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LA County Reaches Somber Milestone of Over 5,000 COVID-19 Deaths

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 22:24:31 GMT

Hospitalizations continue to decline

By Sam Catanzaro

L.A. County reached a somber milestone Tuesday of over 5,000 COVID- 19 deaths.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health (Public Health) confirmed 63 new deaths and 1,440 new cases of COVID-19. The number of new cases reported today is missing lab reports from one of the larger labs which is contributing to the lower number of new cases, according to Public Health.

“L.A. County has hit a tragic milestone today — more than 5,000 of our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers have died because of COVID-19. This is heartbreaking and reminds us of the human toll of this pandemic. Our hearts go out to the many families that have lost a love one to this pandemic,” said Barbara Ferrer, Director of Public Health. “One of the deaths we are reporting today is of a young adult under the age of 29. This is a reminder that the risk for all of us is real and that no matter how young you are, this virus can be deadly. We must continue to adopt practices that slow the spread of this virus; this allows us to prevent these untimely deaths.”

Tuesday’s numbers do not include backlog numbers. The State indicated that a backlog of lab reports for L.A County from the State electronic laboratory system (ELR) should be reconciled this week. Data sources that track other key indicators, including hospitalizations and deaths, are not affected by this reporting issue, however, the County says.

Testing results are available for more than 1,965,000 individuals with 10 percent of all people testing positive. As of Tuesday, Public Health has identified 211,808 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 5,057 deaths. In there has been cases and deaths.

There are 1,524 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 32% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU. Daily hospitalizations were over 2,000 patients a month ago.

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New Main St. Restaurant Papille Gustative Serves up Artisan Foods While Being Zero Waste

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 21:25:04 GMT

Locally sourced food comes to Santa Monica

By Toi Creel

A new restaurant has opened in Santa Monica on Main Street.

Papille Gustative ( Taste Buds in Latin) serves up artisan food with locally sourced ingredients and is a zero-waste eatery.

“It is our vision of serving what we and our children love to eat,” said owner Calin Senciac.

He wanted to find a restaurant that served good, locally sourced food as well as coffee and teas.

He chose Santa Monica because he felt it was “more cosmopolitan than other parts of LA” and he wanted to educate the community.

“Marina, my partner, is a certified nutritionist. We are both so happy when people leave with a different approach about food and ingredients.”

So what exactly is a zero-waste facility? That means the restaurant does not produce any trash.

“We put everything in buckets and we bring everything every second day to our self built compost facility in Vernon CAW, so we will have our fertilizer for when we will start planting a few months from now.”

In addition to the food, all the “ to go” items are compostable including: cups, utensils, to-go boxes, bags, straws and even trash bags. The company says they pay extra for the biodegradable items, but to them it is worth it.

The restaurant says they also keep things small and source from local farmer’s markets to stock their kitchens. And if the challenge to stay environmentally friendly isn’t enough, they’re also adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As much as we can, [we have] disinfectant bottles everywhere for everyone.”

Senciac says staff is constantly wiping surfaces, wearing masks, face shields, and gloves. They also practice social distancing and separation.

It’s a lot to run a restaurant, let alone one that has a safe and responsible environmental footprint, but Papille Gustative says they’re not just in it for the money.

“We do this because it is our passion,” said Senciac, who alongside his partner had been planning for the restaurant for three years.

”We know it will turn out to be a profitable venture, eventually… But we have a different goal. Seeing people’s lives get changed by things as simple as what they eat,” Senciac said. “It feels like healing for us.”

For more information, visit https://papillegustativela.com/, call (424) 322-8040 or follow on Instagram.

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"CBS This Morning” Co-Host Gayle King to Moderate Venice Family Clinic Panel on the ...

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 00:44:31 GMT

Susan Burton, Founder of a Reentry Program for Women Leaving Prison, and Clinic CEO Elizabeth Benson Forer to Participate in August 14 Panel
LOS ANGELES – “CBS This Morning” Co-Host Gayle King will moderate an online panel discussion about the Trauma of Incarceration that Venice Family Clinic is hosting at 11 a.m. Friday, August 14, with Susan Burton, who founded A New Way of Life Reentry Project to help women released from prison, and Clinic CEO Elizabeth Benson Forer.

