Please Donate to Lawsuit to Stop Bridge Housing on the MTA Lot

Earlier this month our attorney filed a third lawsuit, this one against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for its failure, just like the City and Coastal Commission, to consider any of the expected environmental impacts on residents, school children and the surrounding neighborhood.  

Or to offer mitigations, like a much smaller project, more parking, a sound wall, installation of planter boxes on the sidewalks around the facility, measures to prevent polluted run-off to the beach, and private 24-hour security.

This week we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction - a request to the judge for him to bar any construction on the MTA lot until the cases have been heard and a decision has been rendered - which is unlikely until much later this year or next.

The City will reply to our brief next week and then we will reply to their brief.  We could be before the judge on the injunction motion by April 15th.

This is all to say that the suit is moving very quickly and that it is eating up our retainer very quickly, too.

So, please, if you have already contributed, please "double-up" and contribute the same again.  If you have not contributed, please donate $1,000 to $2,500 now.  

See the button on the right to donate by credit card. Checks may be sent to VSA, 1615 Andalusia Avenue, Venice, CA 90291

These lawsuits are the only barrier standing in the way of the City putting up a huge 154-bed shelter in our residential neighborhood and attracting hundreds more homeless to Venice.  Once the Bridge Housing is full, the new arrivals will be camping out all around the site - just as they do now around St. Joseph Center.  This is not the place for this shelter and the only way we can stop it is to support this lawsuit.

Thanks for your help.  Mark Ryavec

Post Office Beautification Project Almost Complete

Absolutely incredible! What an amazing accomplishment! The entire group should be commended for coming together and working toward a common goal in a way that everyone was able to help in whatever capacity they could share!

Senior Lead Officer Kristan Delatori P3+1

Los Angeles Police Department - Pacific Division

12312 Culver Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90066

Neighbors in the Windward Traffic Circle district have just about completed an ambitious beautification project around the Venice Post Office.

Mike Castillo and Mark Ryavec completing the first planter box.

55 planter boxes were installed around the Post Office.

The project, which cost about $40,000, involved new signage on the fences surrounding the Post Office, power washing of all the sidewalks for a month, construction of 55 planter boxes with lining, importation of over 50 tons of dirt and potting soil, and the installation of hundreds of cacti.  An add-on project involved the removal of concrete tree well covers that were strangling the Italian Stone Pines that ring the Post Office and their replacement with decomposed granite.  The neighbors also funded the replacement of one dead pine tree, an expensive proposition.  This was directed by landscape contractor Peter Eberhard, shown below.  (Yes, the tree makes one think of Christmas, but the expert advises not to trim the tree until cooler weather arrives in the fall.)

Digging out the roots of the dead Italian Stone Pine

Replacment Italian Stone Pine and landscaper Peter Eberhard

All the funding came from residents and businesses within two blocks of the Post Office.

The spark plug for this effort was artist and musician John Vester, who lives on Grand Blvd.  Joining him in leading the effort were Paul and Stacey Foxson, also residents on Grand.  

Mike Castillo, Paul Foxson, Ken Newfield, Captain James Roberts and John Vester

John Vester with Post Mistress Brittani Cephas and Eugene Cephas.

Captain James Roberts and SLO Kristan Delatori and the entire LAPD Pacific Division team were extremely supportive, as was Post Mistress Brittani Cephas who granted Neighbors of Grand and the VSA permission to install the planters on PO property and granted access to two water spigots on-site.

The heavy lifting was done by contractor and Grand Blvd. resident Mike Castillo who lent his crew - at cost - to construct the 55 4'x8' planter boxes and import the tons of dirt and potting soil to fill the boxes.  (Local business owner Ralph Ziman graciously granted us access to a large pile of dirt on his nearby construction site.)  

Russ Cletta and crew lining boxes.

Rialto resident and landscape architect Russ Cletta volunteered his crew - also at cost - to line the boxes with filter fabric to retain the dirt and to provide a barrier between the dirt and the wood sides and bottoms of the boxes.  They also mixed all the Venice dirt with the tons of potting soil.  Residents volunteered countless hours to shovel dirt and plant the hundreds of plants that were donated by residents and by Russ Cletta.

