Backslide of New Homeless Encampments at Flower Must Be Removed Now!
By Nick Antonicello
Just when I thought it was safe to stroll Flower free of illegal encampments, guess again!
After years of hostile encampments riddled with crime, drug usage, prostitution and gang activity, city officials finally cleaned and swept Flower with the arrival of newly elected leadership in LA Mayor Karen Bass (D) and Councilwoman Traci Park (CD-11).
After the neighborhood worked together to rid the street of the scourge of this illegal and criminal encampment, somehow and some way, tents are back and they are testing the sense of those who worked so hard to clean things up!
Who’s street is this?
The residents, tenants and property owners or the transients?
These photos were just taken last week and now represent a terrible backslide of the progress previously made.
For those Venice residents who play by the rules, are hard-working and sincerely seek a safe haven to live, are they not entitled to a clean street free of these disgusting conditions?
When will city officials finally understand you can’t normalize, dismiss and enable bad behavior?
It’s a question that needs to be asked. If this rerun is allowed and enabled, why would any citizen of Venice and LA have any confidence that anything can be done?
For why is Los Angeles not filing the proper legal challenges that will prevent this notion that it’s fine and legal to live on the streets?
Why isn’t there a functional database of those on the streets as to where they are originally from and just how many are not from Los Angeles and have no connection to this community and city?
For the question that President George Bush asked the world after 9/11 was simple: Are you with America or the terrorists?
The question in 2023 to elected officials, service providers and others who have an obligation to prevent this backslide is this: Do you represent the residents or the transients?
For how depressing is it for locals to see this obvious and evident backslide? Do the transients believe the cleanup was for these individuals to return and trash Flower all over again?
There must be “zero tolerance” for this new infusion of encampments on Flower.
Enough is enough.
LAPD needs to step-in and enforce the law and there can be no compromise here.
For if Flower is reversed, the transients are the winners and the residents of Venice are the losers.
Nick Antonicello is a thirty-year resident who covers the issue of street encampments here in Venice. Have a take or a tip regarding a new or existing encampment on your block? E-mail Antonicello at nantoni@mindspring.com