An accomplished television journalist, King interviews top newsmakers and delivers original reporting to “CBS This Morning” and all CBS News broadcasts and platforms. She is also editor-at-large of the award-winning O, The Oprah Magazine. King recently began hosting a live weekly radio show titled “Gayle King in the House” on SiriusXM.

For many years, Burton endured a cycle of abuse, addiction and incarceration, including six terms in prison. She eventually received behavioral health support at Venice Family Clinic along with other help and subsequently founded A New Way of Life, a nonprofit that helps other formerly incarcerated women rebuild their lives. For her leadership, Venice Family Clinic recognized Burton as one of its 50 Visionaries, which are individuals the nonprofit organization is honoring as part of its 50th Anniversary.

Burton is available for one-on-one interviews with the media in advance of Friday’s event. Please contact Laura Mecoy, 310-529-7717, laura@mecoy.net.

Burton has earned numerous awards and honors for her work, including receiving the prestigious Citizen Activist Award from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is a recipient of both the Encore Purpose Prize in 2012 and the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award in 2014. She is the author of a memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton, which received a 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the category of biography/autobiography and the inaugural Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice.

Forer is a social worker by training and a public health expert who has led Venice Family Clinic for the past 26 years, guiding its growth from serving about 10,000 patients a year at one location to serving nearly 28,000 patients at 12 locations. She has held numerous positions on boards, including the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, the California Primary Care Association and the National Association of Free Clinics. In 2016, the Durfee Foundation recognized her as an outstanding leader, and she was also chosen to be a California HealthCare Foundation Health Leadership Fellow.

“Venice Family Clinic has been a leader in recognizing the impact trauma has on health and well-being, and we appreciate that Susan Burton has been so generous in helping others understand its importance by sharing her personal story of how childhood trauma and the tragic death of her 5-year-old son sent her into a downward spiral of addiction and incarceration,” said Forer. “We are very fortunate to have Gayle King bring her expertise to a panel discussion of the far-reaching impacts of trauma on health.

To register for The Trauma of Incarceration discussion, please click here. The online discussion is the second in the Venice Family Clinic’s Health and Justice Series, which explores the intersections of justice and health. It is also one of several activities Venice Family Clinic is sponsoring during National Health Center Week 2020, which is August 9-15.

National Health Center Week is aimed at educating the public and policy makers about the vital role community health centers play in providing preventive and primary care services to almost 30 million people nationwide – most of whom would otherwise lack access to affordable, quality care.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions on people gathering, Venice Family Clinic will be hosting online events during the week, including stress management and virtual sessions in English and Spanish that will encourage its patients to get their voices heard by voting and responding to the 2020 Census. For more information, please visit: venicefamilyclinic.org/nhcw.

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Edify TV: Westsiders Embracing Aquatic Activities

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 00:13:51 GMT

While social and physical distancing continues, Westsiders have been taking to the ocean for some sunshine and recreation. Learn more in this video made possible by School of Rock.

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Edify TV: Big Blue Bus Going Cashless?

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:12:17 GMT

Every year, over 10 million people ride Big Blue Buses. Now the Santa Monica-based bus line may be going cashless. Learn more in this video made possible by Santa Monica College.

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Parking Lot Party in Marina Del Rey Defies City Order: YO! Venice Show – August, 10, 2020

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:09:53 GMT

Local news and culture in under 5 minutes.
* Parking Lot Party in Marina Del Rey Defies City Order
* Coronavirus Cases Rise As Hospitalizations Decline
All this and more on today’s show made possible by Artist Michael Hunt.

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Edify TV: Flurry of Development in Westside Neighborhood

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 18:45:40 GMT

A Westside neighborhood, known for its ramen restaurants and all things Japanese, is undergoing a flurry of development. Learn more in this video made possible by Santa Monica College.

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Edify TV: Notable Westside Properties Hit Market

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:49:14 GMT

From architecturally unique houses in Venice and Pacific Palisades to a property once valued at $100 million in Bel Air, learn about notable Westside properties on the market in this video made possible by American Advisors Group.

