Declare a “Shelter Crisis” in Los Angeles

One of the state’s most powerful tools to assist the vulnerable homeless population is hardly being used. Buried within California’s legal codes is a 25-year-old statute that allows counties and municipalities to declare a state of emergency when a “significant number” of homeless people exist in a community, allowing them to convert public facilities into shelters and even to change zoning codes to site shelters in most neighborhoods.

Just under a year ago the Huffington Post made the following report – but nothing has changed and, in fact, it’s probably become worse – with no relief in sight: California Homeless Crisis Grows As State Is Reluctant To Use Powerful Law (CA. GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 8698-8698.2)

“Across the country, women and children are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population,” the alliance says. And shelters across the state have only enough beds for a small fraction of the dispossessed: The St. John’s Shelter for Women and Children in Sacramento turns away hundreds of people each night for this reason and leaves them to fend for themselves.

Yet since the law was passed in 1987 — and as the homeless population increased — few communities have invoked the statute, and when they do, it is almost always just to set up temporary winter shelters. As a result of a lack of political will, neighborhood resistance and budget constraints, this law has rarely been tapped to ease the suffering of the dispossessed.”

“It is almost unparalleled in its potential,” National Coalition for the Homeless executive director Neil Donovan said about the statute. “But it’s a challenge [for California] because of the financial crisis that they’re in. Other communities use similar statutes far more effectively. I’m thinking of Boston, which opens up its armories when overcrowding happens.”

The reluctance to take action frustrates advocates for homeless people.

“It’s a very powerful statute in the sense that once a shelter crisis has been declared — it could be done on a statewide level by the governor or on a county level — there are just about no restrictions to housing the homeless anywhere,” said civil liberties lawyer Mark Merin. “But there are very few instances where it has been invoked. Any mayor or board of supervisors which has not declared a shelter crisis should be asked – Why not?”

Please sign our petition to send a message to Governor Jerry Brown and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that we need to start making good use of this statute to DECLARE A “SHELTER CRISIS” IN LOS ANGELES (CA. GOV. CODE § 8698-8698.2) - http://chn.ge/X9H5xI

Barbara Peck

The Benefit Network

http://www.benefitnetwork.org/

Circumstance and Opportunity

By Ronald McKinley

There is a bike parked just left of the multi-use utility pole on the corner of cold and homeless. We mill about; I mean “we”, not French for more sex. It’s cold, my hands barely work. I am writing with a pen. I prefer a lead pen. I make mistakes.

Just right of me is a man pacing. He is wrapped in a red and blue plaid blanket, the red like a freeway system intersecting at four points on a two dimensional surface. His hair is very curly framing his bearded face in a halo of thick curls. He, we are both homeless.

I will call him Laughter, that’s what he’s like.  Laughter only sleeps in the daytime, he feels safe. Sometimes I don’t see him for days. I asked him once where he went, he said he just walked. He was afraid of the police; he would leave if we just talked about the police.

The police cruise looking for drinking. Most people I see drink. I get offered beer a lot. I am not much of a drinker. Most homeless can’t afford to buy drugs most the time. The housed come to the beach looking to cop, this is how the drug trade is kept alive.

There is another man looking for snipes, cigarette butts, he opens them and puts them in a large plastic bag. Snipes walks back and forth across the street of Cold and Homeless.

He talks to himself: a full conversation. If you engage him, he will stop and talk to you, then he will return to his other conversation.

There are very few women out now it is 6:20 am. I have been here in this line since 4:52 am. This morning it is a brisk 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

A man, very slight, just walked up looking for services. He is wearing a white dress shirt and a black t-shirt under it. He was shaking and trembling from the cold. I offered him another t-shirt. He was about to leave. We, some people in the line for services, talked him out of leavening. I looked for something for him to wear. Laughter offered me the plaid blanket for him to wear. I told him to warm it with his breath. The cold and shaking man balled himself into the fetal S and I covered him with blanket. Being human means being humane.  My own little time-space entangled moment defines me and keeps me sane.

I do if only for this fragmented moment, there I am. Whoa! What a concept, each moment planned or unplanned should be lived. Don’t live for the moment, but live the moment.

We are separated by circumstance and a little wealth. Why does kindness require a permit and a surcharge?

If this is reality, make mine virtual. I could pause it, reformat it, get an update.

The man I gave the t-shirt to left, maybe he needed a new operating system. Maybe we all need a new operating system. Mine keeps restarting every time it seems I am getting somewhere.

