ENCAMPMENTS ON VENICE PARKING LOTS

PLEASE COME OVER TO RAVENSWORK AND SIGN BY WEDNESDAY!

Ravensworth Studios
1611 Electric Ave
on the corner of Electric & Palms
from 9:00am til 6:00pm through Wesnesday.

Venice Stakeholders Association

YOUR SIGNATURE IS NEEDED TO STOP HOMELESS VEHICULAR ENCAMPMENTS ON VENICE PARKING LOTS AND DRIVEWAYS.

In recent months, the Venice Neighborhood Council has created two working groups to address various local homeless issues. These groups were set up as task forces rather than committees because VNC believed that TFs were not subject to Brown Act requirements and were consequently easier to operate. (Recently, the City Attorney indicated that such task forces are subject to the Brown Act.)

The VNC Homeless Task Force is chaired by Steve Clare. Its goal is to “recommend for consideration by the VNC [ideas] that recognize that unhoused neighbors are members of our community, address concerns of either/both housed and unhoused community members, [and] can accomplish within a reasonable period of time either by collective action of community members or with realistic support from others including nonprofits, corporations, foundations and local government.”

The VNC Vehicular Living Task Force is chaired by Dennis Hathaway. This task force seeks to develop a neighborhood program to assist those living in vehicles in Venice by locating religious organizations and other property owners - INCLUDING THE CITY AND ITS PARKING LOTS - willing to allow vehicle/camper dwellers to legally, safely, and at no cost, sleep in local parking lots and even residential driveways in Venice(and throughout the City) and to provide sanitary facilities and garbage disposal service for these vehicles. The Vehicular Living Task Force has drafted an ordinance permitting overnight sleeping in vehicles, contrary to existing LA City ordinances which prevent this.

These two task forces have met quietly for several months without publicizing their meetings to the community at large. The meetings have been attended primarily by homeless folks and those that provide services to the homeless. For the most part, though homelessness is a very public problem with undeniable impact on Venice residents, VNC discouraged interested Venice stakeholders from participating in such meetings.

When active Venice stakeholders did attend the meetings of either committee, it was clear that their input was not appreciated by either task force.

In response to the proposed parking lot ordinance, several members of the Venice community have drafted a letter to send to City officials expressing our concern that this ordinance, if adopted, would make Venice even more of a magnet for homeless than it now is and would create tawdry "gasoline alleys" in areas of Venice.