Yo! Venice February 25, 2022

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February 25 - March 24, 2022

Venice Family Clinic Announces $7 Million Dollar Donation Producer Chuck Lorre’s Family Foundation Donated The Single Largest Sum On Record B y D olores Q uintana Venice Family Clinic announced this month that it is modernizing its clinic site at 604 Rose Avenue in Venice, thanks to a $7 million donation from The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. The renovation will enable the Clinic to integrate medical, mental health and substance use visits in ways it couldn’t before.

The foundation’s gift is the largest single donation received by the Venice Family Clinic and continues Mr. Lorre’s long-time generosity to the Clinic. He and his family foundation have contributed more than $17 million to the Clinic over the past 20 years.

“The renovation of our Rose Avenue

Venice Family Clinic, see page 4

Photo: Courtesy of Venice Family Clinic

Police Arrest 2nd Venice Arson Suspect Richard Michael David, Jonathan Michael Noriega face arson charges B y S am C atanzaro Police have a second suspect wanted for a series of arsons in Venice.

The fires occurred early Tuesday, January 25, 2022, on Ocean Front Walk near Westminster Avenue. LAFD firefighters quickly extinguished the blazes before flames could cause injury or extend to any structure, according to the Department.

“In canvassing the community in the hours that followed, plainclothes LAFD Investigators – working closely with Patrol Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Community Police Station, received helpful tips from neighbors, including surveillance

video that allowed them to quickly apprehend a suspect and obtain imagery of his suspected accomplice,” said LAFD Spokesperson Brian Humphrey.

Jonathan Michae Noriega was booked into jail on felony arson charges and his bail was set at $60,000 With the second arson suspect still at large, LAFD Arson Investigators spent five days canvassing the Venice boardwalk, meeting with area business owners and residents who provided additional leads.

According to police, one resident was able to capture a video and picture of the second suspect. This information was key to the investigators as it was the most up-to-date picture of the suspect. Investigators utilized the information to create an updated Crime Alert and circulate it to LAPD Pacific Division officers and beach detail.

On January 31, 2022, at approximately 2100 hours, LAPD officers arrested a male suspect that fit the description outlined in the updated crime alert. LAFD Arson investigators were notified and responded to the Pacific Division

Jonathan Michael Noriega (left) and Richard Michael David (right). station to interview the suspect. During the interview, Richard Michael David confessed to being responsible for the fires in the trash

Photo: LAFD

cans along Oceanfront walk.

He remains in police custody and is charged with arson, according to the LAFD.

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February 25 - March 24, 2022

February 25 - March 24, 2022

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Robbery in Venice, Tourist Shot in the Leg

Suspects wore black ski masks, followed victim to his car

By Dolores Quintana On Wednesday, Feb. 9, a tourist was shot in the leg by armed assailants wearing black ski masks after being followed to his car as reported by ABC7.com and CBS Los Angeles. com. The incident took place near Dell Avenue and Washington Boulevard, east of the Venice Pier, around 1:45 p.m. in the afternoon.

The victim, who was from out of state, and

his girlfriend were returning to his rental car when anywhere between two to four suspects got out of another car and demanded his Cartier watch. One suspect told the victim to hand over his “high end jewelry.” according to CBS Los Angeles. When the victim said no, one of the suspects shot him in the leg. According to the LAPD, the suspects then escaped in a newer car described as a white sedan. The car was headed northbound on Dell Avenue. There is no description of exactly what the suspects look like, but they are said to be either in their 20s or 30s.

The victim was transported to a hospital and there has been no report on his condition. The LAPD is conducting an investigation.

Venice Family Clinic, from page 1 site is a critical project ensuring that we can provide greater access to health care for our community members who are most vulnerable,” said Venice Family Clinic CEO Elizabeth Benson Forer. “Our patients face complex health challenges, and it is vital that we are able to provide them with a space where they can get multiple services in an integrated way. We are grateful that The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation shares our vision.”

Venice Family Clinic acquired the building as its first permanent site in 1983.

In November 2021, Venice Family Clinic merged with South Bay Family Health Care. The clinic at 604 Rose Avenue is one of 17 sites in the Clinic’s expanded care network. Programs and services at the Rose Avenue site include primary medical care for adults and children, behavioral health, substance use services, vision services, a pharmacy, COVID-19 testing and vaccines, food distribution and health education.

The modernization of the two-story building will allow the Clinic to meet the emerging and evolving needs in health care. The plan features new team spaces for Clinic staff to more effectively collaborate on all aspects of a patient’s complete care plan. The site will provide patients with easier access to services, including a ground floor pharmacy, and a community room for fitness classes and counseling groups. The site will also have counseling rooms for visits with mental health therapists, case managers and health educators.

