Yo! Venice 12.30.22

LA Street Vendors Sue City Over Ban on Selling in Prohibited Zones Including Venice Beach

Lawsuit seeks to end the no vending zones such as Venice Beach

By Dolores Quintana

When the California Legislature passed SB-946 and Governor Jerry Brown signed it into law in 2018, many Californians, including street vendors, breathed a sigh of relief. To many, it seemed as if street vending was completely legal. However, this was not entirely the case and that’s why two street vendors, Merlin Alvarado and Ruth Monroy, and three local community groups, Community Power Collective, East LA Community Corporation, and Inclusive Action for the City, have filed suit against the City.

The Los Angeles City Council passed Ordinance #185900 which seemed to support SB-946 two months later. According to the lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs, former City Council member Gil Cedillo endorsed the legalization of street vending and said, “Our street vendors, our immigrants from throughout the world, come here and want to share their culture, their cuisines . . . this ordinance is our first great leap to embody that.” after the vote to approve the ordinance.

Not to be outdone, former City Council member Mitch O’Farrell said that passage of the City Council ordinance “lift[ed] this shroud of fear in our street vending communities surrounding enforcement.”

However, the City Council banned street vending in eight crucial high-pedestrian traffic areas, named in the suit. These “no vending” zones where all sidewalk vending is prohibited within a 500-foot buffer area around many of the City’s most vibrant and iconic retail venues, including the Venice Boardwalk, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Dodger Stadium (later expanded to include all of Elysian Park), the Hollywood Bowl, Staples Center/LA Live and the LA Coliseum.” These rules were extended to“ impose a similar 500-foot “no-vending” zone around all farmers’ markets, swap meets, filming operations, outdoor concerts, and parades anywhere in the City, as well as schools (including certain postsecondary educational facilities), and limit sidewalk vendors to occupying only a narrow five foot wide (or less) “vending area” adjacent to the street and not “in front of any building.”

Senate Bill 946 included a standard for local governments would need to abide by to ban street vendors, namely they would have to justify these bans based on “objective health, safety, and welfare concerns.” and specifically noted that “perceived community animus” nor an “effort to

shield local merchants from “economic competition” from vendors.” would fit the requirements of those standards. According to the City Council, these no-vending zones were established to prevent “overcrowding on sidewalks, which results in pedestrians walking in the streets.” The plaintiff argues, via a press release, that the city failed to identify any facts, data or documentation to support this assertion.”

Matthew T. Heartney, Senior Counsel with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP said, “The city did not adopt its sidewalk vending ordinance in a vacuum,” and that the legislation, “limits local government restrictions on most sidewalk vending unless shown to be ‘directly’ required to safeguard ‘objective health, safety, or welfare concerns.’” He added, “we combed through the city’s records in adopting its ordinance, and could find no pedestrian data or safety documentation to support its unjustified ban on sidewalk vending in key neighborhoods.”

Vendor Merlín Alvarado said, per the press release, “I have worked along Hollywood Boulevard for almost seven years, serving hungry visitors and contributing to this unique tourist destination. In return, I have been consistently chased, harassed, and ticketed by the City for running an honest business.”

This lawsuit seeks to end the no vending zones, restrictions on vending near farmer’s

markets, swap meets, and temporary events in addition to an end to the narrow strip regulation placed on vendors in areas where they are allowed to sell their food.

Monica Mejia, President & CEO of East LA Community Corporation, said per the press release, “Any possible justification for these restrictions went out the window when the city established its outdoor Al Fresco dining program in 2020. Those rules authorize restaurants to erect permanent dining infrastructure covering much of the sidewalk in no-vending zones like Hollywood Boulevard, while vendors must remain 500 feet away from these popular tourist attractions. It’s hypocritical,

Willie Mae’s Officially Opens in Venice

Legendary

Mae’s Venice has been great! We are so happy to be serving our guests in our full-service dining room. We look forward the what the future brings.”

potatoes and gravy, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and yams.”

By Dolores Quintana

Willie Mae’s Venice has officially opened as of December 9. The New Orleans-based restaurant’s newest location is at 324 Lincoln Blvd. The granddaughter of Willie Mae, Kerry Seaton Stewart said, “The opening of Willie

Per the press release for Willie Mae’s, “Willie Mae’s Venice will feature a Louisianainspired dining room where guests can enjoy the restaurant’s full menu which is highlighted by The Taste of New Orleans offering the ability to try two pieces of Willie Mae’s signature bone-in fried chicken, tasters of three iconic sides including gumbo, and of course cornbread. In addition to bone-in fried chicken, the menu will also include baked chicken and chicken tenders along with guest favorite sides – red beans, butter beans, mac & cheese, mashed

The press release also tells the story of Willie Mae’s and how the restaurant came to Los Angeles, “The James Beard Awardwinning restaurant is led by Willie Mae’s great-granddaughter Kerry Seaton-Stewart who has been at the helm since 2007. Guests visiting the Venice location will often find Kerry in the dining room or in the kitchen, furthering her family’s legacy of famous fried chicken and great Southern hospitality. The Los Angeles Willie Mae’s team also includes Lowell Sharron (HiHo Cheeseburger, UOVO and Matū), Kerry’s husband Mike Stewart, as well as Jerry Greenberg (Sushi Nozawa Group, HiHo Cheeseburger, UOVO, and Matū).”

