VENICE, Calif.—After months of trying to get city officials’ attention, residents finally gained enough support to get a violent homeless encampment cleared outside of the Abbot Kinney Memorial Library in Centennial Park this week.
The encampment, which popped up sometime after Thanksgiving last year, was adjacent to million-dollar apartment buildings across the street on S. Venice Boulevard and less than half a mile away from a high-end shopping strip on the famed Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
Residents who lived across the street from the encampment described the conditions as unsafe and unlivable. Piles of trash were cleared by a collaboration of the Los Angeles Sanitation Department, St. Joseph’s Center, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), park rangers, and the Los Angeles Police Department. Now, the park is fenced off and closed for repairs, and a police presence will remain in the area for the rest of the week….