Thanks to all who reached out responding to Venice Community Housing’s protest at City Hall and shared concern over yet another LATimes hit piece against the Mayor and City Attorney, and even the Coastal Commission, simply for doing their jobs regarding the Venice Median Project.
We chose to avoid that performance theater for all the right reasons. It’s our attention to the legal details that have the developers scrambling and we opted to ignore this background noise as we stay focused on what is working – our lawsuit.
The lawsuit speaks louder than any bullhorn and we need your continued support. Please donate what you can to help keep it going!
Meanwhile, Venice Community Housing Corps’ Becky Dennison speaks of the City just needing to “check a box” so the project can move forward to get their funding. There are good reasons why the city isn’t checking that box.
The Coastal Commission wants the city to sign on as co-applicant for the public parking garage. A 4th notice of incomplete Coastal Development Permit application was just issued to the developers (see all incomplete application notices in document library). The project’s own deficiencies are what is delaying the process, not the City or Coastal Commission.
As we all know, the proposal for the public beach parking garage is a non-starter.
Below is a video shared by our friends at Fight Back Venice that revealed the parking flaws early on- a must watch to understand why the city is not able to sign on to the parking plan:
Numbers may have changed slightly, but the design is still untenable. The structure would impair beach and canal recreational access and be a huge liability to the city.
The developers deliberately misrepresented the parking garage to get an approval from City Council because they didn’t have a workable solution. The mechanical lift parking that is now being proposed by the developer is not comparable replacement of the existing beach parking.
One “slot” (not a spot) in the new garage will cost $80,000. Councilmembers were misled to believe there would be no cost to the city for the public parking garage, but parking fees do not cover the cost and it will undoubtedly impact the City’s General Fund, our tax dollars.
Since this site always required replacement beach access parking and environmental review by Coastal, we ask again why such a complicated site would be selected for this project?
It is URGENT that we all write to Coastal Commission now to support their challenging of the infeasible, unworkable parking structure to be built in a FEMA designated flood zone, considering sea level rise, in one of the lowest lying points of the Santa Monica Bay.
We’ve included a sample letter below. Please cut and paste to the email addresses listed and add your own personal touch where you can. We’ve included City Councilmember emails, as it’s important that they stay informed.
And please ask your like-minded friends to write a letter too, more is better!
LETTER TO COASTAL COMMISSIONERS:
Subject: Venice Dell- No Parking, No Project-
Dear Commissioners:
I am greatly disturbed by a recent LATimes “hit piece” against the Mayor, the City Attorney and even you, the Coastal Commission, as Venice Community Housing Corporation has the press convinced that the Venice Dell Project’s delay is everyone’s fault but their own.
As the developers continue to lobby for a project with serious flaws, presenting dangers to the coastal community, I voice my opposition to the Venice Dell Median Project in the environmentally sensitive historic Venice Canals. The developers disregard the Coastal Act and the environment while proposing an unworkable parking garage that would block and discourage beach and canal access for visitors, from Los Angeles and throughout the world.
The fourth notice of incomplete application has just been issued to the developers. Your hard-working staff has now spent over a year trying to work with the developers and we deeply appreciate their expertise.
I support our Mayor, our City Attorney and Councilwoman, as they work with you to properly evaluate the many existential risks of this project and appreciate you doing the same.
Sincerely,
SEND TO:
Donne.Brownsey@coastal.ca.gov
Dayna.Bochco@coastal.ca.gov
Caryl.Hart@coastal.ca.gov
Effie.Turnbull-Sanders@coastal.ca.gov
Ann.Notthoff@coastal.ca.gov
Linda.Escalante@coastal.ca.gov
Mike.Wilson@coastal.ca.gov
Katie.Rice@coastal.ca.gov
Paloma.Aguirre@coastal.ca.gov
Meagan.Harmon@coastal.ca.gov
Roberto.Uranga@coastal.ca.gov
Justin.Cummings@coastal.ca.gov
Zahirah.Mann@coastal.ca.gov
Matt.OMalley@coastal.ca.gov
David.Ryu@coastal.ca.gov
Gretchen.Newsom@coastal.ca.gov
Susana.Reyes@coastal.ca.gov
Rafael.Mandelman@coastal.ca.gov
Charles.Striplen@coastal.ca.gov
Raul.Campillo@coastal.ca.gov
CC:
Kate.Huckelbridge@coastal.ca.gov
Sarah.Christie@coastal.ca.gov
Steve.Hudson@coastal.ca.gov
Shannon.Vaughn@coastal.ca.gov
Eric.Stevens@coastal.ca.gov
Chloe.Seifert@coastal.ca.gov
Mayor.helpdesk@lacity.org
Hydee.FeldsteinSoto@lacity.org
John.Heath@lacity.org
Traci.Park@lacity.org
Star.Parsamyan@lacity.org
SafeCoastalDevelopment@gmail.com
councilmember.Hernandez@lacity.org
councilmember.Krekorian@lacity.org
councilmember.Blumenfield@lacity.org
contactCD4@lacity.org
councilmember.Yaroslavsky@lacity.org
councildistrict6@lacity.org
councilmember.Rodriguez@lacity.org
councilmember.harris-dawson@lacity.org
councilmember.price@lacity.org
CD10ConstituentServices@lacity.org
councilmember.Park@lacity.org
councilmember.lee@lacity.org
councilmember.Soto-Martinez@lacity.org
councilmember.kevindeleon@lacity.org
councilmember.mcosker@lacity.org