Haves, Have-Nots Stake Claims on Rose Avenue : Debate Over Homeless ‘Ripping the Whole Community Apart’ in Venice
On most mornings, there are at least two places where business is bustling on Rose Avenue in Venice. One is a chic cafe near the beach where stylish people buy croissants and gourmet coffee. The other is the sparsely furnished social service center down the street where desperate people get handouts.
The economic gap between the two groups could not be much wider. But though they are socially estranged, they are not strangers.
They are the antagonists in an escalating war over the very future of Rose Avenue. The battle, which started over plans for expanding social services for the homeless on the street, pits angry residents who oppose the influx of transients against those who say the homeless are already part of the community fabric.
Shaken Neighborhood
The issue has shaken a neighborhood that is already emotionally charged from grappling with the problems caused when hundreds of homeless people converged on the beach last summer. And in the process a community celebrated for its diversity is becoming known for its discord.
“People in this community are being ripped apart,” said Harlan Lee, a Venice activist who is building a $16-million development at Rose Avenue and Main Street. “This one question is ripping the whole damn community apart.”
The haves and have-nots have historically shared the turf on Rose Avenue. In many ways the wide and well-traveled thoroughfare is a microcosm of Venice: a haphazard collection of houses, apartments, restaurants, businesses and shops where dissimilar people have lived and worked in relative harmony.
All that changed when vast numbers of transients started congregating on Rose Avenue several months ago. Now the homeless issue is an obsession there. Nearly everyone along the one-mile stretch between Lincoln Boulevard and Ocean Front Walk seems swept up by the controversy. The issue dominates discussions at stores, lunch counters and even crosswalks.
On one side are residents, such as Judith Weiss, who blame transients for scaring children, and merchants, such as Pete Mascio, who claim that the rising number of homeless are wrecking his business.
“When customers try to come in, they get panhandled,” said Mascio, the owner of a costume jewelry store called Pops 84. “And those who won’t give them money are called names. I’m ready to close up because I can’t stay in business this way.”
On the other side are people such as Guillermina (who asked that her last name not be used), an impoverished mother of four who depends on the Rose Avenue social service centers, and Natalie Carroll, a renter who says the homeless have as much right to Venice as anyone else.
“This has always been a mixed community,” Carroll said. “That’s what makes it unique and special. And it’s a fact of life that there are poor people around.”
In the middle of the dispute is Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who also happens to be a Venice resident.
Galanter, who supports the idea of placing more services for the homeless on Rose Avenue, has had little success in calming the frayed nerves of constituents who think they are being forced to bear the brunt of the homeless burden.
The councilwoman said she understands why Rose Avenue-area residents are concerned. But she contends that fears about a second Skid Row taking shape in Venice are unfounded.
“We need to be quite clear that this is not a proposal to service people from all over the country,” Galanter said. “This is a very limited program . . . which is all this community can be asked to accommodate.”
Two Locations
The additional programs for transients would be located in two places. Galanter is behind plans for a 30-bed shelter and job-training program on the grounds of a storage facility being built at Rose and 3rd Street. And St. Joseph Center, a nonprofit social services group, plans to open a food-service program at the site of the old Bunz restaurant, 663 Rose Ave.
Galanter said the shelter and job program wound up on Rose Avenue and 3rd Street by the luck of the draw since the property owner, Public Storage Corp., agreed to give the city the facility as part of a development agreement.
“You don’t always get to pick a site for affordable housing,” Galanter said. “You have to look for opportunities. And the opportunity to put services in other places has not arisen. There are no subsidy programs right now . . . so we can’t just sail in and acquire a piece of property.”
There’s a similar story behind the selection of Rose Avenue and 6th Street as the site of the new food program that would serve about 200 transients. St. Joseph Center, which is based on Rose Avenue, was looking for a place to house its beachfront feeding program when Bunz restaurant became available.
Rhonda Meister, St. Joseph’s director, said Bunz was picked because the restaurant contains a commercial kitchen, is fairly large and is in walking distance for the homeless.
Calming Concerns
Meister said that St. Joseph Center has made every effort to calm the concerns of people who are worried about the homeless. But she also pointed out that the center serves non-homeless people. Two-thirds of its services go to poor people who might otherwise lose their homes, she said.
“Our philosophy is to encourage people to become as self-sufficient as possible,” Meister added. “The idea is to get people on their feet.”
