Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) will discuss the homeless committee’s motion to request Jones Settlement housing figures be supplied at the meeting Tuesday, 7 pm at Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
By Angela McGregor
Tuesday night’s Venice Neighborhood Council (_ meeting opened with presentations by both Senior Lead Officer Kristan Delatori and Field Deputy to Mike Bonin, Taylor Bazley, and both had comments on the two recent shootings on Windward Avenue, near the Boardwalk. Officer Delatorre announced that the police have “good info” on the identity of the second shooter, and expect to apprehend him soon.
She also mentioned that Venice Beach will soon receive an influx of temporary officers — 20-30 — to be deployed on and near the Boardwalk. This is a regular, seasonal occurrence, but she encouraged the Board to draft a letter requesting that this increase be made permanent. She also mentioned that overall crime — in particular, thefts from automobiles — is up due to what she termed new “micro encampments” in the neighborhood. Taylor Bazley stated that Councilman Bonin has requested 24/7 staffing for the Venice Beach substation (which is currently open only during daylight hours), and agreed with Officer Delatori’s request for a larger, permanent police presence.
On a happier note, Bazley also announced the groundbreaking for a new, 6500 square foot park in Venice — at 3507 Via Dolce, a currently vacant lot. This will happen on Friday at 8:30am.
In other good news, Will Hawkins announced that, as a result of discussion at the WLA-VA Neighbor’s Community Roundtable, the Brentwood VA will be making 200 safe parking spaces available at their facility. This should happen very soon, once Federal approval is received.
A Town Hall meeting to discuss the feasibility of separate Cityhood for Venice has been scheduled for the evening of April 19th. The location is to be decided.
In response to a recent accident near the Broadway School, in which a child was injured by a vehicle, the Board voted to request a scramble crosswalk be created at the corner of California Avenue & Lincoln Blvd. Scramble crosswalks allow for pedestrian traffic to cross in all directions at an intersection (including diagonally) while traffic is stopped in all directions. The Board’s motion also requested deployment of a crossing guard at that intersection, and was unanimously approved.
Finally, the Board weighed in on reconsidering the a motion from the previous meeting to create weekend parking restrictions on Pacific Avenue. This motion failed by a single vote a the previous meeting, but was put up again because Jim Murez, its sponsor, was unable to attend that meeting and speak on its behalf. A reconsideration requires a 2/3 majority vote of the Board, and by one vote — 9-5-2 — failed to attain enough votes for discussion.
The next meeting of the VNC will be April 17th.
Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) will discuss the definitions for stakeholders in reference to the bylaws Tuesday, 7 pm, Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Here is the _March 2018 Board Agenda.
Becky Dennison, director of Venice Community Housing
William Hawkins, chair of Venice Neighborhood Council Homeless Committee
NIMBYism is one topic of the LA Times series of articles and this article features Becky Dennison, director of the Venice Community Housing, and William Hawkins, chair of the Venice Neighborhood Council Homeless Committee.
Neither the newsstand nor the home-delivered version has the audio. Only the online version has it.
Becky Dennison explains the Venice Median project and reasons for it and Will Hawkins explains the reasons against the project. One has to go to this link to hear them because this is a copyrighted article.
The Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) has provided $2500 for the Outreach Committee to promote and advertise for a new logo that represents the VNC. (Old Logo is shown at left) It could be your creation. Submit designs to Hollie Stenson, chair of Outreach Committee, at Hollie.Stenson@VeniceNC.org.
Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) will meet tomorrow night, 7 pm, at the Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd. to discuss emergency disaster resilience, transition of the cannabis business from unregulated to a regulated framework, a homeless town hall.
