Category: Letters To The Editor

Re: Mike Bonin’s Lack of Leadership Editor: I don’t like people living in the streets. I don’t like poverty. I don’t like Councilman Bonin or his staff. I have been a homeowner in Venice for 38 years, and during that entire period of time I have worked in the “affordable housing” field. Your letter, Mike Bonin’s Lack of Leadership…. (June 10, from Mark Von Gessel), like so many others of the kind, as well as these recall Bonin people who want to waste my tax money on numerous unnecessary extra elections, all seem to miss one thing: they have no suggested lawful solutions to the problem. And yes, it is unconstitutional to force people to move off of the street and onto some property near LAX or anywhere else. This is America — not China, Russia or Nazi Germany. And you have to build the housing first, so obviously you can’t move them “immediately”, as the writer demands. So, if you want to help, support housing groups like Venice Community Housing Corp, who are actually building these projects to house people. So, be constructive, instead of just complaining about the liberals. Jack Schwartz Venice Main Street Closure Editor: 43-year homeowner on 2nd Street near Marine Street. In that time period, the few times Main Street closed due to construction or emergencies, my street becomes a nightmare. Don’t forget the little guys!...

Santa Monica Libraries in Peril Editor: “The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” – Albert Einstein On June 22, the city leaders could decide to drastically cut funding the public libraries in Santa Monica. The role of public libraries has evolved from just simply checking out books to being a vital community resource. They are public spaces where people of all ages and races get together to have their lives enriched by the workshops, lectures, computer learning classes, even real dogs to help shy children learn to read, and so much more. After the isolation we endured during the pandemic, we need a place to go that’s free of charge. A place to recharge our spirits and our minds. It is hard to fathom that shuttering our libraries because of funding issues is even considered. Money spent on costly consultants, boondoggle projects and overpaid city employees could be trimmed to keep our libraries open. For more information contact: save.sm.library@gmail.com Lou Steiner Homeless Common Sense Remedies Re: Moving Homeless Encampments (May 27, 2021) Editor: It is good to know there are community leaders with just good old common sense as exemplified by the short-term remedy to the present crisis of 66,436 homeless persons in Los Angeles County as proposed by Mr. Clark Brown in his letter to the editor. The legality mentioned...

Mike Bonin’s lack of leadership on homelessness Editor: The recent increase in homelessness in Venice, specifically the last two years, is due directly to Councilman Michael Bonin’s lack of leadership and planning. I have lived in Venice since 1991 and have never seen the number of homeless in Venice so rampant, and more importantly, see the number of unhoused people be so confrontational. Both issues are being caused by Bonin’s lack of leadership as a city official. He claims to be spearheading solutions, but if one takes an in-depth look, one will see he helped create the current situation happening in Venice. Unsheltered homelessness in Los Angeles is not a new issue nor is it at its all-time high. Based upon LA County’s own data, 2020 had 48,000 unsheltered homeless people. In 2005, there were 53,000 unsheltered homeless. That means there are 10% fewer unsheltered people now than in 2005. But the state of affairs in Venice is exponentially more problematic than in 2005. The reason for this is the city of LA’s handling of where and how to deal with unsheltered homeless. There were hundreds of homeless (sheltered and unsheltered) living in a controlled area near the airport, the area between Manchester, La Cienega, Century and Aviation. This area is approximately 100 acres that are owned by the city of LA within Bonin’s district. The city and airport had development plans, and in...

Marijuana smoke Editor: Now that marijuana is legal in Santa Monica, I smell it everywhere. Not only when walking outside, but even when I open my windows, I smell it wafting in from nearby apartments. It seems many people have a mistaken attitude that, while secondhand tobacco smoke is deadly, secondhand “medical marijuana” smoke is neutral or even beneficial. But consider these facts, which I quote from the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation website: • Secondhand smoke from combusted marijuana contains fine particulate matter that can be breathed deeply into the lungs, which can cause lung irritation, asthma attacks, and makes respiratory infections more likely. Exposure to fine particulate matter can exacerbate health problems, especially for people with respiratory conditions like asthma, bronchitis or COPD. • Significant amounts of mercury, cadmium, nickel, lead, hydrogen cyanide and chromium, as well as three times the amount of ammonia, are found in mainstream marijuana smoke than is in tobacco smoke. • In 2009, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment added marijuana smoke to its Proposition 65 list of carcinogens and reproductive toxins, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. It reported that at least 33 individual constituents present in both marijuana smoke and tobacco smoke are Proposition 65 carcinogens. • Secondhand smoke from marijuana has many of the same chemicals as smoke from tobacco, including...

Moving homeless encampments Editor: Homeless encampments have taken over Ocean Front Walk, the neighborhoods around the Bridge Home on Pacific and Sunset, parts of Lincoln Boulevard and other Venice neighborhoods. In addition, continuously occupied RVs line Pacific north of the Bridge Home and around the Binocular Building. No one has the right to occupy public places, but the courts have not allowed cities to remove the homeless from such places if it has no place for them to stay. Los Angeles recently and successfully moved homeless people from Rose Avenue next to Penmar Golf Course and from Echo Park. It was able to do this because it had other places for them to stay. LA can do that again. The city owns a large vacant parcel of many acres at the intersection of La Cienega and Century behind the Hilton Hotel (Parcel 1). It also owns another similarly large vacant parcel at the intersection of La Tijera and Westchester Parkway (Parcel 2). By Memorial Day on May 31 (the start of summer), LA should: (1) remove all tents from Ocean Front Walk, the Bridge Home Neighborhood and Lincoln Boulevard, (2) bar continuously occupied RVs from Pacific Avenue, and (3) require the occupants to move their tents and RVs to Parcel 1, which is easily big enough to accommodate them. The city must also provide necessary sanitation and service facilities...