PPCC interview beachgoers on thoughts about proposed shelter
By Sam Catanzaro
The Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC) has released a video in which beachgoers were interviewed on their beach usage and thoughts about the current proposal to turn a part of the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot into a homeless shelter.
“As a project of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, beachgoers were interviewed on their beach usage and thoughts about the current proposal before the LA City Council to turn a part of the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot into a homeless encampment with tents and/or tiny homes. Questions were simple and designed to maximize authenticity. Interviews were edited only for length and clarity,” reads the video description on YouTube.
On May 26, Los Angeles City Council voted 13-1 with one abstention to approve Councilmember Mike Bonin’s proposal to look into bringing more housing for homeless individuals to the Westside. The motion, introduced to Council at the end of March, calls on various agencies to study the feasibility of bringing a variety of projects to combat homelessness to locations across the Westside.
Among the locations is the Los Angeles County-owned parking lot at Will Rogers State Beach at 17000 Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades. According to Bonin, this location would serve as a temporary site for single-occupancy tiny-homes or safe camping.
The motion also calls for looking into the feasibility of bringing similar housing options to the following locations across the Westside: Mar Vista (Mar Vista Park), Marina Del Rey (Fisherman’s Village), Playa del Rey (Dockweiler Beach), Del Rey (private building at 5000 Beethoven Avenue), Westchester (Westchester Park) and West LA (West LA Municipal Building).
In addition, the motion proposes a single-occupancy tiny-homes or safe camping sites on a property owned by Culver City for a joint LA-Culver City program and at an undetermined location at LAX.
“There are those who say there are places where we should look, and there are those that say there are places where we should not look. I am determined to be in that first [group]. And as I said. I do not feel it would be appropriate to say we can’t do it in my part of town,” Bonin said during the City Council meeting in May.
Since its introduction, the motion has been met with opposition from residents and various stakeholders throughout Council District 11, including the Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC), Brentwood Community Council and Supervisor Janice Hahn. In addition, over 30,000 people have signed a petition in opposition.
