Address Homelessness

I have focused on homelessness---Venice’s biggest problem. I have worked to achieve 3 primary goals: (1) Develop and better enforce ordinances which will preserve public places for all. This means the housed, the unhoused and everyone who lives and works here.  (2) Find and develop decent places for the unhoused and their RVs and OVs that will not interfere with other uses. (3) Develop permanent housing for the unhoused and low income residents, such as the Venice Dell project.

To that end I: (1) Worked with neighbors and businesses to remove and relocate unhoused persons and RVs and OVs from Flower Avenue, Washington Blvd, Marr Street, 4TH Street and Abbot Kinney Blvd. (2) Proposed two resolutions that were passed by the VNC board to simplify and better enforce anti-camping and RV/OV parking ordinances in Venice.  (3) Proposed a resolution to develop a large, vacant City owned parcel at LAX for RVs, OVs and a tiny home village.

What Others Say About Me:

“Retired Attorney Clark Brown is a ‘no-nonsense’ Venetian fighting the plague of street encampments here in the neighborhood! In politics, government and life; there are show horses and work horses. Clark Brown is a work horse. In the case of this longtime Venetian and retired attorney, his zeal for getting the job done and letting others take the credit is unifying, admirable and works as a strategy of stemming the tide of homeless encampments here in Dogtown!”  Yo! Venice  9/30/2023 “Doing the Job and Doing it Well.’

“Brown, a retired attorney and two-term VNC member has made the issue of homelessness a key component of his time on the board as well as  [Mark]Ryavec… Both Brown and Ryavec have called for compassion for the residents who have endured street encampments for years, versus the notion that the unhoused have a right to live on the sidewalks as well as RV’s, buses and campers that are in the hundreds here in the neighborhood.”  Yo! Venice 5/28/24  “VNC Approves  Anti-Camping Prioritized Towing Action of RVs and Campers”

“VNC Community Officer Clark Brown spoke on the need and urgency to have [the Marr] encampment immediately remediated.” Yo! Venice  6/27/24 “Committee Hears Marr Street Residents’ Concerns on [Marr Street] Encampments”

“On behalf of all of us , thank you Mr. Brown Esq. Best from all of us within a 6 o’clock radius if not most all of us in Venice.”  12/28/24  Nikoletta Skarlatos email to me re homeless occupied vehicles on 4th, 5th & Indiana.

“We truly appreciate your time and attention to our concerns….We would greatly value your assistance in addressing the RVs currently stationed at the entrance of The Kinney Hotel.”  01/02/25 Edmund Burnette, manager of The Kinney Hotel, email  to me.

“I also want to thank you, because I honestly don’t know if I would’ve gotten as much traction as I have without your help and contacts.” 01/04/25 Tonya Scoffield email to me  re Marr Street Encampments.

“Thank you Tonya, John [Clark Brown, Jr.], and everyone else involved with finally getting the city’s attention…I sincerely appreciate what you do for our neighborhood [Marr Street].” 01/08/25 Michael Nolan Email to Tonya Scoffield, me and Marr Street activists

Articles about my efforts to reduce homelessness in Venice

Others and I wrote the following articles about my efforts  and proposals 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

“LAWA Failed to Comply with Mayor’s Directive re LAX Parcels”Argonaut 3/29/23

“Install at Lax Tiny Homes from State Grant”   Yo! Venice 4/1/23

“Traci Park’s Zoomer Offered No Concrete Solutions to Venice’s Homeless Problem”   Argonaut 7/11/23

“Marr Street Madness Created by Dilapidated RV”  Yo! Venice  7/16/24

“RVs and Oversized Vehicles Should be Aggressively Ticketed Even if the City Doesn’t Promptly Tow Them”  Yo! Venice 9/27/24

“An Opportunity to Develop a LAX Parcel for the Homeless”   Argonaut  11/7/24

“The Mess on Marr”  Argonaut  1/9/25