Post Office Sale?

By Jim Smith

The U.S. Post Office is considering selling its historic building on the Venice Circle, according to a spokesperson for the government agency.

Richard J. Maher, press spokesperson, says a decision has not yet been made and that the community will be given input before anything is finalized. He says the current operation will be moved to the Annex building at 313 Grand Avenue. The old Safeway grocery building on the site would be remodeled to accommodate both public and carrier activities.

Meanwhile, letters commenting on the proposed sale can be sent to the U.S. Post Office, Consumer Affairs Office, 7001 S. Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90052-9631.

When the Hermosa Beach Post Office was on the closure list last year, residents sent 4,000 emails to Post Office officials and Member of Congress Jane Harman. The Post Office was saved and Harman pledged that no other facilities would be closed in her district (see details at http://bit.ly/i0TkFs). She resigned on Feb. 28 and an election is underway to choose a successor. Readers may want to ask candidates for a similar pledge before choosing one.

The Post Office was built in 1939 as part of the federal Works Projects Administration (WPA). It has historic status, said Maher. The reason for the sale is a budget shortfall in the federal operation. “We are doing everything we can to tighten the belt,” he added.

The previous Post Office was at 310-312 Venice Way. That building is a good example of what can happen without historical protection. The art deco facade that made the building unique was destroyed a few years ago.

If the current Post Office has historical protection, a new owner would not be allowed to alter it. However, it could be used for commercial or office facilities. It’s unclear what would happen to the historic mural in the lobby that was created by Edward Biberman in 1941.

Vera Davis Center Faces Uncertain Future

Community organizations that service low income residents in Oakwood from offices in the Vera Davis McClendon Youth and Family Center at 610 California Avenue are worried that they are about to lose their happy home.

They learned only on March 28 that the building, which was the old Venice library, was being transferred from the jurisdiction of the Community Development Department, which serves the poor, to the Cultural Affairs Department.

Currently, there are six organizations at the Center. They are the Latino Resource Organization, Venice 2000, Venice Bulldogs, Venice Arts and the Mildred Cursh Foundation. In addition, it is the site of popular meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, plus regular food distributions, free computer access and food stamp applications, all of which may have to relocate if the building is taken over by Cultural Affairs.

The change of purpose is being done without any community meetings or announcements to the community, although apparently at least two officers of the Venice Neighborhood Council were informed but did not pass on the information. Several demands for community input have been made to Cultural Affairs.

PEOPLE WIN: Westminster Keeps Its Classrooms

By Greta Cobar

Green Dot will not open a sixth-grade charter school on the Westminster Elementary School campus, according to an email sent out by Karen Brown, Westminster Avenue Elementary Principal.

Thanks to this decision Westminster will not lose its library, parent resource center, science and art rooms. According to Proposition 39, an education initiative approved by voters in 2000, charter schools can move onto public school grounds and occupy rooms not used as classrooms.

The Venice Neighborhood Council’s (VNC) Education Committee held a public meeting on March 12 to discuss the issue of “co-location” on the elementary school campus. Over 80 concerned parents, teachers and volunteers came out to voice their concerns, most of them speaking against the establishment of the charter school. Concerns centered around losing rooms critical to the school’s programs and progress, technicalities such as a kindergartener sharing bathroom facilities with a middle-school student and a lack of trust in the promises of the Charter school.

The issue was brought up again during the March 15 VNC monthly meeting, and the board unanimously voted to endorse a resolution requesting that Westminster Elementary School students and teachers not be adversely affected by the proposed Charter school. Brought to the council by Venice resident and Westminster volunteer Sue Kaplan, the resolution asked that “the integrity of neighborhood schools be prioritized.”

Defeating Green Dot’s attempt to co-locate Animo Westside Charter School on the campus of Westminster Elementary was a community effort that once again proved the strength of Venice as a neighborhood standing against big for-profit organizations. Venetians chose public education provided by unionized teachers involving the neighborhood children as opposed to allowing a for-profit organization (disguised as non-profit) funded by donations from politically motivated and biased organizations including The Walton Foundation (owners of Wal Mart), Eli Broad and Charles Schwab to move into the neighborhood.

