Hundreds of Angelenos, businesses, and organizations have put aside any differences to join their voices in support of providing shelter and services to the over 200 unhoused people who have  set up tents and structures on Venice Beach and its boardwalk park during the pandemic.

Sign your name to resolve the growing crisis of hundreds of homeless encampments along Venice Beach and its world-renowned boardwalk. 

We are community members with a 24/7 view of the crime and suffering on our beach. The most susceptible people are unhoused, living in tents and makeshift structures. They are not getting the care and services they need.

 Neglect is posing as a civil right while LA’s most vibrant, welcoming, and accessible beach park devolves into a zone of lawlessness and inhumanity. Homicides, robberies, rapes, assaults, fires, and drug ODs are skyrocketing. THIS MUST STOP NOW.

Please join us in sending an urgent message to Los Angeles City and County officials.

Our public beaches and recreational parks are not set up to provide the necessary care for unhoused individuals. As the pandemic ends, we want to welcome the world back to a safe and lawful Venice Beach. Please join with Friends of Venice Beach, Team Venice, and the Venice Boardwalk Action Committee and show that you prioritize safety and housing over government inaction by signing your name today!

Sign the petition here!

Thank you!

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View photos of Venice taken Jan-April 2021. 

All photos by Venice Paparazzi

Photo by @VenicePaparazzi

Photo by @VenicePaparazzi

Photo by @VenicePaparazzi

The iconic Muscle Beach Gym

723 Oceanfront Walk building. Photo taken pre-fire.

Vacant lot where 723 Oceanfront Walk using.    View 01.13.21 fire details on LAFD.org. 

Read our Open Letter to LA City and County Officials for details.

Venice Beach requires your urgent attention: Unhoused people on Venice Beach and boardwalk need shelter and services while residents and visitors need access to a safe and welcoming beach park.

Our historic and world famous Venice Beach boardwalk park typically gets over 10 million visitors each year. As L.A. enters yellow tier and more people travel, we cannot endanger our visitors by allowing the current lawless and inhumane conditions at Venice Beach to continue.

Encampments have ballooned from 50 tents reported by LAPD in an August 2020 LA Times article to over 200 tents counted by locals in April of 2021. With that surge we have experienced massive increases in: violent crimes, including homicides and brutal rapes; encampment-related fires, such as the destruction of an entire structure; and drug ODs, including a recent death in the newly renovated Rose Avenue bathroom adjacent to a children’s playground. NO ONE IS SAFE – whether unhoused or housed.

Comparing 2020 and 2021 to date, boardwalk area robberies are up 271%, aggravated assaults are up 105.6%, burglaries are up 148%, and violent crimes involving unhoused persons as suspect and/or victim are up more than 75%.

Venice’s world famous beach and boardwalk are crippled. Local children are refusing to come to the beach because they’re frightened by what they’ve witnessed. Seniors who live on or near the boardwalk are terrified of walking in their own neighborhoods. Art vendors can’t access the spaces where they sell their creations to make a living. Restaurant patrons face bodily threats. Beachgoers must thread their way between encampments to reach the sand. And both unhoused and housed residents are prey to the verified gang infiltration happening throughout our park. Enough is enough!

Venice Beach and boardwalk area – including the alleys and historic walk streets used for beach access – must be brought into compliance with

State Coastal Act Law, Section 30210 and LAMC, Section 63.44.

These laws were put in place to ensure fair, safe, and equitable beach and park access.

We – the undersigned community members, organizations, and businesses – fully support our valued LA Park Rangers and LAPD beach detail in making sure these vital protections remain in force. It benefits our entire county to make sure that its most visited beach destination is lawful and welcoming.

You – as responsible officials – MUST ACT NOW to make Venice Beach boardwalk park safe and accessible, as our beach and park laws dictate.

VIEW SIGNATORIES

Sign the petition here!