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Column: Nine-Bill Housing Package Derails Local Choices

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 00:30:35 GMT

By Tom Elias, Yo! Venice Columnist

The silver lining provided by some past pandemics has been that they opened minds, awakening entire nations and continents to what was wrong with the way things previously were.

So it was, for example, with the bubonic plague of the 1300s, also known as the “black death,” which produced labor shortages that started the demise of the feudal system, turning serfs into free people if they could reach the walled cities of the time.

But there is little evidence that California’s leading lawmakers have seen the many changes the coronavirus pandemic has wrought in California. No, even though COVID-19 has killed well over 8,400 Californians, current legislative leaders still pursue their old, pre-pandemic goals as if nothing were different.

That’s especially true in housing, where seismic change is about to occur as businesses increasingly abandon office towers, creating vast new vacant spaces that will inevitably become housing units. This will create the dense housing sought for years by the likes of Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener and fellow Democratic Sen. Toni Atkins of San Diego, the state Senate’s powerful president pro tem.

New and current reality, which sees office leasing around California at its lowest levels since the Great Recession, with more and more companies telling workers to operate from home, has not dented these folks’ thinking. They persist in fighting the last war, always a losing proposition for military leaders and often equally disastrous for politicians.

The best example of their thinking is a nine-bill package mostly sponsored by Wiener and Atkins, joined by other knee-jerk liberals like Berkeley’s Sen. Nancy Skinner and Assembly members Buffy Wicks of Oakland, Richard Bloom of Santa Monica, Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego and David Chiu of San Francisco.

As the Legislature sort-of returns from its second virus-induced recess of the year – a period when lawmakers ceded virtually all state authority to Gov. Gavin Newsom – the nine-bill housing package will start moving quickly through committees. It has backing from developers and labor unions, both major financial backers of many Democratic lawmakers.

Among other things, this package would effectively end single-family zoning in California, a longtime Wiener goal. It does this by allowing four market-priced homes on all lots that now have just one, with neither affordable units nor new parking spaces required. This alone could lead to wide disruption of residential neighborhoods if many homeowners take the wads of cash developers would soon proffer.

Another bill allows city councils to overturn laws passed by local voters which protect open-space on shorelines or other green areas. The package also allows cities to rezone any parcel they like to allow 10-unit apartment buildings, in spite of any prior restrictions. It decreases the amount of affordable housing developers must include in a project to get it expanded beyond current local limits, giving developers a 50 percent “density bonus” if they build more affordable units than now required.

And it allows tall apartment and condominium buildings wherever neighborhood businesses now exist. So much for city- or county-imposed height limits.

This package aims to encourage more and more Californians to move into high-rise buildings and abandon their cars for public transit. It comes just when, rather than flocking to mass transit and ride-sharing services, most urban Californians are opting to drive private cars. Fears of contagion on public transit of all kinds stoke this trend, which sees ridership on trains and buses greatly reduced from last year.

None of this is needed. As more and more office space becomes vacant, there’s ever less call for new construction. What’s more, when conversion of office towers to residential use heats up, there will be more new housing than required to fill the state’s needs, estimated at about 3 million new units by 2025.

That timetable, of course, can be met easily by conversions, but not by new construction, which will inevitably be held up by lawsuits and environmental issues.

It adds up to a picture of blinkered, single-minded legislators pursuing old goals with little relevance in the post-pandemic world to come. That’s why the current housing package deserves to disappear, just like Wiener’s past failed efforts to rid California of single-family homes.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, “The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It,” is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, go to www.californiafocus.net

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OpEd: The Real Results of Mike Bonin’s "Reimagining Public Safety” Survey

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:55:49 GMT

By Allan Parsons

Author’s Note: At the request of Councilmember Mike Bonin’s office, this OpEd was removed 8/4/2020 until edits were made surrounding the use of non-CD11 respondent data in Mr. Bonin’s published results on his city council website, 11thdistrict.com.