 

Charter schools require students to apply for admission, a process that usually involves writing an essay. Although students are then accepted based on a lottery system, certain groups of students (such as English learners and Special Education students) are discouraged from applying in order to raise test scores. Although studies have failed to show that charter school students perform better than public school students on standardized tests, charter school wealthy business leaders have not hesitated to use their dirty business tricks to try to raise those test scores. For example, the Los Angeles Board of Education is in the process of trying to close six Crescendo charter schools after the schools’ founder, John Allen, allegedly instructed teachers to open sealed state tests and teach students based on the tests.

Another difference between charter and public schools is that charter school attendance is open to students from all over the country and is not limited to the immediate neighborhood, as is the case with public schools. Furthermore, charters often push out students who have discipline problems or parents who can’t volunteer time at the school. Teachers’ unions in charter schools have no bargaining power, having no say over their wages and working conditions.

 

Coby Dahlstrom, Westminster parent and booster club president, addressed the audience during the March 12 meeting and said that “LAUSD’s budget cuts do not allow the schools to operate.” Her statement resonates much truth, especially with the extremely limited resources the district will have to operate under during the next school year. Almost 7000 teachers and counselors will be laid off, class sizes will increase, and classroom supplies will be non-existent unless Governor Jerry Brown’s tax rise extensions will be approved by voters in June.

Congratulations to the Venice community for driving away Green Dot’s questionable tactics considering LAUSD’s poor reputation and grim future. Despite having no access to an ideal choice, the lesser of the two evils prevailed. Just like anything else, our public education needs resources to be able to operate, and LAUSD cannot be expected to thrive in spite of the truly crippling budget under which it is forced to operate.

Letters

• Tina Catalina Checks In - Tina Catalina Corcoran
• Broadway Enrollment - Rachael Babcock
• Solidarity With Wisconsin Workers – Larry Gross

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Tina Catalina Checks In

Dear Beachhead,

Thank you for Mary Getlein, and Patty W., and Jim Smith, and everyone who has been DisPlaced … or MisPlaced…

I miss you…

Always,

Tina Catalina Corcoran/Great Grandma Tina

————-

Broadway Enrollment

Dear Beachhead,

Enrollment for the 2011 Mandarin Immersion Kindergarten class at Broadway Elementary (@ Lincoln & Broadway) opens tomorrow, Wednesday, March 30th, at 8:15AM.

Enrollment is first-come, first-served. Over 100 enrollment packets have been picked up since they became available just three weeks ago. More than a handful of families have told us that they will camp-out tonight/early tomorrow morning in hopes of getting a spot. Depending on how LAUSD’s budget shakes out, there are 48-58 seats available. Broadway neighborhood kids and siblings of those already in the program will take 5+ of these seats.

Anyways, we have no idea how this will go as the program just started this year; four people could show, or forty+. If it’s the latter, it seems newsworthy to us.

Best, Rachael Babcock,

[parent of a student at Broadway Elementary]

————

Solidarity With Wisconsin Workers

Dear Beachhead,

On March 26, organized labor and supporters took to the streets of Los Angeles. Some 10,000 union members and supporters gathered in Downtown for the “Our Communities, Our Good Jobs” labor march and rally.

The massive and important event, which was dubbed “Solidarity Saturday,” was organized by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, which plans to organize similar actions throughout the country.

Marchers with signs linked the day’s events with protests in Egypt and Wisconsin, and unions representing various trades (including teachers, firefighters, truck drivers, hotel workers, librarians, farm workers and nurses) marched together with supporters from the religious, civil rights and economic justice communities for higher wages and better jobs.

The Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) was one of the many groups that joined to support the numerous labor unions from throughout the greater Los Angeles area.

The march began outside Staples Center. Marching through Downtown L.A., the group stopped in front of Ralph’s, JP Morgan Bank, T-Mobile, and the Luxe Hotel in protest of their “Wal-Mart Wages.”

The protest ended up in Pershing Square for a rally that featured high-powered speakers and entertainers.

A keynote speaker was Wisconsin Firefighters Union President Mahlon Mitchell. In his rousing speech connecting Wisconsin to L.A., Mitchell said, “This is about an attack on me. This is about an attack on you. This is an emergency we have in Wisconsin and across the U.S. This is about an attack on the middle class. We need to reclaim our moral outrage … because we are in the battle of a lifetime.”

Tom Morello of “Rage Against the Machine” and Grammy award-winning Latin rock and hip-hop band, Ozomatli, provided stirring performances. Morello, known for his unwavering support for labor, headlined a concert last month for the protesters in Wisconsin.

