City Councilman Mike Bonin introduced a motion to allow single-occupancy tiny homes and safe camping/parking on the county-owned parking lot at Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades. It was seconded by Mark Ridley-Thomas.

If the motion is eventually approved by the City Council, people who are homeless because of drugs, mental illness or economic  bad breaks will have access to beachside property.

The Will Rogers parking lot is typically filled in the summer and holiday weekends with hard-working people, many of whom come from inland with their families to enjoy the sand and ocean.

For over 60 years Pacific Palisades Residents Association has worked to protect and preserve the neighborhoods and the coastal mountain environment of Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas as well as to educate its members, the community, and elected officials on issues that affect the environment and quality of life in Pacific Palisades and Los Angeles.  PPRA has successfully fought the use of Santa Monica Bay for oil exploration and against oversize and ill-conceived development projects in Pacific Palisades.  But who would have thought that the latest challenge to its neighborhoods and the environment comes from its own City Councilmember?

City Council Motion CF No. 21-0350, by Councilmember Mike Bonin and seconded by Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, proposes to use the parking lot of Will Rogers State Beach, among other sites, for the construction of “micro-houses” and safe camping for an unknown number of the City’s homeless population.  The land encompassing Will Rogers State Beach was a gift to the public from the Rogers family in 1944, and the State Beach is among Los Angeles’ major attractions.  Because it is readily accessible by Interstate 10 and the Pacific Coast Highway, Will Rogers State Beach is used by families and residents from throughout the City as well as tourists from all around the world.  Like parks and other beaches that are owned and/or operated by governmental entities, Will Rogers State Beach essentially is held in trust for the benefit of all citizens, not just those prescribed in the Motion.

PPRA is fully aware that the Motion only directs the City’s Administrative Officer to “evaluate” and “identify funding” for the proposed housing and camping.  The flaws in what the Motion conceives are numerous and obvious, but PPRA and Los Angeles residents also know that the CAO is beholden to the Mayor and City Council, and that evaluations and funding can be skewed accordingly.  Moreover, there is no prescribed or viable process to challenge the CAO’s findings or the City’s and County’s decisions to use Will Rogers State Beach for housing short of expensive litigation.

Therefore, Pacific Palisades Residents Association opposes Motion CF No. 21-0350 and urges that it not be adopted by City Council.

Bonin should rethink the homeless issue and stop lumping everyone into one group. About two-thirds of the people need more than housing — they need detox; they need mental illness help. This is where billions of dollars should be spent by city, county and state agencies.