Los Angeles District 11 Councilmember Mike Bonin recently wrote an Argonaut Opinion piece entitled Reimagining Public Safety in which he presented results of data collected from a June survey of his constituents in Council District 11 (CD11). The survey attempted to crowd-source answers about who should respond to 34 hypothetical public-safety and quality-of-life scenarios, e.g., “Who should respond to reports or phone calls of vandalism or graffiti in progress?” Sadly, Bonin deceived his constituents by misrepresenting the facts in his OpEd to the Argonaut News.

Here’s how Bonin’s survey worked; A series of questions about what agency one would prefer to respond to something like a domestic dispute was presented in a Google Form. Constituents were then prompted to select one — and only one — responding agency from a drop-down box in the form that included options such as LAPD officers, trained volunteers, Traffic Enforcement Personnel, and mediators among others.

Bonin, in his manipulation of the “results”, claimed that, “while a majority of the 2,672 respondents favor an LAPD response to violent crimes and to property crimes in progress, residents overwhelmingly prefer non-LAPD responses to most other situations for which police officers are routinely called.” Sorry, Mr. Bonin, but that conclusion isn’t exactly true.

I know this because I filed for the raw data of this survey through a California Public Records Act (CPRA) request. Reviewing the data I found that nearly 30% of the survey respondents declared that they did not even live in CD11! While Mr. Bonin did state that the data presented on his Council District 11 Website included only his constituents, his OpEd to the Argonaut made it less clear whether non-CD11 constituents were excluded when forming his opinion and setting public policy around funding for the LAPD.

Figure 1. A breakdown of where respondents stated they lived when responding to the Reimagining Public Safety survey.

Further, there were no security or audit controls in place on this survey to ensure users didn’t submit answers more than once. Respondents to the survey weren’t required to login or verify their email addresses. IP addresses were not captured. It’s unclear how many bad actors or duplicated data points where included in Mr. Bonin’s survey, clouding his vision when setting forth policy within the City Council that advances his personal beliefs and ultra-liberal, progressive policies – policies that Mr. Bonin’s constituents don’t prefer, according to the data.

Contrary to Bonin’s assertion, an analysis of the data actually reveals that CD11 constituents overwhelmingly preferred LAPD respond to non-violent crimes like reports or phone calls about loud parties and excessive noise. This disputes the statement made by Mr. Bonin “it was clear that my constituents strongly favor narrowing the scope of LAPD responsibilities.” But, by presenting 10 choices for first-responders to 34 hypothetical questions, Mr. Bonin diluted the weight of each choice, nearly ensuring no single entity garnered enough favorability to secure a majority. And, while the LAPD was the most preferred choice amongst westsiders to respond to a large number of scenarios presented in the survey, including responding to and investigating reports of graffiti in progress, shoplifting, drug sales, loud parties, domestic abuse, violent crime, shutting down illegal businesses, stolen property, and identity theft, among others, it was an easy, cheap-shot for Mr. Bonin to falsely claim that “residents overwhelmingly prefer non-LAPD responses.” (see Figure 2)

Figure 2. Aggregated, stacked percentages of preferred responders to hypothetical scenarios including responding to and investigating reports of graffiti in progress, shoplifting, drug sales, loud parties, domestic abuse, violent crime, shutting down illegal businesses, stolen property, and identity theft. Responses have been grouped by Responder (LAPD, Social Worker, etc.), and again by Neighborhood (Del Rey, Brentwood, Westchester, etc.).

If Bonin did make legislative decisions affecting the public safety of CD11 residents by looking at data from those who live outside of CD11, he has failed his civic duty and oath of office to his constituents. At the very least, he should not have resorted to data manipulation and over-generalization to try to convince CD11 constituents that we support his own personal narrative of what needs to be done. Bonin has allowed his personal agenda to drive his constituent representation obligations time after time. The voices of constituents are repeatedly put aside when he does not agree with them. Manipulating and bending data is just another way for Bonin to try to prove his own agenda is in line with residents he represents. But, the data obtained and analyzed tells a different story. It’s time Bonin used data responsibly, valuing the input from the constituents he represents. And,whether he agrees with us or not — set policy for his district and for those he is paid handsomely to represent.