The protest was also part of the nationwide response that has exploded due to the passage of the union-busting Wisconsin law, authored by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, requiring most public sector workers to contribute more to their pensions and health insurance, and changes that amount to an average 8% pay cut. The law also strips unions of the ability to collectively bargain for anything except wages

The law has also sparked a Wisconsin wide movement to recall many of the Republican lawmakers who supported the passage of the bill.

Larry Gross, Coalition for Economic Survival

A Father Speaks About His Murdered Son

Nathan Morgan’s body was discovered just hours after he had been treated in Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center’s emergency room for an injury to his left elbow. Coroner’s records show that he told hospital officials said he had hurt himself while “doing gymnastics drunk.”

We believe that this had something to do with what had occurred later that night. We learned after his death he had traveled to Los Angeles from Portland, Ore., arriving in Southern California a few days before he was beaten to death.

Nathan had been raised a Christian. When he was younger he would go to jails to speak to inmates about his faith and what it had done for him.
Nathan had worked a series of odd jobs since graduating from high school, making fiberglass swimming pools, working in a steel mill and manufacturing car parts. At times he lived with his twin sister.

For several years, he had worked as a telemarketer, traveling from Toledo to Atlantic City, then to Portland. His most recent job was selling magazine subscriptions.

He moved around a lot. He wanted to see the world; he was always a free spirit. He loved riding 3 wheelers and ATVs!

Whenever he would visit a new place he would save a rock to give to his grandmother, a collection that she treasured deeply.

By his late teens, however, his parents said Nathan had developed a drug and alcohol addiction. They acknowledge that his substance abuse could have played a part in his death.
Nathan did have a drug and alcohol problem; it was an up and down battle for him. When he was clean and sober he was a great kid. Sometimes people can’t get out from underneath it, and they relapse. If he could have gotten control of that he might be alive today.

I believe Nathan could overcome his problems because I too had struggled with addiction at the same age. Faith helped him turn his life around.

We don’t know what brought Nathan to Venice. We learned after he was killed, that he stopped in Las Vegas to pick up Robert Northington, a friend from Toledo, Ohio, before continuing on to California. Nathan and Northington shared a hotel room for at least several days before Nathan’s body was found in the sand, they said.

We did not know whether Northington had information about his friend’s killing. In June, Northington was struck and killed by a train in Toledo in what local law enforcement officials described as a suicide. Northington had been battling cancer at the time of his death.

We had not seen Nathan since September of 2007. A few weeks before he was killed, his mother had received a text saying he would be in touch. She never heard from him again.

Autopsy records indicate Nathan was severely beaten in the neck, chest and legs. His eyes and upper lip were swollen, and his nose and throat had been packed with sand. He was beaten by five individuals near the boardwalk, and then dragged to the area where he was found covered with sand, according to the report.

In January, 2009 Richard and Susan Morgan came to Los Angeles to try to learn more about their son’s death.

“We didn’t fly out to L.A. right away,” Richard Morgan said. “It was a very healing process. If I had known before then how it would make me feel I would have done it sooner.” I had never even heard of Venice before and we spent the first day talking with the detectives and the second just walking the boardwalk. We sat at the place where their son was killed, posting up flyers with his picture and our info and talking to a lot of people trying to find some answers as to who would do such a thing and why?

When I went there we knew we were walking in the place my son spent the last hours of his life and we were hoping someone would remember him… We didn’t find that person, but it was healing walking where he walked.

It’s really the what ifs and the if only’s that still haunt us all the time. For those who think time heals all wounds and that there could ever be closure from my experience, neither is true.

Nathan is missed by many friends and family members and it’s still hard to believe.

To this date there have been no arrests in the case due to not having credible witnesses…..We believe that there are peoples out there who saw this happen who could help us to understand why… We have been trying to find a person named RAVEN who had posted on our website being there when he was murdered. We just want answers……and most of all we hope and pray these persons are caught so they can’t kill again.

We have created a website commemorating their son at <www.nathan-alan-morgan.com>, where we have posted photos recovered from a disposable camera taken in the time leading up to their son’s death. They have asked anyone with information about their son’s killing to contact them through their website or to call Richard @ 419-345-9734

We are truly thankful for all the people who we have met and been involved with throughout this ordeal, from the detectives, especially Detective Carranza, to strangers on the beach and boardwalk to a lady we met on our flight and to a couple anonymous lady’s in L.A. Thank you all!

