by Reta Moser
Police barred this reporter entrance to the Westchester/Playa neighborhood council that was to vote on the controversial “road diet” in Playa, Tuesday night. Officers said press had to have a press badge authorized by someone in city, downtown. Business card was insufficient. Told me to go to end of line.
Didn’t know what the law was regarding such in LA since I had never had this happen with Venice Update reporting of events in Venice and surrounds. I was shocked to see that my business card of Venice Update was insufficient for the two dressed police at the door.
I thought the first amendment guaranteeing freedom of the press was sufficient. I just wasn’t aware of any other law governing local press entrance for public proceedings.
Hey, I was wearing orange and was completely ignorant of the fact that orange is the designated color for those wanting the roads back open. Sorry about that one. Will try to be more aware of being unbiased. Also I was dressed casually in shorts and crocs. Don’t know what a local reporter uniform would be or should be.
The officers proudly posed for photo and Casandra stated her name when I tried to read her badge.
I stepped back and there crossing over the landscape was Debbie Dyner-Harris, district chief of staff for Councilman Mike Bonin, better known to me at that point as “freedom of the press advocate.”
(This road diet in playa is very controversial. I should have been covering the Venice Neighborhood Council but reporters go where the story is. This was big for area.)
“Hey Debbie, they won’t let me in.”
“Follow me,” as she crossed over to another door.
I explained to her that the officers said I had to have a press pass issued down town. Do you know where?
“Never heard of such a thing,” she replied.
We went to the back of the building and entered through the patio.
Debbie left me and called the name of the officer standing at the door and said he “would help me.” He turned and stepped aside to let me in.
I was in.
It would have been a sad day for freedom of the press had I not had Councilman Mike Bonin’s Chief of Staff Debbie Dyner-Harris get me in. I understand credentials being checked out for more important events in this day because of crazies but for local public events, no.
What an interesting experience for me but sad experience for America, for Americans.
Note: Advocate Rick Swinger, who lives in north Venice near 3rd and Rose, has just about taken over this edition of Update with his endeavors to clean up around 3rd.
By Rick Swinger
It was amazing and a relief seeing LAPD maintaining the Peace on 3rd at Rose Friday at 7:15 pm. Its been just awful with all the violence on 3rd and around this area in recent days, weeks and months.
Every Friday L.A. Sanitation cleans 3rd and the transients move ALL their baggage over to Rose Ave starting at 6 am and then all yelling, fighting, and screaming starts and lasts into the evening! Now with the combination of the hot stench of rotting perishables, rat infestations, meth use, and excrement that prevails, residents here are fed up. Even some of the homeless are going elsewhere. Its just too crazy for everybody!
Thanks LAPD for showing up here! Councilman Bonin please listen to your constituents! Its time to give all of us a better option to this! Designated Campsites with the infrastructure needed to provide decent relief from these Dirty Filthy streets is in order here!
Hope Task Force, which consists of Los Angeles Department of Sanitation Workers and the Los Angeles Police Department, were picking up bulky items Thursday and were asked by neighbors to clean up a mess on Sunset just around the corner.
Hope Task Force operates out of the West Bureau. Normally, they just pick up bulky items but neighbors on Sunset asked them if they would clean up Sunset.
LAMC 56.11.3(i) Bulky Items (non-shelter) placed in Public Areas
Bulky itms are defined as any item possessing size and/or shape which will not allow the item to fit into a 60-gallon receptacle with the container lid closed. Bulky items generally include but are not limited to mattresses, appliances, furniture, shed, structures, non-operational bicycles, and construction materials. An exception has been established for tents, wheelchairs, walkers, containers of a volume not exceeding 60 gallons, crutches, and bicycle if operational
By Mark Ryavec
Rick Swinger
Venice activist Rick Swinger was assaulted by a homeless camper on Rose Avenue the morning of Thursday, May 18th, which resulted in Rick being knocked to the ground and his armbroken.
This is yet another in a long series of attacks on Venice residents by transients living on Venice’s streets, sidewalks and parks.
Rick cautions Venice residents that the man who assaulted him is very combative and has been seen twice since the attack around the Full Circle Church property next to Rick’s apartment at the corner of Rose and Hampton.
“My wife and I are afraid for our lives at this point,” Rick said in the aftermath of the attack.
The attacker is white, about 200 pounds, around 50 with dark brown hair and beard. Rick first noticed him in late April when he took to sitting on the picnic table on the front patio of the church next door and using a metal electric panel enclosure as storage for his possessions. Rick said, “He even has his own lock for the panel door.”
