STREETS TO HOME PROGRAM PRESENTATION RELEASED

Councilman Rosendahl announced today the description of the Streets to Homes Program. This is a program designed to help both residents and the vehicular homeless in the Venice community.

Streets to Homes powerpoint presentation

Request for Proposals (RFP), click here.

MAYOR RETURNS OVERSIZE ORDINANCE WITHOUT SIGNATURE

On July 13, after the City Council approved an ordinance that would allow individual council members to establish districts to install oversize vehicle restrictions on the streets of Los Angeles, the Mayor again returned an ordinance without signature. He had done this as well with the settlement with the Coastal Commission on Overnight Parking Districts. The Mayor urged Los Angeles to work harder on finding workable solutions for the growing population of homeless. Here is his letter and VA's response to his welcomed action:

Read Mayor's Letter

Read Venice Action News Release

SAFE PARKING PROGRAM TO BE PRESENTED

On Tuesday, July 20, Sophia Heller will present the Safe Parking Program for Venice at the Venice Neighborhood Council Meeting. Sophia was hired by Councilman Bill Rosendahl to write up the proposal. After months of input from the many different constituencies of Venice, she has written up a program that addresses the concerns of residents at the same time attending to the needs of the homeless population.

The meeting begins at 7pm and takes place at the Westminster Elementary School on Abbot Kinney Blvd. Also on the agenda is discussion of the Santa Monica Airport.

Helping Homeless Makes Good Business Sense

Oregon also has one of the first Safe Parking Programs in the country in the city of Eugene.

Read the article

SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE MAYOR TODAY!

DEADLINE TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 6!!!

Begin forwarded message:

From: vbgood@veniceworks.net

Date: July 1, 2010 1:54:57 PM PDT

Subject: Mayor Villaraigosa: Please VETO CF-09-3036

Dear Friends in & of Venice,  DEADLINE MONDAY, JULY 5!!!

The Los Angeles City Council this week passed an ordinance that will allow council members to obtain restrictions on a block-by-block basis to prohibit oversize vehicles from parking overnight.

This is a blatant attempt to get around our victory at the Coastal Commission—and with soo little oversight it is sure to have many unintended consequences including drawn out legal battles.

The real solution of course is enforcement of a good Oversized Vehicle Ordinance in tandem with a Safe Parking program. THEY MUST OCCUR TOGETHER.

Please urge Mayor Villaraigosa to veto this ordinance and find a more humane way of dealing with Â homeless problems. Send a letter like below and sign the petition. Then forward this to your contacts. THANK YOU!

We're learning it takes a lot of persistence and patience to win in the end. We’ve come so far; together we can bring it home!

For more information, visit www.veniceaction.blogspot.com 

Petition: http://www.change.org/benefitnetwork/petitions/view/stop_the_attack_on_homeless_rv_dwellers_in_venice

July 1, 2010

Honorable Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

City of Los Angeles

City Hall

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Fax: 213-978-2760

Re: CF-09-3036; Amended Oversize Vehicle Ordinance - Veto

Dear Mayor Villaraigosa:

On June 17, you rightly sent back to Council the proposed legal settlement regarding parking in Venice, astutely recognizing that the issue was actually economic dislocation as evidenced by people being forced to sleep in their vehicles.

With the amended Oversized Vehicle Ordinance, the City Council has once again sought to impose restrictions on this vulnerable population. It is ironic that if these people simply moved from their vehicles to the open air sidewalk, they would be breaking no law. But of course their troubles would be far from over. This ordinance fails on many levels and it is simply sloppy policy:

• 2-6 a.m. is not the time when visual obstruction, parking shortage and traffic congestion occur, which are the purported reasons for the ordinance.

• The potential impact on commerce is of great concern. Commercial trucks, construction trucks, tourism RV's, film shoots and even the small business entrepreneur who parks his or her truck in front of his or her home could be impacted.

• The ordinance should provide procedural protections such as a requirement that safe parking alternatives for displaced vehicles be identified in every implementing ordinance.

• The ordinance creates so few limitations that the City Council could conceivably declare the entire city to be a district from which oversized vehicles are restricted.

• The ordinance provides entirely too much latitude to individual council members in determining standards and criteria.

• The ordinance potentially opens the City up to civil rights litigation by contributing to the blatant criminalization of homelessness. 