Rick Morgan,  Holland, Ohio

The Race Is On – For Congress

Eighteen candidates are running to replace Jane Harman as our Congressional Representative. Their political positions range from the Left to the Right, and far Right. Many of them will be sending you slick mailers every day between now and election day on May 17.

If no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote, which looks likely, the top two vote getters will go for another round to determine the final winner.

A candidates’ forum is planned by the Venice Neighborhood Council April 27th. 6:30 at Westminster Elementary.

 

Three of the candidates list a Venice mailing address. They are:

MICHAEL T. CHAMNESS, a Non-Profit Consultant who works at UCLA. Chamness is suing the Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, who is also running for this seat. Chamness objects to being identified as “No Party” when he is a member of the Coffee Party.

STEVE COLLETT is a Certified Public Accountant on Abbot Kinney Blvd. He is a Libertarian and is campaigning to legalize marijuana.

MARIA E. MONTANO is a Public School Teacher who teaches at Westchester High School. She immigrated from Mexico with her family and grew up in Venice. She is a Doctor of Education and the only Latina among the 18 candidates. She is also the only Peace and Freedom candidate.

 

Other candidates who have a relationship with Venice included:

DANIEL H. ADLER, a Parent/Entrepreneur/Producer who lists his address as Marina del Rey (but it’s really Venice). He is a Democrat.

DEBRA BOWEN is the current California Secretary of State who lives in the Oxford Triangle but is using a Torrance address in the campaign. She is a Democrat.

STEPHEN EISELE, a Businessman/Aerospace Entrepreneur, from the Marina is a Republican.

MATTHEW ROOZEE is listed as a Business Executive/Mathematician from the Marina. He has “No Party.”

JAMES L. THOMPSON calls himself Retired and is another “No Party” candidate from Mar Vista.

MARCY WINOGRAD is a High School Teacher whose office is in the Marina. She is a Democrat who ran against Jane Harman in 2006 and 2010,

 

Candidates from the South Bay, which is the other part of the district include:

PATRICK “KIT” BOBKO, an Independent Businessman/Councilmember in Hermosa Beach. He is a Republican.

MIKE GIN is the Mayor, City of Redondo Beach and a Republican.

JANICE HAHN is a Los Angeles City Councilwoman who has her office in Torrance. She is a Democrat.

CRAIG HUEY, a Small Business Owner, from Rolling Hills Estates is a Republican. He is rumored to be prepared to spend $1 million in the campaign.

GEORGE NEWBERRY is a Businessman from San Pedro, and a Republican.

KATHERINE PILOT is a Longshore Office Clerk from Hermosa Beach. She is a “No Party” candidate.

AL SALEHI lists himself as a Governing Boardmember/Entrepreneur from San Pedro. He is also “No Party.”

MIKE WEBB is the City Attorney/Prosecutor in Redondo Beach and also a Republican.

Congressional races have no residency requirement. That’s why LORAINE GOODWIN a Physician/Arbitrator/Teacher from Madera in the San Joachin Valley can run. She is a Democrat.

The front runners in the race will probably be Democrats Debra Bowen, Janice Hahn and Marcy Winograd, all of who have name recognition. Peace and Freedom candidate Maria Montaño may be a surprise vote getter as the only Latina and Spanish Surnamed candidate and by virtue of her professional credentials. Republicans Mike Gin, Craig Huey, and Mike Webb will be vying with each other to be the leading Republican vote getter in anticipation of redistricting which may split the district north and south, making the South Bay district more friendly to Republicans.

If you have internet access, go to http://bit.ly/dRr10C to see the list of candidates and their websites where they will tell you why you should vote for them.

 

Joseph Baruch, Finjan Cafe Owner

Joseph, Venice Beach regular, one time owner of Finjan Cafe on Ocean Front Walk and sometimes known as Veince’s only resident oud and dumbech master passed away on February 1st, just a few days before his 82nd birthday.

He was born February 9, 1929 in Baghdad, Iraq. He moved with his family to Israel in the 1950s, met and married Phyllis while she was visiting in Israel and in 1957 moved to London. He had difficulties there and returned to Israel shortly afterwards.