I am houseless so I am suspect. I am lazy, dirty, drug user. The worst thing that can be done to a human being is to create situations where they have nothing to lose. No vested interest in country, community, humanity, self. The police heap their frustrations and the waste of their warped perceptions on people who want to just exist. “If you cut me, do I not bleed.” I need a transfusion. I need some respect. Everything on the planet belongs on the planet. Man-made things are an exception. No matter what the ad says, your car does not have more right to exist than me.

On a daily basis I dodge cars and SUV’s of distracted, bored people. People who seem to think, to me, that I should be here, there, anywhere. They look at but don’t see me. Some pretend I am not there, shifting their gaze to avert taking in my image. Some skid to stop at corners while texting, talking on their various devices. Engaging in the vice of the moment.

Not all my bad experiences are from the housed. There is a lot of violence in the streets. Some of the people need help. Some of these people should not be sleeping outside, left to fend for themselves. The war on the homeless makes everything worst. Yes, we are under siege. The constant pressure to find food and shelter while looking out for the haters and the police takes its toll. Fear of lower property values is enough to suspend civil rights. It seems to be a crime to be homeless. We are always judged by the most vocal and fanatical.

The middle class is all but gone. The wealth has been redistributed upward. The most valued service of the Government School, Postal, Prison, and Armed Forces is being privatized. Are you so far from homelessness? I thought I was.

Written winter 2009, when I was house-less

 

Life Creeping Back in at Lincoln Place

By Greta Cobar

Apartment Investment and Management Company (Aimco) received the loan needed to redevelop Lincoln Place.

Being one of the country’s largest owners and operators of apartments, Aimco received the largest unsubsidized loan ever insured by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. It amounted to $190.7 millions and it was awarded October 12.

The money will be used to re-furbish 696 existing apartments and to build an additional 99 units in 13 new buildings. When all finished, Lincoln Place will have the same number of units as it did in 1951, when its construction was finished. Aimco had bulldozed 13 buildings containing 99 units, and the replacements will not increase density or height at the apartment complex.

“History cannot be re-created,” said Amanda Seward about the construction that could start anytime now. However, the new buildings “have to be somewhat compatible, with the same height and set-back” as those demolished following what is considered to be the biggest eviction day in Los Angeles history, which took place on December 6, 2005.

Construction is not set to complete until the fourth quarter of 2014, with existing units set to be refurbished by the second quarter of 2013.

Although an agreement was reached between Aimco and the Tenants’ Association in May of 2010, evicted tenants were not allowed to return until April of 2012, six and a half years after being evicted. Originally 83 tenants were allowed to return, but some of those had moved on and were not able to re-locate again, and opted to receive monetary compensations instead.

Returning tenants moved in paying their original rent amounts plus “any authorized increases in rent that had been approved by the housing department for low-income units in the interim,” Seward said. All original units will be rented out to new tenants at market value and will be under rent control, which limits the amount of rent increase per year.

The new 99 units that are to be built, however, will be rented out at market value and will not be under rent control, as only those units built before 1979 are required to follow rent-control payment increases.

“Overall I am very pleased with the outcome – that’s what we wanted – for it to be preserved,” Seward said of the agreement between Aimco and the Tenants’ Association. As an attorney specializing in historical preservation, Seward’s volunteer efforts to save the apartment complex were instrumental in saving it.

Lincoln Place is now on the State and National Register of Historic Places and it is designated as a local historical-cultural monument. Constructed between 1949 and 1951, its design team was led by Ralph A. Vaughn, an African-American architect interested in the Garden City Movement, which combined the amenities of urban life with ready access to nature. Its open green space, including almost 400 trees present on the property, will be preserved.

“It is specifically stated in the agreement that Lincoln Place is not to become a gated community,” Seward said. The new swimming pool that the developers are planning to add to the living complex will be gated, however, as all pools have to be by law.

It’s nice to see life creeping back into what has been hundreds of empty apartments for the past almost seven years. Aimco had originally planned to tear down all structures and build taller, bigger buildings that would have further increased the population density and the traffic congestion on Lincoln Blvd. Congratulations and thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who have staged a historical battle that received national attention.

The Beachhead itself was instrumental in winning this long, hard battle by taking a strong stand against another big investor moving into our community and changing it to further maximize his profits.

For a complete list of names, organizations, legal battles and all other events that lead to this victory, see http://bit.ly/TQS5i0.

The Venice Sleep Out

By Charles Dunn

What had begun two years ago, has now transpired in to an Annual event, thanks to the hard work of all the teams involved. The day August 25 started at 4pm, even the weather turned up in its full vibrance and glory for the event.