Willie Mae’s is also available for catering, in-store to-go orders as well as nationwide shipping on Goldbelly.

Photo: Sam Catanzaro

Photo: Facebook (@WillieMaesNOLA)

Vendors Sue City, see

LA City Council Committee Moves Forward on Contentious Scattergood Power Plant Plan

Plan would shift power to green hydrogen instead of natural gas

By Dolores Quintana

On December 1, the Los Angeles City Council’s Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Justice and River committee voted in favor of changing the source of the Scattergood Power Generating Station in Playa Del Rey to green hydrogen. The committee’s vote was 2 to 1 for a competitive bid plan that would cost $800 million.

Paul Krekorian, the LA City Council President and member of the Energy Committee, said that the plan – which still needs to be approved by the City Council as a whole – is necessary for Los Angeles to meet its clean energy goals by 2025 while having enough power for residents.

“The easiest thing to do is to say, ‘Climate change is a crisis. It’s a lot harder to figure out: How do we address climate change in a city of four million people and ensure that we can keep the lights on?” Krekorian said.

According to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, the shift to green hydrogen would help the LADWP reach its goal of transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.

The ordinance has been posted on the City Council agenda for Tuesday.

This plan has been opposed by Food and Water Watch and The Ballona Institute, two environmental groups who have voiced concerns over the green hydrogen. Jasmin Vargas of Food And Water Watch voiced concerns about hydrogen storage, the levels of emissions that the plant would release and how that would affect nearby residents. She noted her belief that the local community’s voices were not heard.

“That’s very concerning. There are easy questions we’re asking that we still have no answers to. So how is (the committee) passing this forward without having those solutions, those answers or having alternatives?” Vargas told City News Service.

Vargas said that the plan is “perpetuating institutional racism,” and would disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities. Instead, Food And Water Watch wants an alternative energy source in which there is no combustion of hydrogen on top of shutting down LADWP’s four LA Basin plants.

Paul Koretz, who will soon be leaving the

City Council, voted against the ordinance in committee saying he did not trust SoCalGas and their plans for “green hydrogen”. Koretz said that a lobbyist from SoCalGas “looked me in the eye and told me they intended to use hydrogen to keep the methane flowing for as long as possible.”

“I do think we need to make the hard decision and the hard choices and do the work, but I’m just not there yet on this one,” Koretz said.

The Scattergood plant, located along the beach in Playa del Rey, last underwent a retrofit between 2013 to 2015. Two of the three units at the plant are conventional steam turbine generators that burn natural gas in boiler units. Between 2013 and 2015, the Department of Water and Power replaced the original Unit 3 with an efficient combined cycle of natural gas and steam turbine and two simple-cycle turbines.

Executive Director of the Ballona Institute Marcia Hanscom stated that the Ballona Wetlands in Playa Del Rey has a gas storage facility that the Institute regards as a risk to the area and that they feel should be removed.

“We don’t need to have a facility that has even more explosive components of hydrogen added into it.” about SoCalGas’s intention to continue using methane gas at Scattergood,” Hanscom said.

During the committee meeting, a power engineering manager for DWP, Marcelo DiPaolo, said that hydrogen burns at a lower temperature and thus would reduce emissions.

Mike Bonin, the outgoing City Council member for CD11, proposed that the definition of “green hydrogen” be tightened to exclude the blending of hydrogen and other gasses and put a requirement that contractors submitting bids on green hydrogen-related projects must include environmental justice impacts in their bids.

“We need clear guarantees that all raw materials used at Scattergood will be from 100% renewable energy sources,” Bonin said. “Hydrogen projects are being propped up by oil and gas companies, which may be hoping to blend hydrogen into their operation.”

Coroner’s Report Finds Anne Heche Not Impaired at Time of Fatal Mar Vista Crash

Report deems actress’s death accidental

By Sam Catanzaro

A coroner’s report finds that actress Anne Heche was not impaired by any illicit substances when she fatally crashed her car into a Mar Vista house over the summer.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), the crash occurred around 11 a.m. on August 5 at a twostory home on the 1700 block of South Walgrove Avenue in Mar Vista. An LAFD spokesperson said the Heche’s Mini Cooper “struck and came to rest well within a 738- square-foot two-story home, built in 1952, causing structural compromise and erupting in heavy fire.”

