LAST CHANCE TO MAKE END-OF-YEAR 2014 DONATIONS TO SPIRIT OF VENICE

THANK YOU! Your signatures, phone calls, attendance at meetings, letters and actions have been essential to our success this year in fighting the hyper-gentrification of Venice.

Although we have not yet managed to stem the tide of hyper-development in our precious Venice community, we have collectively made a dent in the armor of the developers and their City Planner cohorts by holding them accountable whenever and wherever possible.

We have also managed to “crack the code” to some degree and discover what the problems are and how to fix them, which is not going to be easy. Basically, there are too many loopholes in the planning process that allow developers to circumvent the law and bypass public scrutiny of their projects, until it’s too late.

The fight will continue in the coming year as activists gear up for more confrontations with developers and L.A. City Planning – armed with experience and knowledge gained over the past year. There’s a strong likelihood of legal action(s) being taken in 2015 that will challenge the systemic corruption inherent in the planning process that is affecting communities across the entire City of Los Angeles.

This is not the time to sit on our hands and bemoan our fate – we must continue to stand up, stand strong and give voice to our dissatisfaction with the assault on our community.

The Spirit Of Venice (SOV) has been on the front lines of this issue and, with your help, will continue to provide you with information, alerts and actions that can help to make a difference.

In the past, we have never asked for anything in return for our hard work but, as the year 2014 comes to a close we are asking you for your help – by making an end-of-year tax-deductible donation to the Spirit Of Venice –

If you appreciate what we are doing and want us to continue this battle for our community – please consider making a donation today to help us go forward in 2015 – click here to give:-  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=6845EC6QYYV28

Thank you for caring and sharing! Blessings, SOV

LAST CHANCE TO STOP THE CONTENTIOUS RESTAURANT PROJECT @ 259 HAMPTON DRV.

Wednesday JANUARY 7, 2015 @ 4.30PM, West Los Angeles Planning Commission, Henry Medina West LA Parking Enforcement Facility, 2nd floor, Roll Call Room, 11214 West Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.  (we will be carpooling from Venice if you need!)

VNC DENIES 320 SUNSET AVENUE FULL-LINE ALCOHOL RESTAURANT

8/19/14 – Venice Neighborhood Council voted to deny the Coastal Development (CDP) application by Gjelina owner, Fran Camaj, for a full-line alcohol restaurant w/takeout beer & wines sales at 320 Sunset Avenue, close to Google in Venice.

The application will now go back to Maya Zaitzevsky, Zoning Admin. at City Planning, for a final determination. Ms Zaitzevsky was waiting for the VNC vote before making her decision. The VNC letter confirming the vote is pending and should arrive early next week (8/25/14) — and we shall see if Ms Zaitzevsky honors the wishes of the Venice community by denying the project.

Here are some facts related to 320 Sunset that show how the applicant tricked the community into believing that he was building a “bakery” at this location. In reality, he performed a “bait & switch” taking advantage of loopholes in the city planning process, in order to start building renovations on the property without having to go through a lengthy process involving public scrutiny.

HYPER-GENTRIFICATION IN VENICE

Very creative video to be presented at the CA Coastal Commission TODAY – Friday June 13 – thank you to the Venice Coalition to Preserve Community Character (VCPUCC) and film maker Xaime Casillas for speaking out about Hyper-Gentrification in Venice Beach (stay tuned) –

DAYS OF ACTION FOR HOMELESS BILL OF RIGHTS

ORGANIZATIONS COMMEMORATE DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
BY HOLDING WEST COAST DAYS OF ACTION
FOR HOMELESS BILL OF RIGHTS

Los Angeles Action to be Held in Venice Beach

VENICE COMMUNITIES FIGHT GENTRIFICATION

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Stay in touch with the Spirit of Venice — spiritofvenice.net

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An interview on KPFK’s “Uprising” with Sonali Kolhatkar

Residents and activists in Venice beach say police are harassing community members and the homeless as a new wave of gentrification hits the city, best known for its eclectic beach-loving population. Last Wednesday dozens of homeless people lost their personal belongings when the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, in cooperation with the LA Police Department, raided a homeless encampment at Third Street between Rose and Sunset Avenues in Venice Beach. Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl said the city was conducting a “sanitation action” that was only meant to sweep up abandoned property.