There were Shoots and Ladders on a table approximately 6ft by 12ft in length, a stage for music and live performers whom were all part of the event, booths for Bradley Manning ran by the Veterans for peace, printed t-shirts, tarot card readers, plant a tree as well as the Beachhead. The best and most used,was the free food and drink booth, which served throughout the day and night many thanks to the volunteers.

The location Beyond Baroque on Venice Blvd. All day long vehicles that passed seemed to honk their horns in support for this event.

Vehicles that were parked alongside the event were a work of art themselves, as I was informed they are what’s called rubber tramps. The art and creativity was outstanding and of the highest order. All the people that took part seemed to have a wonderful day, they were happy and free of their troubles.

Night fell after an raising collection of stage music, poets, and performers. A rousing speech was given by Occupy, when they proposed a notion that the houseless leave their things in a building which is locked up until night time, which could then be re- trieved between 6am and 9pm. This we should all fully support.

In the evening after the sun went down, the whole of the Sleep Out were given the luxury of watching the movie Rubber Tramps with popcorn and a packet of m&m’s, also hot drinks which were

provided by the volunteers all night. The food was donated by kind hearts.

The movie in its self explained why they call themselves Rubber Tramps.What an excellent movie we were treated to.

After the movie things were packed away and we all settled down for the night.

This was a day and evening Venice can be proud of no trouble no suspense abuse of any, kind just peace and love.

I for one am looking forward to next years event. I learned a lot from these nice people, so when you come across them in your life, treat them with the respect and kindness they deserve.

Thank you Venice Sleep Out.

Sponsored by: Beyond Baroque, Venice Community Housing Corporation, Venice Justice Committee, Stand Up For Youth, Venice Food Not Bombs, SPARC, Heartbeat of Venice, Venice Action Alliance, Safe Place for Youth, POWER,Venice Family Clinic, Venice Arts Council, the Free Venice Beachhead, New Life Society and Reach or the Top. Special thanks to All Star Sound.

“Make all those poor people go away, Daddy!”

By Mary Getlein

Well, sweetness, we are doing the best we can – we’ve made it illegal to sit in the sand after midnight – that probably gets rid of a bunch right there. It’s illegal to feed them. It’s illegal to give them money. It’s illegal to talk to them. We have to isolate them – it’s the only chance we have. We don’t want to end up like them, do we?

So we turn people invisible. All you have to do is be poor, and people can’t see you.

Sometimes I hang on the beach and there is this big mound of bread delivered to the poor. What’s sad is, there are so many older people who rely on this. At the end of the month, when everyone has spent all their money, the bread goes very quickly. And many older people are disappointed, and don’t get any bread. Google and other companies notwithstanding, there are still hidden “pockets of poverty” all through Venice. It would be nice if we could help people in- stead of trying to get rid of them.

You might miss out on a great friendship with someone you wouldn’t ordinarily meet. The poor have a lot to tell you, but you don’t want to hear how it feels at the bottom rung of society, right before they come and take you away, for being crazy in public. Not eating regularly, not having enough water to drink, living on the streets, in a car, or in an alley, that life takes its toll on you. It’s hard to stay sober when you’re trying to “make it through another day.”

This country has so much money, wouldn’t you agree? We need shelter for our citizens. We need to stop criminalizing people for being poor. We need our beach back. Our beach was ripped off by the L.A. City Council and “closed” from 12 am to 5 am. The Coastal Commission says every Californian has 24 hour, 7 days a week access to the beach. What is Ven- ice Beach without the beach?

Criminalizing people and throwing them in jail only creates money for the prison system. Every time

they move a prisoner (from jail to court and back again), the State gets charged. It should not be a crime to be homeless. The real criminals are the banks, which led a lot of people down a pretty path to economic ruin. And yet our country bailed the banks out. They need to bail our citizens out of poverty, persecution, and fear. We have a caste system in place and we don’t really care what we do with the “Un- touchables,” as long as we don’t have to look at them or see their reality.

Venice needs to have more input with the deci- sions that affect Venice. Most of the citizens of Ven- ice are not on the side of the “homeless haters.” Most people are able to put their prejudices aside and see the person there, not the cartoon figure they have in their mind of what a homeless person is supposed to be. 

Evicted Family Camps Out At Former Home

By CJ Gronner

The Gonzalez family had lived at 1033 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice since 1953, when it was still called West Washington Boulevard. Mr. Gon- zalez worked hard as a gardener at the Fox Hills Golf Course. He saved up, bought his home in Venice, and owned it outright, free and clear. He and his wife raised 10 kids in that house, which was built in 1904, a year before Abbot Kinney even officially pro- claimed the land “Venice”.

