Ms. Venice,

I met with the manager of the Safran senior housing project last week and introduced two of its management staff to Captain Peters and several of his senior officers Thursday evening.  The LAPD vowed to help them out, especially with campers who are blocking their fire exits on both Navy and Ozone, which is not allowed, even under the Jones settlement.  We also explored with Peters, et al, the storage of tons of personal belongings along the Boardwalk and on the grass and in some instances on the sand.  The police agree that they have authority under the Beach Curfew to remove any campers and their possessions between the hours of 12-5 AM.  It is unclear why they are not doing it, though it may be related to a lack of officers on duty at that hour and the need for large vehicles to collect and secure all the possessions.  The LAPD would have to organize a small task force of officers and vehicles to canvass the beach randomly for people camping with their possessions and remove them.  However, at the moment the LAPD thinks that unaccompanied articles at those hours cannot be removed – at least not by the LAPD.  They can arrest people and impound their possessions, but they cannot arrest (or remove) just the possessions (or so they think).  Between the hours of 5 AM and midnight, it is the purview of Recreation and Parks Department (though the LAPD is available to back up Rec. and Parks if asked).  Private individuals cannot store personal possessions on park land.  So, that's where the next conversation will have to take place, i.e., with Rec. and Parks, and the Council Office.  But without any enforcement, one can see that this situation is going to continue to deteriorate.  And the public feeding programs only encourage it by making it easier to live on the beach, but we've made that point before, to both the Council Office and Whole Foods, and been ignored.  I personally have stopped shopping at Whole Foods, but have not called for a boycott because I doubt WF would notice; so much of their market is Santa Monica, Penmar, Mar Vista residents, etc., that they probably wouldn't notice a drop off in Venetians shopping there.

Mark

Well, any given night there are still a lot sleeping on the grass, on the beach and along the Boardwalk with their stuff, despite the curfew.  I know because I went out there at 2:30 AM and saw them.  The police either don't have a zero tolerance or they don't have the officers to make a comprehensive sweep every couple hours at night.