The Adults Have Come To Town!
We have had "progressive" politicians, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Mike Bonin, enable and even encourage the ruin of Venice (and Los Angeles) by doing nothing meaningful about the explosion of homelessness here -- and in fact helping it explode further.

I was so relieved to see that the LA County Sheriff's Department is not just going to sit by as this area descends further into a crime-ridden, violent, scary shit-hole. People in tents on the boardwalk will have to leave and accept shelter or other housing -- or they will be arrested.

You can I can't just take over public land and refuse to leave -- we'd be arrested. Those who are living in tents on by the Boardwalk should not be allowed to stay there and ruin LA's public resource: the beach, the ocean, and the quirky and formerly pleasant Venice Boardwalk.

In the LA Times, Alene Tchekmedyian, Doug Smith, and Kevin Rector write:

Being careful not to malign the Los Angeles Police Department, which patrols Venice, the sheriff said city leaders have hamstrung the LAPD from taking a more aggressive posture when dealing with homeless people.

"Public space belongs to the entire public, not to one individual. And that is the fundamental responsibility of government. That's the fundamental failure of the Board of Supervisors, L.A. City Council and the mayor of L.A. -- they have refused to regulate public space," Villanueva said Monday. "And that is why the problem is growing exponentially year after year."

Deputies and mental health clinicians will spend the next few weeks assessing the needs of people living in sprawling encampments along the beachfront promenade and helping to get them services, said Lt. Geoffrey Deedrick, who heads the Sheriff's Homeless Outreach Services Team. On Tuesday, the deployment included 18 deputies and five clinicians.

...LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Villanueva told him two weeks ago he was planning to send his department's homeless outreach team to Venice and that after a few weeks deputies would begin arresting those who refused to leave encampments.

Villanueva said Monday that he'd like the boardwalk to be cleared of homeless people by July 4. When told of this, Moore said that LAPD officers would not assist sheriff's deputies in clearing encampments unless the City Council or Mayor Eric Garcetti gave him a directive to do so.

Moore added that he hopes the council will lift a pandemic-related moratorium on moving people out of tents and other structures during daytime hours. Doing so, Moore said, would allow LAPD officers to enforce existing laws that ban such camping.

Saying he did not wish "to get embroiled in a dispute," Moore nonetheless said he would have preferred for Villanueva to have gone about boardwalk deployment with "less fanfare" and less of a "visual display" of deputies.

We who live here in Venice are just glad somebody's finally doing something.

People along the boardwalk welcomed the deputies' presence. It's a breath of fresh air," said Brian Ulf, president of SHARE!, a nonprofit organization that provides permanent supportive housing for disabled people. He said two people who had been referred to him by deputies agreed to move into his group's housing.

Deputies also convinced Robert Sadowski, a 76-year-old veteran in a wheelchair who has lived on the beach for two years, to leave with Veterans Affairs workers to get medical treatment. Deedrick, the sheriff's lieutenant who heads the homeless outreach team, said he first spoke with Sadowski a week ago, and a second time on Monday. Deedrick said when he found Sadowski again on Tuesday, the man agreed to accept the help, thanking Deedrick for keeping a promise he made to return.

"This is big," said Connie Brooks, a member of Friends of Venice Boardwalk. Others had tried to get Sadowski help for months. As the Veterans Affairs sedan drove off with Sadowski, a handful of deputies and community members applauded.

Letter to the editor about what's been going on here:

To the editor: The situation of residents in Venice has a great deal in common with many people here in Marina del Rey. Perhaps it's no coincidence that we're all represented by Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin. ("Their Venice home feels unsafe. They blame public officials, not homeless Angelenos," column, June 5)

On some streets, RVs stay for long periods in the same space. "Merchants" offer their wares without taxes or receipts. Items spill onto the streets and block the sidewalks.

Nothing is done about this. The residents of our gated complex have worked long and hard, paid taxes and followed the law only to be unable to walk on our own block. Why is it that my adult children who work for a living can't afford a house or condo with an ocean view, but Bonin will happily situate the homeless on prime public property?

Think about it. You can house more homeless people on land elsewhere in L.A. County for a fraction of the cost. Too logical? I think so.

My heart goes out to homeless people, many of whom find themselves in untenable situations through no fault of their own. However, those of us who have worked hard all of our lives to spend our "golden years" in peace are also in untenable situations. Bonin has thrown us away and helped create anarchy.

Judy Zimring Pomerantz, Marina Del Rey