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Venice News Updates

News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA

VNC Meet is “Happy Birthday, DeDe Audet”

Posted by :reta On : January 21, 2017
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Category: Venice Neighborhood Council

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By Angela Mcgregor

Community icon/activist DeDe Audet was present at the most recent Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) meeting, standing in for Yolanda Gonzalez to give the DWP report. At the end of the report, she was feted with a birthday cake and a chorus of “Happy Birthday” from all those present.

In other matters:

Taylor Bazley spoke regarding the enforcement of the new regulations regarding RV parking, which he said was the No.1 item constituents were calling his office about. This matter was covered recently in the Venice Update: https://veniceupdate.com/2017/01/07/livesleep-lamc-85-02-became-law-7-jan-enforcement-to-start-early-feb/

The VNC has a brand new website years in the making: http://www.venicenc.org/. They are still working a few of the kinks out, but Communications Director Evan White certainly deserves kudos for creating a much more user-friendly, modern site for the VNC. Henceforth, Board meetings will be live streamed to Facebook as well.

Becky Dennison of Venice Community Housing announced that further discussion of the Median Yard Project will take place at this Monday’s VNC Homeless Committee Meeting, at 7:00pm. The meeting will be held at Venice Community Housing Corporation’s (VCHC)  offices, 720 Rose Avenue.

Three LUPC items were discussed — 656 California Avenue, 701 Indiana Avenue, 622 Brooks and 305 Ocean Front Walk. The California Project, which included 2 roof decks and was three stories tall, was denied due to inappropriate mass and scale and questions regarding Mello enforcement. The other projects were approved.

The Board approved the Homeless Committee’s call for County Public Health officials conduct immediate and periodic health inspections of the homeless encampments in Venice in response to the possibility of a MRSA outbreak. They also approved an item introduced by Matt Shaw that was in support of the Lava Mae program with the following conditions:

— A medical professional be on hand

— That Lava Mae make quarterly updates on the success of the program to the VNC

— That the VNC be consulted regarding any changes to the program

— That Lava Mae consider changing the day of the weekly service so that it doesn’t conflict with the Friday sweeps of the neighborhood.

The next VNC Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 21st.

 

Homeless Committee Wants Monitoring and Public Reporting of Health Problems in Homeless Encampments

Posted by :reta On : January 8, 2017
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Category: Homeless, Homeless Committee

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With Input from Angela McGregor

Prompted by the recent stories of MRSA in Venice, the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) Homeless Committee  met Friday afternoon to approve a motion members drafted for VNC approval regarding providing health monitoring of Rose Ave encampment and any other Venice encampment for the protection of all Venice residents as well as the homeless.

Recently there was a “scare” of an outbreak of MRSA in Venice amongst the homeless as reported in Venice Update at Veniceupdate.com. This motion if approved by the VNC and implemented should monitor and report all health risks to the public.

First of all the motion, which was unanimously approved, stated that the City, the County, the State and the Federal government had a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that all housed and unhoused should have access to medical care as needed. The motion states:

They want all outbreaks of MRSA to be reported immediately in writing to the VNC;

They want the Lava Mae shower facility to be properly verified free of contaminants by the LA County Health Department;

They want an immediate and periodic health inspecition of encampment on Rose and all encampments in Venice to ensure the health and safety of all residents.

Taylor Bazley, Venice deputy for Councilman Bonin, was in attendance at the meeting and stated that there have been, per the County Health Department, no reported cases of MRSA in Venice in the past two months. This does not rule out, however, that cases may have been diagnosed and reported elsewhere prior to an infected individual moving to the streets of Venice. He said that the Dr. King of the Venice Family Clinic does routine outreach to this community and had reported no cases, but their outreach is not comprehensive enough to absolutely rule out the possibility of an outbreak. As such, Department of Public Health Workers are working with Venice Family Clinic to identify cases. As Bazley put it, “We’re pretty confident there aren’t any new cases”. However, he said, Supervisor Shiela Kuehl is treating this as a “major health crisis” although it likely is not, out of an abundance of caution.

After the meeting, and not part of the meeting, Taylor Bazley was asked what could be done about the trash on 3rd. He said he had ordered more trash cans and said more cans or more frequent pickup service was needed. Update assumes 3rd will have more trash cans and/or more frequent pickup service.

“No Staph Infection Outbreak in Venice,” Councilman Bonin

Posted by :reta On : December 31, 2016
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Category: 3rd Avenue, Councilman, County, Homeless, Venice Neighborhood Council

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“There is no outbreak of staph infection in Venice,” according to Councilman Mike Bonin.

“My office has been in touch with Lava Mae, the County Supervisor’s Office, the Venice City-County-Community Outreach Team (C3) and the nurse practitioner housed at Venice Family Clinic, who works with this population in Venice,” according to a statement by the Councilman.

“People living on the streets are at risk of disease and infection, but all relevant officials assure us there is no abnormal incident of illness in Venice. Supervisor Kuehl’s office has already been in touch with the County Department of Public Health, and has committed to focusing Department of Public Health resources on the area.”

Background

At the Venice Neighborhood Council, a spokesman for Lava Mae stated that 25 percent/or number of the people they saw on 3rd and Rose had MRSA.  The Update when questioning Jasmin Kozowy, director of Lava Mae,  outside the VNC meet and also later the next day, Kozowy said there were only six cases of MRSA that she knew of and those were cases she determined as such based on the MRSA medication they were taking.  She felt there were possibly three other cases based solely on what the sores looked like.

MRSA, according to the Mayo Clinic medical information on internet: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by a type of staph bacteria that’s become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections. It is contagious by contact.

The Venice Update Contacted the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 21 December, the day after VNC meet,  and was told to call the Public Health Nurse at SIMMS/MANN Health. This was done. Update requested that the public health nurse assigned to that area contact the Update. No one has ever called the Update. Supposedly, a nurse has been assigned and if there is a problem will report such to CDC.

The Venice Update contacted Debbie Dyner-Harris (22 December), district director for Councilman Bonin, after the story on Nextdoor continued to fan the fear.  She said she would see what Councilman Bonin wanted to do.

The story was in the LA Weekly today or yesterday, 30 -31 December, with quotes exactly as the story was published in Update on 21 December.

Councilman Bonin Statement

“Inexplicably, some people have used this rumor as an argument against providing services to the homeless,” according to Councilman Bonin.   “Rather, I believe that this situation highlights the urgent need to help people who are forced to live on the street by providing them services such as basic hygiene and medical care, as well as resources that will help connect them with housing opportunities. I am grateful for the work of the women and men who provide services and dignity to people living on the streets, as I am for everyone who works every day to end homelessness in our neighborhoods.”