The Truth About Terrorism

By Mark Lipman

This may be uncomfortable to hear, however, if we truly want to solve the problem of terrorism, we have no choice than to reflect honestly about the facts and root causes that have brought it about.  To end terrorism, there must be a process of recognizing the actions that are responsible for it, so that we can arrive at a place of reconciliation, where those motivating forces of anger, fear and hatred no longer control and decide the direction we take as an entire species.

Today, in the aftermath of the bombing of the Boston Marathon, with the renewed debate of terrorism taking hold of our political theatre, it is now more urgent to confront this issue than ever, for in its wake, we as a people have one of two directions with which we can go.  Either one of more danger, insecurity and intolerance, where we rush into cutting even more civil liberties and enhancing the security state – the same course that has led us over the past 12 years to a world that is less safe and less stable; or we can take this as an opportunity to look at where we as a people have fallen off course, and repair the system that has led us to where we are today.

Right now, at this very moment in time, calls are rising up to treat an American citizen – accused of a horrific crime – on U.S. soil, as an enemy combatant – to strip away his civil liberties and prosecute him in a military tribunal, outside of the transparency of our established judicial process.

There are those who say that this person – because of the acts committed, because of the seemingly over-whelming evidence of guilt – does not deserve due process of law – that he falls into a special category.

Oh, but what a slippery slope this course puts us on.

It is urgent, now more than ever, to detach ourselves from the raw emotions of the moment and think deeply about the consequences to which we are leading ourselves.  It is not about a single individual, but rather about who we are as a people.  By setting the precedent of stripping the civil rights away from one person – regardless of how terrible the actions and accusations may be – we open the door for policy that allows the government to justify the taking of civil rights away from all of us.

At this moment, in Massachusetts, legislators are calling to re-instate the death penalty for “certain types of crimes,” which includes the murder of police officers and government officials.  While on the surface this argument can be manipulated to sound like common sense, should it not be pointed out that any such law enacted would be in clear violation of our Constitution, and the 14^th Amendment, in which it clearly states, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of the laws.”?

Should we not remind ourselves that the Constitution, and the Amendments made to it, was written to protect the people and citizenry from the abuses of power by the government, and not the other way around?  By calling for laws that create a tiered system of citizenry, where those employed by the government are above those of common status, it undermines the entire framework of who we are as a people and nation, and is patently un-American.

Instead of using an act of terror as the justification to change who we are, should we not examine what led to that act in the first place, to prevent such a thing from happening again?

There is no condoning the acts of violence.  The murder and maiming of innocent people is deplorable and has no justification.  Yet, as intelligent, moral beings with the capacity of thought, are we not capable of understanding the motives and root causes of those actions, to change what creates these types of acts.

An important question that must be asked is that if the murder of innocent civilians – women and children – by bombs and other devices is a horrible, unacceptable crime here on our streets, is it not also a horrible, unacceptable crime when that bomb explodes on the streets of another country in the form of a military drone strike, killing innocent women and children?

Is not the horror, loss and pain the same for those human beings, as it is for us here at home?  Are we not capable of understanding and feeling their pain as well?

In recent days, we have seen attacks here at home of terrible proportions.  Violent crime is worse than it has ever been, and increasingly it has been perpetrated by those who are barely out of their teens.  What is it that is leading the youth of our nation to commit such actions?  What the politicians say is that it is related to mental health issues.  To this I must agree.

Let us consider that those who are lashing out the most violently were mere children and babies 12 years ago, on 9-11.  Due to the direction in which we were led, and were silently complicit to, the only world they have known is one of war and violence, one of fear and intolerance.  Would it not only make sense that we have an entire generation of youth suffering from post-traumatic stress?

The real danger that we face today is that if we, as a nation, do not seriously address this situation, by accepting the fact that we have been on the wrong course, for over a generation and more – that war has only made this world a more dangerous place – that our only option, for our children and their futures, is to end this permanent state of war in which we have been living.

For too long, we have been pointing at an individual, at a group, and saying to ourselves that “they” did this to us – that “they” hate our freedom.  No one hates freedom.  The very idea is ridiculous.  People, all people, cherish freedom.  What we as human beings hate is slavery and oppression.

