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THE WESTSIDER - The photo seen here was taken about 4:30 PM on Sunday afternoon (11/10), as tents, structures and alike are now popping up in the parking lot of the Venice Library, just west of Centennial Park.
At least six tent-like structures were counted and about a dozen individuals in a parking lot that should be closed to the public as the gates don’t appear to be locked and secured.
At least a dozen or so other individuals are camped out at the building entrance in sleeping bags and at least three more tents as well.
Some believe the reemergence of tents and structures at the Library is a depressing backslide of homelessness in this neighborhood plagued with encampments and RV’s for years until the facility was fenced and cleared about two years ago.
Sources indicate that much of these new encampments are overspill from Cabrillo as well as Rialto, a few blocks away.
Residents are angered that the facility is not properly shut down during non-operating hours and that a bounce back of new encampments cancels out the prior cleanups and successful sweeps in 2022 and 2023.
I will continue to monitor the situation and find out why tents and encampment structures are tolerated in the Library’s parking space.
(Nick Antonicello is a thirty-one year resident of the neighborhood who covers the current encampment and RV crisis in Venice. Have an encampment issue on your block or neighborhood? Contact the author via e-mail at [email protected])