The kids all went to Venice schools, worked and played in Venice, at a time when no one locked their doors, you talked to your neighbors on the streets, and the whole town would turn up for concerts or Thanksgiving dinners at the Venice Pavilion. They were happy times, and four generations of the Gon- zalez family lived in their home. Then Mr. Gonzalez died. Then Mrs. Gonzalez died. Then it all fell apart.

I’d seen the family out in their front yard for years, saying hello as we’d pass by on our way to Lilly’s restaurant next door. The house was starting to show the wear and tear of passing years, but I always liked that there was a regular old house on Abbot Kinney, full of lawn art and wind chimes, in stark defiance to all the change and gentrification stuff going on up and down the street. They weren’t going anywhere. Then one day the family was camping out in their car. Then under a tarp on the side of the house. Then one day the entire house was gone, razed to the ground, and the people had set up camp on the sidewalk in front of the house. They STILL weren’t going anywhere. After seeing this go on for about 6 months or so, I was going by on my way to Joe’s (for the excellent Artist & Architect show curated by Tibby Rothman – great!) a few weeks ago, and de- cided just to ask the woman sitting there what was going on.

Adele Gonzalez lived in her family home on Ab- bot Kinney since her father moved the family in when she was 8 years old. Now 64, Adele told me her rough story as we sat on the curb in front of her now vacant lot of family memories, where she has slept since the whole nightmare began.

I wanted this to be a story about how The Man came in and forced out a poor family, something I could rage against, and shine light upon another shady housing scandal. This is not that story. Adele has a wayward brother, who after learning some swindling techniques during a prison stay, screwed the rest of his family out of both their family home and any proceeds from it (which online public re- cords show sold for 1.3 million in 2010 to an un- known buyer). As we all well know, there’s not a lot you can do to sort out other peoples’ family dramas, but what we can do is clear up the hurtful rumors and check ourselves a bit as neighbors and members of the Venice community.

Adele would laugh at me using the word that I so often do regarding Venice – “Community”. She doesn’t think it exists in Venice any longer, but I think it’s more a case of her not BELONGING to the community. Folks waving to each other from table to table at Gjelina, or in line for coffee at Abbot’s Habit would certainly argue for the existence of community among Venetians. Dog park people and Kid park people and yoga class goers and the surf line-up and the Skatepark and the Boardwalk, all of us have a sense of place and belonging here after a while. But to hear Adele talk about her family situation, all sense of community for them dried up the minute they were booted from their home.

And booted they were. They were given about 20 minutes to gather their things and get out. A sister had missed a couple of loan payments she had taken out for home repairs (wasted money and effort as the house was bulldozed shortly thereafter), and that cre- ated the opening the brother needed to swoop in and sell the thing. It’s kind of a murky tale how it all came down, but that’s not really the important part of the story. It’s how they’ve been treated after the fact.

Adele is not a fan of Bill Rosendahl or his home- less programs. She is not a fan of Officer Skinner and her colleagues, who they feel harassed by (they were given two tickets in one week for having their things in found grocery carts – considered stolen. How are they supposed to pay these tickets when they’re just trying to get money for food?!). She is not a fan of the Baptist minister next door, who told them they couldn’t keep their things on the side of the church, as it “might attract more homeless people.” Adele doesn’t take kindly to being called “homeless” as she sits outside of what was her family’s home for over half a century, and added, “God never turns anyone away.” Yeah.

So they sit there and refuse to leave. Adele sits there and hears people go by talking about them as if they’re not there. They’ve been laughed at and called awful names, heard stories about how there were crazy hoarders living there, someone got killed in there, they had to condemn it, on and on, and not true and extremely painful to hear when you know, more than almost anybody, every bit of history – HISTORY – of this place we ALL want to live in and love. It’s awfully hard to swallow, one can imagine. For all of these nasty comments and slights, there are the occa- sional folk who come by and offer help or a bottle of water or five bucks to get a sandwich, and of them, Adele says, “They helped me, and God is going to help them. Think about it, one day you might be where I am, so don’t judge me or my family. Only God judges.”

