The Justice Committee strives to document violations of human and civil rights and to work on specific justice projects with groups or individuals willing to actively participate in an effort to achieve peace and justice in the community.
The Media Group recognizes the need to communicate through multiple forms of media in order to keep the community and others informed about justice issues.
A very short movie made from the police abuse video
taken by members of the Justice Committee
Featured in the LA Times, CNN, Associated Press, etc
Justice Committee Member bios:
Cavlin E. Moss has been active in the struggle for human rights for well over 20 years. He is a founding member of the Venice/Santa Monica Food Not Bombs and of the Venice Justice Committee. He was a Vietnam era anti-war activist who refused induction into the US military and was a conscientious objector. He, himself, was homeless in the Venice/Santa Monica area for over ten years while fighting for the rights of the homeless.
Peggy Lee Kennedy - also a member of Venice Food Not Bombs and the Justice Committee - is a third generation Venice resident whose mother, Marvena Kennedy, was on the Venice Town Council in the 1970's. Peggy has carried on a family tradition of standing up for human and civil rights and she is deeply concerned with the consequences of gentrification. Peggy holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Information's Systems with a minor in Women's Studies from Loyola Marymount University and worked as a single mother for most of her adult life.
Both Peggy and Calvin have been trained in Formal Consensus and hold certificates as Trainers of Formal Consensus - taught by C.T. Lawrence Butler, the inventor of Formal Consensus and original co-founder of Food Not Bombs.
To report violations of civil and human rights in Venice or Santa Monica, you can email: justicecommittee@fastmail.fm
When describing an incident, provide as much detail and basic facts as possible. Make sure you write down the facts: date and time, location with street names, print names and contact information of witnesses, print number on police car and descriptions or names of police officers or city employees, and provide any paperwork when possible. Provide a copy of the ticket and any pictures attached as pdf or jpg files whenever possible. Our Incident Report
The OPD (Overnight Permit Parking District) law, LAMC 80.54, is a Los Angeles City Law that originated in Venice and it creates a Permit Parking System that is being used to remove people living in vehicles from affluent areas, including the 150 or so people living in vehicles in Venice!
Four Districts cover most of the Venice Coastal Zone.
Venice Gentrification H-Bomb --To Poor, Rainbows, Travelers and the Arts: L.A. City's Newest Plan Will Kick Everybody Living in Vehicles Out of Venice Beach
The Overnight Parking District Committee of the Venice Neighborhood Council is the Council's main source for public support for these Parking Districts in Venice.
The Los Angeles City Council has now created a new kind of Permit Parking District that restricts the use of public streets only to certain vehicles and certain people during night time hours in the city of Los Angeles. It is now operating as a pilot program, one in Council District 11 near the VA and the other in San Pedro.
This report is an investigation into homeless deaths in Los Angeles County between January, 2000 and May, 2007, based on statistics provided by the Los Angeles County Coroner's office.
Homelessness in Los Angeles: Los Angeles has the disgrace of being the homeless capital of the United States...It is a disgrace that such a small percentage of the homeless population in LA is sheltered.
Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Helps Venice Homeless!
Carol Sobel, President of the Los Angeles National Lawyer's Guild, settled a class action lawsuit in favor of Venice homeless people whose property was seized by the Los Angeles Police and other City employees, without warrant, and then destroyed during a homeless sweep that took place back in September 2004 - just before Labor Day.
Sobel waived her legal fees, increasing the total cash settlement available to homeless people, and the cash was dispersed the first week of February 2007!
The case, Noe v. the City of Los Angeles, was partly based on written and videotaped statements from twenty-two people directly affected by the sweep along with videotape and still picture evidence of ten or more dumpsters full of the homeless people's belongings found in Westchester (three towns south of Venice) and documented by Calvin E Moss and Peggy Lee Kennedy of Venice Food Not Bombs and the Venice Justice Committee.
Also, and very significantly, Attorney Carol Sobel of the National Lawyer's Guild cared enough to follow through with a lawsuit providing cash settlements to Venice homeless people, which helped move some into housing situations and improved their living conditions.
The settlement further included an order regarding removal of property if not abandoned and property must now be held for ninety days. Common sense, the constitution, and the State of California seem to all say we are supposed to be protected from the police seizing our property without a warrant or probable cause.
Legally and morally, Police should not seize and destroy property in order to rid an area of it's homeless population. Such is the situation, though, in Venice Beach, California.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
2.Lobby in favor of affordable housing, emergency services, and emergency alternatives
3.Get Directly Involved!
The California Coastal Commission heard the Venice OPD issues at its June 11 2009 meeting and denied Overnight Permit Parking District (OPDs) in the Venice Coastal Zone.
Venice said NO to OPDs in the Venice Coastal Zone & The Coastal Commissioners listened.
Marina Del Rey, CA – On June 11, 2009 the California Coastal Commission rejected the Venice Coastal Application to create OPDs, which is permit parking system being used to remove homeless people living in vehicles from areas throughout the City of Los Angeles.
The local press has been covering the Venice RV and OPD issue routinely from the side of proponents of OPDS, but scores of Venice residents do not want the OPDs. Beachfront rental property owners, disenfranchised walkstreet residents, business owners, homeowners, renters, and RV dwellers all came to the Coastal Commission meeting to show opposition and state how the OPDs would adversely affect them or others. Read More Here
So What Exactly is Behind the Push for Overnight Permit Parking Districts in Venice?