He separated and divorced from Phyllis in the mid-60s, eventually moving to Venice and later opening Finjan Cafe on Ocean Front Walk, serving Falafel and other mid-East and Israeli specialties. He could regularly be seen there entertaining customers and passers by on Dumbek, a mid-Eastern drum or playing oud, often for belly dancers.

After he gave up the cafe, he was still on Ocean Front Walk almost daily, selling, bartering, playing music and sometimes flirting with the women.

His is survived by his son Richard (Susan), grandchildren Hannah and Benjamin, by his daughter Susan (Jon) Carp and sister Flora.

Please leave comments, and see the remembrance and photos posted at http://josephbaruch.wordpress.com/

 

– Stan Strom

 

Recognizing A Tragedy: 69 Years Later

It has been nine long years since a small group of Venetians came together to call attention to a terrible wrong that had been committed in our community. On April 25, 1942, approximately 1,000 Japanese-Americans living in Venice, Santa Monica and surrounding farms were required to report to Lincoln and Venice Blvds. with only what few belongings they could carry. They were put in buses that took them to a concentration camp called Manzanar in the high desert.

Shortly after the destruction of New York City’s World Trade Center, on Sept. 11, 2001, there was a rising hysteria in the country against Arabs; indeed, anyone who looked like he or she might be Arab, was in danger of verbal and even physical assault. The signing into law of the Patriot Act on Oct. 26, 2001, took away many rights to privacy, allowed home searches without a court order and indefinite detention, among other things. Civil liberties hadn’t been so threatened since 1942, when more than 120,000 Japanese in the western United States, two-thirds of who were citizens, were rounded-up and taken to concentration camps.

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by a paranoid Japanese empire. On Feb. 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order “excluding” the Japanese – citizens and immigrants – from the western states. The concentration camps soon followed. On Feb. 24, 1942, the Battle of Los Angeles was “fought.” Jittery sky watchers sounded the alarm that night of an invading air raid from Japan. It turned out to be nothing, a weather balloon or a UFO, but the nighttime sky was lit up over the basin with countless artillery barrages.

The jitters turned to hostility which turned to racism against the quiet but hard-working Japanese-Americans in Venice and elsewhere. On April 25, 1942, a coastal-wide operation, including Venice, sent 120,000 Japanese to the camps. It was overseen by Lt. Gen. J.L. DeWitt, who said: “A Jap is a Jap and it makes no difference whether citizen or not. I’m not worried about the Germans or Italians but we will worry about the Japs until they are wiped off the face of the earth.”

Japanese-Americans had played an important role in the economy and society of Venice. At the time, it was surrounded by farmland, much of which was owned by Japanese, who grew produce including celery, beans, cabbage and lettuce. In addition to farming, Japanese were involved in a variety of businesses and occupations, including gardening, florists, restaurants, dry cleaners and concessions on the pier. Most Japanese-Americans, like Germans and Italians on the east coast, were fiercely loyal to the United States. But unlike those Europeans, they were viewed with suspicion by some government and military officials.

Even before the war, Japanese immigrants couldn’t become citizens or own land. Most farms and other property were held in the names of their U.S. born children. Asians and whites couldn’t inter-marry in California until 1948.

According to Arnold Maeda, who was 15 years old when he reported with his family to Venice and Lincoln, others taken away on the bus, who are still living in the area include Jim Sukuhara, Amy Takahashi Ioki, Kazumi Kishi Tatsumi, Koko Tsutsumiuchi Matsui, Mae Kageyama Kakehashi, the Nakagiri family, Nori Kuroyama, Yosh and George Nojima, Nob Kamibayashi and his sister Shizue Kamibayashi Kiyohiro.

Also from Venice and Ocean Park: Mike Kusaba, Glenn Tomita, Kageyama siblings: Frank, Mae Kakehashi, Mary (Songbird of Manzanar) Nomura; Nishi sisters: Kiyo Tanaka, Miyo, Nancy and Aya; George Nojima, Nakagiri siblings: Shig, Jane Shintani, June Akioka; Kazie Nagai, Sam Ono, Toy Ioki Sato and brother Sus Ioki.

“There are many others but I’d be guessing,” says Maeda.

It was probably hardest on the children who were taken out of their schools, including Venice High, Florence Nightengale Elementary (now Anchorage), Martha Washington (now Westminster), as well as schools in Santa Monica and Malibu.