The only ones – the only ones – who would ever hate freedom, are the masters at the very top, who enslave the rest of us.  It is they, who are the real terrorists, who are dividing us on lines of race, religion and status, of gender and belief – arming all sides – using every opportunity to tighten our belts, while they keep getting fatter.  It is they, who have gutted our economy and infrastructure with war and greed.  It is they, the major corporations, the arms traders and manufacturers, the banking CEOs and oil executives, who buy off the politicians and policy makers that write the laws, sending our military into foreign countries to plunder the resources of this planet, without any respect for the life, liberty, or property of others, who care nothing for the rights and freedom of those they conquer.  It is they, who profit off of the suffering of all the people on this planet, and warp the conversation and our public policy towards the very hatred, fear and intolerance that fuels the terrorism that they claim to be fighting against.

This is the truth and the source of how we got to where we are today, and if our true goal is to end terrorism – to provide a planet of peace and stability for our children and future generations, then we need to put our war drums aside and work actively towards addressing those root causes.

The first step towards that is to admit to ourselves that yes, we are imperfect beings – we do make, and continue to make, mistakes and from there to work with purpose to make amends and reconciliation, by showing responsibility for the direction we are on – responsibility for our own actions.  In the end, it is not a question about them, but instead a question about us, about who we are, and what we are becoming.

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/

A Consequence of Being Human: Homelessness and Human Rights

By Daniel James Keegan O’Connell

We all lay down once in a while. Be it sunbathing, napping, reading a book, or just stretching out, we all do it. Personally I like the beach; I can do all of the above on the beach. The thing is, the act of lying down can be controversial, because it has been occasionally illegal. Not here though, at least not in LA anyway. The 2006 Jones v. City of Los Angeles case found the need to lay down, specifically to sleep, to be a consequence of being human. Furthermore it found that “needing to sleep” when there is nowhere available to sleep, should not be an act for which a homeless person might be punished, ticketed, or woken up and told to move on, when there is no available option. So protected by the 8^th amendment, under cruel and unusual punishment.  Additionally, in the 2012 Lavan v. City of Los Angeles case, the court ruled that if one happens to leave their belongings upon the street, that said property cannot be legally removed and/or destroyed, as protected by the 4^th amendment. They may be removed, if found to be causing an obstruction or a hazard, but they must be held somewhere and the owner identified (most likely by a posting), so that they might be recovered again. Much like that unfortunate towing-of-my-car incident of 2010.

Interestingly, these rulings combined, not only apply to a happy Englishman like myself who might fall asleep on the beach, or allow his parking meter to wane. These things also apply to the 51,000 homeless men, women and children (yes, children) who are currently thought to be displaced or homeless within Los Angles.  Let’s consider that number for a moment, approximately fifty one thousand people who do not have the credible option of going to sleep anywhere tonight that doesn’t consist of a charity bed, a mobile home, or a combination of cardboard, blankets and the sidewalk. The traditional ‘park bench’ is not an option though; as parks have the right to close and kick us all out, understandable. This issue comes down to streets.

We are all aware of homelessness, sometimes we see it, and sometimes we do not. Often times we see it and are not quite sure what might be done about it. Occasionally we see it and a strong emotion is invoked within us. That emotion is really the point of this. What do we feel and what are we to do with that feeling about the issue of homelessness? Someone must help them though; someone must be able to do something? Of course, organizations and systems exist: Shelters, and services, and intake, and support. We all know this. But what can we do? I feel the question is equally what should we do as it is what shouldn’t we do. I discussed this with the office of Councilman Bill Rosendahl, relatable to West LA, specifically Venice. We spoke about the points raised above, we mused over what it is like to be a resident and a social advocate, and we came to this one conclusion: It is a matter of heart and mind, a battlefield if you will, whereby we struggle with how homelessness affects us emotionally and intellectually.

The 9^th Court of Appeals has helped us with that, we can now say with intellectual certainty that the homeless community are disadvantaged and their rights must be protected. A matter of fact. We must also consider it a matter of rights, human/civil or otherwise. And if we are to trespass those rights of another human being, because we don’t like to see what we see when we look at people sleeping on the streets, we might also ask ourselves: how is it that I am so privileged to the protection of the amendments and that person is not? When we call someone to tell them about what we see, we must be thoughtful of who we call, unless there is a crime, we can frustrate the police, who now face limited powers. Perhaps we might call a charity, like PATH, and ask them advice on how to help a person, not necessarily money, just how better to assist or where to kindly report a person who must sleep on the street, as a consequence of being human, and having no home. They must be somewhere, just as we must be somewhere, and we should not try to punish people for that.