There’s something to be said for yanking up your bootstraps, and making things happen for yourself, even when you’ve been screwed over, because that can and will happen to everyone. I’m not sure what

went wrong with the Gonzalez family internally to get them to where they are – Adele, her two grown sons, and two sisters are all camped together on the sidewalk, even right now as you read. I’m also very well aware of the attitude some have towards “the homeless” based on well-founded fear from bad ex- periences with some of the Mad Max style, tough customer homeless roaming the beach area, or just small-minded fear based on personal property value stuff. Adele’s father taught her to never lie or steal, and as she sees it, her only crime is being poor. Be- lieve me, from sitting and talking with Adele and her family, they do not WANT to be on the street. They do not want to be in the way of your fancy stroller coming down the sidewalk. They do not want to be starving on the sidewalk just down from some of the posher restaurants in town. They need help. They just don’t know how to ask for it after living right there in their house for so long.

Shelters take women with young children first. There’s a waiting list that older women with grown and troubled sons idle at the bottom of. Adele is tired, and cold every night. Her sons need work, which could vastly help the situation, but it’s hard to secure work without an address and not much else but the clothes on your back. Adele has her birth certificate, and the original deed to the house. She doesn’t know hardly anything about the laws or real estate issues, but an “Advocate” from the city is “supposed to” come and see Adele to try and help them. She doesn’t plan on going anywhere until some of this is straight- ened out, if it even still can be. They need to be more pro-active, but that’s easier said than done when you’ve slept outside all night, are sore, tired, hungry and have no means to get anywhere.

Adele cried when she watched her childhood home bulldozed in front of her face on Easter week- end, as she watched from the cracked concrete where she now sleeps. She stays put out of defiance, to make a point, to HANG IN THERE. But she can’t keep this up. It’s cold, uncomfortable, unhealthy, ugly living. I find it admirable, in a FUCK YOU, I WON’T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME! kind of way, but I also find it heartbreakingly sad. That people would hurt each other so, even from within family. That people would react to them so heartlessly in the aftermath. And also, that they would settle for this kind of life for themselves. They’re willing and able to accept help, if anyone in housing or law or that kind of thing can give it. There has to be a solution, and a willingness, from both the family and the community, to DO SOMETHING. I believe that’s what we’re all here for after all, EACH OTHER.

I’m reminded of a quote from Billie Holiday, that just lays it all out bare … “You’ve got to have some- thing to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body’s sermon on how to behave.”

Yeah. 

Roadmap to Housing turns into a Lonesome Highway

By Greta Cobar

In what could be a viewed as a publicity stunt at best or another slap in the face, councilperson Bill Rosendahl made headlines this week as he ceremoniously handed Alfred Adkins the keys to an apartment in Venice. This is the so-called success story of People Assisting the Homeless (PATH), an organization that Rosendahl gave $650,000 of Venice funds, that were to be used only in Venice, but are now spread out in the entire eleventh council district. No wonder the first Venice person to receive housing, in Koreatown, did not make the headlines.

The Venice Vehicle Census, conducted by St. Joseph’s and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, counted 254 “vehicles used as dwelling spaces in Venice” on the morning of July 13, 2010. Then Rosendahl called the September 23, 2010 Town Hall Meeting, where he stood in front of hundreds of Venetians and said loud and clear: “jails exist for those of you who choose not to be part of my program.” Concurrently a police task force was created, and “the mission of the task force is to effect arrests of individuals who are violating local and state codes.” Most specifically, 85.02, which makes it a crime to sleep in a vehicle.

To make a long story short, during the fall and winter months of 2010 the police chased out of Venice as many people living in vehicles as they possibly could in a military, Nazi-reminiscent fashion. The terror, the fear, the arrests, the tows, the tears, the nightmares and then the cold nights on the cement once the vehicles were gone. The people are still here.

Rosendahl surely did deliver on his pledge to put people in jail. He did not deliver on coming up with his program though. Here we are, a year later, and two people have been put into housing. After dozens were arrested, thousands of dollars were spent on towing costs, and years were shaved off people’s existence by the stress of having their shelter either in peril or gone. The initial plan of providing parking lots for those living in vehicles is now out the door.

What happened was Rosendahl used his political power and elbowed his way into the Housing Authority and the Veterans Administration to snatch housing vouchers. He did not create the housing that he is providing, just took it from someone else and is planning on giving it to the 115 people on his “list.” Jeremy Sidell, spokesperson for PATH, could not estimate how many of those 115 people are actually from Venice.

Notice that while 245 people were counted as living in vehicles in Venice alone, only 115 people are on the “list,” which now covers the entire eleventh district. And after bragging about personally giving Atkins the keys to the apartment and half a dozen fresh eggs Rosendahl went on to say: “the others: we have a law that gives us the ability to deal with them if they choose to illegally live in a vehicle.” I guess the other half dozen eggs will be thrown at the rest of us.