Several residents made extremely generous contributions to the VSA to support the effort, including Grant van Every, Jack Kindberg and Hama Sushi owner Esther Chiang (who also hosted a lovely party to celebrate completion of the installation).

Captain Roberts at the "after party."

John Vester and Hama Sushi Owner Esther Chiang at "after party."

For me, this effort was a sentimental journey back in time.  About 28 years ago Jim Murez, Ed Barger and I led 200 residents on a Sunday to plant the 21 Italian Stone Pines and the 20 New Zealand Christmas Trees on Windward.  My father and sister Janice joined me in that effort and one of the pines, on the corner of Windward and Riviera, was named after my Aunt Lucy, who had recently passed away.  

Cleaning up Windward after planter box installation.

We have a few more projects planned for the PO triangle, so contributions (tax deductible, or course) are welcome on this website.

ABA Journal Covers Venice Homeless Crisis in November Issue

 Venice homeless issues covered in the November issue of the American Bar Association Journal.

http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/unwanted_guestshttp://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/unwanted_guests

VSA Calls for Ban on Luggage in Venice Beach Receation Area and for Enforcement of City's "No lying, sitting sleeping" Ordinance Close to Residences and Hotels

VSA Submits Public Safety Amendments to City Officials to Prevent Boston Marathon-like Bombing at Venice Beach and Other Major City Venues

VSA Also Calls for Amendment of the “No Sitting, Lying or Sleeping” Ordinance to Provide a Buffer Zone for Residents

The Venice Stakeholders Association today forwarded to City officials a petition from residents supporting public safety amendments to protect Venice Beach and other major outdoor event venues in Los Angeles from a Boston Marathon-like backpack bombing.  The package of amendments also would establish a buffer zone around residences and hotels throughout the City in which the City’s “no sitting, lying or sleeping” ordinance could be enforced.

“Currently Venice Beach, with an estimated 16 million visitors a year, is at risk of attack due to the ease with which anyone can leave unattended baggage for hours,” said Mark Ryavec, the president of the VSA.  “Unattended luggage is not allowed at LAX or Union Station and it also should not be allowed anywhere in the City where huge numbers of people congregate,” Ryavec said. “Our amendment would plug this hole in City law.”

Also included in the package is an amendment that would re-establish the City’s “no sitting, lying or sleeping on public rights-of-way” ordinance within 125 feet of any residence or hotel.  The ordinance has been largely unenforced for eight years as part of the “Jones Settlement,” an agreement between the City and several homeless individuals in Downtown’s “Skid Row” neighborhood to temporarily hold off enforcement between 9 PM and 6 AM until additional housing is built to house the homeless.

Jack Hoffmann, a Market Street resident, said the application of the Jones Settlement to areas beyond Skid Row has created a nightmare in Venice, especially on and near Ocean Front Walk, which is known as the Venice Boardwalk.  “By encouraging the establishment of large encampments of mentally ill, drug and alcohol addicted, and criminally-inclined individuals living on our doorsteps, the City has endangered residents, visitors and those living on the street; abandoning people helps no one,” Hoffmann said.

“Instead of forcing people to live with this danger and bear the burden the City will not accept, in Venice or elsewhere, the City should at least create a buffer zone around residences and hotels citywide where these encampments cannot remain while a comprehensive solution is developed.” Hoffmann said.

According to Ryavec the Jones Settlement does not preclude the City from passing – and then fully enforcing – a new ordinance that more narrowly tailors the sitting/lying/sleeping ban to those areas closest to residences and hotels.  “The settlement specifically states that the City’s agreement to temporarily not enforce the ban from 9 PM to 6 AM does not apply to any ordinance adopted in the future,” Ryavec said.

Ryavec also noted that even after the City finishes building the 1,250 housing units required by the Jones Settlement, any enforcement of the present sitting/lying/sleeping ban could invite a new lawsuit since the City still would not have enough shelter beds to accommodate all those living on the street.  “If the VSA’s amendment is adopted, and the absolute ban is challenged again in court,” said Ryavec, “the narrower ban has a better chance of surviving because it is tailored specifically to protect residents and visitors where they live and sleep.”

