Normally Colleen Steckloff has her hands full with a gaggle of furry friends with her business LA K-9′s, filming with NatGeo around Venice for “The Dog Whisperer” ( airing this Saturday night! ) - but tonight she heard a horrible noise as a large yellow school bus sideswiped a car on Rose near Rennie. Thinking quickly, she, her husband and a neighbor hopped in their cars and followed the bus that tried to make a run for it. Colleen called LAPD as they pursued the vehicle down Centinela where it was finally intercepted by the police after hitting even more cars. The driver of the bus, which is a dwelling for approximately three different older men and dogs, was drunk and was driving drunk on a suspended license. Heavy duty tow is currently en route to impound the vehicle.

A HUGE thanks to Colleen and her husband for thinking fast, being aware and following the hit and run driver safely until police could stop the vehicle and make the arrest!

See something? Say Something! Thanks Colleen!

Four hours… it was a great day.

The new year has a new crime trend in Venice with a dramatic increase in burglary from motor vehicles. The numbers are growing and steady with the only weekday lulls seemingly taking place on Friday. To date, there have been 88 reported burglaries from motor vehicles, and those are just the ones that were reported. That is just over 3 per day in the neighborhood of just Venice alone. Don’t think that stuffing something under your seat will deter someone from breaking into your vehicle. If someone is going to break into your car, they will do it as a crime of opportunity. They think nobody is around or watching - and therefore they will take what they can get. From loose change in a cup holder to the lucrative GPS, briefcase, shopping bags or iPods… anything will get them more than what they have. If they see an iPod or GPS holder, it is safe to assume the unit is stored in a center console or glove box and that is incentive to break a window and find out. LOCK IT. HIDE IT. KEEP IT. is the slogan to deter thefts from motor vehicles… the best advice however is just to leave NOTHING in your car.

Below is a list of reported thefts taken from the LA Times Crime Mapping site for the neighborhood of Venice.

Date Crime - # of Burglaries from Cars - Week Day
Jan 1, 2012 - 7 Sunday
Jan 2, 2012 - 6 Monday
Jan 3, 2012 - 3 Tuesday
Jan 4, 2012 - 1 Wednesday
Jan 5, 2012 - 2 Thursday
Jan 6, 2012 - 1 Friday
Jan 7, 2012 - 6 Saturday
Jan 8, 2012 - 5 Sunday
Jan 9, 2012 - 2 Monday
Jan 10, 2012 - 4 Tuesday
Jan 11, 2012 - 5 Wednesday
Jan 12, 2012 - 10 Thursday
Jan 13, 2012 - 2 Friday
Jan 14, 2012 - 5 Saturday
Jan 15, 2012 - 4 Sunday
Jan 16, 2012 - 4 Monday
Jan 17, 2012 - 1 Tuesday
Jan 18, 2012 - 5 Wednesday
Jan 19, 2012 - 4 Thursday
Jan 20, 2012 - 1 Friday
Jan 21, 2012 - 4 Saturday
Jan 22, 2012 - 1 Sunday
Jan 23, 2012 - 0 Monday
Jan 24, 2012 - 5 Tuesday
Jan 25, 2012 Wednesday
Jan 26, 2012 Thursday
Jan 27, 2012 Friday
Jan 28, 2012 Saturday
Jan 29, 2012 Sunday
Jan 30, 2012 Monday
Jan 31, 2012 Tuesday
Total To Date: 88

A public hearing by the City Planning Department is happening right now on the subject of closing all medical marijuana clinics in the City of Los Angeles - which would include the Venice area and Boardwalk. This heavily litigated issue is based around the increase in criminal activity surrounding these clinics and their respective operations. We became aware of this hearing today while testifying in court as a witness where one medical marijuana clinic employee beat the living daylights out of a rival clinic employee a few doors down on the Venice Boardwalk. Although the clinics are not supposed to hawk on the Boardwalk, LAPD has all but stopped enforcing this issue… and as shown below the hawkers are straying very far from their storefronts, continuing to show disregard and abuse of the conditions and limitations of their current operations. We are hoping to have some word about the proceedings shortly.