Venice Homeless Person Not Guilty – For Erecting a Toilet

By David Busch

I love you.

After a year now of controversial Venice arrests, 12 jurors have found that a homeless person’s “porta-potty” erected here in Venice on Third Ave. near Rose – and which was torn down and destroyed by the LAPD last April – had been a lawful benefit to this community.

I’m David Busch.

And the porta-potty was mine.

The potty, covered with hippy peace signs – and bearing a smiley-faced placard, stating, “Hi, I’m your porta-potty” – had been erected by me as a way to serve all of Venice.

And, like all basic human needs must be – it was free. For I have been given so much to my spirit, I now know this.

I first came here to Venice in 1980 and rented for a couple of years on the boardwalk. I was a diesel mechanic back then – for the city; and today I’m a proud Venice Hippy.

But early this year, after pushing literally hundreds of us “homeless people” and youth travelers several blocks off the people’s Boardwalk from midnight until 5 am each night with the City of L.A.’s  illegal beach closure and with no toilets available until nearly 8 am, I was actually arrested by LAPD – and charged with “creating and maintaining a public nuisance” (P.C. 372), for erecting a much-needed homemade porta-potty behind Digital Domain.

Where up to 120 people – and still without toilets right here in Venice – have been attempting for all this time, to this day, to find themselves a safe spot for nightly shelter in Venice. As the poor, youth travelers, street kids – and we hippies in Venice – long had on the Beach and Boardwalk, before its illegal closure. And with  plenty of room for both us and the thousands of tourists we welcome here, in our own Venice way.

So starting with a tent, I had began collecting donations of soap, cleaning supplies and toiletries; and I soon found myself daily emptying and carefully re-cleaning a bucket, and a toilet seat lid for the porta-potty. Later, a beautiful lady here named Mariska donated a bigger tent. One homeless man, living in his car, donated rolls of toilet paper he bought himself – each week. I kept things washed, and had some water with chlorine for occasional spills.

This setup was in line with procedures outlined in Red Cross emergency manuals.

For months, maintaining this potty further required the hauling of some tightly-sealed 5 gallons buckets for nearly four city blocks, down to the Rose area Beach toilets once they were opened.

But I want you to know, I now know that any of us can do it – and juries will stand with us on this.  And even the hazmat officials who arrested me agreed that our porta-potty beat out the City’s Beach toilets for over-all cleanliness.

At the end of the four day trial, the verdict was handed down in Los Angeles’ LAX/Airport Superior Court on Wednesday, December 19. And in declaring me innocent, this jury had to find that the utility of my  conduct to the  community outweighed any other offense.

Additionally, I was also charged in this trial by LAPD with violating the Los Angeles municipal code LAMC 56.11: leaving or permitting to remain “any article of personal property upon any parkway or sidewalk.” For having, on Third Ave., my homeless shopping-cart wheeled box, which holds my, and other people’s on the streets, possessions.

At trial the jury deliberated for many hours over two days, and after three requests to the Judge for the

– Continued from page 1

court to clarify the law and testimony, including one  seeking a further explanation of the ordinance, which was denied, the jury, in response, returned its verdict to me on this second charge: “Guilty.” For violating LAMC 56.11.

This is despite the fact that in Los Angeles LAMC 56.11 has been significantly constrained for several years by a Federal injunction, due to a prior homeless lawsuit against this homeless-abusing city: “Lavan v Los Angeles.”  This injunction had specifically been brought to prevent the seizure and destruction of homeless people’s property that is merely left on the sidewalk, and not abandoned, just as I had  maintained in this instance.

But for several years, this injunction has also brought the ire of some vocal, and winey,  LAPD officers here in Los Angeles, who claim that they cannot tell what an imminent threat to public health and safety is. And a bizarre crusade to overturn this law by our current Los Angeles City Attorney, Carmen Trutanich.  And now in Venice, LAPD is using this ordinance to harass the youth hitchhikers here – and lump them all in with us homeless, in violation of their rights to continued coastal access.

And so, strangely, and despite this injunction’s being upheld in a recent 9th Circuit appeal – at my  trial, the judge would not allow jurors to hear about this injunction. And not even a simple proposed, jury instruction that merely would have stated that the charge must be balanced – by all people’s 4th Amendment right to property.

My attorney here in Venice, John Raphling, who has represented me on this, further argued that this  Los Angeles city law is so vague that merely locking one’s bicycle to a pole, or parking one’s car in Venice, on the face of it, violates this crazy ordinance.