Finally, Councilmember Mike Bonin utilized taxpayer dollars to create, gather, and manipulate the data, as well as to send out misleading communications. It is incumbent on him to correct the record, be transparent with his raw dataset(s), and to send out corrected communication to his constituents admitting that the data he previously presented included input from outside of his district; that graph (shown in Figure 1 above) was conveniently omitted from Mr. Bonin’s website.

Thanks only to a Freedom of Information Act, and our willingness to demand this information, are we able to discover how misleading Bonin has been. If you’re interested in the raw data to run your own analysis and see how people in your neighborhood responded to the survey, it’s published here (link to raw data). You can use the Dashboard tab to slice data by Question and by Neighborhood, discover how misleading Bonin has been in his efforts and personal agenda to defund the police.

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New Affordable Housing Development on Rose Ave :YO! Venice Show – August, 6, 2020

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:52:47 GMT

Local news and culture in under 5 minutes. * New Affordable Housing Development on Rose Ave * LA Will Shut Off Water and Power at Large Gatherings All this and more on today’s show made possible by Artist Michael Hunt.

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Edify TV: Trader Joe’s Renaming Products?

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:47:18 GMT

Trader Joe’s has long given foreign versions of its name to certain international food products from Trader José to Trader Mings. In the wake of a petition calling for the renaming of these products, hear what Westsiders have to say about this issue, in this video brought to you by Artist Michael Hunt.

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The Best Cancer Treatment You Have Never Heard Of – Hyperthermia Cancer Institute

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:44:37 GMT

On today’s Westside Wellness we explore Hyperthermia Cancer Institute, a cancer therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be used with radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy to treat tumors. Today we meet Dr. Joseph Pinzone and learn all about this unique, non-invasive treatment.

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County to Not Issue Waivers for Elementary Schools to Hold In-Person Classes

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 20:03:47 GMT

Health officials cite high COVID-19 infection rate

By Sam Catanzaro

Los Angeles County health officials have announced that they will not yet be issuing waivers for elementary schools to reopen for in-person instruction.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health (Public Health) said it will adhere to new guidance from the California Department of Public Health which recommends that Counties with case rates at or above 200 cases per 100,000 residents do not extend waivers for the re-opening of classroom instruction for students in grades TK- 6. Los Angeles County’s case rate currently is around 355 per 100,000, according to Public Health.

“We know that to many families, this is a disappointing announcement, but it’s based on the existing science and data that is guiding all of our decision-making. We need to ensure the health and safety of our children, school teachers and staff and all of their families,” reads the statement. “This decision will be reconsidered once the case rate falls to the levels recommended by the State.”

As of Wednesday, Public Health has identified 197,912 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 4,825 deaths. In Venice there have been 211 cases and two deaths.

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Open Air Homes: Bringing High-End Rentals to LA

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 12:20:00 GMT

By Toi Creel

In 2012 Brad Greiner, an independent filmmaker found himself in a financial pinch where he could no longer afford his home’s mortgage. He looked for a quick way to use his house to make some cash. Looking to platforms like Airbnb, Greiner realized there weren’t many full home options available for rent, so he decided to take the lead.

“Luckily I was one of the first homeowners in LA to offer an entire high-end home for rent so my booking calendar filled up quite quickly,” Greiner said. “I realized then that there was a demand for this type of travel, and I began to plan out the growth of my business.”

Brad Greiner

Building off the financial success of his first few home rentals, Greiner founded Open Air Homes. The company facilitates homeowners’ ability to monetize their homes as short term or long-term rentals. Until 2020, the expansion of Open Air Homes existed solely through word of mouth. It didn’t even have a recognizable name brand until Diane Patrone, a valued repeat guest and friend, offered the idea of “Open Air Homes” to Brad over margaritas. Greiner recalls Diane’s excitement about the new opportunities Open Air Homes would provide the vacation home marketspace – full-service management of beautiful homes recognized for their stylish indoor and outdoor living spaces.

“We decided on Open Air Homes because the homes that I developed and built early on with the company had this feeling of consistent airiness,” Greiner comments.

Since its inception, the company has tailored itself to meet the needs of Southern California homeowners and guests. At Open Air Homes, homeowners are more than just clients, they are partners. With that comes immense responsibility and care that the Open Air Homes team continuously caters to. Guests, many of whom are CEOs traveling for work or responsible families seeking vacation time, are valued just as highly as homeowners and receive the same level of attention and customer service.