The homeless disagree, and say their personal items, including prescription medications, wallets, and clothing, were indiscriminately collected and immediately dumped into garbage trucks. Adding to the outrage of the community is a feeling of betrayal, because police began directing the homeless to the Third Street encampment when the city began enforcing a no camping ordinance on the boardwalk, which displaced many homeless individuals. Venice residents from the Oakwood neighborhood and others also report an increase in community members being ticketed by police for small infractions, such as not having the fence around a home properly painted.

GUESTS: David Busch, an activist with the Spirit of Venice Coalition, Maria Fitzsimmons, and organizer with People Organized for Westside Renewal, or POWER, and Kendra Moore, a POWER leader and president of the Holiday Venice Tenant Action Committee Visit http://www.power-la.org for more information.

There will a direct action training in relation to the Venice area activism on April 14-15, 2012. For more information, visit http://www.99spring.com.

Bringing Awareness and a Face to Homeless – Venice Love Walk

A group of Venice homeless advocates met with Councilman Bill Rosendahl on Thursday, December 9, 2010 to discuss abuse of homeless by LAPD

A small group representing persons defined as homeless, mostly Venice Beach Artists, along with members of the housed community met with Bill Rosendahl yesterday to discuss the impact of the 20+ LAPD Officers on the targeted population, encouraging effective community based solutions, reminding the representatives of the City of LA that the face of homelessness in Venice has been unfairly represented in public forums and in the media, and the ongoing campaign to “police homeless” is not nor will ever be a solution.

On Saturday, beginning at noon, in the Venice circle (Windward and Main) a group will join together passing through Venice hot spots, to raise awareness and bring a face to homelessness. Please join in to stand united, for Venice is an inclusive community, and civil rights for every individual matters.

Lisa Green, Venice Artist
Green Party of Los Angeles, Co-Chair
http://cagreens.org/lacounty
Love is the strongest power in the universe

MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA TURNS DOWN OVERSIZED VEHICLE ORDINANCE

July 13, 2010

Mayor Villaraigosa sent the newly amended oversize vehicle ordinance back to the City Council and the drawing board with recommendations.

See and download the letter here Oversize Vehicle Ordinace RWS letter (2010-07-13)

For more go here:  http://www.spiritofvenice.net

9th CIRCUIT OKAYS PERMIT FOR FREE SPEECH IN LANDMARK SEATTLE CASE

An interesting development in the question of the constitutionality of the permit system currently in use on Venice Boardwalk. 

It appears that a previous US District Court case:  Berger v. City of Seattle in which “Magic Mike” got the City of Seattle to back down on the permit requirement for street performers at the Seattle Center has recently been overturned by the Ninth Circuit of Appeals Court (scroll down page to Berger v. City of Seattle for Court decision PDF)

For those of us who oppose the permit/lottery on Venice Boardwalk this may come as a disappointing blow to our hopes of retaining  our First Amendment right to exercise Free Expression without prior restraint.  I believe this trend will now reverberate throughout the cities of this land where valiant souls have been fighting similar permit restrictions, and winning.  The problem is, whenever a favorable decision is made in a lower court it can be appealed, as in this case, almost two years later, and have far reaching consequences.

Now, if they ever secretly doubted their “right” to impose a permit restriction on Free Expressionists in the Free Speech Zone, the City of Los Angeles is forever vindicated.  The only way this latest decision could be overturned would be in the U.S. Supreme Court where it would stand the proverbial “snowball’s chance in hell” scenario.  Nope, I think this is it.  The days of “first-come-first-served” spontaneous free expression in the once legendary “Free Speech Zone” on Venice Boardwalk are over — and if you want to point a finger of blame just check out the number of “commercial” vendors who proliferate in what has become a swap-meet jungle in our beloved Free Speech Zone.