Last Call to Stop Bridge Housing in Residential Neighborhood of Venice

We have now raised $100,000 toward our legal effort to stop the 154-bed homeless shelter on the former MTA lot on Main Street.

Our goal is to raise $130,000.  

I am writing to ask for one more donation. 

My sincere thanks to those who have been so generous - some gave $100, some $500, some $1,000 and several gave $5,000.  

All the residents - some who  look out at the bus lot from their homes - are concerned about noise from the outdoor kennel and outdoor dining area, some are concerned that there is no street parking around the site now and the city is not providing enough on-site parking, some are concerned about new encampments springing up around the site, and some are concerned about the real potential for crime and assaults, which have accompanied the St. Joseph facilities on Lincoln and Hampton and the large encampments on Third Street and Park Avenue on OFW and elsewhere in Venice.

All are concerned that this project will be yet another magnet for even more homeless to come from around the nation to "try" to secure free housing.  That word - try - is the danger.  The site will only hold 154 people, while the city acknowledges that there are about 1,000 people living on the streets of Venice.  Where will the hundreds more that come to sign up for a bed go after all the beds are full?  Onto the sidewalk, into the alleys, on the Boardwalk, on private property.

None of our supporters oppose Bridge Housing or other efforts to house the homeless.

They object to this project being rammed down their throats and to it being located in residential neighborhood, to the lack of any protections for residents - for example, no 24-hour security outside the facility and no sound wall to dampen the noise from a kennel and exterior HVAC equipment - and the complete failure of the city to conduct an environmental impact report for the project.   

So, please, if you have not already contributed, please contribute $500 today.  If you gave in 2018 please contribute again in 2019.

If you want to see our legal "causes of action" just send us an email at venicestakeholders@ca.rr.com and we will send you our attorney's brief, which the city ignored.

Our deadline is January 14th, ten days from tomorrow.

All donations are tax deductible.