Yet housed people aren’t driven from Venice over it.

To me it is so sad to see that our Venice, a community of 42,000, has absolutely no shelter beds now whatsoever; and this, additionally, while our Councilman Bill Rosendahl was recently bombarded by another homeless-hate campaign for his support that we homeless people merely have access to some kind of day-storage facility here.

I ask you, “What good is an equal  ‘Right to Property’ anyway – if we haven’t even a legal place to keep it? Do they make housed people here now carry their houses around on their backs, everywhere they go?”

What will you do when you loose your own house?

So, for standing up for this storage, the City Attorney’s Office demanded at my sentencing – for parking a box on the sidewalk in Venice – that I be entirely banished from Venice for three years.

The honorable Nancy Newman was this trial’s presiding Judge.

Newman, instead, sentenced me to no probation, one day in jail – and time-served for this arrest.

To me, the bottom line of this absurdly wasteful trial was that after three days, and hours and hours of truly bizarre testimony officially presented by LAPD officers, the jury, in cleaning up all this mess – just spoke for all the loving Venetians here.

The LAPD testified that they never saw urination or defecation in any of Venice’s streets, gutters, or alleys – contradicted by testimony and photos, from their own hazardous waste officials, that more than 60 pounds of feces, and urine-deposited matter was collected by them from the streets, sidewalks and alleys around Third Ave.. And these Venice officers insisted that feces contained in a bucket and later dumped down the toilet was supposedly a greater threat to the public than the pounds of feces and urination that they, in fact, had found themselves smeared across Venice’s sidewalks, parking lots, alleys, and streets – and all of which, supposedly, was meant to pick apart my own effort to keep Venice safe.

Venice’s LAPD officers have now been given some new, common-sense orders by their own, highest authority – we the people. Twelve jurors have now instructed LAPD in Venice to open up their eyes, and recognize that even a homemade porta-potty by a homeless person here is far better than urination and defecation anywhere in Venice’s beautiful streets. I hope those that cry for “law and order in Venice” aren’t just hypocrites and will recognize that this is now the law.

Homeless porta-potties, simply and properly maintained, are not a public nuisance – and without something better to meet human need and sanitation – they are a benefit to all in the community.

Finally, I just especially want to thank my Defense Attorney John Raphling, who provided his own services to all of us here in Venice in this matter pro-bono, and is a member of the National Lawyers’ Guild.

Because with this victory, you can bet we all who’ve loved Venice have even more plans. And adequate toilets for Venice are just a start.

To sign a petition demanding more available public toilets, go to change.org and search “Access to toilets is a human right.”

I love you.

——————————————————

David Busch has recently taken a vow to begin and end all his conversations with I love you.

The Venice Drum Circle (Free Expression)

By Ronald McKinley

The police routinely stop the Venice Drum Circle. The time is never the same, sometimes sunset, sometimes not. Sunday, November 25, at 5:10 P.M. the circle was stopped. The sunset was beautiful.

The First Amendment to the American Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, gives us the Freedoms. The freedom to worship in your own church if you so choose, not one created by government. The freedoms of speech, press, assembly and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, is what makes the First Amendment the most important.

The First Amendment protects the people’s freedom to associate with others in groups that express messages of love, peace, brotherhood and sisterhood. The traditional public forums are hard to find, regulated to death.

The VDC is not a Rave, it is not a party. It is about an alternative way of expression. It is not about getting drunk or high. That is not why I go. I go to bond with my fellow earthlings.

I go despite the fact that some are altered. When I play, I transcend. Time and space are no more. The very molecules around me are energized.

At a meeting I went to recently, a man remarked that the police don’t protect and serve us, but protect and serve the law. All laws flow from the Constitution. When the police are sworn in, they take an oath to uphold the Constitution.

One police officer said, “My sergeant will be upset if he sees you on the sand.” My First Amendment rights denied because some sergeant would be upset. I just want to play my drum. I am not asking for special treatment, just my rights as an American. “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

If you do not exercise your rights, you lose them. I am amazed that people don’t know their rights. I am amazed how people don’t question what the police tell them. Don’t take what the police say as gospel; they are just humans with guns.

This has been a long time coming, shutting down the VDC incrementally. First the VDC is criminalized, then it can be stopped.

The VDC is free, it don’t cost a cent. There are not many things you can do that don’t require money. Free Expression means free. You don’t have to have a pedigree to join in. Love of music is all you need.  Enjoy it while you can. Some person with a lot of money and the ear of some government official will be its death.

