A group of residents held a conference this morning protesting the city’s weekly sidewalk sanitation sweeps along the Venice Boardwalk. The main demand, that the restrooms be opened at night for the homeless.
Jarad Ben Noah, who has previously been homeless but now sleeps in the garage of a local Venice artist said he believed the city was wasting money cleaning each week “They could be spending that money opening up safe bathrooms so people don’t actually create problems out here.”
Each week the it’s the same ritual for those homeless in Venice, they gather their possession, movie off the boardwalk, wait for the cleaning crew to come past, and then everyone returns to their spots along, an albeit cleaner, Ocean Front Walk.
Next stop for the protesters who had gathered at the public parking lot at Sunset and Ocean Front Walk was said to be Mayor Eric
Garcetti’s residence where the plan was to continue with demands for a more humane solution to end homelessness.
“The poor will always be with us, you can’t just make them go away” said Noah
