Venice Beach residents demand LA officials act on homeless encampments and crime

Let's call them Bagavonds

The residents of Venice Beach, California are getting what they voted for as homeless encampments and crime continues to fester. And with the Super Bowl on Sunday, they were hoping that ticket holders to the game wouldn't need to see the feces on their streets and the homeless people who put it there.

Around 70 homeless folks of all stripes and odors have been camping overnight at Venice Beach as America's football game gets ready for kickoff and tailgaters get ready to ingest unhealthy food and drink. A recent set of fires associated with the homeless living there has residents worried the fires will spread to their luxury homes and businesses if the Democrats in the city continue to sit on their hands and do nothing, as they tend to do.

Venice Neighborhood Council President Mark Ryavec told Fox News Digital that the 70 or so homeless woh remain in the neighborhood even after last summer's 200 homeless were cleared out, are among the most dangerously drug addicted and mentally ill who have remained. This is obviously due to the indifference of the Democratic Party who are in power there.

Los Angeles city leadership "didn't finish the job," Ryavec said and contends that the LAPD needs more resources and only comes weekly to clear out the homeless. He believes they should do this several times a week to be effective.

"The police and other city agencies have made a valiant effort with too few resources. They're only out there one night a week. And basically, the campers just play cat and mouse," Ryavec said. "The police will tell them to leave, they'll leave and then the police leave, and they come back. So, they're never actually gone. And our concern is another major fire and one that might include the loss of life."

It's a game and the cops know it; the city knows it, and they don't care. As long as it looks like they're doing something, that's all that matters to them if it will keep them in office.

A lawyer for the Venice Neighborhood Council sent a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a serious contender for the award of "Nation's Worst Mayor." Now that Bill de Blasio is gone, Garcetti is a shoo-in.

City Councilman Mike Bonin, City Attorney Mike Feuer and other officials last month warned that the city could be liable for millions of dollars in lawsuit payouts if a fire linked to overnight homeless encampments again spreads to homes or businesses.

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But what about crime? Is the city free of legal recourse if they refuse to do their job?

Last January a fire from a homeless encampment jumped to a vacant building and more than 100 firefighters were called to put it out. The owner of the building is suing Los Angeles.

Photo: Rob Hoey

"Frankly, the city and the social service agencies created the problem by making it so attractive to live outside of Venice Beach," Ryavec said. "You have the bathrooms open 24 hours. Now there are social service agencies that constantly are bringing down and giving away free food.

"They were handing out tents, they were handing out blankets. They even have a doctor from the local free clinic coming down. Some people prefer that to, you know, actually getting their own apartment."

Is this any different from how the government is encouraging illegal immigration across the southern border? Instead of handing out tents, the government is handing out flights across the country.

The January 6th protest against the government had the right message but the wrong presentation.

There is something in the air and I'm not referring to the homeless encampment odors.

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