VSA Calls for Unpermitted Railroad Container to be Removed from Beach

The Venice Stakeholders Association has filed a letter with City and Coastal Commission officials asking that the City adhere to State laws, which require a Coastal Development Permit and environmental review for any development in the coastal zone, especially a sizable structure which blocks public views of the beach and ocean such as the railroad transport container recently installed at Windward Plaza.

The letter, directed to City Recreation and Parks Commission president Barry A. Sanders and general manager Jon Kirk Mukri, notes that the container “constitutes ‘development’ within the Coastal Zone and thus requires the issuance of a Coastal Development Permit by both the City and the California Coastal Commission. In addition, the installation requires the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).”

“The City must abide by the same rules that apply to private property owners,” said Mark Ryavec, VSA president.  “No Boardwalk property owner could plop down a huge storage container on a parking lot and then start using it to store the possessions of up to 80 people on a daily basis without the proper permits. 

“That it is an industrial use in a park environment makes it all the more objectionable.”

The letter demands that the container be removed immediately, because it is an unpermitted use, and indicates the Stakeholders will consider applying for an injunction if it is not removed.

Stop the Boardwalk storage program

Alert

Dear VSA Supporters,

 

Please send an email to Councilman Bill Rosendahl and the Venice Neighborhood Council regarding the Homeless Beach Locker Enablement Program as soon as possible.

 

The intention of homeless advocates - Linda Lucks, Steve Clare, David Ewing, etc. - is to assist the hundreds of transients living along the Boardwalk, in the park and on the walk streets to continue to occupy these public spaces. These advocates estimate that 80 campers can store their stuff in this container on any given day.  

 

Such facilities are counter productive unless they are provided in the context of transitional housing and services such as job training, drug rehab and mental health counseling. 

 

Other cities with successful homeless serving programs, such as Santa Monica, avoid such stand-alone "locker" and storage facilities because they have proved to just make it easier for the campers to stay on the street and in the parks and do not draw them into counseling and housing.

 

Lucks, et al, hope to put the program into place without public comment or support!!!
 

Send your comments to <Billrosendahl@aol.com>,  <cecilia.castillo@lacity.org>, <Board@VeniceNC.org> to stop the Boardwalk storage program.

 

PLEASE WRITE NOW!!  The Venice Neighborhood Council will hear this matter on January 22nd.

 

Just send a simple message:  No Storage lockers on the beachfront please...

 

Please also attend the VNC Board meeting Tuesday evening at 7 PM at Westminster School to oppose the storage locker program.

 

Thanks for helping us make Venice a safer and cleaner place to live.

 

Mark Ryavec

President

Venice Stakeholders Association Calls for Stronger Municipal Storm Water Runoff Permit Requirements

The Venice Stakeholders Association (VSA) has called for stricter requirements in the revised municipal storm water run-off permit now under consideration by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

VSA president Mark Ryavec testified before the Board, noting that, “It has been 22 years since the first discharge permit was established to eliminate contaminants from entering coastal waters yet in wet seasons the beaches are still awash in a toxic soup.”

Ryavec points out source of winter season "toxic soup"

“While progress has been made in the dry season, we still have beaches with “C” grades near Temescal Canyon in the Palisades and Mothers Beach in Marina del Rey, and failing grades in the winter months all along LA’s coast,” Ryavec said.  “We really need to do more to clean-up this precious resource.”

“I’m speaking to the “retail” aspect of the Board’s consideration of the permit’s conditions,” Ryavec said.  “Venice residents rely on clean, safe beach waters every day for swimming, wading and surfing, yet there are many periods in the winter months when it remains dangerous to one’s health to enter the water.”

“Venice Beach attracts 16 million visitors a year and many of those visitors pump millions of dollars into the many businesses and hotels in our community,” Ryavec said. “Yet these visitors, both foreign and domestic, come year-round and many tell us they worry about the safety of going into the surf.  In the wet season, their concerns are not easily dismissed.”

The VSA joined Heal the Bay, Los Angeles Waterkeeper and Natural Resources Defense Counsel in asking for stricter water quality standards, early setting of the maximum allowed levels of various chemicals and pollutants in storm water, containment of more storm water by new “Low Impact Development” standards for new construction, and more aggressive water quality monitoring.