A man visiting from Germany asked me why the police stopped the Drum Circle. I told him, “Because they have guns.” Welcome to America.

Commissioner Burke Speaks to Beach Curfew

By John Davis

The most fundamental resource the California Coastal Act protects is access

to the beach, day or night, by anyone, of any color, or of any income bracket. The beach is our public trust. Over twenty years ago the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance locking the public out at night. In 2010 former Executive Director Peter Douglas declared that the City beach curfew violated the Coastal Act, and our State Constitution. He further stated the local curfew ordinance was not legally enforceable.

At the November 15th Coastal Commission meeting Commissioner William Burke indicated the Commission might be preparing for legal action against the City. He told the CCC Chief Legal Council and the Deputy Attorney General that they “better get out the letter machine and the lawyer machine and start it rolling… because the people are being penalized.”, to the sound of applause. He also said the City was “fit to be tied” referring to the Commission’s refusal to privatize parking at the beach.

Burke is a Los Angeles resident and perhaps he did not like the idea that he too could end up behind bars if he decided to visit the beach in the evening hours. The Commissioner is known for not taking things sitting down. He wants the City to know it is the State that is in charge, not the municipal corporation residing within it.

Jack Ainsworth, Deputy Director, said that he had held several meetings with the City, and one was held between 12 and 2am at the beach. He further indicated that one issue was driving the City, the homeless issue. He said it is really complex and difficult to deal with.

The Deputy made that statement while trying to explain why the City violation had not been placed on the agenda on behalf of Charles Lester, the new Executive Director. Lester’s failure to bring the violation before the Commission for judgment has led to the arrest of ordinary people who wish to use the beach, and it has festered for over twenty years. The homeless appear to be the City’s primary target. Fortunately, the Coastal Act does not discriminate against citizens as homed or homeless. It guarantees access for everyone, discriminating against none.

Thirty-Five year Venice resident David Ewing delivered this elegant message:

“This Commission communicated to the City the curfew is illegal. I just want to ask you Commissioners, how is this protecting the Citizens of California? How is this defending the Coastal Act if the delay in enforcement allows the city to accomplish its ends despite the coastal act?”

Other public comments pointed to violations of the U.S. Constitution for prohibiting the rights of assembly, free speech, and the right to exercise religion. All are prevented by the City curfew at night. Complaints against selective enforcement, (discrimination), and unwarranted arrests abounded. One speaker pointed out that staff was suppressing evidence of over 1000 “open cases” from the Commission. That term is used by staff to disguise violations. Another concern was that the Executive Director was engaging in misconduct by refusing to place the known violation on the agenda.

Lester stated it would be impossible to enforce the Coastal Act by bringing all cases to the Commission for action, which includes the curfew violation. Contradicting his boss, Deputy Director Ainsworth described an exchange of letters “back and forth which were quite acrimonious and nasty.” He finally declared to the satisfaction of the Commissioners and people that if progress towards a Coastal Development is not made that,  “we will move forward with enforcement action.”

Currently, the City may arrest, fine, and jail anyone who goes to their beach after 10pm.

Burke characterized the City’s resistance to the Coastal Act as being caused by a war between Councilman Rosendahl and the Coastal Commission because the Commission denied the parking regulation that was enforced by the City.

He indicated that Ainsworth should be talking to the decision maker, the full City Council, rather than only speaking to Councilman Rosendahl, the City Attorney, and the Parks Department. Only the full Council could make the decision to apply for the necessary Coastal Development Permit, Ainsworth responded.

Commission Staff have kept this violation away from the public and Coastal Commission since 2008. Finally, after relentless pressure by Venice residents, the Agency may soon stop the City from enforcing the archaic curfew. By passing the ordinance, the City Council believed it could override the California Coastal Act, the State, and Federal Constitutions in order to appease a handful of people who have beachfront homes. The ordinance clearly favors those few individuals at the expense of everyone else. On behalf of those homeowners, Rosendahl and the City are clearly putting the cross-hairs on impoverished persons who are exercising their right to beach access 24/7.

Skateboarding While Black

By Ronald McKinley

While skateboarding home on a nice, warm summer afternoon, Ronald Weekley, Jr. was beaten and then arrested by LAPD. Not beaten and arrested; there is a difference. The charge was for skateboarding on the wrong side of the street, and resisting arrest. Weekley has a broken nose, fractured cheek, and a concussion.