By Angela McGregor
The agenda for the VNC’s first board meeting of 2018 was short but sweet, and featured the pending return of Roosterfish at 1302 Abbot Kinney (the last Los Angeles gay bar west of the 405, first opened in 1970), which closed over a year and half ago. New owners Patrick Brunet and Mario Vollera, who also own South End, a popular pizza restaurant at Washington & Abbot Kinney, are awaiting City approval of a conditional use beverage permit, and their representative was at the meeting to ask for the VNC’s support of that permit. Besides keeping the name, they will also be retaining the building’s exterior and much of the old interior and patio. The VNC Board unanimously voted in favor of the re-opening (with Ira Koslow abstaining).
In other matters:
A competition for a new VNC logo will be launched on the VNC’s website in coming weeks.
Venice Community Housing Corporation will be redeveloping their office space of 30 years to accommodate 35 units of affordable housing, plans for which will come before the VNC Board at some point in the future.
Ocean Front Walk now features newly tiled benches, a project five years in the making. Go check them out!
All of the VNC ad-hoc committees were renewed for another year. The Cityhood Committee will be holding a Town Hall in a few months to present their findings and gather public input.
The next meeting of the VNC Board will be Tuesday, February 20th.
Venice Neighborhood Council will have their first meeting this year starting at 7 pm, 16 January and be held tat the Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
The Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) Homeless Committee, chaired by Will Hawkins, is setting an example for the City and for other neighborhood councils to follow regarding their Friends and Family Reunification Program.
“We are proud to announce that since the Venice reunification program launched in December 2016 we have housed and/or reunited 26 people,” wrote Hawkins. “During our last Home for the Holidays campaign with Safe Place for Youth we reunited six people with their families, saving the city $2,418,000 in housing and services costs.”
Councilwoman Nury Martinez of CD 6 presented the city council with a motion during the November meeting asking that the City investigate the feasibility of a stand alone city-wide Friends and Family Reunification Program starting in 2018 with a pilot program in her district.. The city council will vote on this initiative in January 2018.
“We’re working directly with Mayor Garcetti and his Deputy of Homeless Affairs Alisa Orduna to replicate our reunification program in all 97 Neighborhood District Councils with a goal of reuniting 1,000 people in 2018,”
This year the committee brought in guest speakers from St. Joseph Center, Safe Place for Youth, SHARE, USC school of architecture, and Venice Community Housing to better inform the community as to what is being done by others and what is available.
The committee started “guest members” who would serve four to five months. The purpose was to bring in new perspectives.
These are some of the motions made this year.
Homeless Storage Pilot Program 3rd/Rose
Providing 60 Gallon containers for all those registered in the city Coordinated Entry Program to lessen the amount of personal property left on the street and to assist LAPD and Sanitation to identify belongings from waste.
Homeless Pet Care Initiative
To provide homeless with basic necessary care for their pets including vaccinations, check-ups and grooming.
RV Safety Motion
Requesting that the city create a program where RV’s staying in Venice are to be inspected and registered as “Fire Safe” and equipped with smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
Venice Street Donations Initiative
The Venice Neighborhood Council requests that all street donations for the homeless are to be run exclusively through area non-profits and city service providers to insure those in need are kept on a path for housing and able to access necessary services while living on the streets.
Emergency Healthcare Kiosks to treat Hepatitis A Outbreak.
To address the San Diego Hepatitis A Outbreak and the potential of that outbreak to spread through the Venice Encampments we requested immediate action from city health departments.
Open City Owned Bathrooms
The VNC requested that before the city rents or buys any mobile bathrooms and wash stations they first utilize all the available bathrooms in city and county owned facilities, such as Penmar Gold Club, Fire Stations, Public Library, Vera Davis Center, Oakwood Rec Center and a limited amount of Beach bathrooms.
Limit Locations of Proposed Mobile Bathrooms and Wash Stations
Committee requests that the city limit mobile bathrooms and wash stations to be at least 50 feet away from residential properties of businesses and get approval from 2/3rds from owner on that street. Also request that maintenance and security is onsite during operating hours.
Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) will meet Tuesday at 7 pm at Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd, to discuss placement of public restrooms for the homeless.