There was no bus ride home from the camps in the Fall of 1945. After three and a half years in the camps, the incarcerated were given $25 to make their way home.

Maeda’s father went home and got his pickup which was being cared for by a neighbor. He made many trips back to Manzanar to pick up people and their belongings and bring them back to Southern California.

Many Japanese had lost their farms and homes during the intervening three and a half years. There was an exodus to Orange County and the Oxnard area. Farm land rapidly became housing tracts that enriched the new and mostly white owners.

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SIDEBAR:

Attend the Groundbreaking Ceremony, April 25 at Venice and Lincoln Blvds.

On April 25, at the northwest corner of Venice and Lincoln Boulevards, a “groundbreaking” ceremony has been planned for 10 a.m. to celebrate the progress of the Venice Japanese American Memorial Marker committee.  The VJAMM committee invites interested members of the community to join Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, former internees of the War Relocation Authority camp at Manzanar and members of the VJAMM at the unveiling of the proposed memorial marker design and the proposed plaque text.

 

 

“Highway to Heaven” or “Roadmap to Hell?”

By Jim Smith

 

On March 22 the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) took another stab at addressing the biggest controversy in our community in recent years – RVs and homelessness. Some outraged voices maintain that the treatment of those living in their vehicles by the L.A. Council office and by the Los Angeles Police Department amounts to a human disaster for the poor. Others object to the presence of RVs anywhere in Venice and blame the occupants for criminal behavior.

Advocates of compassionate treatment of homeless people and RV live-aboards were given an unequal playing field at the council meeting. Councilmember Bill Rosendahl and his chief-of-staff, Mike Bonin, both of whom seem to have catered to those who want the homeless removed, were given unlimited time to present their arguments, as were representatives of “People Assisting The Homeless,” (PATH) including its Chief Executive Officer Joel Roberts and others.

When “the public” got to speak, they only got one minute each, not enough time to present a cogent argument in opposition to the plan, now dubbed “Roadmap to Housing.”

The next day, the same scene repeated itself, although in miniature form, at the Los Angeles City Hall building, which is about 18 miles to the east. A handful of pro and con Venetians managed the trip to the City’s Transportation Committee, where they were rewarded with a whole two minutes of speaking time. Nothing much happened except that Rosendahl asked the assistant city attorney to take language out of the proposed “Roadmap” ordinance about legal parking on the streets because the anti-homeless residents didn’t like it. Another meeting of the Transportation Committee will be held on April 13.

For the past several months, the LAPD has been implementing Councilmember Bill Rosendahl’s “carrot and stick” approach which includes citing RVs for vehicle and parking infractions, banging on their RVs in the middle of the night, making threats of arrest if they remain in Venice, as well as towing their vehicles to a San Fernando Valley storage yard where the nearly indigent are charged around $800 to reclaim their vehicle/home. Some have called this a “streets to jail” program.

As a result, the number of RVs in Venice has shrunk from more than 200 according to a survey last July to around 20 today. This reduces the number of potential participants in the “Roadmap” program, which is now designed to accommodate only eight vehicles at each of Rosendahl’s two offices, one in West L.A. and one in Westchester.

Even residents who do not live in their RVs report harassment and unfair ticketing of their vehicles. One couple in central Venice who use their RV daily to go to work have found tickets on it for parking in one place for 72 hours when the actual time parked was between eight and nine hours.

In addition, new signs have sprouted up on streets around Venice that prohibit vehicle taller than seven feet or longer than 22 feet from parking from 2 – 6 am. This restriction of access was done without Coastal Commission approval.

Some of the RV live-aboards, harassed on all sides, have exchanged their large vehicle/homes for vans, pickups with camper shells and other cars that are not too tall or too long.

The subject of the VNC meeting was a new proposal from Rosendahl for a “Roadmap to Housing” program, formerly called “streets to homes.” Initially, it included provisions for some legalized street parking but was modified after complaints from anti-RV residents. It now includes only the two office sites outside of Venice.

Some anti-homeless residents had been vocal during the past several years about Santa Monica “dumping” its homeless on Venice. None of them objected to Venice RVs being “dumped” on West Los Angeles or Westchester.