Two women who credit St. Joseph’s with keeping them off of the streets were at the center last week. Both asked that their last names not be used.
Myrtle, an 81-year-old widow who exists primarily on Social Security payments of $282 a month, said she would be destitute without the center.
“I depend on them,” said Myrtle, who lives in a cottage just off of Rose Avenue. “I really do.”
Keeps Her Afloat
Katerina, a 32-year-old Czechoslovakian woman who emigrated to America seven years ago with her small son, also credits St. Joseph’s with keeping her afloat.
“After expenses I have about $40 a month,” she said. “Food stamps are not enough. It’s thanks to this organization that I survive.”
St. Joseph Center operates on a yearly budget of about $1.5 million, counting in-kind contributions, and has been on Rose Avenue since 1976.
There have been periods when the center clashed with residents over its programs--in 1985 one of its buildings was firebombed--but Meister said that she has never seen community tension reach the level that exists today.
Workers at the center have received several anonymous telephone threats during the past month and Meister had to be escorted out of a recent community meeting by supporters.
‘Change in Community’
“There has been a change in the climate and a change in this community,” Meister said. “People should understand that this agency is not the magnet that creates the problem. We are responding to it.”
Although St. Joseph Center has drawn most of the heat, it is not the only service agency on Rose Avenue. Free medical care is delivered to about 10,000 people a year, 20% of them homeless, at the Venice Family Clinic. The squat building on the corner of 6th Street has been in business 17 years.
Director Fern Seizer said that the clinic caters to the thousands of poor people who live on or near Rose Avenue. Seizer said she understands why some people object to the proliferation of homeless services, but added that there is obviously a great need for programs in the area.
“Venice has only one physician for every 18,000 people,” Seizer said. “So you can see how badly needed we are. We are even turning people away.”
To the casual observer, St. Joseph Center and the Venice Family Clinic blend into the scenery on Rose Avenue fairly well. Both centers discourage their clients from loitering at their doorsteps, and both fit into the architecture of boxy apartment buildings and cramped storefronts.
Homeless Overload
However, many residents see a wholly different picture. They object fiercely to plans for expanding social services, saying the neighborhood already has been saturated with panhandlers, substance abusers and loiterers.
“Life on Rose Avenue is awful,” said Rick Toth, a renter. “I have to kick these people off my porch. My wife has to shove past them. They are constantly hitting us up for money. I don’t think the people deserve this.”
Wes Eckhart has owned a four-unit apartment building on Rose for 20 years and lives on the premises. “I’m glad that St. Joseph Center is doing what they are doing,” he said. “I just wish they wouldn’t do it on my doorstep.”
Will Dunnigan, a renter, lives across the street from the proposed site of the feeding program.
“The idea of putting more services here is a terrible idea,” he said. “It would be different if we had work for these people, but I can’t see opening a shelter or food program and just having them hang out.”
Doesn’t Go to Beach
David Weingarten, a 78-year-old retiree, has lived in the same house on Rose Avenue for 30 years. “The neighborhood is not too good these days,” he said. “I live a block away from the beach, but I don’t go there anymore.”
Robin Rose is the owner of Robin Rose Ice Cream, a gourmet dessert shop. “I would love to see a Venice renaissance,” Rose said. “But letting it become the home of the homeless will absolutely cut that dead in its tracks.”
Nina Haro owns La Cabana, a Mexican Restaurant. “We have problems all of the time,” Haro said. “They (transients) go to the back of our restaurant, sit there, bother the customers, lie drunk in the alley, urinate, beg for money. . . . All of a sudden, my business has dropped off.”
Jennifer Pirie is the head of a new community group called Venice Neighbor to Neighbor, which came together in support of the homeless. Pirie contends that money is the real motivating factor behind the Rose Avenue controversy. She said some residents are more concerned about property values than people.
“We’re not talking about putting these services in the middle of a street in Beverly Hills,” Pirie said. “We’re talking about a mixed-income area.”
Pirie’s group has tried to rally support for the homeless by launching a petition drive in support of the social services and by speaking out in support of St. Joseph Center and the Venice Family Clinic.
The group seeks to gain equal footing with those who have been protesting so vociferously. At this point, however, it appears that members have their work cut out for them. Susan Chevalier, a leader in efforts to stop the social service inroads on Rose Avenue, said the fight is just beginning.
“Rose is filthy and it’s getting worse street by street,” Chevalier said. “But people are going to fight for their homes. I mean, this is America.”