Venice Family Clinic is the primary source of health care on the Westside for people experiencing homelessness, and the renovation will provide improved space for case management, behavioral health,

substance use services and showers.

Mr. Lorre, an award-winning creator and producer of many of the most successful comedy series in modern television history, including The Big Bang Theory and The Kominsky Method, is a longtime supporter of the Clinic. He and his Family Foundation have made donations over the past 20 years to fund the renovations and operations of another clinical site in Venice, the Robert Levine Family Health Center, which is named in honor of Mr. Lorre’s father. In 2020, Mr. Lorre provided a special $1 million gift in honor of Venice Family Clinic’s 50th anniversary and to rally other contributions to support COVID-19 response efforts early in the pandemic.

“Quality health care, provided with compassion and dignity, has been the operating principle of Venice Family Clinic since its inception. For that reason, I am honored to play a part in the renovation efforts for the iconic Rose Avenue site, and confident that the Clinic will continue to be an oasis of hope for generations to come,” said Mr. Lorre.

Venice Family Clinic recently introduced a fundraising initiative called “The Power of Us” to demonstrate the collective contributions of funders to help advance greater health equity. Gifts to the initiative, like The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, will fund the Clinic’s innovative programs and services in its newly expanded service area with a focus on addressing solutions in six areas: achieving health equity, building mental health access, controlling pandemics and epidemics, defeating homelessness, ending hunger and fighting for our children.

To learn more about the Power of Us initiative, please visit venicefamilyclinic. org/powerofus

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February 25 - March 24, 2022

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Opinion: The Exploitation of Venice’s Public Spaces!

Centennial Park held hostage by transients and open drug usage just steps from the Free Public Library

By Nick Antonicello For when does a park become a “containment zone” for nearly one hundred tents and encamped structures just a stone’s throw away from the Venice Public Library?

But more importantly, who approved this “rezoning” of a park for this kind of usage?

Were residents of the neighborhood notified?

Was a meeting held with the actual tenants and homeowners weary from such unilateral action that never seems to have any public input or sentiment?

How does one transform a park, a public property into a potential ghetto or slum in the middle of a Venice neighborhood, a corridor which brings people to Venice and the beach?

For camping in this park is not allowed, yet somehow goes on and continues and people like myself wonder why?

The park is supposedly closed at midnight which means those camped, partying and doing drugs and alcohol all day long should be made to leave and why in a neighborhood with such density have a park designed for strollers, dog walkers and kids become this overnight, high crime venue for people who for the most part just don’t belong?

For this enabling and expansion of public spaces for transients and the chronically homeless at Centennial Park is even more dangerous than the encampments that existed at the beach.

For now you have stationary recreational vehicles and vans sprouting along both sides of Venice Boulevard, the perfect storm to rationalize that Venice needs to surrender what slither of public space it has

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Photo: Nick Antonicello

to those who are at the source of crime and chaos on our streets today!

For after all, the “not-for-profit” bureaucrats who don’t actually live here, but earn their pay assisting these “new neighbors” and the cottage industry of homelessness are dictating the conversation and the rules of the game, and that is Venice has this moral obligation to tolerate these third-world, drug infested conditions we see off Rose, on Third, Flower, Lincoln and of course, still at the beach!

In the minds of these “do-gooders” at the expense of others, we’re just NIMBY; racists and segregationists because we want our streets and public space to be clean, safe and immune from drug deals and the illegal activities that are obvious and rampant wherever these encampments dwell and swell!

And while our “lame-duck” Councilman Mike Bonin buries his head in the sand and continues to collect a paycheck through the end of the year, his indifference and inaction is somehow tolerated even though he readily admitted in his withdrawal for reelection that he suffers with bouts of depression.

So the question remains, if that is the case, why doesn’t Bonin resign and retire and let the residents of District 11 pick a replacement?

Assembly member Autumn Burke did just that.

She resigned effective immediately letting voters pick a replacement in a special election scheduled for April 5th.

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She graciously moved on and moved over because she understands that government must go on!

That’s what a professional public servant does. They allow for some governmental continuity, that the people get to choose meaningful representation. Representation that’s actually reflective of those who are residents, taxpayers, homeowners and tenants.

And speaking of representation, what is our grass roots neighborhood council doing to truly stop this true “monster” on the median?

If you’re upset with this ever growing and expanding encampment, contact the VNC at board@venicenc.org and tell them you want some semblance of action moving forward!

And now that we have a dozen candidates seeking to replace Mike Bonin, will any of them go on the record and support the removal of this encampment at Centennial Park?

