Venice Beach Camper Count Ticks Up Just as Nightime Enforcement Ends

 I and journalist Sue Pasco, of the Palisades "Circling the News," walked Venice Beach this morning at 6 AM, counting campers and encampments.  

We found 56 campers, most concentrated north of Dudley around the Rose Avenue parking lot.  We saw four or five tents, a few far out on the sand, and a couple on the knoll NW of the parking lot by the restrooms.

This represents about a 20% increase in campers over last weekend.

It is problematic to see this increase while nighttime enforcement has continued and is a harbinger of what's coming.  The LAPD/Sanitation/Rec&Parks teams that have kept encampments from ballooning back up end tonight, with the Mayor's Office and Councilman Bonin unwilling to allocate the additional funds needed to keep the Department of Sanitation staff engaged.

Sanitation's participation is critical to the effectiveness of the nighttime enforcement effort because only Sanitation is permitted to remove and store tents, furniture, bedrolls, tarps, etc., from the beach and Boardwalk under city law.

My prediction is that encampments will start to grow with the loss of overnight enforcement. 

M. Ryavec

 

VSA Endorses Councilman Buscaino's Resolution to Ban Camping Around All LA Schools

 

Venice Stakeholders Association is pleased to endorse Los Angeles City Councilmember Joe Buscaino's Resolution to prohibit sidewalk camping around every school in the City of Los Angeles. 

In announcing his Resolution this morning, Buscaino said, “Hundreds of thousands of students are going back to school for the first time in 18-months."

 

 "Unfortunately, many students across this City will encounter sidewalks completely blocked by homeless encampments," he said.

 

“During the pandemic encampments formed around school campuses all over the city," the councilman noted. "We must address this public safety issue - simple access to sidewalks and schools."

"We have many sensitive use areas in our city, and the most sensitive areas are those where our kids spend their days."

The City’s new anti-camping ordinance, which goes into effect on September 3rd, allows the City Council to adopt resolutions to establish no-camping zones around specific sensitive use locations, like homeless shelters, parks, and schools.

Buscaino's resolution would establish a 500-foot “no camping” zone around every public school in the City. 

If adopted - first by the Public Works Committee, and then the full Council - intensive outreach would be conducted at any school with an encampment, connecting the unhoused with services and housing.

Signage will be installed, and enforcement will begin 14-days after the signs go up.

The resolution will include all public schools within the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles, and will allow for uniformity in policy and a clearer understanding of the rules. For those schools where there are no encampments now, the resolution will prevent encampments from setting up around these vulnerable spaces.

A copy of the Resolution, with a list of all schools that will be protected, is available from: <branimir.kvartuc@lacity.org>

Venice Beach Camper Count Unchanged; Tents Removed from Sand by Sheriff's Mounted Patrol

Two campers south of handball courts

The count of campers on Venice Beach remains basically unchanged from last weekend, at 46.

The primary difference this weekend is that there was only one tent on the sand.  Sheriff Alex Villanueva should receive credit for this.  He announced at the press conference last week that he had sent his department's Mounted Patrol out to remove all tents on the sand and this effectively has stopped campers from setting up new tents.

(The County Department of Beaches and Harbors has responsibility for the maintenance and cleaning of the sand areas of the Venice Beach Recreation Area (VBRA), so it has always been within the Sheriff's jurisdiction to keep the sand clear of obstacles that interfere with that task.)

However, all along the beach, in some instances on the sand, there are small encampments of tarps, furniture, suitcases, backpacks and sleeping bags.

The city of Los Angeles has been unable to enforce a "zero" tolerance policy for camping in the VBRA and clear these remaining campers due to lack of staff.  

After Councilman Bonin and Garcetti declared "Mission Accomplished" at the beginning of August, the nightly deployment of LAPD, Recreation and Parks, and Dept. of Sanitation staff was reduced to three nights a week and is scheduled to end on August 21st. 

To avoid a re-population of the VBRA with more campers and encampments, the commander of Pacific Division, Captain Steven Embrich, has submitted a request to maintain at least enforcement teams on the beach at the current level of effort - three nights a week.   

In front of the LAPD Substation

Venice Beach Camper Count Sunday, August 7, at 9:00 AM

 Venice Beach Camper Count Grows by 20%

 

At the end of a 22-mile bike ride I cruised the bike path in Venice, from Venice Boulevard to Santa Monica.

There are now 48 homeless campers (or "travelers," as the case may be), most scattered on the sand, representing a 20% increase since earlier in the week.  There are fewer tents and more tarps, backpacks, bedrolls and sleeping bags.

The Boardwalk and adjacent grass areas are relatively clear.

But the uptick in the number, particularly on the sand, makes one wonder where is the Sheriff's Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST Team).  

The maintenance of the sand, from the bike path to the water, is under the jurisdiction of the County Department of Beaches and Harbors, and that agency cannot operate its large sand-cleaning equipment when there are pockets with tarps, sleeping bags, tents and chairs.

It's time for the HOST Team to return to clear the sand so the Department can do its job. Maybe the politicians can get over their conflicts long enough to ask St. Joseph Center and LAHSA to deploy along with the HOST Team to offer these folks housing, too.

This fellow has been next to the basketball courts for a couple of weeks

Boardwalk Progress Threatened by Lack of Follow-on Enforcement

Behind the Handball Courts

When Councilman Bonin first announced his Encampment-to-Homes project for Venice Beach, I was quoted in the LA Times saying that without a return to enforcement of the camping and tent ban, and the overnight curfew, the encampments would return.