As many of you might recall, the “let’s get rid of RVs” hysteria was started on August 17, 2010 by an allegation of an RV dumping sewage made by members of the local Neighborhood Watch. The validity of those allegations has been questioned in the past, and the felonious background of the person making the allegations was exposed by the Beachhead in June (Who’s Watching the Neighborhood Watch) and was validated three months later by an August 25 article in the LA Weekly (Clamor Over Venice311).

The authority cannot make it illegal for people to exist and the affluent cannot eliminate the “undesirables.” But today, when everyone is out looking for a dollar, it seems unusually cruel to target those with the least. I suppose the authority expects us to be grateful that the law still allows sleeping on the sidewalk.

 

 

 

 

Not Just The Rich Can Live At The Beach

By Carol Fondiller

Years ago, shortly after the earth cooled, I became interested in housing matters.

It was a matter of self-interest.

During the late ‘60s there was a real estate boom, and property owners in Venice, who derived profits from renting below-code substandard units at fairly low rents, saw the opportunity to make a killing.

The only obstacle standing in their way were the low-rent tenants and inhabitants that occupied their apartments and houses. I was one of the low rent parasites.

During the tumultuous Vietnam Watergate years, the owners of large portions of Ocean Front Walk and other members of the Venice Improvement Association began demonizing low-income people.

It didn’t matter if you were paying low rent and working just enough to support your surfing habit, your poetry habit, or you just didn’t have any ambition except to work just enough to pay the rent and get some duds from the used clothing (pre-collectible) stores that used to be in Ocean Park and Venice, and swim, you were the enemy of all things that made America great.

Every long-haired hippie, peacenik, pensioner, and women’s libber who sat on the now extinct benches on the Last Working Class Beach (as titled in the L.A. Times article) was a barrier to the gazillions of bucks that they could make on their “property.”

In collusion with the development happy ecologically ignorant City Council, who at that time met a piece of black top or office building it didn’t like, the various business and developer groups such as the Venice Improvement Association, the Chamber of Commerce, etc., sicced the cops on people who questioned, who fought back when they were told to make way for more “desirable” inhabitants, i.e., more affluent residents.

Meanwhile, the “undesirables” fought the speculators to a standstill, a huge victory considering that the only resource we had against the well-heeled developers, city officials, and elected representatives were numbers, cunning, tenacity, and a sense of desperation.

In the years that followed, many of the homeowners and owners of smaller pieces of property who sided with the owners of mega-properties were also “evicted” from their homes and businesses because of discriminatory code enforcement and taxes.

 

People became more aware of the value of the incomparable California coastline. The preservation of access to the beach for all Californians and the preservation of the delicate environment became even more important than – gasp! – “property” values.

In a great consciousness raising effort, it became a matter of interest to preserve and build low-income housing to ensure that access to the beach wouldn’t only be for the affluent. Thus the Coastal act was passed.

Although Venice was a refuge for artists of various media of various incomes, in the ‘70s Venice was discovered by the Afflu-Hips. These were the people who wanted a roll in the ol’ nostalgie de boue, but also wanted a hot tub and parking for their three cars plus those of their friends.

In other words, they wanted San Marino in Greenwich Village. To paraphrase Tom Wolfe, when the artists start moving in the millionaires follow.

The strategies that the eco-freaks and community activists used to stall stop or alter huge developments with little or no parking zip low-income housing began to be used against them.

Now when one attends a meeting for a proposed low-income housing project, someone is likely to speak out against it because the parking does not confirm to the coastal development requirements. Some of these people live in buildings whose owner/builders have bootlegged units through all the zoning requirements to the detriment of parking. They are P.O.’d because low-income housing projects are not required to have the same amount of parking as market-rate developments.

But some of the protestors simply do not like the thought of low-income residents living next to them. Perhaps they are afraid of catching the poor disease.

It’s too bad they don’t take the advice of Steve Clare, Executive Director of the Venice Community Housing Corporation, and look at complexes that the VCHC has put up.

VCHC doesn’t squander its money. They use most of it for acquiring property and land to build and preserve housing units. Their buildings do not intrude on the neighborhood.

They grace it. The VCHC takes the space and enhances the environment not only physically with murals and tiles, but also with work plans and art groups. They give back to the neighborhood.

Would that some of the for-profit developers take a cue from the relatively impecunious VCHC and instead of wasting their money on public relations, would put their money into developing buildings of unassuming grace and beauty that used technology to implement solar energy, wind power, etc., instead of building those not-for-artist, grey, concrete bunkers on Electric Avenue.

And the newcomers should be reminded that the low-income folks who they want to eliminate were here first.

