioned so she settled for three. Sandoval has been operating the bus shown in downtown Los Angeles and Tuesday was its maiden voyage to Venice. Sandoval plans to open another bus in San Jose soon.

“Hygiene brings dignity and that opens up opportunity,” said Sandoval. She insists that the program be operated with dignity for the homeless. Her patrons are referred to as “guests.” She further insists that the services be totally safe and private and provide for the handicap as well.

inside

Each “bus” has three complete bathrooms and one is equipped for handicapped. They hook up to a water hydrant. Shower water drains on the street; brown water is captured.

Every homeless person this writer talked with was looking forward to a hot shower. They all planned to participate. Toby, who was photographed in a previous Update story, was thrilled with the idea of a hot shower on his street that he has lived on for five years.

Cottage industries were sprouting up next to the showers. There was Narnia, T3, and an AIDS checking station that advertised condoms.

narnia
Elize’ Todd and Caitlin Adler started Narnia to help the homeless.

Elize’ and Caitlin pick up items from various places such as Salvation Army and provide them for people so they will have clean clothes when they get out of the shower.

Thomas sets up a table of rolls and coffee for the homeless and sees this as a way of giving back.

condom
HIV testing and condoms.

Miracle Message for Homeless

Posted by :reta On : November 14, 2016
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Category: Abbot Kinney, Homeless, Uncategorized

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Home4 Holidays

Mr. Cub Was “Front Row, Center” for World Series

Posted by :reta On : November 10, 2016
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Category: Uncategorized

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(Photo taken,assumed, when on cover of Sports Illustrated and provided by wife Liz Banks.)

(Photo taken,assumed, when on cover of Sports Illustrated and provided by wife Liz Banks.)

“Front row, center” was the answer from Liz Banks, wife of Cub all-time baseball star Ernie Banks who lived in Venice, when asked if she felt Ernie was there during the World Series.

Ernie Banks, who took all the records and whose eulogy read like an unequaled Who’s Who of baseball’s Hall of Fame, was called “Mr. Cub,” “Mr. Sunshine” and coined the phrase “Let’s Play Two.”

He played for the Cubs all his playing years 1953 to 1971, and sadly during that time, they never won the World Series, never won a pennant. But Mr. Cub will go down in history, never to be forgotten.

Photo taken of "Mr. Cub" during the unveiling of his life-size statue at Wrigley Field, Chicago. The statue in front of him is a replica.(Photo courtesy of Liz Banks.)

Photo taken of “Mr. Cub” during the unveiling of his life-size statue at Wrigley Field, Chicago. The statue in front of him is a replica.(Photo courtesy of Liz Banks.)

Rick Talley, award winning sports writer, wrote the book “The Cubs of ’69,” and said “The Cubs were awful but then there was Ernie.” That said it all for the Cubs until this year … the year the cubs garnered the World Series title.

Am sure Rick and Ernie were both front row, center for this one.

It was an honor and privilege for this writer to have meet them both.

City Council Passes New Live/Sleep LAMC 85.02; Enforcement

Posted by :reta On : November 10, 2016
3

Category: City Attorney, City Council, City Ordinance, Councilman, Homeless, LAMC 85.02, Police, Recreation and Parks, Uncategorized

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mh
Motorhome now parked next to Westminster Elementary School and close to preschool will be prohibited from parking within 500 feet of either with new LAMC 85.02.

 

The highly controversial LAMC 85.02 defining live/sleep vehicles parking on city streets has been totally replaced with an ordinance that prohibits live/sleep vehicles in residential areas during the hours of 9 pm to 6 am and at no time within 500 feet of  a park, licensed school, pre-school or daycare facility.  Posted city parking restrictions will remain in force.

This law will sunset 1 July 2018.  The mayor has yet to sign.  It also says nothing about commercial/industrial areas.

The new code is as follows:

SEC. 85.02. REGULATING THE USE OF VEHICLES FOR DWELLING.

A. Use of Vehicles for Dwelling Restricted on City Streets. No person
shall use a Vehicle for Dwelling as follows:

1. Between the hours of 9:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. on any Residential
Street; or
2. At any time within a one Block radius of any edge of a lot containing
a park or a licensed school, pre-school or daycare facility.

Nothing herein precludes the enforcement of any other laws such as parking restrictions, including, but not limited to, prohibitions on overnight parking.

