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VNC Rejects Lincoln Apartments Proposal Venice Community Housing project rejected unanimously By Toi Creel A 40-unit supportive housing project continues to be met with pushback from the Venice community. The Lincoln Apartments project–slated for 2567 Lincoln Boulevard–was recently voted down both by the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) Land Use Planning Commission (5-2) and by the VNC as a whole
See more, page 4
unanimously (13-0) after a six-hour meeting last Thursday. The $20 million project, developed by Venice Community Housing Corporation (VCH), includes a plan for a four-story, 40-unit apartment complex alongside the preservation of a small commercial building used by Safe Place for Youth (SPY). Areas of concern include: the fact the building would share a property line with St. Mark School for elementary and middle school children in a residential area, criminal complaints from SPY’s drop-in center for homeless youth and the lack of sober living requirements along with its cost.
Development, see page 4
Photo: Studio One Eleven
Rendering of the Lincoln Apartments.
Coroner Identifies Body That Washed Ashore on Venice Beach as Shad Gaspard Former WWE star’s body washes ashore early Wednesday morning north of Venice Fishing Pier By Sam Catanzaro The Los Angeles coroner has confirmed that a body that washed ashore on Venice Beach is that of former WWE star Shad Gaspard. According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguards Division, around 3:41 p.m. on Sunday, May 17 lifeguards began a search for two swimmers, who had got caught in a rip current and had gone missing near 4200 Ocean Front Walk, south of the Venice Beach Pier. Lifeguards were able to locate a 10-year-old boy who was evaluated and did not require transport to the hospital, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).
Photo: LA County Lifeguards (Twitter)
Lifeguards on Venice Beach where the body of former WWE star Shad Gaspard washed ashore. Photo: LA County Sheriff’s Department
The second day of the search for Gaspard.
Lifeguards were unable to find the boy’s father, however, conducting line and subsurface searches with support from Baywatch Del Rey and Los Angeles County Fire Air Operations. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) confirmed reports that the missing swimmer is former WWE star Shad Gaspard.
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“Mr. Shad Gaspard was last seen by a Los Angeles County lifeguard on May 17, 2020, around 3:40 p.m., as he swam in the Pacific Ocean approximately 50 yards from Venice Beach in the county of Los Angeles. When last seen by the lifeguard, a wave had crashed over Mr. Shad Gaspard and he was swept out to sea,” the LAPD said in a press release. On Wednesday at 1:25 a.m., LAPD Pacific Division patrol officers were flagged down by a citizen reporting a body that washed ashore on Venice Beach near 27th Avenue and Ocean
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Photo: Instagram
Shad Gaspard on the day we got swept out to sea
Front Walk, a bit north of the Venice Fishing Pier. Gaspard had gone missing south of the pier. Lifeguards extricated the body from the water and transferred it to the Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner, who confirmed it was that of 39-year-old Gaspard.
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Body Found on Venice Boardwalk Man found deceased near paddle tennis courts Sunday By Sam Catanzaro A man was found dead on the Venice Beach Boardwalk on Sunday, Los Angeles police say. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the body was reported at 1:48 p.m. on Ocean Front Walk and 20th Place, near the paddle tennis courts. The LAPD says the deceased is a 56-yearold man who died of natural causes. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), the incident was categorized as an “obvious death” meaning a physician did not confirm the death at the scene. Reports on social media say that the man was a homeless individual. “Locals say it was an elderly homeless man that just showed up today. He was walking around by the paddle tennis courts and sat down on the bench and passed away,” wrote Matt Fisher on Facebook. The LAPD and LAFD did not confirm that the deceased individual was experiencing homelessness.
The Venice Beach Boardwalk, January, 2020.
Photo: Sam Catanzaro
Fatal Venice Beach Boardwalk Stabbing
Images from the scene of a fatal boardwalk stabbing.
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) investigating stabbing By Sam Catanzaro A man was fatally stabbed last Saturday night on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, Los Angeles police say. According to the Los Angeles Police
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Photo: Citizen App
Department (LAPD), the incident occurred at 8:50 p.m. on May 16 at Westminster Avenue and Ocean Front Walk. Police say the suspect–described as a black male–stabbed the victim–described as a white male–before fleeing the scene on a bicycle. The LAPD was unable to confirm which direction the suspect fled but reports on the Citizen app say he rode north. In addition, reports on social media say that the incident involved two homeless individuals. The LAPD was unable to confirm this as well.
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Development, from page 1 “SPY has said their models does not lend to doing background checks or research everyone in the database,” said Tracy Carpenter, concerned mother and neighbor. Carpenter told Yo! Venice the 1,000 opposition letters from Venice stakeholders and residents were underrepresented in the reports. “It’s completely irresponsible and negligent to not do background checks. More importantly, I think it’s irresponsible to have a project like this in a neighborhood with children. We have evidence, but that seems to be left out or excluded in the city Planning reports,” Carpenter said. Several people shared their thoughts on the apartments for this article, a representation of the more than 2,000 emails that the VNC board says it has received on the development. Nikki Shallenberger, 20-year Venice resident and St. Mark parent says she agrees
there needs to be resources for those struggling to find homes, she just doesn’t want the homes to be created in an area code with a large number of children. “It’s not that we’re worried about what happens. We’ve seen what happens with the clientele of SPY. There are still kids traumatized from the lockdown,” Shallenberger said, referring to an incident where a man wielding a chain forced the school got to go into lockdown. “Certainly you could build more units in a less expensive zip code with the same amount of money,” Shallenberger said. However, supporters like VCH describe the housing as inclusive, reminding critics about fair housing laws. VCH has said they will do background checks, but that they won’t exclude people based on criminal history. Despite the VNC’s rejection of the project, the board serves only as an advisory body and therefore the project will next go before City Planning Commission on May 28th.