 

 

Lincoln Place: A Community Victory – Part Two

Amanda Seward’s story of the victorious struggle of Lincoln Place tenants began in last month’s Beachhead. You can read it from the beginning at http://bit.ly/d6dy8c.

By Amanda Seward

Several eviction lawyers offered advice and legal forms that accelerated our learning curve.  Eviction Defense Network attorneys Elena Popp, Robert Reed and Leah Simon-Weisberg helped, as well as Steve Collier from the famous Tenderloin Housing Clinic in San Francisco who had tremendous experience in Ellis Act evictions, a state law that allows owners to evict tenants if the owner intends to get out of the rental business.  It was the Ellis Act that the owners of Lincoln Place invoked to evict the tenants.

Susan Brandt-Hawley, a California Environment Quality Act (”CEQA”) lawyer, graciously wrote a letter to the State Historic Preservation Officer offering a legal response to AIMCO’s attorneys’ last-ditch argument that the historic designation process violated CEQA.  I remember being very grateful that I did not need to try and become, overnight, a CEQA expert.

The Attorney General’s office took the lead in the case brought by the owner against the State Historic Resources Commission and me, as the author of the nomination.  In the second lawsuit against us challenging the designation, the Commission did not settle and the designation was upheld.  I learned a lot from the lawyering skills of Deputy Attorney General Gary Tavetian.

Media coverage also played a role in this story.  Bob Pool wrote a feature in his inimitable story-telling style regarding the preservation efforts, which was published in the Los Angeles Times.  I think he admired us for trying, but did not think we would pull it off.  Roger Templeton of theVenice Paper attended and reported a key vote of the State Historic Resources Commission in Fresno.  He and Tibby Rothman, then editor of theVenice Paper, covered material aspects of the story over the years, as did The Argonaut, the Santa Monica Mirror, the Santa Monica Daily Press, Daily Journal, the LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times.  Jim Smith and the Free Venice Beachhead could not have been more supportive.  Jim never let the “he says, she says” form of reporting in the name of neutrality confuse him; he called it the way he saw it.  The Free Venice Beachhead could have been titled the Lincoln Place Chronicles.  I also appreciated the thoughtful acknowledgement of Christopher Hawthorne, the Los Angeles Times architecture critic, who wrote in an article that Lincoln Place was an important example of the low rise garden apartment that was part of Los Angeles’ legacy in bringing sophistication to the affordable home.  Peggy Clifford, the former editor of the Santa Monica Mirror was relentless in her support.  Terrence Lyons, also of the Mirror became a familiar face covering all aspects of the story during all the ups and downs.  Martha Groves of the Los Angeles Times once overheard me digging up information at the public counter in the Planning Department and gave me her card asking me to call her and keep her updated on what was going on.  Linda Immediato of the LA Weekly  went so far as to interview each City Council person to get their office’s response to the controversy and reported each response prominently.

Local broadcast media covered the preservation efforts as well as the evictions.  The Spanish-language stations broadcast the visuals of the evictions repeatedly.  We often had trouble with the media merely repeating what the owner said without giving us a chance to respond.  The Spanish-language stations consistently reported our side of the story.

The images of us demonstrating at the home of then City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo to protest the lack of support from the City Attorney’s office under Delgadillo’s leadership also drew attention to our cause.  KCRW featured a debate about our story and KCET featured it in a web documentary.  NPR also took interest and featured the controversy in a report about housing in the United States.  Getting the story out was important to help hold all decision makers accountable and to let people know this was an important issue.  The media committee, headed by Judy Branfman and Clare Sassoon, worked tirelessly to get coverage.

Linda Dishman and the Los Angeles Conservancy were instrumental in the preservation effort.  The Conservancy sponsored a free walking tour of the complex that was designed to educate decision makers and leaders in the community on the rich history and architectural importance of Lincoln Place.  Linda also provided testimony in favor of the nomination and helped me prepare for an important presentation.  She advised me to focus on my own story about Lincoln Place rather than to allow opposition arguments to define the presentation.  It was one of the best presentations I gave on the nomination.

The Conservancy also participated, along with the California Preservation Foundation and the National Association of Minority Architects, and 20^th Century Architecture Alliance, in litigation challenging the demolition of some of the buildings on the property.

The case established that the demolition was illegal and stopped future demolitions until certain conditions were met.  This gave us time to firm up the historic nomination in the interim.