The attacker has frequently awakened Rick and his wife, whose bedroom faces the church. Rick had previously attempted to engage the fellow in friendly conversation, but the camper became quickly agitated and threatening.
On the morning of the assault Rick and his wife were awakened at 4:30 am by the man yelling while sitting at the picnic table on the church patio. Rick went over to the church property to ask him to quiet down. To protect himself, Rick carried a can of pepper spray held behind his back. As soon as Rick explained to the man that people were trying to sleep next door the fellow lunged at Rick, so he sprayed him with the pepper spray and started to walk back to his apartment. The homeless camper was barely affected by the spray and pursued Rick. Rick, now on the sidewalk, turned and sprayed the attacker in the face, but this did not stop the attacker from knocking Rick to ground. In the fall, Rick’s arm was broken.
Ricks’ broken and battered arm
He called out to his wife who ran over and helped Rick to his feet and back into the apartment. His attacker was also down on the sidewalk, finally slowed down by the pepper spray. After calling 911 they got in their car and started to head off to Brotman Hospital where Rick’s wife is a nurse. As they were leaving an LAPD patrol car arrived and the officers agreed to follow Rick and his wife to the hospital to fill out a police report on the incident. (The attacker had left the site by then.)
Rick reports that he saw his attacker come back to get stuff out of the electric panel enclosure later that day and has seen him in the area on two more occasions. Each time he called the LAPD but they did not arrive in time to catch the guy.
Rick had earlier taken a photo of the fellow because he found him erratic, loud and menacing. After he gave the photo to the LAPD, one of the Beach Patrol officers told Rick that he knew of him. As of this posting, the attacker has not been arrested. Rick’s request to church staff for them to put their own lock on the electric panel box to stop its use as storage space and to remove the picnic table, which is a homeless magnet, have gone without response.
Rick has been leading the effort to force the City and Public Storage to stop all the dumping of toxic materials around Third and Rose, which drain directly to a pool on the beach where the storm drain empties. The City is remiss in not posting signs to warn children not to play in the polluted water.
Who’s that sleeping in my bed? … as the tale goes. Well, builder Kim Gordon found out Monday morning that it was an uninvited homeless man.
Three calls to 911 and 40 minutes later, homeless man was awakened by the LAPD boys in blue and removed from one of Kim Gordon’s almost completed properties just east of Lincoln Blvd.
The homeless man chained his bike to the fence, got inside the house, and had a great weekend. He found the keys to a car parked in garage and drove around town. Car had a small dent as a result of the excursion.
“He had various electronic devices plugged into the wall next to the bed and a pile of my books too,” according to Gordon explaining what she called a “bizarre” tale. “He took showers in the master shower with his own soap. There was a pizza and soda in the refrigerator.
“His shoes were neatly placed at the front door and he did some laundry.
“He went through my boxes and we are not sure what he stole. A chandelier that had been delivered on Friday was taken out of the box and placed by the door. We are assuming he was going to sell it.
“When the police finally arrived and they took him out of the house, he kept telling everyone it was his house. “
The police said they were late because they were dealing with two different domestic violence cases in the morning and that was more of a priority.
LAPD Pacific Division representatives said at the Tuesday night Venice Neighborhood Council meet that residential burglaries in Pacific Division were up.
The LAPD officers suggested that Venetians install a home security system/cameras, lock doors and windows, join or start a neighborhood watch, and report suspicious activity.
Although certainly not the intention of the City to invite motor homes to Venice, it has been the result. The motor home dwellers looked at LAMC 85.02 and said “Ahha the City is inviting us to the beach” and to the beach they have been coming, making a mockery of LAMC 85.02 that was written to protect them and residents.
Venetians, not use to motor home dwellers, have been incensed with people pulling up to their front door with these large, looming vehicles. Most of these new dwellers are parking and disobeying the law by dwelling in the vehicle intentionally. And they are doing this much to the chagrin of Venetians. It is catch me if you can, and if you do, so what?
It has made Venetians ask many questions regarding this new influx of motor homes. Can a motor home park in front of my house? What is the law regarding such? Can I put up a sign and keep motor homes out? What if there is no sign, can I get them out? Who do I call? Hopefully, this article will answer these questions.
Can a motor home park in front of my house?
Yes, a motor home can park in front of your house in Venice.
What is the law regarding motor home parking?
There are two laws restricting motor homes. Both laws can be used at the same time.
