Four-Hour Standoff on Venice Boulevard!

WESTSIDE - A female RV dweller climbed to the roof of her vehicle located at Shell and Abbot Kinney Monday morning as LAPD and LAFD tried to remove her and her over a four-hour period.   

After the standoff with the LAPD and the LAFD, she was arrested and taken into custody and the RV is scheduled for removal as of this writing.  

According to sources, the individual has had a reputation of confronting residents and today was no different as she hurled profanities as well as personal items into the street. This went on for hours as helicopters hovered over the site and traffic was blocked in both directions along Venice Boulevard as LAPD calmly and patiently tried to negotiate with the individual.  

The SWAT team was apparently also called in to help quell the confrontation.  

The event turned ugly, as the goal was apparently to move this particular vehicle and remove the individual without incident.   

Residents have confirmed that the suspect has turned down shelter services in the past and has lived in this RV on and off for years in Venice.  

LAPD is to be commended for their "saint-like" patience in finally apprehending the individual Monday afternoon.  

The inability to create a "no tolerance" policy here in Los Angeles is at the source of the reoccurring incidents along Washington as well as Venice Boulevard. Until a city wide, anti-camping ordinance is adopted and enforced, these conditions will continue to spiral despite the best intentions of elected officials like Councilwoman Traci Park (CD-11) and her staff.  

But a single individual cannot do it alone.  

Elections do have consequences and apologists for illegal and bad behavior only undermine any efforts to give the streets back to actual residents who live, work and pay taxes here in Venice.  

These are not neighbors, but transients, and in this case a mentally ill individual that requires help and services.  

And that means being off the streets. 

(Nick Antonicello is a thirty-two-year resident of the neighborhood who covers the RV and encampment crisis here in Venice. Have a take or a tip all things Venice? Contact him via e-mail at nantoni@mindspring.com)