I also would like to thank David Busch for his leadership on Tent City.  David is a homeless community activist who led efforts to staff our “symbolic” encampment, where we held around-the-clock vigils to  demonstrate the plight of the homeless and the lack of affordable housing.  David made it safe for us to be there through the night.  Up until about 11:00 p.m., sitting at Tent City was like sitting around a campfire with friends.  But after that, it sometimes got scary.  Too many people roam the streets at night, some just down on their luck and others who appear rather menacing.  David knew the difference; he engaged the former and encouraged the latter to move on, while treating everyone with respect.

One of the people we met there one night had gone to college with Councilman Eric Garcetti and true to his word he appeared at a City Council meeting and spoke on our behalf.  Councilman Garcetti recognized this fellow and it made for a more personal engagement about the lack of affordable housing and the importance of saving Lincoln Place.

Speaking of City Council members, Bill Rosendahl was wonderful.  Councilman Rosendahl and I had our differences over preservation; he saw the fight as people over buildings.  I argued that for no other reason, he should see preservation of the buildings as an effective strategy to support the people by ensuring that quality affordable and workforce housing could not be so easily demolished.    He rose above our conflict and was there for everything we needed.  Without his support and the hard work of his staff, we would not have reached settlement.  He made Lincoln Place his number-one issue.  His staff, especially Mike Bonin, Mark Antonio Grant, Norman Kulla, and Arturo Piña, assisted us in every conceivable way.

Many other Venetians acted as consultants or participated in one or more of the three settlement attempts over the years.  Steve Clare advised us on affordable housing issues.  Linda Lucks helped us with the Mayor’s office and community outreach.  Jataun Valentine assisted with community outreach and spoke at various City Council and community meetings in support of Lincoln Place tenants.  Frank Murphy, William Garner, and Joseph Murphy of Venice Collaborative tutored me on real estate development issues.  Other activists and community leaders helped, including Aris Anagnos, Elinor Aurthur (deceased), Jim Bicker, Marianne Brown, Larry Gross, Dennis Hathaway, DeDe McCrary (deceased), Stan Muhammad, Mindy Taylor- Ross, Sabrina Venskus, and Laddie Williams.  Rick Tuttle, a former controller for the City of Los Angeles, gave us invaluable advice on organizing political support, testified before the City Council, and lobbied for us behind the scenes.  Many hosted or attended house parties and contributed to the LPTA.  All of these and other local leaders argued our case to anyone who might be inclined to oppose our efforts, and through their work, we were able to present a united front.

Negotiations for peace commenced and failed twice.  Only the third time did we reach agreement and close the book on a twenty year controversy.  The settlement negotiations were another adventure in themselves.  But briefly, settlement required the support of the owner of the property, the preservationists, the tenants, the community and various city departments and took years of negotiation assisted by judges, mediators and arbitrators.  The Mayor’s office, the Housing Department, the Department of Water and Power, the City Council, and the City Attorney’s office all played a part in moving the settlement forward.

Along with the preservation efforts and eviction cases that were my focus, there were many lawsuits and grassroots campaigns over the years, causing more than one judge to call it the Lincoln Place saga.  This letter does not attempt to recall the entire saga and does not attempt to recognize all those who contributed to the struggle to save Lincoln Place.  There were companion battles and battles that preceded my involvement, including, for example, the political opposition led by Ruth Galanter, then City Council member, and the legal efforts from lawyers engaged over the years by the tenants including Jan Chatten-Brown, Amy Minteer, Susan Brandt-Hawley, Elena Popp, John Murdock and his team, and Noel Weiss.  And I am sure others have been overlooked.  Also, it is not intended that AIMCO and its representatives are painted as villains.  The company’s executives and its representatives came around to make this a win-win victory.  This is merely my thank you and acknowledgments for the work of our team.

 

This is Festival Month in Venice

Don’t even think about missing the fun. Two of the best, and longest running outdoor events take place in September: Jazz at Palms Court/Venice Music Festival (see page 7) and the Abbot Kinney Festival (see back page).

Sunday, Sept. 19, is the 18th annual benefit fundraiser for the Venice Community Housing Corporation. Two events take place: Jazz at Palms Court Campaign Brunch is from 11am – 2pm and costs $125. (it’s a fundraiser). For the rest of us, there’s the Venice Music Festival from 2 – 6pm. It’s only $10. This year, Luminaries, The 44’s and Allensworth will perform. This is mostly an event for Venice locals.

Everyone comes to the Abbot Kinney Festival, a week later on Sunday, Sept. 26 from 10am – 6 pm. Don’t let the crowds deter you. Lots of Venice community organizations (including the Beachhead) will be there, as well as genuine handmade arts and crafts. There’s music and stuff for the kids.