Venetians are exhausted by COVID-19 and weary by the never ending battle to prevent more encampments on our streets, parks and other public parcels.

Reach out to these candidates and seek out their voice and help so this proliferation of park space for transient living on the streets of Venice finally stops and discontinues.

The author is a longtime Venetian who is covering issues and campaigns that effect Dog Town. Mr. Antonicello can be reached at (310) 621-3775 or via e-mail at nantoni@mindspring.com

February 25 - March 24, 2022

Nico Ruderman Files for State Assembly Venice Neighborhood Council member will be a candidate in the April 5th special election for 62nd Assembly District B y N ick A ntonicello Nico Ruderman, the Venice Neighborhood Council member who was a principal proponent of the grass roots recall of outgoing Councilman Mike Bonin will be a candidate in the April 5th special election to fill the unexpired term of former Assembly member Autumn Burke who resigned earlier this month.

Ruderman, a Venice homeowner, parent and husband is a graduate of the University of Colorado and is seeking public office for the first time.

Ruderman, who led the signature gathering drive over a 120-day period secured 95% of the signatures required to place the question on the ballot.

While the recall was numerically unsuccessful, it is apparent the number of signatures that were secured was evidence enough that Mike Bonin’s days in office were numbered and that a possible third and final term turned into an unexpected exit from elective office.

The father of a elementary school-age son, Ruderman is passionate about public education, rampant homelessness and rising crime.

Ruderman, running as a Democrat for the 62nd Assembly District seat, is a small business operator as well a union member.

Photo: Facebook (@NicoforCA)

Despite Vision Zero Traffic Deaths in LA Are Soaring 2021 deadliest year in nearly two decades for pedestrians in LA B y S am C atanzaro

In 2015, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti launched Vision Zero, intended to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. More than five years after the launch of this program, traffic deaths in the city are soaring, reaching their highest number in nearly 20 years.

294 people were killed in traffic collisions in 2021, LA List recently reported on Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) data. Not only does this represent a 22 percent increase from 2020, but it is also the highest toll since 2003. Around half of those killed in these collisions were not in vehicles themselves, including 132 pedestrians and 18 cyclists. Furthermore, 1,479 traffic crashes resulting in severe injuries occurred on LA streets in 2021, a 30 percent increase from 2020.

Traffic fatalities increased across the city in 2021, except for the LAPD Central bureau area, which includes downtown LA and Silverlake.

Overall, since Garcetti launched Vision Zero, traffic deaths in Los Angeles have increased 58 percent. Since then, traffic deaths have jumped 58%. So how did this get this bad?

Colin Sweeney, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), told LA List that one common

February 25 - March 24, 2022

factor is “a deadly combination of dramatic increases in speeding and reckless driving.”

Between January 2020 and June 2021, 78 crashes involved a vehicle traveling at unsafe speeds. This is around the same number (80) of unsafe speed crashes occurring in a longer two-year period between 2018 and 2020. Likewise, between January 2020 and June 2021, 50 fatal crashes involved a motorist striking a fixed object, compared that 39 such collisions for all of 2018 and 2019 combined.

In addition, Sweeney cited to LA List “design trends that make cars deadlier than ever before for individuals outside of the vehicle, with heavier frames and the addition of distracting features.”

2021 data shows that while the number of crashes resulting in a death where the driver was under the influence remained the same, the number of DUI crashes resulting in serious injuries increased by 31 percent.

According to Sweeny, since the launch of Vision Zero, LADOT has completed 5,500 safety improvements on the city’s High Injury Network. This is the 6 percent of city streets that account for 70 percent of deaths and severe injuries for pedestrians. But pedestrian activists say this is not enough and the city’s approach is not working.

“The formula and the campaign that is being run by the city in terms of reducing traffic fatalities to zero is a failure,” Damian Kevitt, executive director of the nonprofit Streets are for Everyone told LA List. “The biggest factor is there’s not the political will to make the hard decisions to save lives.”

Reflective of this lack of political will is the lack of funding to address to issue.

Photo: LAPD West Traffic Division (Facebook)

The scene of Febuary 17, 2021 fatal crash at Olympic and Overland that killed 17-yearold Monique Munoz.

In 2017, LADOT director Seleta Reynolds estimated the department needed around $80 million to reduce traffic deaths by 20 percent by the end of that year. The City Council-approved budget, however for that year only gave LADOT $27 million in funding towards implementing Vision Zero. That year, traffic deaths dropped

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citywide by only five percent. And since, this number has decreased. The 2021-2022 City budget provides Vision Zero projects around $13.7 million, according to data from Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin.

Mayor Garcetti’s office could not immediately be reached for commen

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