Over the last year you have been working hard to facilitate an economic recovery in Los Angeles.  This ordinance places an important component of economic activity at the whim of exceedingly parochial neighborhood-level NIMBY impulses.  And you were right when you once said, "Every neighborhood has the responsibility to bear the challenge of homelessness." A properly constructed Oversized Vehicle Ordinance in tandem with a program to safely accommodate those living in vehicles who would be displaced by the implementation of this ordinance would provide the necessary tools to meet that challenge. Please veto this ordinance so the Council can take it back to the drawing board.

Sincerely,

Petition: http://www.change.org/benefitnetwork/petitions/view/stop_the_attack_on_homeless_rv_dwellers_in_venice


EMAIL THE MAYOR

VENICE COMMUNITY HOUSING CORP WEIGHS IN ON OVO

Prepared Comments for LA City Council Hearing on Oversized Vehicle Ordinance Amendments

Steve Clare, Executive Director - June 29, 2010

VCHC urges that the City Council refer this matter back to the Department of Transportation for further revision. VCHC previously sent a letter to the City Council detailing many concerns we had about the ordinance as proposed.

VCHC has three primary concerns.

1. The proposed ordinance is clearly intended as a tool to force those who must live in RV’s and campers out of areas where oversized vehicle parking restrictions are to be implemented. Homelessness is already a huge problem in the City of Los Angeles. And, unless remedial provisions are included in the ordinance, its approval today would only make matters worse. Councilman Rosendahl has already pledged to implement an oversized vehicle ordinance only in tandem with a safe parking program in Venice. VCHC urges that the ordinance be revised to require that safe parking alternatives be identified in every implementing ordinance.

2. State law provides that vehicles that display a legitimate disability placard are exempt from parking restrictions. VCHC urges that this ordinance be amended to expressly acknowledge that exemption so that people with disabilities are informed of their rights and law enforcement officials are fully apprised of this exemption.

3. Many terms in the draft ordinance are not carefully defined. How large can an oversized vehicle zone be? Can it cross council boundaries? If it does, whose recommendation is required to initiate a DOT investigation? What constitutes a “substantial number” of affected residents, Who are “affected residents”? These are among the questions unresolved by the ordinance as proposed.

4. Finally, VCHC requests that the City reconsider its intention to broaden the sweep of the restrictions to include all vehicles that are either 7’ high or 22’ long as opposed to 7’ high and 22‘ long as the existing ordinance provides. Many residents all over the City have vehicles, trailers, work vehicles, commercial vans, etc. parked on the street that under the current law would be okay to park but under the proposed ordinance would be prohibited in an OV zone. VCHC believes that broadening the restrictions will cause more problems than it solves.

CITY COUNCIL AMENDS OVERSIZED VEHICLE ORDINANCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 29, 2010, Venice, Calif.—The Los Angeles City Council today voted to pass amendments to the Oversized Vehicle Ordinance (OVO) drafted at the request of Councilmember Bill Rosendahl. This “enabling ordinance” sets out the procedures for creating districts that restrict parking of oversized vehicles. An “implementing ordinance” will be crafted to determine the precise locations of the districts.

Because the ordinance impacts a large vulnerable population, Venice Action is gratified with Councilman Rosendahl’s repeated promise to implement the oversized vehicle restrictions only in conjunction with a Safe Parking Program for vehicle dwellers.

“Venice Action has always supported the use of the OVO in tandem with a Safe Parking Program,” said David Ewing of Venice Action.

Councilman Rosendahl has repeatedly referred to the OVO as necessary in his “carrot and stick” approach to the problems of homeless people forced to sleep in their vehicles. The “carrot” is the Safe Parking Program, currently being outlined by the councilmember’s office and for which he has secured $750,000 in funding. He has requested Venice Action’s input regarding the locations of potential parking spots for the RV’s. Additionally, the councilman has sought the opening of the public restroom facilities at the beach in order to alleviate some of the sanitation concerns associated with homeless people.

“We need to understand that the population of people living in their vehicles is diverse. Many people living in their cars are veterans and senior citizens who need a safe place to park and the right connection to services. Many are economically disadvantaged, in need of help getting back on their feet.” Councilman Rosendahl said in an earlier statement.

At the City Council hearing today on the “enabling ordinance”, members of Venice Action expressed various public policy concerns that will need attention in the implementation phase. The ordinance gives tremendous latitude to each council member in determining the procedures, as well as specific criteria and standards for districts. In fact, according to the DOT, a parking district could theoretically be created for the entire city.

“Where the rubber meets the road is the ‘implementing ordinance,’ said Ewing, “and we look forward to working with the Council office on crafting that.”