Venice Homeless Harassed by LAPD, CD11 Rosendahl, backed by City Attorneys Office

I was not naïve when I attended the Venice Town Hall on Homelessness last Thursday, Sept 23rd. The announcement from Bill Rosendahl's Office set the tone, “Homelessness Issues. Enforcement strategies and social services.”

The opening statement by Councilmen Rosendahl was clearly delivered, “If you are defined as homeless you are not welcome in Venice. If you operate an RV you are being targeted, and just so you understand we're going to threaten you, intimidate you, without offering you any reasonable solutions based on respect and dignity.”

Rosendahl and the City of LA team solutions are to increase LAPD Officers (21 or so), offer waste dumping for RV at Hyperion in South of LAX, and possibly keep the bathrooms open at night. In the same opening statement he made it clear that policing homelessness is NOT a solution. Yet, the show of ego and power was at it's highest level to date. With no California Coastal Commission standing in the way, the City of LA team made certain to use every human rights violation available short of physically harming the people in attendance.

It was indeed absurd. When I arrived in the parking lot I was stopped by many LAPD Officers which were deciding if the lot would be opened because of “threats.” Seeing these men and some women with weapons strapped on talking about having to protect a Venice Town Hall as if it was a fortress for a United Nations meeting holding the US Government to task for many of the injustices motivated by global corporations and the world banks, was OVERKILL! As I assisted a disabled woman from my van at the entrance I was informed my hippie painted van could remain on the grounds. Apparently my Love and Earth message was not perceived as a threat to security, so why were homeless persons?

I was one of the chosen to speak during the Town Hall during the Q & A while others that put in cards before me were bypassed by Mr. Rosendahl. Again it was no surprise that many of those that commented during this segment were part of the agenda to push power of ego over the power of love.

“They're Everywhere,” a statement made by Mr. Rosendahl in regards to RV's in Venice. I counter that stated about LAPD, “They're Everywhere.” I have much of the misuse of power on video as evidence. The following day LAPD Officers were witnessed knocking on doors of RV's. Artist returned from work on Venice Boardwalk to find their vehicles towed compliments of the LAPD orders. Threats were made to leave Venice.

As I stated to the Venice community we are a human race first. No one is illegal on Earth. We must work together to solve our communities challenges instead of pitting each other. This is injustice. This is a fear campaign. Basic human rights are being violated daily in Venice by a bully called the City of LA, and some angry, hateful childish, spoiled residents who believe they are better than the majority of Venice residents. Those that are misusing power pitting our Venice community against each other believe that most of us do not see the extortion, depletion and misuse of out environmental, social and economic resources, etc. but we SEE the big picture.

We're asking others to assist us with our Venice campaign to shift the love of power to the power of love. Unity in diversity using compassion is the path to finding solutions that empower people.