Several cell phone cameras captured the incident on Saturday, August 18. All the videos were by women who lived in the area. They can be heard speaking to the police.

One woman can be heard saying, “hit him again for the camera” in an effort to stop the police from doing just that. Weekley was prone face down and handcuffed on the lawn in front of his home, with four well-fed cops on his back. One of the officers grabbed Weekley’s hair with his left hand and punched him in the face with his right. One woman said, “That was a bitch-ass move.” Meanwhile other officers, not involved in the beat-down, tried to stop the videoing. Later she said: “ I know this isn’t Orange County, we just want to make sure you don’t kill him.”

The call for documentation could be heard: “video, video, video, video.” There were several cell phones recording. The women were brave, they kept a dialogue going with the police the entire time Weekley was prone on the ground. They were not kind to the police. I would have not been so inclined myself.

The Violent Crime Task Force is whom we have to thank for this mess. I thought they were supposed to stop violent crime. So skateboarding on the wrong side of the street is a violent crime? I guess if you knock over someone’s latte…

At the Venice Neighborhood Council’s August 21 meeting, held at the Westminster Elementary School auditorium, Capt. Brian Johnson, the commander of the pacific division, and Alex Bustamante, the inspector general of the police commission, held a question and answer session in the public safety-LAPD report portion of the meeting. This report includes a monthly Venice crime report and updates on law enforcement issues in Venice.

Johnson spoke on policing constitutionally, a favorite theme of his. He did not know the status of the officers involved in the incident, they could still be on the street. Bustamante spoke about the job of the office of the inspector general, the Professional Standards Bureau quality control for the police department. He also answered questions.

A number of people at this meeting spoke on being humiliated by the LAPD. One woman spoke about five officers stopping her from returning to her home after shopping. One man spoke about his 4^th of July celebration stopped by the police; he said they set up a command post in front of his house. This happened to me some years ago, after the police formed a skirmish line and cleared the whole beach, after a confrontation in the pavilion between the police and graffiti artists.

The August 28 community meeting concerning Weekley, who called himself “present-day Rodney King,” was an intense gathering attended by Johnson, Bustamante, and Mike Bonin from Rosendahl’s office. The policemen who were involved in Weekley’s arrest did not attend any of the meetings or rallies that took place.

Johnson pretended not to know there was racial profiling taking place under his watch. He spoke of Oakwood and was corrected by a woman in attendance, according to whom, “Oakwood is a park, but all of it is Venice. Separating Oakwood from Venice is a ploy to separate blacks from Venice.”

Venice is changing, and not for the better. Money has found Venice. The police answer to the moneyed. Walk down Rose Av. from the boardwalk to Lincoln Blvd. Slowly the people who make Venice, Venice are beaten down.

The place that perfected skateboarding is now making it a crime. I don’t skateboard. I did when I was a teenager; that is when we nailed skates to a board. This is what happens when you don’t vote. Someone who doesn’t know you decides your fate.

Weekley, Jr. was held for six hours before being treated for his injuries. He was told he had to sign a certain document before treatment. I could not find out what this document was.

Weekley, Sr. spoke of a legacy, where young people of all colors could enjoy Venice; where kids could walk, skate and play in their own community without fear.

Now we wait to see if the charges against Weekley, Jr. are dropped. We wait on the use of force report. This investigation could and probably will continue until sometime next year. Peace from the police and enough is enough.

Skateboarding is Not a Crime

By CJ Gronner

There was a rally August 22 for Ronald Weekley, Jr., the kid that was beaten by police August 18th for skateboarding on the wrong side of the street. In Venice, California. That alone should tell you how wrong it is.

How horrifying is it that this can still happen in this day and age! And how inspiring and chill inducing it was to be there this afternoon with a Venice community that CARES, and is demanding action.

Weekley, Jr.’s skater friends were there, his classmates, his neighbors, the news, and people that had never heard of him before this despicable incident, came out in support on a gorgeous Venice afternoon, as cars of strangers drove by and honked their support.

The police line is that the young skater was violating traffic code by skating down the wrong side of the street (who hasn’t?), and then resisting arrest for this blatantly heinous crime (who wouldn’t?!). Then it was somehow decided to have four cops beat him up. In broad daylight. In front of his home that he was skating back to. He has a concussion, a broken cheek, jaw and nose, and frankly, he looked a little like a Picasso painting as he stood in front of the crowd at the rally. For SWB. (“Skateboarding While Black”, as one of the speakers said, and which appears to be so sad, but awfully true. Sorry, but you consider the neighborhood, the kid doing nothing anyone else doesn’t do every day in Venice, and it really does look like his afro was his main problem. Which sickens me just to type). His father said that his son had thought he was going to die. In front of his own home. For SKATING!