In the letter to City officials, VSA said that by not enforcing the sitting/lying/sleeping ban the City has allowed a lawless situation to develop along the Venice Boardwalk and on nearby residential streets, as hordes of aggressive, opportunistic transients attracted by mild weather and the easy availability of drugs camp out on private and public property, committing a constant stream of assaults, thefts and burglaries, defecating and urinating in public, and harassing anyone who gets in their way . (Ryavec noted that residents and visitors are not the only victims of these conditions; there is also a record of brutal transient-on-transient assaults.)

Ryavec referred in particular to a recent case that drew international media attention, in which a transient invaded a home two blocks from the beach while the resident was home, forcing her to hide on her roof until the police arrived.  http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/25/us/california-venice-roof-intruder/

David Krintzman, a walk street resident near the Ocean Front Walk encampments, said a robbery of his neighbor’s apartment had recently been committed in broad daylight by a transient who absconded with the neighbor’s laptop, clothes and other possessions. 

“From a neighborhood safety perspective, I am very concerned about the transient encampment the City has permitted to exist at the grassy knoll and pagodas at the foot of Dudley Avenue as well as the encampments which extend several blocks north,” Krintzman said. 

In another recent incident, three transients from Oklahoma stole a watch from a visitor while he was changing clothes in a Venice Beach restroom. When the visitor tried to take the watch back, the thieves threatened him with a butcher knife and pepper spray.  “The transients told police they were here because they had heard that Venice was a great place to be homeless,” Ryavec said.

“This culture of lawlessness has to stop and residents must have protection,” Ryavec said.

Public Nuisance and “Skid Row” Conditions Plague Venice Beach Recreation Area

Camping in Venice Recreation Area

VSA Again Documents Blatant Unequal Enforcement of

City of Los Angeles’ Park Ordinances

(Venice, CA/7-8-14)  The Venice Stakeholders Association today released a letter to City officials which again documents that the City of Los Angeles is blatantly engaged in unequal enforcement of city park ordinances, which has resulted in “Skid Row” conditions along Venice Boardwalk and beach park.

City Hall Park

The letter, prepared by attorney John Henning for the VSA, shows the pristine condition of City Hall Park, once the site of a large “Occupy LA” encampment, and LAPD Headquarters park, and compares them to the Venice Beach Recreation Area where there is frequent use of banned camping equipment and trash dumps along the Boardwalk.  (The VSA previously brought the lack of enforcement of City ordinances to the City’s attention in 2012.)

“LA’s politicians are enforcing every park law to keep City Hall Park and the LAPD’s park safe and attractive,” VSA president Mark Ryavec said, “but along Venice Boardwalk, the Department of Recreation and Parks and the LAPD allow campers to violate all the city laws against storing personal property on park land and the use of banned camping equipment.”  The result is that squatters have taken over the park from residents and visitors, many of whom do not feel safe using the park, the neighborhood leader said.

LAPD Headquarters Park

For example, Henning notes in the letter: “…occupying a sleeping bag or bedroll within a City park for any purpose is forbidden by City ordinance. Specifically, the phrase “for any purpose” is unequivocal and strips the ordinance of any requirement that a violator have the specific intent to use the sleeping bag or bedroll for lodging or living accommodation as opposed to recreation.”  

Campsites with Furniture Takeover Grass Areas

“Yet Rec. and Parks staff and the LAPD allow the wide use of sleeping bags in the park on a daily basis,” Ryavec said.

“These conditions are alarming to residents and clearly having a negative effect on visitors, who frequently complain about being harassed on the Boardwalk and are fearful of bringing small children to the beach in this part of Venice,” Ryavec explained.

Henning noted the lack of enforcement has led to a lawless atmosphere in the beach park which last summer resulted in the tragic murder of a young Italian woman by a meth-addicted transient driving illegally on the Boardwalk.  “Conditions at Venice Beach have only gotten worse since then,” Henning said.

Campsite Next to the Bike Path

The Henning letter notes that a lawsuit could be brought under the California Civil Code to abate the public nuisance the City is now allowing at Venice Beach.  Ryavec said the group is currently raising funds for a public nuisance suit.