
Will Rogers Beach and its parking lots were packed on a Sunday afternoon.
The Pacific Palisades Community Council sent a letter on April 29 to County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Mike Bonin asking them, “Will you reject or withdraw any proposal to use the public state beach parking lots for homeless housing?
Members of the executive committee was angered when not one official bothered to respond to the request. On May 3, four of the PPCC office holders wrote to residents and noted that they had not “received a direct response from any of these officials.”
They then sent a new letter not only to residents, but to Kuehl, Garcetti and Bonin. It stated in part:
“The fact that elected officials would equivocate is not surprising. Given the importance of this matter and the legitimate concerns expressed by constituents, the failure to acknowledge our concerns or respond at all is disturbing.
“It appears that some of our officials may be taking the disingenuous position that a study or other exploration of “feasibility” — proposed to be conducted by the City of Los Angeles, an entity which neither owns nor operates the state beach parking lots — is somehow needed before they can answer PPCC’s simple question.
“This is nonsense.”
The PPCC letter explained that in its research, the PPCC hasn’t been able to find any instance where a homeless encampment or shelter has been allowed at a public beach.
“The reasons for this are obvious. As Judge [David] Carter recognized [in an April 20 injunction], these treasured public spaces must be reserved for use by all citizens as they were intended to be used: for public access and recreation, not as dwelling spaces for the homeless.
“PPCC calls on all our elected officials to put a stop now to the bad, unprecedented and unthinkable idea of using the public state beach parking lots for homeless housing.”
Missing from the letter is support of Carter in asking for an accounting of the surplus City properties that could be used for shelters and for an accounting of all the designated homeless monies, such as from Prop HHH.
The correspondence can be found at pacpalicc.org.
Surplus City Properties that could be used for shelters, or affordable housing, or support services for homeless with MH issues, or drug issues, or other support services. Knowing the facts is important for all of us.