VENICE BEACH FREE EXPRESSION

To: Los Angeles City Council


People against the removal of creative artists from Venice Beach, based solely on the utility value of their goods.

Attention Mayor, City Council Members, Parks and Recreation Department and all other interested persons and offices of said municipality.

Whereas: The City of Los Angeles can continue to have a thriving popular and well visited beach side tourist attraction in Venice Beach, by preserving the flavour of the beach-side vending in particular, the primary attraction.

Be it resolved:

That the undersigned people, past, present, or future visitors or residents of Venice Beach, Los Angeles, the Unites States, and the world, strongly oppose the current version of LAMC 42.15, and request the City of Los Angeles to suspend this ordinance immediately, and have it re-examined independently, for the following reasons:


1. Possibly unconstitutional due to the broad application of a nominal utility clause, which contravenes a federal decision that the Citys compelling interests must be narrowly tailored to prevent prior restraint on expressive activities in an officially recognised Free Expression Zone.

2. The failure of the Department of Parks and Rec. to successfully create the expression protection working group which it was chartered to do, to protect expressive artists, and to liaise between those artists and the City before enforcing and arresting permitted artists.

3. To prevent wasteful legal prosecution, detention, and indignation of artists who are engaging in a previously permitted and agreed activity upon which their livelihood was developed.

4. To allow time for the Working Group to be formed, have issues addressed and resolved, before the City charges into prosecution on borderline cases, making criminals out of working people, clogging up the court systems, and burning resources.


Originally dedicated by Abbott Kinney for the use of artistic expression, the Venice Boardwalk is an internationally recognised tourist attraction. Its not right that the City of Los Angeles can change a law to suit itself, after creating an agreement with 1200 artists, an agreement to which they were abiding, that law then discriminating against a section of that community, criminalising a permitted activity, and removing an artists income and livelihood.
We, the undersigned, believe that the introduction and enforcement of this code, will radically alter the laid-back feel and unique community Venice Beach provides as well as threaten and displace craftspeople throughout the area. Instead of discarding the very people who have worked hard to create and maintain such a popular environment, the City should be entering further discussions before using police force against vendors with permits.

We, the undersigned, do not support the enforcement of LAMC 42.15 until all measures adopted by council have been met and addressed, and all constitutional matters have been independently examined.