“Our homes are fully realized properties, meaning they have fully functioning kitchens with all the amenities one would normally expect in a home. We take the on boarding process very seriously and only offer homes that pass our strict standards,” Greiner said.

So what makes Open Air Homes different from platforms like Airbnb or VRBO? For starters, the company markets towards families while emphasizing a quality experience for both the guests and homeowner partners. This means making sure guests are aware of the community standards that prompt them to be respectful neighbors throughout their stay.

Greiner said before renting, guests must sign a pledge promising to be a good member of the community they are staying in. And a 24 hour a day communication team is just a call or text away, ready to help troubleshoot any issues that might arise.

The company isn’t opposed to working with platforms like Airbnb and VRBO however. In fact, most of their homes are listed on these sites. Open Air Homes differs via their extra steps to ensure that everyone involved in the rental experience, from guests to homeowners to neighbors, is satisfied from beginning to end.

“We see these booking platforms as an essential component to filling our homes, therefore making them our booking partners,” Greiner said.

It’s no mystery that the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the rental market. Going above and beyond the new sanitation requirements, Open Air Homes has upped their cleaning measures to put guests’ minds at ease. This includes a “no germ left behind policy” where light sockets, safety keypads, crockery handles, counter surfaces and practically anything you can think of gets sanitized and wiped down by an experienced crew.

“The majority of our cleaners have been with us for 4-5 years,” Greiner said. “We currently provide our cleaners with gloves and masks, which are worn at all times during a clean and transporting.”

The entrance of all homes are also now equipped with Public Goods cleaning cloths and disinfectant. Open Air Homes recently partnered with Public Goods as a way to merge the need for higher sanitation standards with a company that values environmental awareness.

Public Goods provides clean products that mitigate ecological impacts while promoting a healthier lifestyle. Such products include biodegradable and eco-friendly surface cleaners developed with plant-based formulas that are safe for both the cleaning crew and guests checking in.

“We are also partnering with Public Goods for our shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion. With bottles made from sugarcane and a refillable product solution, we are moving away from the single use plastics so commonly used in the hotel industry.”

With this move towards sustainability and eco-friendliness, Open Air Homes says they’re focusing on the wellness of the planet, but also the wellness of guests. Finding ways to combine these two goals guides the future direction of the company, a direction that embodies what SoCal living is all about – being happy and healthy at the same time.

“From meditation corners to yoga mats to healthy food suggestions, we are taking a 360-degree approach to how our homes can lead to positive changes for our guests.”

For more information, visit https://www.openairhomes.com/ or on Facebook and Instagram @openairhomes.

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Culver City Police Fatally Shoot Man

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 01:44:33 GMT

Culver City Police Department fatally shoots man Monday

By Sam Catanzaro

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) is investigating a Monday incident that saw a knife-wielding man fatally shot by Culver City Police Department (CCPD) officers.

On Monday at 2:25 PM, CCPD officers responded to a commercial parking structure near the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Landmark Street regarding a call of an armed suspect, described as a white male.

“Officers located the suspect who attempted to elude them within a stairwell in the parking structure,” the LASD said. “A short standoff ensued and as the officers attempted to communicate with the suspect, he suddenly charged at the officers while armed with a knife.”

The LASD says that Culver City police then shot at the man who was struck by gunfire and transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

One Culver City Police Officer was struck by friendly gunfire. He was transported to a local hospital in stable condition.

A knife was recovered at the scene, the LASD says.

No other officers were injured during the encounter.

The investigation is ongoing and there is no additional information available at this time, according to LASD.

Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident as well.

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VNC Pass No-Confidence Vote for Rose Apartments

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 00:58:56 GMT

Venice Neighborhood Council July meeting recap Part 3

By Angela McGregor

At their most recent meeting, the Venice Neighborhood Council passed a no-confidence vote on the Place for Youth/Venice Community Housing residential project.