Bonin Proposes Housing Plan for Penmar Encampment
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The south side of Penmar Golf Course on Wednesday, May 20.
Councilmember calls encampment “a perfect example of the city’s failed policies” By Sam Catanzaro
Councilmember Mike Bonin has submitted a motion to Los Angeles City Council calling for the housing of people living in a homeless encampment along Penmar Golf Course, calling it a “perfect example of the city’s failed policies”. The move comes as U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction last week ordering the City and County of Los Angeles to urgently find alternative housing for 6,000-7,000 people living near freeway
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Photo: Sam Catanzaro
underpasses and ramps. “The court order holds much promise for quick results, but the city and county must not respond by focusing nearly exclusively on encampments near freeways, and suddenly start to drain resources from already anemic efforts to address encampments in residential areas,” reads Bonin’s motion. One of these residential areas is an encampment on the south side of the Penmar Golf Course along Rose Avenue. According to Bonin, more than 80 tents are present at this encampment. “The Rose and Penmar encampment is a perfect example of the city’s failed policies,” Bonin wrote. “The encampment, which has effectively taken exclusive use of a path that was once a public resource, shows the failure of city policies to protect the public right-of-way.”
Encampment, see page 6
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Encampment, from page 4 The City was under pressure to address this encampment prior to Judge Carter’s injunction. Last month a petition was started by the Rose Penmar Parkway Beautification Association–a coalition of nearby residents– calling on the City to transfer the jurisdiction of the public walking path to the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department. Petition supporters say it will become illegal to camp once Recreation and Parks take over the land. “Once the strip of land’s jurisdiction is changed, it becomes park land and illegal to camp upon,” reads the petition. “Once the land is granted back to the Department of Recreation and Parks, we will then have an opportunity to pursue multiple means to beautify and improve the strip of land so that it can best serve our community.” Bonin, however, when asked if he would support transferring the jurisdiction, expressed preferences for other alternatives. “We’re not sure it actually would do what folks think it would do. It may, in fact, be that part of that land–the strip of land on the walk path just outside Penmar Golf Course– part of it is actually Recreation and Parks land already, so we are trying to determine what is Rec and Parks and what is Public Works, but simply switching jurisdiction probably does not get the magic result that people are anticipating,” Bonin told Yo! Venice in an interview last week. “If Recreation and Parks owns the underlying land, then it is an easy process. If part of it was deeded as a result of the Ballona land grants 300 years ago then
that’s a more exhaustive process.” Instead, as laid out in the motion, Bonin is calling on the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to develop a Rapid Results Encampment to Home pilot program for the Rose-Penmar area. The motion, which is currently in the Council’s Homelessness and Poverty Committee, would also use various City tools such as Project Roomkey to provide alternatives to the encampment. Petition organizers, however, continue to press for the jurisdiction change. “Our petition is raising awareness and garnering attention for the Rose Avenue encampment and our cause. We will keep pressing forth until our goal of Rose Avenue beautification and safety has been achieved!” wrote the organizers this week. On Thursday, May 21, the Venice Neighborhood Council will vote on a motion that urges that City support the transfer of the land over to Recreation and Parks. “The Venice Neighborhood Council has voted to support a Street Vacation along the northern side of Rose Ave between the cross streets of Frederick St. and Glenavon Ave in the Venice area of Los Angeles. At present this unimproved right-of-way area might have once been intended as a sidewalk but in the 120+ years since Venice tract maps were first created, this land has never been paved or developed,” reads the letter. “The proposed Street Vacation will cause the department of Rec and Parks through reversion rights to gain control over the underlying land. Once in Rec and Parks control, a Parcourse exercise track will be established that will serve the local community.”
County Cancels Junior Lifeguard Program
COVID-19 health concerns put program on hold for 2020 By Toi Creel
The Los Angeles County Fire Department Junior Lifeguard Program has been around in LA County for years serving youth and teens of LA. However, in a recent May 13th Facebook post, the Lifeguard Division announced that the 2020 youth program has been suspended due to health concerns. “At the direction of the Los Angeles County Fire Department and our partners at the Department of Public Health, the decision
Photo: LA County Lifeguards (Facebook)
has been made to suspend the 2020 Junior Lifeguard Program,” the caption reads. In a letter sent out to participants and family members, the Department said they had been looking at ways to continue the program since March, but were not able to come up with a system consistent with public health guidelines. The Junior Guard Program is offered to all boys and girls in Los Angeles County. The program is designed to instruct youth (ages 9 through 17) in beach and ocean skills. The program provides instruction in water safety, swimming, body surfing, surfing, physical conditioning, competition skills, first aid, lifesaving, rescue techniques, CPR and the use of professional lifesaving equipment. For more information, visit www.fire.lacounty.gov/lifeguard
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