Friday, 23 November

Tuesday, 27 November

“What a difference,” was the reaction coming from all who saw what had happened. The Staples, south side, and the Lincoln Hardware, north side, sidewalks were transformed within a couple hours Tuesday morning.

Bureau of Sanitation workers arrived in the morning to clean the area that had grown from the fence at Lincoln Hardware to include the first parking place in the street. No place for wheelchairs at all for ADA compliance. The Staples side was not much better.

As soon as Sanitation and the LAPD asked the people to move out, the street was cleaned and about 25 homeowners worked diligently to put the planters in place, put the rocks in, and the soil. The lady who organized the homeowners did not want her name mentioned.

Owner of Lincoln Hardware, a family owned business in the area for 38 years, paid $7500 for the 17 planters. He didn’t want his name mentioned either. Mark Ryavec, president  of the Venice Stakeholders Association (VSA), donated $250 from his fund to purchase plants.

The photos taken last Friday do not show how bad the place was Tuesday. Monday night the Lincoln Hardware sidewalk had probably grown 50 percent from what it was. They had moved into the area by the curb normally used for parking.

Two girls who were from Texas and had settled in the alley as a result of the cleaning, were speaking objectionable language at those passing by and said “They took everything we owned … we’ll be back within a week.”

Police returned and told the girls they could not camp in the alley. The two boys pictured were told they had to leave that they could not block the sidewalk.

Neighbors turned out again to plant succulents in the planters.

This is truly a case of a neighborhood working together with the City–Sanitation and the LAPD to take back their neighborhood. The Staples – Lincoln Hardware site had turned into the worst encampment in Venice after Venice Blvd got cleaned up last week.