Washtingon Post Mention of Venice Planter Box Project

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/los-angeles-is-fighting-its-homeless-problem-one-giant-planter-at-a-time/2019/12/26/660dc73a-22a9-11ea-a153-dce4b94e4249_story.html

Many, many thanks to all those residents and business owners who contributed funds, time, and plants to make the planter box project around the Venice Post Office a reality.

Wishing all our supporters a marvelous New Year with good times, good health, all success and, per chance, a safer community for all to enjoy! 

Brock On Your Block: Mark Ryavec, Community Activist On The Homeless Dilemma.

In the latest Brock On Your Block, Phil meets Venice community activist Mark Ryavec at Venice Beach with hopes of gaining some insight into strategies for dealing with the runaway growth of the homeless population in Los Angeles County.

https://smmirror.com/2019/12/brock-on-your-block-mark-ryavec-community-activist-on-the-homeless-dilemma/

Supreme Court Non-Action on Martin Appeal Not a Decision on the Merits

My letter recently sent to the Los Angeles Times:

Editor,

The only certainty that can be taken from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not hear the appeal in the Boise, ID, Martin case concerning sleeping on sidewalks is the Times' bias and myopia.

While the Martin Decision stands in the nine western states, municipalities in the 41 other states are free to enforce "no sleeping on a sidewalk" ordinances, a fact the Times failed to report.  Failure to grant certiorari is not a ruling on the merits of an appeal and, despite your front page headline, the court did not say a word about housing.  Actually, the court said nothing and any interpretation amounts to reading tea leaves.  The court may simply be waiting for an appeal from another circuit or one with a clearer delineation of the issues.  Further, there is nothing in the court's action that precludes cities in the Ninth Circuit from adopting limits on where sleeping on public property is acceptable, such as banning sidewalk encampments within 300 feet of residences.  


Mark Ryavec, President, Venice Stakeholders Association

And this is what the Times ran on December 21st:

While the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Martin vs. City of Boise stands in the nine western states, municipalities in the 41 other states are free to enforce “no sleeping on the sidewalk” ordinances.

Failure to grant certiorari is not a ruling on the merits of an appeal. Actually, the court said nothing at all, and any interpretation amounts to reading of tea leaves. The court may simply be waiting for an appeal from another circuit or for one that has a clearer delineation of the issues.

Further, there is nothing in the court’s action that precludes cities in the 9th Circuit from adopting limits on where sleeping on public property is acceptable, such as banning sidewalk encampments within 300 feet of residences.

Mark Ryavec, Venice.  The writer is president of the Venice Stakeholders Assn.

Note that the Times editor felt compelled to remove all of my critiques of the Times' coverage.

VNC Resident Survey Shows Extreme Dissatisfaction with Mayor Garcetti, Councilman Bonin

VNC Satisfaction Survey results are in! 

The results of the first Venice Neighborhood Stakeholder Survey are in and they show residents are extremely dissatisfied with their local elected officials.

The most notable results:

--Regarding the performance of their elected officials, both LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and CD11 Councilman Mike Bonin received 79% dissatisfaction ratings from respondents.

  

--90% of respondents view homelessness as the greatest challenge for Venice.   74% view crime as another major issue, with 74% believing crime has gotten worse year after year.

--81% of respondents expressed levels of dissatisfaction with City services in Venice, and 48% were generally unhappy with the performance of the Venice Neighborhood Council - the local elected body and advisory board to the Los Angeles City Council. 

--44% of respondents believed there was a lack of effective [government] representation, while the proliferation of scooters at 42% was another issue Venice needs to tackle.

The several-months long study was approved by the previous Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) in May of 2019.  It was developed and conducted with the assistance of professional survey research consultants by the VNC Outreach Committee, under the leadership of former Outreach Chair Hollie Stenson.  The purpose was to achieve a baseline pulse of what Venetians are feeling about their community, and to provide this information to the newly elected VNC Board, inducted in June of 2019.  The goal was also to provide a focus for the new Board and to improve the Board's service to the Venice community.  

Participation in the survey was voluntary.  Almost 800 respondents participated in the survey about the issues most important to Venice's uniquely diverse seaside community.  

The full results are available at:  https://www.venicenc.org/pdfs/Survey-Results-Final.pdf and on the Council website at: https://www.venicenc.org.

With 93% of the respondents living in Venice and 53% residing here for over 20 years, the Survey reached a core audience of long-time residents who are engaged in its challenges and issues.  

Sixty-eight percent identified as homeowners and 27% as renters.  Forty-one percent were male, while 54% were female.  Thirty-two percent were between the ages of 35-49, 62% were over the age of 50, while only 5% were between the ages of 18-34.  

"The new VNC Board is committed to serving the people we represent during our two-year term.  That's why this survey is important - we have a direction as to what Venetians want us to focus on," said Sima Kostovetsky, the new Outreach Officer elected in June 2019, who continued the promotion of the survey. 

--A bright spot in the Survey was that Venetians generally felt safe in their own neighborhoods, with Abbot Kinney Boulevard regarded as the safest place in Venice.

Among the 99 Neighborhood Councils that represent communities across Los Angeles, the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) is one of the most established and one of the most successful — consistently having the highest voter turnout compared to that of any other neighborhood council. 

For more information, please contact Outreach Officer Sima Kostovetsky at:  SimaK@venicenc.org.