Weekley Jr’s very well-spoken and unbelievably calm, considerate father, Ronald Weekley, Sr., addressed the gathered crowd and brought tears to my eyes with his considerate and heart-felt words. He clearly loves his community, and wants kids of ALL colors to skate safely in Venice. He said people have asked what the family wants, and it is simply to have their son’s charges dropped (he had to spend a night in County Jail without visiting a hospital first!), and the police officers that committed the crimes against Weekley, Jr. identified and charged publicly. In other words, JUSTICE. Which IS what we want, and we do want it NOW, as the chant went.

Mr. Weekley, Sr. went on to say that they hold no vengeance, no hate, and they are practicing forgiveness, but “forgiveness in context”. That’s right. He asked for skaters around California (and the World) to join together to combat police oppression, and “Redefine what it means to protect and serve!” That got a round of applause, as did most everything everyone said. When we weren’t crying.

Like I was when Weekley, Jr. took the microphone stand and cried himself as he very softly said, “Don’t be angry at what happened … Just help people that need it.” What a special young man, that he already lives in a place of forgiveness, and is himself moving on to looking how to help others.

Obviously we have a big problem with police using excessive force in this country. It happens far too often to deny it. Now the press has it out that Weekley Jr. had warrants out for traffic misdemeanors  (that almost everyone in Los Angeles has also had), but who cares? Police can’t tell you have warrants by looking at you, and warrants don’t equal beatings, even in our antiquated law books. The Weekleys have retained Benjamin Crump to help them, the same attorney who is handling the Trayvon Martin case. The Nation Of Islam were there today, standing in solidarity in their bow ties, and their spokesman Tony Muhammad reiterated that “This is not about color, this is about justice.”

Reverend Al Sharpton called the family, and let them know that the whole nation is watching Venice now because of this. Venice 2000 and the Venice Neighborhood Council were both represented, and all claimed to be in it “for the long haul.” Police need to be re-trained in cultural sensitivity, and as their Pastor, Horace Alan, of Westminster Baptist said, “We are ALL human beings … and human beings need to be treated better than laws.” Amen.

Weekley, Sr. took the microphone again in closing, and expressed his family’s gratitude for everyone there, for this “Community of HUMAN BEINGS”, and again said all they want is for kids to be FREE to live and play safely in Venice. Everyone wants that. For it to be the police themselves making that NOT the case is abhorrent, and Venice won’t stand for it, I can tell you that. Over-zealous, over-steroided, over-whatever their problem is cops will not be tolerated here. Where skateboarding is definitely NOT a crime.

The press conference wrapped and one of the young skaters started up the Justice chant as Weekley Jr. was surrounded by press wanting more from him.

The chant evolved into “Peace From The Police!” as the group made their way down 6th Street, holding signs that read “Justice 4 Ron!” and the best one, “PEACE for Ron!” To quote everyone there, …. “YEAH!”

Police and Selective Enforcement

In yet another incident exemplifying waste of time and resources on the part of the LAPD, Ibrahim Butler was arrested Friday, August 24.

A resident made a citizen’s arrest on him for playing drums in what the resident deemed to be noise violation. It took twelve officers and a whole lot of hoopla to take him to jail and to seize about 15 drums that belong to four different people.

Ibrahim was released on $100 bail that same day and the police released all drums as well. While waiting for him in the lobby of the Pacific Division, Shelly Rachel Gomez over-heard a child tell an officer that he wants to go and see inside the jail. The officer replied: “No, you don’t. It’s nothing but homeless, stinky people in there.”

On the other side of the wall, Ibrahim was a first-hand witness to the discrimination leading to most arrests. He called it “profiling based on race and socio-economics.”

The current Ocean Front Walk ordinance, which established the allowed noise levels, is one of the best examples of legislature created and used for the sole purpose of profiling and selectively targeting individuals.

