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"RUBBER TRAMPS" the MOVIE SHOWING ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 @ 7:00PM - VENICE METHODIST CHURCH, 2210 LINCOLN BLVD

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Venice Activists Call B.S. On City's Vision Of Beach RV Life

By Dennis Romero - L.A. Weekly - Fri., Jul. 30

Venice activists critical of a Los Angeles plan to house some RV dwellers overnight at special parking lots are calling out the city's document (PDF) on the program for using a photo of a family outside a camper that they say has been doctored. The critics' ire is aimed at Westside Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who is funding the Safe Parking program, since renamed "Streets to Homes." [Update]: Mike Bonin, Rosendahl's chief of staff, said the photo wasn't doctored or "Photoshopped;" rather it was taken from a brochure from a similar program in Eugene, Oregon. (The word "Photoshopped" was taken out of an earlier headline for this story). The fact that the source of the photo was omitted from the document would be corrected, he said.

"This is an outrageous example of the dishonesty with which Mr. Rosendahl is approaching the Venice community to sell this expensive and highly contentious program," Venice resident John Betz said in a statement released Friday.

Mark Ryavec, a longtime opponent of RV dwellers who "park and snooze" in Venice, argues that the campers are often homeless people with drug and mental problems who would be resistant to Rosendahl's $750,000 plan to house and ply them with social services at the overnight lots. More

Gentry Against Funky in Venice

By Dennis Romero - L.A. Weekly - Thurs. Jul 22

Bill Rosendahl's RV campground for drifters and homeless pits left against left-of-left.

Ten old RVs line one block of Third Avenue in Venice. Most are stuffed to the windshields with hoarded junk. Few look roadworthy. Tires are bare. Cobwebs have formed. A man sporting dreadlocks walks up and says three of the campers, all painted in the same '60s rainbow theme, belong to him

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Mark Ryavec, opponent of RVs in Venice trolls the streets

Asked if he would ever participate in Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl's program that would take rig dwellers like him away from residential neighborhoods and place them in special parking lots overnight, he has a few choice words for the city denizens:

"This is not residential," Rasta man says. "Tell them residents, this is a beach. Fuck that shit. We don't give a fuck what people up in them hills think about us." More

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Annual Music Fest at Venice Beach Coming Up
Back for its fifth and biggest year yet, Venice Beach Music Fest 5 will rock the beach with two FREE days of music and an art show on Saturday, August 14, and Sunday, August 15. The festival will be held at Windward Plaza, at the west end of Windward Avenue in the park between the boardwalk and the bike trail.

The Venice Beach Music Fest is a VNC Community Improvement Project.

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In recent years, the increase of homelessness in Los Angeles County has also brought a larger population of individuals and families that lost all access to stable housing and has resorted to living in their vehicles, including cars, vans and RV’s. The population ranges from individuals and families who have experienced homelessness before, to the newly homeless. Due to parking restrictions across the county, many find themselves in the area of Council District 11 (CD11) and with a particular concentration in the Venice neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles in part due to the cooler weather.

The result is a large population of homeless individuals and families in this targeted region that are living in their vehicles. CD11 has initiated a process to design, create, fund, and maintain a Streets to Homes Program in the district to reduce the number of people living in vehicles and return homeless vehicle dwellers to stable, permanent housing. The purpose of the program is to provide homeless individuals and families forced to live in their vehicles with access to outreach services to assess their needs and access Homeless Continuum of Care services, and case management services to address and help resolve barriers to permanent housing.

CD11 has designated the Los Angeles HomelessServices Authority as the administrator of the Streets to Homes Program. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is a joint powers authority created by the City and County of Los Angeles for the purpose of planning, coordinating, and managing resources for homeless programs. A ten member Commission comprised of appointees from the City and County governs LAHSA. More

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KEEP OUR PUBLIC STREETS FREE

RESTORE FREE SPEECH @ VENICE BEACH

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Raids are increasing on farms and private food-supply clubs—here are 5 tips for surviving one

BY David Gumpert - Grist - JUL 14, 2010

When the 20 agents arrived bearing a search warrant at her Ventura County farmhouse door at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday a couple weeks back, Sharon Palmer didn't know what to say. This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat's milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.)

But her 12-year-old daughter, Jasmine, wasn't the least bit tongue-tied. "She started back-talking to them," recalls Palmer. "She said, 'If you take my computer again, I can't do my homework.' This would be the third computer we will have lost. I still haven't gotten the computers back that they took in the previous two raids."

As part of a five-hour-plus search of her barn and home, the agents -- from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Ventura County Sheriff, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture -- took the replacement computer, along with milk she feeds her chickens and pigs.

While no one will say officially what the purpose of this latest raid was, aside from being part of an investigation in progress, what is very clear is that government raids of producers, distributors, and even consumers of nutritionally dense foods appear to be happening ever more frequently. Sometimes they are meant to counter raw dairy production, other times to challenge private food organizations over whether they should be licensed as food retailers.

The same day Sharon Palmer's farm was raided, there was a raid on Rawesome Foods, a Venice, Calif., private food club run by nutritionist and raw-food advocate Aajonus Vonderplanitz. For a membership fee of $25, consumers can purchase unpasteurized dairy products, eggs that are not only organic but unwashed, and a wide assortment of fermented vegetables and other products. More

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