B. Definitions: As used in this section:

1. Block is defined as 500 feet.
2. Dwelling means more than one of the following activities and when
it reasonably appears, in light of all the circumstances, that a person is using a vehicle as a place of residence or accommodation:

Possessing inside or on a vehicle items that are not associated with ordinary vehicle use, such as a sleeping   bag, bedroll, blanket, sheet, pillow, kitchen utensils, cookware, cooking equipment, bodily fluids. Obscuring some or all of the vehicle’s windows. Preparing or cooking meals inside or on a vehicle. Sleeping inside a   vehicle.

3. Residential Street means any street which adjoins one or more
single family or multi-family residentially zoned parcel.
4. Vehicle means any motor vehicle, trailer, house car or trailer coach
as defined by the California Vehicle Code.

C. Penalty. A first violation of this section shall be punishable as an infraction not to exceed $25. A second violation of this section shall be punishable as an infraction not to exceed $50 and all subsequent violations of this section shall punishable as an infraction not to exceed $75. Violators may be eligible for referral to a prosecutorial-Ied diversion program such as the Homeless Engagement and Response Team (HEART).

D. Sunset Provisions. The provisions of this section shall expire and bedeemed to have been repealed on July 1, 2018, unless extended by ordinance.

E. Severability. If any portion, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this section is for any reason held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such a decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this section. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each portion or subsection, sentence, clause and phrase herein, irrespective of the fact that anyone or more portions, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid.

Enforcement
The City Attorney’s letter dealt with the enforcement situation and wrote to the City Council members the following:

City Council sought to enforce the draft ordinance through the City’s Administrative Citation Enforcement (ACE) program. However, the ACE program relies on the violator having a current and valid mailing address. Based on information provided by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and others, people who use their vehicles to dwell often do not have reliable mailing addresses. Therefore, the ACE program is not suitable as a tool to enforce the draft ordinance.

In order to establish enforcement that meets the goals of City Council, the draft ordinance provides for the issuance of infraction citations with a penalty structure requested by City Council: $25 for first violation, $50 for the second violation and $75 for third and subsequent violations. A violator can pay the fine or appear in court to challenge the issuance of the citation. Alternatively, a violator may seek eligibility for dismissal of the citation through participation in the Homeless Engagement and Response Team (HEART) program or similar prosecutorial led diversion program.

The City will provide public outreach concerning information about where people can vehicle dwell on City streets. Public outreach will be coordinated with LAHSA and homeless service providers through the creation and distribution of maps developed by the City denoting the streets on which vehicle dwelling is allowed. The maps will be made available on the City’s website and updated regularly.

The adoption of this draft ordinance will allow the City to collect data for an environmental analysis of permanent regulation of vehicles used for dwelling on public streets.

Lining Up to Vote … and Trump Wins!

Posted by :reta On : November 8, 2016
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Category: Election, Uncategorized

line

This election line was on Washington and started at Yale in front of Denise Fast’s office and headed east to Lighthouse Properties, almost to Stanford. The line was for people in the Glencoe area. It was reported that other areas had lines.

“I just got back from my polling place and in all the many years I have voted I have never seen anything like it,” wrote Debbie Rochlin, communications director for Mar Vista Neighborhood Association. “I vote in a garage on Purdue Ave and the line was 4 houses down. Way to go Zone 4!”

Oscars Finds More Graffiti

Posted by :reta On : November 6, 2016
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Category: Abbot Kinney, Crime, Graffiti, Police, Uncategorized

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Stewart Oscars, the Venice graffiti finder, has found more graffiti and stated that he feels the amount of damage done in Venice is increasing.

“I came across a New York Post article, August 6, 2016, titled, ‘How Bratton’s NYPD saved the subway system,'” he wrote. “The article is lengthy and covers more than tagging, however the positive actions used to lessen tagging damage on NY subways could be applied to Venice.” http://nypost.com/2016/08/06/how-brattons-nypd-saved-the-subway-system/

Stewart also asked the question: “Can’t something be done other than paint over it?” The answer is yes. One can paint the wall using anti-graffiti paint. One can put anti-graffiti film on windows. One would assume that there is a clear protective coat that could be painted over most murals too.

graffiti2
1110 Abbot Kinney Blvd

graffiti3
1130 Abbot Kinney Blvd

graffiti1
730 Washington Blvd

What to do with “Stuff”

Posted by :reta On : November 5, 2016
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Category: Homeless, Storage, Storage Container, Uncategorized

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stuff

This “stuff” is too much to fit into the 60-gallon allocated storage bin. What happens to stuff that does not fit. Will the laws be enforced?