VSA Endorses Bicyclists Safe Passing Bill - SB 1464

 

                                                              

Governor Edmund G. Brown

State Capitol

Sacramento, CA  95814

Re:  SB 1464 to Safeguard Cyclists

Dear Governor Brown,

I'm writing on behalf of the Venice community and cyclists throughout California to urge you to sign Senate Bill 1464 so that drivers must give at least three feet of clearance when overtaking a person on a bicycle.

When a passing driver fails to give a bicyclist enough space, the slightest error by the driver or the most minor shift by the bicyclist to avoid trash, broken glass, a car door opening or rough pavement can lead to a collision. This type of collision is the leading cause of adult bicyclist fatalities in California and the U.S.

By requiring drivers to give bicyclists more space when passing, we can minimize a leading cause of deadly collisions and help more people feel comfortable about choosing to ride their bikes. And by making it possible for more people to feel confident about choosing to ride a bicycle, we can encourage more Californians to bike routinely and begin to achieve some of the state's crucial goals for less gas consumption and improved air quality.

Specifying a minimum passing distance provides a more objective and easily understood measure of what constitutes "safe" and gives law enforcement and the courts a more objective basis for enforcing a safe passing requirement. Most importantly, it helps emphasize a driver's responsibility to safeguard more vulnerable road users like bicyclists. It will save lives without imposing any costs on government.

Please sign SB 1464 into law.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,
Mark Ryavec

Mark Ryavec, President

KTLA News Story on Venice Beach Recreation Area

KTLA News Story on VSA call for enforcement of laws against camping equipment and storing personal possessions on the Boardwalk and in the Venice Beach Recreation Area:

http://landing.newsinc.com/ktla/video.html?freewheel=91045&sitesection=KTLA_nws_loc_non&VID=23772398

From the LA Times:

Venice group threatens lawsuit over camping along boardwalk

August 8, 2012 |  3:13 pm

  

A nonprofit group in Venice sent Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa a letter this week demanding that city leaders remove encampments along the Venice Boardwalk, saying the city is treating different parts of the city differently when it comes to illegal camping.
In a letter that also went to Councilman Bill Rosendahl, the Venice Stakeholders Assn. said “Skid Row”-type conditions had developed along the boardwalk, with tents, sleeping bags, bedrolls and other personal possessions lining the walkway. That situation, the group says, is a far cry from the “pristine” conditions on the City Hall south lawn, which received new landscaping and anti-camping signs in the wake of the Occupy L.A. encampment.
“L.A.’s politicians spent over a million dollars to restore their City Hall Park and are enforcing every conceivable law to keep it attractive,” said Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Assn., in a statement. “But along Venice Boardwalk, the Department of Recreation and Parks and the LAPD allow campers to violate a slew of city laws against using camping equipment and storing personal property on park land and City rights-of-way.”
Ryavec said his group has retained an attorney and will sue if the city fails to act. The City Hall park reopened last month, but only after the council added new provisions to its ban on camping in city parks.
“Clearly our lawyer believes there’s a public nuisance suit here. Cities bring them against private property owners all the time, only in this case it’s the municipality with the public nuisance.”
A spokesman for Villaraigosa said he believed the mayor had not seen the letter. Rosendahl, whose district includes Venice, had no comment. His chief of staff, Mike Bonin, said the letter had been forwarded to the city's lawyers.

City Enabling "Skid Row" at Venice Beach While It Cleans Up Downtown Parks

Press Release                                          

VSA Documents Blatant Unequal Enforcement of

City of Los Angeles’ Park Ordinances

Public Nuisance and “Skid Row” Conditions Result in the Venice Beach Recreation Area

(Venice, CA/8-8-12)  The Venice Stakeholders Association today released a letter to City officials which 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 the once popular Venice Boardwalk.

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.

“LA’s politicians spent over a million dollars to restore their City Hall Park and are enforcing every park law to keep it attractive,” VSA president Mark Ryavec said, “but along Venice Boardwalk, the Department of Recreation and Parks and the LAPD allow campers to violate a slew of 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.

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.” 

“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 affect on visitors, who frequently complain about being harassed on the Boardwalk and fearful of bringing small children to the beach in this part of Venice,” Ryavec explained.

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.