Opposition to the “Roadmap” and accompanying 85.11 ordinance came from RV live-aboards and supporters who said that the program would remove the poor from Venice. None of the housing being sought for live-aboards is in Venice, apparently. Nor is there much of an outreach program to local landlords to sign on to the program even though it can give them a guaranteed rent payment. Also called to the VNC’s attention by several speakers was the alleged misuse of the public Venice Area Surplus Real Property Fund, which is to be used only in Venice.

The arguments seemed to have an effect on the Board, which had been prepared to vote in favor of the “Roadmap.” In the end, no vote was taken. Another meeting will be held in April.

About 85 people packed the meeting. Attendance slowly dwindled during the three and a half hour marathon. One of those staying to the bitter end was Rosendahl.

Chairperson Linda Lucks maintained her streak of throwing a stakeholder out of each meeting. This time it was Ocean Front Walk vendor, Mark Herd, who was apparently too impassioned in his one-minute comparison of the treatment and removal of the poor to the 19th century treatment of Native Americans and to the Nazis’ treatment of Jews. His expulsion was the only action seen by any of the 18 LAPD officers who stood in the back of the room for the first two hours. Their presence added more than $2,000 to the cost of the meeting and lessened the number of cops on patrol in Venice.

 

Problems with the “Roadmap

to Housing” program

1. It increases gentrification of Venice to the detriment of the poor and working people.

2. It is at least two years too late to resolve the RV parking issue without dividing Venice.

3. Its housing component takes long-time residents out of their community.

4. It is paid for out of a fund which by ordinance can only be spent in Venice.

This “roadmap” is part of a larger city effort to rid Venice of those who are forced to live in their cars. At least one-third of RV live-aboards previously had an apartment in Venice, according to a survey by St. Joseph’s Center.

A major part of the reason for a growing vehicle-as-a-home phenomenon is Rosendahl’s failure, and that of his colleagues on the L.A. City Council, to lobby the legislature to repeal or modify the anti-rent control Costa-Hawkins Act, which prohibits vacancy control of rental units. As a result of exorbitant rents, a growing number of Venetians have found it necessary to live in vehicles or even the streets.

Growing hostility toward those without fixed addresses from some homeowners and some of those still able to pay their rents has played into the hands of developers and city officials who want to divide Venice. A number of Venetians have met with Rosendahl and his staff during the last several years to urge him to create a program in which those living in RVs could be safe from individual and police harassment.

They have suggested to him numerous lots and streets away from residences without result. Meanwhile, through Rosendahl’s notorious “carrot and stick” program, he has encouraged the police to become involved in a social issue that has taken them away from fighting crime, e.g. robberies, break-ins, assaults and murders. He has let the divisions in Venice fester while trying to increase city revenue with overnight pay parking schemes which most Venice residents did not want, but had to spend two years defeating.

Now, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), a public agency, has been given $750,000 by Rosendahl and the Council to implement the “Roadmap” program. LAHSA subcontracted to People Assisting The Homeless (PATH), a nonprofit group, and gave it $650,000 (What did LAHSA do that allowed it to take a $100,000 cut?).

Joel Roberts, the CEO of PATH, says that permanent housing is the goal of this program. This is a laudable goal, particularly if it is coupled with public assistance, jobs, health care and educational opportunities. However, there is no emphasis in Robert’s approach, nor in the entire “Roadmap,” to assisting vehicle live-aboards in their own community. For many potential “clients” in this program, occupying a Section 8 housing unit in the San Fernando Valley, or other distant location, means being torn away from their friends, their neighborhood, and indeed, all that is familiar to them. If this program is to be successful it must include an active effort by the Council office and by PATH to contact Venice landlords and get them to agree to provide at least one Section 8 housing unit. With enough effort, sufficient housing units surely can be found right here in Venice.

Misappropriation

of Public Funds?

Finally, the majority of the funding for the entire “Roadmap” program is illegal. The Venice Area Surplus Real Property Fund can only be used within Venice. None of the major expenditures of this program take place here. PATH does not have an office in Venice. It’s staff are not from Venice. The parking lots under consideration for RVs are not in Venice. And now, because of aggressive policing, most of the RVs are no longer in Venice.

In short, little or none of the activities or expenditures fall under the definition of legitimate use of the Fund. Yet, $450,000 has been appropriated to LAHSA for a program that largely takes place outside of Venice <http://bit.ly/b26FiD&gt;.

