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By John Seeley, Contributor
The Venice Boardwalk, long viewed by some visitors as a low-key freak show, transformed in June into a full-fledged three-ring political circus when a long-shot, would-be mayor, a troubled sheriff and foes of the Westside’s city councilman kicked off their 2022 campaigns a year early, drafting Venice’s beachside tent-dwellers as the menace or symbols of “anarchy” they will run against.
District 15’s Los Angeles city councilman, ex-policeman, Joe Buscaino of San Pedro, chose the Boardwalk as the site for an early launch of his run for Los Angeles mayor on June 7. Buscaino used the locals as props as he announced his plan for a “safer Los Angeles” that would build more housing but also “must engage every measure available” — including arrests — to clear the homeless from parks and other public spaces. He cited two recent incidents of nearby violence, although the perpetrators had not been identified as boardwalk residents, and urged the shutdown of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, better known as LAHSA, whose policies had, in his view, failed badly. His press conference was attended by dozens of indignant locals holding “SAVE US JOE” signs, and much amplified in the media when an unhoused 19-year-old woman who dropped a hunting knife at the periphery of the gathering was detained by Buscaino’s security detail and arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department.
“I am grateful for my safety, the safety of the public,” said Buscaino later that day after being whisked away; “I am convinced now, more than ever, that bold action is needed to make our city safer for everyone.”
The young woman, charged with possessing an illegal dagger and released that evening, said she carried it for defense against rapists, and had no idea who Buscaino was.
Within the Buscaino rally was a preview of Ring Two, the recall campaign against Los Angeles Councilman Mike Bonin, who is detested by many Venice residents and businesses for supporting a “bridge home” blocks from the beach. Recall proponents were there in force, but Bonin was not served with formal recall papers until June 15, eight days later.
Later on June 7, the Big Top opened when Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva — facing shaky prospects for a second term after a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, or LASD, killing of an unarmed Latino teenager, refusal to meet with the Oversight Committee and feuds with the inspector general and county supervisors — suddenly appeared for a photo op on Ocean Front Walk, promising holiday fireworks by clearing the boardwalk by July 4. In tweetwars and other heated exchanges with Bonin and County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl — neither of whom were notified of his appearance or plans — he condemned their oversight and asserted his right, as top local law enforcement authority, to substitute his own forces for a “handcuffed” LAPD.
While Venice homelessness will be a continuing problem for Bonin and an ongoing talking point for Buscaino, Villanueva has set himself a shorter timeline for resolving problems, which may be self-defeating, considering the host of obstacles he faces.
Among the practical obstacles are a lack of interface with local service agencies that unhoused people know, some of them are openly hostile to what they consider “grandstanding.” Venice Family Clinic CEO Elizabeth Forer told KCRW June 14 that the sheriff isn’t trying to solve the issue — he’s “trying to score political points … stirring up people,” and “just popping up …without coordinating with anybody.”
Six other community groups joined the clinic in a joint “Get-lost” statement. (Others, including Venice Neighborhood Council members and the Venice Chamber of Commerce, countered with a statement backing the sheriff, but these groups have little sway among the tent-dwellers.)
In lieu of local partners, LASD opened their contacts with the unhoused through flyers promoting SHARE! Collaborative Housing, offering “A Solution, Starting at $550” [per month] for room-sharing in private homes. SHARE! does offer a range of supportive services for people with mental health challenges, substance use issues, and peer counseling, say its program director Jason Robison and outreach worker Tom Haberkorn, but they have only two homes in the Westside area. While there will be openings elsewhere in the county, many spaces are committed to locals, and expecting much aid from SHARE! by July 4 would be “a really heavy lift,” says Robison.
The following week, LASD had less to say about SHARE! Instead, a woman using a wheelchair and a 20ish young man were sent to Salvation Army shelters in faraway City of Bell, while another man was placed in a rehab facility. A majority of the tent residents I met in Week 2 had not spoken with deputies, some avoiding encounters, others simply refusing to talk.
