WESTSIDE - Area residents came out in large numbers Tuesday evening to protest the current criminal, and unsanitary conditions at 2467-2471 Lincoln Boulevard, which also occupies the offices of SPY, or Safe Place for Youth Living.
The Venice Neighborhood Council met Tuesday evening to a chorus of criticism, complaints and requests for action regarding the current permanent housing and related services issues at this facility located between Coeur d'Alene and Garfield Avenue on Lincoln next to McDonalds.
Two motions were on the agenda regarding the current issues at the facility in which speaker after speaker lambasted the crime, open drug use and dangerous conditions that currently exist as members of the VNC apologized publicly for the having to withstand these quality-of-life failures by both Venice Community Housing and SPY.
Both motions were passed by the VNC by votes of 14-2 and 10-5-1.
President David Feige allowed a long line of speakers who were outraged by the conditions and sympathized with the residents in attendance as about 50 of the 75 or so attendees were here to address this very issue.
Feige expressed sympathy and apology for these residents who needed to be heard.
For these stakeholders were seeking "action and results," and one speaker summed it up best under public comment that "a place without rules is not a safe place," while one identified homeless speaker ensured the board "we are not going anywhere," and that services must be offered to those in need.
An attempt to water down the original motion by Community Interest Officer Sarah Mahir in the form of an amendment was quickly rejected by those in attendance as well as the board itself, as residents emphasized that the status quo is unacceptable regarding community and neighborhood safety.
Secretary Tima Bell, an architect by profession who has constructed some 600 units of supportive housing emphasized such proposals must be "safe and functional," while Community Officer Lisa Redmond a longtime apologist for the current homeless crisis accused Councilwoman Traci Park (CD-11) of opposing all forms of supportive housing in Venice as well as the 11th District where the number of homeless and unhoused has dramatically decreased some 34% while increasing across the city of Los Angeles on Park's watch.
The motions passed called for a review of the current uses and operations and the adverse impacts on the surrounding residents, determine whether all uses are authorized under the current entitlements, while evaluating compliance of the current conditions of approval.
Finally, the motion called for additional or modified operational conditions to address the ongoing and documented impacts consistent with the projects' "conditional use" findings.
The second motion called for background checks and risk assessments of those housed as well as screening out of those with violent criminal histories. To ensure safety is a priority in these publicly funded facilities, while ensuring "good neighbor: operational agreements by enforced along with the proper security cameras in common areas and entrances.
That reports with recommendations for "higher-acuity placement pathways" be met for individuals with repeated violent conduct, serious mental illness issues and that a dispute resolution process be created to mediate concerns with neighbors and the permanent supportive housing operators or Venice Community Housing.
In other business, the Venice Neighborhood Council approved a budget request by Outreach Chair Erica Moore to organize a Town Hall on the issue of illegal and stationary RVs in the neighborhood of $1,000 or less.
Moore indicated she could successfully conduct the event of a cost of around $750.
The LAPD also gave updates on current public safety statistics of which there were 15,000 calls for services of which 800 were crime related resulting in 300 arrests and an overall 6% reduction in criminal activity. It was stated there had been an "uptick" in the thefts of catalytic converters in automobiles, especially the Prius model, as well as pick-pocketing activity regarding the theft of cellular phones.
It was also confirmed that a suicide victim was found at the beach on Monday, apparently a transient, and that the pick-pocketing incidents had been secured on surveillance video.
The three-hour meeting ended at 9:30 PM.
(Nick Antonicello is a thirty-three-year resident of the neighborhood and exclusively covers the deliberations of the Venice Neighborhood Council and is a regular contributor to City Watch LA. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected])