Click here for the full PDF of today’s agenda, proposal and recommendations.

SPECIAL ITEM Council Districts: All
ENV-2011-3306-CE Expiration Date: N/A
Plan Area: Citywide Appeal Status: N/A

PUBLIC HEARING

Location: CITYWIDE
Proposed Project:
An ordinance proposed by the City Attorney amending Article 5.1 of Chapter IV of the Los Angeles
Municipal Code in order to implement recent appellate court decisions concerning regulation of medical
marijuana, including the ruling issued in Pack v. Superior Court, 199 Cal.App.4th 1070 (2011). (The
Commission may recess into Closed Session pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(a)
in order to confer with its legal counsel in relation to: pending litigation entitled, MJ Collectives
Litigation; Americans for Safe Access et al. v. City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Superior Court
(“LASC”), Lead Case No. BC 433942 (and all related actions); The People of the State of
California v. Natural Ways Always, et al./ Natural Ways Always, Inc. v. City, et al., LASC Case No.
BC 460799; and the effect of recent appellate court decisions concerning regulation of medical
marijuana.)
Requested Actions:
1. Adopt the report prepared by the City Attorney entitled “Report Re: Proposed Ordinance Amending
Article 5.1 of Chapter IV of The Los Angeles Municipal Code To Implement Recent Appellate Court
Decisions Concerning Regulation of Medical Marijuana, Including Pack v. Superior Court, 199
Cal.App.4th 1070 (2011)” (City Attorney Report), as the report of the City Planning Commission on
the subject.
2. Recommend that the City Council Determine that the ordinance is exempt under the California
Environmental Quality Act, for the reasons set forth in the CEQA Narrative and draft Notice of
Exemption attached as Attachments 6 and 7, respectively, to the City Attorney Report.
3. Recommend that the City Council Direct that the Department of City Planning file the final Notice of
Exemption with the County Clerk immediately after the ordinance is approved and passed in final
by the City Council.
4. Adopt the Findings and Recommendation Pursuant To City Charter § 556 and §558(b)(2) attached
as Attachment 8 to the City Attorney Report.
5. Recommend to the City Council adoption of the draft ordinance attached as Attachment 1 to the
City Attorney Report.
Applicant: City of Los Angeles

Today as a man was at the ATM in front of Bank of America on Windward and Main, a male Hispanic in his late 20′s approached him and held a sharpened kitchen knife to his throat and told him to put in his PIN number. The incident happened around 1 p.m. in broad daylight as many other people were using the ATM’s in front of the bank. The victim told the man he didn’t have much in his account, and the robber just repeated, “Put in your PIN”. The transaction was taking too long… and the suspect fled on foot towards the beach. He was arrested minutes later on Pacific and Market by LAPD, and was positively ID’d by the victim. He had a crudely sharpened knife in his possession. He also told police he was schizophrenic, but had not taken medication “for years”. The victim, visibly shaken, could not believe someone held a knife to his throat in broad daylight.

In an effort to further clarify aspects of the newly re-clarified park ordinance LAMC 63.44, Arturo Piña from Bill Rosendahls office and Lt. Paola Kreefft from LAPD Pacific Division presented information and took questions from Ocean Front Walk business owners, residents and local community members. The Venice Neighborhood Council sub-committee held a meeting starting at 7 p.m…. and by 8 p.m. when the formal discussion and public comment was to take place… the room was packed.

All the local divided factions in Venice were there sneering across the room and taking photos of one another in typical fashion. Although the hearings, public comment period and votes on this issue have been scheduled, have taken place and have been widely reported upon - it seems like many in the community that feel quite passionate about this issue felt blindsided at the new enforcement strategy. Many attributed this to the issue being folded into more vague language in the park ordinance and not spelled out in plain language like it was for tonight’s meeting. Either way, the typical polarized views were made. At one point a vote was taken for a show of hands for who was for the new enforcement strategy, and who was against. 63 people were in favor of it, 18 against, and 18 felt too confused to make a decision either way. And as is also typical of many VNC related meetings… votes and such mean absolutely nothing and enforcement will proceed per the letter of the law.