Heche suffered severe burns in the crash and was taken to a local hospital where she

was put on life support. Heche was taken off life support on August 11.

The day before Heche passed away, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), said that a blood test showed Heche was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the crash. According to the report released this week from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical ExaminerCoroner, however, Heche was not impaired at the time of the crash. The report found that testing showed the presence of benzoylecgonine – an inactive metabolite of cocaine – in her system but there was no evidence of actual impairment at the time of the crash. Fentanyl was also detected in her urine but its presence was attributed to medication she received while being treated at the hospital. The Coroner found that there was no fentanyl detected in her bloodstream when Heche arrived at the hospital.

According to the report, Heche’s death was “accidental” and that she died of “inhalation and thermal injuries” as a

result of the fire that occurred following the crash. The report also found that a “sternal fracture due to blunt trauma also significantly contributed to death.”

Vendors Sue City, from page 1

discriminatory, and harmful to street vendors, and indicates that the no-vending zones were enacted solely to cater to local businesses and neighborhood associations.”

The Al Fresco program has recently been made permanent via a City Council vote.

The lawsuit states that “vendors report “harassing conduct commonly performed by City officers enforcing the Ordinance including, without limitation, (1) targeting vendors believed to be operating in “no vending” zones by issuing citations and leaving them on vendors’ cars without observing any actual vending conduct … (2) threatening future actions, such as impoundment of vending equipment, and (3) adding to vending citations late fees or other additional charges not authorized by SB-946.”

Katie McKeon, Staff Attorney with Public Counsel, one of the two law firms representing the plaintiffs along with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, said, “The city’s discriminatory exclusion of sidewalk vending businesses from large areas of the City is clearly in violation of state law. Sidewalk vendors are entitled to usage of the city’s sidewalks and public space, and any exclusion of sidewalk vendors must be justified through objective evidence. Elected officials can’t discriminate against one type of business based merely on personal preference or to make well-connected constituents happy.”

Venice Community Leader Joëlle

Dumas Passes Away

Beloved pillar of Venice community passes away at 73

By Dolores Quintana

Joëlle Dumas, a beloved pillar of the community of Venice has died at the age of 73. She was the founder and director of the Ecole Claire Fontaine and served as the chairperson of the Venice Chamber of Commerce Education Committee. Dumas was awarded the prestigious “Palmes Academiques,” and is Executive Director of Cultural Affairs for “Movement of French Abroad.” Fluent in French, English and Spanish, she has worked cooperatively with the French Consulate, Alliance Française, Los Angeles Accueil, the Venice Neighborhood Council, the Getty Museum, UCLA and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Before moving to the U.S. 30 years ago, she earned a teaching degree from the University of Bordeaux and taught at the Chantemerle International Institution. The emailed statement from the Venice

Chamber of Commerce said, “She was a blazing force and her devotion to her kids, to the Venice Chamber of Commerce and to the Venice community will leave a lasting legacy.

Joëlle shared so much love and joy, always giving and thinking of others. She will be greatly missed. The loss we feel in our Chamber community is huge so we can only imagine how much more her loss means to our community members, her family, and to all who loved her. RIP beautiful soul, thank you for your service and smiles.”

On the Venice Chamber of Commerce Education Committee website, Dumas said, “The guiding mission of the VCCEC is to elevate the status of children and education, while underscoring the importance of our community’s communication. During my 10 years as Chair of the Venice Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, I have worked as the architect of bridges between local businesses and educators, developing a lasting forum where ideas and action meet for the betterment of our community and beyond, fulfilling Abbot Kinney’s vision for Venice as a Mecca for art, culture and education. The VCCEC promotes equality and inclusivity in our community of schools by fostering

invigorating learning environments for local children of all backgrounds to be educated together, and so creating indelible bonds in our dear Venice.”

Her memorial service was held on December 17.

A statement from her husband Jimmy, daughter Gwendoline and son Clay on her website said, in loving tribute, “What is so great about stars is that even after they cease to burn their radiance reaches the eyes of countless children over many years.

We, Joëlle’s immediate family, have lost our sun, but we are consoled by the radiance we see reflected in so many of you: our family, our friends, and the great Ecole Claire Fontaine community that Joëlle created and nurtured for more than thirty years.”

Members of the community who would like to share a memory of Joelle Dumas with her family can do so through a form on her website or by emailing it to the following email address. The page states, “If the spirit moves you to share a memory of Joëlle or ECF, our family would be grateful to hear from you. If you have a photo or video to include, please email it to memories@laclairefontaine.org.

