From Yo! Venice! reader David W:

“Mikie”, a Venice local who basically lived at The Cow and all the other regular haunts passed away a couple weeks ago. He was known by many if only by face. Friendly and fun, he will be missed. Mikie’s brother Ken (who looks eerily just like him) flew in to meet some of Mikie’s friends he never knew and he and several Venice regular friends will be giving Mikie a send-off of coffee/tea today at the Cow’s End which he loved.

Anyone who met Mikie is invited for an informal gathering to share stories and give Mikie a goodbye tea at 11AM Sunday at The Cow’s End

The Cow’s End
34 Washington Blvd
Marina del Rey, CA 90292

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Betty Jolley, who helped many a child cross Abbot Kinney on their way to school at Couer d’Alene Elementary as a school crossing guard, has retired. Betty moved to Venice 43 years ago and has been in the same house and been a crossing guard here for the last 32 years. For the last 25 years she has been at the corner of Abbot Kinney and Couer d’Alene.

From all the kids and parents that you helped in Venice with your smiling face, thanks for being a part of Venice and happy retirement! Your service to the community is greatly appreciated!

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Australia Luxe Collective is having a sample sale tomorrow, March 13th, at their headquarters in Venice. You can check out their stuff by clicking here. Sale items should include things for the whole family.

Australia Luxe Collective
514 Victoria Avenue
Venice, Ca 90291 USA
T) 310.578.6360

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Yo! Venice! is intended to be a celebration of the city that we all love. Unfortunately in the last year there has been a huge influx of violent transients that are terrorizing our city. I keep wanting to just post “happy things” about the community, but if I do that … then I am part of the problem … just like the politicians that make up the VNC, Venice Action and Bill Rosendahl’s office who argue theory about what “can” happen rather than actually doing something and taking action.

Yo! Politicians! Enough of your BS about what “can” happen, and “you are working on it”. Make something happen! We have had a triple homicide. We have weekly write-ins telling you how bad life has gotten in Venice. You have been TOLD the residents of Venice are having their safety put in jeopardy by an identifiable group that has laid siege on the community.

Politicians of Venice: The next time someone gets KILLED in Venice, the blood is going to be on YOUR hands. The people of Venice are demanding your help and you are doing NOTHING to help them.

I get an email like this sent to me about every day of the week. I am trying to keep this issue focused around Wednesday’s write-in campaign .. but this story has a picture with it, and for your own safety you should read this and that is why I am posting it today.

From Yo! Venice! reader Steve:

Dear Mr Mayor, Mr Rosendahl and Captain Peters,

As a long time Venice resident I cant help but notice the growing number of Transients, … I saw this post in yovenice.com and decided to tell you about what happened to my 5 month old daughter and I last night.

This is a letter I wrote from my iPhone to my neighbors to help me during this crisis:

This man was trying to sleep behind our gate at our front door. I heard him trying to no open our front door to get inside our home. I was holding my baby. I confronted him to get off my properly and he then threatened to kill me… looked at my baby and told me he would kill her too. He claimed that the house was his. He took a swing at me as I stepped back away from my properly. He kicked our gate over and over as hard as he could as I then asked my neighbor for help. He then took a swing at my neighbor. I called 911 to report this. The man left after about 15min of this acting out with violence and the police came by around 45min after this all took place. The police were helpful in calming us down and offered to look for the man. I told them he’s a local homeless man and is usually down at Washington and Speedway hanging out.

I have lived in this location for over 8 years, in Venice for 30 years. I do of course deal with the homeless on a daily basis and understand homeless people can be mentally ill and I do understand that there is no place for them to live and that Venice welcomes them. Venice is a great place for the homeless to live. They can and do sleep just about anywhere around here and not get hassled. But I have never have felt “afraid” before yesterday. The homeless are getting too close to us. They are living too close to our homes now. They sleep in our stoops and in back of our garages. My wife is very afraid to leave out our back gate into speedway because she may wake a homeless person outside our back door. This time our front door was unsafe. So now what door should we use to feel safe?

This is the man standing in my house telling me to get the fuck away from him. Would you feel safe if you came home and this man was at your front door yelling at you and your family to fuck off?
Thank you for listening.
Steve

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Venice Public Art is making a labyrinth and neighborhood park at 6th & San Juan, and you can join in and help tomorrow starting at noon, Saturday the 13th. Check out their Facebook page by clicking here.

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