A motion put forth by Mark Ryavec was inspired by City Planning’s May 28th, unanimous decision to approve the Safe Place for Youth/Venice Community Housing residential project at the site of SPY’s current offices, despite overwhelming community opposition to the project, including unanimous votes against it by the VNC Board and LUPC Committee. The resolution was a declaration of “no confidence” in the Los Angeles City Planning Department by the VNC.

Multiple public speakers described attempts to offer commentary at City Planning’s virtual meeting regarding the project, only to be ignored or, in some cases, cut off, in particular when they mentioned public safety concerns. In board commentary, Board secretary Melissa Diner recalled a similar experience with another project, and reminded those present that the City Planning Commission is appointed by the Mayor and are not elected officials, and therefore serve at his discretion, not on behalf of the community. Jim Murez recounted a similarly humiliating and infuriating experience, and, like the majority of the Board, voted in favor of the motion, despite Board President Ira Koslow’s warning that such a provocative move would amount to “cutting off your nose to spite your face” and result in even more disdain of the VNC by City Planning.

The Homeless Committee sponsored the evening’s final motion. It requested that the City redirect “any and all funds” available for homeless shelter and housing to less-costly models than the permanent supportive housing units currently under construction with Proposition HHH funds, all 1.2 billion dollars of which have been earmarked for 7640 units costing between $531,000 and $700,000 per bed at a time when homelessness has risen 40% in CD11. Suggested expenditures include large, military grade tents and shared housing in existing multi- and single-family houses.

Board opposition to the motion centered around its resolution that “no such projects shall be installed or constructed within 200 feet of a residence, child care center, school or park”, but nevertheless, the motion passed.

The meeting adjourned around 11:30pm. The next meeting of the VNC Board will be held Tuesday, August 18th at 7pm.

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County Officials ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About COVID-19 Spread

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 23:20:30 GMT

County health officials cite closure of bars and other indoor venues as factor behind trends

By Sam Catanzaro

Health officials say they are “cautiously optimistic” that Los Angeles County is on the right path to slowing the spread of COVID-19, citing the closure last month of bars and indoor businesses as a driving force behind recent downward trends.

On Monday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health confirmed 12 new deaths and 1,634 new cases of COVID-19. To date, Public Health has identified 193,788 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 4,701 deaths. In Venice, there have been 210 cases and 2 deaths among residents.

As of Monday, the seven-day average of cases is around 2,600 cases per day. This is down from a couple weeks ago where the county was seeing over 3,000 cases per day. The seven-day positivity rate has remained mostly flat over the month of July, hovering between 8 and 8.8 percent. And finally, hospitalizations–a key indicator of health system capacity–is on a positive trend with 2,000 hospitalizations on average. This number had ticked up to 2,200 in the middle of July. Although the county says all of these key indicators are still “too high”, it says the plateauing of the trends is “encouraging”.

“The key indicators that we closely monitor at Public Health are looking positive, and I want to give credit to a large number of our county residents who heeded our orders and took the personal, basic actions needed to slow this virus. Folks wore their face coverings, they maintained physical distance from people they don’t live with, avoided gatherings and parties, and washed their hands. But for our long-term success, we need to continue limiting the spread of COVID-19. We can’t simply go back to life as we knew it before March. We unfortunately still have a long way to go; we must remain vigilant,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

On June 28, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of bars, gyms and other indoor businesses in Los Angeles County. In a Monday press release, Public Health added that in addition to greater adherence to mask guidelines the decrease in transmission can also be “the decreased opportunities for transmission, particularly in high-risk settings. Several weeks ago, bars were closed, and the indoor operations of a variety of businesses and institutions were moved outdoors.”

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Edify TV: The Art of Making Noise

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 22:37:00 GMT

Local Venice Beach residents and artists came together to create a live art exhibition bringing awareness to racial violence in this video brought to you by Santa Monica College.

The post Edify TV: The Art of Making Noise appeared first on Yo! Venice!.

LA Rents Decreasing? YO! Venice Show – August, 3, 2020

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 22:35:00 GMT

Local news and culture in under 5 minutes.
* The Simmzy’s Bar and Restaurant is Closing
* LA Rents Declining.
All this and more on today’s show made possible by School Of Rock.

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