KEEP OUR PUBLIC STREETS FREE! NOPDs IN VENICE

Why This Is Important

NOPDs IN VENICE!  KEEP OUR PUBLIC STREETS FREE!  

 PRESERVE ALL PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE VENICE COASTAL ZONE!

UPDATE: JUNE 18, 2010  ~

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SIGNED THE PETITION!  PLEASE STAY TUNED BECAUSE IT ISN'T OVER YET ~ OPD SUPPORTERS HAVE VOWED TO FIGHT BACK. 

PLEASE CONTINUE SIGNING AND SENDING EMAILS TO OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

A resounding victory for NOPDs in Venice ~ supporters of the NO OVERNIGHT PERMIT PARKING DISTRICTS (NOPDs) in VENICE gathered at the CA Coastal Commission (CCC) hearing, June 10, 2010 for the 2nd battle over OPDs in Venice.

For the second year in a row, the California Coastal Commission has denied a request for overnight parking restrictions by Venice residents who have complained about people living in campers and cars on the streets.

The panel's 6-3 vote Thursday also quashed a proposed settlement that the city of Los Angeles had hoped would resolve the divisive issue over how to deal with recreational vehicle dwellers, who some Venice residents contend bring noise, public inebriation, crime and litter.

Some commissioners said they continue to believe that such parking restrictions in the coastal zone would negatively affect the public’s ability to access the beach in the early morning.

“What we are being asked of is to approve a restriction in the Venice area. That restriction, in my view, does in fact limit access and I’m not convinced we need to do that at this point,” Coastal Commissioner Mark Stone said.

Referring to the commission’s vote one year earlier, Commissioner Sara Wan said the state board denied the parking permits because of public access impacts and not due to social issues related to people living in their vehicles.

“The city seems to be under some misunderstanding that the streets in these areas should be restricted to residents,” Wan said. “I believe that this particular plan will adversely affect the public’s ability to get to the beach.”

The commission’s vote additionally nullified a proposed lawsuit settlement between the commission, City of Los Angeles and Venice Stakeholders Association regarding the commission’s denial of overnight parking permits at last year’s meeting. The tentative agreement proposed that the city would need to have oversize vehicle parking restrictions in place for at least six months, along with other mitigation measures such as allowing additional parking in beach lots, before overnight parking districts (OPDs) could take effect between 2 and 6 a.m. The OPDs would only be established when they receive the support of a two-thirds majority of residents on a certain block.

City Councilman Bill Rosendahl said he was very disappointed in the commission’s vote to reject the settlement conditions, calling it “terribly unfair” that Venice has not been given the same right to regulate street parking as other coastal communities. Though he was “flabbergasted” by the decision, Rosendahl said he now wants to focus his energy on implementing an oversize vehicle law, which the council’s transportation committee has already approved, as well as the safe parking program.

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UPDATE:  Monday, May 31, 2010

Negotiators for the Coastal Commission, the city of Los Angeles and Mark Ryavec’s “Venice Stakeholders Association” have reached a tentative agreement on a lawsuit concerning the Coastal Commission’s right to regulate overnight parking (OPDs) in Venice.

UPDATE:  Friday, May 14, 2010

From Charles Posner of California Coastal Commission:

The proposed settlement calls for a public hearing before CCC to reconsider the City's proposed OPDs. The date of the public hearing has not been set. The public will be notified once the public hearing is scheduled. The notice will be at least two weeks before the meeting. Check CCC's meeting schedule and agenda at ~ http://www.coastal.ca.gov.

PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD AND SIGN OUR PETITION WHICH WILL SEND EMAILS TO CCC, CD11 AND CITY ATTNY. THNX!

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UPDATE:  Friday, May 6, 2010

Recently the California Coastal Commission (CCC) struck a tentative settlement with the Venice Stakeholders Association (VSA) to allegedly allow Overnight (Permit) Parking Districts (OPDs) in Venice, CA.  The details of the settlement have not been made public and it appears that it will be several months before the settlement terms will go into effect. 

Below are details of events leading up to this latest development in what has become a long drawn out battle to keep the streets of Venice free of permit parking:

Less than two months after the California Coastal Commission chose not to issue permits for overnight parking restrictions in five areas of Venice, on June 11, 2009, a community residents' group called Venice Stakeholders Association, headed up by Mark Ryavec, filed a lawsuit challenging the state agency’s jurisdiction to approve such permits.  

In its lawsuit against CCC and City of Los Angeles, filed on August 10th, 2009, VSA alleged that CCC failed to follow the California Coastal Act when it voted in June, 2009 to deny coastal development permits for overnight (permit) parking districts (OPDs) on Venice streets.  When denying the parking permits, CCC indicated that they felt they were being tasked with handling the social issue of poor people living in their vehicles, rather than a coastal access issue.

VSA sought a writ of mandate to invalidate the commission’s denial of the permits, and a declaration that CCC lacks jurisdiction in regard to OPDs and coastal development permits in the city.  

VSA were joined in their effort by the right wing, anti-environmental Pacific Legal Foundation which has attempted for years to dilute the safeguards of the California Coastal Act.  This partnership finally brings clarity to the real intentions of VSA which have been obscured by confusing legal maneuvers and misleading public statements by their spokesperson, Mark Ryavec, a development consultant.

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