Venice Homeless

Ever wonder why we humans are so drawn to the beach that, each weekend, one-half million of us are willing to cope with L.A. traffic to get there? Despite the parking problems, sand fleas, broken bottles, honky-tonk and bikini bazaar, the beach provides man with something essential to his well-being.

While far from tranquil, the beach somehow manages to restore the human spirit. It seeps into one--past the screaming babies and boom-boxes, it seeps in.

At the beach, man is in an environment beyond his control. He faces what appears to be an infinite horizon--water and sky extending beyond his imagination. There is no industry at the beach. No purpose to fulfill. Nothing to do but frolic or relax.

Little wonder that those of us who have lost our charge, those of us who have fallen from the train of industry, wind up at the beach. Of we half-million who use the beaches of Los Angeles, 5,000 are indigent. Maybe more. One percent of us, maybe more, lives without industry, without resources, without much hope--at the beach.

Unfortunately for all of us, this fact has become a political football in the city’s game of bums vs. business (Part I, Aug. 14). Sanity demands that the beach remain an area of free access for residents and visitors--belonging to neither billionaires nor bums.

Providing a shelter and services for the indigent in Venice is a fine idea. Building it on the beach is not. If we can’t find the funds to restore the the Venice Pavilion as a social center available to all of the diverse community who use the beach, let’s level it and get a better view of the ocean.

And let’s find one of the under-used industrial/commercial properties a few blocks off the beach to develop as a shelter for the homeless. In truth, providing a few beds in Venice is absolutely no solution to this nation’s problem of poverty. Through a short history of callous and self-serving fiscal choices, we, the government, have sacrificed the services and social institutions which were created to help those who cannot help themselves.

The mentality which keeps coming up with ideas like the downtown tent city and the Venice Pavilion shelter needs to be challenged. And quickly, before we squander more badly needed dollars on badly conceived ideas. We need a center to coordinate and access the services which are already available to the indigent and to determine additional needs. We need a volunteer organization of caring people to provide physical and spiritual support for those who are capable of regaining health and productivity. And we need to identify those who are beyond rehabilitation and find care for them.

We also need a pavilion where a kid can ride a bike or watch a puppet show, where a family can sizzle a few hot dogs, where the elderly can sit and watch the sunset, and the young can dance amid the human parade.

On behalf of half a million, I urge an enlightened perspective!

T.A. NELSON

Venice