Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva slammed local leadership over the city’s massive homeless crisis Wednesday and urged them to declare a local state of emergency.
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Videos uploaded daily to social media show homeless people along the beach fighting, harassing passersby and, in some cases, setting fires and committing violent crimes. Residents and business owners have complained of unsanitary conditions and a dangerous environment as encampments continued to expand amid the coronavirus pandemic. Do I want to be in Venice? Of course not, Villanueva said. Do I have to be there? Yes because the system, the way it s set up, and the architects of this failed plan are forcing us to take a different approach.
Bob Carlson, who owns a skateboard and snowboard business in Venice, has lived in the area for three decades.