We wanted to let you know that the court ruled in favor of Hollywood Community Housing and Venice Community Housing in Venice Community Housing Corp. v. LA Board of Transportation, LASC Case No. 25STCP00892 this week, finding that the City’s Board of Transportation Commissioners (“BOTC”) did not have the authority to deny use of Lot 731 (the Venice Median) for the Venice Dell Project and ordering the BOTC to vacate that action. The Coalition was not involved in the lawsuit, and we do not yet know what the implications of that ruling will be.
We also wanted to let you know that, thanks to generous support from the community, we were able to file a Motion for a Protective Order asking the court to quash (extinguish) the subpoena LA Forward served on the Coalition earlier this year in LA Forward Institute v. City of Los Angeles, LASC Case No. 24STCV17156. There is a copy of our Motion in our Document Library: https://www.safecoastaldevelopment.org/document-library/
As set forth in our Motion, LA Forward (which has 14 attorneys of record in the case) contends, in essence, that the Coalition represents a racist, homeless-hating White minority, with deep pockets, that bullied Mayor Bass, City Attorney Feldstein Soto and Councilmember Park into opposing Venice Dell in violation of the Fair Housing Act and related laws.
Mike Bonin (who championed Venice Dell before leaving office) is a Senior Fellow at LA Forward, and the lawsuit was filed by Faizah Malik, in her role as an attorney for LA Forward. Malik is currently challenging Park for City Council and has made Venice Dell a major issue in the race.
As served, the subpoena was 14 pages long and sought literally all the Coalition’s records (including internal communications and communications with supporters) going back a decade (five years before the Coalition was formed).
And unfortunately, LA Forward has now served similar subpoenas on at least three Venice residents simply for speaking out against Venice Dell in the press.
As set forth in our Motion, our view is that these subpoenas are an abuse of process, because they were served for the improper purpose of harassing Venice Dell opponents and undercutting support for Park in the City Council race, and that they violate rights to speech, petition and association under the First Amendment, as well as the right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.
These rights are precious, so we intend to keep fighting for them. Please help us if you can! We cannot do it without you!