One law–Ordinance 181413, which is only for Venice west of Lincoln, governs signs being put on a block to restrict oversized vehicles from parking 2 am to 6 am without a one-day permit (One day permit will not be discussed). To get sign, one needs a petition with 66 percent of the block signatures. Sign is on a block-by-block basis. With these signs the parking of oversize vehicles, defined as motor vehicles “in excess of 22 feet in length or over 84 inches in height, is prohibited from 2 am until 6 am. Contact Taylor Bazley at Taylor.Bazley@lacity.org for petition.
The other law is LAMC 85.02 which the Venice Update has been writing about for months now. It is the law with the red, yellow and green areas throughout Venice. It will sunset in July of 2018. Its purpose is to place motor homes in Venice without causing a problem until such time as safe places for motor homes can be found in church parking lots, in commercial or industrial areas. If you are in the red, yellow, or green zones, and you are, motor homes can park in front of your home.
In the red, they can park but never dwell in vehicle.
In the yellow, they can park but cannot dwell in vehicle from 9 pm to 6 am.
In the green, they can park and dwell.
Note that all present restrictive parking signs apply to all vehicles and streets. Example: If sign says 2-hour parking, that means two hours no matter what the color of the area, or the type of vehicle.
Can you put up a sign and keep motor homes out?
Yes, You can have all the signs you want in the red, yellow, or green areas. The sign that will restrict motor homes and not you is the 18143 sign that was discussed earlier. It allows motor homes to park but not between the hours of 2 and 6 am.
What if there is no sign, can a resident get violators out?
Yes, call the LAPD. Parking enforcement does not enforce 85.02. LAPD carries guns; parking enforcement does not. Think about the guy knocking on the door and who is behind the door. That is why LAPD does the enforcement.
Whom do I call?
If you have a 181413 sign or any other type of restrictive sign, call parking enforcement. If you have only the 85.02 one, call LAPD. Realize LAPD does not consider this high priority.
In one neighborhood a trailer with a car towing it was parked in red for almost two weeks, police came and according to the vehicle owner “I went ahead and moved my trailer even though the police (who’s time was repeatedly wasted) allowed me more time. Don’t want to cause anyone cardiac distress.”
After completely violating the law and being told, he moved to the yellow and has been there since. One cannot stay in vehicle from 9 pm to 6 am in yellow. Now in the yellow, one person left vehicle at 10 am to walk the dog the second morning.
The Oxford Triangle has five motor homes in it right now, which is most unusual. One is a resident of Jefferson Marina and has not purchased off street parking for his motor home. One is a fellow parked in two-hour parking. He got a ticket so he raised the hood which means he cannot move the vehicle. What that entails, is unknown. He has not moved since he settled in, raised the hood, and took his bikes off the rack.
Red is no living/sleeping (dwelling) in vehicle.
Yellow is no living/sleeping (dwelling) in vehicle between 9 pm and 6 am.
Green is live/sleep (dwell) in vehicle.
All posted signs still apply.
This writer misinterpreted the law. The code stated “red–no vehicle dwelling anytime.” That was interpreted to mean the vehicle could not park or dwell there. Wrong. They can park there but they cannot live/sleep in vehicle.
This is why all neighborhoods, and Venice in general, are having an influx of motor homes. It’s free parking at the beach! Red zones you can park all day and no one is enforcing the sleeping/living. Green zones are carte blanche as it is, and the yellow zones are once again subject to enforcement.
This trailer belongs to a Jefferson-Marina apartment visitor and the couple is living in it. It is in the red zone. Neighbors across the street have knocked on door to explain the law and the response is that street is not marked as such.
Javier Rameriz, senior lead officer, has been notified and says he will keep an eye open. Meantime, the family has lived in vehicle each night for a week. Neighbors are doing petition for signs. Enough is enough.
The big solution is to get the oversized vehicle sign posted on your block. Sign says:
“NO PARKING, 2 AM TO 6 AM; VEHICLES OVER 7 FEET HIGH OR OVER 22 FEET LONG, EXEMPT BY PERMIT”.
Petition says “OR” but this sign says “AND”. Is this an error or has someone changed the ordinance? It makes a big difference! A really big difference!
Contact Taylor Bazley at taylor.bazley@lacity.org for the petition. Get 66 percent of the signatures of people on the street.
Police can just write a ticket for those under the signs. Police do not have to look in vehicle or knock on door. In fact parking enforcement could handle this.