Created with the stated intent of eliminating mass-produced items from the West side of the boardwalk, ordinance 42.15 was inaugurated with signs that listed LAMC 63.44.B.14(b) first. Although numerous community meetings were held and attended by hand-fulls of city higher-ups regarding the 42.15 vending and noise level ordinance, LAMC 63.44.B.14(b) was not once mentioned. The public did not know that it existed, let alone that the LAPD were getting ready to start enforcing it, and most definitely not that the signs concerning 42.15 were going to start out by listing 63.44.B.14(b).

By the way, 63.44.B.14(b) concerns the illegal curfew selectively now being enforced on OFW between midnight and 5:00 am. A person sleeping on OFW during that time is likely to be harassed by the police either with a ticket or an arrest, while someone walking his or her dog is likely to be ignored by those same cops.

According to the Coastal Act of 1976, “the public should have 24 hour access to the beaches.” Under that same act, the city needs a permit for “any sort of curfews or restrictive ordinances that have such a negative impact on coastal access” said Charles Posner, Coastal Program Analyst with the California Coastal Commission in a phone conversation with the Beachhead in January.

While the illegal curfew is being selectively enforced, vending of mass-produced items is in full swing just like before the dozens of hours spent arguing about the ordinance. The police do not enforce the backbone of the legislature, whose one and only goal was to free up the space for self-expression and free speech.

More times than not local artists and performers are harassed on slow, overcast afternoons during the week for being out of a spot or other petty BS while on a crowded, sunny Sunday all spots are taken by vendors selling made-in-China crap they bought downtown the day before.

For example, Sheila Richburg was found guilty of selling to an undercover officer a $3 bracelet with beads that she hand-made out of paper. She was ordered to pay a fine and to complete 19 hours of community service. “It’s like they’re trying to get rid of the people the ordinance was supposed to protect,” she said.

Ibrahim was arrested just because some lady told the cops to get him, and the cops complied. Meanwhile several others were performing on the boardwalk, some with amplified sound, which Ibrahim didn’t even have. Next time you see an officer shitting all over Venice on a horse, why not place a citizen’s arrest on him or her?

VNC Meeting: A Study in Patience and Stamina

By Roger Linnett

Reduced to what amounted to whining, Venice Stakeholders Association President Marc Ryavec continued his rancorous crusade against the unhoused element of Venice at the regular monthly VNC meeting with a motion titled Right of Way Enforcement, based on several L.A. Municipal Codes, the aim of which was to force the unfortunate of our community out of sight, and so out of mind.

Despite the fact that two of the codes cited, LAMC 41.18(d) which states that “No person shall lie, sit or sleep in or upon any street or sidewalk or other public way,” which, because of the Jones v. City of Los Angeles settlement, currently bars the LAPD from enforcing said code between 9 pm and 6 am, and  LAMC 56.11 which states “No person shall leave or permit to remain any merchandise, baggage or any article of personal property upon any parkway or sidewalk,” which, because of the Lavan v. City of Los Angeles settlement, mandates that any personal property seized during an arrest must be secured for 90 days by the LAPD.

In fact, last month’s VNC meeting featured L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who made specific reference to these two codes and the city’s intention of not incurring further lawsuits.

The other three statutes, LAMC 62.61(b), LAMC 63.44(d) and LAMC 41.18(a), deal with obstructing any right of way except by permit, camping only at designated sites and obstructing or molesting pedestrians.

Citing these Hammurabic fundamentals of civilization, the motion asked “the VNC to call upon the LAPD to consistently enforce the cited laws, while offering referrals to those who may need services or housing.” What was insidiously omitted from that last part was – while handing out tickets.

Councilmember Ira Koslow presented a “substitute motion” that cleaned up the language, omitting some disparaging comments.

Councilmember Ivonne Guzman made a motion to “indefinitely table” the motion, which the council defeated, wanting to settle the matter then and there, and proceeded to public comment and council consideration.

Steve Clare of the Venice Community Housing Corporation said this motion would “make Venice the meanest neighborhood in the meanest city in the country” [with regard to how homeless persons are treated.]

Councilmember Kelley Willis reminded the council that “regardless of housing or not, we are all stakeholders.” And VNC President Linda Lucks declared this would amount to “micromanaging the police.”

In an earlier statement LAPD Pacific Division Capt. John Peters had pointed out that the LAPD was already mandated to “constitutionally enforce” all laws, but also commented that officers had to use discretion in enforcing certain laws.

They then voted on the substitute motion, which was soundly trounced. Then, because of the Rules of Order, they had to vote on the original motion, which suffered an even more ignominious end with a vote of 15 nay, 0 yea and 4 abstentions.