REMOVAL OF FLOWER AVENUE ENCAMPMENT

In December and January I helped move the homeless encampment off Flower Avenue near the corner of Lincoln. Here is what people said about my efforts:

“VNC Community Officer Clark Brown has made cleaning and clearing the encampment his personal mission….a retired attorney [he] is now investigating legal remedies to bring the encampment to a final close” (from 10/25/22 Yo Venice column below).

“Thank you Clark… for all your leadership and time that you have afforded to this problem. I certainly cannot thank you enough and I wished we had more people like you as our elected officials.”(12/8/22 email to me from resident Daniel Saparzadeh)

“I would like to give a huge thank you to Clark Brown!! Who stayed with me the entire time to assist with the process. At one point he even sat in a folding chair to help keep the area clear while we waited for the fencing to arrive! …As a final note, I would like to say the Clark has reached out to multiple homeless assistance entities for outreach and there are places for the people who were living on our street.” (12/21/22 email from resident Elizabeth Williams)

“Thanks for all you do for our community.”  (12/28/22 email from resident Brian Averill)

DEVELOPMENT OF SAFE CAMPING AND TINY HOMES SITES ON VACANT PARCELS AT LAX

Since my July 2021 election as a Community Officer I have continually pushed  the City develop and use 3 vacant parcels of land the City owns at LAX for safe camping and tiny homes for the homeless. To that end I have served 7 records requests on the City under the California Public Records Act, brought 2 motions before the Venice Neighborhood Council, lobbied the City to develop the parcels, conducted tours of the Parcels and obtained the support of  Hope of the Valley which has built 6 tiny home villages for the homeless and which has already developed concept drawings for doing this on the Parcels.

“Hi Clark, I LOVE  your tenacity!!![Caps and exclamation marks in original. (10/10/27 Ken Craft, CEO, Hope of the Valley)

COEUR D’ALENE AVENUE TREES

For almost 2 years Stewart Oscars and I have lobbied the the LAUSD and the City to save the Pipu Trees, which provide a lovely canopy over Coeur d’ Alene but whose roots are destroying the sidewalks, by building tree wells around the tree roots and slightly re-routing the sidewalks around the tree wells.

ARTICLES BY AND ABOUT MY EFFORTS TO REMEDY HOMELESSNESS IN VENICE

Since 2021 I and others wrote the following pieces about my efforts to remedy homelessness in Venice.  Please click on the links below to read them in full:

“Letters to the Editor: Sheriff Villanueva is trying to aid Venice's homeless. City Hall should help him”  6/12/21 LA Times

“Response To Nick Antonicello Recent Yo Venice Pieces About The City Failure To Take Any Steps To Effectively Deal With Homelessness.”  5/3/22 YO! Venice

“The Flower Avenue Debacle. Five Years Of Government Inaction And Failure.”  10/25/22 YO! Venice

“End The Fires. Move The Homeless To Vacant Lots Near LAX.” 11/10/22, 12/1/22 Argonaut

“Flower Avenue Comprehensive Cleanup”  12/11/22 YO! Venice

“Vacant Parcels At Are Necessary For Mayor’s Inside Safe Initiative”  1/9/23 YO! Venice

“Doing the Job and Doing it  Well!”  2/1/23 YO! Venice

“Reduce Homelessness with the Mayor’s Directives and the Vacant Parcels at LAX” 2/23/23 Argonaut