By June 17, the military tone of Villanueva’s debut strutting had softened, and LASD troops evolved into a pizza posse, dispensing lunches with or without pepperoni; conversations on housing was also optional. At an adjacent free haircut service in the same parking lot, a persistent deputy sealed the deal during his trim with a young tent-dweller, who agreed to relocate to a Salvation Army shelter 20-some miles away in Bell. The posse’s half-day harvest was only three campers, even though two dozen deputies and other outreach personnel were on duty. Next week, said Lt. Geff Deedrick, his LASD outreach team will be on the beach three mornings, but at this week’s rate of progress, the homeless census wouldn’t change much.
The sheriff also faces challenges from activists, including StreetWatch and People’s City Council, who demonstrated against the park closure and evictions at Echo Park Lake, plus members of the Venice Justice Committee, all of whom have been handing out “know your rights” flyers and discouraging divulging information to deputies. A Twitter storm was launched June 18 with hashtags #VillanuevaOutof Venice and #VillanuevaMustGo. Activist coalitions sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors the same day demanding they defund the sheriff’s HOST program and transfer resources to community services.
Beyond passive resistance, there may be legal action pending. While the sheriff’s authority may trump that of the LAPD, he is as vulnerable as the City of Los Angeles to limits imposed by the U.S. District Court, 9th Circuit, whose 2018 Martin v. Boise decision holds that anti-camping ordinances aren’t enforceable, if adequate shelter beds aren’t available for those displaced.
Villanueva may have handed opponents additional ammo in his June 9 comments that out-of- state beach residents were special targets:
“We’re coming for you,” he said on his Facebook chat. “You do not belong here in LA County … you need to pack up your bags and head back to the state you came from.”
This statement has echoes of the Depression era, when another local lawman, LAPD Chief James “Two-gun” Davis, erected a “bum blockade” on the state border in 1936 to turn back “Okies” in their jalopies seeking refuge from the Dust Bowl. That was ruled unlawful by the state’s attorney general’s office. Courts, attorneys say, would recognize no distinction between the rights of destitute locals and those from other states, or any authority to deport “alien” Nebraskans or New Yorkers.
Whatever happens by July 4, the homelessness issue will continue as a key factor for the political fortunes of Bonin, Buscaino and Villanueva. But recent polling suggests that the latter two may have misread public opinion on homelessness. An April survey commissioned by AIDS Healthcare Foundation found the issue at the top of voters’ minds – 79% considered it “very serious” — but that doesn’t mean they favor sweeping the unhoused away. Most Los Angeles voters ( Black and Latino voters strongly) also show compassion towards the unhoused, with 54% blaming rising rents and inadequate wages over poor personal choices (31%) as the primary cause of homelessness.
A survey of 2000 Los Angeles County residents by Loyola Marymount University’s StudyLA project early this year found that people are against — by 61 to 39% — clearing encampments unless substitute shelter is offered. Two out of three respondents would endorse supportive housing for the homeless in their neighborhood, a finding perhaps related to the fact that 57% worry that someone in their household may face homelessness.
For the central players in the drama, the days since June 7 have had mixed results. Buscaino scored a small plus with the introduction of his dump LAHSA resolution to city council, co-sponsored by retiring Councilman Paul Koretz. Bonin suffered a setback with the service of the recall petition.
Bonin called the campaign “a thinly disguised attempt to derail my efforts to provide real solutions to our homelessness crisis, and the latest in a series of recall attempts to silence strong progressive voices.” (One was also filed against fellow progressive Nithya Raman, the co-sponsor of the softer, service-oriented approach to homeless sweeps the council adopted unanimously in April.)
Villanueva took a major hit when the Los Angeles County Democratic Party that put him in office voted by a 10-1 margin for his resignation, citing the shot-in-the-back LASD killing of security guard Andres Guadardo as well as long-standing management problems. Whether this inhibits Villanueva, or convinces him he has nothing to lose, remains to be seen.
As for the unhoused Boardwalk residents, little has changed, and most are adopting a wait-and-see attitude. “Got nowhere to go,” said army vet Jack on Thursday — “I’ll hang in as long as I can.”