The “Roadmap” can by no stretch of the imagination be considered to be “generally within the Venice Area,” as defined in the ordinance. The Fund is also known as Los Angeles Administrative Code, Section 5.121. See Sidebar for its exact language.

Further evidence of the Venice Fund misappropriation is contained in the draft 85.11 ordinance itself. It refers not to Venice or the Venice Area but to the 11th Council District as a whole, a clear misuse of the Fund.

The draft ordinance states in section C:

(6) In order to qualify for eligibility to enroll in the Roadmap to Housing Program, a person must establish one of the following conditions:

(i) The person resided in a vehicle in the Eleventh Council District as of July 20, 2010; or

(ii) The person resided in a dwelling, not a vehicle, in the Eleventh Council District as of the effective date of this Section and later became homeless and forced to reside in a vehicle.

 

In summary, the “Roadmap” and the draft ordinance, 85.11, both show misappropriation of public funds, to wit, the Venice Area Surplus Real Property Fund.

———–

SIDEBAR:

ARTICLE 5
VENICE AREA SURPLUS REAL PROPERTY FUND

Sec. 5.121.  Creation and Use of Fund.

All net proceeds collected from the sales of real properties located in the Venice area of the City of Los Angeles and such grant funds as approved by the City Council, shall be placed in a trust fund to be known as the “Venice Area Surplus Real Property Fund,” which fund is hereby created and which fund shall be used for the purposes as set forth hereafter.

1.     The “Venice Area” is hereby defined and described as being that portion of the City of Los Angeles bounded northwesterly by the common boundary of the City of Santa Monica and the City of Los Angeles, northeasterly by the center line of Lincoln Boulevard, southeasterly and northeasterly by the City boundary adjacent to the county’s “Marina del Rey,” southeasterly by the entrance channel of the “Marina del Rey” and southwesterly by the last natural mean high-tide line of the Pacific Ocean.

2.     “Surplus Real Property” is defined as those parcels of real property owned by the City of Los Angeles and neither dedicated to public use, such as recreation and park use or public street use, nor permanently devoted to some public use.

3.     “Net proceeds” shall mean the gross sale price received for a parcel of real property minus escrow charges, title policy charges, appraisal charges, advertising costs, and any and all other costs and expenses attributable to conducting the sale and/or leading up to the sale of the property.

4.     Upon adoption of a resolution by the City Council, the net proceeds from the sale of any of the properties mentioned above shall be devoted exclusively to capital or non-capital projects or purchases generally within the “Venice Area” for purposes which will be of benefit to citizens of the City of Los Angeles or tourists to the Venice Beach area.

5.     The Fund shall be administered by the Department of Public Works, Bureau of Financial Management and Personnel Services, in accordance with the prior approval by the City Council pursuant to Subdivision 4. of this Section.

 

Are you safe from a Tsunami on Abbot Kinney Blvd.? Not Hardly!

How Can They Screw Up Something As Simple As Tsunami Signs?

The City of L.A. is doing us a favor by posting more Tsunami warning signs. Problem is, they’re inaccurate, and possibly dangerous.

This sign on Abbot Kinney Blvd. is right in the middle of the Tsunami Evacuation Area, according to a city of Los Angeles publication (see above).

Other signs near Lincoln Blvd. claim that you’re leaving the hazard zone when that might not be true.

Yet to appear are signs where the most tourists congregate, on Ocean Front Walk.

The Japan Tsunami last month went as much as six miles inland. In comparison, the San Diego Freeway is only 3.6 miles from the beach.

No one knows how fierce a Tsunami would be if it struck Santa Monica Bay. In 1958, a Tsunami 1700 feet tall hit Lituya Bay, Alaska. The Japanese waves topped out at 23 feet.

Matthew Hornbach, a researcher at the University of Texas says that Southern California Tsunamis may be more frequent – and dangerous – than previously thought. That’s because submarine landslides can, and have, triggered some of the world’s most destructive Tsunamis. The ocean topography off our coast can lend itself to underwater slides.

Perhaps L.A. would do better to stop guessing, and urge Venetians and tourists to seek higher ground. The Fourth Street hill, north of Rose Avenue is the closest high ground. A safe haven can also be found north and east of the intersection of Rose Avenue and Walgrove Avenue.

Experts say that if you don’t have time to reach high ground, go to the upper stories of a building. Even climbing a sturdy tree can save lives.