Comments
WESTSIDE -
The city's best efforts on removing encampments foiled within days as transients move to alley!
It was literally hours after a major cleanup occurred on Main Street here in Venice last week that the transients returned with their belongings, only complicating the frustrations of area residents once again.
For the question needs to be asked, why are these transients handled with kid gloves while the residents are forced to tolerate these inhumane conditions?
Councilwoman Traci Park's CD-11 office has been contacted and hopefully another cleanup will be forthcoming.
Specific neighborhoods in Venice are literally being held hostage on Main as well as segments of Washington Boulevard and Marr, as once a clean-up takes place, they quickly move to another temporary location only to find themselves back on the spot where the removal took place!
What can't be lost in this conversation is the fact these RV's and encampments are illegal, and they have no standing under the law.
For it is the inherent and consistent failure of the city's homelessness policies that are to be held accountable. But when you seemingly have only one city councilmember in Traci Park (CD-11) standing up for taxpayers, what is the rest of the LA City Council thinking?
For how much is Venice to shoulder and bear when it comes to homelessness and when are these homeless providers and bureaucratic entities going to be held liable, much less accountable for this rank incompetence?
These individuals are not from Venice.
They have no connection to Venice.
They are not neighbors or neighborly in any way.
Most are out-of-state transients, and many have alcohol and substance issues to say nothing of their current mental state where services are seemingly non-existent!
A firm and precise, no tolerance policy must be crafted that will stand up to legal scrutiny and rid this neighborhood of this ongoing street crisis.
Only when that is accomplished and real enforcement efforts are instituted, good money and time will no longer be squandered.
(Nick Antonicello is a thirty-two-year resident of Venice and covers the encampment and RV crisis in this Westside neighborhood. Have an encampment issue or RV dilemma on your block or street? Contact him at [email protected])