A final paragraph on the website set up in tribute of this great woman says, “On December 12, 2022, Joëlle passed to another plane, peacefully and painlessly, surrounded by her husband Jimmy, children, Gwendoline and Clay, sister Anne, and hermana Lily. For the past few years she willed herself to school, farmers’ markets, and community gatherings in spite of an aggressive cancer and the treatments intended to slow it down. Now she is resting.

May her memory be an inspiration to body surf at sunrise, show up first to the farmers’ market, speak fearlessly in foreign languages, and above all else, to eye the world through the eyes of children.”

By Nick Antonicello

Los Angeles Councilmember Traci Park (DCD11) has announced a series of new hires to round out her legislative staff according to the campaign’s Facebook page.

Park, a Venice attorney defeated fellow Venetian and lawyer Erin Darling in the November General Election by a 52%-48% margin with nearly 100,000 votes cast, the largest turnout of any of the city’s fifteen council contests.

The first female council member to represent Venice since the days of former council member Cindy Miscikowski, Park replaced Mike Bonin, who dropped out of the race and retired last January after nearly a decade on this municipal body.

Park announced the appointment of the following eleven hires:

• Jeff Khah will serve as a Planning Deputy and brings a long resume of government service to Park’s staff as an urban planner and public policy analyst.

• William Ayala will serve as a council aide and was formerly a staffer with Mitch O’Farrell, who was defeated for a third term last month by Hugo Soto-Martinez by a margin of 58%-42%. O’Farrell served eight days as Council President in lieu of the resignation of Nury Martinez and previously served as President Pro Tempore. O’Farrell was elected in 2013 and reelected in 2017. Originally from Oklahoma, O’Farrell was the first NativeAmerican to serve on the body.

• Gabriela Medina will serve as Park’s District Director. A graduate of UCLA, Medina served in the same capacity for former Councilmember Joe Buscaino, a close ally and supporter of Park. A retired police officer, Buscaino briefly made a bid for mayor and announced his run in Venice Beach at the height of the homeless crisis in the summer of 2021. Medina began her career as a volunteer for Buscaino’s initial bid for the LA City Council.

• Jamie Paige has joined Team Park as a Communications Deputy. A former member of the Venice Neighborhood Council, Paige is

the founder and editor of the Westside Current, formerly known as the Venice Current, a website that covers news, politics, government and other happenings on the Westside. TheWestside Current was an early supporter of the Park candidacy and strongly endorsed her primary and general election bids. The site was also a strong supporter of former LA Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who was defeated for reelection by new Sheriff Robert Luna, the retired police chief of the city of Long Beach.

• Joey Bailey returns as Homeless Outreach Liaison, the same position he held with Councilmember Mike Bonin and is one of two holdovers from the former councilmember’s staff.

• Clint Carlton will serve as Park’s Homelessness Director, one of the central themes of the Park campaign. Carlton brings a long resume of service in the area of homelessness in the not-for-profit space and will no doubt play a critical role in reforming LA’s current homelessness crisis in wake of Mayor Karen Bass’s announcement that a state of emergency now exists and the goal in year one is to house 15,000 of the some 50,000 people now living on the streets with nearly 2,000 here in Venice alone. The Venice Median project, the Flower Avenue situation at Lincoln as well as other encampments in and about the Venice neighborhood will certainly be at the top of Park’s agenda.

• Dave Cano joins Team Park as an Executive Assistant, a similar role he held with former Councilman Mitch O’Farrell.

• Carol Williams is a former Bonin staffer who is being retained as a Homeless Outreach Liaison and has decades of experience of working with individuals currently unhoused.

• Jacob Burman, who served as Campaign

Director for the Park effort will come on board as a Senior Advisor. A campaign professional, Burman served as Regional Director for GOTV for the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party and is a graduate of George Washington University. A former member of the College Democrats, Burman previously served as a volunteer firefighter.

• Paris Parsamyan will serve as Park’s Chief of Staff. Another former staffer with Councilman O’Farrell, she served as his deputy legislative director. A former counselor with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Parsamyan earned her MS in Counseling at UCLA.

• Kevin Brunke will serve as Park’s Legislative Deputy. A former member of the staff of Mitch O’Farrell, Brunke is a graduate of Occidental College and served in a communications capacity with the former councilmember.

Nick Antonicello is a longtime Venetian who covered the race for LA City Council in CD-11 and filed the most stories of any media outlet. A member of the Outreach and Oceanfront Walk Committees of the Venice Neighborhood Council, he can be reached at nantoni@ mindspring.com

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