Three tents, two on sand

Well, that is starting to happen.  Or not all of the earlier campers were really relocated to housing.  And I think it's the latter.

Last weekend when I walked the beach from Venice Boulevard to the Santa Monica Border, I counted 39 encampments/tents or bedrolls.

This morning I walked it again and counted 42.

Two tents on sand

I am assured by the LAPD and the Chief Park Ranger that they are engaged in 24-hour enforcement of LAMC 63.44, which bans tents and camping, and also bars anyone from the Venice Beach Recreation Area (Boardwalk to the water) from 2 to 5 AM.  

But the presence over several days of this significant number of campers, many still with tents, indicates that, 1. the relocation/housing project has not been completed, and, 2. that my concern about a return of refugee-camp type encampments is legitimate.

In the graffiti park

While from the Boardwalk, the project can look like a success because most the encampments on the grass next to the Boardwalk are gone, some have just moved out onto the sand or behind a wall, so they are not so visible.

Two campers

As I have said before, the city has only addressed one side of the equation.  It is like trying to empty a bathtub by only opening the drain, but not turning off the faucet.  

"Cafe Lady" Expands Her Beach Bistro

The most surprising photo, though, shows the "Cafe Lady," the one who earlier had set up an outdoor cafe in two artists vending spaces at OFW and Rose, expanding her "cafe" this morning with benches. Of course, none of her cafe furniture meets the 63.44 limit of fitting within a 60-gallon city trash bin and she does not have a permit to sell drinks to visitors.

But as usual on my walks I did not see any LAPD officers or Rec. and Parks rangers; so, not only is there no enforcement in the mornings, there is literally no presence of any city authority at all.

Two campers in the middle of photo

 

After what must be accounted a success in its early stages, it is discouraging not to see the city follow-through and firmly enforce the no camping rule at all hours.
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New York Times: Los Angeles at War with Itself over Homelessness

Here's a long feature story from the NYT 's Magazine on the awful situation we have faced here in Venice for years. The writer, Jaime Lowe, first interviewed me before the pandemic hit, then the story was shelved, then she came back earlier this year and we conducted another interview and tour. It was evident the homeless occupation had grown exponentially. Apparently, it had to get far worse before the authorities would act.

As we saw in Echo Park, and as one can see in San Pedro's beach parks, and even at Will Rogers Beach, the city can legally remove all the campers from the beach under LAMC 63.44. I have been arguing for this for years. Only the intervention of the Sheriff and his HOST Team and then the Mayor overruling Bonin, and finally, after many year of neglect, showing some leadership here, has the situation started to improve. 

However, until and unless the LAPD, Rec. and Parks and its Rangers are given authority to strictly enforce no camping, no tents, and the overnight curfew, the encampments will return. 

Why is that important? Because the majority of the campers are from out-of-state, even some from out of country. As the Sheriff's HOST Team found, over 40 of the 200-20 campers declared themselves "travelers," with no interest in services or housing. The point of strict enforcement, then, is to stop the beach from being a magnet that draws homeless, the drug-addicted, the mentally ill, and the young travelers to our beach and community from all over the nation, to such tragic and dangerous ends.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/magazine/los-angeles-homelessness.html

Call Councilmembers to Support Stricter Anti-Camping Ordinance (CF 20-1376)

I am again asking for residents and business owners to make calls to specific council members to support a stricter anti-camping ordinance (CF 20-1376) that has been languishing in the council’s Homelessness and Poverty Committee since last November.  

(This is in addition to calls to Council president Nury Martinez asking her to hold a hearing on a Motion to return to "tents down" 6 AM to 9 PM (CF 20-0147).)

On June 23, Councilmen Joe Buscaino and John Lee invoked Rule #54, which took the proposed ordinance from the Committee and moved it to a June 29th L.A. City Council meeting for consideration. 

The draft ordinance would restrict people from lying, sleeping, sitting or placing tents and personal property on sidewalks 1) where it reduces the path of travel required by the American with Disabilities Act; 2) within 10 feet of an operational utilizable entrance, exit, driveway or loading dock; 3) within 500 feet of a facility that provides housing, shelter, supportive services, safe parking or storage to unhoused people (i.e., near Bridge Housing), 4) within 500 feet of a designated freeway overpass, underpass, ramp, tunnel or pedestrian subway, and 5) at all times and at all locations if a person has been offered shelter (emphasis added).

I am told that if the Motion is approved for discussion before the Council on June 29^th, that the authors intend to amend into the ordinance a prohibition on lying, sleeping, sitting or placing tents and personal property on sidewalks within 500 feet of schools, childcare centers and parks (such as the Venice Beach Recreation Area).

If adopted, the ordinance would go to Mayor Eric Garcetti, who would have 10 days to either approve or veto the measure.

I would encourage residents to call these “swing” votes, who are on the fence, between now and Monday evening.

Councilman Gil Cedillo  213 473-7001

Councilman Paul Koretz         213 473-7005

Councilman Curren Price       213 473-7009

Councilman Kevin De Leon    213 473-7014

And our own councilman Mike Bonin    213 473-7011

Ask them to vote to hear and pass CF 20-1376, to make our sidewalks passable for everyone.

If you wish to weigh-in on the ordinance on the morning of the 29^th, you can call 669-254-5252 after 10 AM, the meeting ID is 160-535-8466.  Press # when prompted for participant ID