The bottom line is this… the beach, and the “Park” have had “hours” for decades. They may have varied over the years, and strict enforcement may not have been as necessary in the past - but the prevailing attitude tonight was that Ocean Front Walk is no longer safe. It has become a camping area for transients that do NOT want to participate in any shelter program - and in an effort to control a situation that has steadily gotten out of control The City commissioned two things. First, determine what the exact boundaries of the “Park” are, and second, get a decision on whether the “Jones Act” which allows the homeless to sleep on sidewalks applies city-wide. The results were that the “Park” includes Ocean Front Walk, or the “Boardwalk”, and the “Jones Act” ONLY APPLIES to Skid Row downtown. These specific decisions now allow the decades-long existence of the Venice Beach “Park” and associated Beach curfew to be enforced by LAPD. Concerns about a spike of unmanageable gangs of transient campers lining up in peoples driveway’s and carports was raised… but The Councilmans Office and LAPD both feel that once the transition to consistent enforcement has been made - most transients will move on.

While the majority of those in the room emphatically welcomed and agreed with the new enforcement… several were wallowing in confusion and nit-picking pointless points. At one point a board member put forth a vote asking that it be brought to a formal full VNC vote that people that live in Venice be officially exempt from the enforcement of the park hours. That idea failed and was killed right were its short life began. As passion collided with practicality - at the end of the evening it seemed clear that the point of all of this was to deal with a situation of transients over-running Ocean Front Walk… and once the quality of life issue which has been created from that is handled… the hope is the community can resume a more responsible relationship between behaving in the Park after hours. Until then, unless you live on Ocean Front Walk and are walking from your car to your front door… don’t be on Ocean Front Walk from midnight to 5 a.m. for any reason… regardless of how inconvenienced you feel.

Additional clarifications about using the bike path during curfew hours and a few other questions were raised which will be address during the next Venice Neighborhood Council meeting.

Last week we stopped by to see Darlene who has been living in her vehicle for over a year now. Her well publicized journey seemed to be on the road to resolution when Bill Rosendahl and (People Assisting The Homeless) implemented a new program to transition vehicle dwellers off the streets and into permanent housing… but today finding a permanent roof seems as far away for Darlene as ever. Wiping tears from her eyes, Darlene was just rousted from her parking spot on 6th and Broadway. She loaded her dogs into her vehicle after the neighbors complained that the kids were scared to go outside. ” They kicked me away from 6th and Rose so I came down here - and now they are telling me I have to leave here too… where do I go??? I won’t leave my dogs, they are my babies… I won’t leave my dogs behind. There has to be a place for me, right? I am so tired… I am SO TIRED OF THIS “.

Darlene wants off the street, but as of last week she said she had still not been contacted by PATH and was left trying to follow up and chase down answers on her own. ” I want housing. I WANT IT “, she said. Darlene expressed sad frustration saying that she is reluctant to be pushy and will wait her turn, but if she didn’t push she wouldn’t know anything… and even then there are few answers and no real solution. Of the $675,000 allocated to transition approximately 150 people into housing, results are hard to find. Other vehicle dwellers with pets have supposedly been placed into housing, yet complained that it was inadequate and substandard to living on the streets in an RV.

Still, Darlenes bright personality springs with optimism, but her will is close to breaking. Darlene can tell you never-ending stories about Venice. She grew up in Santa Monica and has been a beach girl her whole life. Now in her 50′s, the former health care worker spends her days helping many of her homeless comrades. She warns them about partying, doing drugs and boozing too much. Tells them to quiet down at night while walking her dogs and does her best to steer the addicted towards options for recovery and not the other options that exist down all the local alleys. ” I have my day to day “, she says “But I want out. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t survive this way and I have tried to do everything right and it seems that with PATH there is nothing left… “.

March 11th will mark one year since the PATH program was announced. Darlene knows there is Section 8 housing out there, but her hope for transitioning off the street is at the point of exhaustion. As she wandered away to move her vehicle yet again she turned and said, “I’m waiting, but I am not sure what for…. I can’t hang on much longer “.

We check in on Darlene every week… hopefully she will be placed in housing before the program hits the one year mark. Darlene’s story is one in need of a positive ending.