As you may know, the LA Forward Institute has filed a major lawsuit in LA Superior Court to bring the Venice Dell project back to life. They have essentially asserted that the City’s decision to kill the project many months ago was racially motivated.
LA Forward is a multi-million dollar non-government organization closely affiliated with Mike Bonin that is also actively involved in the CD 11 Council race, backing Faizah Malik and seeking to remove Traci Park from office.
LA Forward is represented by more than a dozen attorneys from 4 major law firms— including O’Melveny and Meyers, one of the largest and most powerful law firms in the world.
Last month, LA Forward served the Coalition with a massive third party subpoena seeking documents and testimony on 20 different topics, including all communications with Councilwoman Traci Park, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, Mayor Bass and others.
The subpoena goes all the way back to 2016, many years before the Coalition was formed and clearly serves no legitimate purpose in connection with the lawsuit. It is intended to intimidate us and silence those who agree with us on the Venice Dell Project, as well as to bully all constituents from participating in the political process.
We are objecting to this as a direct attack on our First Amendment rights, including our right to free speech, our right to petition, our right to access courts and our right to association.
After several years of fighting in court to stop this project, we are out of money. We simply cannot afford to fight this subpoena without your support.
Standing up to this bullying is important for us and the entire community.
We hope we can count on your support in our time of need.
Donations can be made at the links below:
The Coalition, a 501(c)(4) – not tax deductible:
https://www.safecoastaldevelopment.org/donations/support-scd/
Or the Environmental Fund at the Venice Canals Association, a 501(c)(3):
https://venice-canals-association.square.site/product/donate/8?si=true
The full subpoena can be viewed on our website in the Document Library linked here.