On March 13, 2014 a coalition consisting of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN), Occupy Venice and the Venice Justice Committee appeared before the California Coastal Commission meeting in Long Beach regarding the City of Los Angeles' Illegal curfew law enforced on Venice Beach and Boardwalk (Ocean Front Walk). Why is it an illegal curfew law? Because according to the California Constitution and the California Coastal Act, no beach can be closed without first obtaining a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) from the Coastal Commission. This is State law, which a City has to comply with. And LA has not.
Opposing this LA City beach curfew law is not a new effort. The first complaint was filed in November 2007, when the Venice Justice Committee discovered that the City had closed the beach without a CDP. They are State law breakers. Even more egregious to denying us all our right to access of the beach, the City was arresting people with this illegal law. That is why the effort to oppose this law became part of a local Homeless Bill of Rights campaign.
Full story and photographs: What's Up With the Beach Curfew? by by Peggy Lee Kennedy
For the 15th year marking International Women’s Day in Southern California, on March 8th a warm and sunny Saturday, a mixed race and enthusiastic crowd of approximately 450 women, men, quite a lot of young people, and lots of children gathered for a free concert and speakout at the MacArthur Park Band Shell in Los Angeles.
This year: IWD events internationally marked Haiti’s revolutionary legacy, and the continuing courage and resilience of its people, starting with women. From Berkeley, Boston, Claremont, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Springfield (USA), Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Windsor (Canada), Guyana and elsewhere, to Dublin and London, people have gathered in solidarity with the Haitian people. Actions in Haiti and across the world marked the 10th anniversary of the coup (29 February 2004) which overthrew the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide – former liberation theology priest and Haiti’s first democratically elected and much loved and trusted President. Also on this the first anniversary of the death of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, we were remembering this extraordinary leader of the Bolivarian Revolution which changed Latin America and the world.
Full Story: Rock, Rap & Speakout vs Poverty, Prisons & War By Ruth Todasco of Global Women’s Strike/LA